My Birthday Dinner

Brian and I went out with friends, Michael and Marti, to celebrate Michael and my birthday. Based on recommendations, we dined at a steakhouse in Pearland called Killen's Steakhouse.  The food was amazing.  We started with appetizers of crab cakes and fried tomatoes.  I am not a tomato fan, but these roma tomatoes were wonderful.  Of course the crab cakes were great. Marti shared a few tastes of her french onion soup with me.  Wow.  

For our main course, we all ordered rib eyes with au gratin potatoes and sauteed mushrooms.  Perfect.  Dessert found us sharing a key lime pie, creme brulee and bread pudding.  Killen's has won awards for their non-traditional bread pudding.  I loved it, and I don't like bread pudding.  

My only regret of the evening is that my stomach was not larger.  We came home with a doggy bag because we were stuffed. 

It was a great evening and a nice way to celebrate our birthdays.  If you are in the area and love steak, you must head over to Killen's Steakhouse.  

A Cougar Victory for My Birthday

One of my birthday presents this year was for The5Jones to attend a Cougar football game together.  Of course before we left I had to take lots of pictures of our Cougar Fans with my other birthday present.  A new Canon Rebel Digital SLR camera.  Woo Hoo!  My hubby is AWESOME!  

After I was done snapping pictures, we headed down to the Rob to see UH take on the Green Wave with our Cougar gear on. 

I was so caught up in going to a home game with the family, I really didn't think about the weather.  Boy, September is HOT in Houston.  It was so bad people were fainting in the stands.  I am a die hard fan, but the heat had me seriously considering leaving at half.  Thankfully, we were blessed with a little cloud cover and rain sprinkle so we managed to stay till the very end of the game.

Since the Cougars lost their Heisman worthy quarterback and back up quarterback due to  injuries the week before, this game was a nail biter.  But, the Coogs managed to put it in the win column in true cardiac coog style. 

 A win is a win.  

We had a great time and loved every minute of it.  I can't wait till we can do it again.

Ice Cream Treat

After playing awesome soccer this week, we treated our little soccer players to an ice cream treat.

Daddy introduced them to his favorite - a chocolate dipped cone. 

The little monkeys loved it!

Growing Boy

My growing boy lost one of his front teeth this week.  

I'm not ready for him to get his big front teeth.  He won't look like my little boy any longer.  But he sure is proud of that big gap in his smile.

New Soccer Season

Soccer season has started!!  This Fall we once again have 2 soccer players, but it is Laurie and Daniel!

Daniel has moved up to U8 (U7 & U8 are combined) after a very successful Spring season.  They are on a much much larger field playing 7x7 with goalies,  2 practices a week of 90 min each and 12 minute quarters.  Thankfully, after this first month our coaches have dialed them back to 2 practices/week of 60 min each.  

Daniel loves this new challenge of big kid soccer.  Did I mention it is all boys?  So far, he is doing awesome rotating through different positions.  The only one he wasn't sure he liked was goalie.  It sure isn't fun when the other team scores with you in the goal-box. His favorite is of course Forward because he has the opportunity to score.   With 7 out of 12 players on the field at a time, each kid gets to play for a long time!  For the first time in 5 seasons Daniel is actually tired at the end of the games. 

With 2 games under their belts, the Dynamites are undefeated and looking forward to every game. We are looking forward to a strong soccer season for Daniel!

Our newest soccer player, Laurie, loves practicing with Cousin Alex and her Daddy and Uncle David as her coaches.  The team looked good until we were knee deep in the first game.  At U5, the kids play 3x3, no goalie with 8 min quarters on a little field.  Laurie started the 12:30 game hot and tired, but excited.  She scored 2 goals fairly quickly.  All too soon, everything went downhill for her and most of her team.  They ran out of steam and got tired of being pushed around by a little boy on the opposing team.  This kid wasn't pushing them while playing but coming up and pushing them down after the play was over.  By the end of the 3rd quarter, Laurie was hot, tired and crying.  She refused to go back in the game.  Poor Coaches, out of the 5 players for our team, they could only get 2 on the field to finish the game.  David managed to "encourage" Alex to continue with the promise of ice cream.  We got slaughtered.  

Thankfully, the next game was completely different.  The coaches instituted new drills at practice, including "Sharks and Minnows" to help the kids focus on their game. It was an 8:30 a.m. beautiful morning game.  Laurie was excited, aggressive and scored 6 goals.  Our little soccer monster was running with her hands and arms out to keep the other kids away from her, and keeping them from stealing her ball.  It was cute to see her get so aggressive and focused.

The only bad thing about having 2 kids playing soccer in a season is the overlap of games.  Brian and I each missed a great deal of one kid's game last weekend.  But they each had quite a cheering section with lots of family in attendance.  

Here's to a Great Soccer Season for the kids!

Monkeys in the Bed

The kids LOVE Ashley having a big bed.  This is now a frequent scene at our house on the weekends.

Lil Coog!

The UH Cougars game is on a Friday for some reason this week.  Laurie and I both wore our Cougar t-shirts today while out running errands to get ready for the game.  She got lots of attention while out and about today.  I wonder why?

We have a Green Friend

Laurie went back to preschool this morning as a Green Friend.  She was convinced she would be an Orange Friend since her friend's mommy is the teacher (and her last teacher was also a friend), but a few minutes with the Green Friends teacher was all she needed to get excited about Green.  She even said that Green is almost her new favorite color - that's big for this Yellow loving girl.

Ever since the big kids started back to school last week, she has been ready to get back to preschool.  This morning she knew exactly what she was going to wear - a Green dress!  And was ready to go about 30 minutes early.  She kept running to the window asking what was taking Aunt Leah so long to get here.

When I picked her up after school, she was exhausted but had a great time, loved the new playground at school and really liked her Green Friends teacher.

Laurie with her Green Friends teacher at Meet the Teacher last week.  Notice how fast Laurie adapted to a "Green" way of thinking.

A New School Year

The end of summer came upon us so very fast, but we were all about ready for school to begin again.  

Ashley is excited to be a 3rd grader (can you believe it?) and managed to get two of her good friends in her class once again.  She has already come home telling us she LOVES her new teacher.  

Daniel was excited to no longer be a kindergator, but a "big kid" in 1st grade. He only knows one boy in his class, but knowing my son, he will make lots of new friends very quickly

Daniel was insistent he did not want to be walked in on the first day, but Ashley wanted to have us go in with her.  The plan was that Brian would drop them off in the carpool lane, since they were no longer kindergartners.  After they left, I once again hosted several mom friends over for a little back to school celebration, and Laurie was happy to have playmates for the morning. I was extremely surprised when several of my friends told me they saw Brian at school that morning.  I thought they must have meant in carpool, but no, they saw him in the school.  When I picked the kids up (carpool took an HOUR that first day), Daniel explained that Daddy really wanted to walk them in, so Daniel let him.  So very sweet.  Brian got a big kick out of taking them in and meeting their teachers.  

The first day was great, though I wish I'd taken an "After" picture when they got home. Much different than this "Before" picture.  Day 2 after school was a little rougher as the exhaustion set in.  But the rest of the week went smoothly.  They love their new classes, teachers and friends.  We're off to a great school year.

New Soccer Player

We have a new soccer player in our family - Laurie!  Even though she didn't quite make the age cut off (missed it by 7 days), she is allowed to play on the U5 (preschool) team as long as her Daddy coaches.  Not able to say no to his daughter, Brian agreed to coach Birdie's first soccer team with my brother, David.  Laurie & Alex are ecstatic to have each other on their soccer team.  

Coach David, Laurie & Alex

They had their first practice tonight.  Brian was unfortunately out of town on a business trip, but David ran a great practice for these excited munchkins.  They stretched, ran drills, took shots on the goal and even tried a scrimmage.  

Laurie was so very excited.  All day, she asked me if it was time for soccer practice yet. When she was scrimmaging, she would get so happy that when she kicked the ball, she would stop and cheer.  I cannot wait for her first game!

New Doctor for More Testing

Dr Dickerson sent Birdie to an Allergist/Immunologist for further testing due to her concern that Birdie has an underlying condition that is causing her to get more sick than an otherwise healthy child should with normal maladies.  So off we went to see Dr. T.  

They started by asking Birdie to blow into a tube to test for a lung function test, and then she did it again hooked up to a computer.  We were told that her results were good.  When meeting with the Dr., we spent a great deal of time detailing Laurie's history, symptoms and treatments.  Upon examination, Dr. T said that it was evident Laurie has allergies - she has a crease across her noise, creases under her eyes, and purple shiners under her eyes.  

After reviewing her history and the examination, Dr. T laid out the various tests she would like performed on Laurie to get to the bottom of her problems.  She ordered a full blood work up, including her checking her immunoglobulins, her hemoglobin, the level of vaccines in her body and numerous other things I can't remember.  I asked if they would also test her for Beta Thalassemia Minor.  Her initial test at 9 mo came back inconclusive and we haven't tested her since.  At her emergency room visit in July 09 she showed anemic, so there is a pretty good chance that she has it also.  Ashley also tested positive at 9 mo. but Daniel was negative.  The Dr. included this test in her blood work order.

In addition to the blood work (which we had performed upon leaving the office), Dr. T ordered a full series of allergy testing, a CT scan of her sinuses and a sweat test for cystic fibrosis.  The allergy testing and CT scan are scheduled after Labor Day.  

The day after meeting Dr. T, we headed down to Texas Children's Hospital for her CF sweat test.  Dr. T wanted her tested to rule it out more than anything else. The test was super easy for Birdie.  They cleaned patches on her arms, then attached an electrode to her upper arm and one on the forearm.  Birdie wasn't happy when they turned them on, but she was a trooper for the 5 minutes on each arm.  After taking off the electrodes, the tech placed a piece of gauze on her forearm, covered it with plastic and taped it all up.  We headed back out to the waiting room for 30 minutes to allow time for her arm to sweat.  When they took it all off, the gauze was full of sweat.  Amazing.  

The best part about the test is that we were early for our appointment and were almost finished at the time of the scheduled appointment. That was a nice surprise.  Since Birdie did such a great job with the sweat test we headed over to the food court for a donut and chocolate milk.  We were done so early that we had lunch with Brian in the area.  It was a great addition to our day.

We heard back today that the sweat test for cystic fibrosis was negative.  I wasn't really worried about it but it was still a huge relief to hear that it was negative.

Sundays in Summer

We love weekends in summertime.  Lots of hanging out as a family and not much on the "To Do" list. After Birdie's clear x-ray, we finally got to hang out poolside once more.  

The kids realized we hadn't played Rock Band in many many months, so we got out the instruments and put in Lego Rock Band for a little jam session before bed.

We will miss Sundays in Summer once school begins again.

Summertime Reading

The kids had another wonderful summer of reading.  While we only made it to a few library story times, we were at the library every week.  The type of books we checked out this summer changed from previous years.

Ashley checks out about 10 chapter books at a time and reads them all in less than a week.  Daniel checks out everything from picture storybooks, easy readers to I Spy books.  In the evenings, he will sit on a barstool and read to me while I made dinner.  Laurie loves any Dora or Mickey Mouse books she can find, and I also choose a few picture books for her.

Ashley is a sweetheart and takes time to read to her little sister.  Toward the end of the summer we starting hearing Daniel reading to Laurie upstairs at bedtime.  So adorable.

It wasn't difficult to get their Summer reading trophies.  At any given time, we had approximately 70 books checked out from the library.  Brian doesn't approve of so many at a time, but it was rare that a book we brought home didn't get read.  And usually if it wasn't read, it was because I had picked it out for one of the kids and they weren't interested in it.

We also made point to visit Half Price Books almost weekly for their great summer reading program.  The kids each received a $3 gift card for every week they read 5 days.  My kids get books for Christmas and at the school book fair, but don't have the opportunity to purchase their own books from bookstores very often.  It confused them at first, the thought of picking a book to bring home permanently, but after a couple of weeks they got the hang of it.

Now that we have a library in the neighborhood, our library visits don't have to end with the end of summer.  Checking out lots of books will be on our year round to do list. 

Sewing Projects- First Half of 2010

The first part of the year, I managed to get quite a few sewing projects completed.  

Halter Shirt

Valentine's Skirt & Shirt

Valentine's Jumper

John Deere PJ Pants & T-Shirt

Back of T-Shirt

This is a dress that didn't fit that I bought on
Clearance with an idea for a party.

I took the bodice off and added a large elastic waist
band to make a skirt.  It was a great Party!

Added a fabric stripe to a t-shirt to match the skirt

Skirt for Ashley

Daniel's Super Hero Cape

Pillowcase

A Travel Sized Flannel Pillowcase

Daniel's Travel Size Pillow Case

A Travel Size Flannel Pillowcase

I finally embellished a t-shirt to match the jeans I embellished last year

Spring Dress for Ashley

Spring Dress for Birdie

Pillowcase Dress

The Girls in their Easter Dresses

PJ Shorts for Pajama Day at School
Ashley's are Monkeys and Daniel has Spiders

Clipboard for Daniel's Teacher

Back of Clipboard for Daniel's Teacher

Clipboard for Ashley's Teacher

Back of Clipboard for Ashley's Teacher

Our friend Lauryn in the pillowcase dress I made for her

Our friend Ella in her pillowcase dress

Our friend Megan in her pillowcase dress

Our friend Lauren in her pillowcase dress

Regrettably, since June, I haven't sewn much of anything.  With school about to start, I feel the urge to get my sewing machine back out and get sewing!