Another disappointment for me in DC

From the Yahoo news page & photo (this guy is third in line of command if something happens to Bush and Cheney. )
"House Speaker
Dennis Hastert of Ill. gets out of a Hydrogen Alternative Fueled automobile, left (in the photo on Yahoo news page), as he prepares to board his SUV (also in the photo), which uses gasoline, after holding a news conference at a local gas station in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2006 to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Hastert and other members of Congress drove off in the Hydrogen-Fueled cars only to switch to their official cars to drive the few blocks back to the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

. . . . sigh . . . .

Danielle & Cari fun :-)

Cari spent the night Friday so the Princesses, Queen and our royal servant, Trey, decided to dress up for the ice cream outing. The Queen taught the Princesses the Royal Wave . . .
Our yearly Bluebonnet photo . . . (thankfully the neighbors' yard had a few flowers left.)
The buckets of snails, slugs, rolypolies and other treasures we collected on our walk.
Yes, my hair is back to closer the normal color. . . . . . . . . . it's been a fun weekend. . . . . . . . . .

dance class, pork chops & a sleepover . . .

It's been a crazy week at work and home. Trey is taking his Composition 2 class so his nights doing school work are even longer. I am a big grump because of busy days at work, home, cook, clean, fight to get ready for bed, etc, etc...I'm just sooo tired.

Thursday is dance class night and that always means something easy on the dinner menu; we had spaghetti but the ground beef I used tasted a little funny to me and Trey. It was fresh and so far nothing but I can't help being a little worried--that's just my nature!

At work tomorrow morning is "Staff Appreciation breakfast" though it is listed on the Events calendar in the elevator as "Porkchop Breakfast". And, indeed, that is what it is! Once a year the Uppers at work prepare porkchops, pancakes, breakfast tacos, etc, for the staff to enjoy. It is very nice and everyone gets good and stuffed. You then spend the rest of the day smelling the porkchops and regretting how much you pigged out.

Tomorrow Danielle & I are picking up her friend, Cari, from school. She is spending the night. I'm sure they will have a blast!

Well . . . as I said previously I am sooo tired so off to bed!

Busy Sat . . .

Trey has been gone the whole weekend on Boys' Weekend--4 linked TVs to play Xbox and a keg of beer. So Danielle and I did it on our own. We had a busy Saturday that started with a birthday party for Reilly. Cari, was also there and the two played on the swings for a while.

Then we stopped by my parents' house on the way home. We drove up to GreyKo the cat hanging in the garden hose. Mom and Danielle had stamp fun and Danielle made me a crown so I could be Queen. Dad sent me home with a lot of homegrown broccolli--yum!

Danielle's cousins, Erin and Collin came in town with mom, Kelley (Trey's Aunt) so we went to dinner with them (they wanted some good Mexican food) then drove around Austin some before coming home. It was a fun weekend.

See Kelley--I didn't post the Blackmail photo :-)

Danielle's P/T conference

I had Danielle's Parent Teacher conference this morning. She is doing very well and is ready for the 4 year old class next year. Miss Allison said that Danielle "expresses herself very well and will let a teacher know when she doesn't like something and will try to resolve it." Miss Allison said that sometimes Danielle needs them to give her the words to help resolve a conflict (like "I don't like that you took that toy from me" or when it is unclear who had the toy first "When you are done with that toy in a minute, may I have it?")

I asked about Danielle's obsession with Hayden, who is not in her class but the neighboring classroom. Miss Allison said that she doesn't notice Hayden spending a lot of time with Danielle but that Hayden is one smooth talker; Hayden is almost a flirt and is always good about complimenting all the girls. Miss Allison said that Danielle's two best friends in class are Maddie and Kayla??? Danielle hardly ever mentions them so I was surprised. We discussed Danielle's sensitivity to Hayden's attention ("Hayden didn't talk to me today" in sad voice) and trying to alievate her sensitivity and dependence on always pleasing everyone.

Overall, Miss Allison and Miss Melissa both like Danielle and she has mastered all the 3 year behaviors. Our precious baby girl is growing up . . .

pudding . . .

So on my trip to Seattle I found out that my sister-in-law had never had Cook and Serve pudding; she has only had Instant pudding. I mentioned this shocking trivia to Trey to found out that he also had never had anything but instant pudding either. My brother and I so dislike the instant pudding so I was just so shocked! In honor of both Gretchen and Andrew's birthday today (isn't that neat?) I decided to make both Cook and Serve and Instant chocolate pudding after dinner for Trey and Danielle's taste test . . .

. . . I was outvoted . . . they both liked the Instant better . . .

. . . my brother agrees with me that they are both nuts . . .

My first rose of this season . . .

Easter egg hunting before church photos

Easter eggs we made today . . .

Trey is so good at taking these photos . . .

home

We (barely) made it back home. Our plane left from the S concourse in Seattle and we barely made it. As we were getting off the down escalator to the tram area, the tram was just pulling out. At the same moment we heard our names over the loud speaker & that our flight was boarded so we needed to report to the counter right away. We got off the tram; I ran (literally) up two flights of escalators to the gate where the attendant was announcing our name for the last time. We ran on the plane and they shut the door behind us. Got to our seats and were buckling up as the plane was backing out. Needless to say after all that I gladly forked over the $5 for the well deserved white wine. The plane switch in Minneapolis was easy and we made it home to 90 degree weather, our pet zoo and wonderful Trey.

The last few days in suburban Seattle I've been serenaded to sleep by the sounds of the Frog Convention at the neighbor's pond next door; The accompanying sounds of my long, hot shower tonight were courtesy of 50Cent & the thumpin' Caddy driving down the road. Ahhh . . . home in Austin--Live Music Capital of the World.

Off to bed!

a few Seattle pics before coming home . . .

At the beach
the impromptu 3 mile hike . . .
Addison & Mommy

Addison

Realize I didn't mention Addison at all . . . Addison is also precious and I've gotten to hold her some. She is really cute--looks a lot like Austin's baby photos to me. I think she will be a blonde. She's been a little fussy and gassy the last two days but is a good baby overall.

In Seattle

We got to Seattle safe and sound. It's been a busy week as you can imagine with a total of 6 girls ranging in age from 2 weeks to 9 years. Sunday and Monday were spent at the neighborhood park and around the house. Monday night was a meltdown with H with result of her staying home Tuesday. So Tuesday the rest of the kids and I went to the Beach, getting lost in the process. Tuesday night was a meltdown with K with result of her staying home today. Today was a trip to the Christian bookstore for Easter gifts from us and 3 mile hike on unsuccessful geocaching adventure. Found two cool spots at the river to explore though. I took H, K & Danielle out to dinner and the library so we could spend some one on one time and same with the rest of the family. Tomorrow morning is errands then lunch, maybe a movie then Easter egg dying. Flying home Friday.

We've had some good times and some trying times; I am now the queen of "just one more thing, stop, was I talking to you? Don't worry about what xxxxx is doing I am aware and will take care of it, enough! NOW! and to your room!" But it has been a wonderful trip being with all my precious nieces and G and D--the 2 minutes I've seen him not studying!

Off to Seattle . . .

Here's a photo of our precious new niece and cousin, Addison Faye (we were told the wrong name on the phone that night.)

Tomorrow Danielle and I are off to Seattle for their Spring Break and to welcome Addison.

Isn't she beautiful?

Danielle had a blast in the backyard on Monday.

Good pic of our sweet dog, Daisy.

Seder dinner

Tuesday night my UMW Circle (Susannah) met and the hostess, Teresa, presented a Seder dinner. It is traditionally thought a Jewish dinner but is actually a Christian dinner as well; it should be practiced more often IMO. Here's some info about a Seder dinner and its meaning that I found via website: http://www.christianseder.com/ You can also find the items you need for the dinner and their meanings. It's a very simple thing to do that I plan on trying next year with the family.

"Seder is the traditional Passover Week Dinner celebrated by the Hebrews since the Exodus. It is the Hebrew Thanksgiving, giving thanks to God for deliverance and redemption.
Seder is also called the Passover Dinner, commemorating the protection of God as the Angel of Death passed over every family protected by the Blood of the Paschal Lamb.
Seder is Bible Study. It is in this family setting that Jewish children were first introduced to the Book of Exodus as the adults gained further insight. We refer to this kind of instruction as multimedia, as all five senses are involved to make this study an unforgettable event.
Seder is that famous Dinner called The Last Supper, hosted by Jesus for His disciples. It is probable, based on The Gospels, to assume that Jesus celebrated every Seder of His life in Jerusalem. Seder, as the setting for Jesus' Last Supper, was the event Jesus choose to announce The New Covenant. And it was at this Seder that Jesus asked all of us to do this in remembrance of Him. Many of us have done part of the Seder at our various Communion Services, but the entire ceremony will bring us a profound sense of meaning."

One of Lisa's pages
One of Cindy's pages
My almost finished Easter cards.

me, Lauren, Cindy, Jenell, Lisa & soon-to-be Baby Maggie.

Girls' Weekend

Lisa had a Girls' weekend (Lisa, me, Jenell, Cindy & Lauren) at her house. I went Friday night and all Saturday until a little after 7. It was a lot of fun and I got my Easter cards mostly made. Trey was a trooper keeping Danielle and also Cari for about 4 hours of babysitting that I volunteered him for. He'll get his Boys' weekend the end of this month with Lisa's husband, Kris and friends. Here's some photos.