Oh Texas

Texas, oh how I love your Arctic Blasts. And I love that the possibility of rain and freezing temps gave me and the kids a day off. 

We may not have gotten the snow day we'd hoped for, but we have had a fabulous morning of trampoline ice angels. 

 Enjoy your day and stay cozy. 

Eleven Days of Travel

I'm backtracking here.  It's mid January now and I'm bitter I missed all the opportunities to talk about our ELEVEN day vacation.  Now that we are home, whenever someone asks what we did over break, my line is:  "Eleven days, 3 kids, 3 cats, a Barbie Dream House and no snow.  Ugh."  Don't get me wrong, we were so glad to go back home, and the kids and cats did (I think) pretty darn well considering no one could move more than a few inches in the (what Kenny calls) his Tetris-packed van.

The only downside (besides the travel space) to spending your whole vacation on the move is, well, you spend your whole vacation on the move.  This makes coming home and jumping right into the routine again, a little hard. We can't figure out why nothing in our house is clean or why zero projects were accomplished - oh yeah, we weren't home.

The upside to all the going though, is that we got to visit and visit and visit - with each other, with our families, and with our friends and truly the best part, we got to watch our kids befriend the next generation of our favorite Oklahoma and Nebraska people.  Since we don't make it home that often, it's a relief when Elijah and Lydia and Lanie play with these boys and girls they see maybe once a year.  I think there is this assumption by adults that just because you throw 8 kids together who have similar ages that they'll be best friends.  Doesn't always happen.  We are just lucky I guess, really blessed that this trip worked in our favor.  I loved seeing Elijah play soccer with Jenny's kids or Lydia beg for a sleep over with Sharla's daughter or Lanie tagalong with her second cousins.  For those moments and so many more spent visiting this past Christmas, I know I'll take another 11 day road trip sometime in the future, maybe minus the Barbie Dream House.

For those who we visited while up north, I've got pictures to share, or comparisons to make.

The Old & The Young.

                               

It's Time for Girl Scout Cookies!

When I signed the girls up for Girl Scouts, I knew that they would enjoy it.  Or at least I hoped they'd enjoy it.  When I finally did, all of my guilt for not having Lydia in a troop any early could finally be put to rest.  Being a former Girl Scout with a mom who worked for the Girl Scout council, I felt just a little pressure to get these girls involved.  Lanie is a tough kid to please though.  She doesn't want to do anything but play - no soccer, no softball, no gymnastics, and "stop signing me up for dancing."  I was a bit worried.  Luckily though, they both love their Brownie and Daisy troops and are having to make new friends.  So far Lydia has gotten the chance to be in the Pearland Town Home Parade and also go to an archery lesson.  I wasn't able to go watch but her dad texted a picture of her along with this comment:  "Lydia "Katniss" Ward is pretty darn good."  You'd have to read/watch the Hunger Games to get that reference.   My point - she's getting to do a lot of things she wouldn't normally get to do. 

Lanie got her Daisy pin at a special ceremony when she recited the Girl Scout promise.  (okay 7 moms sitting in a circle watching their girls get up in front of a group is my idea of a ceremony).  She now can recite the ol' pledge: "Oh my honor, I will try . . . ." 

All in all, Girl Scouts -- good for my kids.  The one teeny tiny thing about having two daughters involved in girl scouting is (depending on how you look at it) the dreaded or (glass half full), fun cookie sales.  For me, it's double the trouble.  Double the pain of asking friends and neighbors to BUY, BUY, BUY!

Yesterday was the first day the girls could sell, so we went out and walked the neighborhood on what must have been the best Texas weather day Ever in January, truly.  I basked in the sunshine as I walked the sidewalks. Love this Texas.  And surprisingly the girls really liked going door to door selling cookies.  I felt so old, watching their own independence grow. 

Lanie's spiel:  "Hi I'm a Daisy.  Do you want some cookies?"  I was little concerned the neighbors expected us to give them free cookies. But because she's little, and cute, and spoke shyly, several neighbors probably felt like they'd break her heart if they said no.   Lydia was a little more informative, professional, explaining what she liked best about being a Brownie (when asked) and she sold even more. She did run into a No Soliciting sign at one door which totally confounded her.

The best part of the whole hour or so we walked was watching just how into selling Lanie got.  After her "I don't like any organized sport" attitude, I didn't expect her to be so jazzed to walk up to strangers' doors and talk.  And she was so optimistic.  When she walked up to a house with no cars in the driveway, she reasoned, "I bet someone took the car, but the others are home."  Another time when she lingered at a door much too long, and when I told her to come on since they weren't there, she told me, "I bet they are upstairs and it's just taking a while for them to get down the stairs"or the people who had the garage open who didn't come to the door she thought, "they must be vacuuming and can't hear the ding dong (her name for the doorbell)." It was refreshing to see just how positive she was and how much thought she put into the people behind each door.

When Lydia complained about hurt feet and thirst and was ready to go home, Lanie wanted to do just one more house.  And after we hit the jackpot where a mom who previously had a girl scout bought 10 boxes from both Lydia and Lanie, we were ready to go home.  

The girls still have more to sell to reach their goal, so if you have a hankerin' for some Thin Mints or Lemonades, just let me know.  My girls would love to knock on your door.  

It's a Girl Scout promise.