January Recap

Now that it's March, it's time for a January recap.  The past couple of months have been pretty busy around here! 

Back on New Year's Day, we took a First Day hike at the Houston Arboretum. It was a gorgeous day and it was so good to get outside.  Nature always makes me happy.  

We also visited Brazos Bookstore for their Yappy New Year celebration. It's always fun when you can bring your dog to the book store!

January was pretty full of book events. Author Chitra Soundar visited West U to talk to our second and third graders.  She was the third author to visit while I was the substitute librarian!

The annual Bluebonnet Breakfast also happened while I was subbing.  Henry received an award for reading all 20 Bluebonnet nominees.  

The winner at our school was Refugee by Alan Gratz.

In other happenings, Henry made some really cool art

and I cracked my computer screen 

which led to quality work time on the upstairs computer with the cat on my lap.  

Henry has been creating a dungeon for D&D.  

Henry and I attended his last International Festival at West U

and Henry also said the Pledge of Allegiance at Sorcha Landau's investiture as Justice in the Court of Appeals.  

Finally, we had a big pep rally at school for the start of the Souper Bowl of Caring. 

Our school donated over 45,000 pounds of food to the Houston Food Bank!  Fifth grade always brings in the most amount of food.  

That's a wrap for January!

Lately: A December Recap

December was a packed month! Here's a peek at some of our non-holiday activities:

Soccer is Will's chosen winter sport. He is pretty good at it!

West U Elementary's book fair was at the very beginning of December. I got to be a guest reader one night while Gene and the boys shopped.

Henry's middle school application process is nearly over -- just a few final requirements! Gene snapped this photo after Henry's Kinkaid interview.   

Henry got some new bedding, courtesy of Gramma and Grampa. This crazy quilt was pieced together by my great-grandma and sewn by my grandmother. Henry's old quilt was completely worn out and he really loves his new quilt!

The boys played lots and lots of D&D, both at home and with the cousins. 

We hardly ever go out for dinner, but we were exhausted one night and went to Pizza Motus, West U's new pizza spot. 

Normally we eat at home because Gene and I both enjoy cooking. Gene has spent much of winter break making dinners. We haven't had codfish cakes in ages, and they were a delicious treat. We had a few leftovers, which the gobbled up as an after-walking-the-dog-snack.  

We can hardly believe it's 2019 already and school and work start back up in two days!

Summer Break: The Final Weeks

Summer 2018 is officially over. School started last week for Will and this week for Henry and me. The lazy days of summer sure were fun, but now we're back in the routine of the school year and everything is plugging along smoothly. 

Here's a peek back at our last few weeks of summer:  

Will walked down one morning in this outfit and all I could say was, "wow!" He sure was bright. School uniforms can be a blessing -- at least he looks pulled together!

I made him change before we left the house. I snapped this photo because his great aunt Rosemary sent him this book for his brithday and he devoured it!

Family dinner right after we got home from Vermont

Will went back to school last Tuesday, so Henry and I had a few days to hang out together. We had a playdate with friends, ran errands, and had a dreaded orthodontist appointment. Henry really dislikes the orthodontist, but fortunately this visit was just a check up and he didn't need any work done. We celebrated afterwards with lunch and a watermelon lemonade at Local Foods.  

After lunch, we ran around to all the Little Free Libraries in West U, dropping off books and finding some to take home!

We also visited the McGovern Centennial Park one morning.

We were on our way to the science museum. We found a fantastic new exhibit, Life in Stone. The exhibit focuses on the works of Gerd Dreher, an artist who carved in gemstones. The pieces were incredible and not like anything Henry and I had seen before.  

 

Last Thursday, Henry and I went down to the Port of Houston for a free Ship Channel tour on the M/V Sam Houston.  

Henry found this gorgeous weed in the grass and held it throughout the 90-minute boat tour!

Just waiting to board the boat 

The Ship Channel has been offering these free tours 5 days a week for 60 years. The tour was so interesting! We learned all about the history of the Ship Channel and its importance to Houston's economy.  

They even passed out free coffee, sodas, water and cookies. We both had a really good time, and I'm glad we were finally able to get tickets. The tour had been on my to-do list for ages, but it books up quickly.

I snapped this photo to send to Gene -- new shorter haircut plus my "I Voted" sticker.  I'm pleased to report that Houstonians passed the $2.5 billion flood control proposition last weekend on the anniversary of Hurricane Harvey!

Here's one final picture on the final day of summer break: playing Risk in their Christmas pajamas! 

The school year ahead will be one of our busiest yet, but it's off to a fantastic start. Here's to a good year!

Summer Break: Week One

School's our for summer -- for all of us except me! I started grad school (again) back on June 4 and am working to get my certification to be a school librarian and may also pursue my Masters in Library and Information Science. It's made for a busy summer so far, but I am so enjoying my class!

On our first weekend of summer (just before I started grad school), we went down to Galveston. It was a quick day trip. The boys played at the beach, we ate lunch to a new-to-us restaurant and explored a museum we'd been excited to visit. 

Stewart Beach

Mosquito Cafe

The Bryan Museum 

Our first week of summer break was pretty quiet. We played lots and lots of board games.

We visited the science museum. The energy hall has some new exhibits, including one where you create fireworks displays by adding different amount of chemicals to the mix. We made fireworks over Singapore in honor of Gene who was there for work that week!

We also visited the butterfly center

for the Friday Feeding Frenzy! We've been other years, but this time we got to see the preying mantis devour a cricket.

We also visited the pool 

and spent lots of time playing with Ruby.

Our summer fun has just begun!