Living History

The day before Spring Break, Cameron's 5th grade presented their Living History project. Students were asked to choose someone "famous" in history and research their lives. Various portions of the project were due weekly including the Bibliography, Research Notes, Written Speech, Memorized Speech, and Props/Costumes.

Cameron considered many "famous" women before deciding on Marguerite Henry, the author of Newbery Award winning books such as Misty of Chincoteague, King of the Wind, and Justin Morgan Had a Horse. I was so proud of her for doing all of the work herself - including deciding on her costume and props, and drawing a large picture of the horse, Misty, in a stable door.

Students in character lined the hallways in their costumes with props. Parents and other students went up and down the hallway engaging the characters by pretending to press a "button" on a sign identifying famous persons in history such as George Washington, Sarah Palin, Juliette Low, Theodore Roosevelt, and many more - inventors, authors, political figures, explorers, etc.

Cameron, as Marguerite, sat on a little stool as though she was in the stables reading a book. When you pressed the "button," she looked up and delivered her speech, identifying herself and telling about Marguerite's life.

Spring Photos

Our elementary school takes their individual school photos for school and yearbook purposes in the Fall and the class photo in the Spring. We've learned over the past three years that they also take another individual photo with the class photo, even though we didn't receive a notice or payment sheet in advance. It's the ol' take the picture, send them home, and charge parents for the sheets you don't return by the end of the week.

I've never purchased these individual photos; however, this year I think I just might pick up a sheet. How can I turn down these fabulous images?

Mardi Gras

Bryan and I moved to Galveston in the middle of Mardi Gras 1995. I remember the traffic as Dad and the family tried to drive the U-Haul to my new apartment. During the 7 years we lived on the island, we attended Mardi Gras parades a few times - not annually - prefering to avoid the massive descent of tourists and Houston residents. A bit of random trivia: Cameron got her very first sunburn while watching the Krewe of Munchkins Parade during Mardi Gras 2001 when she was 18 months old.



After moving thirty-plus miles up the Mainland only Bryan has returned to Mardi Gras. And those photos cannot be displayed on the blog! This is a family-oriented website. This year I just got bitten by the bug and really wanted to see the Krewe of Gambrinus parade on the first weekend. A work colleague/friend belongs to the Krewe and had been talking it up and the weather was going to be beautiful.



Everything worked out perfectly. We planned our parking, we weren't over-crowded in our spot on the Seawall, and we walked afterward to our favorite restaurant and got a table before the heavy crowds hit.

I hope that the good memories we made that night will encourage us to try again next year.

Close Up

I just love this photo of Cameron. I took the picture while trying to show her that she had orange paint on her eyelash.

Rodeo Art

In January, Cameron came home with a little postcard advertising a Rodeo Art show at The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake. On the back of the postcard someone had written, "Cameron - Congratulations!" She received no other information from her teacher. When I asked her whether she had done a lesson in her art class related to the rodeo, she replied that she had painted a picture of a horse rearing.

Still not quite sure what the Rodeo Art exhibition was all about, but fairly certain Cameron's picture must be on display, I made arrangements to take off the afternoon from work so I could take her to the reception for elementary grades.

Crowds of parents and children packed the two-story multi-room exhibit space. This exhibit included the top 2 or 3 pieces of art in each grade from each school in our District. Another nearby District displayed their art on the second floor.

A little overwhelmed, we signed in, accepted a program, and began walking around looking for Cameron's painting. Fifth grade art lined the back wall downstairs and Cameron's eyes spotted it first.

Then we realized it had a blue first place ribbon attached!! All three of us were so proud and there was quite a bit of blushing, hugging, and congratulating! We took photos with the new camera and the iPhone to send immediately to Daddy, Aunt Amanda, and other family.

I think she must have received some inspiration from brilliant sunsets at Silver Belle Ranch and her love of all-things-horse related from riding this past year.

Congratulations to our budding artist!!

Snowy Cold Christmas

After spending Christmas morning at home, we packed up the Odyssey and headed north for McKinney. Traffic was light and would you believe we saw some of our neighbors when we stopped at the Madisonville Buc-ee's.

When we passed north of downtown Dallas we immediately went on the lookout for snow, since they received a few inches of the white stuff Christmas eve. Little patches of snow could still be seen in the gullies and shadowed spaces once we got north of Plano. The girls were thrilled to see snow in Brad & Amanda's yard!

The girls delighted in proving to me that enough snow still lay on the ground to provide them with over an hour of snowball fights. Most of my photos are on the iPhone, and I have not figured out how to move them from the phone to the computer, but a long thick line of snow lay between the two houses and supplied them with ample ammunition.

Eventually I got too cold and wet and went inside, but Bryan and then Brad went outside and joined in the screaming, panting, running, chaos. Cameron ruthlessly taunted and watched for opportunity to strike, but when the tables turned and she received a handful of snow down the back of her pants she didn't like it one bit!

Amanda prepared a delicious Christmas Day supper for us and we enjoyed a somewhat quieter evening. The next night the six of us went into Allen for the Americans hockey game. Bryan took me to my first hockey game for our second date, yet we had never taken Cameron or Brenna to see a live hockey game. Both girls take after their parents, getting really into the game, calling out to the ref and players and everything. The Americans played a very close game, but pulled it out at the end for the win!

The next day we said goodbye to Brad & Amanda and headed west into Fort Worth to visit Aunt Debbie. Cameron & Brenna were very excited with their gifts from Debbie, which included riding clothes and pierced ears. She took them to get their ears pierced, with my (albeit) nervous permission. I can't really explain why, but I had some real anxiety over allowing them to get their ears pierced. Both girls handled it very well and love their pierced ears.

Before leaving Fort Worth, we finally (as Bryan would say) went into the Cabela's store right across the highway. Bryan has been really wanting to go into this store. He's been to the one in Kansas City, KS and told me it would make Bass Pro Shop and Gander Mountain look like a Walmart. He wasn't far off - the store was amazing. In addition the retail shopping they had incredible taxidermy exhibits of every possible game, including Conservation Mountain, an African Diorama, an Aquarium, and the Texas Big Game Museum.

We spent over an hour just walking around marveling at the products and the displays. Before we left, we stuck our head inside the shooting arcade/gallery to see what it was about and this young guy leaving gave Bryan a handful of his leftover tokens "for the girls." Bryan helped Cameron & Brenna have a little fun in the shooting gallery, though I'm not sure who had more fun in there.

Christmas morning

We had a lovely Christmas morning, with the girls appearing in our bedroom promptly before 7 a.m. raring to go into the living room and see whether Santa arrived. While I dragged myself out of bed and made myself presentable, Bryan playfully teased the girls, until all of them were a noisy laughing group. He finally allowed them to check their stockings by the fireplace, then teased them again not allowing them into the living room with the Christmas tree.

You'll be thankful that I didn't upload the home movie he took of the girls seeing their Santa presents for the first time. That little squeal that used to be so cute when they were younger has turned into a full-fledged scream AAAAiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee with lots of jumping up and down. (Honestly, I'm not so sure why they're so overwhelmingly surprised - they have always received exactly what they asked for from Santa Clause. We do quite a bit of guiding/vetting before they visit him at the mall.)

Cameron received the bow & arrow set and a target. She became interested in archery when we visited the Renaissance Festival in November.

Brenna asked Santa for an Our Generation Doll named Jennie. The doll's full name is now Geneveieve Marie and Brenna seems perfectly happy even though it is not an American Girl doll. I wish they'd had Our Generation dolls available last year.

It wouldn't be Christmas in our house if the girls didn't receive a lot of BOOKS. One of Brenna's books this year was "How to be a Princess" that included lift-flaps, small letters and notes that you pull from attached envelopes, and had many tips. As you compare the next two photos, can you tell what princess attribute they are reading about?

If you guessed "Posture" then you are exactly right!

Brenna's last present was actually the first one I purchased this Christmas season. She began asking for a Snuggie after seeing the very first commercial and did not stop until she opened the present. It's an adult "one-size fits-all" but she loves it.

After breakfast, before we packed the car to head to Brad & Amanda's home in McKinney, Cameron & Bryan spent a little time in the backyard practicing with her new bow & arrow set. She loves it.