Merr's 88th Birthday

Every year growing up, we spent Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve with Merr and our Henley family. As the grandkids grew up, married, and added our own children into the mix, it's become much harder to schedule family gatherings around Christmas. This year, Merr insisted we have a big party to celebrate her 88th birthday.

My aunts did a fabulous job decorating and planning the party. Merr sat in one corner visited with all her guests before lunch. Cameron had been writing actual letters to Merr for a few months, and she finally showed Merr her newly pierced ears. Merr looks pretty surprised!

After a lovely catered luncheon, Merr opened her presents. We gave her homemade rosemary mint soap from our local farmer's market. Then she gathered with her children & their spouses for a photo. (Uncle Mike wasn't there.)

We took more photos with Merr surrounded by her grandchildren, their spouses, and her great-grandchildren.

In hindsight, it was a very special birthday and party, because a few months later Merr fell and broke her femur at the hip socket. After a successful surgery, she spent several weeks in rehabilitation care. Today she's back at home with Aunt Pam and Uncle Jack, but the fall reminds us how fragile her body has become and how important it is to see her and tell her we love her very much.

Family Fun Run

In an attempt to "journal" or "scrapbook" a bit more of 2010, I'm going to work my way through the first half of the year. To start have to go all the way back to Februrary 13, 2010 when the elementary school hosted their annual Fun Run and Family Fun Day.

Just like last year, the school hosted a 3K run and 1K walk. This year all four of us signed up for the 3K, though I wasn't really sure I would run. Temperatures were pretty cold that morning, you can see how bundled up we were in the photograph. True to form, we arrived late a few moments before the run began and had to check in and get our numbers. We told Brenna and Cameron not to hang back with us, but to run at their own pace and meet us back at the school.

I struggled through the first 1K and Bryan kept pace with me. Brenna and Cameron lapped us and finished well ahead of us, but I managed to keep a fast walk/slow jog and I actually finished 3K with Bryan pushing me the whole way.

After the race, we went home, showered, and came back to the school for the Family Fun Day. The girls enjoyed the Cake Walk, playing it three or four times until they'd both won a prize.

I had a volunteer shift at a pickle spin booth, where players spin a wheel hoping to land on green to win a huge dill pickle. Thankfully Cameron wanted to work the shift with me so she handled putting the pickles into the baggies.

Brenna found her Rodeo Art on display. Even though she wasn't chosen for display at The Arts Alliance of Clear Lake show earlier, she was very proud of her own creation.

At the awards ceremony Brenna received a medal for second place in her age/grade division (K-2). We asked her how she did it and she said she just ran. She said she was running with Hailey, who won first place, and that if she had known they were first and second she would have ran ahead of Hailey to win first!

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!!