School Projects Will be the Death of Me

I'm not sure if anyone remembers the damselfly from last year, but when teachers assign 'projects' that translates to homework for the parents. Madalyn had to complete a Rubric to make a mobile for a book that she had read. Aly and AJ: First Stop New York: Rock-n-Roll Mysteries was Madalyn's book of choice. Aly and AJ are a Disney band of sisters that we saw at the Hannah Montana concert in January - they sing the Potential Breakup Song and apparently solve mysteries in books in their spare time. I say that because I got away without actually reading the book, but the mobile was 25% of her Reading grade. It took almost 6 hours to complete when it was all said and done and it felt like finals all over again. We'll have to make sure that Aly and AJ don't see her Camp Rock shirt when she turns it in tomorrow. I hope that I, I mean she, makes a good grade!

Makenzie's Bday

Madalyn got to attend a birthday party at Justice. If you have a daughter older than 5 and you haven't been to Justice, count yourself lucky! They opened one at Southpark Meadows and Madalyn LOVES to go there. It really is a little girl's dream store. And now they do parties - the girls got their hair done, makeup, a shopping spree, and then got to make t-shirts which they all wore to school today. Thanks Makenzie!

Budafest 2008

Budafest is always a lot of fun, and this year was not any different. Jeff drove a trailer of little ones for Dance Unlimited in the parade. Mom and Julie got to ride in the truck with him and Jessie and I held down the fort in the back of the truck. The kids always get a kick out of it and I was impressed that Madalyn, Macey and Kayla walked the whole route to hold the DU banner in front of the 3 (yes, 3) trailers of kids. We were able to polish off the end of the day with some great festival food and then head out to more fun for the day. Good times!

Eli's Christening

Eli during the service

The whole crew

Eli with godparents, parents and the pastors
On Sunday, our newest cousin Elijah Luke Crenshaw, 'Eli' for the cool kids was christened at Gethsemane Lutheran in Austin. Just one more chapter of our family story that has taken place at the church. Eli is Chris and Sarah's son and the first grandson for my Aunt Janice. He's super sweet and I can't wait to see him again at Christmas in a few weeks. Eli wore the christening gown that many of the family members have worn (Beck was the only one of our kids that wore it) that my great-grandmother made 95 years ago for my Uncle Heartwin. Pretty darn cool.

Girl Scout Troop Christmas Party

Madalyn and Girl Scout Troop 2283 went to the Horizon Bay nursing home on December 7 to sing Christmas carols to the residents. The girls did an amazing job and the people there were really happy to see them. We went to dinner at Kobe afterwards for the girls to exchange ornaments and get their awards for the fall season. Madalyn got four Try-It patches, a Hay Ride patch for working the ride at the Fall Carnival, and of course - the Polar Bear patch. The most earned patch of them all. The girls are beautiful, maturing and growing up way too fast.

Sights and Sounds 2008

Madalyn's dance team danced in San Marcos on December 4th at their Christmas festival, Sights and Sounds. The Darlings Team did a great job, except Madalyn forgot to take her mittens off (which were bright pink and VERY noticable). Poor thing, whoops! This is my favorite of their 3 competition dances, although they're going to add one more Production dance that incorporates all 4 dance teams. They just got their costumes in and it will be fun to show everyone those. I haven't seen it on her yet, but it made Jeff cringe a bit. He he. Any way, we were fortunate enough to have Julie, Jessie and Ella there to enjoy the cold evening with us which included LOTS of cotton candy and a caramel apple for Ella. :)

Troop 2283 at the Fillin' Station
Girls by the canoes & Madalyn on the rock wall


Troop 2283 climbing trees
Funniest thing I saw at camp, Dodgeball anyone?


Madalyn's Girl Scout Troop went for their first big campout this weekend in Marble Falls at Camp Champions. We had an absolute blast and built A LOT of character along the way. The camp out was supposed to have happened back in September when Hurricane Ike came through and it was much warmer. Which leads to one of the best things that happened- the girls earned their Polar Bear Patch for camping in freezing weather which was confirmed with 28 degrees on the the gauge outside. Always trying to stay positive, it was colder than a witches boob in a steel bra this weekend. With the 20+ mile an hour winds on Saturday and then not so much the breeze as the freeze on Saturday night. The girls could have cared less, but I don't think we'll be signing up for any more camp outs in November any time soon. Oh, and the best part was that the transmission went out in the Suburban on the way up there. I don't think that I get a patch for that though, darn it. The best idea that I had was to start the Twilight book while on a camping trip-let me just tell you when you're up in the middle of the night because you're freezing cold you should NOT being reading a book about vampires. I'm not sure what the heck I was thinking.It made for some interesting dreams when I did sleep!
The girls got to play GaGa(an Israeli dodgeball game), climbed a rock wall, went on a nature hike, played tetherball, made friendship bracelets, cooked smores on a campfire and did a scavenger hunt. It was fun watching them interact with each other and even more fun hanging out with the other moms. We have a GREAT group of parents and girls. On that note-

1 Camp Champions
2 Camp Champions
3 Camp Champions
Buh-Bye

Ballet Bricks

Last year Ballet Austin sold personalized bricks outside of their new Dance Education Center as a fundraiser. Since they are one of my clients I wanted to support their efforts - and their new building - which is BEAUTIFUL. I bought one for the kids and another for my grandparents. These are the grandparents that Beck is named after. It's really nice to know that for 3 weeks every year I will get to walk by the bricks and have the reminder of them (my past) and the future they've given me.

WURSTFEST

Wurstfest - the ten day salute to sausage - in New Braunfels is one of my favorite events each year. We went for the first time when Jeff was at CITM and we'll go back every year from here on out. We met up with Kels and Sam, Aimee and Matt, Robbie and Heather, Jessie and Ella, the Kukols, and Brandy and Brenah. It was a lot of fun with all of the sausage, beer, sauerkraut, carnival rides, polka and the chicken dance of course!! The funniest thing was the wheel breaking off the stroller after almost 3 years of use and an impaired Jeff trying to push it with 3 wheels and kids still in it through the middle of the beer lines. LOL!

Last Soccer Game

Last Saturday we enjoyed Beck's final soccer game. He did a great job this year and we really like watching him play. He's a funny bunny that one. He was super proud of his medal and was sure let us know that he only needed one more to have as many as Madalyn. :)

VOTE!!

All of the kids dressed alike for November 4th to remind everyone to VOTE NOW! Don't they look precious?! Thanks Aunt Julie!

Halloween!!

On Halloween we started out with a Trick or Treat at my office - which included our IT girl Tracey who was a witch. The boys loved her outfit and Beck is totally convinced that I work with a witch. He he. We stopped by the party at the Kid Ranch and then went to pick up Madalyn from her first dance. Yes. A dance at school with boys. Thankfully she didn't dance with any of them! Or at least that's what she told us. :) We headed to Buda for a carnival at the City Park and then did some traditional trick or treating in a nearby neighborhood. The kids got more candy than they could ever eat.

Race for the Cure

Madalyn and I will be joining the Race for the Cure this Sunday in honor of Bonnie Ream. I know that many of you were close to her as well, and we would love to have you join us. If you don't have the time or energy please take a moment to remember her for the amazing person that she was and how she changed us.

We're walking with the ML&R team and if you'd like to walk or donate, go to www.komenaustin.org then on the left side of the page is a “donation” bar. Click on that bar. On the next page, click on the “Support a Race for the Cure Team”, then search for a team. Our team is ML & R.

10 Year Anniversary

No pics for this one, but Jeff and I celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our first date yesterday. Where did the time go? I know that Kara and Marjorie will appreciate the memory of me being so nervous at the PPA Lyceum knowing that we had a date right after it was over. Ah, the good old days. It's been an amazing 10 years and it just makes me think: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all. :)

Our Little Girl is Growing Up

What else can I say? Ouch.

NKOTB2

The group picture as promised. Jessie was also kind enough to include a picture of Jordan blowing her a kiss at the end of the concert. :) NKOTB 4EVA!

NKOTB

Okay, go ahead and laugh if you want, but the girls went to San Antonio to see New Kids on the Block in concert at the AT&T center. IT WAS AWESOME!! They sang everything from their old albums and all of the songs from their new CD, the Block. We met for dinner at Camino Ranch and enjoyed some cheap margaritas and bought bootleg t-shirts from a guy at the traffic light. The show was great and we had way too much fun. My camera batteries died early, but Jessie has a group pic that I'll have to post later. Jordan with his shirt off, Joey's dance solo and their overall hotness were the best parts of the show. They closed with Hangin' Tough and Step by Step and it was so loud in that place that you wouldn't have known that 20,000 30-year olds still had it in them. We do! Still hangin' tough - Holly Bea

Showstopper

Dance Unlimited Girls & Madalyn with Geo

Tap class

Madalyn and I attended the Showstopper Dance Convention in Dallas on October 11 & 12 at the Grapevine Convention Center and Great Wolf Lodge. I hadn't ever been to anything like that before and it was definitely a learning experience for both of us. Madalyn took tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, ballet, pom pom, and song and dance classes for 16 hours over 2 days. Some highlights were learning Hip Hop from Geo. He was part of the Iconic dance crew on the first season of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. She learned tap from an ex-Rockette and jazz from one Britney's backup dancers. I got to take makeup classes from one of the makeup artists for Young and the Restless and sit on plastic chiars or the floor until I was almost crippled from the back pain. :) Grapevine is a really pretty town and I would love to go and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge- it has an indoor waterpark, arcade, and wizard scavenger hunt. We stayed in Burleson so the boys would be entertained while we were at the convention, but Madalyn is pressing to go to Great Wolf for her birthday. We'll see.

Cheetah Girls Concert

Madalyn
Fabulous Daughters
Fuego - my favorite song!
Fabulous moms

There were 6 fabulous mothers that took their even more fabulous daughters to the Cheetah Girls concert on October 8. The Cheetah Girls kicked off their 'One World' world tour at the Erwin Center in Austin, TX and we got to be there to see it. We enjoyed dinner at Louie's 106 and then cotton candy at the show for dessert. Sabrina, Keily, and Adrienne did an amazing job singing and getting through all of those costume changes. Heavens- it's crazy how many times they changed. Which was evidenced by in the finale Sabrina's skirt got stepped on and ripped off. At least she had on leggings! But the other two could hardly stop laughing when it happened. It was very nice to see them seem very real and that they were enjoying themselves. Almost as much as we were. :)

Ella's 3rd Birthday

Bristol and Ella going for a ride

Argh, Matey!

Ella and Addison

Presents everywhere!!


We started Ella's birthday celebration at Gattitown on Wednesday night. I'm hopeful that they won't end up on a motorcycle like that in the future! Then on Saturday, after Fire Fest we went to Ella's for her birthday party. Everyone had a great time and the funniest part was some of the older boys not wanting to eat the Princess cupcakes. Silly boys, the cupcake tastes the same! He he.

Fire Fest

Next on the list was Fire Fest where the Darlings Dance Team performed, and Bristol and Ella had their dancing debut. The Team did a great job and Ella and Bristol were precious. The Wheels on the Bus is something every kid should know. :)The boys also enjoyed getting to see the car show.

BVES Dedication Ceremony

Brownies and Daisies

Madalyn, Natalie, and Delaney adding red to the flag for Bravery True

Leading the Pledge of Allegience


Saturday was was a marathon day. We started with Beck's soccer game and then headed over to Blanco Vista for the Dedication of the school. Madalyn's Girl Scout troop, along with another troop of Daisies, performed a Flag Ceremony. The girls were SO CUTE and Madalyn spoke really well. She also got bumped up to hold the flag because she was tall enough not to let it touch the ground. He he. Being tall is a good thing every now and again.

Clint Black at the Meyerson

On September 29, I got the pay off of my birthday present from Jeff which was a night away- On a week night! My parents were kind enough to hold down the fort for us to sneak away to Dallas for the Clint Black concert. The road trip was fun, the hotel was great and we had a swanky dinner at Dakota's steakhouse downtown. Funny thing was that the bartender had worked with Jeff at Chili's and remembered him so he totally hooked us up. Small world. To the concert though. The picture of Clint is a little blurry, but the acoustics at the Meyerson Symphony Center was unreal. It was just him on the stage with his band singing. No dancers, no pyro-technics, just him singing and it was AMAZING. The high points were definitely when he sang 'our song' which is Like the Rain and then when he performed Something That We Do. It was a fabulous present and Jeff has reclaimed his status as the best gift giver. Ever. Hands down.

Lehman High Homecoming

Lewey the Lobo and the girls


Seniors Win!

We had the opportunity last week to attend the Lehman High School (new cross-town rival of my alma mater Hays High) Homecoming pep rally. I pick up Lily with Madalyn after school each day and her mother, Katie, was dancing with the teachers for the pep rally. So after school, we grabbed Victoria and headed over to watch the festivities. First thing I want to say is that I MISS HIGH SCHOOL, if I could only do it all over again knowing what I know now. And second, I felt dang old because I didn't approve of anything they wore and some of their behavior made me cringe - ah, 30 hits me at last. :)
The best part was that the cheerleaders had been to the Elementary School earlier in the day for a mini-pep rally there and recognized the girls, so they pulled them out onto the court to judge the Spirit Stick contest in front of about 1,000 people. (Yes! I totally forgot about the spirit stick, no one dropped it, thank you Bring It On.) Lily, Victoria and Madalyn thought they were Rock Stars. It was amazingly loud in there, but rightfully so, and the seniors won. Go Lobo Class of 2009. (WHAT?!?!)