Weekend Fun!

A couple of weekends ago we had several things going on- imagine that, right? Here are some random pics from Madalyn dancing at the Buda park and at Goin' Bananas, an inflatable party place in Manchaca. I love the action shot of Bristol and Jeff on the slide. I'm not sure who was having more fun-

Adrian and Melissa's Wedding

Our friends Adrian and Melissa got married on Sunday at the Kinningham House in Round Rock. The ceremony was beautiful and you can see that they looked great. I was very honored to be the Maid of Honor for the wedding and have enjoyed the many years of our friendship. I forgot to take my camera out until later in the day, but I had to make sure to get pictures of the cake for my mom. She made the wedding cake as their gift. I wish I would have gotten half of her creative skills! :) Congrats to the newlyweds!

Madalyn's 4th Dance Recital

Madalyn's first go on the Pre-team for Dance Unlimited went really well. We capped off the year with a dance recital at Texas State. Everything was great and Madalyn had a full fan club in attendance including Jessie and Ella who weren't pictured. Madalyn is going to try out for the competition dance team this summer, so wish her luck!

New Camera!

I finally bought a new digital camera and this was the first picture that I took. Hopefully the updates won't take so long now! :)

Last Day of School

Well, Madalyn's last day of school was May 30th and 2nd grade was an exciting year. They celebrated the day with an awards ceremony where Madalyn was recognized for perfect attendance and receiving all 'As' for the whole year. We made a deal with her that if she got perfect attendace she would get a Nintendo DS. She hasn't missed a day of school for the last three years and the presents keep stepping up. She finished off the day with a pool party at her friend Jacqueline's.

Blanco Vista PTA Treasurer

I'm sure that everyone that's reading this will be shocked to learn that I ran for Treasurer of the Blanco Vista PTA and was instated last week. The Dual Language program will be moving from Tobias to a brand new school next year and I have volunteered my services. I'm not sure that I fully realize what I've gotten myself into, but I figured that since my kids will potentially be going to school there for the next 8 years that I should do something to make it a better place. Not to mention that I might earn the boys a spot in the program- there's always a little evil in good. :)

The best part about the new school is that the kids voted their mascot to be the Wildcats (from High School Musical) and their colors are red and silver. Go Wildcats!

Field Day

What is the best day of the year? Field Day. Seriously I really think it is. I had so much fun watching Madalyn's class compete in the 50 yard dash, potato sack race, obstacle course, hopper race and tug-o-war. There were new things like a train ride, free time to dance, jump castles and something with a sponge and bucket and trying to fill it. Needless to say, it was awesome and we finished off the day by getting to swim at Jac's house. It was a lot of fun and just made me remember that Field Day is the best day ever.

Cinco de Mayo

In the Dual Language program, the Cinco de Mayo celebration is always a big deal. This year was no different. The kids had two dances, an outfit change, and two songs. They closed with 'De Colores' which is a great tradition. I was personally excited because there is a new boy in the program this year named Rogelio (Roger) who is taller than Madalyn! So she didn't throw poor Logan around the stage again this year, although last year was totally priceless. That's Maddy and Rogelio in one of the pictures. We continue to be so proud of Madalyn- she's doing an amazing job and is really thriving in the Dual Language program.

Creepy Man Pillow

This is the funniest thing that Bristol has been up to lately. Julie won this pillow at Six Flags a few years back and Cody thought it was creepy and didn't want it in the house. So we inherited it and its laid low for quite a while. Until recently. Beck took it to school for nap a few times and then Bristol has taken it over. It's been to Miss Amy's, HEB, Burleson, Dance Unlimited and all over our property. And he actually calls it 'creepy man'. Good times!

Random Weekend Pics

Petting Zoo

The Wiener Dog races had a petting zoo that the kids, including Jeff, loved. It had lots of baby animals including goats, a pig, chickens, a calf, and a rabbit. They were really sweet!

2008 Wiener Dog Races

Every year the Buda Lion's Club hosts the Buda Country Fair and Wiener Dog Races. This year they had dancers, an Elvis inpersonator, petting zoo, train rides and slides and the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile of course. Tara, Louis and their kids came down from Burleson to visit and go to the races with us. Here are some pics from the Nacho Wiener themed year. :) I love the enthusiam of everyone there and participating and getting to see friends from high school and Madalyn's school. It really is a great community event.

Bizet's Carmen

Friday, April 18th was a big day for the Austin Lyric Opera and for Madalyn. ALO is one of my audit clients and I won tickets in an office drawing to see Bizet's Carmen in the debut of the Long Center. The Long Center is another audit client of MLR that is the new facility of the arts in Austin. It was a long running capital campaign, but the Long Center is AMAZING! Madalyn and I really enjoyed the Opera which was set in Spain, but sung in French. We liked it a lot, and loved looking at everyone's amazing dresses. Austin is such a laid back city, so it was nice to see everyone all dressed up.

The Damselfly

Yes, remember class projects? Whether it was a science project, that pesky Senior poetry project for you Hays grads, or just anything that was due? Madalyn's class has been studying insects in science class and they (or really their parents)had to make 3D models that were at least one foot in length and labeled with labeled body parts. This is our lovely attempt at a damselfly which apparently is very similar to a dragonfly- we started early, waited until the last minute to finish and only sustained 5 hot glue burns. A success! My favorite is the marker lines we drew on the knee highs turned into wings that you can see the white coat hanger through. :)

Texas Bluebonnets

Bluebonnets aren't only the state flower of Texas, but they are a family tradition from when Jeff and I were kids and for many other families. We had a great bluebonnet area at the front of our property this year and were happy that several people stopped to take pictures in our patch. The kids are hilarious and it's hard to get all three of them to take a decent picture together! We had fun and as you can see Jeff even got in on the action. Like Colby Donaldson said on Survivor, "Everyday I wake up and thank God I'm alive, and that I'm a Texan"

Random Thought

Whoever would have thought that I would gain insight from watching a kid's movie, but I guess when you watch as many as we do it was bound to happen. Jeff and I were watching Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Dustin Hoffman's quote was 'Your life is an occasion - rise to it.'
Absolutley love it.

First Girl Scout Overnight

Madalyn's Girl Scout Brownie troop went of their first overnight event at the Austin Science and Nature Center last Friday. The event was aptly named 'Beasts and Bedrolls'. They went throughout the Center to identify creatures and went for a nature hike and identified plants and more animals. All of the girls received two 'Try It' patches- one for Animals and a second for Nature. Congrats to Sylvia and Renee for being the best leaders ever!
My favorite thing is the shirts they got for Valentine's Day from Sylvia and Renee that say 'Who needs fairy dust?' and on the back it says 'I make my own dreams come true' Words to live by!

Madalyn's First Dance Competition

Madalyn and the pre-team from Miss Dianne's Dance Unlimited had their first dance competition of the season on Saturday. Thankfully, it was at the Performing Arts Center in Kyle, so we didn't even have to travel. They performed a ballet dance to 'Somewhere Out There' and they did a great job- I've seen a lot of the practices lately and they really stepped it up for the competition. I love them with their arms crossed- you can totally see the nerves.

They received a 'gold' desigination - whatever the heck that means because I was totally lost. We all just kept clapping. :)