Physically, physically, physically fit

Every year the girls' school hosts a PE show, a chance for all the students to show off the skills they've learned. It's the biggest show of the year at the elementary campus, and this year's theme was the circus. Number One's class learned how to roller blade, and Special's class had a hula hoop war. I'm so proud of my girls and their mad skillz!

Note: because these show other kids from the school, they're password-protected, and the password is Batman's real name. Enjoy!


PE Show #1 March 26, 2009 on Vimeo.



PE Show #2 March 26, 2009 on Vimeo.

We are the champions, my friend

The past few months have been so busy for us that we've barely had time to take a breath. Weeks slip past in a blur of work and school and responsibilities, and we rarely feel like we have time to do anything fun. But this weekend we deliberately put our work aside and decided to enjoy ourselves.

The high school boys' soccer team played in the state finals today in San Antonio, and Batman didn't want to miss it. I decided that work could take a backseat for an afternoon, and took most of yesterday off; the girls played hooky with me, Batman came home early, and we drove up in time for a quick dinner before last night's game.

Though we were in sight of a Chipotle and a restaurant advertising "Best Enchiladas--2008," we chose the place with a sign reading "Free Sopapillas!" The chips were greasy, the salsa was too spicy even for Batman, but the food was so good Batman and I inhaled it. And the sopapillas were both free and fresh--I'd not had sopapillas since Batman's grandfather Poppy took us to Pancho's some 19 years ago. They were just as yummy as I remembered.

The boys won their game Friday night which happened to be against their most bitter rivals, adding an extra measure of victory to the 1-0 finish. It was cold and windy, but was such an exciting game none of us cared!

The four of us spent the night in our favorite hotel in San Antonio, the Menger Hotel. Our room overlooked the Alamo, and although it was too chilly to spend time in the gardens and we didn't see the chambermaid ghost that sometimes walks the halls, Number One did take all the lotions and shampoos, so I guess we still came out ahead. We ordered up room service for breakfast as a special treat--the girls' first room service experience--and Batman said their huevos rancheros were excellent. The girls had scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. I do not do large meals so early, and had my usual cereal bar. Special K chocolatey drizzle bars, I wish I could quit you.

This morning we headed to the Guinness Book of World Records Museum, and while I will admit that it was completely overpriced, we all enjoyed seeing the exhibits. We practically had the place to ourselves, and the girls took advantage of that by playing the drum exhibit over and over and over and over and over trying to beat the world record for most drum beats in a minute. Sadly, they were unsuccessful.

After a quick snack we headed to the soccer game, which we were told would be at Frank Matta Stadium. I put that information into my iPhone and it pulled up directions--only 12 minutes from our hotel, or so we thought. Google Maps apparently thought I'd typed Frank Matta Crack House, because we ended up in a VERY questionable neighborhood bordering an empty lot. "I don't think this is it," I said perceptively. We pulled into an Econolodge and asked for directions, but the man at the desk was no match for my Google skills--he was still trying to find it online while I pulled up Google on Safari, entered Frank Matta Stadium, and figured out we were supposed to be at Mata Memorial Stadium on the other side of town. I had the directions up before the poor guy even found the internet, I think. We will not discuss the fact that this Google business is what I should have done before we left our hotel.

At any rate, by the time we got to the game it was halftime and we were winning 4-0. We didn't score again but neither did they, and so our school is the proud owner of a lovely trophy and the title of state champs. The boys played extremely well, and it was so fun to watch their joy and excitement!

We stopped for a late lunch at The Cove, a little spot I'd found on the Food Network website as once featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It was indeed a dive, but one featuring grass-fed beef and organic sweet potato fries. I had their "famous" fish tacos which were only okay, but Batman and Number One each had a burger, and they were FANTASTIC. Special had the chicken fingers and they must have been good--she ate every bite and refused to share. Batman had jalepeno-carrot cake for dessert and said it was terrific; I do not waste calories on desserts that don't contain chocolate, so I just took his word for it.

We've been home for a little while now, enough time to unpack and eat a light dinner, but we're already planning where to go for another fun mini-trip. Work and school and other responsibilities will always be pressing, but we can't let that get in the way of a little fun every now and then.

Link for Prayer

We were recently introduced to a young couple in the southeast part of town who are really struggling right now, and need many prayers. The husband, Brad, has cancer and is under hospice care. They are praying desperately that God will heal him. Please add them to your prayer list:

http://www.thewims.blogspot.com/

We're all germophobes now

Today's post is again written by Special. She was out sick almost all last week with the creeping crud that's been making its way around town, and it apparently affected her deeply:

"I was sick for 4 days. I was very sad. I had to do lots of work. I mist my frands. I saw them on Friday. When I came back it was Donuts with Dad [a special breakfast at school]. I din't eat it all. I was very happy to see my frands. And my teacher. I felt better. Lots of people were sick. My sister was being very nice to me. My mommy and my daddy were being very very very nice to me. I love them and they love me! I am so happy that I am at school!

"The End."

We're so glad that the little critter is back to normal! Fingers crossed that no one else catches it . . .

Punk'd

When our doorbell rang at 2:00 this morning, it took me a minute to decide if I'd dreamed it or not. After I convinced myself that I'd really heard it, it took another minute for me to figure out that a burgler wouldn't have rung the doorbell. I realized it could be a neighbor needing help, and got up to check.

When I peeked out the front window, it took yet another minute for me to realize what had happened. It all looked so ghostly in the streetlights, and my brain couldn't figure out what I was seeing. By that time, the perps (or twerps?) were long gone.

My brain had woken up enough at that point to remember the sprinkler system, and I went to the garage to turn off the timer. I had no intention of cleaning it all up right away, and knew that the sprinklers would turn our TP wonderland into a soggy nightmare. I went back to bed chuckling, and dreamed of Charmin.

As we cleaned it up this morning I told Batman that really, it's cosmic payback. Who knows how many yards I rolled as a teenager--I lost count long ago--and cleaning up dry toilet paper on a sunny Saturday morning is a small price to pay in return.

But I don't want them to do it again.

Well, it's about time

What have we been doing around here? Let me share, with a little help from Special. She's been keeping notes on my phone, and they're too good to keep to myself.

On December 18 Special was in a Christmas program at school:

"I had a program in December 18 2008. It was called A place in the Chrismas Choir. I was an elf. And There was 5 dogs. I hade Fun." (Yes, she spelled "choir" correctly.) (Genius!)

The next day, we got a sprinkling of the winter white stuff, and here's what she wrote: "It snowed at Texas, it was so cool." (It was cool indeed, unless you were driving in it.)

A few days later we left to go see Pop and Baba for Christmas. It was a long, long drive, but completely worth it. Special had this to say: "We want to Tenasse in 21.2008. At 11 O Clock we were thar. The next day we got to deckrate the Chrismas tree it was cool and are casins were thar we had fun." (Okay, the spelling there was not so great, but she got the Tennessee accent right anyway--we definitely had fun "thar.")

Christmas dinner with the casins, I mean cousins.

Number One had a big accomplishment last weekend: she ran a 3K! She finished in 25 minutes, and was quite proud of herself.

For my birthday last weekend we tried a new pizza place near our house called Pizza Fusion. They have soy cheese, so it's our new favorite--plus their breadsticks are little bites of heaven.

With bellies full of pizza and root beer

More pictures are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/larfamily/Christmas2008#

And since I've started a new semester of school and work is still busy, expect Special to be taking over this blog completely any day now. In fact, let me see if she has anything else to add here:

"Jumpy is weird. He licks his but. He is only 4 years old. I am 7."

"What I lick is nobody's business but my own."

All she wants for Christmas

She lotht her tooth in her thandwicth yethderday. Eating bagelth ith hard now.