New Blog

Here I go again!  I started a new blog.  I got a seed of an idea from a friend, thanks Amanda, and the more I thought about it, the more I figured out what I wanted to do.


The problem I have with this blog is that it takes several steps to get a post up.  I have to take pictures, plug my camera into my computer, upload my pictures, resize and export my pictures, and then I can blog.  That doesn't include that I have to have a few minutes to sit down at my computer, get on the internet, open this blog (get distracted by several other sites), and then actually get a post done.

With the new blog, I will be doing it mostly mobile.  That means, I will be snapping a picture from my phone in the moment, and I can quickly email to my new blog.  EASY!

The down side is that picture quality will not be great, and I'm okay with that because of the ease of it all.  Also, there won't be much explanation, and I'm okay with that because it is the moment I want to capture.

I started it yesterday, and my first five posts were so I could figure out what I was doing, and how I wanted to do it.  The blank "pictures" in the middle are actually short videos (they are short enough to email myself from my phone).

ENJOY!

http://xpectgr8things.blogspot.com

Garlic?

Last night, after having a snow day and having the girls home with me all day, we decided to make some dinner.  I bought a 10# chub of ground beef a couple of days ago, and I needed to do something with it.  I decided to make meatloaf.  Then I decided to make two meatloaves so that I could bake one for dinner and freeze the other one.

I had each girl mixing the ingredients as I dumped them in, and one of the final things I added was garlic.  As I was pressing the garlic through the press, Claire says to me, "I LOVE THE SMELL OF GARLIC!"  Then one of the girls said, "I guess you can tell we aren't vampires."

I love that my girls love the smell of garlic.  I love the smell of garlic.  I love fresh garlic.  I love to cook with garlic, and I love that my girls are learning that.  Most importantly,  I love that my girls are anxious and willing to help make dinner, and that I actually took the time to let them help me.  Most of the time I am in too much of hurry to slow down and allow them to help.

Concerts

We did several concerts at the end of the school year.  There were spring concerts and there were concerts at the end of the year.  With Caleb and Eli both in orchestra and choir, we had to double up on concerts because we had to go to an orchestra concert one week and a choir concert the next.  Or we had two or three concerts in one week.  It was fun to watch the children and to see them grow in their abilities and talents. 

One of these things is not like the other.  He changed his tie.  His orchestra and choir concert were on the same night.

Eli at his spring concert playing the violin.

Claire in her spring concert.

Claire had a little dancing part.

She had made up part of this dance.  She was quite proud of it.

Emily had a solo.  Before everyone else started playing, she had a note that she played by herself.

Then everyone joined her. 

This is Eli's end of the year choir concert.  They sang pop songs, and it was a lot of fun for them,
and it was fun to listen to.

Here is Caleb at his Orchestra concert.

Here he is singing.  I'm not sure if it was the same night or not.

We love the Austin School District's music program.  The teachers and students put a lot of effort into making it great.

Random Clip

for my viewing enjoyment

Essay Winner!

Emily's fourth grade class did an essay on "What Dr. Martin Luther King means to me."  Emily was one of the finalist for her school, and she won the contest.  Her teacher said that she was the only one that really wrote about the topic and put her own feelings in the essay.  Most of the other students just did a report on Dr. Martin Luther King.  

Brett was able to go to the school the day the winner was announced, and he was able to celebrate with her.  She was a little embarrassed because it was "crazy hair day" at school, and her hair was pretty crazy.

She won a $50 gift card, and it burned a hole in her pocket. 

The day we went to spend it was "Breast Cancer Awareness Day" and she decided she wanted to get something to symbolize winning the essay and breast cancer.  She had received a Pandora bracelet for her birthday, so we went to look at charms.  This is the charm she chose.  The peace symbol to represent Dr. MLK Jr. and the pink jewels for breast cancer.

...That's What We Do

Last winter Caleb joined the HS swim team again.  He did very well.  He became the #1 person to swim the backstroke, and he got to go to sections (a meet to qualify for state) in the 100 yard backstroke and in the 200 yard medley relay, where he swam the backstroke.  I think he even swam the 200 yard individual medley.  It was almost a year ago, so I don't have a full recollection.  Here are some pictures of one of his home meets.

getting ready for the backstroke

BANG

and he's off

swimming the backstroke

swimming the relay (I'm so glad our team doesn't do speedos)

Breaststroke in the IM

One of my favorite start pictures of a member of his team.

 Caleb had a lot of fun, and he did very well.

Quick story about the section meet.  The night before the meet, they had a pasta party.  On the way home I was talking to Caleb and he was saying how his friend was really nervous.  He was kind of making fun of his friend.  I asked him how he was doing and he told me he was fine, not really nervous.  I proceeded to make him nervous by saying something to the effect of, "How do you feel knowing that you will be the first person on your team to be in the water racing?"  Apparently he hadn't thought of that, because he looked at me and said, "THANKS MOM!"

Just doing what I can to help...

at the section meet - I think it was backstroke finals

Just Keep Swimming...

Last year (January/February) as a sixth grader, Eli went out for the swim team.  As a sixth grader on the high school team, he was only allowed to practice with the team, and then at the home meets, he was able to do an exhibition 50 yard swim.

There was one junior high meet, that he was able to swim at.  During this meet, the high school boys ran the meet.  They did some coaching and they did the officiating.

Caleb and Sawyer helping Eli with his start.

Caleb showing Eli what to do when he starts.

Eli starting during a race.

GO ELI!

BREATHE

Doing the backstroke...

 Eli doesn't love swimming, but he enjoyed being with the team and had fun with the sport.

Thankful for Technology

In February, while I was in Washington helping my sister with her new baby, Emily had a science fair project due.

This was her project.  She decided she would see which bread grew mold the fastest.  She chose (I bought cheap) bread.

She used three slices of each bread and put them each in in separate bags.

Oh, the concentration!

Then she let them grow for a couple of weeks.

This is what they looked like:

Now, this is the part I was grateful for modern technology.  I was able to get onto my sister's computer, and Emily, with Caleb's help, was able to get onto our computer at home.  They were able to input the data and results, and I was able to edit it.  I was on the phone with Emily, she was watching her computer screen, I was typing on my sister's, and she could see the changes as they were happening.

Fortunately, Caleb has done enough projects, and he was able to really help her pull together her board.

Thanks to Google Documents, now Google Drive, we had success!

Proud of her project!

Welcome Home

In November we made our move.

When we came for a visit, we decided to get Caleb his permit.  He had studied the manual, and he took several practice tests on the iPad.  He only missed one on his written test, and he got his permit! 

The house we are renting had been vacant for a little while, and it is surrounded by fields.  We had a few extra friends here when we moved in.  This was our first of about one dozen little rodents.

Before our truck got here, this is how we lived.  We lived out of boxes and stuff all over the place.

We went to the local furniture store and we bought some beds.  I guess we were there for a little too long...

Eli fell asleep on the couch while we were shopping.

Moving On

The truck showed up at our house on November 1st.  We got a trailer, and we had to pack it ourselves.

I had packed several boxes already, so there were boxes in the the garage that we started with.

We had some unconventional help.  Young blood was very active, and they worked hard.

When the truck arrived at our house, there was quite a little treat on the side of the truck.  The boys had found mustaches when we were packing, and they had worn them.  One of them stuck it on the side of the truck, and it arrived at my house.  I laughed at it.

Here is what we had when we opened the truck.  We had to unload this: