Anniversary Weekend
Waterfalls
Sunshine
Blue Skies
Lovely hotel
Riverwalk
Tower of the Americas
Perfection!!
Terry and I just returned from a weekend getaway, even though the getaway was only 25 minutes from our house! San Antonio has so much to see and do and we have barely scratched the surface. This weekend we spent time at
The Buckhorn Museum and
The Tower of the Americas. Terry had a bit of a hard time with the Tower (750 feet off the ground) not because of the height but because the windows are convex and threw his balance off. The Tower also has a 4-d ride called Skies over Texas. The Landry Company (who own the Tower) have taken a page out of Disney's book and themed the ride exceptionally well.
Here are some photos of us at the Tower and of the waterfalls:
Labels: anniversary, Riverwalk, Tower of the Americas, Waterfalls
12!! She's 12??!!
My littlest baby (weighing in at 7lbs even) turned 12 today.
4,384 days old
144 months
6 houses
one inter-state move
6 schools (five preschool and elementary schools, one middle school)
When I wrote in Teagan's birthday card I said she is the sunshine of our lives and with her easy smile, her sweet personality and her desire to help, she truly is our ray of sunshine.
Twelve years ago Teagan was born and came home from the birthing center. Looking down at the black-haired baby with a mohawk Terry and I were astounded that we produced this little beauty queen.
Happy birthday my love.
Growing Up
Hayley has been bugging me about cutting her hair - and I don't mean trimming it either. She wanted a full on all-out cut! Knowing how Terry feels about long hair, I put her off for as long as I could. Earlier this summer I capitulated somewhat when I cut it shoulder length. Teagan also wanted her hair cut the same length.
Two weeks ago I was looking through a magazine and saw a photo of Victoria Beckham.
The hairstyle would suit Teagan's shape face to a "T", so I showed her the photo and she loved the look! Hayley then asked whether she could please, please get hers cut too. I told Terry she wanted to go short, and he said, "Go for it"! (Maybe the fact that he's growing his out has softened him on the whole long hair thing, I don't know!)
Anyway, here are my girls before:
And here they are after:
FINALLY - Piano lessons
Last March a dear friend of ours from church gave us a piano. She and her husband had two and she figured they'd only play one at a time! It is an older piano and needed about $400 worth of work before it was entirely playable. The kids have been plunking around on it, and surprisingly enough, one of them, Teagan, is remarkably melodious. Her 'plunking' was actually restful. Although we wanted to get them lessons I struggled to find a teacher. So the piano sat mostly idle once it was completely restored back in the summer.
In November I was talking to a newbie at church. She is an Australian who met and married one of our church members. Through idle chit-chat I discovered she is a piano teacher! She was getting settled into her new home and her new routine, and called me in January to tell me she was ready to start lessons. She has even offered to come to the house and teach here - that is HUGE!! It is so hard to sometimes transport and then keep occupied, four kids. I told her we'd come to her house initially and see how it turns out, but if necessary, she will come to our house.
The two girls took to it right away. Garrick said he didn't want to do lessons but I think he will change his mind because he is definitely interested in what the girls did today. Carson is under the weather (he was off school for two days with a bad cough, fevers and the chills) and so did not fare as well in the lesson as he could have. He might be our early drop-out.
Now I am listening to the piano being played with purpose, and it is the best sound in the world!
Labels: Carson, Garrick, Hayley Teagan, lessons, piano, teacher
TOTALLY Spoilt
OK, a little back story here. When DH and I first married I was not that fond of diamonds, I preferred emeralds, sapphires etc. I am not sure whether it's because I grew up around the diamond mines of South Africa and diamonds seemed like a dime a dozen (or as they say in South Africa, a tickey(2 pennies) a time); but colored gemstones seemed more precious to me.
When we got married I picked out a really nice emerald wedding ring, and loved it. When we moved to San Antonio we got to the point where we really had no money and we had to pawn some things. At that point my ring was getting a little tight for me, and as loath as I was to do it, I sold it so we could pay bills. I had other rings; Terry has bought me a ring with the birth of each one of our children. We chose not to sell any of those as they had way too much sentimental value. I wore the sapphire ring Terry bought me for the birth of Hayley, our third child as my wedding ring.
Fast forward to now: we are doing much, much better, we have some money in savings, we have income coming in, and last June Terry said he wanted to buy me a new ring. He wanted me to get diamonds, and he wanted it big. "I want people to know we are married," he joked. We found a ring and have been saving. We had hoped to get it for Christmas but couldn't swing it. However he made some extra, extra money in January and went ahead and got the ring.
Here is my new rock!
Labels: diamond, emerald, husband, ring, sapphire, wedding
