Serene Sunday
Our church offers three (actually four) services these days. A Saturday night service, two Sunday morning services and most recently a Sunday afternoon Spanish service. Terry teaches in the 11:00am service and now also teaches in the Spanish service. He loves teaching the kids and has great fun - but it makes for a long day for him.
I decided to attend the 9:00am service today and then take our four younger kids, and a neighburhood kid, Amanda, to the
San Antonio Zoo. My in-laws kindly bought us the family membership as a Christmas gift last year, and we generally make good use of it. Today was the perfect day to go - the crowds were down, the weather was fine, 93 was the high, but there was no or little humidity. The animals were out in full force, and the kids were filled with energy. San Antonio Zoo is very pretty, with many points of interesting architecture, and is surrounded by a park, with the
Witte Museum and the
Japanese Tea Gardens nearby.
The kids did have a good time - we go so often these days that they know exactly when a new animal is on exhibit, and if something is out of place!
Garrick and Teagan
Carson
Amanda and Hayley
Labels: Amanda, Carson, Garrick, Hayley Teagan, Japanese Tea Garde, Witte, Zoo
School Days or is that Daze?
By now most of the nation's school kids have started school. Our kids actually started back on August 25th, the week before Labor Day. I think the Texas school system is slowly working towards starting after Labor Day and ending the school year closer to the middle of June, rather than the beginning of June. Perhaps one reason they like to end the year a little earlier is the heat - our summer here starts in April and ends in November, with the hottest months between May and August. If they extend school through June, the cooling bill must be astronomical - especially when one looks at the June we just experienced.
Anyway, the kids started school. This year I had to spend big bucks to kit the kids - not so much in school supplies, but in clothes. Teagan has grown 8 inches since last year and now is only 1.5 inches shorter than me. I noticed most of her clothes were too short, so we held an impromptu fashion show a month ago and at the end of it she had two pairs of jeans, one shirt, and two t-shirts that fit her! Hayley inherited many of her clothes as a result. Garrick was in the same boat - he'd outgrown all of his pants, and quite a few of his shirts. Unfortunately, unlike the girls who can share many of the same things, Garrick and Carson are built completely differently. Garrick is in Slim, Carson in Regular. So we hied ourselves off to Ross, WalMart, Kohls and Marshalls, and $700 later all four kids were outfitted. I have never spent that much in one season on clothes! It was insane - but they needed everything from underwear out. I haven't even got around to the shoes yet - I know that is coming though. Teagan and I are wearing the same size shoe (for now) which is fun for both of us. I teased her and told her that if she grew any more, I wanted her shoes.
So, here are the first day of school photos - Garrick has peanut butter on his cheek, and the mark between his eyes was a spider bite that was just subsiding.
Garrick and Carson
Teagan and Hayley
Labels: Carson, clothes, first day, Garrick, Hayley Teagan, Kohls, Marshalls, Photo, Ross, school, WalMart
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
Life Back To Normal
Last week at this time, Warrick and I were driving home from Houston after picking up the girls from their long plane ride. Two days ago I was sent the last of the photos, which included their last day in England, and their final trip to London.
As is typical for those who travel, when you ask what they did, or what they saw, the girls intitially said almost nothing. It takes time to process memories and to think things through. So I am hearing more this week than I did last week.
This photo was taken in London:
And this one with Michael, their cousin, on their last day in the UK:
Labels: Hayley Teagan, Michael, UK, Warrick
