Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Famous Allens

We had a wonderful spring break! Leslie had a friend over for a couple of nights and then we went to visit one of my good friends from Cracker Barrel. After that it was time to head out to San Antonio to see the sights and visit another best friend and her family. This is the first time our kids have been able to get together for an extended amount of time and play. They all had a blast and are counting the days until they get to see each other again. Leslie said her favorite part of the trip was the jumpity jump place and getting to go out to eat. My friend took us driving around in the hill country and it was beautiful up there. I was a little nervous on some of the curvy roads going down through the hills, but I was with a good driver so we had nothing to worry about. One time, we were driving through Arkansas and some of the roads there were very steep and very curvy and I thought I was going to have to sedate myself to be able to ride in the car with out freaking out. Anyways, we really enjoyed getting to spend time with friends and being able to relax. Michael had also took a side trip up to a town called Paint Rock. In that town, there are some rock paintings done by indians. They are all very well preserved. He took a ton of pictures, but i'm not sure what the link is to them at the moment or I would add that on. On our way home, we took a bit of a scenic route. We ended up going through New Braunsfels, then through Austin, then to Brenham and then to Navasota and then to Huntsville. It took a little longer, but we got to see some nifty things. And I had heard that near Brenham was the best place to see bluebonnets. I have never seen so many of them! Fields and fields of them all over the place. It was so pretty. If the children hadn't looked so ragged by that point, I would have pulled over to take their picture by them. I still plan on doing that, but I have a place in Huntsville picked out. I forgot to mention that when we were going past navasota and into Anderson, we made sure to try to take a picture of Chuck Norris' house! Can't forget that! Now we are back to the daily grind. Tomorrow, Leslie is starting her art class at the Wynne Home. I can't wait to see what kind of wonderful things made of clay she will come home with!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Happy Spring Break!

I'm glad it's finally here. Michael and Leslie both have needed a break from school. Leslie has done incredibly well this year in school. Not that I doubted she would, but she has has really excelled at everything. She came home with a 100 in math for the six weeks on a recent report card. I am so proud of her! And last week, Michael took his test, and passed, to become certified to teach jr high science. I feel a little left out in the achievements area, but i'll think of something wonderful that I have done lately. We had an awesome time at the rodeo earlier this month. Leslie, my mom and I met up with my sister there. We looked at all the amazing quilts that were there. Leslie went through the fake farm they had where kids learn about what goes on on a real farm. She got to milk a fake cow, feed fake chickens, pet a fake sheep and grow a fake carrot. They had real versions of these animals to look at there too. Leslie enjoyed the rodeo itself. It helped that we had really good seats on the end that the bull riding was on. The concert that day was Trace Adkins. I didn't recognize too many of the songs but I liked it anyway. Leslie was ready to go as soon as he started singing. It was loud and dark in there, but I managed to get her smiling and dancing during some of it. Afterwards, we went to the carnival and had a blast. We rode the tiltawhirl, which is my mom's favorite, and then we went on some kind of ride that goes in a circle over some humps and then goes backwards over the humps. My mom rode that with Leslie first and then I got on it with her. I couldn't stop myself from laughing and screaming the whole time. I hadn't had that much fun in a long time. Leslie also won a pretty good sized stuffed tiger from a game that involved throwing ping pong balls into lillypads. That made her night!
Today, she has a friend over for a couple of days and they went to the movies about an hour ago. Michael calls me when they get there and informed me that the movies didn't open until4pm. We had looked at the time that was for the weekends. So they are going to go rent a couple of movies instead. Later this week we are going on a short, but much needed vacation. We are heading to San Antonio! One of my best friends lives there and we are going to spend some time with her and her family and do some touristy stuff. Michael is going to Paint Rock, TX to go see some rocks that were painted on almost a thousand years ago. The things that were painted on them are what people back then were seeing in the sky. Some are of constellations, or astronomy events that were taking place at the time. It sounds pretty neat. He'll spend most of one day doing that. I'm just happy to be out and about. But ecstatic that I get to see my friend because I miss her a lot!
I'm going to go in the other room and catch up on some reading while the little ones are taking their nap!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

It's Thursday!


I'm a little behind in my blogs. And it's not because I'm extremely busy or writing a book or anything fascinating like that either. When the last kid goes to bed, something in my head suddenly feels sleepier than I ever thought I could feel and all I can think about is going to bed. But, then that doesn't happen and two hours later I'm finally crawling into bed. I have been getting more sleep though. Sophie doesn't wake up as many times a night as she used to and more frequently now, she is sleeping through the night!! And when I say more frequently, I mean once a week instead of once a month. I take it when I can get it.
As for fun at the girl scout camp, we had lots of it. It was great!! I don't know who enjoyed it more between the three of us. We got to see a couple of horses that we remember from way back when that still have a little get up and go in them. On Saturday, my mom, my sister, Leslie and I are going to the rodeo to get our fill of livestock smells and ferris wheels. I absolutely love the houston rodeo. The people watching alone is worth going for. I was lucky enough to work in reliant stadium one year during the rodeo and I got to see all the concerts and meet all kinds of interesting people. I was at one of the little plastic stands selling beer. I really enjoyed that job, but it ended up being too far for me to drive.
I feel the sleepiness catching up with me. Must....go...to...bed....