Windows On 40

We rounded out February with a small celebration (per request) for a big birthday! The previous weekend we celebrated with siblings and wives at St. Arnold's brewery on a cool and cloudy afternoon. The itinerary was simple: drinks on the patio and a brewery tour. (Thanks to Uncky Dan for many of these photos!)

Here's the birthday boy's portrait. Isn't he handsome? I think the glasses really help counter the necklace to create a nice balance.

It's nice to get baby-sitters during the day! We should do this more often!

The brewery tour was pretty standard stuff. No samples?! I guess this ain't Budweiser! Good times channeling our inner hipsters, nonetheless.

Nothing like a mid-week birthday to keep it small. We tried to go to Pappasito's on a Wednesday night at 6-ish, but the wait was crazy! So, we ended up next door at Pappadeaux's for our kids first seafood restaurant experience. Meh, they were not impressed since most of the food was spicy and kid's portions were too small for Owen. Anyway, back home we went for presents and cupcakes!

I should have presented these camouflaged cupcakes on a different surface. Oh well. Happy birthday, love! I won't tell anyone how old you are.

The kids' school had a silent auction, and we got a good deal on some symphony tickets. So we ventured downtown for a fancy Wild West matinee show. The conductor was dressed as a rodeo clown, and they had a couple of kids' performing groups to help with lyrics and story-telling, since it was a family show.

Their school also had a 'wear your college colors' day, so I had to document them in their burnt orange! Hook 'em!

February was also good for our windows. We got uniform, clean, new white blinds on all the windows in the house! No more cat-peeping windows with sun-faded, wood-colored middles, or mini venetian blinds upstairs, or 12-foot long tilt rods hanging precariously from the second-floor foyer window: before and after. Ahhhh.....

A few weeks later, we got new windows installed on the backside of the house, since the front ones have solar shades. The windows were probably original to the house: single-pane, drafty, and several could not stay open. Hopefully, these changes will help our house be a little more pleasant come summer. Before and after.

Here's a side by side (old on left). The new ones have a thick, sturdy frame that is supposed to be hurricane-rated and are double-paned for extra insulation. It was quite a process to watch them remove the old windows, involving large triangles of glass and blowtorches! We had to contend with rain stoppage, but they got 13 windows replaced in two days around the rain showers. Not too shabby!

We also added some picture windows, figuring them to be cheaper and more energy-efficient, and who opens windows that much in Houston anyway? It's hard to tell, but I had to do a few double takes once they were installed because it looked like there was no window! I like them and hope we can enjoy them (and keep them clean)!

Friendship Parties

February really cranked up the home improvement projects (more to come on that later), so we couldn't wander very far from home. As a result, the kids' imaginations have been coming alive, especially as unpacking in the game room revealed more and more forgotten toy treasures. For example, here is a blanket fort converted to a buggy to transport Queen Hadley with driver Owen, but the travel was so long that they needed some reading entertainment on the journey.

On another day, I happened upon a grand meeting of all of the stuffed animals in Owen's room. Roll was taken, and Owen presided over the meeting, but I'm not sure exactly what was discussed. You'll notice the highest esteemed, most senior loveys got prime, front row seating on the mermaid's tail.

We've also been enjoying monthly Kiwi Crates, which the kids got for Christmas. Each month a box arrives with a new STEM activity outlined in easy to follow instructions with all the needed supplies. So far we've learned about capillary action (through color absorption) and mechanical joints (through building an arcade claw game). Someone really looks forward to these boxes!

Remembering our success in Idaho, I have joined a few online "mom groups" in the area with hopes to socialize and meet people outside of our neighborhood. It's definitely harder to find fellow moms of older kids willing to make new friends, but one group had a meet up on the weekend at Little Land, which was an indoor playground nearly too small for my kids. O and H had a blast anyway, despite being among the oldest there, and I did meet a few nice ladies. The kids enjoyed the obstacle course, slides, and sack swings best.

We all know that February brings Valentines, and their new school encouraged parent volunteers and visitors to attend the class parties. I went back and forth between the two classes, and it was great to put faces to names, see the kids in their class environments, and participate in the fun! Hadley's class imitated cupid with Q-tip straw dart practice and candy heart towers.

Owen's class passed around a plastic wrapped candy ball that you had to unwrap with oven mitts and exercised their lung capacity by transferring candy hearts with straws.

The school called them "Friendship Parties", which I think is a smart move these days to foster a love for all of your classmates. The kids loved getting a card and item from everyone and passing them out, too. They didn't even seem to mind that we reused their box/bag from last year! ;)

January Leftovers

Every once in a while, in between school, house projects, and weddings, we get to check out a bit more of the city that we now inhabit. Our neighbor clued us in to their church's Winterfest, complete with a snow hill. Our Idaho kids were not deterred or particularly impressed by the sledding hill, but they had a good time, even with the mud puddle at the end. (They are both on the sled, by the way!) Their favorite activity was definitely the bouncy houses on this occasion.

Hadley and Ollie, the cat, have grown closer since the move. Ollie is apparently needing attention, and she's not too picky on what form that attention takes! Luckily, she is a very patient cat and tolerates quite a bit of carrying, snuggling, petting, and chasing.

Lastly, this little lady is showing a flare for the dramatic. One night, she was emptying out the dishwasher and coming up with elaborate and entertaining names or stories about each dish that she was handling. Meet the "Container of Never-ending Drinks"

Abilene Wedding

One Friday in January was designated as Rodeo Day! Kids were supposed to dress up in Western clothes, and the school had rodeo speakers and activities planned the whole day. We obviously need to brush up on our Western wear... Although the kids were enjoying the fun day, we had to leave early to drive across the state to attend their cousin's wedding.

I should say not just "attend", but "participate in". Owen was to be a ring bearer, and Hadley was asked to be a flower girl! They were pretty excited. To give you an idea, here is Owen at his tux fitting. He declared, "I look like a man!" and he asked to wear it out of the store. I told him he looked like James Bond, but he didn't know who that was. Ha!

Anyway, we made it to Abilene just in time for the rehearsal. There were 6 flower girls and 3 ring bearers, and they were only supposed to walk down the aisle, high five the groom, and then sit with their parents, so their role was pretty easy peasy.

After a few run-throughs, it was time for the rehearsal dinner! It was a bit of a drive, and a cold front was blowing through that night, but it was a cutesy, rural wedding venue with a big, fenced-in yard, bedecked with twinkling lights, lots of trees, cozy fire pits, and gravel paths. The kids' talented aunt made all of the flower girl dresses, complete with matching hair bows and coordinating, embroidered rehearsal shirts.

The next morning Hadley and Granna and I were invited to a bridal brunch. The lovely bride, Hannah, gifted Hadley with a bride bear and an embroidered bag with some pearls to wear during the ceremony. Hadley was ecstatic! We also got to deliver a groom bear and some Star Wars socks to Owen, who was watching the Longhorn Network with Uncle Ken back at the hotel. (Did I mention Dad was on his flight back from Boston that day?!)

Finally, it was time to get ready. All 3 of us required a little extra attention to get ourselves properly attired and over to the church for pre-ceremony pictures. (I was flying solo, remember? Phew!) But aren't they just the cutest? Hadley's dress was extremely poofy and had sequins along the neckline that bothered her, and Owen's shoes were probably a size too big, but they held it together all night, thankfully!

As always, weddings have tons of pictures of all sorts of combinations of relatives and attendants. These fluffy pink tulle skirts reminded me of little pink clouds...

And there's lots of waiting while other picture groups are happening...

Owen didn't understand his BB-8 ring bearer socks, until he saw that all of the groomsmen had different superheroes on their socks. Then he took it very seriously! Lol.

I didn't get any full family pictures with my camera, so I might have to edit and repost once I see those! But I did get a picture with my brothers. I'll have to stop standing in the middle of them, unless I can have a footstool. My niece chose to get married on her father's 50th birthday! Wow! What a day!!

I call this grouping "A Tale of Two Tulles"... Depending on who was taking the picture, you get a different story. The left cloud of tulle photo was taken by my bubbly sister-in-law and rivals my favorite pictures of Hadley ever. The right snap was taken by me and reflects the seething resentment brought out by our sequin-poof-hunger-photo sesh reality. Let's hope the wedding photographer was able to capture the former!

Anyway, the wedding went off without a hitch, and the kids did fine. Owen was baffled by his role: "All I did was walk down the aisle. I don't get it." Yep, that pretty much sums it up, kid. But you looked really nice doing it, and it was an honor to be with them on their special day. Finally, it was time for the reception and after more waiting, finally dinner! A cruel joke to have a taco bar when everyone was dressed to the nines, but we managed to avoid any rented garment catastrophes and bellies were satiated.

Hanger (that's right, hunger + anger) must have been the culprit, all right. After some food and sweets, this was what I got. I think that she really did like her dress. :)

Turns out that the kids enjoyed dancing at the wedding reception a lot! They got right out there with everyone and just mimicked the best they could. Hadley was a dancing machine, dancing with the bride, bridesmaids, flower girls, uncles, mom, and anyone else she could muster. I had to film this one, because it became apparent that Owen still does not know his left from his right, although he got better as the song went on, I think.

The reception had a traditional sign-in book, but also had a Polaroid and Post-It station. We tried to get a picture of all 3 of us, but my Selfie game is weak (especially when you can't see what you are doing in a preview window). Hadley ended up almost out of the photo, so she wanted to do her own solo. 

I love it and her note! I'm so glad they got the opportunity to be a part of such a beautiful day. (I've since caught them reenacting weddings with their bears, so I know it made an impression on them too.)