The Puddles

Mom received the honor of the Special Education Teacher of the Year this year.  Which meant the entire family drove to Austin to see her receive the award and hear her speech (which was lovely). How cool is it that all  of the children and grandchildren were able to make it!  If anyone desired the honor, it was mom.

We took the kids out of school and it was worth it! It was a good day and the smiles are proof!

Thanks to my mom getting an award in Austin, we were going to the capital city so we made an entire trip out of it.  There was a beautiful water fountain outside the capital that used to bring fresh spring water from the aquifer, but it has since been replaced with city water.  The kids still thought it was fascinating.  They agreed that this kind of water fountain was way cooler than water bottles!  Then we headed inside for a tour.  Our guide was an interesting man.  I was disappointed that some of his facts were not correct, but I didn’t correct him.  It was when I had to put my hand over Madie’s mouth to keep her from correcting him that I had my proud moment of the day!  (The kids and I had just gone to the newest historical park in Conroe that commemorates the flags over Texas and who created the first Texas flag.  The guide tells the story of the first flag without ever mentioning Montgomery county or the story of the first flag that this park in Conroe speaks of.  He also gave incorrect info about the Stephen F Austin statue in Brazoria County.)  But in the end, the guide did a good job of telling the story of Texas to the non-natives.  The natives and the children of natives probably should have just done the self-guided tour.

I loved all of the  details at the capital.  Even the hinges were special.  The capital is so beautiful.  When you think that when it was built that it was at the edge of the frontier with only muddy roads leading up to it, it makes the entire building even more beautiful.  Riding into Austin must have been like Dorothy seeing the Emerald City for the first time.  Awesome and inspiring!

p.s. If you ask Ben about his favorite part, it was the place where they filmed Spy Kids 3.  If you ask Madie, it was the library.  If you ask Ainsley, she says, “Everything!”

The mood at the kids’ school is deadly serious.  Notes went home yesterday telling parents to NOT show up to school today.  Students who aren’t taking the tests have received “the speech” about behavior.  The teachers can barely crack a smile. The rooms are all covered in paper so the students can’t cheat. The students aren’t even allowed their own pencils, those will be provided by the school.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they stationed a police officer outside on the street to prevent traffic from coming down the street.

I’ve done my part.  The kids went to bed early with a good dinner on board.  They were all awakened early for a good breakfast and to get ready with ease so that they can get to school early. We are as prepared as ever for the state tests.  Kisses and hugs were given at the door to Miss Madie.  She’s wearing my necklace for good luck and to know that I am with her.  All of the kids piled on her bed this morning to kiss and hug her awake.

We are ready. So as we told Madie this morning, “Game ON!” It’s time to show the state that their tests don’t scare us!

today I went to the Houston Arboretu.  i loved it good thing i went there because it is a GirlSout fillchrip and I love GirlSout fillCHrips well i’m a  GIRLSOUT.Well i got to go.goodbuy.

but  before i go whats 3+3= i no it 6 buy. thankyou for lisensting.my name is Ainsley and i’m 6 thankyou goodbuy.

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our neighbor’s son, Eddie, is asking a girl to prom tomorrow. He wanted to do something creative, so he decided to decorate two T-shirts and ask her over the announcements at school. He came with two tshirts and asked for help. I was able to find some iron on letters in my craft closet and a few sheets of printable transfers. After a lot of consultation, he came up with the final design and I spent the next two hours making the shirt.
It was a lot of fun. It gave us an insight to high school life (it is scary) and the world of teenagers(utterly frightening). Not that it was too bad but I am ready to seriously consider a secluded convent in the isolated hills of South Dakota. I would just like to avoid the entire teenage years.

For reasons that shall not be mentioned here, the kids and I had to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen.  We disinfected the entire kitchen.  If the kids had not have helped, I don’t know if I ever would have finished.  We pulled out every thing from every shelf,  threw stuff away, and wiped down shelves with disinfectant.  It took most of Saturday to do this.  It smelled like Pinesol for weeks after that.  The kids actually enjoyed the process.  They got to put gloves on and climb into cabinets.  It was great.  I’m not sure when these shelves have ever been that clean.  It felt good to be in the kitchen after that.  

This may seem odd to everyone else, but for Christmas I gave Chris a date to the National Museum of Funeral History.  Lunch and a trip to a museum dedicated to death.  It may seem morbid, but Chris has been wanting to go this museum since we moved to Conroe.

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and Chris did too.   Probably the most fascinating part of the entire museum was the triple casket and the story that went with it.  I’ve included the story in the pictures here.  Wow. Now that is some sorrow.  My next favorite was the party bus built for funerals.  There was enough room for several caskets and over 20 mourners (see picture with Chris in it).  The funeral home that built it stopped using it after the bus was trying to go up a hill and the incline was too much.  So the bus tilted backwards and the caskets fell out and the mourners did too.  I can’t imagine the horror felt by the mourners!

We had a great time and I can’t wait for our next adventure!

I took these cute photos!  Lovin’ Ainsley’s tongue and Ben’s scowl.

Ainsley got a new gymnastics outfit today. She has stuck with it for over two months so I figure she has earned a new outfit. So I ask her how she likes it. She says, “I will stay in gymnastics forever if I can keep wearing cute outfits like this!”

So I finally downloaded all of the photos from my camera and I have 1200 photos to go through.  1200??!?!!!  How did I let that happen?  And there are some cute ones there too!  I can’t wait to put some up.  I’ll have to take an entire day off just to get them all posted.  Or maybe I can function on only 5 hours of sleep a night?  What a quandry?  I am so willing to sacrifice cooking dinner in order to do it.  But unfortunately, the kids can’t survive on peanut butter sandwiches.  So it will take a while to do it, but I will thoroughly enjoy the process!