Fun in Midland

 We went to Midland at the end of break.

It was our baby cousin's first birthday!

It was great to see family, but even better to see the kids with their baby cousin.

Matthew, particularly.

He just adores her.

He wanted to read to her, push her in her new car, and cuddle.

He was running around like a crazy man, but as soon as he got near her she became very gentle and sweet.

The kids are already looking forward to their next visit with her in May.

Early March (What winter?)

 I can't remember another winter like this.

We have had plenty of warm ones, but this one was weird.

No jackets.

Only hoodies.

The photo above was with Meagan's friend Alexa at dinner one night.

New friend, but quickly becoming one of my favorites.

 Andy has been hard at work on his garden.  

It looks great!  

He added lots of cacti and annuals.  

Meagan went to a cool succulent store with him on the east side downtown.

My students and I made poems out of book spines.

This was mine.

:)

The librarian and I had fun with the kids.

My girl, reading....

Anyone who knows me knows that I love reading.

Like, I really love it.

Someone took this picture for me of Meagan reading.

It makes me happy.

We have come a looooong Way!

The top photo is at age 5, and the one below was around 7 months.
She has had a great year.
She is doing well at middle school and making lots of new friends, but still loyal to her old elementary friends.
She has shown great improvements in Math, which is fantastic.
Dance is still her passion and we may be moving onto a team for next year.
At times she is all teen.
At other times she is still a little girl.
I love how much she still hangs out with her siblings.
Matthew's favorite new toy is "Rocky" the pet rock she made him.
Natalie and Meagan still share lots of interests, although no longer a room.
She loves her grandparents and misses her other two grandparents very much.
I love her kind, funny spirit.

Special Weekend with the Grands

We had a special weekend.

Grandma and Papa came for Meagan's birthday.

We had a great time at dinner with Joe, Alice, the grandparents and the kids.

Andy was sick, so he stayed home.

Saturday he was a bit better, so he was able to hang out with us at Matthew's soccer game.

That night Andy and Bob went to the Daddy/daughter dance.

It was very special.

Natalie and Meagan got new dresses.

They went to dinner at Gloria's in the Domain after.

Matthew and I went to the mall with Grandma Sandi.

 He did some jumping!

 Everyone looked their best.

We had dinner at Buca de Beppo.  

Not so good, but oh well.
All in all, it was a very nice weekend.

NASA for New Year's

 Sandi had a bit of a health scare over the holidays, but she is much better now!

We went to Houston to make sure with our own eyes.

We also went to NASA, which was about 45 minutes away.

They had a pretty neat movie about the future of space travel.

 This is the actual room where the people in Houston communicated with all of the big Apollo flights, including the one depicted in Apollo 13.

 Astronaut Natalie

Astronaut Meagan with an alien next to her!

Matthew was too busy running around the play area to pose. :)

Chloe's Vacay