The Wedding Day

4/26/2008 - No, no one in our family was getting married, but today was the wedding day of Andrew and Elizabeth. Why is this at all noteworthy? Well, first, they asked Nicole to be a bridesmaid. While Nicole has been in a wedding before (she was the flower girl in my sister's wedding), this was her first appearance as a bridesmaid. Second, I consider Andrew and Elizabeth very good friends. Andrew and I have worked together for about 5 years now. His son, Tristen, and Nicole are exactly the same age (both born on Jan. 6, 1998) and friends. Ryan and Tristen also have a lot in common (a love for video games and Pokemon cards). In addition, our dogs, Lizzy and Blaze, love to play together and actually get to visit each other frequently.

I had no idea just being a bridesmaid in a wedding could be so involved. There was the dress, which we ordered back in January and finally received April 8. We even had the order rushed! Plus, there was slight alterations needed. Then, there were the shoes. Luckily, Payless had a good selection of gold tone shoes. Did I mention that Nicole (age 10) is now wearing women's size 6 1/2 shoes? The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were the night before. That went pretty smoothly, but was long. Dinner was good. It was catered by Johnny Carino's. Then the day of the wedding, there was still some shopping to do. Just miscellaneous items needed to be picked up and Nicole needed make-up! We were suppose to be at the church at 1pm ready for pictures (the wedding was at 3pm). The ceremony was gorgeous and seemed to go exactly as scripted. Then, more pictures followed by the reception catered by J. Cody's (best barbecue in town, I must say) at the Veranda. I think we finally got home around 10pm. A very long day, but well worth it.

Girl Scout Monday

What a great day it was! We (Mrs. Kathy and I) set out to have a full day of Girl Scout activities for the troop. We wanted to help them earn at least two badges while having fun. As I mentioned in the last post, we decided on the "Let's Get Cooking" and "Finding Your Way" badges.

For "Let's Get Cooking" badge, we started the day by making eggs. Most liked them scrambled so each girl got to make her own eggs. We also boiled some eggs so we could dye them and then have them with lunch. We learned about and experienced cooking in a rotisserie by making hot dogs. We used the microwave to cook macaroni and cheese. The best part was that we made individual dirt bottom pies for dessert. Later, for snack we made shakes using the Magic Bullet.

For the "Finding Your Way" badge, we talked a lot about different types of maps and how to use them. We learned how to use a compass and then made one using a needle, a piece of cork and a magnet. We estimated how long it would take to walk a mile, and then checked our estimation by actually walking a mile. Fortunately, it was not too hot outside. In the park near our house, Amanda and Kambrie laid trail markings to guide us through the nature trail.

Besides doing the badge work, we played some games. The girls really like doing the human knot. It's funny with this group, because several of them like being the "leader" and everyone wants to be the one to "solve" the puzzle. We also played some limbo and some tag. How low can you go? One of their favorite games to play was the telephone game. You remember this one; one person starts with a "secret" and whispers it to the person next to her. The secret is passed around the group (without repeating to anyone, you just pass on what you hear). In the end, the secret is usually way different that how it started. Of course, the moral, if you will, of the game is that rumors work the same way and by passing a rumor you may not get the "true" story, but instead some distorted version that really ends up hurting someone else.

Later that day, we had a regular troop meeting for the two girls in our troop that were not out of school because they are in a different school district. It was a small group though because not everyone came to the evening part. We had a good time in that meeting as well. We completed the "Finding Your Way" badge by doing all the same activities as the big group.

By the end of the day, Mrs. Kathy and I were pretty wiped out, but took pride in the fact that we had a great day. We finished everything to earn the badges and had lots of fun doing it.

Another Funfilled Weekend - 4/13/8008

Well, it’s been another weekend on the run. Saturday, we started bright and early with an 8:30 soccer game. Ryan's Green Dragons were playing "the maroon team". The newest thing for the boys in U8 division has been the addition of the goalie. They started having a goalie for the first time back in the fall and are really getting the hang of it. Bryan is such a good coach; he gives all the boys a chance to be goalie unless they really don't want to be. Anyway, the team has 10 players so they are able to rotate in a fresh 5 each quarter. As it works, Ryan plays in the 1st and 3rd quarters. Ryan played goalie in the 3rd quarter and did a great job. Not one goal was scored on him. Maybe it helped that we had gone out the night before and practiced a bit. We got him some real goalie gloves and he wanted to try them out. They ended the game in a 2-2 tie.

Then, Nicole and I were off to a Girl Scout program put on by the Society of Women Engineers. Despite the wind, it was a gorgeous day, which was nice since the whole program was outside at Astin Park. You know that little park by Bryan Municipal Golf Course and "arsenic lake"? We had 6 girls from Troop 9080 attend and only one other troop with 6 girls was there. Very sad considering that it was such a nice program and the engineers put so much effort in planning. Since attendance was low, there was a lot of individual attention for girls, which is unusual for such events. The girls made gak and built towers out of newspaper (quite challenging with all the wind). They also tried their hands at the human knot. If you have never done this before, you should give it a try. You need at least 5 people. Your group stands in a circle and each person puts their left hand into the middle of the circle. Then, everyone grabs someone else's left hand with their right hand making sure that the same two are not holding both of each other's hands. At this point, you are left with one big human knot. The object is to untangle the knot without anyone letting go. It takes some teamwork and cooperation, but you should end up in a big circle when all goes well. The lady engineers provided Potbelly Sandwiches for lunch. An interesting choice I must say for this age girls (I was expecting pizza). I thought they were quite tasty, but Nicole did not like them at all. They had lettuce and tomatoes on them (oo-yuck!). She suffered through it though. Oh, the trials and tribulations of the picky eater. The girls ended up earning the "Making It Matter" badge and received a participation patch.

After the program, Nicole and I, accompanied by Mrs. Kathy and Rachel, made a run for the grocery store. College Station is out of school for a student holiday on Monday so we are going to put on an all day badge workshop at our house for the troop. It should be lots of fun. We are going to work on activities for two badges: "Let's Get Cooking" and "Finding Your Way". So the trip to the grocery store was to buy food for lunch and snacks. I am looking forward to the event and hope all goes well.

We started out slow on Sunday and slept in until 9am! Well, I did anyway. Found out later that Terry had gone to work during the night to work. I think he tells me when he leaves, but I never remember it. I'm a really good sleeper ("good" sounds so much better that "hard", don't you think?). Anyway, he still had the energy to make a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, waffles, biscuits and gravy, and bacon. Yes, we must have pancakes and waffles (curse of the picky eater, again). Nicole will only eat waffles and Terry and Ryan prefer pancakes. Needless to say, everyone left the table with full bellies.

Later in the day, Nicole and I drove to Brenham for a "Cookie Celebration". It was a council event to honor those girls that sold over 1000 boxes or who were the top seller in their service unit. Nicole sold 1121 boxes of cookies this year! ***Thanks to all of those that supported her and our troop by buying cookies.*** There were several girls from College Station that sold over 1000. The top seller in our service unit sold just over 1600 boxes! The highlight if the trip, however, came at the end when they were drawing for door prizes. Each girl was given one orange and one blue ticket when they arrived. There were 5 gift bags up for grabs with the orange ticket drawing and one gigantic Dash puppy drawn for from the blue tickets. My darling daughter just knew she was going to win the Dash puppy. It was time to call the numbers for the orange tickets. 8-1-1-3. . . miss . . . 8-1-0-7 . . . miss . . . 8-1-1-4 . . . miss again. Her number was 8-1-1-0 and several numbers right in that area were called, but she didn't care. She was waiting for the blue ticket drawing. 8-1-4-2 . . . “It's me!” she called. She was just beaming with joy. She had won the big Dash puppy. She didn't stop smiling all the way home.

While we were celebrating cookies sales, Terry and Ryan were off to a Hit and Miss soccer game. Did I mention that was the name of the soccer team that Terry and I play on? Anyway, I was bummed about missing the game, but enjoyed spending the time with Nicole just the same. When I returned home, I had hopes of joining the soccer moms’ team play their evening soccer game since I missed ours. I played with them last spring and occasionally try to make it out to play with them even though I’m really not suppose to since I am not on their roster. But often times they are short players and they really don't mind letting me play. However, the other team, Purple Haze (grrrr), did mind and would not let me play. It’s against their “policy”, whatever that means. They have this girl on their team that is really good, but doesn't understand that division 5 is about having fun and getting some exercise, not running the score up on a bunch of soccer moms most of which have never even played before. All that means is that there was no soccer for me today :-( . There’s always next week.

4/9/2008

I had a softball game today and it turned out to be quite exciting. First, I should tell you that I play for a team that is comprised mostly of biochemistry grad students. That's right geeks playing ball. Our current team name is Short Bus. Not a big fan of the name, but what can you do? Anyway, about the game, we came out hitting like crazy and were ahead 6-3 at the end of the first inning. My first at bat resulted in an in the park on errors home run! So going into the bottom of the last inning before time expired, we were ahead 14-11. They scored 3 runs, so it was tied. We only had one out and there was a runner on third and a girl was up to bat. She hit a short one to the pitcher, he checked the runner and threw to me at first for an out. The runner on third took off so I threw it to Rockann at home in plenty of time for her to tag him for the out. Double play! Going into an extra inning. We scored 4 in the last inning and held them to only 2 more runs so we won 18-16! Very exciting! Nicole came to the game with me even though it ended a little past her bedtime. She was so cute and really cheered us on.

First Post

Well, I have heard about blogs for a while now and at the recommendation of a friend, am ready to give it a try. So where do you begin. Let's start by introducing the stars of this blog. There are the wee "little" stars, Nicole (age 10) and Ryan (age 7). I say "little" because they have grown so quickly it is hard to say they are little anymore. Then, there is our distant star, Tela (age 18). Distant because she lives in Oklahoma and will soon be moving off to college in far west Texas. Then, there is my loving star, Terry. Finally, there is me, Michelle, the mom star that holds us all together (or at least tries to).


We are in the midst of a busy month of activities ranging from various sporting events to Girl Scout activities and, of course, some good ol' family time. Let's start with Sunday's activities. After doing some research on the subject, we tried our hand at letterboxing for the first time. We drove to Washington on the Brazos in hopes of finding our first "treasure". During the 30-minute drive we picked our letterboxing name, Treasure Hawks, and our individual letterboxing "handles". We have Hawk Daddy, (Mad) Hawk Boy, (Princess) Hawk Girl, and Hawk Momma. The name comes from our families infatuation with finding coins everywhere we go combined with the feeling of treasure hunting inspired by letterboxing itself.

For those that may not know, letterboxing is very much like a treasure hunt. Various people have put effort into placing boxes discreetly hidden in public locations such as parks. They give the box (or boxes) a name. They then post clues to find the letterbox. Sometime you need a compass to find the box, sometime just good eyes are all that are needed. Inside the box, you find a notebook of some sort and a stamp. You use your stamp to stamp the box's notebook and then you stamp your journal with the stamp from the box. In my readings, I have learned that many people hand carve their stamps. We are not to that point yet so we us a store bought stamp.

Our first letterboxing try sent us out to find a set of four letterboxes called the "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" in Washington on the Brazos State Park. We started in the visitor center and made our way to the nature trail. This particular trip was to serve two purposes: 1) to find the letterboxes and 2) to take some bluebonnet pictures of the kids. All four boxes were located on the nature trail and we successfully found all four. I was very pleased with the enthusiasm the family showed by the new adventure. Of course, both kids wanted to find the box or open the box or stamp the journals. Terry even seemed to enjoy the new adventure. After our long hike and successful hunt, we returned to the car just in time to head home for the next activities for the day.

Nicole was scheduled to be at Mrs. Kathy's at 1:30 so she could go to a badge workshop at the Kappa Delta House. Mrs. Kathy is my wonderful assistant leader for our Girl Scout Troop (9080). Her daughter, Rachel, and Nicole are very good friends and enjoy spending time together. We made it to Mrs. Kathy's by 1:40, which gave us just enough time to get to the soccer field where Terry and I would be playing a game at 2:00.

We were playing the soccer moms, which is always a fun game. They are what division 5 soccer is all about: having fun, learning the game and having fun. The guys on our team took very few shots at the goal and mostly tried to set up Lena and me for shots. We each scored 2 in the game and we ended up winning 4-1. It was an enjoyable game. Did I mention that we did not have any subs? So while it was enjoyable, we were quite tired by the end.

We returned home to clean up and wait for Nicole to return. She had a wonderful time at the program and earned the Kappa Delta badge. It sounded like they worked a little on manners as she informed me of the proper way to set a table last night. We then set out for dinner. Our plan was to have pizza and snow cones at Shivers, but we were derailed when we found out that Shivers no longer serves pizza (bummer). We went ahead and got snow cones then trotted down the strip mall to Subway for some sandwiches. The only reason to go on with this is to say that we set out to find another letterbox after dinner. This one was in Veteran's Park (where we play soccer and softball). While we have been there many times, we have never really looked at the statues and monuments that are indeed dedicated to veterans. They are really nice pieces of work and serve well as memorials to those fallen in battle. We found the letterbox with no problem. As we set out to find a second, box in the park, we found an 11-man soccer game in progress. The letterboxer requested that this box be left alone if there were games being played because it is so close to the soccer field. So we will save it for another day.