Thanskgiving is on our doorstep yet again.
Last year, we had much to be grateful for. We gained 3 children, brought them all home full-time, bought new furniture, so everyone had a bed and we had a real couch and dining table with chairs. Those were a big deal for us, because we've always had mattresses on the floor and inherited couches/tables or purchased at Goodwill. We were so grateful last year, we couldn't imagine being any more grateful.
Well, this year we've gone and outdone ourselves. We still have 3 beautiful children, whom we get to watch grow into beautiful adults on a daily basis. We've finally found a good child center that is providing our entire family with the therapy we need to move on in our lives. We get to talk to our missing 4th child on occasion and hear directly from him how he's doing in school, how much he misses us and loves us. This year, we got to take a family vacation and travel a significant portion of the Northeast of this country.
It's funny when we talk to people about our roadtrip. We were out for three weeks visiting family and seeing the U.S. When we mention it to other parents and/or people who know our children and the troubles they've had, we get asked, "How did the kids do on the trip, being on the road for so long?" I always respond with a quizzical look and, "They did just fine." Honestly, I didn't expect any different from them. Folks are amazed when the children report that they loved the trip and had no problems sitting in the car for long periods of time.
This was a far cry from our roadtrip from Oregon to Texas with the kids, though. That's what we're thankful for this year. Through our many blessings, our children's loving spirits, and of course, some even handed love from Mom and Dad, our children have already come such a long way, that even if their spiritual/emotional growth stunted today, they would be decent adults.
This year, we find ourselves giving less thanks for material things and more for love and for family. Each member of our family has their health and only one friend doesn't. We've told you about him before, his name is Isaac. Click on his name to refresh your memory about who he is and how you can help him and his family have a truly blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Even if you can't help monetarily, please pray for them.
So with love to all of our friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving!
Dharma Family
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Nearly another month has passed...
In all fairness, we've been really busy this month. Halloween was a couple of days after we last posted and we went trick-or-treating with our friends, the Surettes.
After Halloween, we began gearing up for Karma's birthday. That was one wild ride! We ended up celebrating her birthday for a week. It started on the 7th when we went to Red Robin for her free birthday burger and sundae. Afterward, we rented a movie and got a beautiful cake (pics to come) and some ice cream. On Friday, we went to Austin's Park and Pizza with the Surettes. That was tons of fun. We went mini-golfing, go-cart riding, bumper boat bumping, laser tagging, and we played for hours in their arcade and enjoyed an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and salad buffet. We also took raspberry cheesecake bars for everyone's enjoyment.
On Saturday, Mom went to work and everyone stayed home and rested from the previous two days. Then Sunday, we rented another couple of movies and finished off the birthday cake. On Monday, Mom went to work while everyone rested again. Then on Tuesday, which was Karma's actual birthday, she opened her presents and we had pizza for lunch. Then Mom went to work and came home early, so we rented another movie and got another birthday cake. On Thursday, we went down to San Antonio and walked around River Center Mall before going to Grandma's new house which has a hot tub and a pool!! Sadly, it was way too cold to take a dip and we didn't have our suits with us. We had pizza with Grandma and Aunt Peggy though and Karma got some books she'd really been wanting for her birthday. All in all, Karma said it was her "Best Birthday Ever!!!"
So, here we are now on Friday and we ran some errands, went to an appointment, had dinner at Chili's on a gift card we won, then came home and played Monopoly. Overall, it's been a hectic but joyous last couple of weeks.
We're very excited about the upcoming week as well. We should be talking to Shane tomorrow and possibly seeing the Surettes. Also, Thanksgiving is coming up, which we'll be going to Grandma's for. We're hoping the weather warms up so we can take a swim while we're down there (not likely, but we can hope, can't we?). On Friday, is a special picnic with the homeschooling soccer folks that we plan to attend. At this picnic, we'll being seeing the BareNakedFamily, who have been in New Mexico for the last several months. We've missed them tons and can't wait to see them again.
Our love to all of our friends and family who read this. We hope you have a great and blessed Thanksgiving.
After Halloween, we began gearing up for Karma's birthday. That was one wild ride! We ended up celebrating her birthday for a week. It started on the 7th when we went to Red Robin for her free birthday burger and sundae. Afterward, we rented a movie and got a beautiful cake (pics to come) and some ice cream. On Friday, we went to Austin's Park and Pizza with the Surettes. That was tons of fun. We went mini-golfing, go-cart riding, bumper boat bumping, laser tagging, and we played for hours in their arcade and enjoyed an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and salad buffet. We also took raspberry cheesecake bars for everyone's enjoyment.
On Saturday, Mom went to work and everyone stayed home and rested from the previous two days. Then Sunday, we rented another couple of movies and finished off the birthday cake. On Monday, Mom went to work while everyone rested again. Then on Tuesday, which was Karma's actual birthday, she opened her presents and we had pizza for lunch. Then Mom went to work and came home early, so we rented another movie and got another birthday cake. On Thursday, we went down to San Antonio and walked around River Center Mall before going to Grandma's new house which has a hot tub and a pool!! Sadly, it was way too cold to take a dip and we didn't have our suits with us. We had pizza with Grandma and Aunt Peggy though and Karma got some books she'd really been wanting for her birthday. All in all, Karma said it was her "Best Birthday Ever!!!"
So, here we are now on Friday and we ran some errands, went to an appointment, had dinner at Chili's on a gift card we won, then came home and played Monopoly. Overall, it's been a hectic but joyous last couple of weeks.
We're very excited about the upcoming week as well. We should be talking to Shane tomorrow and possibly seeing the Surettes. Also, Thanksgiving is coming up, which we'll be going to Grandma's for. We're hoping the weather warms up so we can take a swim while we're down there (not likely, but we can hope, can't we?). On Friday, is a special picnic with the homeschooling soccer folks that we plan to attend. At this picnic, we'll being seeing the BareNakedFamily, who have been in New Mexico for the last several months. We've missed them tons and can't wait to see them again.
Our love to all of our friends and family who read this. We hope you have a great and blessed Thanksgiving.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wow, where have we been?
Geeze, another month has passed and you haven't heard hide nor hair from us.
Well, Andrea has been working (as previously mentioned) and since she does most of the typing in the house, that makes for fewer posts. :)
We've done a few things in the last month. Andrea's best friend, Stephanie did indeed move out into her own, spacious 1 bedroom apartment. Her puppy, Koopa now gleefully runs throughout all the space that is hers. Our house seems a little empty with Steph gone, but we're dealing. We plan to put to use the bedroom that she vacated, that'll happen...sometime.
Andrea has been hating her job for the most part, though it got a little better last week when she talked to one of the higher-ups and found out that they hate the place as much as she does and are working to make it better. The only question that remains is, "Can they make it better before it sinks?"
The other thing about the job, even if it becomes the best place to work ever, Andrea will still be away from everyone else for 45 or more hours per week. That part sucks. Is there enough money to ever really make that worth it?
Everyone else is pretty much same, same. It's an adjustment for everyone to have Andrea gone so many hours and everyone's been dealing with that in their own way. Mostly, they've been spending a lot of time together, which is good.
Karma has a "boyfriend" now. I say "boyfriend" because she's 13 and he's 15, not a whole lot of "boyfriendly" stuff going on there. One really good thing about that though is that our family gets along really well with his family. We spent his birthday hanging out together, where he mostly talked to Sam and tried to not ignore Karma. He didn't do so well on the trying part. But that's okay, that's why he's her "boyfriend."
Let's see, over the past month, we've been to a Social Club dance, been to Alex's (Karma's boyfriend) birthday party, been to a tour of the Austin Museum of Art, and been to the first ever Austin Green City Festival. At the latter was where we spent the day with Alex's family.
Caedmon is starting structured homeschooling again. We're not sure he'll ever be able to really unschool. We're going to try to leave him with the ability to explore and find knowledge on his own, but because of his past, he may never be able to "break free of the system."
Aurora has asked for more structure in her unschooling. She's always kind of liked some structure but we also think this is because of what she's been through. Being jerked back and forth in custody is a little unstable and makes it difficult to be a structured person. We have confidence though, that she'll eventually be able to structure herself.
Karma is just as unstructured as ever, but that works for Karma. That is her structure. She actively seeks knowledge wherever she can find it and she's better for it. We're contemplating giving her some structure in some specific areas, or at least giving her some tools to accomplish certain kinds of learning, in Grammar, for example. :)
Sam and Karma have acquired Guild Wars Nightfall which Sam plays constantly (or pretty constantly) because that's what Sam does. On the bright side, Karma's Alex also has the game, so they stay up late online together some nights, playing in game with Sam.
Ah yes, Karma's birthday is coming up. We're working on sorting out what to do for her birthday. Mom has some ideas, but Karma is reading the screen, so we won't post them here. :)
All the kitties are mostly the same. One very positive thing to note is that Axl has started gaining weight and getting bigger, ever since we had him dewormed for tapeworms specifically. When he was treated before, he was too little for tapeworm dewormer, so it was never done. Also, on positive notes, Cyrano seems to be getting sick less. He still really needs to see the vet, but it's kinda like the car, we know the estimate for repair is going to be high, so we hesitate taking him/it in for a check-up.
That's about it for now.
To close, we'd like to give a shout-out to our BareNaked friends, who will be coming home to Austin next week. Hi guys! We miss you lots and are sorry we haven't taken the time to respond on MySpace. We can't wait to see you and think it would be great if we could throw you a coming home party...
Lots of love,
The Dharma Family6
Well, Andrea has been working (as previously mentioned) and since she does most of the typing in the house, that makes for fewer posts. :)
We've done a few things in the last month. Andrea's best friend, Stephanie did indeed move out into her own, spacious 1 bedroom apartment. Her puppy, Koopa now gleefully runs throughout all the space that is hers. Our house seems a little empty with Steph gone, but we're dealing. We plan to put to use the bedroom that she vacated, that'll happen...sometime.
Andrea has been hating her job for the most part, though it got a little better last week when she talked to one of the higher-ups and found out that they hate the place as much as she does and are working to make it better. The only question that remains is, "Can they make it better before it sinks?"
The other thing about the job, even if it becomes the best place to work ever, Andrea will still be away from everyone else for 45 or more hours per week. That part sucks. Is there enough money to ever really make that worth it?
Everyone else is pretty much same, same. It's an adjustment for everyone to have Andrea gone so many hours and everyone's been dealing with that in their own way. Mostly, they've been spending a lot of time together, which is good.
Karma has a "boyfriend" now. I say "boyfriend" because she's 13 and he's 15, not a whole lot of "boyfriendly" stuff going on there. One really good thing about that though is that our family gets along really well with his family. We spent his birthday hanging out together, where he mostly talked to Sam and tried to not ignore Karma. He didn't do so well on the trying part. But that's okay, that's why he's her "boyfriend."
Let's see, over the past month, we've been to a Social Club dance, been to Alex's (Karma's boyfriend) birthday party, been to a tour of the Austin Museum of Art, and been to the first ever Austin Green City Festival. At the latter was where we spent the day with Alex's family.
Caedmon is starting structured homeschooling again. We're not sure he'll ever be able to really unschool. We're going to try to leave him with the ability to explore and find knowledge on his own, but because of his past, he may never be able to "break free of the system."
Aurora has asked for more structure in her unschooling. She's always kind of liked some structure but we also think this is because of what she's been through. Being jerked back and forth in custody is a little unstable and makes it difficult to be a structured person. We have confidence though, that she'll eventually be able to structure herself.
Karma is just as unstructured as ever, but that works for Karma. That is her structure. She actively seeks knowledge wherever she can find it and she's better for it. We're contemplating giving her some structure in some specific areas, or at least giving her some tools to accomplish certain kinds of learning, in Grammar, for example. :)
Sam and Karma have acquired Guild Wars Nightfall which Sam plays constantly (or pretty constantly) because that's what Sam does. On the bright side, Karma's Alex also has the game, so they stay up late online together some nights, playing in game with Sam.
Ah yes, Karma's birthday is coming up. We're working on sorting out what to do for her birthday. Mom has some ideas, but Karma is reading the screen, so we won't post them here. :)
All the kitties are mostly the same. One very positive thing to note is that Axl has started gaining weight and getting bigger, ever since we had him dewormed for tapeworms specifically. When he was treated before, he was too little for tapeworm dewormer, so it was never done. Also, on positive notes, Cyrano seems to be getting sick less. He still really needs to see the vet, but it's kinda like the car, we know the estimate for repair is going to be high, so we hesitate taking him/it in for a check-up.
That's about it for now.
To close, we'd like to give a shout-out to our BareNaked friends, who will be coming home to Austin next week. Hi guys! We miss you lots and are sorry we haven't taken the time to respond on MySpace. We can't wait to see you and think it would be great if we could throw you a coming home party...
Lots of love,
The Dharma Family6
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Some changes
We're going through some changes on the Dharma front. Andrea has started a new job, which has her out of the house 45 hours per week, again. We'll see how that goes.
Andrea's best friend, who has been staying with us since her separation is going to be moving into her own place next week. This will be a relief for all involved as this little house is just not made to hold 3 adults, 3 kids, 6 cats, and 1 dog.
The kids have begun unschooling. We're testing the waters with all three kids. The premise of unschooling is that children have an inherent desire to learn and so will seek out knowledge when left to their own devices. So far, only Karma is really seeking out knowledge, though Aurora spends time reading and doing math as well. It's recommended that kids take a little vacation and are given time to rediscover their inherent desire to learn. That's where we're at right now. Also, Sam and Andrea are hoping to model good learning to the kids through their own pursuit of knowledge, which fortunately happens quite frequently.
We'll keep you posted.
Andrea's best friend, who has been staying with us since her separation is going to be moving into her own place next week. This will be a relief for all involved as this little house is just not made to hold 3 adults, 3 kids, 6 cats, and 1 dog.
The kids have begun unschooling. We're testing the waters with all three kids. The premise of unschooling is that children have an inherent desire to learn and so will seek out knowledge when left to their own devices. So far, only Karma is really seeking out knowledge, though Aurora spends time reading and doing math as well. It's recommended that kids take a little vacation and are given time to rediscover their inherent desire to learn. That's where we're at right now. Also, Sam and Andrea are hoping to model good learning to the kids through their own pursuit of knowledge, which fortunately happens quite frequently.
We'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Sound of Silence
Yes, so we realize that you haven't heard from us in awhile. For the most part, this is because we are just living life and not much has happened lately.
The kids have been participating in their activities, going to friends' homes, having friends come here, etc.
We were unable to talk to Shane this month, due to circumstances beyond our control. Hopefully we will next month.
We went on a cruise of Town Lake to see the bats, that was fun, we got some gorgeous pictures out of the deal.
That's about it, really.
The kids have been participating in their activities, going to friends' homes, having friends come here, etc.
We were unable to talk to Shane this month, due to circumstances beyond our control. Hopefully we will next month.
We went on a cruise of Town Lake to see the bats, that was fun, we got some gorgeous pictures out of the deal.
That's about it, really.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Happy Birthday Joshua!!
Yes, we have yet another August birthday. Last post we mentioned that our nephew/cousin, Bryon and Christine's son was due in September. Well, it just goes to show that due dates are truly an estimation.
Bryon and Christine welcomed Joshua Michael into the world at 5:20 EDT this morning. He is the first boy for this happy mom and dad. Reports are that it was an easy delivery and Joshua comes in at a healthy 6lbs. 14 oz. His dad says he has strawberry blonde hair and possibly gray eyes.
Plans had been made for a home delivery with a midwife and one can only assume that things went according to plan since Christine had a smooth delivery.
Congratulations to Bryon, Christine, Mikayla, Rachel, and Joshua!! We hope to come up and visit with the new baby soon.
Bryon and Christine welcomed Joshua Michael into the world at 5:20 EDT this morning. He is the first boy for this happy mom and dad. Reports are that it was an easy delivery and Joshua comes in at a healthy 6lbs. 14 oz. His dad says he has strawberry blonde hair and possibly gray eyes.
Plans had been made for a home delivery with a midwife and one can only assume that things went according to plan since Christine had a smooth delivery.
Congratulations to Bryon, Christine, Mikayla, Rachel, and Joshua!! We hope to come up and visit with the new baby soon.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Happy Birthdays!!
Wow, August has been a busy month. It always is in our family. Just among the six of us, we have three August birthdays. Shane turned 16 on August 6th, Caedmon turned 11 on August 19th, and Andrea turned 28 on August 21st.
Moving on to other immediate family: Faith (bio-mother of children) turned 33 on August 5th and Mike (Sam's brother) turned 33 on August 18th. In Andrea's family, Aunt Susie and Uncle Dave both celebrated their birthdays (no need to get into ages) and Uncle Tom will celebrate his next Thursday.
In September, we will have Sam's Mom, Grandma Tricia on September 1st, Andrea's Mom, Grandma Linda on September 3rd, then Aurora will turn 14 on September 22nd and Sam's best friend "Uncle Chris" will turn 34 on September 23rd. In addition to those 4, Andrea's brother, Bryon, and his wife, Christine, are expecting a son, Joshua Michael, to be born in September. His estimated due date is September 9th. We will post once he's here and give him a warm welcome.
We shipped Shane's birthday package off very belated, so we can't post what he's receiving because we can't be entirely sure he's received it yet.
For Caedmon's birthday, he received: A Spiderman toy chest, a Bionicle Barrika, and a Superman long sleeve t-shirt from Mom and Dad; a new remote controlled stunt car from Grandpa Gary and Grandma Susie; a three-pack of Transformers from Aurora and Karma; a Megatron Transformer and Action (hums and lights-up) Light Saber from Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Chris, plus a cool card that plays the Darth Vader theme music; $20 from Grandpa Scott (Stephanie's Dad); a Bionicle (I forget, but the newest set) and a Megatron action figure from Adam, Aurora's friend; an Optimus Prime Transformer that Transforms into a Nerf Gun from Aunt Peggy; and a Cybertron Primus Transformer from Grandma Linda, that toy was the only one he requested by specific name, so of course it's his favorite, but he loves all of his toys and we only see him for schoolwork and mealtimes since his birthday.
We had all of the above people (except for Gary, Susie, and Adam) here for Caedmon's party, which involved listening to the Eagles and Oreo ice cream cake served on paper Transformers plates. Caedmon left the room after opening his presents and didn't resurface until cake time, wherein he promptly left again after finishing. Fun was had by all.
Andrea got Law and Order: Criminal Intent Season 1 for her birthday from her Mom and Aunt Peggy, she also got a membership to Curves from Stephanie. Sam and the kids got her clothes for her Build-A-Bear and plan to shop more after we get paid again. Also, Andrea's Mom baked a confetti cake and brought ice cream for Andrea's birthday and even though we ate the ice cream cake at the party, Andrea very much enjoyed the confetti cake over the ensuing week, with a little help from her friends and family, of course. We're still enjoying the ice cream, in the form of sundaes, yummy!!
Oh yeah, not alot to say for an entire blog post, but we did talk to Shane as promised on the 18th of August. He called when he woke up at 10am our time and stayed on the phone until Sam sent him to bed at midnight our time (he had church the next day). Good conversation was had by all and we plan to play games over the phone in the future (we are a game playing family).
Until next time...
Moving on to other immediate family: Faith (bio-mother of children) turned 33 on August 5th and Mike (Sam's brother) turned 33 on August 18th. In Andrea's family, Aunt Susie and Uncle Dave both celebrated their birthdays (no need to get into ages) and Uncle Tom will celebrate his next Thursday.
In September, we will have Sam's Mom, Grandma Tricia on September 1st, Andrea's Mom, Grandma Linda on September 3rd, then Aurora will turn 14 on September 22nd and Sam's best friend "Uncle Chris" will turn 34 on September 23rd. In addition to those 4, Andrea's brother, Bryon, and his wife, Christine, are expecting a son, Joshua Michael, to be born in September. His estimated due date is September 9th. We will post once he's here and give him a warm welcome.
We shipped Shane's birthday package off very belated, so we can't post what he's receiving because we can't be entirely sure he's received it yet.
For Caedmon's birthday, he received: A Spiderman toy chest, a Bionicle Barrika, and a Superman long sleeve t-shirt from Mom and Dad; a new remote controlled stunt car from Grandpa Gary and Grandma Susie; a three-pack of Transformers from Aurora and Karma; a Megatron Transformer and Action (hums and lights-up) Light Saber from Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Chris, plus a cool card that plays the Darth Vader theme music; $20 from Grandpa Scott (Stephanie's Dad); a Bionicle (I forget, but the newest set) and a Megatron action figure from Adam, Aurora's friend; an Optimus Prime Transformer that Transforms into a Nerf Gun from Aunt Peggy; and a Cybertron Primus Transformer from Grandma Linda, that toy was the only one he requested by specific name, so of course it's his favorite, but he loves all of his toys and we only see him for schoolwork and mealtimes since his birthday.
We had all of the above people (except for Gary, Susie, and Adam) here for Caedmon's party, which involved listening to the Eagles and Oreo ice cream cake served on paper Transformers plates. Caedmon left the room after opening his presents and didn't resurface until cake time, wherein he promptly left again after finishing. Fun was had by all.
Andrea got Law and Order: Criminal Intent Season 1 for her birthday from her Mom and Aunt Peggy, she also got a membership to Curves from Stephanie. Sam and the kids got her clothes for her Build-A-Bear and plan to shop more after we get paid again. Also, Andrea's Mom baked a confetti cake and brought ice cream for Andrea's birthday and even though we ate the ice cream cake at the party, Andrea very much enjoyed the confetti cake over the ensuing week, with a little help from her friends and family, of course. We're still enjoying the ice cream, in the form of sundaes, yummy!!
Oh yeah, not alot to say for an entire blog post, but we did talk to Shane as promised on the 18th of August. He called when he woke up at 10am our time and stayed on the phone until Sam sent him to bed at midnight our time (he had church the next day). Good conversation was had by all and we plan to play games over the phone in the future (we are a game playing family).
Until next time...
Monday, August 13, 2007
Kindness in Rememberance
Today, August 13, 2007, marks the second anniversary of the death of Andrea's cousin, Jeremy. Jeremy passed less than a month shy of his 32nd birthday. He was riding his sports motorcycle on a road called the Dragon in Kentucky/Tennessee when his tire hit some oil on the road, he lost control, and swerved into oncoming traffic. While a tragic accident, Jeremy passed doing something that he enjoyed, so those of us who loved him take heart in the fact that he had been happy.
Jeremy was one of the kindest people you could meet. As an older brother, he never got angry with his siblings for tagging along for he understood that it was part of their admiration of him. He didn't necessarily feel that he deserved this admiration, but he was accepting of it. As a cousin, he defended Andrea's desire to tag along with himself and her older brother, Bryon. As a son, he showed kindness to both of his parents, never taking sides in their separation, showing nothing but unconditional love for them both. As a father, he showered the same unconditional love on his two young daughters, helping them both grow into beautiful, loving young girls.
In Rememberance of Jeremy's passing, we celebrate his life with acts of kindness. From today, August 13th, until Jeremy's birthday on September 2nd, we will remember Jeremy with acts of kindness towards our fellow human being. We ask you to join us in remembering this beautiful life by helping to make life beautiful for everyone.
It should not take tragedies like the bombing of the World Trade Center or the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota to bring kindness out of individuals. That person ahead of you in line at the grocery store only needs thirty cents to pay for their groceries and go home. The individual on the side of the road trying to change their tire may not have a cell phone to call for help. It is a more dangerous world today, but mostly because we've stopped helping our fellow man.
Take some time over the next few weeks to demonstrate to the world at large that you are a decent human being. Remember, the kindest act in giving is the one for which you receive no credit.
Jeremy was one of the kindest people you could meet. As an older brother, he never got angry with his siblings for tagging along for he understood that it was part of their admiration of him. He didn't necessarily feel that he deserved this admiration, but he was accepting of it. As a cousin, he defended Andrea's desire to tag along with himself and her older brother, Bryon. As a son, he showed kindness to both of his parents, never taking sides in their separation, showing nothing but unconditional love for them both. As a father, he showered the same unconditional love on his two young daughters, helping them both grow into beautiful, loving young girls.
In Rememberance of Jeremy's passing, we celebrate his life with acts of kindness. From today, August 13th, until Jeremy's birthday on September 2nd, we will remember Jeremy with acts of kindness towards our fellow human being. We ask you to join us in remembering this beautiful life by helping to make life beautiful for everyone.
It should not take tragedies like the bombing of the World Trade Center or the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota to bring kindness out of individuals. That person ahead of you in line at the grocery store only needs thirty cents to pay for their groceries and go home. The individual on the side of the road trying to change their tire may not have a cell phone to call for help. It is a more dangerous world today, but mostly because we've stopped helping our fellow man.
Take some time over the next few weeks to demonstrate to the world at large that you are a decent human being. Remember, the kindest act in giving is the one for which you receive no credit.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Bashed in the Face!!
We started going to soccer again on Tuesday of this week. It's good because the kids could use the exercise and it gives Mom a chance to get some fresh air.
Today, the ball popped up and smacked Caed in the right side of his face. It smashed his glasses as well, but we won't know if they're too badly bent until we take them to the optical store and have them looked at, probably tomorrow. He got a pretty bad nosebleed, blood was just everywhere, once he saw the blood, he started shrieking, because he couldn't see out of his right eye and he thought it had been damaged. Andrea sat him down and got his nose pinched to stop the bleeding, then cleaned him up to look at the damage. His face was pretty swollen, so we took him to the ER in the event his nose had been broken. They didn't bother doing x-rays, because the swelling was down by the time we got there, he's just got some brusing around his eye and he was mildly concussed.
Turns out, he's gonna live. :)
Today, the ball popped up and smacked Caed in the right side of his face. It smashed his glasses as well, but we won't know if they're too badly bent until we take them to the optical store and have them looked at, probably tomorrow. He got a pretty bad nosebleed, blood was just everywhere, once he saw the blood, he started shrieking, because he couldn't see out of his right eye and he thought it had been damaged. Andrea sat him down and got his nose pinched to stop the bleeding, then cleaned him up to look at the damage. His face was pretty swollen, so we took him to the ER in the event his nose had been broken. They didn't bother doing x-rays, because the swelling was down by the time we got there, he's just got some brusing around his eye and he was mildly concussed.
Turns out, he's gonna live. :)
Monday, July 30, 2007
Grandparent visit
We never did come back and post how the grandparent visits went. We'll go chronologically and start with the weekend with Grandma Linda and Aunt Peggy.
Grandma had an extended week off from teaching because of the July 4th holiday, so she planned a surprise for the children. She picked them up on Saturday and they went back to her place in San Antonio, had pizza and watched movies. On Sunday morning, Grandma and Peggy took the kids to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. They had a lot of fun with that. After that, they went back to Grandma's to watch more movies. On Monday, Grandma and Peggy took them mini-golfing in San Antonio before bringing them home Monday afternoon exhausted.
Gary and Susie, their maternal grandparents, flew in Tuesday evening along with Gary's parents, Bud and Midge. They called Wednesday morning after breakfast. We went to their motel room and spent several hours getting acquainted and reacquainted. Afterwards, we went to Fuddrucker's for lunch and then parted so Bud and Midge could nap. We went back over to their motel an hour or so later and went swimming with Gary and Susie. After the pool, we went back to their room and socialized for several more hours. On Thursday, we went over at lunch time and we all went out to Ryan's (a buffet place) for lunch. After lunch, we went back to the motel and socialized for awhile before going swimming. We swam until dinner time, then went to Whataburger for dinner. After dinner, we went back to their motel room where we stayed until nearly midnight because they were leaving on Friday.
All in all, it was a great visit. Gary and Susie got to see that the kids were doing well and express how impressed they were that the kids are doing well mentally/emotionally without the aid of medications. They thanked us several times for taking such good care of the kids.
What was most satisfying about this visit was finally hearing from some of the people who have fought us for years over the kids that we are good people, who are more than capable of providing a loving, stable home for children. We got along with them quite well and the children were quite happy to see their grandparents.
Glad you enjoyed your visits grandparents!
Grandma had an extended week off from teaching because of the July 4th holiday, so she planned a surprise for the children. She picked them up on Saturday and they went back to her place in San Antonio, had pizza and watched movies. On Sunday morning, Grandma and Peggy took the kids to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. They had a lot of fun with that. After that, they went back to Grandma's to watch more movies. On Monday, Grandma and Peggy took them mini-golfing in San Antonio before bringing them home Monday afternoon exhausted.
Gary and Susie, their maternal grandparents, flew in Tuesday evening along with Gary's parents, Bud and Midge. They called Wednesday morning after breakfast. We went to their motel room and spent several hours getting acquainted and reacquainted. Afterwards, we went to Fuddrucker's for lunch and then parted so Bud and Midge could nap. We went back over to their motel an hour or so later and went swimming with Gary and Susie. After the pool, we went back to their room and socialized for several more hours. On Thursday, we went over at lunch time and we all went out to Ryan's (a buffet place) for lunch. After lunch, we went back to the motel and socialized for awhile before going swimming. We swam until dinner time, then went to Whataburger for dinner. After dinner, we went back to their motel room where we stayed until nearly midnight because they were leaving on Friday.
All in all, it was a great visit. Gary and Susie got to see that the kids were doing well and express how impressed they were that the kids are doing well mentally/emotionally without the aid of medications. They thanked us several times for taking such good care of the kids.
What was most satisfying about this visit was finally hearing from some of the people who have fought us for years over the kids that we are good people, who are more than capable of providing a loving, stable home for children. We got along with them quite well and the children were quite happy to see their grandparents.
Glad you enjoyed your visits grandparents!
Kosher
We need to give a public apology for the last post. We thought about editing it, but decided that would be dishonest since we expressed in the post that it is supposed to be a forum for us to express ourselves honestly and the link is sent to all those we love to see our honest feelings.
That being said, we did upset some of our loved ones with the post and were asked not to express such intense emotions about them on the web anymore. To the person who asked that, we will not name you with such intensity again.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
In the end, All was Well
Turns out that we accomplished much with our conversation with Shane. We are going to be allowed to keep an open dialogue with him from now until we see him next. We still plan to take our trip west in 2009 after Shane graduates and hope to see him then.
We are very excited about this from a familial perspective, because it means that everyone will be able to begin healing the big rift that was created when the children were separated nearly a decade ago. We definitely have new topics for therapy and we expect to see some great strides in all of us soon.
What a month July has been for us. Here it is coming to a close and we've made great communication strides with so many members of the family. All in all, we're pleased and intend to follow up about the grandparent visit in a further post.
We are very excited about this from a familial perspective, because it means that everyone will be able to begin healing the big rift that was created when the children were separated nearly a decade ago. We definitely have new topics for therapy and we expect to see some great strides in all of us soon.
What a month July has been for us. Here it is coming to a close and we've made great communication strides with so many members of the family. All in all, we're pleased and intend to follow up about the grandparent visit in a further post.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Talking to Shane!!
So, we know we've been remiss in posting lately. We keep forgetting to come on and tell everyone how we're doing.
Today, as you can tell from the title, something so exciting is happening that we have to come on and tell you all about it right now. Sam's mom called this morning to return his call asking how she was doing. Shane has been staying with her because she is recovering from surgery. While Sam was talking to his mom, he asked if he could talk to Shane. She asked Shane if he'd like to talk to his dad, and of course, he did.
We've been on speaker phone with Shane for over an hour now. Everyone is so very excited to talk to Shane and Shane is very excited to hear from us. We talked to Shane about our planned trip to Oregon and Minnesota (for the Mall of America) and he still wants to come with us! We hatched the idea to go to the Mall of America when Shane was 11 or 12 and we used to plan with him taking the trip. We haven't gotten around to it yet, but he's still excited about it!
Well, long story short, we're excited to be talking to him, so we're going to go back to our conversation with him now, but we'll post again later. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep an open dialogue with him until our trip in '09. It's just great to hear from him again.
Today, as you can tell from the title, something so exciting is happening that we have to come on and tell you all about it right now. Sam's mom called this morning to return his call asking how she was doing. Shane has been staying with her because she is recovering from surgery. While Sam was talking to his mom, he asked if he could talk to Shane. She asked Shane if he'd like to talk to his dad, and of course, he did.
We've been on speaker phone with Shane for over an hour now. Everyone is so very excited to talk to Shane and Shane is very excited to hear from us. We talked to Shane about our planned trip to Oregon and Minnesota (for the Mall of America) and he still wants to come with us! We hatched the idea to go to the Mall of America when Shane was 11 or 12 and we used to plan with him taking the trip. We haven't gotten around to it yet, but he's still excited about it!
Well, long story short, we're excited to be talking to him, so we're going to go back to our conversation with him now, but we'll post again later. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep an open dialogue with him until our trip in '09. It's just great to hear from him again.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Not Moving After All
Well, a lot has happened since last we posted. Andrea's best friend decided to leave her husband for good. It was a long time coming, but as we know with receiving the gift of the children, even things you want to have happen can come as a shock to you.
We decided that instead of moving, we will help our landlord clean up the neighborhood. We've reported to him the major problem home in the neighborhood and he has promised to contact the owner and see about taking over as the manager to clean the place up. Speaking of that home, we watched a domestic dispute on the lawn (again) yesterday and our lawn care boy was arrested, yet again. It was just as well, he needed money and we had none to give, so he was coming over often.
Karma has now changed the color of her mohawk. It is a pretty purple at the moment. She's saved up some of her allowance and bought some hair glue. We'll be posting a picture of her purple, glued mohawk soon.
The kids' grandparents are visiting and taking them places soon. Andrea's mom and aunt have requested the kids from July 7th-9th and then Faith's father and step-mother are planning a visit on July 11th and 12th. The kids aren't fully aware of their trip with grandma and Aunt Peggy yet, they know something's going on but not when or where.
Most everyone has new glasses now. Sam, Aurora, Karma, and Caedmon had vision exams over the last couple of weeks. Sam and Aurora each got a new pair of glasses. Karma didn't want glasses, so the opthamologist said she could wait until next year's exam, because her prescription would be pretty light. Caedmon explained that he had glasses before, but he purposely busted them because he did not like the headaches and dizziness associated with new glasses. Taking this into account, the doctor wrote him a lighter prescription than what he really needs, in an attempt to minimize his suffering. When he gets his vision exam next year, he will get the appropriate prescription. Caed's glasses should come in this next week. Once everyone gets their new glasses, we'll take pics and put them up here.
So, that's about it for now, you know, more has happened, but there's only so much typing one can do in an individual session.
We decided that instead of moving, we will help our landlord clean up the neighborhood. We've reported to him the major problem home in the neighborhood and he has promised to contact the owner and see about taking over as the manager to clean the place up. Speaking of that home, we watched a domestic dispute on the lawn (again) yesterday and our lawn care boy was arrested, yet again. It was just as well, he needed money and we had none to give, so he was coming over often.
Karma has now changed the color of her mohawk. It is a pretty purple at the moment. She's saved up some of her allowance and bought some hair glue. We'll be posting a picture of her purple, glued mohawk soon.
The kids' grandparents are visiting and taking them places soon. Andrea's mom and aunt have requested the kids from July 7th-9th and then Faith's father and step-mother are planning a visit on July 11th and 12th. The kids aren't fully aware of their trip with grandma and Aunt Peggy yet, they know something's going on but not when or where.
Most everyone has new glasses now. Sam, Aurora, Karma, and Caedmon had vision exams over the last couple of weeks. Sam and Aurora each got a new pair of glasses. Karma didn't want glasses, so the opthamologist said she could wait until next year's exam, because her prescription would be pretty light. Caedmon explained that he had glasses before, but he purposely busted them because he did not like the headaches and dizziness associated with new glasses. Taking this into account, the doctor wrote him a lighter prescription than what he really needs, in an attempt to minimize his suffering. When he gets his vision exam next year, he will get the appropriate prescription. Caed's glasses should come in this next week. Once everyone gets their new glasses, we'll take pics and put them up here.
So, that's about it for now, you know, more has happened, but there's only so much typing one can do in an individual session.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Moving?
Well folks, it looks like we may be getting our wish after all. As we've mentioned before, we'd like to move to Pennsylvania, it just seems the place for us. Well, our lease is up July 31st (not August 31st as we previously thought), and it turns out that we have to give moving or renewing notice to our landlord by May 31st, 60 days in advance! We're pretty sure we won't have enough money to move cross-country by July 31st. Since he e-mailed us Thursday of last week, asking us if we'd renew, with a slightly higher rent, we wrote back and told him we didn't really want to move, but that this neighborhood is horrible. Did he by chance have any other properties he could rent to us?
It just so happens that he does. He told us about one place that's not too far from here, just on the other side of I-35 near Braker. We went to look at it and the neighborhood looks a little of a mixed bag. There are some spots that look a little trashy, but others where lawns are well-maintained and people friendly. At the duplex next door, there were some children outside playing, speculating out loud as to why we were there. At least the children had some healthy paranoia and didn't approach us to ask us for money or food (something that frequently happens here).
He also told us that he would look and see what else he has when he comes back from his Memorial Day vacation. So, I guess we'll get more then. The other neighborhood looks more our speed than this one and it's entirely possible we won't find a place in our budget in any better of a neighborhood than that one.
As a final side note, the lost kitten has a name now, Axl. We came to this conclusion because he was initially discovered in the wheel well of someone's truck. He's getting better now, eating and his nose has pink to it fairly permanently now. Sadly, he also has worms pretty bad, but he's not big enough to be dewormed. That's always the problem when tiny kittens get worms. They can't be dewormed until they're a certain size, but they have difficulty growing bigger when all of their nutrients are being sucked up by these parasites. He'll be 8 weeks old next week, so we'll take him back and try demanding that he's dewormed, even if he doesn't weigh enough.
It just so happens that he does. He told us about one place that's not too far from here, just on the other side of I-35 near Braker. We went to look at it and the neighborhood looks a little of a mixed bag. There are some spots that look a little trashy, but others where lawns are well-maintained and people friendly. At the duplex next door, there were some children outside playing, speculating out loud as to why we were there. At least the children had some healthy paranoia and didn't approach us to ask us for money or food (something that frequently happens here).
He also told us that he would look and see what else he has when he comes back from his Memorial Day vacation. So, I guess we'll get more then. The other neighborhood looks more our speed than this one and it's entirely possible we won't find a place in our budget in any better of a neighborhood than that one.
As a final side note, the lost kitten has a name now, Axl. We came to this conclusion because he was initially discovered in the wheel well of someone's truck. He's getting better now, eating and his nose has pink to it fairly permanently now. Sadly, he also has worms pretty bad, but he's not big enough to be dewormed. That's always the problem when tiny kittens get worms. They can't be dewormed until they're a certain size, but they have difficulty growing bigger when all of their nutrients are being sucked up by these parasites. He'll be 8 weeks old next week, so we'll take him back and try demanding that he's dewormed, even if he doesn't weigh enough.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Blue Mohawk, Dance, Stupid blog photos
So let's start with the dance since we talked about it in the last post. Andrea decided to stay home from the dance because she was so stuffed up, she didn't think she'd have any fun. She took some pics of the kids in their nice clothes, then was silly and didn't hand Sam the camera. Apparently, great memories were had and Andrea didn't get to see it. :(
Today, Sam took Karma out and fixed her mohawk, thinned it up on top and made it look nicer than Andrea was coming up with. Karma came inside, took a shower and then noticed how spiky her hawk was looking. She said, "Wow, it's long enough to dye now!" Andrea then hunted down the blue hair dye and offered Karma a dye job. Now Karma has a blue hawk. You can see the pic of it on the left-hand bar.
That brings us to our last subject. There is also a picture of the kids, ready for the dance, in the left-hand bar. The stupid blog thing-y cuts off the right side of the pics. So, if it looks like Caedmon was cut out of the picture by some bad photography, it just ain't so. The pic was taken centered, appeared centered in the add page, but is not centered when posted. You may notice this with some of our other photos as well. Same problem!!
Today, Sam took Karma out and fixed her mohawk, thinned it up on top and made it look nicer than Andrea was coming up with. Karma came inside, took a shower and then noticed how spiky her hawk was looking. She said, "Wow, it's long enough to dye now!" Andrea then hunted down the blue hair dye and offered Karma a dye job. Now Karma has a blue hawk. You can see the pic of it on the left-hand bar.
That brings us to our last subject. There is also a picture of the kids, ready for the dance, in the left-hand bar. The stupid blog thing-y cuts off the right side of the pics. So, if it looks like Caedmon was cut out of the picture by some bad photography, it just ain't so. The pic was taken centered, appeared centered in the add page, but is not centered when posted. You may notice this with some of our other photos as well. Same problem!!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Dance Plans!!
We're finally ready to rejoin the social world of homeschooling in Austin and what do we learn? There's a dance! Of course, we just have to go. Aurora and Karma have been jonesing to attend a dance and through one stroke of bad luck or bad memory, have not been able to. They've got beautiful dresses on loan from their Aunt Christine and my goodness, they will look great tonight. The dance starts at 8pm, so we will be getting ready around 6:30pm and heading out about 7:30pm or so. We'll snap some pics so everyone can see.
In other news, Andrea is very sick and may hang out in the car at the dance tonight. Also, we are planning to have a Garage Sale, but Andrea is not well enough to plan one. We've got all the supplies, but we need to finish going through our belongings and pulling out things to sell. Then, we need to sort and mark everything. I guess we'll see what happens.
That's about it for now!
In other news, Andrea is very sick and may hang out in the car at the dance tonight. Also, we are planning to have a Garage Sale, but Andrea is not well enough to plan one. We've got all the supplies, but we need to finish going through our belongings and pulling out things to sell. Then, we need to sort and mark everything. I guess we'll see what happens.
That's about it for now!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Happy Mother's Day!!
To all the women we know, Happy Mother's Day! You may be thinking just now, "hey wait, I'm not a mother," but what woman isn't? All women have it programmed into our genetic codes to be a mother and try as we might, we find ourselves mothering everyone we know, spouses, siblings, co-workers, even bosses sometimes. As our parents grow older, we will eventually mother them, too in exchange for the parenting we received as children.
Now, I'd like to paste a speech called the Mother's Day Proclomation. I found this on a blog that I regularly read, Hathor the cow goddess.
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!
Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided byirrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reekingwith carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not betaken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teachthem of charity, mercy and patience.
We women of one country will be too tender of those of anothercountry to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. Fromthe bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balanceof justice.”
Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summonsof war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for agreat and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to themeans whereby the great human family can live in peace, eachbearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that ageneral congress of women without limit of nationality may beappointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and atthe earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote thealliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlementof international questions, the great and general interests ofpeace.
Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870
Okay, we're off to enjoy a day together.
Now, I'd like to paste a speech called the Mother's Day Proclomation. I found this on a blog that I regularly read, Hathor the cow goddess.
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!
Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided byirrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reekingwith carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not betaken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teachthem of charity, mercy and patience.
We women of one country will be too tender of those of anothercountry to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. Fromthe bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balanceof justice.”
Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summonsof war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for agreat and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to themeans whereby the great human family can live in peace, eachbearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that ageneral congress of women without limit of nationality may beappointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and atthe earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote thealliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlementof international questions, the great and general interests ofpeace.
Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870
Okay, we're off to enjoy a day together.
Monday, May 7, 2007
The Lost Kitten
Our good friend Steph was visiting us on Friday night, with the expectation that her husband, Greg would be over soon. When Greg arrived, he noticed a tiny black kitten trying to climb into the wheel well of a work truck. The driver of said truck kept kicking the kitten out, afraid that he would forget the kitten was there and drive off, injuring the kitten. A woman walked by and the kitten began following her until he lost interest, at which point he wandered into the road. Moments after wandering into the road, a truck came speeding by, nearly ending the kitten's life.
Greg scooped up the kitten and brought him to the door to safety. Andrea saw the tiny thing and made many exclamations about his cuteness. As she took the kitten from Greg, she noticed that Greg's hands were black with grease and the kitten had streaks of white fur. Andrea decided the kitten desperately needed a bath and had Steph get the cat wash/flea shampoo out. After his bath, the kitten was a little more scared, but still crawling with fleas. After Andrea saw how truly tiny he was, she decided not to use the flea shampoo again as it is not safe for kittens under 8 weeks.
After his second bath, this time with baby shampoo, everyone noticed that the kitten was not black as previously thought, but instead gray and white, pretty equally. The kitten was quite scared by this point, having only been inside for a half hour and having already received not one, but two baths. After drying him off, Andrea found the dry kitten formula mix she had bought for Qsmat and mixed some up for the new kitten. He stuck his nose in, but did not lap, so Steph and Andrea assumed he hadn't been weaned and set out in pursuit of a kitten bottle.
It was nearly 10 o'clock at night by this point, so Petsmart was long closed and Target was closing. Steph and Andrea managed to find some preemie bottles at Target and bought them in the hopes they would work. After getting the bottles home, the kitten decided he didn't like the bottles and would instead like to lap formula from a bowl! Cute kitten.
We managed to get the kitten into the vet on Sunday, but found out he was too small to receive most treatments. He was able to get some roundworm dewormer, but too small for Capstar and other parasite killers. The vet told us that he is anemic, most likely from the number of fleas he had on him. We are to give him a multi-vitamin twice a day until his nose and gums are completely pink and feed him whatever we can get him to eat.
Since we started perking him up with multi-vitamins yesterday, he has been eating KMR and wet food voraciously about every 6 hours. He's still sleeping a little more than average, but he's playing more when he is awake. He doesn't have a name yet, but we're sure he's a boy, he's 4 weeks old, he weighs 1.25 pounds and is as cute as pie!
We'll try to get a picture up in a a bit. If none appear, you can leave a comment asking for one to be e-mailed to you.
Greg scooped up the kitten and brought him to the door to safety. Andrea saw the tiny thing and made many exclamations about his cuteness. As she took the kitten from Greg, she noticed that Greg's hands were black with grease and the kitten had streaks of white fur. Andrea decided the kitten desperately needed a bath and had Steph get the cat wash/flea shampoo out. After his bath, the kitten was a little more scared, but still crawling with fleas. After Andrea saw how truly tiny he was, she decided not to use the flea shampoo again as it is not safe for kittens under 8 weeks.
After his second bath, this time with baby shampoo, everyone noticed that the kitten was not black as previously thought, but instead gray and white, pretty equally. The kitten was quite scared by this point, having only been inside for a half hour and having already received not one, but two baths. After drying him off, Andrea found the dry kitten formula mix she had bought for Qsmat and mixed some up for the new kitten. He stuck his nose in, but did not lap, so Steph and Andrea assumed he hadn't been weaned and set out in pursuit of a kitten bottle.
It was nearly 10 o'clock at night by this point, so Petsmart was long closed and Target was closing. Steph and Andrea managed to find some preemie bottles at Target and bought them in the hopes they would work. After getting the bottles home, the kitten decided he didn't like the bottles and would instead like to lap formula from a bowl! Cute kitten.
We managed to get the kitten into the vet on Sunday, but found out he was too small to receive most treatments. He was able to get some roundworm dewormer, but too small for Capstar and other parasite killers. The vet told us that he is anemic, most likely from the number of fleas he had on him. We are to give him a multi-vitamin twice a day until his nose and gums are completely pink and feed him whatever we can get him to eat.
Since we started perking him up with multi-vitamins yesterday, he has been eating KMR and wet food voraciously about every 6 hours. He's still sleeping a little more than average, but he's playing more when he is awake. He doesn't have a name yet, but we're sure he's a boy, he's 4 weeks old, he weighs 1.25 pounds and is as cute as pie!
We'll try to get a picture up in a a bit. If none appear, you can leave a comment asking for one to be e-mailed to you.
Settling back in
It seems lately that there's always so much to talk about and so little time to say it in.
We are settling back into our family life here in Austin. The kids resumed school work today and are cracking right through it. The awesome part is, they didn't even have to be asked, it was like they were just ready to go at it again.
Caed blew through about six different books while we were gone. He finished what we own of the Warriors' New Prophecy series, then read Eragon and Eldest, Raising Dragons (a gift from Aunt Christine), and read a book from the Ice Age cycle of the MtG card game. He's now in a book from the Time Spiral cylce in the MtG card game.
Aurora has also finally got the reading bug. It took her forever to read Goblet of Fire, but once she had finished it, she was driven to finish what we own of the series. She picked up book 5 as we were departing our family in PA and finished last Friday (the day after we arrived home). She started book 6 that same day and here it is the following Monday and she's already half-way through. She's read a lot over the weekend.
Karma has always had the reading bug, she loves to read. She's enjoying creating her art work as well, so she spends her time divided between the two activities. She finished books 5 and 6 while on vacation and is involved in another book at the moment. She was also commissioned to create some art work for a website her Aunt Christine is working on and she has been pleased so far.
Andrea and Sam are working on getting household things taken care of, Sam finally has his license back. Since the entire family seems deadset on making the move to PA as soon as possible, we are also working on getting things ready for that. It will be another cross-country move, our fourth in our 8 1/2 years of marriage. Of course, it will take several months, possibly a year to coordinate everything, but we're hoping to never move that far again.
Sam's birthday is tomorrow, but since everyone works, we celebrated this last weekend. It was a lot of fun involving two birthday cakes, some board games, a lost kitten, and lots of rousing conversation. Sam got Supernatural Season 1 for his birthday from our good friends Greg and Steph, he also received issues 3 and 4 of Full-Metal Alchemist from Caed and Aurora. Karma got him a Spider-Man montage puzzle which he says he'll put together soon, Andrea's mom and Aunt Peggy bought him the Diablo Battle Chest (again), and Andrea got him a Planar Chaos fat pack and a pre-constructed deck from Future Site. All-in-all, he says he had a great birthday.
The lost kitten story shall follow.
We are settling back into our family life here in Austin. The kids resumed school work today and are cracking right through it. The awesome part is, they didn't even have to be asked, it was like they were just ready to go at it again.
Caed blew through about six different books while we were gone. He finished what we own of the Warriors' New Prophecy series, then read Eragon and Eldest, Raising Dragons (a gift from Aunt Christine), and read a book from the Ice Age cycle of the MtG card game. He's now in a book from the Time Spiral cylce in the MtG card game.
Aurora has also finally got the reading bug. It took her forever to read Goblet of Fire, but once she had finished it, she was driven to finish what we own of the series. She picked up book 5 as we were departing our family in PA and finished last Friday (the day after we arrived home). She started book 6 that same day and here it is the following Monday and she's already half-way through. She's read a lot over the weekend.
Karma has always had the reading bug, she loves to read. She's enjoying creating her art work as well, so she spends her time divided between the two activities. She finished books 5 and 6 while on vacation and is involved in another book at the moment. She was also commissioned to create some art work for a website her Aunt Christine is working on and she has been pleased so far.
Andrea and Sam are working on getting household things taken care of, Sam finally has his license back. Since the entire family seems deadset on making the move to PA as soon as possible, we are also working on getting things ready for that. It will be another cross-country move, our fourth in our 8 1/2 years of marriage. Of course, it will take several months, possibly a year to coordinate everything, but we're hoping to never move that far again.
Sam's birthday is tomorrow, but since everyone works, we celebrated this last weekend. It was a lot of fun involving two birthday cakes, some board games, a lost kitten, and lots of rousing conversation. Sam got Supernatural Season 1 for his birthday from our good friends Greg and Steph, he also received issues 3 and 4 of Full-Metal Alchemist from Caed and Aurora. Karma got him a Spider-Man montage puzzle which he says he'll put together soon, Andrea's mom and Aunt Peggy bought him the Diablo Battle Chest (again), and Andrea got him a Planar Chaos fat pack and a pre-constructed deck from Future Site. All-in-all, he says he had a great birthday.
The lost kitten story shall follow.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Safe and Sound
We arrived home at about 11:30 p.m tonight, safe and sound, well maybe not so sound. We saw some lovely thunderstorms while crossing Dallas, several points where we had to drive 20 mph and even one point where we had to pull completely off the road and go hide in a truck stop with about 20 other people. Had it not been for the weather, we'd have been home around 10pm. C'est la vie!
We're of course exhausted, but not quite ready for bed. We sent the kids off to bed, they were passed out in the car anyway. We're just chillin' out on the couch now thinkin' about everything and nothing all at once. We got some crap to do tomorrow, gotta go pick up our mail, clean out the rental, maybe get it returned (has to be done in 12 hours), get Sam's license, and go to the bank.
The cats are very happy to have us home. At first, they looked at us like, "Who the hell are you people, and where is that nice calm couple that's been coming over?" Then, when they recognized us, they got some preliminary pets and proceeded to ignore us for about a half hour in protest of our 3 week absence. Now, only Cyrano is really cuddly, cuddled up to Momma, of course. Everyone else has had a bit more love, though.
The rats are happy to have us home also...Poor Demi, Karma's rat, needs a one-way trip to the vet. She has a mammary tumor that in the 3 weeks we've been gone is now about half of her pre-tumor size. Foxie rang her bell for some attention, got some, then proceeded to ring her bell again because she wanted more. The girls told her she will just need to wait until morning.
Well, there's a lot more to talk about, but that can be another post.
We're of course exhausted, but not quite ready for bed. We sent the kids off to bed, they were passed out in the car anyway. We're just chillin' out on the couch now thinkin' about everything and nothing all at once. We got some crap to do tomorrow, gotta go pick up our mail, clean out the rental, maybe get it returned (has to be done in 12 hours), get Sam's license, and go to the bank.
The cats are very happy to have us home. At first, they looked at us like, "Who the hell are you people, and where is that nice calm couple that's been coming over?" Then, when they recognized us, they got some preliminary pets and proceeded to ignore us for about a half hour in protest of our 3 week absence. Now, only Cyrano is really cuddly, cuddled up to Momma, of course. Everyone else has had a bit more love, though.
The rats are happy to have us home also...Poor Demi, Karma's rat, needs a one-way trip to the vet. She has a mammary tumor that in the 3 weeks we've been gone is now about half of her pre-tumor size. Foxie rang her bell for some attention, got some, then proceeded to ring her bell again because she wanted more. The girls told her she will just need to wait until morning.
Well, there's a lot more to talk about, but that can be another post.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Soon to be off home...
Wowee, what a trip it has been! When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were staying in Massachusetts, practically in the Atlantic Ocean...
While in Massachusetts, we visited Salem and a couple of the witch museums there. If you are planning a trip, the Witch Dungeon Museum was awesome, the Witch History Museum sucked. We ate at the Lyceum Bar and Grill where Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated his brand new invention--the telephone. That was a cool bit of history. In Salem, we got a new bumper sticker for our car, you'll just have to see it for yourself.
From Salem, we went to Hampton, New Hampshire to visit Sam's Grammy and the rest of his family. That was pretty cool. Sam's Grammy is 94 and her house is furnished with what she calls "Attic Furniture." Attic Furniture is furniture that is taken from relative's attics that they aren't using anymore. When she and her husband got married, they had no furniture, so they took their relative's cast-offs. It was liking walking into an American History Museum. We all sat in the Sitting Room on Civil War era (or older) furniture and looked around at antiques that belonged on Antique Road Show.
Andrea's dirty little secret is a passion for history and she was just giddy with joy walking through the house looking at all the pieces of Americana, especially the 8 or 9 bookcases filled with books. She found 5 or 6 Readers, which were like textbooks in the olden days. A French Reader had belonged to someone in 1868!!
Sam's family were totally good peoples. They were very happy to see us all as they had never met any of us (other than Sam of course). We were happy to meet them too. We went with them out to an area the family calls "Mummy Rock," which is a rock in the Atlantic that looks like a sarcophagus. We took some ankle deep dips in the Atlantic, but it was pretty freakin' cold for late April. We also got to read some of Sam's family history in their "Civil War Letters," written by Sam's great-great grandfather and his brother while they were in the Civil War.
That visit came to an end all too quickly as we hadn't expected to stay for more than a couple of hours and we had already pushed into the next day. From there, we headed down to see the last set of family, Andrea's Aunt Nancy, who lives in Maryland, next to D.C. It was supposed to be an 8-10 hour drive down here, but it was about 13 hours, due to traffic. Never drive through NYC!!
Here we've been since 1am on Saturday. We got to go down to D.C. today and see the Washington Monument (from a distance) as well as the Capitol Building. We went into the Smithsonian Natural History Museum where we saw the Hope Diamond and browsed the Insect, African History, Elephant, and other exhibits. We are going back down tomorrow to see the last of the Natural History Exhibits, the Washington Monument (up close), and the Lincoln Memorial, plus whatever else strikes our fancy.
We plan to set out home first thing Tuesday morning. We should be home by Wednesday night, depending on how fast we drive and for how long we can drive. It's only a 24 hour physical on-the-road drive from here, so we think we should make it home Wednesday. Karma is excited by that, she wants to try out First Thursday again.
While in Massachusetts, we visited Salem and a couple of the witch museums there. If you are planning a trip, the Witch Dungeon Museum was awesome, the Witch History Museum sucked. We ate at the Lyceum Bar and Grill where Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated his brand new invention--the telephone. That was a cool bit of history. In Salem, we got a new bumper sticker for our car, you'll just have to see it for yourself.
From Salem, we went to Hampton, New Hampshire to visit Sam's Grammy and the rest of his family. That was pretty cool. Sam's Grammy is 94 and her house is furnished with what she calls "Attic Furniture." Attic Furniture is furniture that is taken from relative's attics that they aren't using anymore. When she and her husband got married, they had no furniture, so they took their relative's cast-offs. It was liking walking into an American History Museum. We all sat in the Sitting Room on Civil War era (or older) furniture and looked around at antiques that belonged on Antique Road Show.
Andrea's dirty little secret is a passion for history and she was just giddy with joy walking through the house looking at all the pieces of Americana, especially the 8 or 9 bookcases filled with books. She found 5 or 6 Readers, which were like textbooks in the olden days. A French Reader had belonged to someone in 1868!!
Sam's family were totally good peoples. They were very happy to see us all as they had never met any of us (other than Sam of course). We were happy to meet them too. We went with them out to an area the family calls "Mummy Rock," which is a rock in the Atlantic that looks like a sarcophagus. We took some ankle deep dips in the Atlantic, but it was pretty freakin' cold for late April. We also got to read some of Sam's family history in their "Civil War Letters," written by Sam's great-great grandfather and his brother while they were in the Civil War.
That visit came to an end all too quickly as we hadn't expected to stay for more than a couple of hours and we had already pushed into the next day. From there, we headed down to see the last set of family, Andrea's Aunt Nancy, who lives in Maryland, next to D.C. It was supposed to be an 8-10 hour drive down here, but it was about 13 hours, due to traffic. Never drive through NYC!!
Here we've been since 1am on Saturday. We got to go down to D.C. today and see the Washington Monument (from a distance) as well as the Capitol Building. We went into the Smithsonian Natural History Museum where we saw the Hope Diamond and browsed the Insect, African History, Elephant, and other exhibits. We are going back down tomorrow to see the last of the Natural History Exhibits, the Washington Monument (up close), and the Lincoln Memorial, plus whatever else strikes our fancy.
We plan to set out home first thing Tuesday morning. We should be home by Wednesday night, depending on how fast we drive and for how long we can drive. It's only a 24 hour physical on-the-road drive from here, so we think we should make it home Wednesday. Karma is excited by that, she wants to try out First Thursday again.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Pennsylvania is the place to be....
So, we left Detroit Friday of last week. We had an enjoyable visit with Andrea's brother, Bryon, and his family. The kids were sorry to part from their cousins. From Michigan, we drove to see Andrea's Aunt Evie in Cochranton, Pennsylvania. That was a wonderful visit!
Andrea's Aunt Evie and her husband, Dave, are two of the coolest people we've met. They live out in the middle of nowhere, in a wood house that they've built themselves. In fact, they're still working on finishing it, putting cabinet doors on, etc. Evie and Dave made us all feel very welcome with a weinie and marshmallow roast around the campfire. Afterwards, all five of us took a walk around the lake with Dave and told ghost stories along the way. Because it was the middle of nowhere, there was no light, save for the moon and stars. We got plenty of good spooks in and had a grand old time.
The kids took off on their own in the daylight to explore the surrounding woods and found the tree cabin. Inside the tree cabin, they found the black snake that Dave and Evie have christened, "Samantha." With all the open space, there was plenty of room for the children's imaginations to roam and they had soon created an entire kingdom in the woods. Sadly, the fun came to an end all too soon, as we had arrived on Friday evening and everyone had alternate Saturday evening obligations.
On Saturday afternoon, we all drove down to the Franklin area to stay with Andrea's Uncle Bill and his Marsha. We attended a charity event for the Humane Society which Bill and his old bandmate, Tobey, played at. It was a fun evening. We headed back to Bill and Marsha's and had grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. On Sunday, Andrea and Marsha managed to round up nearly all of Andrea's aunts, uncles, great-aunts, and great-uncles for a little family reunion at Bill and Marsha's place. A great time was had by all. Bill and another of Andrea's uncles, Dave took the kids out into the yard to play a paddleball game, blow bubbles and then play a rousing game of Frisbee golf, which Andrea managed to win.
On Monday, we drove into downtown Franklin, did some laundry and explored Liberty (St, Rd, Ave?). We also drove by the duplex that Andrea's Aunt Peggy used to live in to see where in town it was located. We're discussing the possibility of asking Andrea's Uncle Tom (who manages the place) if we can rent it.
Yes, you read that right, we'd like to rent a place in Franklin, PA. After seeing the beauty of the area as a family, we've decided that we could use the slower pace of life. We would like to be surrounded by Andrea's loving extended family in an area where we can let the children out into the front yard to play without worrying about whether or not they will be the accidental victims of a drive-by shooting. The cost of living is very low in the Venango County area, which means our dimes will go further in supporting us. The average 3/2 duplex rents for around $300/month. That is much better than moving somewhere safer in Austin, where we can expect to pay $1100 or better for the same size place. Plus, with the whole global-warming thing going on, the southern U.S. is supposed to be crop useless and dangerous to live in in approximately 10 years.
Also, today we are in Massachusetts, practically in the Atlantic Ocean and we just left Franklin yesterday morning. Living up here, we can go most anywhere as a day trip. Andrea's sister-in-law tried to convince us to move to Michigan. We didn't like Michigan much, but in western Pennsylvania, we will be a 6-hour drive away from them. All-in-all, we think it's the best decision for our family.
Comments? Questions?
Andrea's Aunt Evie and her husband, Dave, are two of the coolest people we've met. They live out in the middle of nowhere, in a wood house that they've built themselves. In fact, they're still working on finishing it, putting cabinet doors on, etc. Evie and Dave made us all feel very welcome with a weinie and marshmallow roast around the campfire. Afterwards, all five of us took a walk around the lake with Dave and told ghost stories along the way. Because it was the middle of nowhere, there was no light, save for the moon and stars. We got plenty of good spooks in and had a grand old time.
The kids took off on their own in the daylight to explore the surrounding woods and found the tree cabin. Inside the tree cabin, they found the black snake that Dave and Evie have christened, "Samantha." With all the open space, there was plenty of room for the children's imaginations to roam and they had soon created an entire kingdom in the woods. Sadly, the fun came to an end all too soon, as we had arrived on Friday evening and everyone had alternate Saturday evening obligations.
On Saturday afternoon, we all drove down to the Franklin area to stay with Andrea's Uncle Bill and his Marsha. We attended a charity event for the Humane Society which Bill and his old bandmate, Tobey, played at. It was a fun evening. We headed back to Bill and Marsha's and had grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. On Sunday, Andrea and Marsha managed to round up nearly all of Andrea's aunts, uncles, great-aunts, and great-uncles for a little family reunion at Bill and Marsha's place. A great time was had by all. Bill and another of Andrea's uncles, Dave took the kids out into the yard to play a paddleball game, blow bubbles and then play a rousing game of Frisbee golf, which Andrea managed to win.
On Monday, we drove into downtown Franklin, did some laundry and explored Liberty (St, Rd, Ave?). We also drove by the duplex that Andrea's Aunt Peggy used to live in to see where in town it was located. We're discussing the possibility of asking Andrea's Uncle Tom (who manages the place) if we can rent it.
Yes, you read that right, we'd like to rent a place in Franklin, PA. After seeing the beauty of the area as a family, we've decided that we could use the slower pace of life. We would like to be surrounded by Andrea's loving extended family in an area where we can let the children out into the front yard to play without worrying about whether or not they will be the accidental victims of a drive-by shooting. The cost of living is very low in the Venango County area, which means our dimes will go further in supporting us. The average 3/2 duplex rents for around $300/month. That is much better than moving somewhere safer in Austin, where we can expect to pay $1100 or better for the same size place. Plus, with the whole global-warming thing going on, the southern U.S. is supposed to be crop useless and dangerous to live in in approximately 10 years.
Also, today we are in Massachusetts, practically in the Atlantic Ocean and we just left Franklin yesterday morning. Living up here, we can go most anywhere as a day trip. Andrea's sister-in-law tried to convince us to move to Michigan. We didn't like Michigan much, but in western Pennsylvania, we will be a 6-hour drive away from them. All-in-all, we think it's the best decision for our family.
Comments? Questions?
Friday, April 20, 2007
Leaving Michigan
Well, we've been here for about a week...We arrived at 4 in the morning last Saturday and we'll be leaving at noon "today," which is Friday. It's been a great visit. The kids got to meet their cousins, Mikayla and Rachel. They also got to meet their Uncle Bryon and Aunt Christine for the first time (except Aurora, who had met Bryon before).
We went to our very first ultrasound to see their newest cousin five months before his birth. Christine is pregnant with Joshua Michael, who will be the first boy for Bryon and Christine. It was truly an awesome experience. Sam had attended several before (being the biological father of four), but Andrea had never attended one and neither had the children. Christine wanted a boy so bad that when the nurse announced, "You have a boy," everyone broke out in applause.
We need to tuck in for the night, so even though there's more we wanted to write, we'll have to catch you up later.
We went to our very first ultrasound to see their newest cousin five months before his birth. Christine is pregnant with Joshua Michael, who will be the first boy for Bryon and Christine. It was truly an awesome experience. Sam had attended several before (being the biological father of four), but Andrea had never attended one and neither had the children. Christine wanted a boy so bad that when the nurse announced, "You have a boy," everyone broke out in applause.
We need to tuck in for the night, so even though there's more we wanted to write, we'll have to catch you up later.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A Friend of a Friend with cancer
We've mentioned before on our blog our very good friends, the BareNakedFamily. We haven't yet had the honor of meeting their friends, the BlackSheepFamily, but we know they are in need right now.
Isaac is a father of four and has just been diagnosed with cancer. He is the breadwinner in the home, Johhna his wife, stays at home and homeschools the kids. Since he has had surgery he will be down for awhile and going to possibly start treatments that will take him out. He will no longer be able to work and the Family is having a hard time with that.
The following non-profit group is raising funds to help this Family through their rough time. Please visit the site below, where you can link to read more about this family and how to donate to help them pay their bills while Isaac is not able to work.
http://www.lovejustis.org/
Isaac is a father of four and has just been diagnosed with cancer. He is the breadwinner in the home, Johhna his wife, stays at home and homeschools the kids. Since he has had surgery he will be down for awhile and going to possibly start treatments that will take him out. He will no longer be able to work and the Family is having a hard time with that.
The following non-profit group is raising funds to help this Family through their rough time. Please visit the site below, where you can link to read more about this family and how to donate to help them pay their bills while Isaac is not able to work.
http://www.lovejustis.org/
Sunday, April 15, 2007
It's cold in Detroit!!
So we're on vacation. We got to see Andrea's cousin, Chris in Tennessee, that was an awesome visit. He was doing pretty well and was happy to see us. He sure grew up to be a great person. We hope to keep in touch with him.
Now, we've arrived at Andrea's brother's in Michigan. We'll probably be staying for several days, they have two kids which makes the vacation more fun for the kids and they're cool with us being here for awhile. We finally got some decent sleep last night. Today the kids are all playing together and enjoying themselves. We're going shopping a little later. Of course, Andrea's sister-in-law would like us to move up here. We would love to be closer to more of our family, but it is very cold up here and the cost of living is very high.
After we leave here, we'll head to PA to see more of Andrea's family and then across to NH to see Sam's Grammy and possibly the rest of his family. From there, we'll head down through NYC, D.C. and hopefully stop in MD to have lunch/dinner with one of Andrea's aunts and cousins.
We'll keep everyone updated.
Now, we've arrived at Andrea's brother's in Michigan. We'll probably be staying for several days, they have two kids which makes the vacation more fun for the kids and they're cool with us being here for awhile. We finally got some decent sleep last night. Today the kids are all playing together and enjoying themselves. We're going shopping a little later. Of course, Andrea's sister-in-law would like us to move up here. We would love to be closer to more of our family, but it is very cold up here and the cost of living is very high.
After we leave here, we'll head to PA to see more of Andrea's family and then across to NH to see Sam's Grammy and possibly the rest of his family. From there, we'll head down through NYC, D.C. and hopefully stop in MD to have lunch/dinner with one of Andrea's aunts and cousins.
We'll keep everyone updated.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
On Vacation!!
We are updating you from Texarkana which is on the Texas and Arkansas border. We departed Austin yesterday at about 6pm. It took us awhile to depart, we still had many things to do to be ready. We're off to a pretty good start, we think.
We have plans to enjoy a meal with one of Andrea's cousins in Northern Kentucky. Depending on drive time, we'll be enjoying dinner with him tonight or lunch tomorrow.
That's all we have time for now. We'll update again later.
We have plans to enjoy a meal with one of Andrea's cousins in Northern Kentucky. Depending on drive time, we'll be enjoying dinner with him tonight or lunch tomorrow.
That's all we have time for now. We'll update again later.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Dharma Karma Art!!
We went down to First Thursday on Congress Ave yesterday. Karma brought all of her art with her to see if she could sell some before we leave on vacation. We walked around for awhile and found where they were offering booths to rent, but those were $30 and up, too rich for a 12 year old who hasn't sold anything yet. We found a gent sitting in front of what looked like an abandoned store front playing guitar and asked if he wouldn't mind us setting up across the doorway from him. He didn't, so we pulled out our little tray table and a couple of camp chairs. Karma set her art on display in a binder on the table and then set to drawing while Andrea sat next to her holding a little sign that said, "Dharma Karma Art, Look!!"
At first, people just stared at us, but eventually we worked up the courage to say hello to passersby and if someone looked long enough while still walking, Andrea would say, "Real Art by a Real 12 year old, have a look!" This got some attention and people would stop to question if Karma was really 12. The guitar player had earned a good bit of money, so he decided to bring Karma a $2 bill as a tip to encourage her. He didn't want anything in return.
Shortly thereafter a man stopped and queried Karma, "Do you just see all this in your head? How long have you been drawing? You did all this by yourself?" Karma was nervously stuttering answers which seemed to the guy's satisfaction. Finally, Mom stepped in with, "Yeah, we're very proud of her. She asked to come down today to sell her art. She's only asking $5 or best offer." The guy had been holding on to one page as he flipped through the rest of the binder and this was all he needed. He said, "Man, I'm down to my last dollars here, but I really like this one, so I'll give you half my money, here's $5." He collected Karma's piece titled, "Essence of Virtue," which featured an Angel, a dolphin, a bald eagle, a wolf, and a lion.
Karma was of course, thrilled. Not only had she received a $2 tip, but now she had sold an entire work of art for $5. Not long after that, a couple of women stopped, one was visiting from Atlanta. They both introduced themselves and chatted up Karma about drawing, art, etcetera. Mom tried to stay mostly out of it, letting Karma work up the courage to speak for herself. The visiting woman, Angela, came to one of Karma's drawings that involved the Texas flag, a horseshoe, Longhorn, and a star colored burnt orange. Karma had also written Texas on it, with the "s" stylized as a snake from the old flag, "Don't Tread on Me." Angela saw it and said, "I have to have it! I promised myself I would buy one print to frame while I was in Texas and this is perfect! Can I give you $10 for it?" Karma said, "Um, sure."
After the women left, Karma said, "I have to show Dad, oh my goodness, I can't believe I made $17!!" Mom ran to go get Dad and everyone else from the car (that was where they wanted to be). Dad, Aurora, and Caedmon came to see Karma's money and be excited for her. While we were all standing there, our friend Jenn happened by and stopped to say hello. She gave us great information about what else was in the area as we were completely unfamiliar with that part of town. She shared in Karma's excitement and happiness and then had to take-off but promised to be back soon.
Sadly, about 10 minutes after that, an adult artist happened by who was feeling angry that he couldn't sell any of his art. It turned out we were sitting outside what happened to be the tail-end of a store (with an unused storefront), so he went inside the store about a block away and told them that Karma was set-up out there. Of course, the manager/owner came out and asked us to move, because even though he didn't care, he said cops might. After we had packed everything up, Mom feeling quite angry with the bitter man for ruining Karma's prospects, a couple of men showed up who had been observing Karma and let her know that they usually stood there and played music. They told us they knew all the cops that patrolled during First Thursday and that so long as they vouched for Karma as a non-trouble maker, she would be fine. We told them Karma hadn't eaten in 7 hours, so we were going to go ahead and go but asked if it would be alright if we came back and joined them next month. They were fine with this, so we plan to do that.
After we put all the stuff back in the car, we decided to head down to Fran's to get something to eat (Jenn had told us it was a good place to go). Their food turned out to be pretty good for the price. During dinner, Aurora and Caed expressed some boredom and some desire to check out the park that Jenn had told us about, so we headed down there after dinner. Everyone got to running around and playing and we ended up staying until dark was falling. After that, Sam was past ready to head home, so sadly, we never did get to meet up with our friend Jenn and her family. The girls were pretty disappointed as they had wanted to see Jenn's girls and had e-mailed and called to see if they could make it. Next time, we won't head out so early (we got down there about 2 or 3 pm), because it seems nothing really starts going until about 5pm.
We're getting ready to head to DPS here in a bit to see if Sam's license is available to receive. If it is, we'll take off today. If not, we may not go for another 2 weeks or more.
At first, people just stared at us, but eventually we worked up the courage to say hello to passersby and if someone looked long enough while still walking, Andrea would say, "Real Art by a Real 12 year old, have a look!" This got some attention and people would stop to question if Karma was really 12. The guitar player had earned a good bit of money, so he decided to bring Karma a $2 bill as a tip to encourage her. He didn't want anything in return.
Shortly thereafter a man stopped and queried Karma, "Do you just see all this in your head? How long have you been drawing? You did all this by yourself?" Karma was nervously stuttering answers which seemed to the guy's satisfaction. Finally, Mom stepped in with, "Yeah, we're very proud of her. She asked to come down today to sell her art. She's only asking $5 or best offer." The guy had been holding on to one page as he flipped through the rest of the binder and this was all he needed. He said, "Man, I'm down to my last dollars here, but I really like this one, so I'll give you half my money, here's $5." He collected Karma's piece titled, "Essence of Virtue," which featured an Angel, a dolphin, a bald eagle, a wolf, and a lion.
Karma was of course, thrilled. Not only had she received a $2 tip, but now she had sold an entire work of art for $5. Not long after that, a couple of women stopped, one was visiting from Atlanta. They both introduced themselves and chatted up Karma about drawing, art, etcetera. Mom tried to stay mostly out of it, letting Karma work up the courage to speak for herself. The visiting woman, Angela, came to one of Karma's drawings that involved the Texas flag, a horseshoe, Longhorn, and a star colored burnt orange. Karma had also written Texas on it, with the "s" stylized as a snake from the old flag, "Don't Tread on Me." Angela saw it and said, "I have to have it! I promised myself I would buy one print to frame while I was in Texas and this is perfect! Can I give you $10 for it?" Karma said, "Um, sure."
After the women left, Karma said, "I have to show Dad, oh my goodness, I can't believe I made $17!!" Mom ran to go get Dad and everyone else from the car (that was where they wanted to be). Dad, Aurora, and Caedmon came to see Karma's money and be excited for her. While we were all standing there, our friend Jenn happened by and stopped to say hello. She gave us great information about what else was in the area as we were completely unfamiliar with that part of town. She shared in Karma's excitement and happiness and then had to take-off but promised to be back soon.
Sadly, about 10 minutes after that, an adult artist happened by who was feeling angry that he couldn't sell any of his art. It turned out we were sitting outside what happened to be the tail-end of a store (with an unused storefront), so he went inside the store about a block away and told them that Karma was set-up out there. Of course, the manager/owner came out and asked us to move, because even though he didn't care, he said cops might. After we had packed everything up, Mom feeling quite angry with the bitter man for ruining Karma's prospects, a couple of men showed up who had been observing Karma and let her know that they usually stood there and played music. They told us they knew all the cops that patrolled during First Thursday and that so long as they vouched for Karma as a non-trouble maker, she would be fine. We told them Karma hadn't eaten in 7 hours, so we were going to go ahead and go but asked if it would be alright if we came back and joined them next month. They were fine with this, so we plan to do that.
After we put all the stuff back in the car, we decided to head down to Fran's to get something to eat (Jenn had told us it was a good place to go). Their food turned out to be pretty good for the price. During dinner, Aurora and Caed expressed some boredom and some desire to check out the park that Jenn had told us about, so we headed down there after dinner. Everyone got to running around and playing and we ended up staying until dark was falling. After that, Sam was past ready to head home, so sadly, we never did get to meet up with our friend Jenn and her family. The girls were pretty disappointed as they had wanted to see Jenn's girls and had e-mailed and called to see if they could make it. Next time, we won't head out so early (we got down there about 2 or 3 pm), because it seems nothing really starts going until about 5pm.
We're getting ready to head to DPS here in a bit to see if Sam's license is available to receive. If it is, we'll take off today. If not, we may not go for another 2 weeks or more.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Vacation Soon?
Well, Sam got ahold of the MAB today. Apparently, they had not yet gotten his paperwork to the actual boardmembers for review yet. He spoke with a boardmember today who told him that they meet tomorrow and will review his case if his paperwork arrived sometime later today or early tomorrow. If it does, they'll review it tomorrow (Thursday) and call him as well to let him know their verdict. If it does not, they don't meet for another 2 weeks. We guess we'll find out tomorrow.
Our departure date hinges on their meeting. Sam doesn't want to leave without his license. Andrea is mixed because of her desire to go to the Vallejo concert. One thing she's sure of, if they don't give him his license back within 2 weeks, she'll just do all the driving herself. We've been digging into our vacation money with all the lackadaisical spending we've been doing on eating out, etcetera. If we don't go soon, we won't be going at all because we won't have enough money.
Needless to say, everyone's antsy about the whole thing. We cleaned the house today in the event we do get to leave on time, we want it clean before we go. Also, we invited a friend to stay while we're gone and we don't want to leave her with a pigsty if she decides to stay.
That's about it tonight.
Our departure date hinges on their meeting. Sam doesn't want to leave without his license. Andrea is mixed because of her desire to go to the Vallejo concert. One thing she's sure of, if they don't give him his license back within 2 weeks, she'll just do all the driving herself. We've been digging into our vacation money with all the lackadaisical spending we've been doing on eating out, etcetera. If we don't go soon, we won't be going at all because we won't have enough money.
Needless to say, everyone's antsy about the whole thing. We cleaned the house today in the event we do get to leave on time, we want it clean before we go. Also, we invited a friend to stay while we're gone and we don't want to leave her with a pigsty if she decides to stay.
That's about it tonight.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
April Fool's Day...
Well, we forgot it was April Fool's Day today, much like we forgot about St. Paddy's day. We celebrated Easter a week early though. We took the family vote in regards to the trip and decided that if Sam gets his license back on time, we'll leave on time. Only two people wanted to delay the trip anyway, in honor of our friends and their concert. Everyone else is feeling desperate to take our first ever family vacation.
We got a desperate and anxious e-mail from the "invisible" member of our family, the biological mother of the children. It took some time, but we finally came up with reassuring words that relaxed her for now. We're waiting to hear back from a friend who can give us a hook-up for legal advice. We're looking forward to that, though it looks like we won't be able to do anything until we return from our vacation. Fortunately, we did some of our own legal research last week and found some laws that will help us get what we want in this situation.
We're sort of adrift as a family at the moment, not really socially involved at all. We've been sort of floating into a nocturnal lifestyle (it's natural for 4/5 of us), going to bed around 4 or 5 in the morning. We had some problems waking up early because of sunlight flooding into our rooms (or not sleeping well enough), so we put thick coverings over our windows. It's working for now. On the bright side, this much quality time is good for us, especially the kids in sibling bonding.
Karma's mohawk is getting long enough to be shaped out. Everyone else will be growing their hair out until after we return from vacation. We could be going to court late Spring/early Summer, so we're kind of holding off for that.
Not much else is going on as we haven't really done anything else, but just wanted to let you know we're still here.
We got a desperate and anxious e-mail from the "invisible" member of our family, the biological mother of the children. It took some time, but we finally came up with reassuring words that relaxed her for now. We're waiting to hear back from a friend who can give us a hook-up for legal advice. We're looking forward to that, though it looks like we won't be able to do anything until we return from our vacation. Fortunately, we did some of our own legal research last week and found some laws that will help us get what we want in this situation.
We're sort of adrift as a family at the moment, not really socially involved at all. We've been sort of floating into a nocturnal lifestyle (it's natural for 4/5 of us), going to bed around 4 or 5 in the morning. We had some problems waking up early because of sunlight flooding into our rooms (or not sleeping well enough), so we put thick coverings over our windows. It's working for now. On the bright side, this much quality time is good for us, especially the kids in sibling bonding.
Karma's mohawk is getting long enough to be shaped out. Everyone else will be growing their hair out until after we return from vacation. We could be going to court late Spring/early Summer, so we're kind of holding off for that.
Not much else is going on as we haven't really done anything else, but just wanted to let you know we're still here.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Thinkin' of Delayin'
We forgot to mention our woohoo last week...our exchange student is finally gone! He begged his exchange program and his parents and left five days early, last Friday. Our entire family is relieved to have him gone, to finally have just us and be able to focus on us as a family. Friday night, we went out to see Bridge to Terabithia, which was a fantastic movie, definitely a tearjerker.
Then, as previously mentioned, we went to the Families Rock! concert on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. On Sunday, Aurora and Karma decided that we need a family newspaper which will keep our family updated on what is going with ourselves. We're going to try to include some of their content here on our site, to tell it from the children's perspectives. They published their first paper today and we will try to get it scanned in and posted on here as a picture. If it doesn't come through, we'll just type out some of the content.
As for the title of this post, this has to do with our vacation. We still haven't gotten Sam's license back yet and we'd really like to have two drivers before we hit the road. Also, our good friends at Families Rock! are producing a concert with the legendary Vallejo on April 14th and we would really like to attend. The subject has been broached to 4/5 of the family (Caed is always the last to know) and we will be taking a group vote sometime this week or weekend. So far though, we all feel torn in two because we love our friends, would love to be there to support them in their most awesome venture yet, plus catch a kick-butt concert, but on the flip-side, we're really feeling the need for the road trip. We think we're coming to the conclusion that putting off the road trip a week and a half won't really hurt and we'll also be able to make sure we get Sam's license.
Well, in the infamous words of Porky Pig, "That's all Folks!"
Then, as previously mentioned, we went to the Families Rock! concert on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. On Sunday, Aurora and Karma decided that we need a family newspaper which will keep our family updated on what is going with ourselves. We're going to try to include some of their content here on our site, to tell it from the children's perspectives. They published their first paper today and we will try to get it scanned in and posted on here as a picture. If it doesn't come through, we'll just type out some of the content.
As for the title of this post, this has to do with our vacation. We still haven't gotten Sam's license back yet and we'd really like to have two drivers before we hit the road. Also, our good friends at Families Rock! are producing a concert with the legendary Vallejo on April 14th and we would really like to attend. The subject has been broached to 4/5 of the family (Caed is always the last to know) and we will be taking a group vote sometime this week or weekend. So far though, we all feel torn in two because we love our friends, would love to be there to support them in their most awesome venture yet, plus catch a kick-butt concert, but on the flip-side, we're really feeling the need for the road trip. We think we're coming to the conclusion that putting off the road trip a week and a half won't really hurt and we'll also be able to make sure we get Sam's license.
Well, in the infamous words of Porky Pig, "That's all Folks!"
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Rockin' Concert!!
We attended a rockin' concert today! Put on by our very good friends at Families Rock (www.familiesrock.com), it featured Farmer Jason and Matt the Electrician. We showed up a bit early because we had made some decorations for the show. Farmer Jason was on first and the guy was cool. His music was awesome, child appropriate, but fun for adults. Someone accidentally pulled the fire alarm during his portion of the show, so we all poured out of Antone's onto the sidewalk and partly into the street. He was such a good sport and a talented musician, he kept the show going right out there on the sidewalk! We got his autograph and bought his new CD. He thanked us for helping keep the energy going outside.
Matt the Electrician rocked. His music rocked a little harder than Jason's, and was more for the older set. It was definitely very dance-able. Families Rock decided to have a family dance contest, so of course the Dharma Family had to participate. We didn't want to win, just wanted to dance. It was a little hard for Andrea because of her foot, but she hobbled through some country type dancin'. All-in-all, four-fifths of the Dharma Family had a great time (Sam couldn't make it to the show) and we left just feeling the energy!
Matt the Electrician rocked. His music rocked a little harder than Jason's, and was more for the older set. It was definitely very dance-able. Families Rock decided to have a family dance contest, so of course the Dharma Family had to participate. We didn't want to win, just wanted to dance. It was a little hard for Andrea because of her foot, but she hobbled through some country type dancin'. All-in-all, four-fifths of the Dharma Family had a great time (Sam couldn't make it to the show) and we left just feeling the energy!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
It just keeps getting better!
That was our sarcastic voice. In our last post, we mentioned the recent murder in our neighborhood and the fact that it makes us want to move (including all the hassles therein). Well, last night, Sam was up reading Cell by Stephen King when he heard several shots being fired and footsteps running past our house. Then, a car door slamming and the car peeling away. He went outside to see if our car had been damaged and saw folks from our extorting neighbor's house filing outside to check their vehicles as well. No report on whether or not anything (or one) was shot.
So...our lease is up in August and it just can't come soon enough. Fortunately, we will be gone for 3 weeks in April for vacation, before which we plan to get renter's insurance so should something untoward happen in our absence, we'll be covered. This is just crazy. Of course, last night's occurence has not been mentioned to the children, they already hate our house and are scared enough in our neighborhood. What kind of life is that, to be terrified to be in your own home?
To make it worse, we're homebodies. We prefer to be at home. Don't get me wrong, we love to go places, see friends, rock out at concerts, etc, but at the end of the day, we're happy to be back in our home where we can enjoy each other in what should be peace and quiet. We don't have that. We can't feel peaceful to be home. That's just wrong.
So...our lease is up in August and it just can't come soon enough. Fortunately, we will be gone for 3 weeks in April for vacation, before which we plan to get renter's insurance so should something untoward happen in our absence, we'll be covered. This is just crazy. Of course, last night's occurence has not been mentioned to the children, they already hate our house and are scared enough in our neighborhood. What kind of life is that, to be terrified to be in your own home?
To make it worse, we're homebodies. We prefer to be at home. Don't get me wrong, we love to go places, see friends, rock out at concerts, etc, but at the end of the day, we're happy to be back in our home where we can enjoy each other in what should be peace and quiet. We don't have that. We can't feel peaceful to be home. That's just wrong.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Need to Move!!!!
This is the reason we were out of the world. We have been debating for the year we've lived here about whether or not we would stay in this place after the end of our lease. We have a 3/2/1 for $725/month. That is hard to find and about as much as we want to spend. We've had a problem with a neighbor who has been extorting us for money (in exchange he's done some lawn care), but the one time we had no money, our rental car got its window smashed. It looks like there are a lot of drug deals going on over there and last year, our lawnmowing neighbor was arrested and we didn't see him for three months. All of this has been enough to make us want to live elsewhere, but we still didn't want to move. About two weeks ago, there was an incident that made up our minds.
We went to soccer and then enjoyed a friend's birthday after. When we came home, there were four police cars on our block (one in front of our house) and a forensics van across the street. When we went to leave a couple hours later, the forensics van was gone, there was an extra police officer and the medical examiner had arrived. We asked the folks who lived on the other side of the duplex where all the officers were and they said that it seemed someone had been killed. They didn't know the details, just that it had happened. While we're not naive, we know that murder can (and does) happen anywhere, we just don't feel safe in our home and that's no way to live. Our lease is up in August and we're going to move then. We just don't know where or how much it will cost.
We went to soccer and then enjoyed a friend's birthday after. When we came home, there were four police cars on our block (one in front of our house) and a forensics van across the street. When we went to leave a couple hours later, the forensics van was gone, there was an extra police officer and the medical examiner had arrived. We asked the folks who lived on the other side of the duplex where all the officers were and they said that it seemed someone had been killed. They didn't know the details, just that it had happened. While we're not naive, we know that murder can (and does) happen anywhere, we just don't feel safe in our home and that's no way to live. Our lease is up in August and we're going to move then. We just don't know where or how much it will cost.
Out of this World...
It seems like we've been out of the world lately. Fortunately, it turns out Andrea is not broken, just sprained, but in pain nonetheless. Our exchange student is on Spring Break this week, so we've been getting to sleep in, which has been just plain nice. We got up early this morning to go to soccer, so we're all a little sleepy today.
Sam and Andrea saw 300 last night, we loved it!! Andrea thought there was some senseless nudity (not like she minded seeing that much of Gerard Butler, she just wished there was a reason) and was a little put off by the CGI blood spatters, but enjoyed the story and acting. Sam loved the story and the soundtrack, he wants to get ahold of the soundtrack for home listening. He also enthusiastically states, "We need to own it!"
Our vacation is definitely a go, unfortunately though, due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had time limits imposed, so we'll only be able to take 3 weeks. We might try to drag it by a day or two, but don't think we can get away with much. With those kinds of time constraints, we're going to be limiting our number of stops, just so we have enough time to enjoy the ones we will have. We've decided to take care of family obligations first so that we can take all of our leisurely time after.
We're trying to get Sam's license business taken care of so that he can share the driving on the trip. We've got an appointment for him on the 21st to be checked out by a doctor, given the okay to drive, etc. After that, we just have to wait for the MAB to approve his license and then we can pay the $124 to get it reinstated. We're leaving on 4/6, so we're just hoping that the license business can be taken care of in the 2 weeks between the appt. and our departure.
Sam and Andrea saw 300 last night, we loved it!! Andrea thought there was some senseless nudity (not like she minded seeing that much of Gerard Butler, she just wished there was a reason) and was a little put off by the CGI blood spatters, but enjoyed the story and acting. Sam loved the story and the soundtrack, he wants to get ahold of the soundtrack for home listening. He also enthusiastically states, "We need to own it!"
Our vacation is definitely a go, unfortunately though, due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had time limits imposed, so we'll only be able to take 3 weeks. We might try to drag it by a day or two, but don't think we can get away with much. With those kinds of time constraints, we're going to be limiting our number of stops, just so we have enough time to enjoy the ones we will have. We've decided to take care of family obligations first so that we can take all of our leisurely time after.
We're trying to get Sam's license business taken care of so that he can share the driving on the trip. We've got an appointment for him on the 21st to be checked out by a doctor, given the okay to drive, etc. After that, we just have to wait for the MAB to approve his license and then we can pay the $124 to get it reinstated. We're leaving on 4/6, so we're just hoping that the license business can be taken care of in the 2 weeks between the appt. and our departure.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Broken!
We're not all broken, just Andrea. After scolding Caed and Brian (the exchange student) yesterday morning, she caught her foot on the corner wall outside their room and broke her toe. Actually, we're not 100% sure it's broken, because Andrea always thinks her toes have been broken, but this time, she swears the pain is much worse than usual and now more than 24 hours later, the swelling is worse, not better. She is using a boot given to her at the hospital last year when she did sprain her foot (it wasn't broken). She plans to go have it x-rayed tomorrow if it hasn't improved (definitely if it's still worse).
This last week has been pretty good for the family, though. We got to spend some good times at soccer and then at lunch afterwards with our friends: Jenn, Austin, Sunny, and Kesley. We also had new friends: Angela, Astra (sp?), May (sp?), Milo, Eric, and Eric's mom that joined us at lunch.
At work, Andrea received a new Friday student, a 4 year old boy who is a hard worker and joy to talk to. Also, Andrea requested to not work on Mondays and Wednesdays anymore and she looks forward to having more time with the family.
Sadly, we were not able to attend First Thursday this month, Karma was quite disappointed, but everyone was quite sleep deprived and we just couldn't stay up/out that late. Also, we missed the kite festival this morning, due to Andrea catching up on some much needed sleep.
Sam's back/neck are feeling better, he anticipates being able to function normally again beginning tomorrow.
Karma has come up with a kick-butt work of art that she is able to reproduce. It's a version of the UT symbol, so we're looking into copyrights/licenses to see if she can market her art on bumper stickers, etc.
The whole family is having further discussions on Andrea's business venture idea. Andrea got some good information from Jenn on Thursday, which sadly she can't remember all of, but she'll ask again when she gets the chance and we'll look more into it as a family.
We've also talked to some relatives over the weekend, letting them know we're planning our trip north in April, folks seem fairly jazzed, so we're getting (more) excited.
Well, I think you have the full dharma update now.
This last week has been pretty good for the family, though. We got to spend some good times at soccer and then at lunch afterwards with our friends: Jenn, Austin, Sunny, and Kesley. We also had new friends: Angela, Astra (sp?), May (sp?), Milo, Eric, and Eric's mom that joined us at lunch.
At work, Andrea received a new Friday student, a 4 year old boy who is a hard worker and joy to talk to. Also, Andrea requested to not work on Mondays and Wednesdays anymore and she looks forward to having more time with the family.
Sadly, we were not able to attend First Thursday this month, Karma was quite disappointed, but everyone was quite sleep deprived and we just couldn't stay up/out that late. Also, we missed the kite festival this morning, due to Andrea catching up on some much needed sleep.
Sam's back/neck are feeling better, he anticipates being able to function normally again beginning tomorrow.
Karma has come up with a kick-butt work of art that she is able to reproduce. It's a version of the UT symbol, so we're looking into copyrights/licenses to see if she can market her art on bumper stickers, etc.
The whole family is having further discussions on Andrea's business venture idea. Andrea got some good information from Jenn on Thursday, which sadly she can't remember all of, but she'll ask again when she gets the chance and we'll look more into it as a family.
We've also talked to some relatives over the weekend, letting them know we're planning our trip north in April, folks seem fairly jazzed, so we're getting (more) excited.
Well, I think you have the full dharma update now.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
What a week!
We got a couple Families Rock! t-shirts from our Families Rock! friend Jenn. Sam got smashed on the head by several boxes and is currently laying in bed drugged. Karma feels ignored and so swore at us in her daily essay. Aurora and Caed are sleep-deprived (who isn't in this house these days?) and are having trouble conducting themselves. Of course, Drea is so sleep-deprived, she swears and yells every time someone looks at her funny. We're counting down the days (only 29 left!) to the departure of our exchange student, which will allow us to focus on our family again.
We're still hoping to depart on family vacation on April 7th, if we can manage to keep it together long enough to put it together. Of course, we're not all too sure we are still together. :(
I just got grunted at by a cat for my typing. :)
We're still hoping to depart on family vacation on April 7th, if we can manage to keep it together long enough to put it together. Of course, we're not all too sure we are still together. :(
I just got grunted at by a cat for my typing. :)
Monday, February 26, 2007
Here we are...
We have just decided that we need to share our love and passion for life with the world, so here we are, in all of ourselves, sharing with everyone, hoping to spread a little love. We will add a pic later when we have a computer with a re-sizer available. We also need to get some more recent pics of all of us to post. Hopefully, you'll be seeing a lot more of us.
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