Love Thursday

Rosie lives for treats...I couldn't resist the heart shaped treats...

rain, rain GO AWAY!

This bayou is usually only a trickle!

As you can see, Houston is still experiencing a lot of rain. The bayou totally filled up overnight. Thank God it didn't go over the banks! It hasn't been this high since Hurricane Ike. At least we didn't lose power! We are expected to get more rain later tonight...I hope the bayou can take it. The sad news...Clementine was outside. He lost his meow from crying for us all night. We are heartbroken.

Yum!!

Look at this yummy snack a student brought in! Good timing. I'm still really sad and disappointed the JFMF Program has been discontinued!

Japanese Festival

When we got home from the camp out, we couldn't get showered fast enough to get to the Japanese Festival! It is held at the Japanese Gardens near Hermann Park every spring. I love everything Japanese and I think that feeling is definitely carrying over to Maggie! We had a delightful time, as hoped!

Camp Agnes Arnold

Our trip to Camp Agnes Arnold will be our last camp out for the year. Overall, the girls had a great time. We lucked out with great weather...no crazy rain! The girls got to try their hand at archery (an old favorite from Maggie's camp days), learn how to use a compass, pitch a tent, wash dishes by hand and cook in a dutch oven.

We saw all kinds of critters and things...skinks, turtles, beautiful flowers, blackberries and even a copperhead snake!!!

The girls were divided up in patrols to get all the jobs done during their stay. There wasn't much for Maggie's patrol due to there only being 2 girls in her patrol that could come on the camp out. On her own, Maggie chose to be a dishwasher after every meal...who knew?

On this camp out the girls opted to sleep in tents. The adults chose the canvas tents and somewhat normal beds. When we've car camped as a family, we've always set up the tent on our own. I think next time we should make the kids!!! The night was very humid, sticky and hot...

T.G.I.F.

I spent the evening with 2 good friends that I adore to pieces. Despite more crazy rain a good time was had by all...even after feeling horribly full after eating an entire piece of cheesecake! I am not one to order desserts...it will seriously be 10 years before I ever do that again! It's almost midnight and I've done no packing for the Girl Scout camp out. Why do I do this to myself I will never know! I guess I will wake up at 6:00AM before the 7:30 pick-up! My sleeping bag is still in the washer from the last camp out. Woe is me...

old friends

Tonight Maggie and I had dinner with an old friend of ours from our old neighborhood. They moved away when Maggie was 4...I think. They are independent missionaries in the Philippines. Awesome work. They are in the states visiting family...it's their summer. Anyway, the girls picked up right where they left off as if the last 6 years didn't happen. Cool.

Love Thursday

Oops...she did it again. I don't even want to know how this happened.

Happy Earth Day

Maggie came home today with a pine tree and packet of sage seeds to plant. You can imagine my joy...we already have 10 in our front yard! I had to suck it up and smile. Maggie was thrilled. Nice gesture...trees were donated to every 4th grader at Mark Twain from the neighborhood Whole Foods. I'm not positive that our planet will be greener and cleaner for our kids' kids...we can only hope!

signs of life

After the crazy rain...I see signs of life in the garden!

Found!!!

Rosie found the last Easter egg! Maggie was pleased.

Hoedown Throwdown

You know the drill...pause my music Playlist on the left hand column to hear the video!

After Girl Scouts, Ian and I treated Maggie to seeing The Hannah Montana Movie. It wasn't that bad...actually had a positive message.

The rain stopped!

The sun came out and this happened! The rain finally stopped...and turned into a beautiful day! We skipped church and had breakfast with my dad. There wasn't a cloud in the sky...a fabulous day for the bikers riding for the MS 150 to Austin (the 1st half was cancelled). Rosie got a bath and enjoyed multiple walks!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

We've had A LOT of rain today...the bayou is pretty full. Ian and I are supposed to go to a crayfish boil tonight...rain or shine. What a mess!

birthday fun

Today we accompanied a friend for moral support to fulfill her birthday wish...to get her ears pierced! Maggie was both mortified and curious at the same time...I wonder if she will want the same wish for her birthday next month! Afterwards, we celebrated with cupcakes at Sugarbaby's Cupcake Boutique!

something to do

It was a rainy morning so we decided to check out the Health Fair at the YMCA...it ended up being a fun indoor extravaganza! One year we won a drawing and got $100 off our camp bill...no such luck this year but a great time was had by all!

When it Rains...

Our OUTDOOR dinner party got rained out so we moved it inside and Maggie had a sleepover at our house. We had a fabulous time and Maggie loved having a friend over. Rosie acted berserk until everyone left...maybe it was the rain.

Love Thursday

The Easter Bunny brought 38 eggs this year...one still missing!

student-led conferences

Despite my CRAZY day of meetings and conferences in my own classroom, I was able to attend Maggie's student-led conference. For those of you that have grown children, younger than school-age or no children at all, conferences have changed over the years! Children now have agendas and lead the conferences themselves...with no teacher intervention! By 4th grade, the kids are very confident in their abilities to conduct a conference. Maggie always proud to share her work. I love that.

Good-bye

We had to say good-bye to our 2 very prolific tomato plants. They just stopped growing. I'm not sure if we will replant for the summer...we may wait until fall.

New Bench

We got a new bench for our patio over the weekend. Yet another thing for Ian to put together... his Lego building days have paid off!

So Sweet

Maggie thanks me every night for cooking her dinner. Sweet. Sadly, my "cooking" isn't too fabulous or exciting...but she is thankful nonetheless!

Happy Easter!

I hate to admit it...it was nice not to go to church this morning...a first for the Phillips family! Maggie got us up at 8:30AM to look for eggs and her Easter basket. Last night she had the idea to leave the Easter Bunny a piece of chicken...that's my girl! The weather is a bit sketchy today...so the eggs were hidden inside. It's killing her that she cannot find the last egg!

The Hunt is On!

Easter Egg Hunt 2009 from Brené Brown on Vimeo. Be sure to pause my playlist on the left sid column so you don't have 2 sets of music playing. Enjoy!

We started our day with a wonderful tradition that started back when Maggie was a toddler...Easter Egg Hunt with her neighborhood friends. The weather held up and the kids had a great time.

Afterwards, we celebrated Eric's birthday at a friend's house. It was nice to see everyone. We've been so busy...

Tonight Maggie sang in the choir for the Easter Vigil at Church. Shamelessly, Ian and I had a pre-vigil cocktail at Volcanoes while Maggie rehearsed at church! We made it back in plenty of time. The candlelit service was lovely...nice way to end the evening.

Finally!

Mommy's new computer arrived today! Yippee!

Girl's Day Out

Today Maggie and I had no school due to Good Friday. We took advantage of our time and had a lot of fun! First we attended an origami class at Joan Son's studio in Montrose...where she focused only on making elephants today!!! What could be more perfect? We learned how to make 3 different kinds of elephants...Maggie couldn't thank me enough for taking her. She really was in her element. Then we ate at 59 Diner...her request. And last, we visited Texas Junk Company. The name implies exactly what we saw...a lot of junk! It was fun, though. We saw a lot of old stuff and had a great time. We will have to go back and take Ian with us!

9 year-olds

I'm overjoyed that my 9 year-old seeks younger friends, dolls and her Littlest Pet Shop collection to play with! How long can I hope this will last?

20 minutes?

Maggie emerged from her room with this creation while I had been tutoring. I don't know where she learns these things...

Love Thursday

I noticed this in the scrap basket this morning after making our community buildings in class!

Skater Girl

Maggie bought a skateboard with her own money earlier in the year after playing on Ben's during our long stay at home during Hurricane Ike with no electricity. She thought it was cool but didn't really know what to do with it! Today we went to our school to practice riding it while holding on to the iron gate to get a feel for how to maneuver the board. It worked. She wants a Ripstick for her birthday and I wanted to see if she really had the balance for it...

Rosie's New Tub

The weather has been so nice...it was time to give Rosie her 1st bath outside. As you can see by her expression, she wasn't as thrilled as we were...pretty sad, actually!

SFG phase 2

Last weekend I cleared out an overgrown part of last year's garden and Ian constructed 3 more small SFG beds to fit into our existing garden area. Today I planted watermelon, cantaloupe, green beans, okra, pinto beans, garlic and peppers. Last year we had such wonderful success growing cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers in our EarthBoxes that I decided to try something new and planted black-eyed peas. Thank you Eric for sharing your seeds!

Block Party

Our street had an Easter Egg Hunt/block party this evening. It didn't start well...we were 5 minutes late and missed the entire hunt. There are like 30 toddlers/babies on our block and they were chomping at the bit to get the hunt going. I guess they had no idea how important it was to a certain 9 year-old we know. Maggie was crushed. Oh, well...

50's bowling

Maggie had a 50's sock hop themed bowling party today with her Girl Scout troop. The girls had a great time!

Garden Update

Just a few weeks ago this garden was bare! The peppers are budding, the edamame is a foot tall and the onions are thriving. I'm ready to start phase 2!

Sweet Girl

Maggie made a little pot recently at Art Night this year at school. I promptly stuck it in the window in the kitchen to dry behind the blinds and recently rediscovered it. It is a beautiful sugar bowl for my coffee sweetener!

Love Thursday

The carrot had a long split in it. I peeled in anyway and sliced it.

I wasn't expecting the slices to be shaped like this...but pleased that they were!