Happy 10th to Robert and Danielle!

Happy Tenth Anniversary to Robert and Danielle -- yesterday, actually!



These are the flowers I ordered to be sent to them. The roses are the color of the roses in their wedding. And the flowers arrived right on time, which also makes me happy!

So Happy Tenth, Robert and Danielle -- and many, many more! ♥ ♥

Independence Day 2010

We all went to Judy and Will's in Richmond, TX, yesterday afternoon -- for dinner and good company and then a bonfire and fireworks when it finally got dark! After getting about 6" of rain on July 2 and 3, the kids could shoot off fireworks with no chance of setting stuff on fire ... other than the bonfire, that is, which was there to help get rid of a large tree downed by a windstorm a while ago.

Judy fosters cats and kittens for the Houston SPCA. Currently she has a few who have had to have a leg amputated, a litter of kittens with no mama-cat, older cats, and others with special needs.

Here is Anne (and Austen in the background) with one of the kittens. They are precious!

Parker, with a kitten:

Kira with a kitten:

The bonfire!

Kids and fireworks!

And here's a short video I took of one of the very successful fireworks, called Fiesta.

Happy Fourth!

Happy Independence Day!
Happy Fourth of July!

The signers really laid everything they had on the line, didn't they?

" ... And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

Volleyball

Tonight was Kira's last volleyball game of this session. The next session starts the week of July 5th, so she has a little break. Slowly, slowly the girls are getting better!

Kira (center) is ready for whatever the other team serves up!

Abbi is getting ready to serve.

Team meeting between rounds.

Action!!

End of the school year 2009-2010

Yesterday was the last day of the 2009-2010 school year around here. All three grands are very happy about it, of course!

Austen is entering his senior year in high school, and he has reached two high goals for himself in the school band: He was elected band president - hooray! - and he continues as one of the drill instructors, who work within the marching band to help ensure that the others are in their places and learn their routines for marching season in the fall.


Parker will enter his freshman year in high school, and he's really looking forward to being part of the Jr. ROTC there.

Kira is very excited about having been promoted to fifth grade. She jumped off the bus yesterday and ran to me with the news, report card in hand!

Simone is still in school; I think FASNY closes out the school year in mid-June sometime. She will be entering fourth grade next fall.

What a bunch of grand grands, huh? =)

Beautiful recovery

In contrast to these first recovery-from-extra-cold-winter photos (<~~ click here), here's how the back yard is looking now.

The Lily of the Nile (agapanthus) has started sending up stalks from which its gorgeous purple flowers will bloom.


The butterfly iris (Dietes grandiflora) - two in the back yard and two in the front - are looking more green than brown and have actually started flowering. Hooray!


The sago palm (Cycas revoluta - not really a palm tree!) now has a completely new layer of very green leaves. I love them!


Even my lone little gerbera daisy is sending up flowers - one at a time, but it's recovering. I thought it had completely died from all the frosts, but apparently it was hibernating!


And the day lilies just keep on blooming!


Here are three that give you an idea how TALL the trees are in the back yard.

Starting volleyball

These are photos from Kira's second volleyball game day. They have had two practices and one other game day ... and the increase in skills is noticeable! Hooray!!




The green team won all three games during this set today. Yayyy! =)

Mother's Day at the Astros game!

Here are some photos from our Mother's Day afternoon at the Astros game. Ken and Austen were working, but Anne, Kira, Parker, and I had a wonderful lunch, not to mention one of our favorite views of the game - from the far end of center field!

Parker and Kira had unlimited sodas and goodies.
Loads of fun!!

Winter's effects on plants

This is one of four butterfly iris plants in my yard, and it's not hard to see what a toll the winter freezes took on my beauties. All four are really struggling. I wonder if I should go and cut out all those brown leaves and make room for them to put out new growth and flowers.

My one and only sago palm had some damage, too, but since it's planted under the big trees in back, it didn't freeze quite so badly. It's coming back just fine.

Poor thing!

The day lilies weren't affected at all! They're just as beautiful this spring as they've ever been!

4th graders' field day today!

Today was the 4th graders' field day at Kira's school. I got there as they were playing the last of the games -- the water-bucket relay!

All those in pink shirts are the girls in Kira's class. They were having a really good time and getting good 'n wet -- cooling off!

All the teams had finished when I took this one, and the pink girls were enjoying themselves, rolling in the water all over the cement after all the buckets and barrels had been dumped out! That's Kira who's flat on the cement, rolling around!

After the water sports were over, all the classes went back to their picnic areas. Kira shared bags of the gourmet (flavored) popcorn we bought from the KO band fundraiser!

And here is the very wet Kira near the end of the field day, just before they went in for prizes and then were released for lunch.

And finally, here's a fun little video showing the end of the water relay! They all loved it!

Girls go rock climbing!

... at The Woodlands Mall!

Here's Abbi, on her way up the first time (on the easy climb).


Here's Kira, on her way up the other easy climb.


Here's Kira, on the hardest climb.


And here's Abbi, on the hardest climb.


They had a wonderful time. I'm sure we'll have to go back!!

Musical weekend!

This is a very musical weekend for us!

Austen left yesterday with all the bands at his school for their annual "spring trip." This year they went to Corpus Christi and all bands (varsity, concert, symphonic, and wind ensemble) performed in a competition yesterday afternoon at Texas A&M's Corpus Christi Performing Arts Center. They will spend the rest of the weekend in some condos they've rented -- on the beach. They'll all have a great time!! (They return on Sunday afternoon.)

Parker and all the bands at his school are going to the Galveston Southcoast Contest today for a competition there among intermediate/middle school bands from all over the area. They'll play at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston and return this evening.

Kira's school choir performs this morning in the 9th Annual Children's Music Festival of Houston, along with many other elementary school choirs. Kira's choir performs at 9 am, and they hope to win first prize!

No photos, of course, since I'm not attending any of these. Thankfully, there'll be end-of-the-year band performances in May, and I can go to all those.

Kira's Kite

Last Friday was Kite Day for the fourth graders! Here's Kira's kite -- with a princess kitty on the front, inspired by her desire to have a Princess Meow Meow kite! (<~~Be sure to click on Princess's name to see photos of her!) The kite flew for a few minutes, too, much to our surprise. Her daddy thought it would be too heavy to fly!




The princess kitty T-shirt has now become a night shirt! How fun is that!!

Leaves, leaves, brand new leaves!

I love this time of year. Nights are still on the cool side, and daytimes are just lovely. No humidity yet. Beautiful! And trees are getting their brand new leaves after the long, cold, sometimes dreary winter. What a joy!

The first three are photos of the new leaves on my crape myrtle trees. Pretty soon they'll be all leafed out and then they'll start thinking about their beautiful pink blooms. I love these trees.



These are the new leaves on my Laurel Oak. At least that's what I think this tree is, according to Randy Lemmon's description. In the fall, its leaves turn reddish brown for about a day or two and then hang on the tree all winter, looking dead and brown. They really don't lose those old leaves until the new ones (here looking rather goldish in color) push the old ones out. These new leaves will be a beautiful bright green in a few weeks.

These are the leaves on an ash tree - I can't tell from Randy's description if it's a green ash or a white ash tree - but it's not Arizona ash, thank heaven. I'm very allergic to Arizona ash trees.

All the trees in my back yard except the crape myrtles were left in place by the builder. They are all native to eastern Texas forests, and I love them all. In addition to this oak and ash tree, there is one other oak, one other ash, two pine trees, and one cluster of trees called Yaupon Holly. I love my back yard!!