The pot at the end of the Rainbow

Look what I made out of this?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We are at our church retreat this weekend enjoying the beautiful south Texas hill country.

Paint

While the girls painted birdhouses,

the boy painted a pinewood derby car.

Fun at the Main Event - Ring My Bell

I've been kind of proud to say I haven't spent time at the Main Event.  Who knows why. Before today, I had only walked Alex into a birthday party there one time.  Main Event is right across the freeway from our house. It is convenient but I also knew it was a money sucker.

Headed for the bell.



Monkey!



Free spirit.



Determined.



Yes, we spent some cash, but we had a really good time too.  The children and I met up with Campbell's friend Jessie and her mom there this morning.  We did rock climbing for an hour. I didn't think I could do it, but I did! Yay! The kids were amazing and really jammed.  Going in the morning was also key. We almost had the wall to ourselves.  After our hour, we headed for the bowling alley. Bowling + pizza. What could be better?
Conleigh had a piano lesson mid-afternoon, so we split. But, we had plans to re-meet at 3:00 for our rock climbing reservation. Good thing we had a reservation. It was crowded by then. We definitely got our moneys worth today and I think the kids will be sleeping extra good tonight. Oh, and we fit in a round of glo-golf too. Geez. I'm tired!

First weekend of spring break. It's a wrap.

Rain.  That pretty much sums up the weather of the weekend. However, it was absolutely glorious to not have to get up for soccer on Saturday morning.  Peter went and bought a new computer. I swear, our computers go ka-poot way too often.
The girls wanted to jump in the puddles. So they did.  Water was cold. Didn't last too long.

By afternoon, the crew was going a little stir crazy. Campbell's friend Jessica called to check on a playtime. Thus, Alex needed a playmate. Thus, Conleigh wanted some friends to play with as well. Conleigh's choice friends couldn't play, so she and I went and investigated an estate sale. Score! Holy cow, this house was amazing...It was right on Lake Austin off Mount Bonnell road.  I mean, right on the lake. Not looking down on the lake, but walk out your back door onto your dock and get in your boat, right on the lake.
The sale was basically dolls, dolls and more dolls.  Crazy amount of dolls. The owner even had a 'museum room' that was all glassed in and had dolls and dolls. We saw Princess Diana and Prince Charles, Rhett, and Scarlett, Liberace, and hundreds and hundreds more. No joke.  She had a collection of Madame Alexander dolls. When we were there late in the day (on the second day of the sale), there were about 85 dolls left that were in the 14inch tall catagory (I promised I never knew this much, which isn't very much) about these dolls).  Conleigh was browsing. She was thinking about spending some of her birthday money. She looked at the gobs of Barbies that were still boxed. I suggested the 'museum room' again. As we looked at the dolls, a worker came and taped a window, ~all sold~. Gaah!
I asked this other woman standing there if she bought them. Yes, she did. She asked Conleigh if there was one she wanted.  Conleigh being herself, backed off, "oh no, I'm fine." The woman persisted and finally I got Conleigh to consider it.  She chose Scarlett O'Hara. Conleigh was so happy!  She was beaming.  I then told the woman about my five year old daughter and could I pick one more? Of course. She was so nice.  I didn't know the difference between any of them, so I picked a pretty one. The man with her said that was one of the first ladies.  Okay.  We learned that we chose Harriet Ford for Campbell.  Know who she was? 
It was a very fun outing for Conleigh & me. Rain or no rain. Great mom & daughter time. The crew met up again and decided to go to RC Fowlers for wings at dinnertime. We then did a couple of errands and came on home.
Saturday night Campbell came to our room about 1:30 with her ear and throat hurting. She was really aching. So come morning, she and I head to the urgent care clinic, and Peter and Conleigh and Alex head to church.  Diagnosis: bad ear infection. I'm so glad it was only that. They did the strep swab also and thankfully, it was negative.

Last night we hosted Mrs. Ready and her husband for Daddy's famous hamburgers. Long overdue, they came and we enjoyed a fun evening. The kids loved showing her life in our house. It was an honor to have them here. Mrs. Ready was Conleigh's first grade teacher and is now helping Alex with his reading. 
Signing off...

Thinking of Poppie

The seeds we planted last spring finally bloomed a flower! We called my grandpa Poppie. I'm so happy to think of him today with this beautiful flower in bloom.

My Favorite Girls!

My Favorite Guys

Gooo White Sox! Headed out to the first game of the season.

Check out Campbell (from Shake It Up) dancing on the couch! :)