Mini Summer Vacation

Every summer when I was growing up, we went to Houston to visit my Aunt Charlotte. We loved going and always had so much fun. She was our favorite aunt. Andrea and I would fight over who got to sit next to her or help her with dinner. We would wait outside her bedroom door every morning waiting for her to wake up. Fast forward 20 years . . . Aunt Charlotte is in the bathroom at 11 pm brushing her teeth. Uncle Joe is asleep as well as everyone else - she thinks. Then from behind her in the dark she hears, "Aunt Charlotte, what are you doing?." My little Alli had snuck out of bed and traveled all the way across the dark house into Aunt Charlotte's bathroom. Aunt Charlotte said she almost spit her toothpaste out.





They loved having Uncle Joe and Aunt Charlotte's undivided attention. They really loved the jelly beans Uncle Joe bought them at the store. We went to the Children's Museum on Friday with Aunt Charlotte. From the look on Aunt Charlotte's face, she had as much fun as the kids did. Later that night Aunt Charlotte was formally inducted into the proxy Grandma club when Alli spilled a completely full cup of rootbeer in Aunt Charlotte's lap. It was all taken in sticky stride and with good humor.

Saturday morning we all picked Greg up from the airport and went to NASA for the day. Seeing the history of space travel and even some of the rockets was really cool. The best part of the day (at least for Greg and I) was seeing the actual moon rover that has been developed for our next trip to the moon. We even got to see it drive out onto the lawn for testing. The next time we see it will be on the moon! The kids favorite part was playing on the giant indoor play structure. We had fun watching them have fun.

After leaving NASA we headed to Kemah on the coast for dinner and a boat ride. We went on the boat ride first, which in hind sight may have been unwise. When I say boat, I mean a HUGE speed boat whose driver's sole purpose was to drench us. He succeeded and we spent the rest of the time completely soaked. The ride was so much fun. We haven't laughed that much in a long time. Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Joe stayed relatively dry, but had a blast watching us.

We visited my old college friend Kathryn. The kids had fun playing with her four boys. We also got to visit the LDS Houston Temple. We took lots of pictures outside and around the building. It was beautiful.

We had a great trip. Hopefully we will be able to go back again later this year. It is fun to go new places and see new things. I especially love doing those things with my family.

Greg and Nelson

Greg has been working on his Kawasaki Jet Ski he got 20 years ago. It is the old stand up kind. (Not so easy to stand up on, but really easy to fall off of.) He tries to get it going every summer so he can play on it. A couple of summers ago he took Nelson out on it. They were out in the middle of the lake and Greg fell off. That left Nelson on it alone and he was heading straight into the neighbors dock. You should have seen his face - pure terror. We were all in the yard watching. All we could hear from Greg was "TURN, NELSON, TURN!!!" Right as he got to the end of the dock he turned left right into the swim area. Someone had jumped into the water to help him by that time. WHEW!! They went out again this weekend. Nelson is old enough now to understand the way it works. The water was really choppy so they didn't have much success getting up on it. It was still fun to watch them having fun. Here are a few pics. Also, a picture of Greg teaching Nelson how to tie his tie on Sunday. (His zipper tie broke and we had to go with the old timey kind.)

Beauty and the Beast

Every summer Zilker Park puts on an outdoor theater production. This year's play was Beauty and the Beast. It was AMAZING!! It is unbelievable how they can bring the magic of an animated movie to the stage the way they did. They kids LOVED it. It was Alli's first time seeing it and she had so many questions. Greg and his parents staked out the perfect place on the hill with blankets and umbrellas four hours before the play started. Alli and I joined them after I got off work. We had a picnic and Judy took the kids swimming in the Barton Springs pool (a fresh water pool right next to the theater.) During intermission the kids got to have pictures taken with some of the characters. Gaston (pictured with Alli) was perfect. Nelson liked the bubble girl - go figure. My favorite part was the kitchen scene and the song "Be Our Guest." Who doesn't love dancing dinnerware? At the end of the play, I took Alli up to the stage where she got to meet Belle. You should have seen how cute Alli was watching Belle talk and move. She was SO excited to meet a real live princess. I can't imagine there being anything more exciting than this for a four year old princess-in-training.

Fourth of July - Family Fun





We had a great 4th of July! I am proud to be an American and feel extremely blessed to live in this free land. We spent the night out at Shawna's parents' house on Thursday and woke up to Papaw's famous pancakes. After breakfast we had archery target practice in their front yard with my new compound bow and arrows. It was tons of fun. After an hour or so we were all able to keep most of the arrows on or near the target. It was a beautiful sunny day.











We had a nice lunch together and then Greg and my dad and I went in search of a shooting range to try out Greg's new rifle. (Marlin .17 HMR for anyone who is interested.) He wanted it for target practice only. It is a beautiful gun as far as guns go. We found a range not too far from my parents' house. We paid $10 and got lifetime memberships. :) The gun worked great after we got it sighted in. We took Nelson back the next day. He did great for his first time shooting. After the shooting range, we loaded up the car and headed home for a watermelon cutting with then neighbors and then fireworks in our circle. Fireworks are a HUGE family tradition for us. We had tons of fun, as usual. My brother-in-law, Richard, and my niece and nephew came to join in the fun. Richard and Greg really got into lighting multiple fireworks. It was fun to watch them play. The kids went through about 50 sparklers. It was a great day!

Nelson's Second Grade Graduation











I was able to attend Nelson's graduation on May 28th. It was fun to see him with all of his classmates and his sweet teacher, Ms. Bassett. I always get a little teary eyed at these functions especially when the principal says "Now lets give a big hand for our NEW THIRD GRADERS!!" It is hard to keep it together when you children grow up right before your eyes. The kids were all wearing these cute graduation hats they made in class.











Two days later, I was able to go to his classroom for their end of the year party. There are a few pictures from it as well. So . . . now he is a big third grader. I can hardly believe it. He is growing up so fast. It won't be long before he is as tall as me. He is so handsome and fun to be around. He is smart and kind hearted. Okay, okay, I'll stop embarassing him now.

Alli's PreSchool Graduation

I love my new job, but sometimes it conflicts with my role as a mommy. Last Thursday I was at work while my sister took Alli to her little graduation program at her Treehouse Preschool. It was the first activity I ever missed. Thankfully, Andrea was able to get some pictures and a video for me. Alli was really cute during the ceremony. She has really enjoyed going to school with Ms. Lydia. I know she will miss her friends there.

She will still go to her other school during the summer while I work. Her teacher, Ms. Rachel, sent home some pictures from her class at the Children's Center of Austin. At the end of the summer I hope to move her to a PreSchool closer to home.

Nelson is going to be at home with Greg for half of the summer (only on M, W, Th) while I work and the other half he is signed up to go to summer camp at the recreation center here in our neighborhood. He has his second grade graduation tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to go. If I can, I will post some pictures at a later date.

Catching up . . .

Here are a few things we have done over the last month . . .









We love the warmer weather. We have been spending a lot of time at the lake with our friends. The water is still a little (ok, a lot) cold, but the children don't seem to mind purple lips.

Nelson finished up his fourth season of soccer with the Cobras. It is amazing to see the progress he has made in skill and attitude.

On a family bicycle outing, Alli got a little anxious to get off of Greg's bike where she was riding with him and got her foot stuck in the spokes of his bike. We took her to the emergency room because it looked terrible. They did x-rays and didn't see any breaks. She couldn't walk on it the first and second day, but by the third day she was running and jumping on it. Children heal so quickly it is UNBELIEVABLE.

Nelson celebrated his eighth birthday on April 20th. He had his party with his friends and family the day before. He was able to start Cub Scouts also, which HE LOVES!!

As is custom in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, children are baptized when they are eight years old. Nelson had the special experience of being on baptized on his birthday. His Grandpa Brent did the honors. All of Nelson's friends and family were there to support him. We are so pround of his decision.

We took Nelson out of school last Friday for a family field trip to San Antonio. We wanted to take the children to the Witte Museum to see Our Body the Universe Within exhibit. It is the one with real human bodies displayed so you can learn about everything inside. It was amazing and the kids were really good. There was also a childrens learving center, an Egyptian mummy exhibit and a Texas wild animal display. We had a wonderful time.

Easter Part 2

Warning: The following is an extremely long version of how Greg got his lip bit off and Shawna got a new job. If you would like the condensed version, email me and I will get that out to you right away. :) This one is for posterity.





Easter Sunday we went to church, came home from church, ate lunch, got ready for our nap and then . . . life as we know it changed. Greg was playing with Toto while I was helping Alli lay down. He called for me twice and I could tell in his voice something was wrong. I found him in our bathroom with his hand over his mouth, blood dripping between his fingers. He said things got a little rough and Toto had bit his lip. You know that sinking feeling you get in your stomach when you can't do anything to help. Yeah, that's the one I had. I got a wash cloth wet and as he was pulling his hand away to put it on, I saw that his upper lip was missing. Well, about a quarter of it anyway. In my calmest voice I told him that I needed to get him to the hospital because his lip was going to need stitches. I told him to hold the towel on his lip which he did until we got to the hospital. I calmly told both of the kids we needed to go next door because I had to take daddy to the hospital. We walked quickly to the Mallets. (Later I mused at how similar this was to the day the house caught on fire.) They said yes, of course, they would watch the kids while we were gone. As I was getting in the car I thought to call my old elementary school friend, Mark. He lives here in town and I thought he would know what to do or who to call. He led us to Scott and White Hospital in Cedar Park which was great because there was only one person in the waiting room ahead of us. He was very comforting and calming. He told me his girlfriend, Claire, had a plastic surgeon friend in Fort Worth who has done some amazing reconstructive work for her a couple of years back. While we were still driving, Mark called Dr. Bob Anderson (remember this is Easter Sunday.) Dr. Anderson told him to tell us not to let the ER doctor do anything except clean and bandage the wound. He said anything else they did would make the plastic surgeon's job harder later on. Dr. Anderson also said he went to school with a friend here in Austin, Dr. William Gorman. He said he was a wonderful surgeon and would trust him with Greg. We got to the ER and waited for only 15 mintues before being taken back. (Yes, I am sure it seemed longer for Greg than me.) While we were waiting, I calmly called Dr. Gorman's phone and left a calm message asking for them to call us back Monday as soon as possible, letting him know he had been refered by his pal Dr. Anderson. When we got back to the room the ER doctor wanted to sew Greg up then and there. We told him politely, no thanks because our plastic surgeon was going to take care of it on Monday. (All the while I was praying that Dr. Gorman would fit Greg in.) I thought waiting until Monday was an okay thing, but the ER doctor thought it needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. So . . . slipped out of the room while they were deading his lip and called Dr. Gorman's number back. There was a medical exchange you could call for emergencies. I called an told them I didn't know Dr. Gorman but he came highly recommended by a mutual friend and we had an emergency. The exchange said they would pass along the message and if he would take the call Dr. Gorman would call me back in a few minutes. I went back in with Greg would was cracking jokes with the medical team. About five mintues later they phone rang and it was Dr. Gorman. He was very kind and didn't sound put out at all that a stranger had interupted his families' Easter afternoon. I told him the story and he said he would do some calling around to see who was on call. He called back a few mintues later and asked if we could meet him in his office about 30 minutes away. Stunned, we said of course. We drove to his office and he pulled in right behind us. He was very kind again to us. He took us upstairs and unlocked the door and turned the lights on. He walked us down the hall to a treatment room. Then he started looking for all of the tools he would need. He had to call his nurse a couple of times, but got everything after a few minutes. While we were waiting we noticed a picture on the wall of a bunch of little kids in South America who had cleft lips that had been repaired by Dr. Gorman and his team. We thought this was cool and a good sign Greg's repair would go well. He started getting things ready for the surgery and Greg asked him if he ever did mole removals. He had one on his nose he always wanted removed and he thought this was a good time to bring it up. Dr. Gorman said he didn't see new patients for mole removal, but that he did them on established patients. Greg said "Oh." And then Dr. Gorman said "So since you are in the chair let's get that off too." :0 So already long story made a little shorter . . . Dr. G. did a great job repairing Greg's lip and removing the mole. No one would EVER know looking at it that 1/4 of his lip was gone (Toto swallowed it.) You can barely see the scar at all. It was hard for me to watch even though I wanted too. There was something a little unsettling about seeing chucks of Greg cut off and laid on a tray.


Close to the end of the surgery, Dr. Gorman, whom I had been casually chatting with the whole time said to me that his office manager had recently retired and he wondered if I might consider coming to work for him part time as a patient coordinator. He said my personality would fit well with his team. Would I please consider this. We would be coming back to have Greg's stitches removed later that week and we could talk about it then. He said I could talk with his nurse, Margaret, if I had any questions. She called me on Monday and said Dr. Gorman had really been impressed with me and wondered if I had thought about his offer. She said it would be about 20 hours a week, for sure all day Monday and Thursday. Another shortening . . . I said yes and I have been working at the Austin Plastic Surgery Institute on Dr. Gorman's team for three weeks now. I LOVE IT.

Easter Part 1

I spilled the beans on the bunny this year. It was hard for me to keep that one up. It turned out great because I got the thanks and praise for the well hidden, well filled eggs. I asked both the children not to tell other kids because we didn't want to spoil their fun. Nelson complied, but for the rest of the day, guess what the first thing Alli said to everyone (including other kids). . . "My mommy is the Easter Bunny!" Imagine my embarrasment at the looks of shock on the other parents' faces. I hope that doesn't lead to other questions from her that I am not ready to answer. Nelson has been asking questions for a year now. They had fun hunting for eggs as always. They spent the next couple of days rehiding the eggs for each other to find again. Nelson asked if his birthday ever fell on Easter again, if I would hide his presents for him to find. I think that is a great idea. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter also. What a beautiful time of year.