Bens actual birthday

bens party was not until today actually, 25/10/08, so on his birthday i asked what he would likef or his tea, and he decided he would like us to grill and have some poeple over, he chose well, and I obeyed. ( I am quiet good at obeying when it is about thier birthday's) . So we had a few families over, a wonderful evening was had by all and Alex's teacher gave him special permission not to do his homework for Monday until Tuesday- we did get groans on Tuesday, but he caught up and all was well. Allan managed to get home from work at a sensible time, even taking in to account he was cycling to work, and since the children go to school so early, we had already primed Ben to know he would only get his present from Allan and I before school. So present opening time happened, then guests arrived and a party was had. Photo's attached to prove we can party on school and work nights.

Sorry I have not blogged for a week

Life has been hectic in this house, what with Cara arriving as a surprise for Ben's birthday on Sunday- my first trip to Houston, and then Ben's birthday on Monday and a normal school and work week still ongoing, I have not had as much time as I needed to achieve everything. The blog lost out and Cara and Ben's celebrations won the day. I will post items about each event this week so you are up to date with Texas news. Tomorrow I take Cara back to Houston and then she will fly back to us to live in Texas from 1/12/08. Please do not plan on giving Cara anything to bring back, she in already over loaded with luggage to come here!!!!!! the subject of excess luggage and Allan do not sit well together, he mutters under his breath about woman and 'stuff' , it is not good for the household.

A new cake

This is a cake decorated with a variety of gum paste and fondant decorations. I did hem my drape by the way, even in cake decorating you need to be particular.

Hallowe'en is a coming!

We started noticing that Hallowe'en was a bigger holiday here, as it was appearing on front lawns and trees in the neighbour hood were being decorated, everyday at school the theme was pumpkins and Fall, word searches and pictures from 1/10/08( or as now i should write 10/1/08) have all been about halloween. I am ready with candy galore, and we now have many pumpkins to join in this madness, but yesterday I went to the bank. Well what can I say, the pictures do not do it justice, everywhere was decorated. I will start taking pictures around the neighbourhood and putting them on my blog, but I had not expected the bank to among my pictures!!

Rain at last

Well it rained. No it really rained, we had 1.03" yesterday, and everyone was rejoicing, it made headline news and although they definitely do not know how to deal with rain, our lovely locals were over the moon. When I still cycled the children to school, it was commented on. There were only 6 bikes yesterday ( there is 851 pupils at the school), so you can imagine how many cars there were.
Walking was not an option in the rain apparently, really interesting to see, everyone was excited about the rain, but nobody wanted to venture into it. The temperature was still in the 70's and the rain was warm. I have a huge pile of sodden clothes to testify that jumping in puddles and bouncing on trampolines is still a child favourite past time when it rains, and slides are a must, especially if you can come off the end with a war cry as well.

The granite Mine

When we were on our way to Sweet Berry Farm, we past a site known as granite mountain, it use to be 860' high of granite and has been mined since 1887, when the mining company was formed. The granite, pink in colour, has been used to build the State Capitol building in Austin and part of Austin - Bergstrom airport, as well many other places, but those two you will see when you all visit. For some reason i can not load the photo's so will add them when my personal computer geek comes home tonight.

Pumpkins

When we were eating lunch at 'R Bar and grill', which was delicious by the way, another couple offered to take our photo, included in previous posting, assuming were on holiday( our accents are a huge giveaway!!!) they mentioned we should go out to Sweet Berry Farm and see the Pumpkin Patch. Now I have never seen a pumpkin patch like this, although I am going as a helper on Ben's school trip in two weeks, we decided to go. it was fantastic, they had a field full of activities for everyone, children's maze, adults maze, fall flower maze, horse rides, tractor rides, face painting, pumpkin painting( now doing that at Ben's party next week!!) and PUMPKINS. you are going to be amazed, although not as much as Allan when I decided to purchase a serious amount of them and bring them home for our fall display in the garden.