friends at the barbecue

I am not sure where Cara is about to deposit said child, maybe lucky we don't have a pool yet.
Boys and their toys... Nerf gun assembly line!!!!
Mother and daughter decorating cookies
The greatest cookie makers of all time... today it was red and white cookies with Alex name on, as he requested, same as his cake actually, which he helpped ice.
Our neighbours do come to our parties... This lets us make more noise!!
Our egg hunt hosts of the morning.... Thank you
"Ahh a Nerf gun, we will help you Alex, let us look" dad's so predictable !!!!

Alex had no trouble blowing out the candles, I had to light them again so everybody (well children) could them blow them out as well!!
Chief Griller ( looking very posed) and his adoring wife ( looking very stern!!)
boy can they talk!!! What a great time we had, fantastic weather, children all playing in and out on Alex's new toys, wine flowing and food a plenty. a very nice way to spend the afternoon.
A huge thank you needs to go to Cara and Jack who tidied it all up after wards. I think Jack was particularly impressed with the confetti eggs Diana bought, real egg shells, dyed and filled with confetti that you smashed over peoples heads, so the shell and confetti went every where. He swept it all up...... took him a very long time. Jack the kids loved them and at the time... that was all that mattered. It was your brothers party!!!!

What a day, my red head turns 8

These are the Peeps that turn up at every occasion possible, marshmallow covered in a sugar coating, the kids love them!!!
Instead of decorating loads of cookies, what I did was put out the cookies and icing and let the kids decorate as and when they wanted to eat them. I think it is safe to say more icing was put on than if I had iced them!!! some hyper children in our neighbour hood tonight.
Birthday boy just before he launched inand opened his presents, the calm before the storm with out a doubt

The Easter egg hunt, Diana had hidden them and we took all the kids up to there house, it is only 5 doors away, although Cara and Jack managed to restrain themselves and did not hunt for the eggs, but did help when asked by eager youngsters.

I can't believe it, but I was awake before Alex's this morning, waiting for him to come running in. He has had a busy weekend as he had a birthday sleep over on Friday night into Saturday because his birthday fell on Easter Sunday. He was at a friends house sleeping over on Thursday as there was no school on Friday- not known as Good Friday here and there is school tomorrow!! No Easter Monday for us( well actually ARM does close for the British holiday weekend, so Allan is off!!!)
Then today we started early opening presents, Alex had requested breakfast In bed, so dually did that, followed by an Easter egg hunt at Diana and John's abode, then back home to get ready for a barbecue with friends popping in from 3pm until 6pm.

The Kite Festival

So this is a kite!
you can just see many kites in the sky - so i try and give you a sky full and.....
This is a sky full of kites, higher than my camera will focus on apparently!!
My boys!
Alex wished to try the climbing wall, he had to contribute some of his own money as it was $3 a go!! he did this willingly and off he went.

He loved being kitted out to climb.
Yep, my boys again- car and mum are heading home to deal with Tex- i am the cameraman!!

Austin holds a Kite festival each year as well, it is a free event put on and was very well attended. They had concessionaires there, but you could just take your kite and fly it with other like minded people. For next year we will be better prepared, have a picnic and blankets, chairs and kites.
We went down to it witht he boys on Sunday, whist Cara and Mumw ent home for mum to rest her knees before the boat trip and cara to let Tex out. Next year we will know we can actually take Tex.

So I have missed telling you about the Superbowl

The Superbowl was big out here, and every store that could sold merchandise, the food stores had all sorts of goodies, alcohol being a firm favourite as well, cookies and quick food- dips, chips, BBQ bits and pieces.
We were lucky enough to go to a friends house, Alfred and Laura, along with Jo and Alan, Christie and Thomas, so we all partied, watched the game, ate and drank. That seems to be what is expected, so I did not disappoint them. Cara drove the boys home at 7.45 as it was a school the next day, but the rest of us watched and waited, cheered and ooohhed ( me following the lead as I was no good at following what was going on on the TV!) but fun it was . I now have watched my first Superbowl and will know what to expect next year. The adverts were watched as closely as the game, they are talked about as much after wards as well, big business!

The picture of Cara and Alfred, is Cara in Alfred's bullet proof vest, he is a local Sherriff, and has taken Cara out on a ride along, Cara had to waiver all rights, and got to go on a whole shift with Alfred. Shew loved it. They did a bust on a Meth house, had to call in SWAT, did many things that I will get Cara to put an update on the blog so you all know. Things that make her mum cringe, but my little girl is growing up and wishes to be in the police force, so I had better get use to it!

New years Eve Party

We held our New years eve party, It would not be the same for me with out a party!!! We had nearly 40 people , including the children. The weather was kind to us, although it did get cold when we went outside to set off the fireworks, which a neighbour has bought with him. The children enjoyed that bit. Lots of fireworks seemed be going off around the area. We have a fire ban on at the moment due to the dry conditions, so the type of firework you could set of was controlled. We had the heads up on this as one of our guests is married to a local sheriff and he kept popping around to the party to join us, and then having to go and deal with an incident somewhere, and then back to us. He had to do that at our last gathering as well, so he is going to try and be off for my birthday party, and be able to enjoy himself and relax. I hope you all had a lovely evening and enjoyed seeing the New Year. I raised a glass to each and every one of you( by the feel of head may be too many glasses). I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2009

Election Day

On November 4th we had an election over here in The States, not sure if you had all heard back in UK!! I went with a friend to watch her vote and see what there polling stations are like. It was an interesting set up, with no ID needed, you just handed over you voting card, asked if you still lived at the same address and then issued with a 4 digit number to input into the machine. Once in the machine, you could select a party, and then all candidates for that party would be selected, or go through and individually select your candidates, and you always had the option to abstain for a selection. Once done you just hit the large button and away you went. the process was very quick, Emily and I were in and out within 4 minutes. In actual fact the votes do not go directly to the candidate, they go to another level of voters, who then make the final vote for the State, taking in to account the wishes of the voters in that state. You could vote early for the election as well, we have had voting booths set up in Randals, a local store for a few weeks before the election, to try and cut down queuing times.

Kindergartens tea party

Cara was thrilled to be able to help all week at school and getting up super early to get to school just adds to the whole experience, so off we went to set up, serve and tidy down a tea party for the Frogs and Turtles, ( Ben is in the Frog class). We were home again by 0855. They were practicing their manners they had been learning, all the children had to dress up and were being served by the parents who volunteered- I happily volunteered myself and Cara. We were meant to wear fancy frocks and hats for the occassion, but the Turtles room mum changed the rules a few days before, it upset the Frogs mums and our room mum decided we could still wear hats, so I did- nobody else did though!, apart from one of the little girls in Ben's class. We had to now wear black and white. Never a problem for me.

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.

Our house warming in Austin

This was the house warming in Austin, I made some invitations and Allan and I went around and invited the neighbours (sorry neighbors). Many came and they then introduced themselves to each other. I feel I have done a community service now. Fun was had by all, some even came by them selves and made excuses for their partners, who they then rung up and invited along. It was a lot of fun - Allan even cooked on the dreaded BBQ ( sorry BBQ on the grill- I am getting the hang of local lingo, honest). Please note that the teenagers did not mix with us, they stayed around by our basketball hoop, unless they wanted food, then we saw them! We did it as an open house from 4pm until 9pm and it worked well, and I have now already started the New Years eve party rules so they are not surprised by the black tie, I have said I will accept black tie and shorts, being a reasonable sort of girl, but all the woman are VERY determined to glam up, the only way! We do not get to be gorgeous and glamorous enough. Allan please note a new dress is a must. I was just checking I had spelt gorgeous correctly and the definition is "richly coloured; splendid, dazzling" that works for me.