Last Day of the Year

We went to see the Houston Aeros hockey team play last night. The game was entertaining although they lost to the Lake Erie Monsters 6-2. Oh well, it was fun to do something with all the kids. We ate lots of junk food and enjoyed watching all the Aeros fans.
This morning we made the 5 hour drive to Baton Rouge to spend the New Year's with Nanny, Flash and Grandpa Harv. The kids are excited about popping their $147 worth of fireworks and couldn't wait until it got dark. We wish everyone a very safe and Happy New Year!

Buddy Get Together

We had a wonderful and relaxing couple of days in Port Arthur. I think Dennis slept most of the time and the kids got to do whatever they wanted, I even caught them making mud pies in the backyard.
Denise brought her remote control car, helicopter and boat the she got for Xmas so we played around with those things. The helicopter got stuck in the tree and on top of the house and we took the boat to Doornbos park in Nederland and chased the ducks in the pond. Uncle Leonard came along and had fun playing in the park also.






The neighbor's dog, Chispita, came over to play with Brianna and Maxie. Brianna just can't resist carrying that little dog everywhere.

My mom packed up some tamales while I packed up all the kids toys and we returned to Houston on Saturday. In the evening we went to a party that Greg and Brenda Suire were having in their new house for all the buddies and their kids. Don and Lora Lawrence were in town from Ohio with their two girls and it was nice to see most of everyone there. Of course we missed Fran, Don, Tim, Amber, Richard, Debbie, Mark, Jim and Mishele. We had fun reminiscing the good ole days by looking through a bunch of photo albums. I was able to find a couple of pictures of the SS Lick Me pontoon that we were looking for, but I never did find the pic of Greg Suire with his gay volleyball pose!


I also was able to get a few shots of all the kids and then all of us together. Thanks, Greg and Brenda for such a fun time and your new house is of course spectacular, right out of a magazine. Click here for the pictures I took or look at the slideshow on the top left.

Christmas Day

Feliz Navidad!

It has been a long Christmas day. We didn't get to bed until 1:30 am last night because midnight mass lasted so long. The kids conked out during mass. I don't think we will try this next year. Santa did his work and didn't finish stuffing stockings, eating her brownies and putting out all the gifts until 3:00 am. Needless to say, Santa is very tired. The kids woke up earlier than normal and immediate attacked all their new toys. Once again, Santa went overboard! They packed up some of their new stuff and we headed out to Port Arthur for a few days to visit my parents. I guess I was in too much of a hurry because I got a speeding ticket for Christmas. Our wonderful Houston cops don't have anything better to do on Christmas. We got to Port Arthur in time for Christmas lunch. Gary had baked a great tasting ham and mom had added some other good stuff to go with it. Even though I stuffed myself too much with food and pie, I still can't wait to eat my mom's tamales tonight! I hope everyone of you had a great Christmas!



Daddy and all his daughters

Merry Christmas Eve!

The kids are so excited. They have been tracking Santa on the internet. Brianna is especially interested, she has been asking every half hour if it's time to open gifts. I actually had to work from home today, but they let us stop working at 1:00 pm. Later, we went over for wassail and pie to our new neighbors across the street in this 70 degree weather. It was a pleasant visit with an interesting couple, Chuck and Carol Lucas. They have just moved back to the states from spending four years in Switzerland. Now Chuck is working in Lagos, Nigeria. What a difference!
I didn't feel like cooking tonight so after opening gifts with Celeste and Alicia we went out to eat at French Quarter Market Grill. We are planning on going to midnight mass tonight and probably the caroling before the mass. I hope the kids can stay awake for it all. I let them decide which mass to attend and this is what they wanted to do, so we'll try it out this year and see if they, or should I say we, can stay awake.

Counting Down the Days Until Christmas

At work it is so quiet and boring. I even had time to create these funny snowglobes of us. I hope you like them. If you click on the shake control located next to the bottom of the globe on the left it will shake the globe. I like the one of the kids the best. Have fun!

Shopping and More Shopping

This weekend was spent shopping and more shopping. I've done really well and have kept out of the malls. We are lucky to live in an area that has a lot of shopping strips with all the stores I need such as Learning Express, Best Buy, Target, Justice for Girls, Bath and Body Works and Claire's. Aunt Lupie went shopping with us on Saturday so she could buy the girls what they want. We went to Learning Express and while the girls were on one side of the store she bought Denise Spy Gear and Brianna Groovy Girls. We had a very good lunch at Panera Bread. They have the best home made French bread. It was about 76 degrees outside and cloudy, not really Xmas shopping weather. Today, Sunday, we woke up to 44 degrees outside, much better weather for shopping. I got up early and went to Kohl's and Target. The crowds were not out yet and parking was easy to find. I got a lot done than rented some movies for the kids to watch. They really liked "Space Chimps" so I think I'll add that to one of their stockings. Uncle O and Aunt Libby came by to drop off the kids Xmas gifts. We will miss them this Christmas because they will be leaving Port Arthur to come back to Houston on Christmas Eve. We opted to stay in Houston and go to mass here than go to Port Arthur on Christmas day. I'm sure we will see other family members there. Tonight was more relaxing, watching movies with the kids with the fire roaring in the fireplace. This week I have to work a full day on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, Christmas Eve, I'll be working from home. We will probably be let go early at 2:00 pm and that's it for me until next year. Woohoo!!!

Brianna's Xmas Dance Recital

Tonight was Brianna's Xmas dance recital. It was very entertaining, especially the little 3 year olds tap dancing to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". Brianna did really good in her ballet routine to "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" and to her tap routine to "Sleigh Ride". Celeste and Alicia showed in time to watch her dance her last dance. What timing! We celebrated afterwards by ordering dinner from Jason's Deli and staying in because it was going to be another cold one. They are predicting freezing rain in the morning, which means the morning commute will be a long one.

Wedding and Piano Recital

We had a busy weekend. We left for Frisco on Saturday morning to attend the wedding of the son of my good friend Theresa. Cody Strange was married to Kelly Burgin in a beautiful ceremony at the First Baptist Church in Frisco. A reception followed in the church hall with cupcakes for a wedding cake. That was a unique idea, no cake cutting required. I was able to catch up with a lot of old friends which I haven't seen in years. Later that night we went to Rick(Theresa's brother) and Brooke's house for chili and more food. All of Theresa's family was there and it was nice to visit with them and their kids.

Today, we drove from Frisco, TX in the morning to make it in time for Denise's Xmas piano recital. She played perfectly well as I knew she would. Her song "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", was a duet with Mr. Richard. All the kids did their best and put on a good show. Alicia showed up to support Denise. She had arrived in Houston on Saturday for her Xmas break and doesn't go back to school until January 20. I wish my break was that long! Celeste will be coming in from Austin on Monday for her break.

More Snow!

Today the kids enjoyed more snow at the subdivision Christmas party. They bring in a snow making machine and make snow on a couple of golf course hills. For three hours this kids toss snowballs at each other. I was just trying to take pictures of the kids and I got decked by three of them! It is a lot of fun and the kids look forward to that every year.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!!

It's hard to believe, but it was snowing in Houston today. Actually most of the snow was in the evening. The girls were so excited. At school the teachers pretended to have a fire drill to let the kids go out and see the snow coming down. Of course, it wasn't sticking very well in our part of the town but the kids were able to gather enough snow to make snowballs and have fun. Tomorrow we will have more fun in the snow at the neighborhood Xmas party where they will have a snowmaking machine

Decorating the House

We spent most of the weekend decorating the house with Christmas lights. We got all the icicles on the house and finished in time to get all dressed up for our night downtown. We went to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Alley Theatre. It was a very good play and they made it very entertaining. Denise and Brianna loved it. Before the show we pigged out at Birra Porretti's with some good Italian food then looked at all the decorated trees at the theatre. Here we are standing in front of the Mardi Gras Christmas tree:

Venice Under Water

The Acqua Alta has brought in more water into Venice than usual. St. Mark's square which is the lowest area in the city had up to 61 inches of water. It hasn't flooded like that in 22 years. Our family had such a wonderful time in that city in June and I thought you would like to see what it looks like with water everywhere. What a shame to see so much water in such a beautiful place. I hope it is not a sign that the city is sinking much quicker than expected. Here is a picture of the same square with Denise and Brianna taking a break: