Back to School

Happy Kids Academy, that is! And I am so excited to have found this free software called 'Homeschool Tracker" that allows me to lesson plan days in advance, reschedule the assignments we didn't get to, track reading lists (and dates completed!) give grades, etc. I finally feel like I have a handle on this thing, that I can make sure we cover everything we need to and have a record of all our work! It's the little things that make me happy . . .we also joined a homeschool group that meets for park days once a week, so the kids can socialize with other kids on this same journey. :O) Had fun at the last one - there must have been 40 or 50 kids there! Within minutes, Ryan was running with a gang of boys between the sprinklers and the sandbox, and Bekah had paired up with another 9 year old girl ("She has an annoying 6 year old brother, too!")and by the end of the afternoon they had exchanged phone numbers and promised to meet at the next park day. I know I don't really have to worry about my kids being socialized - seems like they are with other kids almost every week - but it's still reassuring to see how easily they make friends. I'm still not committed to homeschooling them all they way to college, just taking one year at a time.

So between work, homeschooling and church activities, we are staying quite busy! I'm now in the rotation to assist with Sunday School, I'm on a hiring committee for a new Christian Education leader, and I'm on the transcription team (typing up transcriptions of sermons for the website.) Tonight however, we are all taking a break. Rodney's at his weekly poker game, the kids are allowed to play the Wii until bedtime, and I can just be. Ahhhh . . . I love Wednesdays.

The pictures are of the kids playing outside over the Labor Day weekend. It was finally cool enough to be outside for a little while! The high tomorrow is supposed to only be 90 - I can't tell you what a relief that is!

staying cool

What a whirwind week! Starting last Friday until today, we have had visitors and things to do every day - what a wonderful way to pass these scorching hot days. We started with a drive out to Burnet, TX to visit Longhorn Caverns which is apparently the largest cave in Texas. It was refreshing to descend into the cool dark (68 degrees!) and our guide regaled us with tales of the speakeasy and church that once coexisted down there. They still use the cave for concerts and weddings - imagine taking your vows 150 feet underground! Ryan is already counting the days until he is 11 and therefore old enough to take the "wild" cave tour. apparently this involves squeezing through tight spaces -you can count me out. I prefer the nice wide paths. But our guide was also the park manager AND a high school biology teacher, so he piqued the kids imaginations with stories of albino fish down in the dark pools. maybe we'll see you in a couple of years, Brad . . .

Spent Friday evening in our neighbor's backyard, sipping wine and watching the kids splash in the wading pool. They caught cicadas and moths in jars and added fruit to see what the bugs liked or didn't . . .got home late and then up early for the parade in downtown Round Rock. I always feel most patriotic on this day, with everyone wearing their red, white & blue. The parade consisted of the usual scouts, baseball teams, and local businesses, tossing candy out to the kids as they drove by. The Democratic state senator was there, along with a cardboard Barack Obama (hilarious) but apparently the Republican had something better to do . . .which is surprising in this very conservative county.

Later that afternoon, after being joined by Denise who braved the traffic from Dallas to be with us, we headed over to the Millers to see their new house and have a barbecue lunch (yum). Then we all loaded into their Armada and headed to the park (at the last possible second, to avoid melting in the heat) to see the fireworks! We actually got a double show, as the park is right next to the Dell Diamond who had their fireworks display at the exact same time! I was able to take some pretty good pics with my camera and the kids were hollering remarks after each explosion "that one looks like Christmas!" "That one sounded like somebody whining!"

We left Bekah to spend the night with her adored friend Tayci and hauled ourselves home. Sunday we slept in then went to Ikea with Denise to look for bookshelves and lunched at Rosie's Pho. The pad thai wasn't as good as their location in Cedar Park but the service was great- two sweet teenage girls that were probably the daughters of the owner. The Millers brought Bekah home just in time for her cousins to arrive from Arkansas! We got a pizza and spent the evening talking and talking, just catching up. So good to see my beautiful nieces, Mackenzie and Kaitlyn. Lucky us, even though we only see them a few times a year, they are never shy with us and we always just pick up again as though Aunt Tracy and Uncle Rodney were around all the time.

We had a kid-oriented week - took them to Main Event on Monday, where we played Glow golf (mini golf under black lights) and played video games, air hockey and skee ball. Tuesday we spent the day picnicking and cooling off at our awesome public pool where, despite 3 applications of SPF 50, Bekah still burned as red as a lobster (and so did Tonya and I). Ryan, Kenzie and Kaitlyn just browned nicely. That evening we celebrated all the kids birthdays (actually in April, July and October, but we're never together then) with a cake and one candle for each kid to blow out!

Wednesday, due in part to the sunburns, we spent the day indoors bowling at our favorite alley, Dart Bowl. The kids did great, especially Mackenzie who outscored me on both games with only one working bumper! We ate at the cafe there and then thought it would be fun to go over to Central Market and let the kids play on the playscape. After watching them walk slowly around the playscape at about the pace of slugs, we decided it was just too hot and came home to play guitar hero and Wii fitness. We relaxed the rules on video games quite a bit this week because, let's face it, it's just too hot to send them outside. When it's consistently over 100 for days on end, you have to just adjust to indoor entertainments for a while. Thank goodness for Netflix. :O)

Thursday the guys went to play golf (well, pitch and putt) so Tonya and I took the kids shopping. She got Bekah a cute denim cropped jacket that Beks just HAD to have (i got her the capris to match, and with her new hat she looks so grown up) and I got Kaitlyn a scarf that she had hours of fun with. ("look, I can wear it as a skirt/around my neck/as a blouse/ etc."). she is such a fashionista for age 7! Paul is in so much trouble. ;o) We parted briefly Thursday evening as Tonya took the girls to visit other relatives who live in Round Rock (what luck!) and Paul came back to spend the night with us. I went back to work Friday morning just to "check in" - fortunately my boss was not in and I was able to catch my desk up and slide out of there in time to have lunch with my brother before they had to leave. We spent the rest of the evening in that mild state of letdown that always comes after loved ones visit and have to depart, but consoled ourselves with movies and popcorn. That brings us up to date - Ryan got me up this morning, as he always does on the weekend, so we can have some mother -son time before the rest of the house gets up . . . we made pancakes, cleaned the kitchen and did a load of laundry, and then took a break - him to play Risk with Dad, and me to blog. Bekah is on Webkinz, which is all she wants to do lately (I should probably monitor this more). For the first time in a week, we have no plans today other than to return movies and library books, and stay under the air conditioning as much as possible.

Happy 4th of July! It was a great day - parade in the morning and fireworks at night.

Summer Begins in Central Texas!

It's still early on Saturday morning, I've had 2 cups of coffee and I'm ready to blog! It's already in the 80's, heading to the mid 90's today. Good time to catch up on the last couple of weeks which have rushed by in a blur.

Dale & Peggy had us out to their home in Lago Vista a couple of weeks ago to enjoy the pool and some grilled hot dogs & burgers. The kids had an absolute blast, outside of Bekah's crippling fear of wasps (not sure how to help her get over that one!) They played for hours and I actually remembered to apply the sunblock more than once, avoiding sunburn this time. The following week the kids went to Peace Camp (our church's version of Vacation Bible School) each evening and it was a really enriching experience. The theme of the camp was "Giraffe Heroes; Stick Your Neck Out". Each night they'd hear a story about an ordinary person who did an extraordinary thing to help others. What a great lesson for us all. Then they did crafts and learned songs - and here's the best part - our minister, plays guitar and wrote the songs himself. Not acoustic guitar, church-y songs, mind you, but full out electric guitar & drums! I wish I had gotten video of it, I wasn't that proactive . . It also provided Rodney and I with a free babysitter one night so we could have dinner (Baby Acapulco - yummy fish tacos) and celebrate the 23rd anniversary of our first date. People ask us all the time what makes it work for us, and of course it's nothing specific I can put my finger on - love, of course, shared values and sense of humor, and lots of patience on both our parts!

The last night of Peace Camp, we went to pick up the kids and a vicious storm hit so we had to stay put at the church for over an hour. Found out later there were tornadoes just north of us, thankfully all we suffered at the church was golfball sized hail but no damage done. Ryan was nearly hysterical with fear, not sure why? I don't get nervous during storms, I actually kind of like the excitement, but he was tearful and saying things like "we're going to die" and "this is the last night of my life" - seriously!! After much reassurance, he agreed to go stand on the porch with me and watch the rain & hail, after that he calmed quite a bit. Poor baby!

The big deal around the house this week is that Rodney has finished the steps and the floor in the master bedroom. It is GORGEOUS. And we were able to put together our new bed. For the first time in our married life, we are sleeping in a bed with a headboard and a footboard. The funny part is that with all this, the bed is about 3 feet off the ground - the kids actually need a stool to help them get on top of it! A major project completed, and Rodney did it all himself. He has become quite an accomplished all around handyman! I'm sure this is not what he pictured himself doing when we met 23 years ago. Life is always a surprise.

Last Sunday we had a pizza/pool party with some families at church who also have kids. I am really enjoying this church - I think we have finally found a community we can feel comfortable belonging to. These folks share our values and beliefs and are completely accepting and tolerant. Some of them even homeschool so we're able to bounce ideas of each other - I haven't had that before and it's really helpful. This month our minister, Jim Rigby, is doing a series on the gospel according to Monty Python. It's both hilarious and insightful. The point of it is to understand where religion sometimes misunderstands Jesus' message and/or takes it in a direction Jesus did not intend. Just watch the 'Blessed are the Cheesemakers" scene from Life of Brian, and you'll get it.

My Wednesday movies (yes, plural, this Netflix "Watch Instantly" options is too much for me to resist) were Incendiary and The Other Boleyn Girl. Why do I pick tearjerkers?? By the time I went to bed my eyes were red and swollen! They are both worth watching, although I don't normally like American actresses playing British parts, I have to say Michelle Williams was very convincing in Incendiary - and Matthew MacFadyen, one of my favorites, was perfect as an absolute creep!! Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johanson, as the Boleyn sisters, were obviously cast for their sex appeal but I though both turned in a fairly convincing performance. I'm a sucker for historical fiction, especially British period dramas, so I'm probably not a very objective reviewer.

That pretty much catches us up to the present - yesterday we went to a new place for happy hour and tapas called Pizzeria Corvina. Although a bit overpriced for a strip center location, they have a lovely interior, super friendly waitstaff and coal-fired pizza which the kids say is to die for. Beer prices are great at happy hour and they have several of our favorites on tap - Blue Moon Ale, with a slice of orange, is my new favorite this summer! They have Bass and Newcastle for Rodney. We had a cheesy fondue-type dip with toasted bread slices for one tapas, and prosciutto-wrapped figs with gorgonzola cheese for the second - surprisingly served warm, with the proscuitto fried until crispy and the cheese just melted. And it didn't hurt that Frank Sinatra was playing in the background . . .OK that's my restaurant review for the week. After that we came home and watched the Longhorns beat Arizona State in the bottom of the ninth - there was much excitement around here :O)

We decided to celebrate Father's day today, since between church and Rodney having to work on Sunday evening, that wouldn't leave us much time to celebrate tomorrow. Bekah painted him a picture I think he will love - a big Texas Longhorn on a colorful background. We also got him a Washington D.C. Starbucks mug that we meant to buy when we were there but forgot - I love the power of online shopping! Happy Father's day to all you dads!!

Catch up

I have been very, very remiss about posting . . . honestly I got caught up in Facebook and didn't see how I'd have the time to maintain my page there AND here. But I need practice writing and FB doesn't really give you that opportunity - it's more just a "fire a comment off and move on" sort of format. Doesn't really accomplish what the goal I set for this blog, which is to keep our out of town family in touch with what goes on in Casa Beeber here in Texas.

Where to start - I think I last posted in February. Since then Kate and Quentin came to visit, we had Easter and Bekah's birthday, my weekend in Port Aransas with the girls, bought a new car, went to Washington DC for a 10 day vacation, Mother's Day, attended Cindy B's birthday part in Dallas, had Bekah's piano recital, finished up school for the summer and . . here we are!

Rodney has been hard at work remodeling the stairs into our bedroom, he's almost done, just applying the clear protective coat - he's applying the 2nd of 6 coats. Once he's done we're heading out to Lago Vista to cook out and go swimming with Dale & Peggy. Bekah's just finishing up practicing piano. She performed like a pro at her recital -she played a couple of pieces, one of which was "Only Time" by Enya. Now she's learning, by her own choice, a piece by Yanni. Where she got this preference for new age music, I cannot figure . . .but it is pretty! I just taught Ryan how to make Kool-Aid, so now he's got a new job for the summer :o) I'm trying to eat better - MUCH more fruits & veggies, less meat & dairy, whole grains. I have to say I already feel better, slightly more energy. Of course as hot as it is, its easier to eat light. I've taken to making a big pot of beans every week and serving it up with rice or cornbread, and they seem to love it! Nutritious and cheap! Our little herb garden that we planted in the front flower bed is also producing - basil, sage, parsley, oregano, mint. The cilantro bolted pretty quickly so we didn't get much there. I've since ready that it doesn't like to get over 75 degrees - fat chance of that in central Texas.


Yikes, time to head out to Lago. Ryan's first tooth just came out! Tooth Fairy is visiting us tonight!

The Thunder strikes again! Ryan's team won their second game, they were so proud!

Basketball diaries

Bekah had her first game on Saturday and although they lost, it was a total blast! She's learning a lot and having so much fun. I really admire her coach's patience, though - not having kids in public school, I had forgotten what it was like to have 9 little girls in the same room - chaos doesn't begin to describe it!