Meet Patches

WOW! Three posts in almost a week! That must be a NEW record for me, huh!?! Well, I guess I just have had a lot to write all of y'all about!!

Today I want to introduce you to Patches. Patches is Kyla's birthday present from Mommy and Daddy. I guess in a weak moment...when lamenting about all the 'critters' we had in Alabama...Mom gave in and said - "O.K. MAYBE we can have a hamster ONE day." When those words leave a mother's mouth, you know the battle is on - and chances are the kid is going to win. ha! Well, Kyla's birthday seemed the perfect time to set her up with a small furry friend of the living and breathing variety (a hamster webkinz just wasn't going to do it - rats! - no pun intended).

Patches is a teddy bear hamster - that just means he has longer hair than the fancy hamsters - and he has tan and white "patches" all over...thus the original name. He isn't so sure about all of us - we haven't won him over just yet - but he seems to really enjoy his new habitat. We have to trick him to get him out and into his 'ball' that allows him to 'travel' around the room. Perhaps the fact that Luke once kicked the ball across the room - thinking it was a soccer ball - has something to do with that??!!?? We have to watch Luke very closely because his fascination with Patches is EXTREME and he feels that yelling and knocking on the sides of the cage are the most effective methods of communication. I think if his point is to scare the hamster then he is doing a fine job.

It will be Kyla's responsibility to clean the cage once a week, change the food and water every two days, and try to get him out once a day. The getting him out once a day is no problem for her...but the food/water seems harder to remember. It is always the fun jobs that get done first, isn't it!?! We had him downstairs for the past week...trying to get him use to us and visa versa...but last night Kyla cleared off a space in her room for him and he spent the night in there. I threatened her NOT to get up and try to mess with him in the night - I was afraid it would be too tempting. She said she could hear him in the night - he moves his bedding around ALL NIGHT LONG! - but she just went right back to sleep.

So he isn't a goat...or a puppy (they REALLY want a dog)...but perhaps we have bought us some more time (a few years?)...before we have to invest in a LARGER animal. Although, Summer is already mentioning her birthday next year... IN APRIL ... and the words rabbit and guniea pig keep surfacing. This might have been Pandora's Box and NOT a temporary fix! ha!

Meet the new neighbors....

I know it doesn't look like much...but we have some new neighbors living right next to our front door. They don't bother us much...although I think at times we stress them out. These neighbors are of the two winged variety....a family of house finches.

Their first choice of abode was in the wreath on my front door. Since I put that wreath together with my own two hands, I decided that I wouldn't allow that. I didn't really want all the bird poop on it for years to come...nor did I want it streaming down my front door. I know...I'm picky! After I cleaned out the beginnings of their nest (twice), I moved the wreath inside and they moved to the next best/closest thing...the braided hibiscus plant that I have by the front door.








Within a few weeks they had 4 eggs in the nest....but one egg didn't make it...The momma bird knocked it out when she was frightened out of the nest by the opening of the front door.





You don't really get the idea of the scale of this thing...those eggs are TINY - alot like the size of that egg shaped bubble gum that you can buy at Easter.






Before you know it...the eggs hatched. We now have 3 baby finches living right next to our front door. The momma comes and checks on them and feeds them, but she doesn't stay with them when we are around. And right now they are soooo quiet...we'll see if that changes when they get just a little bigger. That was how I knew the birds were up to something in the first place - they would sit in that wreath and just sing...sing...sing. They have a beautiful... but LOUD...song.


The girls, especially Kyla, wish we could keep them and tame them somehow - something about that "if you love something set it free" seems to be forgotten. It has become if you love something...trap it...and make it stay with you...FOREVER. Oh well, live and learn! ha!

Check out the new wheels!

Check out the new wheels. Ok - so it isn't a convertible, a Volkswagon bug (one of my all time favorites), or a gas friendly hybrid - but it is new (to me) and all MINE! We have debated getting a van for many years now, and ruled against it when we bought our Impala, because at the time we didn't feel we needed that much room. However, just a few weeks after purchasing the Impala, I found out I was pregnant...with Luke! Too bad we hadn't purchased a van...but we stayed true to our Impala and kept it just over 2 1/2 years. It was a great car...but the 3 kids all across the back seat doesn't always lead to moments of peace and harmony. Luke has become interested in the screams of his sisters and he was in perfect reach of their long hair...that isn't a good combination when Mom or Dad is driving in San Antonio traffic.

We purchased a gently used 2006 Honda Odyssey EX and I am AMAZED at all of the 'bells and whistles' it has. The power sliding doors and the rear AC have to be the family favorites. The girls think it is 'cool' to stand outside of the car and pretend to be magicians closing the doors with the power in their magical hands. It IS the little things in life that amuse us! ha! I know that I will sacrifice some miles per gallon on gas mileage...but just a day into the purchase I can tell you that it will be WORTH the extra space!! And my back thanks me because it is sooo much easier to get Luke in and out of the vehicle! Who knew!?!

But poor Kyle...he is still driving the 1994 truck we purchased from his parents in 1998. The truck is running great - and I don't think he minds it sooo much now that we have the A/C compressor fixed (I can't imagine what it would feel like without it, in the 95+ degree weather we are already having), but I have promised him that the next 'new' vehicle will be for him! Perhaps I will be lucky enough to have this van as long as we had the Blazer - 245,000 miles and 11 years - that would give us time to pay it off and pay off a new vehicle for Kyle too...ha!

Anyways...I just wanted to share my excitement with y'all. I'm trying to control it...some...however, I think I have fallen in LOVE with this car. Is that a bad thing??? :-)

Where did April go???

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Where in the world did April go? It can't possibly be May 5th, can it?? I was surprised that it didn't get more recognition here...unlike every Mexican restraunt in Alabama... Can you say margaritas at Rosies?? ha! But here in April there is a BIG celebration called Fiesta and I believe that Cinco de Mayo gets a little overshadowed. As a matter of fact, Fiesta is such a big celebration here that the kids got out for school on the day of the Battle of Flowers Parade. We didn't celebrate Fiesta in Austin, TX growing up...so it is a little new to me...but I believe it coincides with the Battle of San Jacinto...when Texans avenged their defeat at the Alamo. Thousands of people turn out for the 3 very different parades - one on the River Walk, one during the day on Friday, and one at night on Saturday - and then the evening festivities that span two weekends and the week in between. A friend of mine and I tried to get tickets to the parade about a week before...SOLD OUT COMPLETLEY! Like I said...it is a BIG deal around here.



Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that April seemed to evaporate was the death of Kyle's grandmother - Granny Opal. She was 95 years young...she would have been 96 this Thursday...and had been battling an infection in her leg since February. A couple of times she seemed to get better and then decline until I think she decided that it was time to tell us all goodbye. She was an amazing woman...adored by her family and friends...and she will be sorely missed! It is hard to be sad for someone who had 95 years of life...I think we are more sad for ourselves than for her.



April was also the month that Summer turned 7...from April 1...oh let's be honest, March 1...we had a countdown to her BIG day. She had a party at Mr. Gatti's pizza with family and friends and felt like the center of the universe on HER day - as all birthday girls should!! She received many things Hannah Montana which couldn't have pleased her more...as well as many things that were on her LOOOONG birthday list! ha!



The soccer season ended last Saturday. I think Kyle and I are more relieved than the girls. We will have our Saturdays back - as well as our Monday and Wednesday nights (when we used to practice). Kyla has signed up to play in the fall, but Summer has decided to try gymnastics or tumbling...whatever is skill/age apropriate for her. She was just getting the 'hang' of soccer - she even scored a goal in the last game - oh well, to change her mind/direction is a woman's perogative. ha!



I don't know how many of you know that we are planning a trip out to Alabama this summer. We hope to arrive in Athens on July 5th...attend church at Friendship on the 6th...visit with friends until the 9th...and then head down to Gulf Shores for a little beach time before getting back to Schertz on the 13th. It seems strange to plan a trip FROM Texas TO Alabama...instead of the other way around. We figure we better make the trip now...while the kids still remember how to travel LOOOONG distances. I'm afraid with the short drive to grandparents' houses now that they might forget! ha!



Can it really be almost a year since we moved??? Kyle's one year anniversay with HEB was April 30th - wow! In some ways it seems like a lifetime...but in my heart it still seems like yesterday! I miss my sweet dear friends that know me and love me....quirks and all! At least I can lay my eyes on you in just a handful of weeks! Until next time - God Bless!