Good things!

Things are in full swing around the Chavez household. To give you an idea about the activities we are involved in: Mondays - Em soccer practice, E volleyball practice, Tuesday - E cheer at football games, Wednesday - Cheer practice (E & Melinda), Thursday - Em soccer practice, E volleyball game, Friday - night off???
Erin is doing great. She is really enjoying her class. When you asked Erin about the best parts of her day, her response is almost always lunch and recess (those were the 2 Dad excelled at too).
Em is doing great and enjoying her new school. Em's school had student council elections for each of the grade levels (1 boy and 1 girl). Em decided she wanted to run. We have no idea how, but she won the election. She's only been at the school for 3 weeks when the election happened and beat out 5 girls that had been there for a long time. Just Em being Em I guess. She had a project to do on a state, and drew South Dakota. She can tell you all you want to know about the state and then some.
E is very busy but having fun. She is doing really well with volleyball. She is loving cheer. There are some dance steps you have to know and she loves that part. She may tryout for the dance squad in high school. She is tied for 1st chair in band.
Melinda is busy with everything. She thinks she may have overdone it a bit with all of the things she has taken on. She is still working on her word for the year...NO!
Eric got back from a business trip to Las Vegas and was happy to be home. May have to burn the clothes from all the smoke smell.

Remembering 9-11

I found myself spending more time today remembering where I was when the Twin Towers were hit. I was preparing to drive to San Antonio to see some physicians and have dinner. I didn't go. I spent a good part of the morning in disbelief and then in anger. I still hold that anger today. We were fortunate enough not to have lost any family during the attack. I have had the good fortune to meet a lot of people through my job and travel quite a bit. I had the opportunity to go to ground zero 4 months after the attack. The mess was unbelievable. The area had been fenced off to begin clearing and sorting. There was a viewing platform set up with well-wishes from all over the country that had been posted to the sides of the platform. One of the guys I work with is from upstate New York. His best friend was a FDNY firefighter. He died that day helping others. He left behind a wife and 2 young daughters. I remember talking to him on the platform by the little church. In one of the trees by the church, there were window blinds. I remember looking at the blinds and hearing about this guys family and tears came to my eyes. They still do.
I guess the one thing I got most out of all of this is to appreciate your friends and family even more than I do. Never want to think I didn't appreciate what I had when I had it. God Bless to all and don't forget....

September 2008

We are back in the swing of school. The routine is finally coming back to us. Here is the latest...Erin has read 6 Junie B. Jones books and is leading her class in AR points. We are signing her up for dance this week. I believe she decided on hip-hop again. Em is enjoying Academy so far. We all went to an Academy football game this past Friday. Far cry from the Temple games we've attended. The stadium was about the size of our middle school. Academy won, but it was a different world. Em is in the middle of a social studies project on South Dakota. Em's team won their first soccer game. E is cheering at her first game this week. We are very excited to get this thing going. E is doing well in Spanish and enjoying it. We do have some exciting news....E made the volleyball team this year! Yea! She is on the B team & should get to play quite a bit.
Mel is keeping up with the crazy involvement she into this year. Everyone is a little tired from the week but we're hanging in there.