Christmas 2009

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We sure did. Holidays are just what we need to rest up and enjoy family time. We had a little bit of snow on Christmas Eve. The girls got to play in it a little, but none of it stuck to the ground. We had some ribs on Christmas Eve...this may be a new tradition. We watched "It's a Wonderful Life" - we used to be able to see the movie throughout December and not just Christmas Eve. Had a little hot chocolate and got ready for Santa. Santa was very kind to all...especially Dad. Dad got a Texas Longhorn snuggie. If you're nice, maybe he will let you borrow it when you come see us.
We got to spend all of Christmas day at our house. We had Nana, Papa, Lita, and Delane's family over for Christmas dinner. Aside from no football on TV, it was a great time.
The day after Christmas was spent at Nana and Papa's. We did gifts then. Amazing how big the family has gotten. It was a lot of fun watching the kids open gifts and spend it with Shelley's family (BJ, Hunter, and Charles).
Dad would love for the old days of football on TV. Anyone else remember having 3 channels worth of games to choose from all day long. It even seemed to go on for days. Guess that's what they mean by the good ole days.

We send Blessed Wishes for the new year and hope all are happy and healthy!

Thanksgiving

We are through November and looking at Christmas...where does the time go? This year has gone by so fast. We had a great Thanksgiving gathering with family and watching some football. Everyone ate too much, but it wouldn't be the holiday if we didn't. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did.
Erin - still doing great at dance. She really enjoys dance, but is thinking about doing something else next year. She has mentioned soccer and wants Dad to coach. Does she really know what she would be getting herself into with Dad coaching? We'll see if she still wants to when sign-ups start. Erin is doing great at school. When we discuss the favorite part of your day, Erin always mentions recess and lunch (my 2 favorite subjects too). She really likes science and math. She is reading the American Girl series and really likes it.
Emily - finished the soccer season. Her team finished in 3rd place (just missed the playoffs). Em had a good season. We are considering letting Em go to Houston for the ODP (Olympic Development Program) tryouts in January. I think she may still be a year away, but who knows. Em is competing in UIL again this year. She is an alternate for ready writing (creative writing), and is competing in math and calculator. They go to competition this Thursday, so wish her luck. Em has a 102 average in math...pretty bad when a 100 brings down your average.
Elizabeth - E finished cheering at her last football game of the season. It was cold, but she did great! The girls will be cheering at home basketball games this year. E has been really busy managing the workload of her freshman year. She just finished reading "Animal Farm" and hated it. She enjoys a simple, happy ending just like her Mom. She reads "Great Expectations" next.
All the girls continue to take gymnastics/tumbling. E is so close to having her roundoff backhandspring. Em is close to having her back-tuck. Erin is working on getting her roundoff into her backhandspring. So much fun to watch them get better every week.
After next week, we are on vacation....YEA!!!! Christmas will be here at the blink of an eye.

October days

Time has really flown by on us. We've been so busy lately, we haven't had much time for anything other than our routines. Here's the latest for each:
Erin - Erin has been working hard in her dance and gymnastics classes. She is going to start taking some private tumbling lessons with a guy (Levi) that teaches Em and Elizabeth. He is great with the girls and Erin really likes him. We start that next week. Erin just completed a school play. It was titled, "A Kid's Life". Erin dressed as a cheerleader and had the opening speaking part. She did a great job and had a lot of fun. Erin loved Halloween. She dressed as a purple witch. She got to make the rounds with Mom and Dad alone this year. We caught up with some friends after a little while and Erin was ready to keep walking and talking. Mom and Dad were worn out. Erin is doing great in school with straight A's on her progress report again!
Emily - Emily has had a busy month. She is doing really well with her tumbling class. She is doing a round off triple back-handspring..next up is learning her tuck. Em has been playing really well in soccer too. Right now, she is our team's leading scorer. Most of her goals have come off free kicks...she has a hard shot. The team is in 3rd place, but has a chance to move to first....wish them luck! Em just found out she made the UIL creative writing team for Academy. She is still waiting to hear about calculator and math. Em had her first cotillion dance - 70's theme. She wanted to know if people really dressed like this...believe it or not, WE did. She had a great time! Em got to dress up in her Halloween costume for school. She had a great time, since she is too old to Trick-or-Treat with her parents. Instead of going with us, she went to a football game with Mikayla and her parents (Texas A&M). Em had fun, but was completely wiped out when she got home. Em has been going to every dance at the high school following football games. The school dances are usually middle school kids with some Freshman sprinkled about.
Elizabeth - E has been really busy too. She has 1 football game left to cheer at and then they will probably do some basketball games. E has had a great time cheering. E is doing incredible with her tumbling. She has just about got her round off back-handspring. She just amazes us everytime she does it! The guy (Levi) she works with is terrific and has been a blessing. E just started reading "Of Mice and Men". She was sad after the first chapter of reading...she's a happy-ending kind of girl. Wait until she gets to the end...I didn't have the heart to tell her what was going to happen. E is still doing great at school. E went to a Halloween party. She dressed as Minnie Mouse - too cute! Evidently, she was too cool to cruise with her parents and Erin Trick-or-Treating.
Melinda - Mel has a new principal at school. She really like him so far, and is hoping things will get better with the kids. She has had a challenging year so far.
Eric - Eric is traveling more now than he ever has. Still covering most of the DFW area, East Texas, and Central Texas through Austin. Eric highly recommends eating at the Salt Lick barbecue joint. It was absolutely great...aside from eating too much.

Back at school

Finally took a moment to look at our blog and realized we hadn't posted anything since July (oops!). We started school and are in the middle of all the activities and school work, so we are very busy nowadays. Here are some highlights for everyone:
Erin - Erin is doing very well in 3rd grade. We just got her 6-week progress report @ 5 weeks (go figure) and she has all A's. There is more homework this year, but she is enjoying it. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Wilde. Erin is taking a hip-hop dance class this year. Erin participated in the Lil' Bee Cheer Camp. She got to spend 4 hours with some varsity and JV cheerleaders learning cheers and a dance. The girls got to perform at a varsity game for the entire 1st quarter. Erin had a great time and wants to do it again next year. Erin was bummin' a little that she didn't get to be in Eliazabeth's group.
Emily - Em is starting 6th grade the way she finished 5th grade...strong. She has all A's on her progress report too. Em got to start band this year. She is playing the clarinet. They had had 3 chair tests and she has been 1st chair 2 out of 3. This last Friday, she got 2nd chair and wasn't happy about it. There are 20 kids playing the clarinet this year. Em is back playing soccer again. Her team won a tournament in Austin right before the season started. They have played 3 games and are 2-1. Em may play up with the 13 year olds next year (96's).
Elizabeth - E is adjusting to high school life very well. She did not make the volleyball team. She is a JV cheerleader and that is taking up some time. She had such a great time with the cheer camp kids. E and another girls were in charge of the little guys (pre-K and K). E has been really busy with school work so far this year. She loves her teachers which makes it even better we made the school change. E is taking honors Geometry and English. E just read a Virginia Wolf book, "To the Lighthouse". We sat down and read with her and none of us can figure out what the book was about. We won't be reading anything else by her now. E is taking a tumbling class, with Emily, and doing well.
Melinda - Mel is off to a challenging year. She is not serving multiple roles and just being a teacher this year (YEA!!). She moved up a grade to 5th and is still teaching math. She is getting a new principal in December. Looks like there will be more of an adjustment period with that too. Remember Mel in your prayers.
Eric - the new (?) area Eric covers is requiring more travel than he has done in along time. Eric is also covering the open Austin sales position, so things have been a little crazy for the last month. It doesn't look like anyone will be hired soon, so he will keep covering both areas through the end of the year...if not longer.

Melinda's Birthday

Amazing how the birthdays seem to pile up and time goes by so quickly. Certainly not what we thought when we were kids! We got to celebrate a birthday with Melinda last weekend. Thought it was very nice of everyone to start the celebration the night before with a bunch of fireworks for everyone to see. Melinda doesn't think it was just for her, but we keep trying to tell her it must have been. We had a nice relaxing day...ate some ribs, went to a movie (Transformers 2), and took Melinda to dinner.
Melinda will be staying at Thornton next year. Someone else got the open math position at Academy. None of us were very happy she didn't get it, but things happen for a reason. Melinda will be teaching 5th grade math next year. She will not only by moving grades (4th to 5th) but classrooms as well. They will open the school back up (asbestos abatement) and we will have about 2 weeks to help her get the room set up. It's an exciting and stressful time. We have a couple of birthday parties to take care of before we can get to thinking about going back to school.

Elizabeth - Cheer camp 2009

We made it through a week of Elizabeth being at cheer camp in Waco. E had a great time...Mom and Dad didn't enjoy it so much. There were quite a few schools that attended & some we had never heard of from the D/FW area. Academy won the big banana award! I'm not sure what it was for...I think it was most spirit all week (or something like that). On the dance portion of Academy's evaluation, they mentioned how strong a dancer E was during the routine. She was really excited to read it. E has a few things to do this summer for cheer, but otherwise she is in summer mode.

End of school - beginning of summer

We made it to summer! Everyone still has a few things planned for the summer, but it should be easier without juggling school in the mix. Melinda finally finished up this past Friday. YEA! The girls went up to Thornton with Melinda the last week of school in Temple. They got to see some old friends, and help Melinda pack up her room. She is moving to another room to teach 5th grade math next year. Here's what's up with the girls:
Erin - Erin finished the year with a dance recital that was great! She looked so serious when she came out with the other girls on stage to dance. Once she started dancing, she was smiling & having a great time. She was on stage for 3 dances and the final number. Erin plans to take some swimming with the high school swim coach. Erin's other plans for the summer include going to Sea World, Six Flags, the Great Wolf Lodge, and the swimming pool as often as possible. The common theme with her is the water. Erin had a great year at school and made the all-A honor roll. We thought it was really impressive since she changed schools in January and had to get used to a whole different way of doing things. She got used to everything quickly and made friends as quickly as Emily makes friends. For those interested, you can catch Erin poolside expecting to be waited on by Dad, or whoever else she can get to fetch her things.
Emily - Em had a very busy month or so at the end of school. Seemed like she had soccer all the time. Her select team made the playoffs, so we went down to San Antonio for those. The team tied 1 and lost 2. Em played well and had a great time. The next weekend after the playoffs, Em participated in a 3-on-3 tournament in Austin. We only had 3 girls on the team, so there were no substitutions. The girls played really hard, but you could tell we had never played 3-on-3 before. They lost all their games, but had fun (especially when we celebrated by going to Gattiland for pizza and games). Em just got back from the Texas A&M soccer camp. She had a great time! What's not to like....5 days and 4 nights of total soccer. She got to stay in the freshman athletic dorm located right across the street from the soccer field. Em went with one friend from Academy, Makaila. They got to room together, so everything was cool. Em picked up the nickname, Cricket, at camp. She has no idea why or what it means, but kind of likes it. Em also had a terrific year at school. She made the all-A honor roll, again. She also won medals for being the top student in math, social studies, science, and language arts. Dad teased her about not winning it for reading as well....slacker. Em signed up to be in the band next year. She has decided to play the clarinet, like her big sister.
Elizabeth - E finished her year strong as well. She received the National Junior Honor Society award, again. There were a bunch of kids from Academy that received the award with her, so it was pretty cool. E also was on the all-A honor roll. We thought it was really impressive since she made the transition in January and had to get used to a completely different way of doing things. E has been busy with cheer practice, and getting ready for cheer camp. She is "lights out" on the dancing parts. She is getting better with her jumps, and is a flier for the team. E plans on sleeping late this summer, texting her buddies, shopping, getting some "mall-time" in, and chillin'.
Eric and Melinda are just hoping they can keep up with the girls. Melinda applied and had an interview with Academy for a 4th grade math position. Keep us in your prayers...we hope she gets it so she can be out there with the girls.

Melinda's Award

We have an award winner....and it's not the kids this time. Melinda received the 2009 Golden Apple Award. This is an award presented by the Temple Daily Telegram. The Telegram received over 100 nominations and chose 5 to receive it. A mother wrote in and described how Melinda has helped change her daughter from a kid that really struggled in math. The kid is now in a pre-AP algebra class and doing well. Melinda still tutors that kid to this day whenever she needs help. Pretty cool award to recognize teachers that make a difference. It was mentioned that Melinda has helped so many other kids whose parents feel the same way. I think what sets Melinda apart is she is able to identify where a kid needs help and focus on that area. Her kids always have a remarkable improvement over the previous year. We are incredibly proud of her!

Mother's Day

Hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day. We had a good time. Melinda had breakfast in bed...don't go crazy, it was only coffee and donuts. We spent family time joking around, playing the Wii & getting beaten by Erin, and watching movies. We did eat some lunch & dinner with Lita to celebrate as well. It was a busy weekend, but hopefully enjoyable for the people that mattered the most...Moms. We are very fortunate to have the Moms we do in our lives...THANKS for all you do!!!!



We love you!

Honeybee relays!

We had the Honeybee relays (Academy's version of the little Wildcat relays) this past Friday. Erin was involved in 3 events: tug-o-war, 400M relay, and the 100M dash. Erin's class won the tug-o-war competition and get to keep the trophy in their room until next year. They were very excited...this is evidently a BIG deal. Erin did a great job & had a lot of fun running her events. Her team got 5th place in the 400M relay, and she got 4th place in the 100M dash. We were really proud of her. The middle school kids got out of school during gym to go to the track & watch the relays. Elizabeth & Emily both got to see Erin in the tug-o-war and the relay. They both had to get back to class before she ran the 100M though. Overall, it was a great day (despite Mom and Dad getting a little sunburned).

April 2009

We have been crazy busy...but it's coming to an end. We celebrated Easter over at Nana & Papa's. Melinda's cousin (Cindy) came into town from Dallas...a great time was had by all. It was great to see Cindy again. The kids had fun hunting Easter eggs, and playing outside. Eric got smart and played permanent quarterback for the annual football game...the knees just can't take it anymore.
We celebrated Erin making her First Communion...Yea!!!!! She looked so pretty and was really excited about getting to eat the bread. Should have seen her face the first time she got to taste the wine! After the mass, we took Erin to lunch at Olive Garden. Lita, Nana, and Papa were able to join us. We all had a lot of fun spending the day together.
E had her last cotillion dance - formal. Jessica helped her get her makeup and hair finished. She looked gorgeous! She sure doesn't look like a little girl any longer. I guess it happens when you're not exactly ready for it. She had fun at the dance seeing her old buddies from Travis and her new buddies from Academy.
We are in the middle of the last of the TAKS tests this week. E and Em have their tests on Thursday and Friday. Erin just had hers yesterday. Melinda has them this week as well. We get through this week, and we are rolling downhill.

Celebrating!!!

Our Spring Break has been terrific! We've spent a lot of time together shopping, going to the movies, playing games (Erin is deadly at checkers now), and hanging out. We were also able to squeeze in a birthday for a special girl, Emily. Em is going to have a party with her buddies in a couple of weeks, but we decided to make it a family party day. To start the day off, we went to Starbucks. Thank God for that place, some days. After a brief breakfast, we went to Austin for a "little" shopping. We went to all the usuals (A&F, Hollister, Delia's, American Eagle, Aeropostale, and GAP for Erin). The girls found lots of things they wanted and got a few of them.
After some "light" shopping, we went to Houston's for lunch. The spinach & artichoke dip lived up to the anticipation. Good stuff, man.
When we finished lunch, everyone was a little tired. Everyone took a little nap on our way back to Temple and a movie, "Confessions of a Shopaholic". The girls had a great time. After that, we came back to the house and collapsed. We are going to have lunch with Nana today, and finish the day with some Whistlestop playground or another park. Good times, my man, good times!!!!







A little stroll down memory lane. We love you, Emily. Happy 11th Birthday!!!!!!

School Programs

We have had a very busy week, but it's been great so far! Emily and Elizabeth started our week off with open house at the middle school. Rave reviews from the teachers for both our A students. Em also had a project for GT she presented at the open house. She did research on Alexander Graham Bell. Em dressed like him and had her information set out to discuss with those that came by her table. She and Melinda made a tetrahedral kite for display as well. Looked very cool!
Erin had our attention on Tuesday night with open house and her school program. Erin's teachers talked about how great she is doing...another A student. After open house, we had Erin's program. It was based on Aesop's fables...Erin played Felicia the Frog. So much fun watching how animated she is when she sings and moves around. Erin did a super job!
Wednesday was all about cheer tryouts for the high school. E has worked really hard with her tumbling coach & Melinda to prepare for everything. All the hard worked payed off, because....she made the JV cheer squad! E was really excited she made it and some of her buddies will be on the team with her. She has such a tremendous work ethic. It's great to see all the hard work getting rewarded.
We have soccer practice tonight and a track meet on Friday. They may both be cancelled because of all the rain. That would be fine with us...Spring Break is next week. YAHOO! We all need the break....

Great Start!!!

We are back in the middle of athletics, and everyone is loving it so far. Elizabeth had her first track meet a week ago and was entered in the 2400Meter run (1 1/2 miles). She finished 3rd and got a bronze medal. Not too shabby for someone who has never run track! She had her second meet this past friday. There were more schools in this meet. There were about 14 girls running the 2400M. E finished 8th. She did a great job...she beat 1 of the girls from the previous meet that finished before her. We are very proud of her. She has another meet this friday @ Academy.
Em has had 2 soccer games this season. They tied the first game 0-0. They outplayed the other team but couldn't find the net. The second game they won 2-0. Em had a great game. She had a game high 10 penalties (That's my girl!!!). The referee called a very tight game and was not allowing our girls to play a physical game. We have 3 weeks off before our next game.
Erin has a school musical this week. She plays Felicia the Frog (one of Aesop's fables). She's excited to perform for everyone. This may be this girl's calling...she loves the spotlight.
This week will be very busy for our family. Monday - Erin open house @ school and musical, Tues. - Em/E open house & Em presents her research on Alexander Graham Bell (she and Melinda made a tetrahedral kite), Wed - E has cheer tryouts for high school cheer team, Thurs - Em has soccer/Erin has dance, Friday - E has track meet. Wow! Gonna be a busy, busy week. Wish us luck this week.

Back to Sports!

Elizabeth and Emily got started back with their teams. Elizabeth ran in her first track meet this past Friday. She ran the 2400 Meters (1 1/2 miles). She finished in 3rd place. She was 5 yards behind the girl that won the race. We were very proud of her...first race and being so close to winning.
Em had her first soccer game of the season. They ended up in a tie, 0-0. Em's team controlled the whole game (the ball crossed into Em's defense twice in the whole second half). It was fun to see Em out playing hard and having fun.
Erin had fun at the soccer game...she & Reagan were playing. Erin thinks Em wins every soccer game, so she was surprised it was a tie.

Valentine's Day 2009

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day and weekend. Erin and Dad went to a Daddy/Daughter dance Friday night @ Academy. They had a lot of fun. Erin loved getting to see her friends and dance with them. Her favorite dance tunes were the Cha-Cha slide, and 2 songs by Taylor Swift (picture to burn and our song). Should have heard all of the 2nd & 3rd graders belting out the lyrics to all 3 songs...too funny.
We are finishing up our first 6 weeks at Academy. It looks like the grades did not drop with the change in schools. Everyone has adjusted pretty quickly and gotten into a good routine. There is a lot more homework at our new schools, but the girls are doing great. Em is back in soccer. We start our season in a couple of weeks. Elizabeth finished basketball season and is now in Track & Field tryouts. She is thinking about running longer distances since she is cursed with the Chavez speed. We have a cotillion dance next Friday, so the girls are off to shop for a dress for the Hawaiian theme. More updates to come...

Our New School - Academy

We have gotten started at our new school - Academy. We've been going about 2 1/2 weeks & I think we are starting to get settled. The change was not as bad as we had feared it might be...especially for Elizabeth. Here's the latest:
Erin - Erin makes friends so easy, she makes Em look like she struggles. She misses her friends at Thornton and asks about going back every now and then. She is still loving dance class. She got an acoustic guitar for Christmas (pink). She is really interested in playing & tries to work on her guitar book every night. We may try and get her lessons if she keeps up the interest. Erin made her first Reconciliation this past weekend. In a couple of months, she will make her First Holy Communion...exciting stuff!! She's excited to get the bread at mass.
Em - still loving school and all of her new friends. She has a friend spending the night this weekend - Macie. Em had to write a poem for her English class. The teacher submitted all of the poems to a writing contest & Emily was one of the winners. She is going to have her poem published in a Celebration of Poets...we just got a letter tonight telling us that "her poem was one of high merit & was chosen for publication." Em will be a published author soon. Em is ready to get back to playing soccer as well.
Elizabeth - E has made the transition to Academy really well. There were 3 girls in our tumbling class that go to Academy that helped E the first day and made her feel better about the change. E had basketball practice the day before school started. Went really well...coach told the girls it was E's first day and to help her with finding classes, show her around, etc. Thought that was really cool coming from a coach. E is playing on the B team...they hadn't won a game all year. With E playing, they haven't lost a game....5 straight wins. E keeps telling them she's their good-luck charm.
Melinda - the change was as hard for Mel as anyone. She is so used to having at least one of the girls with her at work, she feels weird without anyone. She is looking into the possibility of working at Academy...will keep you posted.