School Days 2011

The school year has officially started!!  Craig, Maisie and Ainslie went off to school today (Craig actually started teacher in-service a week ago).  Maisie began 2nd grade with Mrs. Smith and Ainslie began Kindergarten (sniff, sniff) with Miss Craven.  Both girls are really excited and I am too!!  The Smilebox creation shows pics of Meet The Teacher night as well as the First Day!!  Finn and I are headed off to Mother's Day Out in just a few minutes where our school year begins today as well.  We have, as teachers, two weeks of training and then school will begin officially after Labor Day.  In the meantime, Finn will go with me each day and play with friends while Mommy works.  Enjoy the pics!

Praying for God's best this year!
Love to all, Deb

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Finn's date with Mama and Daddy

Last week Craig and I took Finn on a date to Morgan's Wonderland. The girls spent the day at a Summer Daycamp where they swam, did arts and crafts and played with friends. We took Finn to Morgan's, which according to their website, "was built in the true spirit of inclusion to provide a place where all ages and abilities can come together and play in a fun and safe environment. Morgan’s Wonderland, the world’s first ultra-accessible family fun park, encompasses 25 acres of rides, attractions and activities for everyone, and all are welcome!" Check out their website at http://www.morganswonderland.com/.

We had a fun filled day! Finn got to drive his own car, he fished with Daddy (they caught a humdinger of a fish,,,,you should have seen Finn's wide eyes!), rode on the carousel (a zebra, of course), played in the sandbox (he could have stayed there ALL day), played in Sensory Village (a-maz-ing!), rode the train (I lost count how many times), played in the water zone where he experimented with water, had a picnic in the shade, climbed and played on so many playscapes, teeter-tottered with Daddy, 'drove' a remote control Pirate ship in the huge lake, shot off a water blaster, and SO much more!! The place is incredible...so many things to see and touch and play with. We got there right when they opened and we were the first or second people to arrive and for the first two hours we felt like we were the only ones in the park. The operators kept letting us stay on rides and go around again. The park is staffed by volunteers and the customer service was out of this world. They made Finn, and us, feel so special.

The park is all inclusive, and there are rides and attractions for able bodied individuals and there are adaptations for all kinds of physical limitations. Most rides, if not all, are wheelchair accessible (including swings!!) It is a beautiful and fun place to play and we plan to return when the kid's Grandma and Great Grandma visit in August (the girls want to go this time as well!)

We had a wonderful day with our son! Thank you Lord for making Finn!

Enjoy the pictures below (click on each one to enlarge)

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Grandma Gurt's Visit Spring 2011

Hi. My mom, Marilyn, visited us this Spring. We had a wonderful time and we got to do so many fun things. I included a scrapbook with some pics. Her timing was perfect, she got to watch the End of the Year program at MDO where the kids (Ains and Finn) sang songs of praise to God and danced and had so much fun. Ainslie graduated from preschool also, so there are some pics of Grandma with us at that event. Grandma also got to watch as Maisie was baptized at our church. It was a truly tremendous day full of family, faith and the act of baptism. Mom also got to go with Finn and I to the Zoo Train and the Japanese Tea Gardens where we had a picnic lunch. We had a girls day out where Grandma, Maisie, Ainslie and I went downtown and took the Riverboat (Finn was with us for that, then he went to join Daddy at Daddy's school/work). We took Grandma walking along the Riverwalk, we enjoyed a delicious Tex Mex meal and then took in a play at the Magik Theatre, "Pinkalicious." You'll see one of the photos is of the girls' passed out in the van on the way home....we were all so tired after a wonderful day downtown. All in all, we enjoyed our busy visit and made many treasured memories. Oh, also, Mom baked about 12 dozen cookies with the girls one day while I was working. Those cookies were for Kairos Prison Ministry and we stretched them out to all sorts of other beloved friends because we had so many. Thanks for the memories Mom!! ~Deb

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Springtime 2011

Here are some photos from where Ainslie and Finn attended this year and where I work, Mother's Day Out Preschool. There is a Petting Zoo Day, Easter Egg Hunt and Fiesta Parade. There are also pics from our Easter at home and at our amazing church, Bandera Road City Church. Enjoy! Love Deb

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Backlog of photos, updates and news

Hello all. I cannot believe how long it has been since I posted any news or pics. I downloaded our camera today and there were over 600 photos dating back to March...hmmm, that's kinda sad!! Don't worry, I won't post all 600 but I will post several Smilebox's that you can browse at your leisure.

Today is the first day of summer, June 20th. Hard to believe,,since we are in the 100's here,,,HOT HOT HOT and we are in Stage 3 water restrictions. For all the Northerners that means you can only water your lawn every other week!! Crazy dry here.

I hope you are all enjoying your start to summer. We certainly are. My oldest daughter Maisie turns 7 on Wednesday and her Daddy turns 40 on the same day. Ainslie is 5 and starting Kinder this Fall and Finn is 3 1/2 and growing so fast. More on them later...... I am done with Preschool until August. Staying busy teaching finance classes across our city,,loving every minute of it and of course you can find me on church campus all weekend working there!! Craig is officially off for the summer as of last Friday and he is working side jobs, hanging with us and the kids and working on the never ending "Honey Do" list!!! We are richly blessed! Love to you all, Deb

Arctic Blast graphic

Ok, I just had to go and add the graphics for Arctic Blast from our local news website!!

Snow Day 2011

Disclaimer: To all our Northern friends and family, feel free to laugh at us Southerners and our sensitivity to even the slightest mention of snow!

The title of this blog post should be "Arctic Blast" b/c that is what all of South Texas referred to this weather as. All of our newscasters broke in with information on "Arctic Blast" (with graphics, to boot!). Pretty funny. We got a whopping 1/8 inch of snow and ALL of our schools, highways and most businesses shut down on Friday, Feb. 5th.

We had a great time at home. We bundled up and headed outside and played in the snow. We even got out the monster truck and the kids rode that around. Leave it to Craig to decide we need to go sledding! (Did I mention 1/8" ?) He got out a lid to a plastic storage bin and the kids slid on that down the middle of our street, too funny!!

Enjoy some of our pics from ARCTIC BLAST 2011!! ~Deb

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