Zach's birthday

Since we were still on "Flu-cation" (due to the swine flu) on Zach's birthday, I took my kids and three neighbor kids to Houston to visit the Nasa Space Center. I think they had a great time...

A little perspective on the size of the space shuttle!

More perspective...

I'm not sure Kiersten wanted to be in this picture. lol

Zach just chillin in a rocket exhaust

We are at THE Mission Control--I think I was the only one who thought this was cool!

Here's the room that was actually called--"Houston, we have a problem." Too cool!

Sweet Meghan

My other sweetie, Kiersten

Meghan

Kiersten

The birthday boy, Zach

Zach, Meghan and their friend, Michael

Zach thought the moon rocks were so cool!!

Zach and Meghan actually got to touch a moon rock!

Kiersten playing astronaut

Zach doing the same...

An astronaut in the making...
Zach's birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse He had a full birthday!

Easter 2009

So, I've been slacking on my blog! It's time to get caught up. There is so much going on in my life and so much to be thankful for that I need to update! I'll start with a few Easter pics...

Kiersten Easter morning
Zach, looking the stud! lol

Meghan

The three monsters!

Our sweet doggie Easter morning

Kiersten showing off the fruits of her bounty!

The girls digging into their loot!

How much candy can I eat before breakfast?

Church cancelled!

For the first time I can remember, church was flat cancelled. The previous week, the bishop stood up after Sacrament and asked all the high school kids to go home. But yesterday's meetings were cancelled. We've had no scouts, young women's, etc for weeks, but I was shocked that they cancelled Sunday service. I have always said though, that if something is going around, you are going to get it at church. People feel so obligated to go that they often go sick. Maybe it was a wise call. Definitely something to remember--thus the blog entry. LOL

No School For Another Week!

Yes, that's right, under the recommendation of the Texas Dept of Health, we have no school for another week! At this point, I think more schools in the San Antonio area are closed than open. Kids are thrilled, but I have a few concerns. I know they are worried about the spread of the virus. However, the kids are heading back after two weeks off, straight into TAKS testing.

For those unfamiliar with TAKS, it's Texas' version of torture for students and teachers alike. I was exposed to state testing in California, but nothing like this. So much pressure is placed on the students that Zach literally made himself sick the day of his first TAKS test. They tell the kids that they won't go on to the next grade if they don't do well. They sequester them in one classroom all day with no breaks. Even lunch is brought into the room. It's pretty intense. I know just as much pressure is placed on the teacher as well. The students then recieve their results a couple weeks later and great value is placed on that. Luckily, Zach tested well (commendable) and was given accolades. But what about those students who don't test well?

Anyway, I've digressed. They will be taking TAKS the week they return after 2 weeks of play. The district has posted work on the website for them. But most of the parents I've talked to don't plan on making their kids do it. I guess I'm the ogre, b/c I'm making them do it ALL. LOL

Also, when the kids return to school, they will just have a little over 3 weeks left to cram in a lot of material, then summer break starts. It's just crazy! At least during summer break we can go places, do things and get together with their friends. These poor kids (and mom) are getting cabin fever!

This hits us as well! Considering that I work as a substitute, I am currently out of work. Not a good thing! I just have to keep reminding myself that "this too shall pass!" :)

Swine Flu in Texas!

Yes, our little town of Cibolo has made national news. It appears that there have been 3 confirmed cases of Swine flu at our local high school with multiple potential cases throughout the district. Apparently, there has been a very high absentee rate, most just assuming they had the flu. Now they think all those students actually may have had the Swine flu, but once they are better, they can't test them. National news coverage lists it as a suburb of San Antonio. Very little lists the town name or our high school name (Byron P. Steele), except local news coverage.

By recommendation of the Texas State health department in coordination with the CDC, they've decided to close all schools in the district for at least a week. They also closed the public library, all city parks, churches, etc. They've recommended we basically keep the kids at home and stay out of large social gatherings. I was talking with a friend on Facebook this morning and he said it's like a movie. He's right, it's almost surreal.

Suffice it to say, I won't be working this week and am currently trying to find ways to keep the kids entertained. We have a membership to one of the local museums that we would normally attend with time off like this. But it sounds like we probably shouldn't go there either. To top it all off, it's raining! :) I've gone against my typical "mom" instinct and am letting them ride thier scooters and bikes in the rain right now. It's driving the dog crazy! But they are having a blast. So much for my freshly mopped wood floors! LOL

As far as the Swine Flu scare goes, I'm honestly not too scared. I don't know if I'm too optomistic, but nobody in the U.S. has died and everyone seems to recover just as from the normal flu. My uneducated thought is that Mexico is having so many problems with it b/c of it's poorer hygiene and immune systems. I do realize, though, that there is a significant immunocompromised population in the U.S. (i.e. elderly, small babies, cancer patients, etc) that, if exposed would present a greater problem. Obviously it needs to be contained for that reason. It is also clearly highly contagious, which is scary! The good news, for us, so far is that the Swine flu apparently has a very quick incubation period and nobody here is sick (knock on wood!).

For now we will just continue to count our blessings and pray for those around us that this may not become any worse than it already is!

TEA Party

On tax day, I attended San Antonio's TEA Party. It was quite an event! I have to admit that I was drawn in by the celebreties as much as I was the cause. (Yes, I know that's pitiful!) Glen Beck and Ted Nugent were at this TEA Party. Ted Nugent did some incredible renditions of the National Anthem on his guitar. And Glen Beck, true to form, tried to make it a bipartisan event. (Although it clearly wasn't) I enjoyed what he had to say.

I revelled in the patriotism with the American flags waving and people cheering the National Anthem. I absolutely loved the fact that it was so peaceful. Organizers expected 5-10 thousand people. The police and EMTs sent enough support for 5 thousand, not expecting it to get bigger than that. I spoke with organizers shortly after the Glen Beck show who said over 15 thousand showed up. There were no problems though, even with lack of police support. That does say alot. I love that it was an historical representation of the people speaking out. That is one of our constitutional rights, and done peacefully, SHOULD happen when ever anyone feels strongly enough about a cause. I do agree with much of what was being said and some of the original reasons for forming the TEA party.

However, personally, I felt that once the TEA party itself was under way, it seemed to digress and really become a very right wing anti-Obama event. Again, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I am not an Obama supporter by any means. It just seemed that the entire thing morphed into something other than what it was originally intended to be. That was just my opinion. I guess that is bound to happen when you get that many people with that many strong feelings about something together. Lets admit it, the majority of the people there were conservatives. As much as they toted this as bipartisan, it wasn't. By the end of the evening that fact was clearly evident.

With all of that being said, I am extremely happy that I attended. I feel it was an historic event--particularly taking place at the Alamo. We'll just have to see if the message got through to anyone!

Poteet Strawberry Festival

Ensuring we inundate ourselves in Texas, we attended the Poteet Strawberry Festival last weekend. It proved to be everything we had hoped it would be!! Since our entire family absolutely loves Strawberries, (there was actually a point we worried Zach might turn into one) this was incredibly fun! They had everything strawberry, from chocolate covered to strawberry nachos, along with anything and everything Texan imaginable!

What kind of Texans would we be if we hadn't attended the alligator wrestling show? Pretty cool! This alligator was 8 feet long--no thank you! The kids really got a kick out of it and it was actually pretty educational as well! We also each ended up with our first real cowboy hats. I'll post those in later pictures. It was a day of great fun!!