kids life in texas

we are quickly approaching the christmas holiday, followed closely by the six month mark of life in texas.  seemed like an appropriate time to catch myself up on what the kids have been up to.  i am here, i am living it, and even i can't believe all we have managed to squeeze in.  and, i have stated before, i am amazed at the resiliency of children.  their world was turned upside down and they have faced it with strength, courage and big smiles on their faces.  an example to their parents, who often over think things.  

 my E.

before this move ever took place, i struggled the most with moving her for her 5th grade year.  i was sad for her to go through this 'top dog' year with unfamiliarity.  i looked ahead to her entering middle school and could not see it being without her amazing group of girls from back home.  these thoughts still enter my realm of thinking, but with much less frequency and far less angst. she is still the outgoing, social and independent girl she has always been, nothing can take that from her.

 here is what she's been up top.

-loving 5th grade and getting to have three different teachers.  "to prepare her for middle school," she'll say.

-being on the coveted 'safety patrol'. where she is an integral part of getting all students in and out of school.  peacefully and efficiently.

-winning her katy youth soccer division and traveling to play in the south texas championships.  fell short of the title, but had four great games and tons of fun with her family and team.

-first christmas dance recital.  not as organized as she is used to but she does love the stage.

-trip to junior achievment's biztown, where she worked for best buy as a member of the geek squad.  got to experience life as a working adult and felt success when her company made money at the end of the day.

-proud owner of glasses and an expander.  braces go on mid-january.  she's thinking blue and pink elastics.

-made many friends quickly and has an admirer who gives her things that she isn't quite sure are appropriate, like shower gel.

-probably what excites her the most, being chosen to take part in the aeronautics program where for eights week, three teams meet to build a rocket that will take off for mars.  ending with a 24 hour mission where they stay at the school and get a taste of life in space.

-can't wait to actually lift off for Utah in two days.

the pill.

he recently wrote a note home to one of his best friends where he announced that he thinks he is now a texan, and that he loves his flag.  although he misses his best friends dearly, unsure which to see first when he gets to utah, he has developed a few very good friends here. 

  he's been busy too.

-finished up a season of baseball where his love for the game was restored following a not so fun season last spring.  he finally got his swing down and combined with his size and strength (10 lbs on his sister), he aimed for the fences.

-now busy with basketball where his excitement makes his dribbling a little hard to control.  so glad to have a hoop on the driveway and can often be found outside in the morning practicing.  planning to play spring baseball again and then hopes to give football a try in the fall.

-still very fond of all the critters texas has to offer.  officially in charge of removing lizards from the house since his mom freaks and frogs from the pool when he hears a plop.

-found some 'love spell' lotion in my bathroom that he wore to school to try and cast a spell on his teacher, who he has declared the sweetest teacher ever!

-very proud of his first report card showing all A's.  

-also can't wait to lift off to utah.

now more than ever, i am so very grateful that i get to be their mom.  they are good kids, who show ripp and i regularly what it is like to live in the moment and take what you can get.

wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season and hope that like us, it is filled with love and happiness.  see you in 2013.

finally...can we move on now?

a couple weeks ago, the pill turned yet another year older.  some last minute begging/pleading/bargaining/bribing for him to actually stay where he is at, or at least start counting backwards, turned out to be a giant waste of my time.  to add insult to my injury, while cuddling in bed that morning, he gave a little jerk and proudly proclaimed that he actually just felt himself get bigger.  this is also evidenced by the fact that his halloween costume seemed about two inches shorter than when we purchased it. birthdays, growth spurts and flooded halloween costumes are vivid reminders that the pill is pulling further away from one and e is creeping closer and closer to 18.  where is the time going?  and to prolong the pain, grandma deb announced that his birthday wasn't going to end until she came to visit.  great.

so we started the celebrating looking like this:

 

and finished like this:

warning: if you come to visit we will take you to rudy's where ripp will try to keep his eyes open in a picture.  and look creepy in the process.

grandma, we love you and are so glad you made the trip.  until christmas, the ripp's.

all hallow's eve

another sugar induced crash at bedtime ended this years holiday.  this time the ninja and his mother.

houston has the best weather right now.  chilled mornings, warm afternoons and cool evenings.   

met more neighbors who furthered our belief that we bought in the right neighborhood. 

only have to wait one more day for grandma deb to get here.  

hope yours was as delightful.

galveston, tx

just a one hour drive down I-45 and a quick turn to the left drops you just a short flight of stairs from  the sandy beaches along the gulf of mexico.  

prior to this past weekend, my only visit to galveston was over 15 years ago and i really only remember swimming in the ocean with ripp-just my boyfriend at the time.  revisiting has been at the top of our list since the big move and three months later, we finally made it.  

it was so much better than i remember! 

the oil industry isn't as imposing.  the beaches not so dirty. the water not so nasty. 

the beach was empty, but the water was full of surfers, my little ones included.  we walked, boogie boarded, ate, surfed, burned, made drip castles and enjoyed a playground that is about as opposite from utah as you can get.

life is good.

thursday morning thoughts on texas

well, we are officially at the three month mark of living our new life in texas.  to say that it has been a tumultuous, emotionally charged and regretful decision would be a ridiculous overstatement.  because it has, in fact, been an eerily smooth transition.  that isn't to stay that there aren't moments of angst and regret, blended in with worry and homesickness...because if there wasn't, i fear that meant our life back in utah wasn't as great as we thought.

our life back in utah was beautiful and predictable.  we went about our life day after day, enjoying the repetition, fussing about sometimes insignificant things and occasionally taking for granted the comforts that come with only knowing one place and its people.  it only took one weekend visit back home to make me realize how lovely cache valley truly is, how much i love so many people there, but how it doesn't quite feel the same when your nucleus is now 1600 miles to the southeast.  i feared going home would set me back, but the opposite took place.  my earlier predictions were correct and my heart has transitioned to where my little family resides.  this is now home, and no amount of fall leaves or friendly faces can change that.

plus, we have two little ones who show you how easily life can go on.  they are thriving here.  E has a renewed love for dance, is shining on the soccer field, is part of a tight knit 5th grade girls only club, excelling academically, a member of the coveted safety patrol and running for class president.  she is learning how people are very different outside of the bubble she has been raised in, both good and bad, and how to navigate these choppier waters and her own feelings about it.  she talks candidly with us, which brings us all comfort.

the pill is torn.  he misses his friends and the mountains dearly, but 'loves Texas!' at the same time.  lizards, frogs and snakes, oh my!  although not quite as socially outgoing as his sister, he has made some good friends and won the heart of his teacher, who quietly told me one day that she would love an entire class of will's.  he is playing fall baseball and has the positive coaching that has helped renew his love for it.  ask what the best part of moving to texas is and he won't hesitate to say that it is having his dad home with us every night.

those days when ripp and i are struggling, we only need to look to our children for guidance and reassurance.  they are perfect examples of the small things in life mattering the most.  we are also learning to be grateful for what texas has to offer that utah can't.  although there aren't any mountains to bike in, or hills for that matter, we can ride our bikes places that we couldn't before.  to the store, for coffee or on a new path to spot a gator in the bayou.  perspective.  that's all it is.

the pill(2nd) and e(5th) on the first day of school.  

camp eagle...classic

in an effort to escape the houston heat and humidity, we headed west for the labor day weekend.  there is something about the drier air and texas hill country that lifts the spirits of our entire family. 

i never went away to summer camp when i was young (and i am fairly certain my children won't) but if i had, i would have loved a place like camp eagle.  ripp decided to get back on his mtn bike and registered for the camp eagle classic bike race.  i was hauled around to a fair amount of bike races as a teenager and have vivid memories of it being hot and dusty.  which this one was. but...it had one very easy way of cooling down and a few handfuls of other fun distractions.  while we only experienced a handful of what camp eagle had to offer, i can see us going back for more. 

plus the pill made my whole weekend by telling me, after waking up with crazy camp hair pictured below, he could imagine that it what i looked like as a little girls.  giggle.    

way to go ripp!  don't retire.

going out in kids style

 

                        

 

i miss that house.  i miss that yard.  but i severely miss all those kids.  we were so lucky to be surrounded by them, kids who put smiles on my children's faces and made us laugh constantly.

the kids here in texas have some pretty big shoes to fill.  and they say everything is bigger in texas??