Stuff & MIA electronics

Stuff:
First of all, my Courtney is safe and sound in Hawaii. Thanks to those of you who asked about her! Got a text from her this morning, and she and her parentals are home. Oh, and yes, she was in Kapolei...to whoever it was that inquired on Facebook...on the Ewa plain. I spent the entire day yesterday in the fetal position in bed, but I came to long enough to watch the F*xne*s coverage of the Tsunami that Thankfully Wasn't.
We found out that our Pongo poodle has had an allergic reaction to, possibly, a new food brand. He's lost extreme amounts of hair which hasn't done much for his prettiness. Poor thing seems to be getting better now that we've figured out why the heck large chunks of himself were found lying asunder in the house. He was probably wondering how much hairage had to fall off to get our attention!
MIA electronics:
I've misplaced my 1.)Flip and 2.) camera. Let's say it together....EEK! I don't know how I'm functioning. Truly.

Our summer calendar is officially taking shape. Of course, we'll be hitting the beach with DaddyP's fam again this summer. The plan this year is to skip out on Fort Walton and head to Grayton. We'll be staying here, and oh my goodness. Can June get here any sooner? This photo is from the site, and I acknowledge I did not take it. I do; however, hope that you'll check out the site and plan a visit! This will be our first time for our large group to stay in a beach house, but as you can see, it's a large house and should accomodate us. No condo for us, hoohoo!
For our annual camping trip with my family, we'll be heading here. We are oh-so-very excited! The pic below is from the site, and again, I fully acknowledge that it was taken by some wonderfully talented person other than myself. However, my intentions are purely to advertise the supreme beauty of the locale in hopes that you will also travel to Rio for a vacay of your own! This place has been recommended to the fam, so we're looking forward to experiencing us some Frio! We'll be within an hour's drive of a skip across the border for some market shopping. If we dare, and I don't know if we do, but perhaps we'll be feeling brave! Looking forward to some lazy tubing on the river, swimming in some cool river pools, and we heard the fishing is good!

We've travelled with both sides of our family each summer for the past 4 years, and it's becoming a great family tradition. The cousins on each side look forward to our annual To-Do lists, and this year is no exception. We are ready!!

Other than that, we're hoping to return to northern Arkansas in May where we spent a week at Christmas, spend some time at the Village with Grandma/Grandpa on the lake, and a trip or two here and there for DaddyP and I. One of them we are very excited about! We'll be staying here with friends! BEAUTIFUL! I think this place is gorgeous!

SUMMER, WHERE ARE YOU?!

I flip for summer vacation!

(So hurry up SUMMER VACATION!)

Dear Winter,

Go home.

Thanks,

Me

3 Random Bits and Bobs

Sorry only 3....we're heading out the door to go French door shopping!
1. Forgot to mention previously that our new book club book is The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe. It's about the Salem Witch trials to some extent, so it should be interesting. Curious to see if it's all mother-earthy or not.
2. We'll be going to Austin in a few weekends for the Austin Grand Prix at Longhorn Aquatics. Phelps is supposed to swim, so we're excited about that. Last year, Jack got some cool autographs of some Olympic swimmers, so he's pretty fired up.
3. I want a tractor.

One day I'll get to school on time. Today; however, was not that day. Today was the day that I snapped this beautiful shot with my phone as I barreled down the highway at dangerous speeds in order to not be any late-r. Just look at that sunrise, would ya? In my opinion, if you're driving to work and the sun hasn't even made it all the way up, something is WRONG! School should start at noon, and that's all there is to it. My class recently studied about Brazil, and we learned that school starts at 7:15 (BOO!)...but the day is over at 10:45 a.m. (VIVA BRAZIL!)
So, where was I? Babbling, oh yes. Thanks.
Yes, we're still grinding at the usual--gymnastics, swimming, and 3 different grade levels worth of homework per night. Jack is tearing up 5th grade, and by tearing up I mean trying his best to DRIVE HIS MOTHER CRAZY! That's another post for another day. A LONG ONE! Oy. If only he had more of his mother's DNA and less of his father's, he'd be perfect. Like his mother. Ahem. Moving on.....Sam has third grade by the throat and won't let go. Literally. We're afraid he'll be there again next year. Ok, maybe I exaggerate, but he is also intent on giving his dear, patient mother heart failure. Again, another post for another day. Sophy recently cleared out her 2nd grade classroom with a carton of milk that had been in her backpack (FULL carton of milk) for 5 days. Poor teacher kept smelling something "horrendous" and couldn't quite put her finger on the origin of the odor...I mean, c'mon people, it's 2nd grade. It's bound to not be fresh EVERY day, right? Long story short, the offending carton was eventually discovered. Her explanation, "I WAS JUST TRYING TO KEEP BURGLARS OUT OF MY BACKPACK."
Nice.

6 inches of snow fell in our neighborhood! Not bad for East Texas!

Crazy birds!
The view down our street~

Looking out our bedroom door

Jack took a snowball to the face at the hands of his father. Such tenderness.

Newsflash!

Newsflash! I'm still breathing! Yeah, SHOCKER, I know!! We're just kicking and running like headless chickens around here. One day soon I'll have to catch up on things with ya. Book Clubs planned meeting for this week was cancelled due to an unexpected meeting at school. We'll be meeting next week to discuss Cold Rock River, which I think was enjoyed by most everyone in the group. With an upcoming potential (fingers crossed) Snow Day, I'm hoping for a chance to get a good update in!