Smith Family Adventures

One Person Makes a Difference

2012-01-14T20:23:00.002-06:00

This morning we celebrated the life of an amazing man at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church. Bryan Clark was 19 years old when he stormed the beach at Iwo Jima as a marine. He was there when five marines raised the flag over Iwo Jima, a moment that was later memorialized forever. Bryan was one of 3 men from his unit who returned uninjured from Iwo Jima. There were 165 marines in Bryan's unit, 80 were killed. Nearly 7,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese soldiers died at Iwo Jima.

Another amazing thing about Bryan is that he served as a volunteer with Methodist Hospital's Auxiliary for 24 years. Every Thursday for 24 years he and his wife Reba would run the gift shop at Methodist Hospital.

I knew Bryan at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church as the friendliest greeter ever. He greeted me the first time that I attended the church and later when I served as an Intern he served as my Intern Committee Chair. He encouraged me, supported me, and helped to make me a better pastor. Bryan taught me that one person can make a difference because he made a difference in so many people's lives. There are so many people who attribute their membership at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church to Bryan Clark. He made people feel at home and he noticed when you were gone. He made everyone feel welcome.

After the celebration of Bryan's life this morning, I took Madeleine to her basketball game. Madeleine's team was down 0-12 and in 2 quarters only one shot had been made towards the basket by her team. I was feeling pretty hopeless for Madeleine's team when their star player came racing into the gym. She had been at another event. This one player propelled Madeleine's team forward so that by the end of the game they were ahead 17-12. One person can make a difference.

As I listened to the words that were said about Bryan this morning I looked around at the congregation, filled with people who had become a part of the church because of Bryan. One person had made the difference in welcoming them so that they wanted to become a part of the church.

One person can make a difference.

#41 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-25T20:57:00.001-06:00

Storytime at Northpark Mall with "The Real Santa." Seriously, this Santa is amazing. Storytime is everyday at 10:30 am and is wonderful. "The Real Santa" has a degree in child psychology and is incredibly engaging.
Here is our annual picture with Santa, previous pictures can be found in last year's blog post found here,
http://leeandkerry.blogspot.com/2010/12/pictures-with-santa.html

Madeleine at 7 1/2, Everett at 4. December 2011

#40 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-24T13:38:00.000-06:00

Lowe's Build and Grow Kid's Clinic. I wrote about the Home Depot clinic as my #19 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids, but they are on different Saturdays so it is worth mentioning both! My kids love these events! You have to preregister and arrive right on time (10 am). This is a wonderful free kid activity!

#39 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-24T13:22:00.002-06:00

Attend Tuba Christmas. This event is held throughout the world, you can find one close to you here. I found out about Tuba Christmas last year after Christmas and since it was on Christmas Eve here in Dallas last year I thought it would be on Christmas Eve again. Unfortunately, since Christmas Eve was on Saturday, it was on Friday! So, I missed it. But I will be ready for it next Christmas at Thanksgiving Square downtown! You can watch the 2007 Tuba Christmas in Dallas on youtube here.

#38 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-24T11:52:00.000-06:00

Visit Santa's Village in Richardson. This free event is awesome, though I have not yet figured out the time to go when it is not busy...

This year the kids (mine and my sister's) loved the sleigh rides! These wonderful volunteers ran them up and down the sidewalk in this sleigh. The kids did this 3 times!

Cousin picture with a Christmas... duck???

And the girls wrote letters to Santa. The photo above is the letter from my niece, it says, "Dear Santa, I want my two front teeth for Christmas. P.S. Are you really real?"

#37 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-22T11:37:00.002-06:00

Ride the Polar Express train. We had such a good time! My mom bought tickets for my family and my sister's family and after a 2 hour drive to Palestine, Texas, we boarded the polar express train for the north pole. The kids were all dressed in their pajamas like in the story and we were all treated to hot chocolate and a sugar cookie on the 30 minute ride. While we journeyed to the north pole we heard the polar express story through the speaker system of the train while the train staff walked up and down the aisle showing us the pictures from the book. Then we were at the north pole! As we drove by we saw Santa and the elves. As the train turned around to head back home we learned that Santa was on the train! Santa walked by and delivered our bell from the reindeer's sleigh and we loudly sang Christmas songs and danced on our 30 minute ride back. It was such fun!

We are ready!

The kids were more ready!

There were a lot of us on that train!

Madeleine and Lee

#36 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-14T21:24:00.004-06:00

Visit the Neiman Marcus window display at Christmastime. Here is a video of them installing them this year. The kids can crawl in them and have a blast. Make sure that you go when they are open, times can be found here.

The kids loved exploring.

Some happy kids.

They were above us!

#35 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-07T11:40:00.002-06:00

Go ice skating at the Galleria. Or watch the ice skaters and now you can enjoy the beautiful Christmas tree. Right now my kids love to watch the ice skaters and are not ready to go ice skating themselves. This is a favorite activity, especially in December when we can also be mesmerized by the huge Christmas tree.

#34 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-07T11:38:00.002-06:00

Visit the Trinity River Audubon Center. This is an amazing place to visit. It is free the 3rd Thursdays of the month from 9 am - 9 pm. We have been for birthday parties and on the free days, this place is just awesome. It is easy to forget here that you are surrounded by a metropolitan city. And the kids love running around and exploring outside.

#33 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-07T11:29:00.004-06:00

Try out an indoor climbing wall. Over the Thankgiving holiday we visited my dad's Lifetime Fitness gym where they have an indoor climbing wall. You have to be 5 to try it, but my 7 year old loved it! There is a rock climbing place 5 minutes from our house, and now I can't wait to go! Unfortunately this is not a free activity, but it was fun.

Madeleine is the one high in the air...

this is what you can do while you are waiting for your older siblings to finish on the climbing wall. The floor was recycled tire pieces...

#32 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-07T11:26:00.003-06:00

Attend Fair Park Holiday. We were unable to attend this year (it is the Saturday after Thanksgiving) due to family obligations but we have attended in the past and had a great time. There is tons of free stuff and other than having to pay $10 to park, it is free. A wonderful opportunity to enjoy Fair Park in Dallas for an event other than the State Fair.

#31 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-07T11:15:00.004-06:00

Attend the Dallas Children's Medical Center Holiday Parade. You can buy bleacher seats for $25 each (it is a fundraiser for Children's Medical Center) or camp out a spot along the parade route for free. It is so much fun to attend a parade in person that we so often only see on TV. The kids love this family Christmas tradition!

Everett and Madeleine with the Lorax.

A cowboy! There are so many clowns and other folks entertaining the kids.

These reindeer antlers are passed out by the clowns.

Jay Jay the jet plane!

Bob the builder!

#30 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-07T10:30:00.007-06:00

Visit the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine. At Christmas time it is beautiful! However, it is not cheap. Even if you want to only explore the train, lights, and lifesize gingerbread house inside the hotel, you will still pay $12 to park! However, if you have tickets to ICE your parking will be validated. ICE is amazing, it is such fun to put on the blue parkas and freeze as you marvel at the creations. It is expensive though and this year we paid even more to do the snow tubing. It was so much fun, but my back hurt for 2 days! Everyone had a great time!

We went the day before Thanksgiving with my sister's family.

This year it was all Shrek ice sculptures.

it was cold!

The nativity scene

snow tubing! The kids loved riding by themselves! We got to ride 10 times with our combo ticket.

A movie of Madeleine snow tubing.

#29 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-12-07T10:15:00.002-06:00

Visit the tubes at Irving Bible Church. On a rainy or a cold day, visit the tubes! There is free wifi, couches for the parents, and the kids get to climb and play and have a great time! Click on this link to see photos and to get directions and times. Every time we have visited the tubes the kids have had a great time and I have enjoyed reading a book!

Sherry Smith, my mother-in-law

2011-11-12T21:25:00.009-06:00

Sherry was older when she had Lee, my husband. She turned 40 right after he was born (today that would be no big deal!). Randy (Lee's half-brother) was a senior in high school when Lee was born and had a great story of not telling a girl he was bringing over that his mom was great with child. She was very surprised!

I remember when I met Sherry I was so nervous. I liked her son after all. Sherry was as nice as she could be and impressed me with her confidence. She had a ceramics business for 20 years and I remember going to craft shows simply filled with awe that someone could not only create such art, but paint it and sell it as well. Sherry said that rabbits paid for Lee to go to college. When we were in college, apparently ceramic rabbits were very popular, who knew?

When I looked at our wedding album today, I was struck with how proud Sherry looked. She was so proud of Lee, so proud of us and when I looked through pictures of her with our kids she was so happy. She called herself Mi to her grandkids, because Taylor her first grandson had called her that. Sherry had told Taylor that this toy was his but this other toy was mine and Sherry became mine/Mi to Taylor.

I remember when Lee and I lived in England in 2001 and Sherry and Paul came to visit. Sherry was always cold, but she was always cold in Texas too! In the picture below Sherry is in the middle, I promise!

After Madeleine was born Sherry came to stay with us for a week. She showed me how to make Lee's favorite meals and I remember she was very surprised that I did not have tomato juice (who has tomato juice?) and we had to run to the little convenience store in Krum. The tomato juice from the store had dust on it!

When Madeleine was 4 and Everett was just born, Sherry developed PSP, it is very similiar to Parkinsons, but does not respond to medication. It has been a long journey, and there was lots of grief along the way. Grief for the loss of the incredible woman that I knew, loss for the grandmother that my children would never have the opportunity to grow up knowing, loss for the mother-in-law that I would no longer have. It seemed unfair that someone who was always going and doing had to move into a nursing home, was no longer able to get around, and seemed to be slipping further and further away. One of the last times that I saw Sherry, Everett was playing with a balloon. It looked like Sherry was trying to smile and so we had Everett hit the balloon towards Sherry and she hit it back to him. They were playing together! They hit the balloon back and forth and back and forth and it was like time stopped. It made me so happy and so sad at the same time.

It is a hard thing to lose a parent, so whether it is quick or whether it is slow, may we relish those Holy Spirit moments when we experience the joy that God reveals, the peace that God showers and the love that God brings.

Sherry passed away this morning and her memorial service will be at First UMC in Kemp at 10 am on Friday, November 18, 2011.

Sherry, Madeleine (age 3 1/2) and Paul, February 2008

Everett (4 months) and Sherry

#28 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-11-07T13:49:00.002-06:00

Visit Casa Manana in Fort Worth. I won tickets to see Oliver! through the KERA Art & Seek weekly email but since it was the 7 pm Friday night showing in Fort Worth and I knew that it would be too late for my own kids, I invited my dad and stepmom. We had a great adult evening with an incredible hamburger at Fred's Texas Cafe. Then, we headed over to see Oliver! The actors were amazing in the show but I was sort of surprised with the bad guy's loud screams (all of the children in the audience got very quiet) and I did not remember how the story ended so when there was a murder and a loud gunshot I was really surprised. It did not seem appropriate for children, and I was glad that I had not brought mine. However, Casa Manana has wonderful children's plays and is a great place to take your kids! I love to support children's theater!

Everett turns 4

2011-10-09T20:57:00.003-05:00

Somehow (not quite sure how) Everett is 4! We had a great time celebrating his birthday this past Wednesday and he had an incredible time with his friends from school and church at Pump It Up (a bounce house place) at his birthday party on Saturday.

Everett's request for his birthday breakfast was donuts. That kid can eat 2 kolaches, a regular donut, and 3 donut holes! And yet we have to cinch up his pants.

A quick learner at the scooter from Nana!

Pirate dress up clothes from us, I love his pirate earring!

This kid loves bounce houses!

Everett not wanting anyone else in the birthday chair!

All of us in the birthday chair.

#27 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-10-09T20:22:00.004-05:00

Go to the State Fair of Texas. Growing up in Houston I never heard about the State Fair of Texas, but we did go to the Houston Rodeo a few times. Lee is a pro at visiting the State Fair and I love going with him every year. Here is our with kids battle plan. Arrive before 10 am (this year they even let us in at 9:30 am!) and head straight for Little Hands on the Farm. The kids love being farmers!

Then, the children's barnyard and on to the Food and Fiber building for the $2 milk, see Elsie the cow, and enjoy all of the free samples (this year it was ice cream cones!). By now it is time for the first backyard circus show. This year Madeleine was chosen as the tightrope walker and Everett was a lion!

A movie of Everett as a lion. It is hard to tell which lion is Everett, but he had so much fun.

On our way to lunch we stopped at the Hall of State and enjoyed the Texas history exhibit, it is the 175th anniversary of Texas Independence! Then on to a dollar dog for the kids (seriously, they are $1 hot dogs - best deal ever!) and corny dogs for us. So yummy!

Then a wander through the car show, this year Madeleine tried the rock climbing wall and did great! Enjoy the movie of her climbing.

Lee and Everett were wandering through more of the car show while Madeleine rock climbed so Madeleine and I were able to visit the Komen truck and get free Komen stuff!

Next we stopped at the DAR building for $1 water and also visited Homes of Tomorrow. Pretty cool, innovative stuff!

Next was the ferris wheel ride. This was Everett's first trip and he was a pro.

Next stop was the green house next to the ferris wheel with the man dressed up like a tree (so cool!), the pumpkin carver and pumpkin painting.

Madeleine sporting her new Komen hat thing.

Everett thought his pumpkin was a football.

By now we were pooped. So, we headed back to the car stopping to try the fried buffalo chicken flapjack (best taste winner). Lee said it was spicy but good. We also stopped at the McDonald's truck, they were giving away free mango smoothies, and we stopped at the dairy truck. The kids loved milking the cow. We also stopped at a science table with students from one of the area colleges. The kids loved playing with all of their science experiments.

Unfortunately, our 6 hours at the state fair was not enough! So, we are going back and this time we will see the butter sculpture, the dog show, the acrobats, milking of the cow, birds of the world show, a midway game for the kids, a midway ride for the kids, and I must try the fried bubble gum (most creative winner).

A week in Vegas

2011-09-21T13:33:00.005-05:00

Last week I went with Lee to Vegas. Lee went to a Conference and I explored Vegas and its amazing art, read three books, laid by the pool in the shade, and took a day trip to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon! When Lee got back from his meetings we would go eat delicious food and then come back to the room where Lee had to do the work that he was missing while being at the Conference. For me it was a relaxing, refreshing week! I enjoyed the free stuff in Vegas, the fall of Atlantis show at Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio fountains, and we did gamble... once. We were on our way to the airport and I said that we had to gamble once, so I took 4 pennies in my wallet and headed to the penny slots at the hotel. However, they only took dollar bills! We lost the first time and then won the second time. I quickly cashed out with the six dollars that I had won!

Vegas felt like a different world, when you were inside the hotels you felt like you were outside (the ceilings are painted like the sky). We stayed at the Palazzo where you could go on a gondola ride (for $64 for a private ride)!

I was amazed at all of the art in Vegas. The Bellagio hotel lobby adorned with a Chihuly glass ceiling was breathtaking.

the Bellagio

The Chihuly Gallery at CityCenter was amazing, just amazing. And free!

the ceiling of the Venetian hotel.

Great places that we ate at in Vegas.
Todd English's Olives in the Bellagio
Emeril's Table 10 in the Venetian
Mon Ami Gabi in Paris. We ate here for dinner and I came back for breakfast.
Hash House a Go Go or breakfast in the Imperial Palace.
Serendipity 3 outside Caesar's Palace. Best $10 frozen hot chocolate milk shake!
Wynn hotel buffet. Incredible dinner & okay breakfast. No blueberry muffins!

us at the Wynn

my dessert plate at the Wynn. marshmallows dipped in chocolate were the best!

My day trip to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon was such fun. I signed up in the hotel and definitely did not get a great deal but had a great time. Some people recommended calling 1800-2-canyon next time for a better deal. Next time... I was so glad to walk on the skywalk and had a wonderful time.

The skywalk was so scary (we were 4,000 feet above the canyon), but the view was so breathtaking. No cameras, cell phones, or bags were allowed because people had dropped them and I was so glad. For about 30 minutes I just looked and did not worry about trying to capture anything with my camera. God is amazing.

eagle point by the skywalk. Notice the eagle in the rock over my right shoulder.

The Grand Canyon is just awesome.

On our drive back to Vegas (about 2 1/2 hours) we stopped at Hoover dam.

I loved seeing the Hoover dam and also the incredible new Hoover bypass bridge.

I made a lot of great friends being by myself!

this sums up my week in Vegas.

#26 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-09-05T00:41:00.004-05:00

Attend the annual WRR Labor Day Picnic at Northpark mall outside in the CenterPark. We heard a Rhythm and Blues Band from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, 5 Second Rule, and the Dallas Wind Symphony. It was free, it was not 100 degrees, we ate outside with the wind blowing in our hair, and the kids ran around, twirled in circles, and had a great time. This was the 17th year for WRR to host this Labor Day concert, it was awesome!

It doesn't get much better than ballerinas (advertising the nutcracker ballet) telling you to go hear the concert!

Folks dancing!

My children running circles around us as we sat on our picnic blanket. No one cared! It was wonderful!

The kids had a blast!

#25 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-08-31T11:54:00.004-05:00

See Critterman! This past Saturday we went to the weekly 2 pm Saturday show in Northpark Mall with Bookmarks library to see Critterman. Every Saturday they have awesome folks come in to entertain the kids and it is a great way to stay cool and have fun. You can click here or here to see upcoming shows. My daughter Madeleine even was called up to touch a hedgehog!

and then out came the snake! It was long and this brave boy let Critterman hang it on his shoulders too!

and he also had a lemur!

#24 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-08-24T14:08:00.004-05:00

See the Declaration of Independence at the Downtown Dallas Public Library. I know that I already posted about the awesomeness of the Downtown Public Library, but did you know that on the night of July 4, 1776 a limited number of copies were made of the Declaration of Independence. Today, there are 25 surviving copies and 1 of them is at the downtown branch of the Dallas Public Library! It is also the only original copy west of the Mississippi. I took Madeleine to see it and I learned that this document is the first time that the name United States of America appeared in print.

The copy of the Declaration of Independence is in there! There was no one around, we had a private showing!

I took a picture...

The Dallas copy was found in storage in Leary's Book Store in Philadelphia in 1968 when the book store closed after 132 years in business. It is thus deemed "The Lost Copy." It was bought at auction.

There is also the original 1623 volume of Shakespeare's First Folio. According to the informational pamphlet, Shakespeare died in 1616 without publishing any of his plays and 2 of his friends published all 36 plays that they believed to be authentic to Shakespeare. Without this First Folio, plays like The Tempest, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, or Twelfth Night would have been lost to obscurity. The Dallas Public Library copy belonged to a cleric on the Isle of Man in the 1700s and to a Philadelphia banker in the 18002. It is one of 250 copies that exist today.

and of course you have to visit the ipads on the children's floor!

#23 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-08-24T13:29:00.003-05:00

Visit the Crow Collection of Asian Art. First, it's free. Second, it's right across the street from the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Dallas Museum of Art. Third, the art is amazing.

I love the origami crane hallway! When I visited Hiroshima when I lived in Japan I saw the 1000 cranes for the first time and learned about the Japanese legend that promises "anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years. In Japan, it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a person's wish come true. This makes them popular gifts for special friends and family." (from wikipedia)

I was truly blessed when I lived in Japan with a student's gift to me of 1000 cranes which have hung in each of my kid's bedrooms.

And all this week, Tibetan Buddhist Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta are constructing a mandala sand painting. According to the website, "During the week, millions of grains of crushed marble are painstakingly laid into place in this ancient spiritual art form to generate energies for global healing." We saw it a day after they started...

and Friday, August 26 the mandala will be dismantled to remind us of the impermanence of all that exists.

2nd Grade!

2011-08-23T22:47:00.003-05:00

Madeleine is in 2nd Grade! Seriously, I am not at all sure how that happened. It wasn't too long ago that she was having trouble figuring out how to pick up the cheerios and get them into her mouth...The iconic first day of school shot in front of the school sign.

with her daddy.

#22 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-08-22T23:06:00.003-05:00

Go to the Nasher Sculpture Center. We used the kids summer coupons from the Mayor's Summer Reading Program to go for free (35 cents to park in the meter for an hour) and thoroughly enjoyed the sculptures, but the highlight was Martin's Creed's balloon room. Sadly, the balloon room has been dismantled. It was so amazing and terrifying. I was terrified of getting lost, all I could see were balloons. I made us all hold on to each other. But when we found our way out it made me think about perspective, when all that you are focusing on is what seems to be in front of you and you do not realize the children laughing all around you. The description on the website said that the art would alter one's physical experience of the space and that was true! I am so glad that we went (the day before it closed!), Everett loved it and even after we went in twice he wanted to go back in again. As long as I did not appear scared, Everett did not appear to be scared. At the end of our second visit in the room he was falling back into the balloons on purpose! Madeleine loved how the balloons made her hair stick straight up.

the balloon room

It was really hard to take pictures in the balloon room, but here is Madeleine.

Everett surrounded on all sides by balloons.

Feeling safer in Daddy's arms.

Freckles Smith, the dog

2011-08-21T22:18:00.005-05:00

We have a new member in our Smith family! It is Freckles Smith, the dog! Freckles is 2 years old and was found by a loving family who found him running in the street. We found Freckles from adoptapet.com and the petfinder app. Freckles is a Brittany/Setter mix and rarely barks, loves to have his tummy scratched, and did great on my 3 mile walk this morning!

Everett laying on Freckles.

Madeleine and Freckles. She filled out a prayer card in church today that Freckles would like our family :)

Madeleine giving Freckles a good tummy rubbing.

#21 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-08-10T17:27:00.002-05:00

Go to Chuck E Cheese. If you will notice from my 52 things to do in Dallas with kids list, most of the activities that I have written about have been free. So, I went to the Chuck E Cheese website, and printed out a Reading Reward Calendar. If my child read every day for 2 weeks, then she would get 10 free tokens (it said that you had to purchase a food item but it was 9 am when we got there and the Chuck E Cheese employee did not make us purchase anything). So, with Madeleine's cousin Sydney in tow and 2 reading logs filled out, we appeared at Chuck E Cheese. We were the first ones there (they open at 9 am) and they had a great time in the relative quiet playing games. I was very clear before we went in that they only had 10 tokens each and that was it. It was a great, free way to spend an hour.

Madeleine pedaling up to the sky on one of the games.

The loot from all of our tickets.

#20 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-08-08T17:51:00.002-05:00

Visit the SPCA. We visited the SPCA today, loved on some puppies, kitties, gerbils and hamsters and had a great time! It was a great opportunity to talk to the kids about animals and how much responsibility it is to have an animal (we currently have one fish). The kids loved it and were excited to learn that you can volunteer (with your parent) at the SPCA when you are 12 years old!

Sydney (my niece) and Madeleine enjoying Minnie.

#19 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-08-08T17:25:00.003-05:00

Build stuff for free at the Home Depot kids workshop on the 1st Saturday of the month from 9 am - noon. Home Depot provides the kit and all of the materials (the kid size hammers are so cute!) as well as fruit punch and popcorn all for free! The kids made pencil boxes and had a blast. I would recommend getting there early to avoid the crowd. Lowe's also has a build and grow program that is every other week.

My daughter has started posing in all of her photos...

Cousin Camp 2011

2011-07-30T08:09:00.007-05:00

Every year my sister and I take our kids to Nana and Papa's in Wimberley for cousin camp. We are blessed beyond belief to live about 5 minutes away from each other in Dallas, but there is something magical about cousin camp. There was lots of swimming, a trip to the San Marcos outlets for new school shoes, and a trip to see 3 million bats emerge from Old Tunnel near Fredericksburg and one of the best hamburgers in Texas! We had a great time! And Everett (who was terrified of putting his face under the water just a few months ago) is now swimming like a pro!

trying to get a photo of Nana and the kids ...

Madeleine, me and Everett

me and my sister

a pirate and a bat face painting to get ready to see the bats!

but first dinner... a delicious burger! I got mine with grilled onions and avocado.

there are 3 million bats in that old railroad tunnel!

getting ready to see the bats...

there were a lot of bats!

bats on their way to get water and eat moths and mosquitoes.

and a movie as the bats emerge...

Horse camp

2011-07-15T23:54:00.004-05:00

Our neighborhood friend, Mrs. Joy, had recommended Merriwood Ranch to us for a summer camp for Madeleine, so with Madeleine's cousin Sydney and 2 friends from school we had carpools arranged and we were ready for horse camp!

Each day the girls were at Merriwood from 9 am - 4 pm and spent an hour each morning and each afternoon playing tennis, swimming, and riding horses.

Here is the horse riding, the highlight of each day.

Madeleine on her horse.

Huge smile!

The cousins on horses.

Madeleine carrying all of her horse's gear back to the barn.

The girls had a wonderful time and were eager to go next week, but the parents decided that once a year was a better plan. The girls can not wait for next year's horse camp!

#18 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-07-09T09:03:00.005-05:00

Go to Fort Worth. I know it is not in Dallas, but it is close (ish). Since I am all about the free activities, I took the kids to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing Western Currency Facility. There are only two places in the U.S. that print our money, in Fort Worth and in Washington D.C. Usually the tours are twice a day but in June and July there are every 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the tours are only Monday-Friday. The tour is about 45 minutes, excellent, and free. You get to see the designs of the money, the machines printing the money, and the machines cutting the money. The tour guides are wonderful and I learned so much!

For example, I have some $2 bills that my mom had given me when I was younger. Did you know that they do still print the $2 bill, but only at the Fort Worth facility and only every 3-5 years? I did not either!

No cell phones or cameras are allowed, so I only got this one photo as we were leaving...

Next stop in Fort Worth was Curly's Frozen Custard! Delicious!

Then onto the Fort Worth Museum that enthralled my children for hours! My friend from seminary Mary Spradlin (who has a museum membership and was able to get us in for free!) and her kids joined us and afterwards we all loved the tour of Arlington Heights United Methodist Church where Mary is the new Senior Pastor!

We had a great day in Fort Worth!

#17 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-07-07T11:39:00.002-05:00

Visit a spraypark! I know that I already mentioned that you could swim with your kids in Dallas in this previous post, but it is Dallas, it is summer, and it is hot.

After the 4th of July parade and carnival mentioned in the previous post, the kids (who had come prepared in swimming gear) cooled down and had a great time in the spraypark. Find a spraypark in Dallas near you here.

#16 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-07-07T11:27:00.006-05:00

Attend a Fourth of July Parade. We live in Lake Highlands, and we have ridden on the Lake Highlands Area Early Childhood PTA float before but this year I thought it would be fun to see the entire parade. So, we parked by Lake Highlands High School, grabbed our chairs and sat down in the shade to watch our cool neighborhood parade.

It was exciting to see the new mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, in the parade.

And then after the very enjoyable parade, we went across the street to the Lake Highlands North Recreation Center playground and spraypark and visited all of the booths, got free t-shirts from Ebby Realtors and made bracelets, got popcorn from a neighborhood church, petted some animals, bounced in the YMCA bounce house, saw people climbing a rock climbing wall, and drank some free iced tea from the Lake Highlands UMC booth. Love those Methodists!

There is just nothing else like a 4th of July parade.

#15 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-07-07T11:11:00.004-05:00

Visit the Lego store at Northpark mall on the first Tuesday of the month for the free monthly mini-build. Info can be found here. We got to the mall at 4:30 to wait in the line for our number guaranteeing that we would be able to participate. We were numbers 76 and 77. The mini-build did not start until 5 pm but we were in the car leaving the mall by 5:20 pm. Once you get into the Lego store, 6 kids are led through the build by a very kind and patient Lego store employee. We have always had a great experience and it is free!

Unfortunately, once we got in the Lego store I did not take any pictures, but here is one of the kids playing inside the mall. I love Everett's new light up flame shoes (thanks Nana!) and his matching flaming basketball shirt.

Memories

2011-07-02T22:02:00.007-05:00

Writing about going to my mom and stepdad's last week made me think about all of the years that we have visited their home in Wimberley. Through the years in pictures...

summer 2004 with a newborn Madeleine asleep on her daddy's shoulder.

summer 2005, a 1 year old Madeleine playing with Papa.

summer 2006, 2 year old cousins, Sydney and Madeleine with Nana.

summer 2007, 3 year old Madeleine happy in the pool with her Nana.

summer 2008, from left to right, Austin, Kristin, Sydney, Nana, Madeleine, Kerry, Everett.

another one from summer 2008, Everett loves the pool!

summer 2009.

an awesome trip in summer 2009 to Hamilton Pool in Dripping Springs.

summer 2009, Hamilton Pool in Dripping Springs.

summer 2010, family photo.

summer 2010, with 6 out of 8 of the grandchildren. From left to right Papa, Nana, Austin, Everett, Xander, Madeleine, Cassie, Sydney.

summer 2011, family photo.

summer 2011, that girl loves to swim!

The best of summer

2011-07-01T08:47:00.005-05:00

The best of summer is visiting my mom and stepdad's home in Wimberley. This annual family trip is the best of summer because
1. there is a guesthouse so we actually get to sleep-in while the kids wake my mom and stepdad up at 5:45 am
2. the salt water pool
3. floating in the river nearby. My mom dropped us off (the river is a mile away from their house) and picked us up in one hour. It was such fun!
4. the morning walks where you can see deer, roadrunners, and dung beetles
5. the view, trees everywhere you look
6. going to the San Marcos outlets
7. built in babysitters so we can go to the movies or have dinner with wonderful friends who live in Austin
8. the relaxation, I finished 2 books!

This year was also wonderful because Everett became more and more comfortable in the water. He has only taken swimming class for 6 months. When Madeleine was his age she had taken swimming class already every Saturday for 2 years! Here is video proof of Everett swimming in the water and though he keeps saying he is sinking, he seems to be enjoying it!

Nana's famous face painting skills

an exhausted pirate

Papa attacking Madeleine with the jet plane

Everett not terrified in the pool!

happy boy

Madeleine and mommy

Smith family photo June 2011

Madeleine is 7

2011-06-20T20:47:00.007-05:00

My baby girl is 7 years old today. Madeleine came home today from a 2 week trip with cousin Sydney and Grandma and Grandpa (my dad and stepmom) to Orlando, Florida where they visited Seaworld, Disneyworld, and Gatorland!

She had a blast and apparently did not miss us at all! As soon as Madeleine got home, I noticed that she and Everett were holding hands. We all missed her a bunch!

When she returned today another of her top teeth was loose, and since she is already missing her two front teeth it is nearly impossible for her to eat! Lee pulled her tooth out, and we celebrated her birthday as a family. Lee then took Madeleine to get a 20" bike!

Madeleine is such a blessing to our family. She talks a mile a minute, loves to learn new things, and lights up a room with her smile. When Madeleine was born I wanted to name her something original (thus the French spelling), something sort of religious (Madeleine is a derivative of Mary Magdalene who saw Jesus after his resurrection in John 20 and shared the Good News), and something feminine. Her middle name, Nicholls, is after my grandfather who was such a blessing in my life. I would go to Grandpa Nicholls' house after school, and he would make me cookies, help me with my homework, and encourage me. He had such a sweet, generous spirit and I am so thankful for his 99 1/2 years! Madeleine's cousin Sydney has the same middle name.

7 years has happened so fast, below is 7 years of birthdays in pictures.

June 20, 2004 in the early morning when you were born.

the picture from your birth announcement (you are 2 days old)

June 20, 2005 your first birthday party in Krum, Texas. You are so happy with your daddy.

June 20, 2006 a family photo at age 2 (we were moving to Dallas so your party was in July)

June 20, 2007 You are three!

June 20, 2008 Your 4th birthday party at our house in Dallas.

June 20, 2009 The birthday girl is 5 and ready for kindergarten.

June 20, 2010 You have finished kindergarten and are 6 years old!

June 20, 2011 You are 7! Reading like a champ, loving math, playing the piano, doing gymnastics, in girl scouts, playing soccer and softball, acolyte at church, and going into 2nd grade!

WE LOVE YOU MADELEINE NICHOLLS SMITH!

When your youngest gets a big kid bike

2011-06-12T20:40:00.004-05:00

When your youngest child gets a big kid bike, you might have two responses:

Response 1: become nostalgic for the baby that you used to have and think about having another child. But then you remember the 2 years (at least) of little sleep, the diapers, and the money it will cost to send another child to college, so instead you decide for

Response 2:
Celebrating that your youngest has a big kid bike that they can pedal all by themselves!

Here is a movie of Everett riding his bike talking all the way...

A Slumber Party

2011-06-03T14:08:00.004-05:00

Madeleine's 7th birthday is not until June 20, but she will just be getting back from a 2 week trip to Florida with her Grandma and Grandpa and we leave that weekend for San Antonio, so Madeleine wanted to have a slumber party the day that school got out with her closest friends. I told her that there could be seven total girls (her included) since she was going to be 7. We did survive the slumber party but 7 girls is a lot of girls!

Some of the girls came home from school with Madeleine and we went to the New Room, the Lake Highlands UMC after school program on Tuesdays and Thursdays that Madeleine and Everett both enjoy. It was then time to pick up the pizza, and go back home because the rest of the girls were on their way. After eating pizza, we headed over to a wonderful neighbor's home where she had a fancy tea party for the girls. They each had their own hat, necklace, and bracelet, and many of the girls wanted refills on the tea! A huge thank you to Mrs. Lodge for hosting the wonderful tea party!

Loving Mrs. Lodge's fiesta dishes!

A huge thank you to Mrs. Lodge for hosting the wonderful tea party!

Then it was make-over time! Another wonderful neighbor came to do make-up for the girls (I painted nails). The girls each chose a theme (French, cowboy, ocean, singer, cheerleader) and tried on some of Madeleine's clothes to make the make-over complete.

Thank you Kelly!

Then it was time for birthday singing and cupcakes from Society Bakery, they were delicious! We put in a movie and it was a struggle to get the girls to go to sleep but around 11:30 pm everyone was quiet. They woke up around 7 am and were busy playing with presents (sidewalk chalk) followed by a donut and kolache breakfast.

A huge thank you to my sister who had a sleepover of her own because she took Everett to her house and he played with his cousin Austin and had a great time.

#14 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-06-01T23:53:00.003-05:00

Go swimming! I had a pool in my backyard from the age of 6 and when my mom sold that house I missed the pool the most. Summer in Texas is all about figuring out how to swim as often as possible.

When we moved into our current house Madeleine was 2 and both Lee and I agreed that our child was too young for us to have a pool. Since we are not going to put a pool into our backyard, we put our names on the waiting list for the KayCee Pool and after 3 years last year we were invited to pay a big chunk of money and join the pool! This is our 2nd year and we were there on opening day as soon as it opened! It has been wonderful to see the kids love to swim as much as I do. The KayCee Pool has a great slide and I am happy to report that Everett has gone by himself down the slide! I still want to be at the bottom to make sure he is okay so I have not documented it with pictures, yet. He sits in his trusty float to go down the slide, but tonight when we went to the pool Everett went down at least 15 times!

Madeleine swimming.

There is a cantina at the KayCee pool and Everett really enjoyed his fudge ice cream. I guess I should have encouraged him to take a shower and go to the bathroom to clean up, but instead I told him to jump back in the pool!

#13 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-06-01T23:41:00.002-05:00

Attend the Free Dallas Symphony Orchestra Memorial Day Concert at Flagpole Hill. The concert started at 8 pm followed by fireworks at 9 and since the next day was a school day, I decreed that the children had to take a nap after the party at Launa's Little Library or else no fireworks. Amazingly, everyone fell asleep! So, around 7:45 pm we parked along White Rock Trail and carried our chairs maybe a half mile to Flagpole Hill near White Rock Lake. While the Symphony played the kids played on a playground right there and while they had fun playing, I had fun listening to the beautiful music. The large crowd stood during the Star Spangled Banner and we all oohed and aahed during the fireworks. The concert and its music was a wonderful opportunity to talk about America's Armed Forces and it was free! There was a delightful breeze and it was a great night. I hope that this will become an annual tradition for our family.

#12 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-06-01T23:22:00.005-05:00

Continuing my 52 Things to do in Dallas with Kids 2011 resolution...

Launa's Little Library is a Lake Highlands gem. The librarian, Mrs. K, has a heart of gold and is incredibly patient with each of the 350 children who visit the library! Launa's Little Library was even featured in People Magazine! I first learned about LLL in September 2006 at the kick-off party for the Lake Highlands Area Early Childhood PTA, an incredible group of parents. I got a flier for LLL, and took my daughter there when she was 2 years old. On your second visit to the library you receive a yellow book bag to store your books. You are encouraged to visit the library every 2 weeks and can check out 5 books at a time. After the children have checked out their books with Mrs. K, they pick out a sticker.

Launa's Little Library is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and I know that the life of our family is richer because of our involvement in the library.

Every Memorial Day LLL hosts a Things on Wheels Parade and this year it was amazing. Mrs. K combined the fall birthday fundraiser celebration with the Memorial Day parade and called it Marvelous Memorial Day Madness. After the parade (Madeleine rode her bike and Everett his scooter), we had caricatures drawn, names printed with letter art, faces painted, ate some hot dogs, participated in the book balancing crazy race, rode the train, tried our luck in the cake walk at least 25 times (to no avail), and bounced in the bounce houses. We love Launa's Little Library!
some of the parade

Madeleine is a pro!

Everett on his scooter.

letter art

the cake walk... the Smiths do not have good cake walk luck... Madeleine is on the square but her number was not called.

Madeleine and Sydney in the book balancing race.

4 cousins riding the train

Two happy siblings after a great party!

A piano recital

2011-05-26T16:46:00.005-05:00

Since September we have been taking Madeleine every Wednesday for 30 minutes a few streets away for her piano lesson. Her teacher is so patient and kind and we feel so blessed to have her in our neighborhood. This week was the year end recital. Every single person who played was amazing! Encouraging Madeleine to practice every evening brought back lots of memories of my own mom "encouraging" me to practice, but we already told Madeleine that she is going to continue to take lessons (whether she likes it or not!). I am just amazed at how much she learned in 9 months, she went from knowing nothing to being able to play pieces with both hands!

Lee and Madeleine

Grandpa (my dad) and Madeleine

Madeleine with Aunt Kristin (my sister) and cousin Sydney. Forgive Everett's head on the bottom right of the picture...

Grandma (my stepmom) with Everett and Madeleine. Grandma brought a corsage for Madeleine to wear! It was beautiful and it made Madeleine's night! Note Madeleine's lack of teeth, she has to eat everything on the side of her mouth, it is amusing to watch.

Madeleine with Mrs. Joy. Mrs. Joy was Madeleine's Sunday School teacher when she was 3 years old at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. Mrs. Joy lives 2 doors down from the piano teacher so every week Everett and I go play at Mrs. Joy's during Madeleine's lesson and then Madeleine joins us. We are blessed to have Mrs. Joy in our lives! (I am also in a great book club with Mrs. Joy that she started 25 years ago and is still going strong!)

Madeleine moved her corsage to her hat, it is more fashionable that way I suppose...

Click on this link to enjoy this movie of Madeleine (could not get it to load on the blog). She played two songs at her recital, both with the teacher.

Knowing your neighbors

2011-05-21T20:11:00.004-05:00

At 3:45 pm Lee loaded the kids in the car and headed to Madeleine's softball game. I needed to leave at 5:15 pm to officiate at a wedding so I read some of my book, started a load of laundry, and watched some TV. At 5:15 I was all ready to go so I got my preacher robe and my Book of Worship and grabbed my purse and got in the car. I could not find my keys. They were not in my purse. I got out of the car and looked on the kitchen counter, but they were not there. I looked on Lee's dresser in the bedroom, but they were not there. I began to run (in my preacher high heels it was more like walked quickly) all around the house looking for my car keys. The extra key is on Lee's keyring, so I called him. Maybe he knew where they were. He had to walk to the parking lot to tell me that my keys were in the console of the car that was at the softball game 20 minutes away. The wedding started at 6 pm at the Mansion on Turtle Creek! I had told the couple that I would be there at 5:30 pm and it was already 5:20!!! Panic began to set in.

Lee offered to drive back, but I knew that I would not make it to the wedding in time. So, I called my neighbors. Three did not answer their phones, so I went next door and began to knock on doors. The first neighbor did not answer, but the next one did. I explained the situation in a very panicked voice. Just then Lee called and said that he thought that we had an extra key. So, I ran (preacher high heels so again walked quickly) back home, found the key, and was frustrated when it would open the car doors, but not turn the engine. So, back to the wonderful neighbor. She offered to drive me herself, but she was unable to leave right then so she offered to let me borrow her car.

I instilled great confidence in my wonderful neighbor when I could not figure out how to take off the parking brake and started pushing and pulling all the buttons. She reminded me about the parking brake lever and then I was off. It was 5:36 pm. I was on the freeway racing downtown when I realized that the hood was open. I must of opened it when I was pulling all of those buttons to turn off the parking brake. I had visions of the hood flying up and me crashing my generous neighbor's car. I exited the freeway, closed the hood, and arrived at the Mansion at 5:49 pm. I thanked God for the valet and ran to the top floor balcony where I officiated at a wedding of two very kind people.

As I was at the gas station filling up my neighbor's car I had many thoughts of thankfulness. Thankful (I think) that the rapture did not happen today at 6 pm, thankful that my neighbor was willing to let me borrow her car, thankful that I did not crash, thankful that there was no traffic, thankful that I live in a neighborhood where I know my neighbors well enough to ask them to let me borrow their car! I have a very thankful heart this evening...

around our house...

2011-05-17T23:35:00.003-05:00

Madeleine is always reading... and almost finished with first grade!

and Everett got a twin bed!

They are growing up so fast!

The cousins at the Dallas zoo

2011-05-17T23:29:00.003-05:00

This past weekend when the weather was so nice in Dallas we went with my sister and her 2 kids to the zoo. Our kids are very close in age and have a great time together. And I am so thankful that my sister only lives 5 minutes away from me!

Austin (my nephew) and Everett.

Everett, Austin (nephew), Madeleine, Sydney (niece).

There is a new bird show, Soar, at the Dallas zoo and I was chosen from the audience to come up and take a picture of a bird as it flew towards me. It was great fun! It is hard to see the bird, he is right in front of the people, but so cool!

The girl keeps losing teeth!

2011-05-17T23:17:00.004-05:00

Madeleine lost her 7th tooth! And it was so close to coming out that I was able to make a movie of Lee pulling it out!

So glad that Lee is willing to pull teeth because I am not!

Training Wheels OFF!

2011-05-17T22:40:00.004-05:00

Madeleine has been riding her bike with one training wheel for a few months because taking both training wheels off did not work so well. So, after many rides around the block tonight was the night that Madeleine wanted to try to ride her bike with no training wheels. She did great!

A movie of the first successful attempt. I love proud daddy Lee's reaction!

A high five after the first successful ride.

She rode down the entire block all by herself!

A very happy and proud girl!

She has got it now! Look at her go!

Love

2011-04-28T20:46:00.003-05:00

I remember before I got married I did not think that I could love my intended any more than I already did. But you know what? I love him even more today (next week is our 11th wedding anniversary) than I did yesterday. There is something about marriage that makes your heart expand.

Here is my incredible pirate spouse.

And when I look at these precious children that we have been incredibly blessed with, my heart expands even more.

#11 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-04-25T22:37:00.003-05:00

So, I made this crazy New Year's Resolution to blog weekly (did not happen) about 52 Things to do in Dallas WITH KIDS. Since it is almost May, I better get busy. Today, #11 Visit the Dallas Zoo. Seriously, it is way cooler than it used to be. Sometimes when you visit zoos you feel awful for the animals, but the new Giants of the Savanna area is AMAZING! I have never been that close to a giraffe and it was super cool to feed them lettuce. They have bumpy tongues! The zoo keepers were very talkative and friendly and even offered to take a picture of us feeding the giraffe.

There were 5 giraffes in the area and we saw one run and one bend way down to get a stick that two giraffes played with. In a different area we heard a male lion making lots of noise, maybe it was feeding time? He was prowling all over and he was just on the other side of the glass. It felt very open and like there was lots of room for the animals to move.

The children's area had a petting zoo area that I did not remember. It was filled with about 10 goats who were playing with tree limbs and eating the leaves. Everett kept trying to take away their big sticks and the goats did not like it. Everett did not much like the goats either... There were also donkeys in an area next to the petting zoo that were playing with each other.

We had a great time and can't wait to come back to see the new open air bird show, Soar a Festival of Flight.

Reconnecting

2011-04-11T19:58:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I was meeting with an engaged couple for their premarital counseling. I was feeling like they were just like me. They met in college and they even attended Texas Tech. Hey, I said, I did too! I had taken summer school there in 1994 and 1995 while my sister got her Masters in Math. When I asked them when they had been there, they responded that they had graduated in 2008. They were way younger than I was. How did I get this old? 40 is closer than ever before!

While I was feeling all old and wondering where my life had gone, I had the great opportunity to reconnect with a longtime friend. My friend Pam has lived the last five years abroad, in Oman and Brisbane, and my other longtime friend Victoria and I had decided that we needed to see Pam as soon as she was stateside. So, this past weekend Victoria and I hopped on a plane to Houston Friday afternoon. I had such a great time laughing, catching up, telling stories, and reconnecting not only with longtime friends but with myself.

My family has this tradition that we try to do every night at dinner. We go around the dinner table and share the best part of our day. That practice really makes me think about where I had had joy in that day. It makes me reflect on where I saw God and the working of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I lose me in the busyness of life. Reconnecting with good friends this past weekend reminded me of the joy of life. The joy of friends. The joy of being me.

Sunday morning I was back in Dallas, teaching Sunday School for the youngest ones at our church. I was getting lots of practice at practicing patience and I was a wee bit frustrated. Patti Osborne, an amazing woman of God, helped me to reconnect. At the end of class she suggested that the children make a kindness circle. These 8 children from the ages of 3-5 went around the circle sharing kind words about each other.

"He is really good at picking up his toys."
"She is very pretty."
"He is so cute."
"He is nice."

Reconnecting with kindness, with joy. I found that my heart was turned in that moment, ready again to embrace love, embrace hope.

Thanks be to God.

a box

2011-04-01T11:10:00.003-05:00

I love how kids can play with a box. This box has been a boat, a train, and now is the perfect place to sit while watching your morning TV show!

Dallas Rock-n-Roll Marathon

2011-04-01T10:51:00.003-05:00

After my mom and I completed the Komen 3-Day for the Cure last November and walked 60 miles and raised over $5000 combined to fight breast cancer, we started getting information about the Komen marathon for the cure program. So, we signed up for the Dallas rock-n-roll marathon, raised $650 combined for the Komen foundation, and participated this past Sunday. We had a great time, though we were both concerned about walking the 13 miles in the 4 hour time limit. There were 14,000 people participating and it took 20 minutes for us to cross the starting line! At one point there were 4 people behind us and then the police cars signaling the end of the race, but we surged and after seeing Grace UMC worshiping outside and trying to get to the person who was wearing angel wings, we finished officially in 3 hours and 58 minutes, baby.

before the race

Grace UMC worshiping outside

one of the angels that helped us to surge

our fans! Lee with Everett on his shoulders, Don with Madeleine

the family, Madeleine loved all of the free food!

The world is your oyster?

2011-04-01T09:50:00.004-05:00

Madeleine, my first grader, has been learning about the Presidents and money. We have had lots of questions about who is on what denomination or coin and why. And then Madeleine has been asking more thoughtful questions about why has there only been one black President and why has there never been a President who is a woman. I love that the world is her oyster and in her eyes it does not make sense that the leader of our nation does not have more variety than a white man. I wonder when the reality of life will begin to set in and she will realize that the world is not her oyster, that there is racial inequality, gender inequality, and socio-economic inequality?

#10 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-03-31T22:48:00.003-05:00

First, D Magazine totally stole my idea, but I was totally original and I did it first and I added "with Kids!" So, my #10 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids is go to the Dallas Arboretum. It is gorgeous! Right now it is Dallas Blooms and they have some fairy castles that the kids really enjoyed running to and exploring. My children were wonderful models, ahem, well, maybe not so much. They would not look at the camera! They loved running all around, rolling on the grass, and exploring.

Disneyworld in detail

2011-03-31T13:36:00.003-05:00

Our trip to Disneyworld was wonderful! We had a great time and are trying to convince ourselves that we saved money by going when Lee was there for a conference. I took 560 photos and Madeleine took 50 with her camera! My pointers for anyone who is going in the future are:

1. rent a stroller from Orlando Stroller (or Magic Stroller) if you think that your kids will have trouble walking all day (my kids are 3 and 6). I rented the city double stroller and am so glad that I did. We also loved staying at the yacht club where we were on the boardwalk and could walk to Epcot and ride the boat to Hollywood studios.

2. Get to the parks when they open. Get a fastpass when you can. Get a parkhopper. Use the wonderful internet resources that tell you which parks are crowded on what days.

3. I ordered the free Disneyworld DVD from their website and when Madeleine said that she didn't want to do any of the roller coasters, I listened. The DVD was a great introduction to the kids about the park.

Here is what we did:
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Survived a 2 hour plane trip by myself with two kids. The kids did great. Arrive at 4 pm and take free Magical Express Bus (which was awesome!) from airport to hotel. Everett fell asleep on me on the bus. The kids ask to go swimming in the wonderful pool area at the Yacht Club hotel. Lee surprises us at the pool at 6 pm and we get ready for Magic Kingdom. On our way to the bus, I asked the hotel about the stroller I had rented the night previously from Orlando Stroller. They said that it was not there. So, I replied to my confirmation email saying that the stroller was not there. At Magic Kingdom we were hoping to eat dinner and watch the parade and fireworks. It was drizzling as we got off the bus at Magic Kingdom at about 7 pm and just as we gave them our ticket card, the rain began to come so hard it was raining sideways! Even though we had ponchos in our hotel room, Lee bought ponchos for $7 each! As we walked in the driving rain, Madeleine was sobbing asking that we go back to the hotel. We continued on, and stopped at Casey's Corner on Main Street for hotdogs. Once the kids had eaten and a stranger had shared their cotton candy, the kids seemed happier. During this time, I checked my email and saw that the stroller company had emailed (at 8 pm!) saying that the stroller was delivered to the hotel that morning under the name I asked for, my maiden name. I had thought I was so smart because everyone would have the name Smith on their stroller, so I would use my maiden name. However, I did not share this tidbit with the hotel staff and they had not found the stroller because I had not told them the correct name. I was annoyed at myself but so glad because if we had the stroller it would have gotten soaked in the rain. Even though I thought of the episode as the stroller debacle, it all worked out.

Due to the rain the parade was canceled, so since the rain had stopped we decided to check out some rides. The crowds had vanished so we walked onto Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor where they show people from the audience. Madeleine was Boo from the movie and Lee was shown as buying everyone in the audience churros. Luckily, no one asked Lee to buy a churro. Then we walked onto the Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and loved it so much we rode it three times before we heard the fireworks begin. I later learned how lucky we were to walk right onto the Buzz Lightyear ride because it is normally very busy. When we heard the fireworks, we ran towards Cinderella's castle and enjoyed the fireworks though Everett was not interested at all. Madeleine said that she was so glad that we stayed and kept saying over and over again that this was her first time to see fireworks. I can not remember if this really was her first time to see fireworks or not. They extended the hours for Magic Kingdom one more hour, and said that in 30 minutes they would show a video projection thing on the castle. So, we got ice cream at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and watched a really cool Let the Memories Begin show on the castle. It is apparently new for 2011 which is the 40th Anniversary of Disneyworld and was very unique. On the bus back to our hotel Everett fell asleep on Lee. We were all asleep by 10:30 pm.

Thursday, March 10, 2011
Lee had to go to his Conference. Lee left the hotel room at 7 am, and since the kids were still sleeping I kept sleeping too. We did not wake up until 10 am!!! I picked up the stroller from the hotel asking for it under my maiden name. The websites had indicated Animal Kingdom was the least crowded park today, so the kids and I took a bus. We saw the first Festival of the Lion King show which was very well done. Then we bought an autograph book for Madeleine. Each page had a photo holder and also a place for the characters to sign. We got a fastpass for the Kilimanjaro safari and then took the train to Rafiki's planet watch because Madeleine wanted to see Pocohantas and that is where she hangs out. As we arrived, we were told she had just left and would return in 2 hours! Jiminy Cricket was coming out, but the kids were not at all interested in him. At Rafiki's planet watch there is a conservation station with animals to touch and learn about and a petting zoo. Madeleine and Everett pet every animal there, then we learned about snakes and we all touched the snake. We saw Rafiki and we waited to take a picture with him and then people were lining up for Pocohantas. Madeleine took her picture with Pocohantas, we took the train back, and had a very enjoyable safari ride where we saw all kinds of animals. I loved the male lion atop pride rock who was very photogenic. The Animal Kingdom 3:45 pm parade was the best parade of our entire trip. We took the bus back to our room, the kids swam in the pool, and then we rode the bus to downtown Disney. We had a princess and knight appointment at the Bibbity Boppity Boutique and they were running about 45 minutes behind so we wandered all around the huge Disney store in downtown Disney. We had a lot of fun looking at everything that was for sale. I said that the kids could each buy one thing, so Madeleine picked out princess flip flops and Everett picked out a pirate sword. As we came back to the boutique, I saw Carla Badgett! Carla was at my church growing up and we were in youth group and choir together. Carla is now a United Methodist pastor in Beaumont and had brought her two children to Disneyworld. I thought it was so funny that two United Methodist pastors had missed Ash Wednesday which was the previous day and were instead at Disneyworld!

The kids were well tended to at the boutique and Madeleine loved her fake hair and make-up. Everett's hair was spiked and filled with confetti, but since they gave him a play shield and sword he was in heaven. After everyone looked all fancy, I attempted to pay the very large bill. I had brought my room key which had our tickets to Disneyworld on them and worked as a credit card. I did not bring my driver's license or another credit card. Somehow I had demagnetized the magic Disney card and it would not work! After about 45 minutes of the helpful boutique people calling our hotel, everything was finally resolved. However, we were not going to make any parades that evening (I had hoped to go to Hollywood Studios Fantasmic which is just on select evenings). We went back to the hotel, found Lee at the restaurant, showed off the new hairdos, and the kids fell asleep very quickly by 10 pm.

Friday, March 11, 2011
We were up at 7 am. Why you ask? Well, Madeleine wanted to do Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios where 15 kids are in each show and fight one-on-one with Darth Vader. I had been told to get to the park as soon as it opened and run to the sign up area. I had told Madeleine we would do it the first day in case she was not one of the lucky few, so that we could try again the next day. We were planning on taking the boat to Hollywood Studios, so I pushed the stroller around the Boardwalk and Madeleine said that her feet were too cold in her new princess flip flops. So we went up to the room and when we went downstairs again, Madeleine discovered that she had left her sunglasses in the room. We went up to the room a second time, and then walked to the boat. The boat was very fun and quick and I was so glad that I did not have to fold up the stroller but instead was able to park the stroller in the back of the boat. We got to Hollywood Studios 10 minutes after it opened and ran to the Jedi Training sign-up. There was a long line and we waited about 35 minutes. Madeleine was in the 2 pm show! Lee was meeting us at lunch time, so it was perfect. We then walked quickly to the Toy Story Midway Mania ride to get fastpasses. We got them at 9:45 am and we were scheduled to return at 4:45 pm! They ran out of fastpasses for the ride by 10:30 am. I only had 3 fastpasses but a nice employee told me that if a majority of your party had fastpasses, then everyone in your party could get in the fastpass line. Yeah, Lee could go with us when he came and not have to wait 2 hours which is what the wait time was!

The kids and I watched the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show, waited in line to get Handy Manny's autograph (even though we were having lunch with him, Everett had to talk to Handy Manny right then). Everett loved the Disney Junior - Live on Stage show, and they even had Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Everett's new favorite show. Lee arrived and after a quick family photograph with Pooh and Piglet, we went for our character lunch at Hollywood and Vine with Handy Manny, Oso, June, and Leo. The buffet was good, but the dancing and one-on-one time with the characters was even better. Everett said his lunch with Handy Manny was the highlight of his trip. It was then time for Madeleine's Jedi Training show, and while she was getting some instruction, Lee, Everett and I got our picture with Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper! Madeleine did great in the Jedi Training show, and danced her way around Darth Vader. It was the highlight of her trip. We enjoyed the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade a lot as we saw lots of the kids' favorite characters from the movies. We then went inside the Magic of Disney Animation to rest in the air conditioning and to wait in line for Hollywood Studios Mickey Mouse, and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. As we walked to the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt 4 pm show, Everett fell asleep in the stroller and as I carried him into the stadium seating he continued to sleep. He continued to sleep during the loud, but pretty cool stunt show and only at the end did he wake up. As we walked to the Beauty and the Beast live show, Lee put Everett on his shoulders so Everett could see Lighting McQueen and Towmater. The Beauty and the Beast show was very well done and it was nice to sit in the shade of the pavilion and rest. We then went to the best ride at Disneyworld (in our opinion) Toy Story Midway Mania and were sad that the wait was 2 hours long to do it again. We took the boat back to our hotel and had a snack dinner of Lee's leftover Conference lunch, chips, candy, and an apple. We then walked (I was so thankful for the stroller!) to Epcot to see the 9 pm Illuminations show. There were magic hours at Epcot for those staying at a Disney resort, so as we walked around Epcot Everett fell asleep and Madeleine and I rode Journey into your Imagination with Figment. It is my favorite Epcot ride. We did have to show our room key to get on the Figment ride to prove that we were resort guests. We tried to get on the Test Track which I had heard was crazy busy, but there was a long line. I observed that there were many teenagers for magic hours, so I noted that during the next magic hours we should only do things that no teenager wants to do. We slid Everett into bed and Madeleine was quickly asleep. The only regret of the day is that the kids did not swim.

Saturday, March 12, 2011
Our first full day with Lee! YEAH to 2 parents! I dragged myself out of bed at 6:15 am because we could not be late for our princess breakfast reservation at 8:30 am! The breakfast food at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway was delicious, great eggs, fresh fruit, and salami. It was delicious, but the set-price meal had a huge bill. We noted that the breakfast bill was more than our entire food bill for the previous day. However, the meal and experience was one of the trip highlights. We walked to Future World at Epcot and got a fastpass for Test Track. At Mission Space we got a Rider Switch Pass. If there are 2 parents and only 1 child who can ride the ride (because of height restrictions) and 1 parent has to stay with the other child, you can get a rider switch pass. It lets you get in the fastpass line without a fastpass. Madeleine did the green milder mission with Lee and when it was my turn with her she wanted to try the orange more intense journey. It was a flight simulator and at the end I felt very ill. Madeleine wanted to go to the bathroom, and when she came out of the stall she informed me that she needed to throw up. So, she turned around, I held her fake princess hair out of her face, and she calmly threw up. She was very calm, cool, and collected about it! We got a Soarin fast pass but could not get on the ride for 4 more hours. We went to the Seas with Nemo and Friends and laughed during Turtle Talk with Crush. We went to the Innoventions area and played with all of the interactive games. We learned about saving at the Piggy Bank game and filmed ourselves in a video game. We had lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant with wonderful views of the fish and turtles. We went on the Living the Land ride that I remember from when I was a kid. We went back to do more Innoventions and Lee showed us the Raytheon Sum of all Thrills ride. Everett was too short to do it, but Lee and Madeleine designed their own video game and then had a simulator take them on it. Everett and I played a safety game and made paper. When we were all ready to leave, we could not remember where the stroller was. There is stroller parking everywhere, and we just could not remember which one we had used. We finally found it, and then went to Club Cool where you can drink different Coca Cola products from around the world. Madeleine loved it and the free aspect of it was very appealing. Madeleine decided her stomach was not up to the Test Track, so while Lee went to ride it alone, I took the kids to see the butterflies. Epcot was having its annual flower festival and the displays were gorgeous. The butterfly house was fun, and we looked at the very long line to meet Tinkerbell but Madeleine decided against it. We went over to the Land to watch the Circle of Life movie. The movie was very loud, but it was nice to be inside. Lee called us and the Test Track ride was broken but luckily he was not yet on it! So, we met Lee at Soarin and after a little encouragement, Madeleine said she was willing to try it. Everett was too short, so I entertained him for 30 minutes with my iPhone. Apparently, Soarin makes you feel like you are hang-gliding. Even though Madeleine and Lee loved the ride, I decided against seeing it with Madeleine because it had taken them 30 minutes in the line and we were ready for the hotel pool. We swam for 30 minutes, and the kids enjoyed more of Lee's Conference treats. This time it was chocolate covered Mickey Mouse rice krispies! We rode the bus to Magic Kingdom for the electrical parade and then went back to the hotel to get some pizza and brownies for dinner on the Boardwalk. We were able to see the Epcot fireworks from the Boardwalk and on our walk back to the hotel Everett fell asleep.

Sunday, March 13, 2011
Daylight savings day! I was determined to get to Magic Kingdom when it opened. Of course, the hotel bus was late and we got to Magic Kingdom 10 minutes after it opened, but probably because of Daylight Savings (we lost an hour) the park was not yet crowded. We quickly went to Fantasyland where most of the kid favorite rides are. We got a fastpass for Peter Pan's flight and received a Bonus fastpass for Mickey's PhilharMagic that we did not end up using. We waited 5 minutes for the Dumbo ride, walked onto the Mad Tea Party teacups, and waited 5 minutes for the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. Lee and I both let the kids drive and it was a very bumpy ride. I realized while I took Madeleine's picture that in 10 years she will be legal to drive! We tried to see the characters from Tangled, but apparently the characters had not realized it was Daylight Savings and there were not ready for autographs. We decided to see if Woody and Jessie were ready for autographs in Frontierland, and on our way we walked right onto the Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride. Woody and Jessie were nowhere, but we found Cowboy Mickey and Cowgirl Minnie. We got fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad because Madeleine said that her stomach was much better today. We rode the Pirates of the Caribbean while we waited for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fastpass time. While Lee and Madeleine rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Everett played in the shaded playground nearby. Madeleine loved her roller coaster ride! We went to ride the classic It's a Small World and Madeleine had lots of questions about which countries were being represented. It would be nice if they had signs. We loved Peter Pan's flight, and then watched a Pirate class taught by Captain Jack Sparrow! Everett and Madeleine both took the pirate pledge. We walked back to Frontierland to see if we could get Woody and Jessie's autograph but the line was 45 minutes long. So, Madeleine and Lee rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again while I got a picture of Everett in front of Woody and Jessie. I only need to learn how to photoshop the other people out of the photograph. Everett and I then explored Tom Sawyer Island. Everett loved the shaky bridges, and I loved the shade. We saw the Dream Along with Mickey show in front of Cinderella's castle, and were very impressed with our lunch at Cosmic Rays. It was healthy food (grilled chicken, yogurt for the kids), and there were monitors at each door to make sure that you were in the correct line. It was a well-oiled machine and I was most impressed with the grilled onions and mushrooms for my chicken sandwich. We watched the Hall of Presidents which was not too impressive for the kids, but I loved it because I remembered going when I was younger. We watched the parade at 3 pm, and then headed back for the hotel. We swam from 4-6 pm! We had a great time in the sand, in the lazy river, and eating a 3 scoop hot fudge sundae. There was a huge twisty slide and Everett wanted to ride in my lap. Unfortunately, we had to go down one at a time. The lifeguard told me to go first, and Everett seemed willing so he followed me down. I caught him at the bottom, and it was okay but we only did it once. A little too scary for my blood. We made sand castles, and after we all cleaned up we had pizza on the Boardwalk and took the boat to Hollywood Studios. We arrived 20 minutes before the Fantasmic show and were told it was at capacity! We walked around, and since Madeleine was up for it, we decided to wait for the next show in 1 1/2 hours. Everett fell asleep in the stroller and we waited in the Fantasmic line for a good hour. When we were finally able to get in, I was amazed to see a huge amount of bleachers that I estimated sat 10,000 people. The 9:30 pm show was almost full as well! Everett slept on me, but woke up during the show. It was an okay show, but I probably would not wait 1 1/2 hours again. Madeleine really enjoyed it though. We were back at the hotel by 10:30, but it took the kids a while to get settled, we started packing, and were not asleep until 11:30 pm.

Monday, March 14, 2011
Animal Kingdom had extra magic hours at 8 am for resort guests, so we were on the bus for Animal Kingdom at 7:20 am. I was amazed at how many people were there! It felt incredibly crowded and it was only resort guests! I made a bad decision and instead of heading for the Kilimanjaro Safari, I told Lee to head to DinoLand. Madeleine and Lee headed for the DINOSAUR ride that Everett was too short for. Everett and I were the first riders for the TriceraTop Spin which was just like the Dumbo ride and Magic Carpet ride at Magic Kingdom. The nice worker let us stay on the ride for 7 trips, many of which we were the only riders. Madeleine and Lee said that the DINOSAUR ride was terrifying with dinosaurs jumping out at them. At the end you could see a picture that they had taken of each car and both Lee and Madeleine were crouched down. DinoLand was deserted and I was regretting my decision to not head straight for the Safari, so we got Everett some apple juice which he quickly drank while we headed for the Safari on the other end of the park. On our way Lee got fastpasses for Expedition Everest but Madeleine heard people screaming and was not too sure about it. We waited about 20 minutes for the Safari and enjoyed ourselves again. We then walked in the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the komodo dragons. They were right near the entrance and Madeleine was ready to leave after we saw them. So, we headed back to Expedition Everest and Lee had to give away our fastpasses because Madeleine was not at all interested. We headed back to DinoLand for the Boneyard. The kids were in heaven and could have spent all day there. There were slides, a big playground, and a shaded fossil dig. We walked by the Discovery Island tree, took the bus back to the hotel, and finished our packing. We gave all of our luggage to the hotel desk and walked to Epcot to see the countries. We loved how Madeleine called it Epacot. We walked through the United Kingdom and Canada, got fastpasses for the Norway maelstrom ride and went to Mexico for our lunch reservations. After our meal Lee and Madeleine rode the maelstrom while Everett fell asleep in the stroller in front of China. Madeleine decided she wanted to get Jasmine and Aladdin's autograph so we headed for Morocco and waited 30 minutes. We walked back to the hotel, turned in our stroller, got on our Magical Express bus back to the airport, and headed back to Dallas on our 7 pm flight. Lee had loaded Toy Story 3 on the iPad, but after an hour the iPad ran out of battery. The kids were pretty restless for the last hour and lucky Lee was 10 rows behind us. We made it though, and the kids fell asleep in the car on the drive home.

Next time we go to Disneyworld:
More time & eating in countries at Epcot
ride a Sedgway at Epcot
character meal at the Contemporary
Hoop-dee-do review
pirates league for Everett where he transforms into a pirate
breakfast at Cinderella's castle
go to the Lego store in downtown Disney

Japan

2011-03-22T20:14:00.003-05:00

I lived in Japan for one year, from 1996-1997 and LOVED it. I was an English teacher with the JET Program, the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. The people were so kind, and everything was so different from Texas, and I learned a lot!

The first American death has been recorded in Japan, a JET teacher. I was at Disneyworld when the earthquake and tsunami happened, so it sort of seemed distant to me. Watching this 60 minute story about Japan made everything seem real.

I lived in Ibaraki prefecture, in Yasatomachi, which is on the other side of the mountain from Tsukuba, the science city. Ibaraki is about 4 hours southwest of Sendai by car. I taught at 4 junior high schools, and I rode my bike to them just like the American teacher who died. I loved my year in Japan. I made great friends, and loved the culture and the beauty of Japan. If you want to learn more about the experience of teaching English in Japan, read this excellent book by Bruce Feiler. I kept up with a few Japanese friends via email for a few years but have lost touch.

I did experience earthquakes while I lived in Japan and they were terrifying because I had never experienced any in my Texas life. Apparently, Ibaraki has had many earthquakes and aftershocks.

You can learn about what the United Methodist Church is doing in Japan right now and donate all at the same time. May we continue to lift up to God all those affected in Japan.

#9 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-03-17T08:53:00.003-05:00

Go to the children's center at the downtown library. I know, I know, I already posted about how wonderful the Dallas Public Library is, but the downtown children's center was recently remodeled and it is amazing.

First, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about homelessness when we visit the downtown library. Many of the folks inside and outside the library appear a bit haggard. There are always lots of questions about why they look the way that they do, why they smell, etc. I am so glad that there is a place where all are welcome to come inside, to rest and to relax.

Second, the entire second floor is only open to children. Even the bathrooms are children sized! To come to the second floor you must have a child with you. There are always at least 3 library employees and I always feel very safe.

Third, there are so many more books and movies at the downtown branch. The renovations increased the size of the children's center to 16,500 square feet with 125,000 books, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs. There are also 6 computers with screens that are bigger than our TV at home. When we went to the children's library yesterday, the computers were filled with children with headphones on playing educational games.

There are also 10 iPads!!! with different educational apps on them. There are also lots of storytimes, puppet shows, and hands-on projects. Yesterday, Madeleine attended an art class where she learned about abstract art. There are also magnetic and chalk walls and a discovery wall that is a 14X14 floor flat screen wall that has a real-time tele-presence but we have not been able to see it in action yet.

#8 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-03-17T08:48:00.004-05:00

Go to the American Girl store, play with everything in the store, and do not purchase a thing. When the American Girl store opened in Dallas, I took Madeleine and I was amazed that the kids were invited to play with everything in the store. For every item that you can purchase there is one outside of the box, at kid-level, that they are welcome to touch and play with.

When I asked Madeleine what she wanted to do during spring break, her first response was, "Go to the American Doll store" (that is what she calls it). Each time before we enter the store, I make very clear that I am not going to purchase anything. I tell her that she can play with anything in the store, for an hour, and then we are going to leave. Mommy is not going to buy anything. I am amazed when I make this clear from the beginning, there is no whining or pleading for me to buy this or buy that.

Then, we always go to the 3rd floor playground at the Galleria Mall and walk to see the ice skaters.

Disneyworld - our favorite things

2011-03-17T07:41:00.004-05:00

Everett's favorite thing:
having lunch with Handy Manny

Madeleine's favorite thing: (video below)
Jedi training at Hollywood Studios where she fought one on one with Darth Vader

Lee and Kerry's favorite things:

riding in the tea cups as a family

having Everett fall asleep on us, and realizing that this might not happen ever again...

and watching the kids have such a great time

Disneyworld was magical, or as Lee liked to say magically expensive. It was a wonderful family vacation.

An update in photos

2011-03-07T15:40:00.005-06:00

We have been busy going to soccer practices, soccer games, gymnastics, piano, swimming class, work, school, and planning for our trip to Disneyworld! Seriously, the trip to Disneyworld has required much internet planning! So, here are some photos that I have taken lately...

the kids playing on some dry erase boards that we have...

Everett in his Dr. Seuss hat that he made at school...

And debuting Madeleine's photo taking skills. These were taken yesterday at our church's chili cook-off!

the chili was good! There were 10 entries!

And these were good, but super sweet. I had seen them on this blog and wanted to try them out!

We'll post next week with our Disney photos and Disney tips!

#7 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-02-21T09:20:00.003-06:00

Go to the Dallas Children's Theater. I have been trying to promote free (or close to it) things in my 52 things to do in Dallas with Kids and usually you do have to pay money to attend the Dallas Children's Theater but I won an email contest posted on facebook from North Texas Kids and received my tickets for free! I have also attended for free during the Dallas Public Libraries Summer Reading Program.

I booked the 4:30 pm showing on Sunday since naps would be finished and hopefully my 3 1/2 year old son would be ready to sit, watch, and listen for his first visit to the Dallas Children's Theater. The show was 70 minutes with no intermission and after 30 minutes he was getting very antsy, but with promises that it was almost over, just 5 more minutes, just 4 more minutes, etc., he made it through the entire show!

I had bought season tickets last year for myself and at the time my 5 year old daughter and enjoyed our girl time together, but this season we had chosen not to renew. When I purchased the season tickets we were in section B in the back of the theater because they were cheaper. For our free North Texas kids tickets, we were in the front, in section A. I am never going back to section B! The action seemed so close and my kids were more engaged. (Although there really is not a bad seat in the house). I also love that there is no assigned seating, you get to pick your own within a section which encourages you to get there early!

The play, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, was well done and enjoyed by both adults and the children. I was glad that there was no intermission because we did not have to have the discussion about buying candy from the concession stand. The concession stand and gift shop were not even open, thankfully. And the favorite activity of all was at the end of the show when all of the actors come to the lobby and autograph the programs.

The ability to get under your skin

2011-02-17T10:27:00.003-06:00

My children have an incredible ability to get under my skin. My sweet boy Everett is 3 1/2 and soon after he turned 3 I remember thinking that the terrible 2s should instead be called the terrible 3s. Last week we were on our way to have lunch at school with big sister Madeleine, so I turned off Handy Manny, a show about a handyman named Manny, and noticed that something was on the TV. Everett had hidden the toy saw that Santa gave him for Christmas behind him, and I quickly realized that Everett had used the saw to make scratches on our DLP TV screen. Everett eventually explained that he was sawing like Manny. We have not watched Handy Manny since... These 6 5-inch scratches were in the middle of the TV and did not rub off. The TV repair man came yesterday and said that he thought he could buff them out, and as he loaded our TV into his van I realized that he did not tell us how much that would cost... I am thinking of confiscating Everett's allowance until he is 10...

That same day Everett was "napping," when I heard him using his toy hammer. I was wishing that Santa had not gotten him the entire tool set for Christmas... My sweet angel of a son was banging on his wall with such power that I had to use putty to fill in the holes and repaint.

The tools are now in a cabinet that is so high even I had to get the step stool to put them inside.

This morning Everett was not doing what he was supposed to do and after his period of reflection (the famous time-out), he would not apologize for his behavior. It was amazing how quickly his refusal to do what we wanted him to do got under our skins. We might appear to be calm and rational adults, but we quickly diverted to people who were taking away everything that this sweet boy loves. No TV, no books before bedtime, no gymnastics. Oh, you still won't do what I want you to do... AHHH! My 6 year old daughter, Madeleine suggested that we not let him play Star Wars for a year (he loves his light sabers), but after careful reflection I thought a year might be a bit long. She amended her suggestion to one month.

Everett eventually did apologize, but it was an out of body experience for me to see how quickly our anger came out, how quickly he was able to push all of our buttons and get under our skins. Being a parent is hard, and taking that time to count to 10 and calm down is so essential.

After Everett made the scratches on the TV, we went to have lunch with big sister Madeleine at her school. I had not screamed at him, but instead kept saying that I could not believe what he had done. I was so distraught and did not know what to do, and told the lunch lady what had happened. She told me, "Well, you love him, but you do not love his choices." Such wisdom from the lunch lady.

Yes, I love my son and there are many times when I do not love his choices. And that made me think about God (because you know, I'm a United Methodist preacher and we do that.. :) ) Yes, God loves me, but there are many times when God does not love my choices.

#6 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-02-07T20:47:00.002-06:00

Visit the Frontiers of Flight Museum. We have been for birthday parties and loved it, and you can also go on your own. It is so fun to walk through the museum, sit in the jumper seat, see a moon rock, climb the flight tower, and talk to your kids about how flight has changed. At the museum I learned the vital role Dallas/Fort Worth played during World War II. There was a flying school in Terrell, Texas where 2,000 British fighter pilots were trained.

From their website, "Dallas Love Field was the base for the 5th Ferrying Wing, including the 601st Women's Army Service Pilots (WASP). These gallant women flew all types of aircraft including the B-24 "Liberator", manufactured at Consolidated's Fort Worth plant, the P-51 "Mustang" manufactured at the North American plant at Grand Prairie, and the P-38 "Lightning" which was modified at Dallas Love Field's Lockheed Mod Center."

This is a pretty cool and educational place to take your kids.

Snow is delicious.

2011-02-07T20:42:00.002-06:00

#5 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-02-07T20:28:00.004-06:00

Visit a swim class for free. We are big Emler Swim School fans, but all of the swim places will let you try a class for free. Of course, we always sign up...

Madeleine went every Saturday for 3 years (from age 2 to age 5) and swims like a fish. We just started Everett and he is warming to it... slowly.

The first class. We decided not to bring the goggles (or wobble gobbles as Everett calls them) the next week and that seemed to help.

Saddest kid ever.

After 3 weeks of swim class. This is after class in the play pool where they can stand and they play after class. (Shhh, I don't think Madeleine is allowed because she is not taking classes, but she wanted to go swimming.)

The story of two front teeth

2011-02-07T20:15:00.004-06:00

When Madeleine was 18 months (January 2006), we took this photo.

The next day she was wearing footed pajamas, fell onto the kitchen chair, and one of her front teeth popped out. She seemed to recover quickly.

Fast forward to 2011. Madeleine is 6 1/2. And the other front tooth started to wobble!

And then, at the beginning of niece Sydney's 7th birthday party, Madeleine came to me ... bleeding...

Lee (daddy) was called upon to pull out the tooth. And Madeleine was thrilled.

She has been singing, "All I want for Valentine's Day is my two front teeth, my two front teeth" all day.

A home phone

2011-01-28T15:49:00.003-06:00

I still remember the home phone number that we had when I was little (460-5228, this was before the 10 digit numbers). And when Madeleine could recite our home phone number, it made me so proud. But when I was late to pick her up one day because I was caught it traffic, and she told me that she had called me but I didn't answer, I began to wonder about the necessity of a home phone. She had called our home phone number because that is the number that she knew, but I was not at home. If she only knew my cell phone number... Well, that had me start thinking...

Did we need a home phone? The only people who called us on it were telemarketers, and I was tired of receiving those calls.

The only thing preventing us from giving up our home phone number was our security system that needed a phone line. So, we have changed our security system to use a wireless box and I just canceled our home phone number.

We will see if we miss it!

Room - A Book Review

2011-01-28T12:20:00.002-06:00

I read Room in 2 days for one of my Book Clubs. I could not put the book down. I did not want to read it initially, a book narrated by a 5 year old child who was born in captivity and whose entire world consists of Room. No thank you. But, I can not stop thinking about it. I was looking at a friend from college's worst and best books for 2010, and she said that it was the best book for her of 2010. Her comment about Room being "ultimately the story of a power of a mother's love for her child" is what resonated with me about this book. I found this website that lets you put yourself in Room, and the perspective changes as if you are in Room.

Also found on that website is this quote by the author of Room, Emma Donoghue, "Our culture is constantly telling stories about psychos who capture women. I deliberately kept my kidnapper out of the spotlight. The more I read and thought about it, the more it seemed to me that there is no comfortably fixed moral distance between a kidnapper and the rest of us. (The existence of entire slave-owning societies reminded me that humans often find it both convenient and pleasurable to own others.) It was not Old Nick's evil that fascinated me, but the resilience of Ma and Jack: the nitty-gritties of their survival, their trick of more or less thriving under apparently unbearable conditions."

Room is a book that you will continue to think about, long after you have finished the last page. To me that is the sign of a great book, one that keeps coming to your mind, one that you keep thinking about, long after it is over.

#4 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-01-25T09:37:00.008-06:00

Visit a gymnastics class for free. Every year I call the local gymnastics place and they let your child come for a free gymnastics class. Each year Madeleine had enjoyed herself, but not wanted to sign up for more. This past August we tried again and Madeleine finally wanted to be in gymnastics instead of ballet or tap. So, I asked if they had classes for Everett too, and once he turned three he could be in his own class as well. So, we were going to start in October when Everett turned three, but then it was Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it was not until yesterday that we started gymnastics for both kids at ASI.

The kids had a blast! They each received a chart with the skills that they have to achieve before they can advance to the next class. They each received a sticker because they were able to freeze on the trampoline. I do have an ulterior motive for signing the kids up, I want to learn how to do a cartwheel...

Madeleine (in pink) enjoying her class

Everett doing donkey kicks, which I think is the beginning of cartwheels.

A movie of Everett freezing on the trampoline.

Check out Everett jumping..

#39 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-01-24T12:09:00.000-06:00

Attend Tuba Christmas in downtown Dallas. This event began in Dallas in 1974 and is held at Thanksgiving square downtown. These Tuba Christmas events are all over the world and I was so excited to go this year. Unfortunately, I did not realize that when Christmas Eve is on a Saturday, then they have the Tuba Christmas (last year it was on Christmas Eve) on Friday. So, I missed it this year, but the kids are excited about going next year! You can watch the 2007 Tuba Christmas event on youtube here.

Making cookies

2011-01-21T12:04:00.002-06:00

The kids helped me make cookies yesterday, but the best part for them was cleaning up afterward...

#3 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-01-18T20:15:00.004-06:00

Go to the public library. This past Saturday we visited two different public libraries. In the morning we went for a puppet show and in the afternoon I took my daughter and niece to read to Heart of Texas therapy dogs. The dogs were great listeners! I love the amazing events at the public library!

Everett (on the right) enthralled with the puppet show.

My niece reading to Elliott, the dog.

Madeleine reading to Pretzel, the dog.

#2 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-01-09T22:03:00.005-06:00

Play in the snow. Sure, it doesn't snow every year, but when it does ... it is awesome!!! It has snowed the last two winters in Dallas, so it must be a trend... (we can hope). And when it snows,
snowball fights are mandatory, as is building a snowman! Just FYI, if you ever have a snowball fight with a 3 year old, they play dirty. Madeleine was taking her time, making perfectly round balls and Everett was just shoveling the snow at Madeleine. He definitely won the snowball fight.

Here is Madeleine rolling either a)the biggest snowball ever or b)the bottom of the snowman.

Don't you think they need to make a Buzz Lightyear hat for adults? And mittens? I miss mittens!

Seriously this girl rolled this ball around the entire yard all by herself! It was heavy!

Showing off the snowman to the neighbors...

Some clean snow that tasted delicious!

Hope that you were able to enjoy some snow!

Trip to Wimberley

2011-01-06T13:38:00.006-06:00

Every year Lee has the week between Christmas and New Years off, so the Sunday after Christmas (since I work on Sundays), we head down to Wimberley for a time of relaxation and unwinding. We made our annual trip to the Wimberley Trail of Lights with my mom and stepdad (Nana and Papa).

playing at the Trail of Lights

We of course made our annual trek to the outlet malls in San Marcos, while my mom took the kids to the children's museum in New Braunfels.

This year we knew that we wanted to go to Blanco like we did last year to pick up some yummy apple bread from the Deutsch Bakery. My mom had seen outdoor ice-skating the last time that she was in Fredericksburg and it isn't too far from Blanco, so we went to both! For lunch we stopped at Rather Sweet Bakery for lunch. It was very delicious!

The Christmas pyramid in the Fredericksburg town square.

Madeleine ice-skating.

Trying out hats in the stores in Fredericksburg.

The kids in the doghouse in Fredericksburg.

The next day we ventured to Gruene with my mom and stepdad as well as my aunt Judy and uncle Gil. All of our Gruene pictures were taken by my very talented Aunt Judy.

A family photo by a wagon.

Lee pointing out a vulture that was on top of the building.

Everett playing at lunch. The food was great at the Gruene River Grill.

Everett saying, "No more pictures Aunt Judy!"

Dancing at Gruene Hall.

On our drive back we were able to have lunch with our college friend Drew Weston and also see my other niece and nephew, Cassandra and Xander. We had a great trip!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-06T13:26:00.003-06:00

All dressed up for Christmas Eve service (I was the preacher!)

And the kids sang

(excuse my son Everett playing with the dollar bill that he was given for the offering). I had to stop taking the movie so that I could persuade my son to sit with me while everyone else sang. The video can be found here.

A Christmas post

2011-01-06T11:32:00.006-06:00

Just a few pictures from our Christmas...

I got the kids plates with their full names and dates of birth on them.

Madeleine really wanted days of the week underwear. The package came with 9 pairs. 2 extra for laundry day? The 2 extra have designs on them.

Everett wanted to finish the cookies that Santa took a bite out of.

Celebrating Christmas with my mom. Madeleine LOVED her Nintendo DSi.

And this is the image of Madeleine that we will see from now on. Head down, playing with her video game.
Madeleine so excited about her American Girl doll llama.

Within minutes of opening his tools, Everett had figured out how to fashion a gun. Seriously.

Everett rocking it out on his guitar.

Everett building a castle as we got ready for bed (he ran away before I put his top on!) from last year's Christmas present of blocks.

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration!

#1 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

2011-01-06T10:30:00.003-06:00

The first Tuesday in January I was able to bring my daughter, Madeleine, and my niece, Sydney, to work with me since they were still on winter break. Sydney had seen the pinkberry on the way to the church and she said that she loved pinkberry. And I knew that the McKinney Trolley route was right there. And then I thought, isn't the Dallas Museum of Art open for free on the first Tuesday of the month? After a little googling, our afternoon plans were set. I settled the girls into the Parlor at the church and was so excited when I realized that the first Tuesday craft group was coming. This wonderful group loved listening to the girls and shared with me afterwards that the girls love to pretend that they are sisters. I did not know that!

So, with the morning of meetings finished and a little more work completed, we left at 2 pm for pinkberry. It turned out that my niece Sydney had never been there, she just loved that it was called pink!

The girls managed to finish their treat and then we headed across the street to ride the free McKinney Avenue Trolley. They thought it was so cool that they did not have to put on a seatbelt just like the school bus.

The last trolley stop was the Dallas Museum of Art and the girls skipped to the incredible children's area where they made sculptures out of foil, sketched, and loved exploring.

After a long time, they finally agreed that we could leave the children's area and explore the rest of the museum. We never made it off of the first floor (there are four levels), and my favorite moment was when we entered a room with a sculpture of a little boy playing with a car. The girls ran right up to it and I saw the gallery attendant begin to grimace and open her mouth, when the girls skidded to a stop. They knew not to touch the art! Look with our eyes and not our hands. Love those girls! They wanted to go outside as well to run among the sculptures.

I had a great time with the girls and it was all free (except for the pinkberry!) They loved the trolley ride back, though they wanted to stand up since they were so comfortable on the trolley by now and they had to be reminded by the conductor to sit down.

52 things to do in Dallas WITH KIDS?

2010-12-30T21:02:00.005-06:00

While we were having our annual "unwind after Christmas" vacation at my mom's house in Wimberley, I read this article in the Austin paper. An Austinite had decided to blog every day about an interesting place in Austin that she had visited, she called it 365 Things to do in Austin. That sounds ambitious. Is it corny to try 52 Things to do in Dallas? On facebook there are 365 Things to do in Dallas...

So... to live large and aim high, here are my 2011 Resolutions.

1. Remember each and every day that I am a precious child of God; called to love God, love myself, love my husband, and love my kids.
2. Blog weekly about 52 Things to do in Dallas WITH KIDS. See, I was original, I added with kids.
3. Lose 10 pounds (I know I told myself I would lose these 10 pounds by my birthday in October, and then it was by Christmas, maybe giving myself the whole year is not a good idea?
4. Walk a half marathon March 27 for the Komen Marathon for the Cure (raising $250 for breast cancer research) and walk 60 miles in 3 day for the Komen 3-Day for the Cure in November (raising $2,300 for breast cancer research).
5. Since #4 above is already on the calendar, maybe a resolution to adequately prepare for those events would be a good goal...

What are your 2011 resolutions?

Holiday Express Riding Train

2010-12-21T23:15:00.003-06:00

Last year I found out about this wonderful electric train that runs during December. We had a blast last year and it was even more fun this year with older boys who appreciated the trains even more. I can't believe this gem is 10 minutes from our house, free, and operated by the nicest man! There have not been crowds when we have been there, we rode three times in a row this year.

that's Everett and Madeleine in the front car, I'm three cars back with my blue camera bag. Papa is behind me and Nana is behind him.

Everett loved the train!

So did Austin (in the car behind Everett, Sydney and Madeleine)

Look! No hands! Madeleine, nephew Austin, Aunt Kristin, niece Sydney, and Everett

All of us - my sister Kristin and her kids Austin and Sydney, me and Lee and Madeleine and Everett, and my mom (Nana) and stepdad (Papa)

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Greetings!

2010-12-14T20:16:00.003-06:00

Christmas 2010

Do you ever look at your life, at your job, your family, your friends and just want to hold up your hands in thanksgiving to God? We are blessed with two of the most beautiful children. Madeleine is 6 ½ and is in 1^st grade. She began playing soccer this year, is a daisy girl scout, and started piano lessons this September. We are amazed that in one year’s time she has begun to read and really enjoys it. We love her inquisitive mind, her mother hen nature, and her heart.

Last week Everett said, “I’m cute.” Obviously, he hears that a lot. He sure is cute though! He loves his sister so much and loves to do whatever she is doing. He goes to school at our church, Oak Lawn United Methodist, and loves playing outside, fighting with his light sabers, and playing with balls. Although he never tried to climb out of his crib, a few weeks ago we decided we needed to move him into the toddler bed. Why would you move a child who is trapped in his crib into a bed where he can roam free? Well, that is a very insightful question… We are wondering if the terrible 2s, should instead be named the terrible 3s. There is never a dull moment when a boundary can be tested!

We give God thanks for our two places of employment. Lee continues to work at Raytheon, just 10 minutes from our house and Kerry continues to work at Oak Lawn UMC. We both feel incredibly blessed to work with people we like and to enjoy the work that we do. We also give thanks that we still like each other after 10 years of marriage! For our anniversary we used our passports for the first time in a long time and went to the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica.

We keep busy ferrying the children from activity to activity, and doing endless chores around the house. This year we had a possum living in our attic, our garage door unit fell from the ceiling, and the outlet behind our washer and dryer stopped working. How do we have time to fix everything around our house, go to work, and play with our kids? It is never dull! We continue to try to stay active. Lee has faithfully walked with some friends every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning this year and Kerry participated with her mom in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure walking 60 miles in 3 days. Together they raised over $6500 to fight breast cancer! And, they have already signed up for next year!

When we think back on the year of 2010, we wonder how it flew by so quickly! We are incredibly blessed with health, joy, love, and faith. We do ask you to keep Lee’s mom, Sherry, in your prayers. She is in a nursing home and we try to visit frequently. Her health is declining. From our family to yours, may you experience the wonder, the joy, and the peace of this wonderful Christmas season!

Lee, Kerry, Madeleine and Everett Smith

Pictures with Santa

2010-12-13T11:43:00.007-06:00

I took the kids to visit Santa. Everett said he wanted a truck. When pressed, he said a big blue truck. When I asked Madeleine what she wanted and the response for a third year in a row was an American Girl doll, I said that Santa liked variety. So she agreed that an art kit would be good. The first year Santa did bring an American Girl doll, and the next year when the same request was made, Santa brought a doll for the doll (did you know that they make those? They do!).

If you want to see the progession of Everett's response to Santa, check out these previous pictures. This is in 2008 when Everett is 1 and Madeleine is 4. At age 1 Everett was having nothing to do with this new person named Santa.

This is in 2009 when Everett is 2 and Madeleine is 5. I think that age 2 is my favorite! Everett is physically trying to crawl out of Santa's lap.

And in 2010 when Everett is 3 and Madeleine is 6. Everett looks like he has accepted Santa, though not yet smiling. I love how Madeleine is grinning from ear to ear in every photo! Check out Madeleine's boots too!

A new bed...

2010-12-12T21:34:00.003-06:00

What do you do when your child has never attempted to crawl out of the crib? They do not even seem to know that there is an option of getting out of the crib by themselves? What do you do when that kid has turned 3 and well, you have a toddler bed in the attic...?

Everett turned 3 October 5 and the week before Thanksgiving Lee said, "Do you think we should get the toddler bed down?" My response was, "Are you kidding? He doesn't know that he can get out of that thing!"

I remembered taking 3 year old Madeleine to pick out her own sheets for the toddler bed and she seemed so much older than 3 year old Everett. I just could not imagine him picking out his own sheets like she did. So, we took a trip to the store. I figured if Everett had an opinion about his sheets, then he was old enough for the toddler bed. He was very clear that he wanted Buzz and Woody sheets. Hmph... maybe he was old enough...

So, over the Thanksgiving break we got down Madeleine's old toddler bed from the attic. Everett was so excited about his new bed. I called Goodwill to take away the crib, but they said that they would not accept it because there were so many cribs that had been recalled. So, a lovely family from freecycle now has the crib that we bought in 2004 for Madeleine when we lived in Krum (I bought it from Target on-line). Lee assembled that thing so many times (he had to disassemble it to even get it out of Everett's room!)

I told Lee that there would be no more naps now that Everett was not trapped in his crib, but he has even napped in his new bed! He still calls for us to take him to the bathroom, I keep telling him that he can get out...

happy boy!
Madeleine and Everett playing "wake up!" They scream "wake up" and jump on the bed. Taking turns of course...

My sweet knight... who is growing up so fast!

Superheroes

2010-12-12T21:33:00.003-06:00

Madeleine and Everett playing superheroes, they have so much fun with each other (most of the time)

Fort Worth zoo

2010-12-11T08:53:00.005-06:00

I had never been to the Fort Worth zoo, so for my birthday I wanted to visit. Unfortunately, due to the Reflections art program, the 3-Day for the Cure, and Madeleine's soccer games, the first day that we could go was the day before Thanksgiving. I was incredibly impressed. The animals had large areas to roam and play, and we even saw them play! This orangatun played with a sheet for about thirty minutes and we were all fascinated. The orangatun played hide-and-seek, put the sheet on like superman, and threw it into the river and then would reach long arms in to retrieve it.

I loved the orangutan but I loved the bonobo apes more because there was a baby. I can not remember ever seeing the bond between mom and baby in such a real way as I did at the Fort Worth zoo.

The baby laying on mommy.

The baby nursing. So cool!

Madeleine feeding the birds. She had a bird land on her stick, but I did not take a picture fast enough.

Me with the kiddos balancing on a bronze kangaroo.

Wanda

2010-12-11T08:49:00.003-06:00

Wanda is my step dad's mom and she is just amazing. We recently attended her 95th! birthday party. Here is Wanda with Madeleine and

Nancy (Wanda's daughter) with Wanda's birthday cake with (I think) 95 candles! Wanda makes from scratch angel food cake for everyone's birthday, so her birthday cake was also angel food.

Soccer

2010-12-11T08:32:00.004-06:00

My sister and I both played soccer, so it was very special this fall when our girls played on the same soccer team. Madeleine had played last spring when there were just 3 players per side and they played on half the soccer field playing two games at one time. This fall they played with 7 girls on each side, played the entire length of the soccer field (I think it was a regular size soccer field, but maybe it was smaller), and even had a goalie! I was so proud of my niece Sydney, it was her first time to play soccer and she was aggressive! Sydney was great on defense, she would run up and stop the ball, no matter what! She also played with her glasses that she got in August, and they did not bother her at all! Everyone who played on the panda team last spring signed up to play with them again this fall. Sydney was the only new player and she blended in so well. Madeleine usually played offense, but also loved her turns at goalie.

Here is Madeleine and Sydney (my niece) receiving their soccer trophies. This year only the 1st and 2nd place team got trophies, but our wonderful coaches pitched in and got our team trophies too. As for their record, I will only say that they had a lot of fun, which is the most important part!

My beautiful niece Sydney getting her soccer trophy.

Madeleine getting her soccer trophy.

The girls, I love Madeleine's hair in this shot.

The "please stay still" shot.

I love Sydney's hand on Madeleine's shoulder. They are such good friends! (unless they are yelling at each other)

Do you remember doing this? I don't think I could do this anymore...

Everett wanted to do it too...

A house

2010-12-11T08:28:00.002-06:00

No one ever tells you how much work a house is. I miss the days of calling apartment maintenance to change a light bulb... This fall our garage door opener fell from the ceiling.

and a possum came to live in our attic.

Thank God for animal control! I have to go, we're going to try and squeeze behind the washer and dryer to fix the outlet that no longer works...

The kids this fall

2010-12-11T08:24:00.002-06:00

Madeleine & Everett with my 3-Day flashlights and 3-Day freebies of pom poms, necklaces, and exercise headband.

Madeleine with some scary Halloween teeth!

Everett "playing"

Second Child

2010-12-10T22:10:00.003-06:00

Mrs. Joy, an amazing woman who taught Madeleine's 3 year old Sunday School when we were at Lovers Lane UMC, and just happened to live two streets away from us, is a huge part of our lives. She lives two doors down from Madeleine's piano teacher, so every Wednesday Everett and I go to Mrs. Joy's while Madeleine is learning piano. Mrs. Joy plays football with Everett, chases him around the yard, gives him a cookie and milk, and always has a color sheet for him to color. She is an incredible woman and I am so thankful for her influence in my life and in the lives of my children. Mrs. Joy also invited me to be a part of her Book Club that she began 25 years ago, the EZ Reader's Book Club. I so enjoy these ladies, the discussion that we have of the books, and the wisdom that they share.

Like me, Mrs. Joy has two children, first a girl and then a boy.

Mrs. Joy shared with me this poem and I think it is such a treasure:

Second Child by Toby Devens Schwartz from the book "Mercy Lord, My Husband's in the Kitchen and Other Equal Opportunity Conversations with God."

Dear son, dear afterthought
memento of one tiny flight of love
for whom I sacrificed my trip to Nassau, my job promotion, the last of my waistline
Happy is the woman who hugs her child in the night and says
It was worth it.

Dear son, dear second-born
reluctant toothless dragon of my dreams
who dug in for a ten-month gestation (you still there? phone calls begin)
and a nineteen-hour labor (you still here? the obstetrician grins)
Happy is the woman who rocks her child in her arms and says
It was worth it.

Dear son, dear what will be
sweet triumph of hope over fatigue
who looks a little like his father and a little like his mother and a lot like a miracle.
Happy is the woman who holds her child in the light and says,
It was worth it.

It was worth it, Lord,
Thank you.

Face-painting

2010-12-10T14:15:00.006-06:00

When I think back on this fall, it feels like it has been a whirlwind of activity since August when school started. Right before the 3-Day for the Cure, I was co-chair of this big art program at Madeleine's school called Reflections. We had a total of 225 entries that had be mounted on posterboard and judged. The night of judging was the day after my birthday and I was at Madeleine's school from 5 pm until 12:30 am! The good news was we were able to send 45 to district, and the kids had a lot of fun making the art.

The day before the Komen 3-Day, my mom flew in from Austin. I had to be at the school to hang ribbons on each one of those 225 entries, so my mom took the kids home to play. When they picked me up at school a little bit later, faces had been painted!

here the kids are at Moss Haven Elementary. Madeleine is standing in front of her red ribbon picture of our street.

Here they are face-painting!

Everett even painted himself!

And he wanted to wear the face-painting hat!

Then Everett wanted to face-paint Nana!

And boy, was she covered in paint!

Inspiration to walk

2010-12-08T14:45:00.005-06:00

As my mom and I were nearing the end of our 3 day, 60 mile journey on the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, my mom reminded me about her dad, my grandpa. Grandpa loved to walk in his local mall, Memorial City Mall. He would go every day during the week and racked up 5,000 miles at Memorial City Mall! He won a free pair of tennis shoes and his name was put on a plaque. Mom and I talked about going to visit and see if the plaque was still there. As we were digging deep looking for inspiration to make every step, my mom reminded me about my grandpa. This is a picture of my grandpa with his granddaughters, my sister and me, at my mom's wedding to Don in 1995.

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure

2010-12-06T19:54:00.007-06:00

Wow. What an experience. It was more than a month ago, but I still think about it everyday. Mom flew in from Austin the day before (on Thursday) and we woke up on Friday morning at 5 am. At 5:30 am Aunt Sally, a gift from God, arrived to take us to Plano. Aunt Sally said that she would willingly take us to Plano as long as she did not have to walk 60 miles in 3 days. In the car Aunt Sally told us what her strategy would be. Walk a block or two, go to the side of the route and put your thumb down indicating that you needed to be picked up by the sweeper van. The sweeper van would then take you to the next pit stop. Aunt Sally recommended walking a few more blocks and repeating the sweeper van pick up move. We laughed and laughed and wondered if that would be what really happened. I am happy to report that we walked the entire 60 mile route and never once had to ride in the sweeper van.

The first day seemed to fly by. Opening ceremonies (pictures below) began at 7:30 am and we saw women walking who were undergoing treatment for breast cancer, yet, still had the desire to participate in the 3-day. We saw banners with words like Anniversaries, Birthdays, Births, and heard words reminding us that there are many whose lives are cut short because of breast cancer. They deserved a lifetime, and that is why we walked. There were 2,700 walkers with 425 volunteer crew. Every walker raised at least $2300. The 2010 Komen 3-day for the cure Dallas/Fort Worth walked raised over $7 million!

The last few miles on Friday were hard, but the constant support from the cheering stations were amazing. We did not go more than 3 miles without a pit stop or a cheering station. The cheering stations were where hundreds of people lined the sidewalks with posters, candy, kleenex, trash cans, and even margaritas! When we walked through a cheering station, we felt like we could have walked 20 more miles (maybe). I was also amazed at how many people were in costume, we saw 2 pink gorillas and so many men in drag, so many pink wigs! I was totally blown away Friday morning to see Sonja Gold (pictured below), my friend from Oak Lawn UMC. Seeing her totally made my day!

My mom and I decided that if the other person was not there, we would not have been able to walk each day. Having that accountability, that companionship, that support, made it doable. If we could just make it to lunch (pictured below - we look great!), we were more than halfway through for the day! Friday night my hip was hurting, so I made a visit to medical, and was given the gift of a wonderful physical therapist who helped me stretch. When we got to camp Friday night, we had to set up our pink tents, you have never seen such a sight as 1500 matching pink tents on soccer fields! We made a beeline to the 18-wheeler showers and the non-stop hot water was another gift from God! We had a great meal of chicken parmesan that had been cooked in an 18-wheeler (not the shower one), and were asleep by 8:30 pm!

Saturday was cold. Friday night I had gone to bed with my pajamas on, and even slept with my jacket on under my sleeping bag. Saturday was colder. My hip was really hurting me, but the cold froze my legs so much, that I did not feel much of anything! What a gift! We took pictures of the frost on the ground and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. People had told us that Saturday was the hardest day, so I was determined to not have Saturday be my hardest day! I was amazed at the walkers in costume! One of the 450 men who walked was the largest fundraiser and he raised over $17,000. Every day he wore a pink bra and shorts. It was cold and he only had on a bra! There were bees (boobees), angels, and people with pink cones on their heads. It was amazing!

We were able to see Lee and the kids (pictured below) at one cheering station in the morning, and my sister, Kristin and her kids (pictured below) at a cheering station in the afternoon. Those cheering station were a huge morale booster! We somehow made it through Saturday, and even though we had heard that those curbs would hurt, walking up and down a curb by the end of the day felt like we were climbing up and down Mt Everest! Saturday night we had steak that was delicious and we danced a little bit in the dance party, but my hip and knee were pretty tired and I was asleep by 8:30 pm again.

Sunday was hard. Sunday was supposed to be the easy day, but it was hard. It was daylight savings day so we got to sleep in! but we were on a bus to get us closer to Dallas by 6:15 am! We saw Scott Trulock and Jennifer Sowders in the morning (pictured below) and were so thankful to be cheered on by such wonderful friends! At lunch we discovered that we both had blisters. We had gone 50 miles without a blister! The last 2 miles were brutal. My knee hurt so bad (I think I was walking funny because my hip hurt). When I saw a sign that said "limping is walking," I agreed. The last 2 miles were unforgettable for the pain but also because of something that my mom did. She got out the list of people that she carried with her the entire 3 days. A list of women who had died from breast cancer. Friends from her work, members of our family, people whose families had given money to us in their memory. My mom began to tell their stories. She told me about people that she worked with who had gone every week for chemo, her namesake Aunt Nan who had wondered what the large lump on her breast was. My mom telling those stories made me feel like my pain was nothing. It would go away, and as another sign said, "blisters don't need chemo."

Walking into Fair Park was amazing. We had made it, we had walked it! But at Closing Ceremonies when the people who were survivors walked out with their pink shirts, I felt like I had been a part of something that I would never fully be able to explain to someone. I had seen heroes, I had walked with them, and I would be forever changed.

It took a good 2 weeks for my knee not to hurt and even a month later when we walked the Turkey Trot, my knee hurt again. My blister eventually went away, but when my mom called and asked if I walked to walk with her again next year, I did not hesitate to say, "Yes, I'm in!"

Our stories

2010-11-16T21:35:00.002-06:00

We have a wonderful class at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church called Search Warrant. Search Warrant is taught by the incredible Rev. Patsy Brundige. Search Warrant is about the write way to celebrate life. This past Monday Patsy brought in an old suitcase that had duck tape around it because the locks had been broken (I am assuming due to age). Patsy shared that she had been cleaning out her garage and found this old suitcase that had been her mother's. Patsy opened the suitcase with much suspense and revealed the many pictures that were inside. Patsy had no idea who was in any of the pictures. She thought that some were of her uncle who had died of influenza at an early age, but the pictures had no names on the back, no dates, no stories. Those faces just stared out at us. They had no stories to share.

Patsy was trying to bring home the importance of recording our stories, she said that if she had opened up the suitcase to find reams of paper filled with stories about the people in the photos, then the people in the photos would have come alive. Instead, she only had unknown faces.

I thought of helping my mom clean out her house on Galveston Bay. I remember a huge table filled with photographs. If the photograph had people in it that we knew, we kept it. If it was a scenic photo, we threw it away. The people were what was important for us, but we have to tell their stories, tell who they were, and how they impacted our lives or else they will just be unknown faces.

And that made me think of Christmas letters. Every year my mom has produced a Christmas letter and a few years ago she had them all bound. "An Anthology of Christmas Greetings from 1980-2005." 25 years of Christmas letters. That is something that I treasure, and one of the reasons why I love to write a Christmas letter.

Anyway, I have been thinking about our stories and how we can write them down and share them. The write way to celebrate life...

Happy Birthday Jesus

2010-11-16T20:37:00.003-06:00

We are so blessed to be at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church with the wonderful children's choir. On December 5 at 11:00 am the kids will be singing "Happy Birthday Jesus." Here are the words:

Happy Birthday Jesus. I’m so glad it’s Christmas. All the tinsel and lights, and the presents are nice, but the real gift is you. Happy Birthday Jesus. I’m so glad it’s Christmas. All the carols and bells make the holidays swell, and it’s all about you. Happy Birthday Jesus. Jesus, I love you.

and here is a link to a movie of Everett singing.

A quote

2010-11-11T11:45:00.001-06:00

I have a lot to write about, Halloween, our possum that has been living in our attic, and most importantly my experience walking 60 miles with my mom for the Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure. But today I have to clean my house because I am hosting a Thanksgiving potluck for the neighborhood moms group, so here is a quote that someone shared at book club on Tuesday evening:

Life is like pizza. When it's good it's really good. When it's bad it's still pretty good.

36

2010-10-26T22:51:00.002-05:00

So, when I turned 35 I was really sad because I was not sure if I would still be considered a young adult clergy in the United Methodist Church. This article shares that "in 1926, 20% of United Methodist elders were under the age of 35. By 2005, only 4.69% of elders were under the age of 35." I was ordained an elder in 2006. I was not sure if under 35 included 35 but I figured that either way, my getting older was hurting our United Methodist young adult clergy statistics! Young adult clergy definitely does not include those who are 36. I can now remember the good ol' days when I was considered young adult clergy...

36 does not seem that bad. I am now solidly in my mid 30s... I have lots of stuff, a nice house, a nice car, an iphone 4 (baby!). I have amazing relationships, with my husband, with my two beautiful kids, with my family, with my friends. I am so happy that I am able to work part-time as a pastor so that I can enjoy these precious years when my children are so young. I get to pick up my daughter from first grade every day! I am so blessed. I am in good health, next weekend I will be walking 60 miles with my mom for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.

And yet, there is so much more to look forward to. I feel like I have not got it all figured out yet. I say "yes" to too many things and to too many people. I can definitely improve in the area of self-care! I want to get more massages and relax more. I want to be less busy and worry less. I want to go on more trips and show our kids the world (or at least, you know, more of Texas). I want to feel less guilt, about everything. I want to walk more confidently, feel more sure of myself. I want to feel like I fit into my shoes more (and I am not quite sure what that means).

I look forward to feeling more comfortable in my own skin. These past years I have worked really hard at becoming more healthy, and as I struggle with eating healthy and exercising more, may I continue to keep my health in the forefront. May I continue to be thankful to God for all of the ways that I experience God's presence and joy in my life. May I continue to thank God every morning for the incredible gift that I have been given, simply by waking up each day!

So, once there was this art program...

2010-10-20T21:15:00.004-05:00

So, once there was this art program, called Reflections. Last year when Madeleine was in kindergarten, art workshops were advertised in the PTA newsletter and I signed up to go with Madeleine and help. Since Madeleine goes to art only once a week in school (and she loves it), I wanted to encourage her love of art in any way possible. So, I went to the first workshop, and the next and the next. It was such fun to watch children create art to a theme. The theme last year was Beauty is...

So, this year I am one of the three parents in charge of the program. The theme this year is Together We Can.... We had three workshops after school, and at the first workshops 53 K, 1st and 2nd graders attended. 53 kids! The last two workshops we only had 30 kids at each workshop. Only 30 kids! HA!

So, now the three parents are mounting all of the work on posterboard and next Thursday the art will be judged. I know, it sounds like an art contest, but it is an art program. They told us that at the District Training, so it must be true.

Visual Arts are the bulk of our entries at Madeleine's school, but there can also be music, dance, photography, film and literature. Last year Moss Haven had 140 total entries, and this year we hope to have more than that. After the art is judged, the top 20% go on to district, and the top 20% from there go on to state. Last year we had one beautiful picture from a 6th grader go on to state. Then, 2 entries from each state go on to nationals.

Madeleine wanted a camera for her birthday this summer, so I finally downloaded the pictures from her camera. We picked 4 pictures to submit for Reflections, here are some highlights from her camera.

The PTA Reflections website is so fun, you can see all of the national winners from last year.

Madeleine took a picture of the TV showing the 4th of July show in Washington, D.C.

One of many, many, many pictures of Madeleine's willing subject, her brother.

This is Launa's Little Library. At the top of these stairs is the kindest woman in Lake Highlands.

A self portrait, one of many, but this one is mostly in focus!

Love this one! It is Madeleine's arm. Her skin, she says...

Children's Choir

2010-10-11T14:31:00.004-05:00

The Children's Choir sang in church yesterday, here is my photo description of the occasion.

This is at rehearsal, everyone is doing great!

But then Everett starts zoning...

And does not like his stole during worship and the actual singing (he is on the right taking off his stole).

And then Everett disappears because he is laying on the ground right it front of me.

Ahh... children :)

The choir did great, they sounded wonderful!