Living in Munchkinland

Science and religion were the topic of our Unitarian Universalist church service today. I was lay leader, and as such, I had to write a reflection on the topic. Here's what I had to say: I was raised by two parents who were searching spiritually. My father called himself an “ancient christian buddhist who believed in Navajo”. My mother was a member of the rosicrucian fellowship and studied quantum physics with the Institute of Noetic Sciences. I was raised with an open mind as we discussed how the latest quantum physics discovery proved that there was something more out there. I was raised to believe that science was a tool to help us understand our world and that by understanding the universe we were bringing ourselves closer to an understanding of god. I have recently been reading the books of Amit Goswami. Goswami is the son of a major guru in India, who rebelled against his father’s religion and went to study science . After many years of study in quantum physics he ...

We had a great Friday. The boys were home with me all day because school was closed for parent conferences. We had a wonderful parent conference and heard nice things about the kids. At four we to art class. They just resumed and we love them. They are free and many of our friends go. The kids do art for an hour and I get to sit with my friends and chat. After art class we went to Railyard. They were packed because they were having a crawfish boil and it was cold, but everyone from art class came and our husbands met us there and we had a blast. Mom and Dad met us there we all sipped cocktails by the heater while the kids ran around in the fenced courtyard. It was big fun.

We had a nice visit this weekend in Sugar Land with the in-laws. We drove up on Friday afternoon. It was pouring down rain. The drive was very tense because I just couldn't see anything through the rain, but the kids were oblivious, listening to The Magic Treehouse books on their headphones. We went straight to the Spaghetti Dinner thrown to raise money for The Exchange club of which my father-in-law is a member. We found the vegetarian spaghetti and then the kids played in the kid area and got their faces painted and Michael and I shopped the auction. The night went late for the kids and we put them down as soon as we got back to my in-laws' home. Saturday morning we had plans to drive to Galveston and watch a mardi gras parade, but it was still pouring down rain and cold, so we changed plans. We lounged about the house for the morning and then drove into town for lunch at Fish City Grill. The food was delicious. After lunch we drove to the local Sugar Land museum. W...

Valentine's day really sucked for me. It started well. Michael gave me vegan chocolates, the kids were in great spirits, I had helped them make cute mandala valentine's cards. I helped my grandparents with several tasks they just can't do by themselves and Michael and I had a lovely lunch together at Prik Nam Pla. Normally when we get home from picking up the boys from school, we go through each of their valentine cards and then hang them up. This time when I got home my laptop was waiting for me, just having been delivered by the fed ex man. I was thrilled and plugged it in. Then I was horrified. When I dropped it off the "Genius" people told me I didn't need to back it up because the hard drive was fine. They said they'd put it in the notes to call me if they had to wipe the hard drive to get permission. I asked for this because I knew I hadn't backed it up since October and I wasn't sure at all where that external hard drive was now. B...

we had a crazy weekend. A crazy FUN weekend. Friday night we left the kids with their babysitter Anna and went to the CASA fundraiser at Dick's Classic Car garage. We had a whole table of our friends and we had a good time. I couldn't eat anything there, but I could drink and the bar was right next to our table. We were there with great friends and that made the event awesome. Saturday we cleaned, had lunch at Casa Maria (food was good, service was lousy), and rested until the evening. We left our children again in the hands of Anna the babysitter, picked up our friends Anne and Jeff and went and had ourselves a double date. We drove up to Austin and attended the Hyden Park Supper Club. They had five courses of vegan food and all of it was tasty, though the faux cheese cake dessert was the best. Our dinner ended early because they still had another seating to do, so we drove back to San Marcos and went to sit by the fire in Palmers and have some cocktails. We had big f...

Sam learned how to snap his fingers this weekend. He's been doing it nonstop ever since. Even when his hands are in his pockets they are still snapping. He's so proud of himself. He's home sick today with me and so I've gotten to hear his snapping all day long. I thought I would share it with you, too.

We had the gang over yesterday afternoon for a "first half of the Superbowl" Party. The kids had a fabulous time dressing up in costumes and playing with each other. We had snacks and drinks and lots of laughs. I love our friends. They are awesome. I didn't watch more than two minutes of the game and I was perfectly okay with that. This morning I watched commercials and that's my favorite part anyway. Good times.

Yesterday we woke up, worked out, cleaned house, grocery shopped, made a potluck dish of roasted vegetables and went out to lunch at Casa Maria where the service was awful, but the food was good. Once we got all that out of the way, we drove up to Austin for Violet's 7th Birthday party. It was a rainbow theme and Cheris did a great job with it. They had a nail painting station with rainbow colors, a rainbow friendship bracelet station, a color the rainbow station, and a rainbow relay race. Davis and Sam had a blast and we enjoyed getting to spend a couple of hours with Cheris and Rob. We drove straight from there to my parent's house where we were having a potluck/karaoke party to celebrate the visit of my Uncle Mike, Aunt Char, Cousin Lane and his wife Lissa and their new baby Belle. Everyone was already there when we arrived. Uncle Larry, Aunt Joyce, Manie and her boyfriend Sean, Lilly, Hank, my sister and her family and my grandparents. This was our first time to meet...