Living in Munchkinland

Both my boys are in the public school system. This is a decision that Michael and I did not take lightly. We tried private school and considered home schooling and did a lot of research. We believe in the value of the public school system. We believe that if caring, invested, passionate parents all put their children, time and money into the system, then we can make that system better. My friend Anne Halsey is the embodiment of that idea. She has three children in the local public school system. She is not a politician. She is a passionate, intelligent, dedicated mother who is willing to put in the hard work to serve all of our children in the district. She is running for our local school board. I am part of a team that supports her 100% and is working to help her win. We have thrown her meet the candidate events, put out signs, made phone calls and emails. I wear her button everywhere I go and try to engage people in discussion about her. I do all of this because I beli...

Samuel has been learning guitar this year. My boys can do whatever other extra curricular activities that they choose, but they both HAVE to learn an instrument. I consider that part of their core curriculum. Davis has been taking piano for three and a half years. I have been seeing major progress this year, especially in his theory, as he is beginning to write his own melodies in his composition book. Samuel has been taking guitar for the last year. It has been a huge struggle. He cried almost every time he had to practice, though he swore he enjoyed his lessons. We weren't seeing much progress. We finally switched him to a new method and teacher and we have watched him blossom over the last month. It's like a light switched inside him. He understands it now. Yesterday, he got a new guitar and new strap and case as he had outgrown his old one. He proudly strummed me several chords and the pride and joy in his face made me so happy. It was a good day in Samuel...

We went on our annual spring family cubscout campout this weekend. We had a big thunderstorm with hail on Thursday and they were forecast more of that for the weekend. We decided to stay home on Friday night and venture out when the storm cleared on Saturday morning. We arrived at McKinney Falls State Park around 9:30AM on Saturday morning in the misty rain and set up camp. We had the youth group site as we were the den expecting the most kids. We set up a nice camp and waited for our friends to arrive. The day cleared up nicely, and the sun came out, and we had a nice day. We hiked with our kids, played hide and seek, made up a skit and song. I played Scrabble with Cheris and read my people magazine in the tent. The kids rode their bikes through huge mud puddles. Violet and Graham were out guests and the kids were so happy. Davis had been nominated to attend a leadership training at the high school with the national honor society and so I had to enlist both sets of grandpar...

Last Tuesday I volunteered to go on Samuel's second grade field trip. We went to San Antonio to the Institute of Texan Cultures. It is a really neat place with some great exhibits. We had a tour guide and stopped at some different countries for a tour and then went out to the "back forty", which has several old timey buildings with tour guides in period costumes. It was an interesting day and I am so grateful to be able to do these things with my boys. I also noted that there is a Texas Folklife Festival there in June that is very appealing.

I really love our church. Our small Unitarian Universalist church is such a gift in my life. They are open minded, kind, intelligent people who all strive for social justice. I joined the church for community and that is what I have received. We have been there for five years and I am grateful that my children are able to grow up with UU beliefs and teachings. I often think I don't have time to go or that is too hard to get motivated by another obligation, but once I am there, I am always so happy. This last Sunday was our flower communion. I took some pictures and thought I would share, here, on this record of our life.

My parents hosted a house concert yesterday for Brandy Zdan at Casa Pacifica. The weather was rainy, but we were able to move the concert inside and it was still wonderful. We had a potluck with wonderful food and good company. Brandy is a talented musician and I loved her music. She is just the kind of music I like. I've been listening to her CD all afternoon. Check out her website HERE .

There were many 2nd graders and lots of proud parents and grandparents. There were rhythm instruments and square dancing and singing. There was mayhem and exuberance. It was adorable and Samuel was the best, of course. ;)

On Friday night, we attended a fundraiser for CASA of Central Texas. CASA does such great work for children, and we were so happy to support the cause. We had two tables and filled them with lovely people. The fundraiser had a hawaiian/florida/it's five oclock somewhere theme and was really fun. It was catered by the Texas Pie Company who did a wonderful job and even remembered me with a special plate of vegan empanadas! They are the best. We bid on several baskets, played "heads or tails", drank several margaritas and took a group photo with our friends. Please take a moment to check out the work that CASA does and if you feel like you can, make a donation to this amazing cause. CASA of Central Texas .

When I was growing up, we used to have this amazing, annual 4th of July fish fry down at our river bottom here on the ranch. I loved it. People came and camped, swam, the kids ran around free for days with all their friends and family. We had our last one the year Michael and I started dating. We quit doing it for a lot of reasons. It was such a hot time of year, it was such a lot of work. But for me, this annual get together was woven deep through the narrative of my childhood. So when we moved back to the ranch, I began flirting with the idea of reinstating an annual camping weekend. We tried several times, but the kids were little, the dates were bad for people, it was too much work. Then last year we hosted an Easter campout in conjunction with our annual Easter egg hunt and potluck at the river and it was marvelous. The kids were older, we had great friends, we had great weather. It was some magical combination. We decided that this was our new "fourth of July fis...

My sweet, thoughtful eldest child is ten. He is growing so tall and handsome! He is smart and competitive and loyal and sensitive and brave and outgoing and social. I am so proud of who he is becoming. His birthday was on Tuesday and he had to take the STAAR test that day. He was very stressed and I was sorry it interfered with his big day. That afternoon, my parents gave him a skateboard and he was so happy. He hasn't let go of it yet. That child is kinesthetically gifted if I do say so myself and this was a great gift for him. (I know I'm bragging, but it's a birthday post, so forgive me.) We celebrated him at family happy hour with a pumpkin spice cake and presents and he loved it. Then he went outside and rode his skateboard some more. That night he cried when we put him to bed. I climbed in with him and held him. He told me he didn't want to turn 10 after all. He just wasn't ready to be grown up. He wants to stay a kid. I held him close and...