3rd week of February

Tuesday Tyler went in to see the orthodontist and they decided to take his expander out.  When they took it out one of Tyler's molars came out with it.  His under-bite is now pretty well fixed.  I think we will wait until more of his teeth come in before we do braces or anything.  Tyler teeth can't touch when he closes his mouth, but the doctor said that it would fix itself over time.  

I've been busy getting ready for the Blue and Gold banquet for Cub Scouts this week.  Wednesday I had to make a trip to a cake store to get some Styrofoam cake dummies.  I wanted to make a cool cake, but I wanted it to be just for display with the hopes of using it again in the future.  I should have ordered it online earlier in the month, but the cheaper shipping options for this week meant that it might not come in time - so that meant I had to drive about 50 minutes to get to one of the cake supply stores in Houston.  But I realized it was close to the zoo, so I thought I would make a trip out of it.  One other friend was able to join me and we went to the zoo.  The parking lot was already filling up at opening time and some schools were there for field trips, but it didn't feel too crowded.  It was great weather - jackets at first then short sleeves by the end.  We checked out the elephants getting their morning bath and the girls also enjoyed the mongoose tunnels.  We played at the playground and went inside the petting zoo.  I had left our lunches back at the van so we ate after we were all done.  I rented a double stroller - it just makes it so much easier than listening to whines, and I can't carry both of them. :) 

 It was a fun day with my girls.  We have a zoo membership that is just for 4 people and I had in mind that I would come down with the girls frequently.  But this trip reminded me of why I haven't, the drive is just a bit too long and the traffic a bit too stressful for me.  So I don't think we will be renewing our membership.

 So after the zoo is where the rest of my adventures take over.  I put in my phone the address of the cake supply store.  It seemed pretty close on the map, but with traffic and everything it took us about 20 minutes to get there.  I found it pretty easily - I'm so thankful for Google Maps!!  I walked in and literally said 'Whoa!'  If I lived any closer to this store I think I would spend a lot of time and money there.  They had everything you could ever need to make, decorate, or store baked goods.  The girls were being good so I had fun slowly walking each isle checking the place out.  I found a few extra things for me and found the things I needed for the Blue and Gold.  We got ready to check out and found out that the store didn't take Discover card.  I only carry my phone with me that holds my driver's liscence and my Discover card.  I had put some cash in the van for just such emergencies, but Doug didn't know why I had put it there and had removed it.  So as I'm feeling tired from a morning at the zoo and driving around a busy city, I load the girls back into the van to go get some cash from somewhere.  I'm crying at the point, but I recover and find a Randall's nearby.  I navigate the weird streets in this area and get the girls again out of the car.  They are getting tired and cranky by this point too.  I think Kaylee fell and skinned her knee which was exactly what we needed.  I carry her into the store and buy a pack of gum and get some cash back.  I tried to get $100 buy it was denied.  I don't know if there is a limit that Discover lets you get or maybe it was the store.  But I try again getting $60 and it worked.  I get a text from Discover asking me to validate this transaction - they could tell this was not a normal activity.  So we load back in the van and drive back to the cake store so I could buy the supplies with cash.  Whew!  It was 2:00 by this time and I was so tired.  I put on a movie for the girls to watch on the way home.  I was hoping that traffic wouldn't be too bad leaving at this time.  It was ok, but not great.  I'm just not familiar with the intersections and merging so I never know what lane to be in.  I had a couple of close calls - too many places to look at all at once.  I was so glad to get home.  The girls had fallen asleep and I just let them sleep in the car while I checked emails until the boys came home from school around 3:15.  Crazy crazy day - glad that I don't have to drive downtown all the time.

Friday a friend came over in the morning and we worked on the cake for the Blue and Gold together.  It made it so much less stressful.  We had some major problems, but it didn't seem as bad because there was someone else to help and strategize with.  I didn't the finishing touches the following week, but here's a completed picture so you can see it.

The bummer part was that during the few day between decorating on friday and the event on the following Wednesday the fondant faded a bit.  I had put it in our bathroom on a ledge that is out of the way.  The sunlight from the window made the upper layers on two sides get lighter.  Oh well, now I know to cover it in the future.

Friday afternoon Tyler painted his costume so that he could camouflage in with the scenery for his DI skit.  

 Doug went out of town this weekend and I usually don't mind very much, but it was just bad timing with the things we had going on.  Tyler's DI competition was Saturday and it was one of those all day things.  The rest of the kids were pretty good, but we really did just sit at the high school for about 4 hours in all.  I had brought some games and snacks, but the electronic devices were pulled out in the end.  I didn't bring all of them, so they had to take turns.  There was another family there as well that they played with a bit.

Tyler's team did a great job.  They did their Instant Challenge in the morning - they had to work as a team to build tower out of pencils.  Tyler was a bit discourage because his idea didn't work as well and he wanted it to.  We went to a nearby playground at a school after that and had lunch.  I realized that we hadn't brought Tyler's pants to go with his costume so we made a quick trip to a thrift shop to buy him some brown pants.  They were too big in the waist but I had brought some safety pins so we made do.  They we were back to the high-school for the team skit part of the competition.  This was the first time I had seen it, so it was pretty interesting.  They had to write it all by themselves and make the scenery and costumes by themselves as well.  You could tell. :)  The plot was a bit confusing and pretty silly at times.  It was about some spiders and snakes going to school and they go to play outside.  The snakes were chasing the spiders but then they can't see them because the spiders use their camouflage.  Then the snakes leave.  The final song they made up when like this: "He ate a rock (clap clap) It's not a spider, we're alive!"  Yeah, doesn't make much sense, but I guess that's why it's so funny.  I was proud of Tyler and all of the work that he did. The previous month they were staying after school two times a week to get everything finished.  I was grateful to one of the moms for being their coach and using her time to help them.  Their team was called:  Lightning Thieves.

Doug went to Nashville, this was where he was having his meetings - not bad. 

Chris is really taking off with his reading.  He read Go Dog Go to Jenna.  He can sound words out well and reads with inflection.  It's so fun to watch them grow and progress.