Catch Up

When I started this blog, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with it and soon forgot I had it. Lately, I've been trying to think of a way to stay closer to our long-distance families and share a little bit of our lives. Finally, I put the two ideas together. As you can see, it's been a long time since I wrote anything. I'll attempt to do a down and dirty recap of the past few months, then I'll stay on top of things.

In September, Sree started a new job at SAP. He had resisted working for a large company for a long time but had grown tired of the instability that comes along with the excitement of working for small companies.

Ryan celebrated his tenth birthday in October. We had a party in the backyard with several of his closest friends and a 20 foot inflatable slide. I love planning parties, and this one went extremely well. Ryan got tons of LEGO sets and a LEGO NXT robot building kit. Chess, robotics, LEGOs and aerodynamics are his current passions.


Yep. I spelled out "Happy Birthday Ryan" with LEGO bricks, earning myself enough "cool mom" points to last for several weeks.



Soon after Ryan's birthday we had him tested for food allergies. His asthma and allergies had been getting worse, and our chiropractor had been telling me for months that she thought he had food allergies. It turned out she was right. He has a very long list of food allergies and cannot tolerate gluten (no more wheat) or casein (no more dairy). This knowledge brought about a radical change in our lives. No more eating out, and lots of cooking from scratch. It's been a great change for the whole family.

Halloween is always highly anticipated, and this year was no different. Ryan dressesd as a toilet and got lots of laughs. Mira dressed as a pirate. We have season tickets to the Dallas Symphony's family concert series, and they had a special halloween concert where everyone got to dress up, including the orchestra members.


November found us still adjusting to the new diet. We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home, and went to ICE at the Gaylord Texan the day after Thanksgiving. We went last year too, and I think it will be a holiday tradition for us. The hotel is beautifully decorated and always has lots of great spots for picture taking. ICE is really spectactular too. We have a couple of tearful pictures of Mira with Santa from several years ago, so I was surprised when she suggested visiting Santa while we were there.


The kids started new curriculum in December. We're pretty relaxed in our approach to homeschooling, and we're constantly striving to find the right balance of structure and freedom. The new curriculum is working out well and is spurring a lot of curiosity and interest. We don't use it in exactly the way it was intended. Instead, we bend it to suit our needs and styles.

We went to visit my family in Tyler on Christmas day. This was the first time we had gone to Tyler for Christmas since my mother died, and it was really nice. We have lots of very close friends and a great support system, but there's nothing like being with family...the people who know your history.

Mira joined Girl Scouts in the fall, and has really enjoyed it. When she first started, I had to be right by her side throughout the meetings, and she didn't want anyone speaking to her or even looking at her. Now I go in with her, but she quickly joins the troop and forgets I exist til the meeting is over. She has one friend there in particular, named Alexandra, whom she absolutely adores. The troop took a break for the month of December, and meetings just started again. She's selling cookies, and with a little clerical help from me sent out e-mails to everyone she could think of to sell cookies to.

We have a busy week planned this week, as usual. Tomorrow we have friends coming over. Ryan's best friend, Robbisean, has a sister who is 6. This usually works out well, because they come over and both kids have someone of their own to play with. Ryan and Mira share most of their friends, so this is a nice deal for them. I like their mom too, so she and I usually sit and chat or knit while the kids play. Wednesday the kids' friend Margaux (who is 9) and her mother are coming over for the afternoon. We've hardly seen them since before the holidays, so the kids are really looking forward to it. Margaux and Mira are having a "Scooby Fan Club" meeting and are going to make some kind of "scooby snack" that they've found a recipe for. Friday is Girl Scouts and our standing chiropractic appointment, so that leaves us with Thursday to hopefully squeeze in grocery shopping, an oil change, and whatever other errands we have.