Saturday, December 06, 2008
Traditions
It's official, I'm in the Christmas spirit! Alex has been really pushing me to get out the decorations, and after several days of "Maybe, if we have time" tonight I was finally talked in to it. I guess this is a perfect example of what kids can do for the Christmas spirit. After putting on a nice Christmas scent, begrudgingly, I made my way up to the attic and started hauling out the tubs of decorations and after about 5 minutes of of "OH, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!" and "OH MOMMA, LOOK!" I was thoughroughly enjoying myself. Now a couple of hours later, I'm giddy with excitement about all of the fun times ahead of us. In a few minutes we'll sit down with our hot cocoa and continue listening to Christmas music. And maybe, just maybe, we'll put on A Christmas Story. Oh how I love this time of year, it brings back so many warm memories and I can't help but want to do it all over again with my children.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
And suddenly it's December
Wow, it's been so long since I've blogged, it's hard to know where to begin! About two months ago my hard drive crashed, FINALLY, I'm back up and running and have so much to blog about. I really need to get back to blogging more often, aside from family and friends being out of the loop, I MISS IT!
So, I guess in order to get caught up, I should just run down the list of things going on in the Urben household. For starters, YES, the pool is complete, and has been for quite some time, however, we are STILL waiting on the right retaining wall blocks to be delivered. Meanwhile, the wrong blocks are still taking up a large portion of the driveway. A few weekends ago, Mark and I sodded the backyard, and nearly killed ourselves doing so. Let me just say, that is something I will NEVER do again. We worked for over ten hours straight taking no more than 15 minutes here and there for breaks. It took me days to recover...just another reminder that I am completely out of shape. But hey, the grass looks fantastic. We decided to go with Jamur Zoysia, a drought tolerant, traffic tolerant and slow growing gorgeous turf that should save us a whole heck of a lot of time and money in the long run.
We also decided to rock the back stretch of yard in lieu of trying to keep sod alive. During heavy rainstorms we have a full on flowing river that runs the back four or so feet of the yard. We decided to just let it do its thing and now it can run freely through the rocks without tearing up our yard, or creating a mud hole for the dogs to play in. We used about 10-12 truck loads of 2-3 inch rock which equates to about 10-12 tons. Another project we're so thankful to be done with!
I'm not sure what I've updated about the kids, so if I repeat myself, forgive me.
Ashley was on the A team for Volleyball and finished her season a couple of weeks ago. She had such a blast playing for the team, and now can't decide which sport she loves most, basketball or volleyball. Basketball tryouts were last week and we are so proud of our girl for once again, making the A team! Her first game is tonight and I am really looking forward to it.
Along with basketball practice every morning at 7:15, she's also doing training with Magic Volleyball, a club out of Round Rock that practices 4 hours each week. She has already made soooo much progress with this group, I can't imagine all that she'll learn between now and April.
As for school, she's doing SUPER. 7th grade is typically a tough year for kids, but so far that hasn't phased her a bit. On her first report card she had all A's and two B's (an 88 and 89). While this is her first time to not make honor roll, I'm so so proud of her holding it all together so well with sports, friends and boyfriends (ugh, yes, I said boyfriends).
As for Mr. Alex, he just finished his NFL flag football season and his team ended up with the Super Bowl win. He's so proud of his trophy, he seriously didn't put it down for an entire day. He loves riding his new bike that we bought him for his birthday and spends a lot of time playing wii and his Tony Hawk X Box game. He's doing well in school, no problems to speak of. Now that football is over he's itching to try something new. He's mentioned BMX and Boy Scouts, both of which I have no clue about. I've tried looking in to BMX, but I'm not sure I get it. It seems that you just show up to the track, practice and then jump in on races? If anyone knows anything about this HELP!
Mark is still at Apple...thank goodness! I think he's meshed well with the Apple crowd and is enjoying himself as much as one possibly can going to work each day.
He's still hosting poker every other Thursday with the same group of guys. They are still having a blast pretending they're not old farts for one night every two weeks.
He's also still working out regularly and looks and feels better than he has in his entire life. His dedication to his health and fitness such and inspiration to me. And I must say, I'm certain that I have the best looking husband ever.
Ahhh, that feels better even if it is only a half ass update. Now at least I can start fresh update as things come up without feeling like I can't because it's been so long!
At some point I need to upload pictures...maybe I'll find some time this weekend.
So, I guess in order to get caught up, I should just run down the list of things going on in the Urben household. For starters, YES, the pool is complete, and has been for quite some time, however, we are STILL waiting on the right retaining wall blocks to be delivered. Meanwhile, the wrong blocks are still taking up a large portion of the driveway. A few weekends ago, Mark and I sodded the backyard, and nearly killed ourselves doing so. Let me just say, that is something I will NEVER do again. We worked for over ten hours straight taking no more than 15 minutes here and there for breaks. It took me days to recover...just another reminder that I am completely out of shape. But hey, the grass looks fantastic. We decided to go with Jamur Zoysia, a drought tolerant, traffic tolerant and slow growing gorgeous turf that should save us a whole heck of a lot of time and money in the long run.
We also decided to rock the back stretch of yard in lieu of trying to keep sod alive. During heavy rainstorms we have a full on flowing river that runs the back four or so feet of the yard. We decided to just let it do its thing and now it can run freely through the rocks without tearing up our yard, or creating a mud hole for the dogs to play in. We used about 10-12 truck loads of 2-3 inch rock which equates to about 10-12 tons. Another project we're so thankful to be done with!
I'm not sure what I've updated about the kids, so if I repeat myself, forgive me.
Ashley was on the A team for Volleyball and finished her season a couple of weeks ago. She had such a blast playing for the team, and now can't decide which sport she loves most, basketball or volleyball. Basketball tryouts were last week and we are so proud of our girl for once again, making the A team! Her first game is tonight and I am really looking forward to it.
Along with basketball practice every morning at 7:15, she's also doing training with Magic Volleyball, a club out of Round Rock that practices 4 hours each week. She has already made soooo much progress with this group, I can't imagine all that she'll learn between now and April.
As for school, she's doing SUPER. 7th grade is typically a tough year for kids, but so far that hasn't phased her a bit. On her first report card she had all A's and two B's (an 88 and 89). While this is her first time to not make honor roll, I'm so so proud of her holding it all together so well with sports, friends and boyfriends (ugh, yes, I said boyfriends).
As for Mr. Alex, he just finished his NFL flag football season and his team ended up with the Super Bowl win. He's so proud of his trophy, he seriously didn't put it down for an entire day. He loves riding his new bike that we bought him for his birthday and spends a lot of time playing wii and his Tony Hawk X Box game. He's doing well in school, no problems to speak of. Now that football is over he's itching to try something new. He's mentioned BMX and Boy Scouts, both of which I have no clue about. I've tried looking in to BMX, but I'm not sure I get it. It seems that you just show up to the track, practice and then jump in on races? If anyone knows anything about this HELP!
Mark is still at Apple...thank goodness! I think he's meshed well with the Apple crowd and is enjoying himself as much as one possibly can going to work each day.
He's still hosting poker every other Thursday with the same group of guys. They are still having a blast pretending they're not old farts for one night every two weeks.
He's also still working out regularly and looks and feels better than he has in his entire life. His dedication to his health and fitness such and inspiration to me. And I must say, I'm certain that I have the best looking husband ever.
Ahhh, that feels better even if it is only a half ass update. Now at least I can start fresh update as things come up without feeling like I can't because it's been so long!
At some point I need to upload pictures...maybe I'll find some time this weekend.
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