A Sunday Drive for Pictures ...

After many rainy days, we finally had a gorgeous day.  I have been meaning to take pictures of Gonzales for months, but haven't for a variety of reasons.  We're hoping to make large prints of some of the pictures to cover our bare walls at the office.  So on Sunday after church and naps, we went on an afternoon drive to take pictures.  Here they are:

Gonzales Memorial Museum
Inside, you can see the "Come and Take It" cannon, which started the Texas Revolution.

Old Jail Museum
Apparently this jail is haunted. We haven't taken a tour yet.

Gonzales County Courthouse
Tons of small towns in Texas have these in the center of town.  They are generally tallest  buildings in town (and nothing else comes close).

Confederate Square Memorial
In honor of the Texas Confederate soldiers who died in the war.

This sundial is in Confederate Square.  I thought it was really cool.

The Randall-Rather Building
Built in 1896 and was the 3rd cotton exchange in the US.  Apparently there is a ghost in the ballroom.  

This is on the wall of one of the many antique stores in town.  If you know Tom, you know he LOVES Coke and all things Coke-related.  

These are our neighbors ... everywhere.  We are in cattle country and chicken country, so everywhere we go are pastures for cattle or chicken houses.  

I love this fence.  Very rustic looking.  Because of all those animals, there are fences everywhere you go.  Even when you think you're in the middle of nowhere, it's actually somebodies property and it's surrounded by a fence to keep their animals in.  

There must have been a carcass nearby ... all of those birds are vultures.  They're even sitting on the fence.  That's the most I have ever seen together.  They are very evil looking birds.  

Cactus is everywhere, but they are cactus bushes.  

2 important flags for the people of Gonzales ... the Texas flag and the Come-and-Take-It flag.  

Because we live in an historical town, these stones are everywhere documenting important places and moments in Texas history.  We've stopped to read a few, but we should definitely stop more often.

The Sam Houston Oak
After the Alamo fell and the Mexican Army was marching toward Gonzales,  the city of Gonzales was burned to the ground and Sam Houston led his army and the people of Gonzales here for a short while before marching onwards.

Our country life ... big trees, wildflowers, green fields, cattle ... definitely a change from living in the city.  

A Month of Basketball

We signed the girls up for a basketball camp put on by the Gonzales High School girls' basketball team.  Since the girls have only played soccer with a group from church before, we figured this would be a nice way for them to learn about basketball to see if they like playing.  Plus, the camp lasted for only 4 weeks - 2 practices and 2 games a week.  I figured we could handle that.  

Shelby played with the 4th-6th graders.  There was a huge range of skills.  Some girls had obviously played competitive ball before because they dribbled and shot WAY better than anyone else.  Fortunately, they did try to focus on learning basic skills and basic fundamentals, but at game time with the score being taken and the games run by the high schoolers, all of that focus went away.  I think Shelby liked some aspects of playing, but it was definitely a good experience for her.  She wanted to give up on some of the drills, but by the last practice and games she had learned to just keep going, even when your legs are screaming for you to stop.  She also toughened up throughout, and in the end she was able to do stuff she struggled with in the beginning. She definitely needs to be more aggressive, but hopefully if we practice on dribbling and other basics, then that will develop.  This was the first time that this camp had been held, so it was a learning experience for the coaches who oversaw the camp.  I think we'll give it a try next year too.

 

Back Row: Coach, Lindsay, Shelby, Mallory, Coach Tameka
Front Row: Piper, Rayna

Running horses

Shooting a free throw ... she almost can get it to the rim.

Going after the ball, but the other girl going after it played competitively before, so Shelby got beat, but she tried!

Defending another 4th grader

Taylor got to play with the1st-3rd graders.  Again, there was a wide range of skills.  Taylor's coaches were really good at practices on helping them learn to dribble with both hands, dribble as you move, pass the ball, and shoot the ball.  At the end of practice, her team would scrimmage with another team, but unfortunately the girls didn't get any instructions on how to play in a game, so the games ended up a little crazy and a bit rough.  The games were very entertaining to watch because many of the girls would forget to dribble and would run around with the ball trying to find the right spot to shoot.  Unfortunately by the end of the season Taylor noticed she wasn't getting any chances to play during the games.  It really bothered her and hurt her feelings, so by the last games she started to refuse to participate in the middle of the game.  The game even stopped once as she got bonked and started crying.  It was hard to watch her being ignored, but fortunately a girl on her team realized what was happening and tried hard to get the Taylor the ball.  The last game was the hardest for Taylor, but it was a good learning experience for her.  Hopefully if we work on her dribbling and passing, she'll be more comfortable and more aggressive next year so that she will be included more next year.

She'd practice passing, but in the games she would try to just hand the ball to someone ... haha!

Dribbling was a new thing for her; she'd start dribbling high and then slowly the ball would bounce less and less until it was on the ground and she'd pick it up to try again.

The coaches worked hard with her to get the ball to the reach the rim.  A few times she'd get so close.  We need to keep working on this.

She was an awesome defender and did a good job staying with her man and having her hands up.  

 

Unfortunately, the better players on her team didn't give her hardly any chances during the game, but a sweet girl on her team saw Taylor's disappointment and worked hard to get the ball to Taylor whenever she could.

The girls were all surprised with trophies at the end.  

 

Coach Francesca, Taylor, and Coach Taylor
They were really sweet with Taylor, and she enjoyed having them as her coaches.

Blue and Gold

Tom is the Cubmaster.  He has no idea what he's doing and is still waiting to get trained, but fortunately he has some major Scouters who work with him.  They came and set up ...

and they made this awesome cake ...

and an awesome dinner as well.  At Round Table, they gave the leaders an example of something to do at the Blue and Gold Banquet (which celebrates Scouting's birthday), so Tom decided to use that activity as well.  Unfortunately, that meant that recyclables had to be placed all over the nicely decorated tables.  

Then we were ready to begin.  The boys did the normal flag ceremony, which was followed by awards and boys moving on up.  

Then Tom gave us the instructions ... with the help of the others at the table, create something with your recyclables and then make up a story to go along with it.  After fifteen minutes, we all had to share our creations and our stories.  

After discovering a website called LooLeDo a few years ago, my girls were thrilled to be able to create something.  The big girls decided to make an alligator and immediately went to work.  Payden, our artsy one, insisted on making her own creation, so she started creating a monster.  

We worked hard making the alligator, and then Taylor, who has always loved creating stories, came up with the story.  It was about an alligator who found out that someone was stealing all of the lily pads in the pond, so he quickly snapped at the man, who dropped all the lily pads, and the pond was saved.  She was a bit shy about telling the story, but after we insisted and Tom promised to go up with her, she agreed to share the story with everyone.  

Of course, Payden had to share hers as well, but she needed LOTS of encouragement.  Finally she quickly whispered what she had made with the help of Mom, of course.   

After the activity, we ate dinner and desseret, followed by cleanup.  It was a fun evening, and Tom did a great job.  

That's My Tom

He can't keep a normal face when a picture is about to be taken!  That's my Tom!

Puzzle Maniac

He found two puzzles that I picked up at Target a few months ago and LOVES them.  We do them multiple times a day ... every day.  The two puzzles were perfect because they were 60 pieces, which is a lot for a 3 year old, but simple enough that he could still do them with some effort.  I'm actually impressed with how well he does the puzzles.  

Anyway, I needed more puzzles.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find some as perfect as those two.  I bought a few puzzles at the dollar store, but they were a little too hard for him.  Finally I found some at Target that are a little bit harder for him, but he can still do them.  Now we have puzzles everywhere, and I have to wait until he's in bed before I can undo his lovely creations so that we are ready to do them again the next day!

I love his cute little hands!!  You'll notice his other hand is filled with puzzle pieces.  He loves to hold as many as possible in  his hands, especially if I'm doing the puzzle with him.  

A Barnyard Moosical

Every grade puts on a play/musical.  In February, it was Taylor's turn with "A Barnyard Moosical."  As soon as I heard the name, I knew it was PERFECT for her.  She LOVES animals, and she LOVED learning the songs for this play/musical.  The night of the musical, we dropped her off with her teacher and headed to the junior high auditorium.  

Soon the kids began to arrive.  Of course Taylor immediately looked for and found us.  In fact, she kept looking and waving at us that the girl behind us, who knew Taylor, had to get our attention and tell us to look at Taylor ... yet again.  

She was too cute and had the biggest smile every time we caught her eye.  

Meanwhile, waiting was a little hard for Payden and Declan, so we decided to take pictures of our eyes.  

She actually wanted me to take a MILLION pictures of her.

 

As always, such a goofball!!

This was the look she gave.  Um, girlie, we're taking pictures of our eyes ... you kind of have to OPEN them!!

Not a surprising look ... it's where Declan gets his goofiness!!

Finally some open eyes!!

Finally, mine.

After a long wait, the musical finally began!!!  Taylor sang her little heart out.  She was a bit disappointed that she didn't get a part, but she enjoyed the songs and did an awesome job and loved being a part of it!

Awesome job, Taylor!!

Making It Tasty

Ah!!!  3 year olds!!!  Declan fought eating dinner tonight.  He usually loves this meal, but tonight he wasn't in the mood.  Everyone else finished eating, and he still had a plate full of food.  I stayed in the kitchen to do dishes so that I could encourage him to finish eating.  While I was busy cleaning up, he decided to spice up his mashed potatoes.  We don't have a pantry, and our cabinets ... well I shudder to think what kind of things lurk in them when they are closed because things definitely lurk in them.  Anyway, our solution was to buy heavy duty metal shelves and have our pantry on the shelves right by our kitchen table.  My observant little boy must have noticed me grabbing spices while cooking, so he figured he knew just what to do to make his potatoes tasty ...

He's lucky I didn't actually make him taste them.  I'm not even sure how many different spices he put on there, but it was a lot!!!  I guess he won the battle tonight, but I will definitely be more watchful next time!!

UIL

Here in Texas we have something called UIL.  I never knew what it was, only that it governed academic, athletic, and music competitions.  I don't know when I began participating in UIL, but Shelby has been able to participate the past 2 years.  This year, the elementary schools had early release, so that our school district and two other school districts (all small towns and all districts with just 1 school for each grade level) could hold the academic UIL competition at our elementary school.  Shelby tried out and was asked to join the spelling team.  She was on it last year, so it was a perfect fit.  Too bad we kept forgetting to study for it after school; fortunately, she did have practice at school from time to time.  

At the competition, our PTO held a Kids' Fair, setting up games throughout the building as well as selling snacks and treats in the cafeteria.  Shelby had a blast hanging out with her two friends Maddie and Maggie as they waited for all the different competitions to be held.  We joined her at the end to hear the results.  We were excited when her name was announced as the second place winner for spelling.  She was tickled that she got second place for the second year in a row.  We'll have to work harder next year to see if she can get first.  

The next day, her school had an assembly to present all of the winners and participants with trophies and ribbons.  

Mr. G, her Spelling coach, and the other members of the Spelling team.

Way to go Shelby!

Hanging Out

We have a TV in our room and with the addition of our new bed last fall, it has become a perfect place for the kids to play video games when Tom is watching something on the TV downstairs.  It's fun hearing them laughing and giggling and having fun.  

Of course by the time they're done, our bed is chaotic, the curtains are askew, the blinds are open, and once ... and only once ... my bed was filled with a million crumbs, but in the end, I LOVE hearing them playing happily together ... and I don't mind the little peace and quiet it gives me.