Easter Fun

"Goofy Lips" McGee

A bit 'o arm wrestling

"Goofy Lips" and "Scarlet" McGee

Mama and the girls

Daddy and AJ makin' a necklace o' candy

AJ showing off her candy necklace

Are you kiddin me?

That's all Im gonna say. Now, I know you people in the north are having a bad time of it with the white stuff now too, but you live IN THE NORTH! This is San Angelo people. In April.

Grandmas Sweetest Little Hunney Bee

I have fallen in love...

With San Antonio... I had been there before, but as a seven year old, it doesn't strike you quite as much. The riverwalk so reminded me of Europe that I am seriously considering moving there and waiting for Bob to finish up in San Angelo so he can join me. Thinking of buying a little apartment/condo above the river for $300K. Not bad, huh?

Bob and AJ on the river boat.

By the waterfall.

Remember the Alamo...and don't cast a shadow on it at sunset or you'll go to jail.

Whale Watching

Well, we were finally able to get out of San Angelo this weekend. Luckily, Bob had a two day class in San Antonio and had to be there Sunday night, so we all went down Sat. morning, and left him there sunday afternoon. We had an excellent trip, and (thanks to Anheuser-Busch) a pretty inexpensive one at that. We were able to go to Sea World, rent a stroller, buy a plush Shamu, eat, get ice cream, get a hotel, eat again, go to the riverwalk and take the ferry boat ride, eat again, and see the alamo all for under $200. I really do appreciate companies like Anheuser-Busch...every single one in my family got in free to Sea World, thanks to their "Here's to the Heroes" campaign. (saved us $200) It's nice to know people support the men in uniform and their families like that. I really hate beer, but I might just drink a Bud Light now and again to say thanks.

AJ of course got to get the plush Shamu, as we all did when we were kids.

The older kids were very upset that we didn't sit close enough at the shamu show to get wet, so we let them get wet at the kiddy park later. Laryn didn't know that entailed also freezing her butt off afterwards.

AJ sitting on the wall contemplating the beauty she beheld at the show.

Pretty good picture of Kenah at the kiddy park. (Still smiling here...but wait)

AJ was very happy to dit and rest for a picture as long as Shamu had a blanket cause he was very cold.

MY flamingos mommy. MY flamingos.

Dude...

I think Im seriously going to have trouble with this one. Besides the obvious attitude with the whole sunglasses thing, notice the teeny mag, and Spongebob tat on her arm. Two going on sixteen. My baby's growin'up! (I guess it can't be all bad, she still has her "bubanket" next to her.)

Gimme a K! E! N! A! H!

Gender By Feet was the name of the Science Fair Project that won 2nd place out of 60 at the Lincoln Science Fair Exhibition. That Project belonged to my very favorite twelve year old, who happens to also be my daughter. Now, I thought that, being as it was not exactly a very technical project, being on FEET and all, she would maybe do well in her category, (she got 1st), but we never really expected her to do so well overall. (she must have given a very good presentation) And as science is my forte (or was) I am obviously overly overjoyed. She had a really good time at regionals, but sadly, as Kenah put it, (with disdain dripping from her tongue) "the judges here just have a thing against feet."

This is her display...take note of the white plaster feet in front...beautiful arent they...those are $120 replicas of mine and bob's feet (minus a few toes due to air bubbles). If you ever need to make a cast of a foot, gimme a call, it took me quite a few tries, (thus the humongous cost) but Im a friggin pro now...For a$120 she's pretty damn lucky she at least won the school competition, or I woulda taken it outta her pocket.

This is her medal for her category and trophy for overall.

The whole reference to Cheerleading in the title is because she was also selected to be a cheerleader for Lincoln next year. I fully expect you all to buy some delicious cookie dough so that I can afford to send her to cheerleading summer camp in June. email me at becksintex@yahoo.com to let me know how much you want. If you're not in San Angelo, Ill find a way to get it to you. I will put some pics of her in her uniform up as soon as I take her to the Studio to get some.

Yogurt Castles

Having seen that the only way I could fit the yogurt into my fridge was to stack it, AJ and Owen just HAD to make castles in the middle of the kitchen floor. As it kept them busy while I made them a gourmet lunch, I didnt mind. And since they toppled over every few seconds or so, mine was nicely shaken when I ate it.
BTW, Congratulations to Jennifer and Scott on #4, Skyler Hope (sp?) who was born yesterday the 22nd of January, at about 1:45 pm. Im starting to envy you all the help you are creating around the house. Maybe I will catch up with you! You have some very sweet children by the way.

Quote of the Month

"Going to war without France is like going duck hunting without your accordion."

SNOW day????

Well, I'll be...snow in West Texas... and enough to roll around in even. Actually, I was very excited that this storm decided not to pass us by, because AJ had never witnessed snow. Oh, she knows what a snowflake looks like and what a snowman is, but never really understood. Needless to say, mommy froze her tookas (sp?) off this morning trying to get her to come back inside. Luckily Texans are very frightened of the white stuff, and delayed school two hours this morning for a piddly two-three inches, advising people not to go out unless they ABSOLUTELY had to. Made me giggle. But the girls got to play in it a little while before going to school. Then they let school out early, at 12:30. Messes up everyone's day, snow does.

Gimme an A...Gimme a J!!!

AJ is now cheering for Ohio State... We thought since the other girls are being lazy and taking their own sweet time getting through school before they move out, get jobs, and make us some money, that we should get AJ into college as soon as possible. I think the turnaround on the investment will be much more satisfactory. She is in pre-med, studying to be a neurosurgeon, so we are very pleased. A very smart girl to be so busy with school and still have time to cheer on the good 'ol Buckeyes!! Go Bucks!!
Thanks to her uncle Rick for chipping in the cheerleading outfit.

The Visit

This week bob's daughter Tisha and her boyfriend Tony ;) came to visit, as well as Bob's brother Rick. Many people asked how they were liking Texas (mostly Texans who fully expected to hear an answer along the lines of "they love it here, the people are so nice, and the scrubbrush is beautiful in the moonlight, they are planning to buy a house here and never leave".) But due to the fact that they were on vacation and decided never to leave the house except for forced marches to get candy from strangers and to hear the D scale in many amusing ways, they had no such response. Sorry Texans, they're gonna stay Ohioans for now.

Just a few more pictures I didn't have time to work on before. It took a little while because my photoshop installed in Spanish and when I do something it doesn't like it beeps at me, but I can't tell what Im doing wrong. Its a different version than the one I use at work, and I work on a mac there and a PC at home, so it always takes me a while to adjust when I switch. Anyway, Ill just send them along to the family as I get them.

Halloween Haunts

Halloween has come and gone again, and I have yet to learn my lesson to buy/make costumes early, so as to not be in a rush the eve of halloween, beacause I feel like a horrible mom because I didn't do it early, and now I need to find the perfect costume. Maybe next year. Luckily, everything worked out for the best. Laryn, in a fit of Larynness, decided she wanted to be Frankenstein (the monster, not the doctor...as if people actually relate the name Frankenstein to Gene Wilder). I ended up making her costume but it all came together pretty well.
AJ wanted to be Cinderella, or at least a princess. Luckily shes still at that age where you can tell her an elmo t-shirt is a pretty princess dress, and she'll parade around in it. I got this snow princess outfit thinking she'd think it was a Belle dress, from Beauty and the beast, because Belle always wears a cape. She loved it. Plus she was much warmer than she would have been if I had gotten her a Cinderella outfit.

Kenah decided she wanted to be Daphne from Scooby-Doo. Im not even going to go into that story. Luckily that worked out pretty well in the end, too.
And apparently measuring cups are an integral part of trick or treating, because we couldn't leave the house without them. I missed the part of the night where they became useful, though.

Yet More Pics (Hey Im a photographer at heart)

I was able to take the girls back to the studio, but I still wasn't able to get very many pictures. It's very hard to concentrate on taking pictures of one when the other two are running around my workplace (one of them stinking to high heaven, but Im not naming names)... Anyway, we were lucky that Kenah was able to bring her violin home for the weekend so we could get some pictures with it. (shes a little off center, but Im just gonna pretend I meant to do that) She is very excited about playing, and is actually better than I would have thought. She's not screechy at all. :) Laryn is doing very well, getting really good marks in school and is very excited about being Frankenstein for Halloween (the monster, not the Dr.)
AJ is...two. In every way. I love the little girl to death though, I tell you, what a doll. Of course, the first picture I took was the best, after that it wall went downhill...( I made sure to bring marshmallows for immediate calming effect. I was willing to take on the sugar high in exchange after we left the studio)

I still plan on going back sometime, maybe on a Sunday when we're closed. I am trying to learna bout the lighting this way, and there are some settings on the camera I need to see what they do. More to come.