It's Wonderful to see Old Friends

My childhood friend, Lindsay, used to live right around the corner from my parents home. I have so many fond memories with Lindsay, including going skiing with her family, hanging out at her home and enjoying Mother's cookies that her dad brought home from work. She's been an awesome friend who I was blessed to stay in contact with after all these years. This weekend she was in a wedding in New Braunfels, a town about 25 minutes South from us. So she stopped by for a visit today!

Madeline was insistent on showing Lindsay her room. So they sat and played with her Candyland game.

Madeline got hold of the camera and started taking photos of us, here Lindsay is making a silly face at Madeline.

And here Madeline is posing for Lindsay. :) We had a very fun visit. Wish we had more time to spend together. Lindsay wants to come out and check out Austin, we hope she comes back soon!

Old Friends & Free Pancakes on Fat Tuesday

I love Facebook! I've reconnected with so many old school pals and people from my past on there. Denise Noordman and I go way back to the days of Plavan (our elementary school). I remember the days sitting on the bars in the park after school talking for hours. In middle school our moms took turns carpooling us to school. In high school we had many classes together and often sat next to each other (both our last names starting with "N"). We lost touch after high school so it's wonderful to be back in contact. Denise's best friend, Adrienne, went to high school with us too and she now lives in Houston. So while Denise was visiting her they drove out to Austin for a night.

Thanks to my wonderful neighbors I was able to get out without the kids for a few hours and meet the girls downtown for a cocktail and dinner. It was fun! I left them in the 6th Street district to celebrate Mardi Gras. Then later that night they came over to our house to stay the night. It was fun reminiscing!

Yesterday we enjoyed a free short stack of pancakes from IHOP, did you get yours!? It was National Pancake Day. We took the kids at lunch time and were greeted outside by a few friendly Knights of Columbus passing out Mardi Gras beaded necklaces, the kids excitedly took theirs! I actually was unaware of the day before Ash Wednesday, is traditionally celebrated as Fat Tuesday! In countries of the Carnival tradition, the day before Ash Wednesday is known either as Fat Tuesday (Portuguese, Terça-feira Gorda; French, Mardi Gras; Italian, Martedì Grasso; Swedish, Fettisdagen; Estonian, Vastlapäev), or the "Tuesday of Carnival" (Spanish, Martes de Carnaval; Portuguese, Terça-feira de Carnaval; German, Faschingsdienstag). This is in reference to eating special foods before the fasting season of Lent. The tradition is widely associated with the eating of foods such as pancakes, and often known simply as Pancake Day, originally because these used up ingredients such as fat and eggs, the consumption of which was traditionally restricted during Lent. So there you go, learned something new!

It was a gorgeous day so after getting full on pancakes we took the kids and Penny Lane to our nearby Frisbee Golf Course & Park.

Penny looks huge sitting on Madeline's lap compared to the pic of them the day we brought her home.

Even though Stephen didn't have his discs, we still walked through the golf course. They have a stream running through parts of it, Penny sure liked and drank from it.

There are tons of sticks on the ground from all the trees at the course. The kids enjoyed finding them and playing swords with them. Madeline will say, "On Guard!" and James will respond, "Aaaa Gaaaaa". They're so funny.

James enjoyed playing with the water fountain on this 80 degree February day!

Since I am posting this on Ash Wednesday, I wanted to end the post with posting Psalm 51:

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving kindness;

According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.

Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And blameless when You judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,

And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness,

Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins

And blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

And sustain me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners will be converted to You.

Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;

Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

That my mouth may declare Your praise.

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

By Your favor do good to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,

In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Old Friend & Another Great Buy

Erica, Me and Tason.
This weekend one of my old childhood best friends, Erica, came over for a visit. We grew up in the same neighborhood. I remember on summer days swimming over at her house pretending to be mermaids and making wishes on wishbones her mom would save for us to pull apart. Erica moved away when we were still kids but we still kept in touch over the years, writing letters (the old fashion way) and seeing each other when she would come to visit CA. And now here we are living in the same state again! Erica drove out from Houston for business here in Austin and I'm so glad she had time to come visit us! She took our family out to a nice lunch at Chilli's and then we hung out at home and caught up on everything.

Madeline took these photos of Erica and I. :)

It was a great visit with an old friend!

So we scored on another Craigslist buy! So far through Craigslist we've found our kitchen dining set, our King size bed, Penny Lane, a doghouse...and now this coffee table! Our 6.5 year twenty dollar Ikea table was on it's last leg (literally) and the kids kept ripping off the kiddie corner bumper guards exposing the sticky residue...so I had a mission to find a coffee table. The guy that was selling this one had just gotten married so they were trying to get rid of duplicate furniture items. He was asking $50. Stephen went to look at it on his way home - it's in pretty good condition only having a few hairline scratches and a couple dime size spots that need to be re stained, but other than that it's a pretty solid well-built wood and glass table. Stephen offered $40 and he took it! Score! It fits perfect with our L-couch. And I love the second shelf underneath (perfect height for a foot rest) to put magazines and remotes.

Thanks to Facebook!

Facebook and MySpace are great ways to network and reconnect with old school friends. I reconnected with an old pal, Barry, whom I've gone to school with since Kindergarten/1st Grade at Plavan Elementary all the way through High School. He happened to marry this gal, Amanda, whom also went to High School with us and her big family also attended the same Catholic Church my family did. They were here in TX this weekend visiting Amanda's oldest brother whom happens to live the next town over and attend the same parish as us! Small world! So Amanda sent me a message on Facebook to see if we could meet up for dinner. Unfortunately my computer was down all day Saturday needing a new Bios battery. So late that night when I finally got the message I was bummed to have missed them for dinner, but we planned to meet up at Mass the next morning. Stephen had to work but the kids and I went. It was so wonderful to see an old friend! And Amanda is so sweet and her brothers so friendly.

Weekend Vacation Pics 2

On Sunday evening we threw a get together for our siblings and friend's families at my parents home. We got great use of Dad's outdoor bar area!


Dean, Denise and David.


Jon and Miki.


Robyn, Armilyn and Justine.


Myself and Angela.


Isn't this a great shot of Stephen!? Armilyn came up with the idea and took it!