Rodeo Carnival

Gay & I managed to 'win' some very coveted tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert at the rodeo this year. Last year we learned that we didn't need to arrive inside Reliant Stadium as early as the time on the ticket, unless we wanted to sit through several hours of actual rodeo. So, this year, we made plans to enjoy the carnival before going to the concert.

McIver joined in the fun this year. Here they are waiting for the light rail to take us from church to the rodeo.

Will met us at church so we took advantage of having another grown-up present to take our picture.
Every year, we have a picture taken with one of the boots around the rodeo.

We had a little bit of a ticket snafu this year... one of the tickets didn't have a bar code printed on it. So, Gay spent part of her morning on the phone trying to remedy the problem. We went straight to the ticket counter once we got to the rodeo and it turned out to be a non-issue. They issued us another ticket and we were good to go.

First stop, the rides. Gay & Will took off to find some food while the kids and I waited in line for the spaceship ride. Olivia snapped this shot of McIver and me.
The girls were so excited for the first ride of the day.

That is half of a lemon in McIver's lemonade. It was a hot day, so lemonade hit the spot!

Will was the trooper who rode the spinning ride with the kids. Gay and I opted out and headed to The HideOut (the 21 & Older club) for some liquid refreshment.

Cotton candy is always in order at the rodeo carnival!

The Cobra was another favorite this year. For the record, they held their hands up for the entire ride. We're so proud!

Adventures with McIver

Olivia went over to play with the Netherys this morning so McIver and I decided we needed to come up with something fun to do during another showing of our house.

McIver has been collecting cans for months now and had a HUGE trash bag full. We took them to C&D Scrapmetals (thanks, Margaret!) in The Heights to see what he could get for them. We weren't exactly sure what we were doing when we got there. It was an odd sort of place. In the back of the parking lot, there were some old lawn chairs with old babydolls tied to the fence behind them. McIver told me not to worry: A little girl probably just left them there so they put them on the fence for when she comes back to find them. (I didn't know how to tell him that most children don't visit the scrapmetal yard for fun!) Anyway, the men at the scrapyard took our giant bag of cans and weighed it on their scale. The man behind the glass slid out the bank drawer (which was cool enough in itself), with the $2.10 that McIver's cans earned him. Then he told us to wait, he left and returned with a Houston Rockets hat for McIver. What a day - and this was only our first stop!

Check it out - they pay in $2 bills!

As we made our way to the 11th Street Cafe (another suggestion of my friend Margaret), we saw some pet adoption stands. Since we didn't have anything else to do, we stopped and visited with the puppies. McIver was heartbroken when I told the volunteer that we weren't actually planning to take a dog home today. (He's still holding out hopes for a bunny, anyway.) This little guy was super cute and so sweet to McIver.

Once I was able to tear McIver away from the puppies, we found the 11th Street Cafe. I could tell I'd like it simply because they had outdoor tables. It was a perfect lunch with my guy! There was even a big-Marmaduke type dog on the porch eating with us. He was only 4 months old, but he was huge and very well-behaved.

Margaret also told me about the Beer Can House in The Heights. Apparently, this man got tired of cutting his grass so he started putting marbles into concrete to decorate his driveway and front yard. Then he started adding aluminum siding in the form of cut-open beer cans to the side of the house. Not only did that save him from having to paint his house, he also saved on energy bills. The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art operates the house as a musuem now.

McIver couldn't believe his eyes!

Those 'curtains' are made from the lids of beer cans and make all kinds of noise when the wind blows. I wonder what the neighbors think.

Even the fences are made from beer cans. Most of the colors of the cans have faded over the years (he started the project in 1968), but I bet it was really quite beautiful when he first finished.

Gearing up for Spring Break

We are SO excited to be going skiing in Vail NEXT WEEK with Dawn, David and Andrew. One of Will's attendings brought all of his family's ski gear for us to sift through and borrow what we need for our trip. Aside from a few pair of wool socks for the kids, we're all set!!

It was probably a good thing that Will started letting the kids try on the ski boots and see how they fit into the skis. They're excited about being signed up for ski school and can't wait to hit the slopes.

Olivia strikes a pose.
McIver is going to be a wild man!

Japanese Week

Olivia's school hosted Japanese Week last week. Her Japanese teacher had a "food sampling event" on Friday. She spent hours preparing all sorts of Japanese noodles, cabbage, rice and more for all of her students to taste. I made arrangements for McIver to have a playdate so that I could go and see what it was all about.

I was actually quite impressed that Olivia had so many new foods on her plate to taste.

Olivia and her friend Kiki

The Stricklins finally have moved back into their own home after having been "Iked." Abby and Sam spent most of the day with us last Saturday so that Gay & Don could concentrate on packing the last-minute things and dealing with the movers.

We started our day at Flippin Out - the bounce place in Pearland. After about 20 minutes, the kids started complaining that they were bored. (We won't be going back there!) Turns out that someone wanted to come see our house anyway, so we left so that I could get home and straighten up a little more to be sure the house was 'show-ready.' Luckily, Will was able to get home and take care of that for us, so the kids and I headed straight for Chuck E Cheese. They were all 'starrrrrving!'

After being away from the house for the allotted amount of time, we went home. The girls played hotel, complete with a candy counter. McIver and Sam watched a movie and played well together. Then, they all headed outside to build the fort of all forts...

Last Dentist Visit

I don't know many (or any!) children who love to go to the dentist as much as Olivia and McIver love going to see Dr. Moon. She is the GREATEST! They have been looking forward to their dentist visit since December. They climb up in her chair, select a pair of sunglasses, have their teeth counted and cleaned, practice brushing and flossing and giggle when Mr. Slurpy goes in their mouths. When they're all finished, she gives them a goodie bag filled with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, a timer and a few tokens that they can put into an old-fashioned gumball machine filled with trinkets.

We were all sad to realize that we probably won't be going back to see Dr. Moon before we move from Houston this summer. So, we took a picture (thanks, Dad, for the iPhone!).

Signed Contract on a house in Columbia

Will brought home the final contract for our house in Columbia. We signed and initialed everything and he took the contract to the hospital this morning so he can fax it back to Andy. By the way, if you need a realtor in Columbia, SC, Andy Walker (Bollin, Ligon, Walker) is your man. He showed us exactly what we asked him to - didn't go 'just above' our price range (until Will asked him to!), was patient, let us talk his ear off, worked with our time table, filled us in on each of the neighborhoods and more.

I know it's not technically our house until we close on May 1, but every time we went back to it (3 times in 3 days during our trip to Columbia last weekend), it started to feel more and more like home. We both started imagining our furniture in each room. For the record, many of the rooms will be quite stark for a good little while . . . good news is that on rainy days, the kids can ride their scooters in the house!

Trail Riders

The Los Vaqueros Trail Riders stopped by McIver's school again this year. Trail Riders come from all over Texas to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo every year. They spend the night together in Memorial Park and then ride through town to the rodeo at Reliant Arena/Stadium. I think one of the Trail Riders attends Westbury so his group comes through our neighborhood and visit several schools along the way.

This year, they must have been ahead of schedule because they stopped for a pretty long visit. They sent a truck with huge speakers ahead of them and a cowgirl sang Rocky Top and a few other songs while we waited for the horses and covered wagons to come in.

McIver was so excited, he had to sit down.

One of the covered chuck wagons filled with trail riders. Some kids even get to miss school to be part of the tradition - very cool!

I love my little cowboy!

McIver was excited to be able to pet a horse named Daisy. His friend Helen has a little sister named Daisy so that was just the 'funniest thing ever!'

He even was allowed to climb into a saddle for a quick picture.

It's Rodeo time in Houston

You can feel the buzz in the air. Tomorrow is "Go Texan" Day for all of Houston. McIver's school held their annual Rodeo Parade this morning. Here's McIver all decked out in his cowboy attire - hat, shirt, boots and bandana. For the record, Olivia did not approve of the green bandana because it doesn't 'go,' but McIver didn't care because it's more 'boyish.'

McIver with his horse, Silver, in the chuck wagon in his classroom.

Mid-gallop around the classroom. Check out those ears!

McIver's self-portrait

Kuk Sool Testing

McIver tested for his next belt in KukSool last Saturday. He was so excited - this is his third belt and he just loves the class.

Showing off his 'horse stance.'

"Right Palm Strike'

All of the Little Dragons go up to the front of the room (where about 100 people are there either testing for their own belts or watching friends/family), to receive their new belts. It's quite the production. This belt ceremony was really special because there were about 7 people earning their black belts. Each group did a little demo for the entire crowd. McIver especially liked the acrobatics - and thought it was pretty cool to get to watch his own instructors demonstrate sparring.

This is one of his instructors - she has been there both times that he has tested. She has so much energy and is great at keeping the students focused even when the rest of the room is full of other people doing some really cool stuff.

This is one of McIver's weekly instructors. He's there every Monday when we go to class. He's the one who did all the sparring and jumping, etc. during the demos.

Valentine's Parties

Friday, February 13 was one of those mom days when it would have been great to have been able to clone myself. McIver's Valentine's Party was from 11am - 1pm. Olivia's was from 12:30 - 1:30pm. McIver's class has tons of parent volunteers, but Olivia's class does not. Thankfully, their schools are just a few blocks from each other so I was able to attend both parties for part of the time.

McIver's party started out with some books and songs. McIver was glad to have me there and even smiled for this picture.

After a Chic-Fil-A lunch, the games started. Each participant (moms and dads included!) got a small dollop of vaseline on their noses. We separated into boys vs. girls. The first person in line got a small heart to stick on his nose. Then they were supposed to race around a cone and back and pass the heart to the next person. McIver didn't like that idea AT ALL, but he had insisted on being first in line. One of the moms got him with a bit of Vaseline so he spent the next few minutes of the party in the corner like this, crying. He was totally doing it to get attention (which didn't really work out for him). The only attention he ended up getting was me telling him that I had to leave to go to Olivia's party.

Olivia, on the other hand, had a blast at her party. It was on a much smaller scale activity-wise, but the sheer number of kids (24 in her class) made it a bit chaotic. They decorated Valentine bags and passed out Valentine's, graphed candy hearts and had a special Valentine snack.

Valentines is "for the birds"

Saw another activity in Family Fun magazine that we thought would be fun. We added a few tablespoons of water and flour to a cup of birdseed and then filled up heart-shaped cookie cutters. Baked for about an hour, then threaded the yarn through to make a birdseed/heart ornament for our birds. Most of them fell apart, but we managed to save these two to give to our neighbors. We sprinkled the remains of the others on our fence and the birds and squirrels have gobbled them up all day.

The Flu

Olivia has it - Flu B . . . even though we got the flu shot (well, Olivia and I got the flu mist, but McIver chose the shot) which contains Flu B. Anyway, she came home from school on Monday a little more tired than usual and didn't immediately tell me that she was starving. We took McIver to Kuk Sool and after she finished her homework, she told me, "You know, I have to close my eyes when I turn my head or else it hurts." RED FLAG - RED FLAG! Her temperature was 102.8 when we got home so I gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed early.

The fever was still there yesterday morning and she said her chest hurt a little bit, so I called the doctor to see if there was anything else I should be doing. We took her in, they swabbed her nose and ran the flu test. She has it. After stopping at Super Target, Kroger and Randalls, we finally found a pharmacy that had Relenza in stock. It is supposed to shorten the flu virus if it's started within 24 -48 hours of onset. They also gave us a 'prophylactic prescription' for the rest of us - it's a smaller dosage and should help keep us from picking up anything from Olivia.

Olivia woke up this morning with no fever. In fact, she's busy cleaning our her drawers right now. And, she's looking forward to going back to school tomorrow.

Solar S'mores

Olivia only had a half-day of school yesterday so we invited a bunch of friends to join us at the playground after early dismissal. In all my cleaning out to get ready for the move, I found an old magazine page with directions on how to make Solar S'mores. Since we had a pizza box in the fridge, we decided to give it a try.

Here's our oven...

Here's our oven at the playground waiting for the sun to come out from behind a huge cloud. All the kids (and it seemed like there were 100s of them!) were interested in our little contraption. It was all we could do to be nice, yet firm, and let the other kids know that they were welcome to look at the s'mores and make bets on how long it would take to 'cook' them, but they were not going to be partaking. Some of them just didn't understand why a complete stranger would not give them food.

I was glad that I read the directions all the way through because it said that it might take as long as an hour for the s'mores to start to melt. The temperature in the box did rise and the chocolate melted just enough to be messy. Our crew thought it was a very tasty treat!

Show & Tell

The Monkey Class studied the letter P last week and decided to turn their classroom into a Pet Shop. Kids brought all kinds of stuffed animals to the class along with other things that you might find in a pet shop - cash register, leashes, carriers, food, etc. They even decided how much each pet would cost - goldfish came in with the highest price tag - $100.

McIver decided that Murphy should make an appearance, so, after an expensive trip to the vet to be sure he's up to date on his shots, Murphy trotted right into the classroom like he has been there every day. He was a complete gentleman and let the children love on him. There was one little girl who was not particularly interested in Murphy (she fell when McIver had him on the leash b/c she was trying to get away), but Mrs. Hunter convinced her to touch Murphy's ear. He was so sweet and she ended up coming back for more Murphy-dog love.

Children's Museum

McIver and I had lunch with Olivia at school yesterday and then went to The Children's Museum. The new Water Works exhibit had opened and the weather was perfect so McIver went to town with all of the new activities. He made boats, played in the fountains, made waves and tornadoes and more.

Here he is putting the boat through all of the locks. I don't think I did a very good job of explaining how the locks system works, but he didn't seem to care.

Recycle Center

McIver loves, loves, loves to go to the recycle center. He has been out of school the last few days because of parent-teacher conferences and a conference that the teachers from his school attend. So, we finally found time to take the bottles from the Oyster Roast to the recycle center.

There were lots to be sent down the chute.

We were lucky enough to be there when the front-end loader was scooping up plastics and dumping them into the crusher. McIver could have watched for hours. He moved our stool back and forth so he didn't miss a thing and made friends (of course!) with the guy who was scooping up the overflow of plastic. The guy even opened up the door to the crushing machine so that McIver could see what was happening inside.

Eat Your Carrots

I just told McIver he had to eat his carrots from dinner before he could have an ice cream treat. He's been really good lately about eating, or at least trying - without crying!, everything on his plate. He hung his head, sat down at his plate and mumbled to himself, "I wish I had my rabbit."

He has been saving up his money for a pet rabbit for months now - I tried to get the PetSmart guy in my corner, but he told McIver that rabbits are "only $20." McIver got a $20 from Grandma Janet for Christmas so he thinks he's all set. I have to keep reminding him that rabbits are a lot of work, that he has to buy a hutch and food and pay for vet visits as well. He's still saving. I just don't have the heart to tell him that a rabbit is not in the cards for the Merritts.

Olivia's reading

I caught Olivia reading all by herself last night of her own volition! She was reading Arthur's Birthday Surprise and doing a great job. I have always loved reading to both Olivia and McIver and like to think that I'm good at it. I try to give each character his own voice and really get into the stories. Olivia was doing the same thing last night - she used lots of inflection and even re-read certain sentences when she realized that she had used the wrong voice or wrong inflection.

Just saw a book on Amazon called I'm Not Moving, Mama, along with a host of other move-related books. Maybe I should stock up for Valentine's and Easter gifts since it appears that we might have more issues with our move from Houston back to SC than we did with our move to Houston four years ago.

Visit with Tiffany & Anderson Horne

Tiffany and Anderson were in Texas visiting family last week. We were so glad to be invited to a 'sip and see' for their Baby Henry. It was great to catch up with them and the kids loved the chance to hold and entertain Henry.

End of Stanford Celebration

Olivia spent 5 days of the last 10 at school taking the Stanford tests. She had finished several practice tests over the Christmas holiday so she was prepared and not at all nervous. To celebrate the end of testing, McIver and I decided it would be fun to surprise Olivia with a trip to the doughnut shop (Shipley Donuts) after school last Tuesday. Olivia chose a chocolate-filled doughnut while McIver opted for orange icing with sprinkles (because he still insists he doesn't like chocolate).