too many passwords...disney and christmas

I will get to yet another recap of the Daniel Family happenings soon enough but first I am curious is anyone has used a password vault ... now that all 3 of my kids recieved itouchs for Christmas that adds 3 passwords to the bunch to recall... and honestly I started to compile a list of them just written and could not even recall them to write the down.... and as a mom apparently it is my duty to recall all the barbie.com and roblox and poptropica passwords for all the kids... my brain space is being eaten up with this useless nonsense.... but if I did recall them and put them in a vualt am I not just giving all my secret info to a company to be stolen at a later date...  hhhhuh maybe I will go back to the pen and paper thing for another go.

Ok recap well besides the notion that my kids school possibly thinks that i do no value education given the amount of school my kids have missed this last couple of months.  I pulled them out to go to Nebraska at Thanksgiving for 2 days, they returned for a week and then I pulled them yet again to go to Disney and Universal and all things Califorina for another 5 days, and then back to school for 4 days and again yanked them  as Duke had a company party in San Antonio, that we both felt I needed to attend, since it was Thursday night that meant missing friday.  So we made good use of it and went to Kerrville to celebrate my moms birthday, and finally returned for the day and a half before the break.  Oddly enough all 3 are totally caught up and doing great grade wise but none the less next semester we will be in school more I promise.

Disney was great we met up with Mama Sam in Orange Califorina in a rented house with an AMAZING view up in the hill and a hot tub that was utilized by the kiddos and us as well.  We determined that Theme parks in the West are more of a lite version of the full version if you will, of the east coast particurally florida.  It was great and uncrowded, but not as many eatery options, rides nd attractions from our perspective.  We hit Legoland and it was great but he building place was closed for a  n educational deal which I think the kids would have loved.... but we have tons of legos here so we can do that here too.  Disney we had Macy made over into a princess at the bibbity bobbity botique, she went with minnie mouse this time and looked like a doll.  While we did that the boys were content to hit as many ride in the park as possible and they did.  This year all my kids were tall enough to ride just about all the rides and I have some thrill junkies.  Macy and Dale LOVE it and Reid enjoys it once it is done but spent a bunch of rides inside the hoodie of his jacket.  Also funny thing Macy insisted on pictures with any and all characters, Dale did some with who he thought were cool and Reid only when forced... so it appears that I have 2 kids in all my pics since reid was hiding behind me still leary of characters....I guess Mrs. Tracy in the mouse costume that frightend him soo terribly that he scalled a half door to cling to his teacher and she had to spray "bad mousy spray" (air freshener) to ease Reids fears has held on, there are no tears or climbing things to get away but he is not going to choose to go stand by one either.  We also went to venice beach and Medeviele times as well.  They really liked the show and the horses and came home and watched the goofy dvd they gave us and then went to the web site for more info.... so I guess they really did like it.  We finished up the week at Universal, it was a good pretty uneventful trip minus Mama Sam who cooked some biscuits on a plastic tray resulting in an oven fire but other than a little plastic smell and an oven to clean it was a great trip.

On the trip Dale turned 10... yep double digits, both hands... can't believe it hardly.  He is growing up and is no longer a little kid.  We had to have the intro birds and bees speech....sparked by "mom how is it possible for me to have your dna AND dads dna"  Kid is smart ... too smart sometimes but still so goofy and lacking common sense too.  He took a reading test and scored 9.1- 10.6 for his reading level that means ninth grade month one to 10th month 6 as his reading level....the next closest to him in his grade is 5.6 ....yes we all know he gets this from Duke, as I was a horrible reader.

Christmas has also just passed and it was wonderful.  Sam came down leaving a snow storm to arrive in Mcallen at 78 degrees so she was loving the warmth.  She got to meet Bevo, who by the way behaved very well.  We went to Hildalgo to see the lights and they were impressive and very wide spread.  Gifts were abundant all the kids got itouches, and money to spend on them, video games, remote conrol vehicels, clothes, toys, guns...both real and fake, dolls....well macy got dolls, I got a purse I have been wanting, some yellow box shoes I LOVE, pandora beads, knives .... ceramic ones that I LOVE, a photo calandar, Duke go his burnt orange shirt with a outline of Oklahoma that states WORST STATE EVER... he also got a large chunk of money and he said the shirt was better than the money... so I took it...just kidding, we also fixed the jeep for him and got him a UT signed photo of Mack Brown and Vince Young. Bevo even got hooked up with a new crate that he fits in better, some new toys that he has allready destroyed one of but hey its his, and supposedly he played with Blitzen on the trampoline.   We are very very blessed and I thank God every day for all my blessings, even when they seem more like trials.




So I have all the decorations packed up and it is not even 24 hours post Christmas, but hey it needed to happen.  Now I can enjoy the next week and relax.

Pics

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Turkey Time 2010

So we had a great trip to Nebraska for Thanksgiving.  We headed out of Mcallen with tears on Friday night due to the fact that we had to leave Daddy here. FYI His choice and I tried to convince him otherwise as did my mom and to no avail he was set to not fly up on Wed night to greet folks thursday, lock himself away for the game Thursday night to drive home 22 hours on friday.... and I get it but I would have done it.  SO anyhow we went to Kerrville Friday after sitting in a parking lot that was 281.... the brainiacs that run the city decided Friday night at 430 was a good night and time to shut down 281 to 1 lane....so one hour later we made it onto a moving road and Macy announced she had to go to the bathroom.... and I said HOLD IT .... and she did until the boarder check point at which her eyes were about YELLOW and I asked the agent if there was a restroom there and he said yes but we would have to go into a cell but that a rest stop was one mile up so we made it another mile and the sweet relief was given.  Another side story was as we exited the check point they had a truck with the bed off and shopping baskets FULL of drug blocks they were extracting from the truck... so thats one for the good guys but kinda wierd they were just tossing it in a HEB basket.   So the remainder of the trip to Kerrville was easy, Saturday morning Dad and I and Reid went to get the RV and got all educated on the do's and don'ts and you kinda have to be a little savy to not screw it all up but we managed to absorb the essentials to get us through.  We then went and helped at the Kerrville Christmas Carnival thing and made Cards for Dads Rotary group.  I was slotted to help for 2 hours and we stayed for 4 b/c the kids did not want to leave they had the best time running around.  Sunday morning bright and early we rolled out of Kerrvile and made it to Austin and packed up a daycare worth of toys, and Scott and Sammy and rolled north.  We made it to Gilespie and spent the night and finished the drive on Monday.  The week was great we went to a winery as a group where I did not drink but rated all our testers drinks, the boys went hunting for phesants and came home with a ton of feathers, We also brought home a rabbit head and front legs that they cleaned for lucky rabbits feet...yea that sound like so much fun that I plan on putting off to never.  The kids loved seeing the cousins and fed them, played with them... I think Sammy got more piggie back rides than he ever has and loved them.  It was great to see all my family and catch up, and Grandma and Don who are wonderful, growing older than I would like to admit but I can only hope that I have their health, and independance when i am that age.

Grandma also paid up for all the report cards and the kids left a dent in her wallet...but i guess at least it is for a good reason 3 kids 3 sets of A's...pretty good stuff.

So we made it home just in time to unpack to repack for Disney which we leave for on Saturday.... wow  I wish I had one more week to get decorations out that might be sparse this year with my lack of time, lack of ability to find them in the 3rd bay aka the blackhole, and if I do get them out I really think my dog will celebrate daily by chewing it up...so we will see what happens in the next couple weeks.

Catching up yet again

I promise I am pretty organized and do not run thru life sporadically but with the amount I am in catch up mode here on the blog you could think otherwise.  So where did we leave off... Holy Cow a month ago.... WOW.

We had a wonderful time in Dallas at OU and visiting, the boys teams in the valley missed them terribly and both lost and Reid's team only had 16 yards the entire game....eeks.  Fast forward a week and a main running back was out of town and Dale stepped in and did great, played both ways most of the game and special teams it was kinda funny that the entire team would leave the field to change possession and Dale was the lone man on the field.  But super proud of him pushing himself and the Toros hit hard.  He had a couple of hits to him and he went flying....one time helicopter style about 4 ft in the air.  He was a target for sure since he was carrying the ball but it did not help matters that the kids in his league can weigh up to 110  lbs and be 11 or 12 depending on bday and Dale is short, 9, and 64 lbs with a wet towel on, that is a significant weight difference even more so when it is running at you full speed.  SO he was beat but pushing thru and late in the 4th quarter he pulled his hamstring.  We were up, and He tried to play on it but was very limp and was pulled but his team still pulled out the win....so good game but bad leg.  His leg injury was super slow to heal and he did not play any the next 2 games and did a few plays the last game but still favored it and the game was a wash so we pulled him out to save the leg.  Good to say he is doing fine now, and ran the mile at school this past week under 5 mins with is the best time of the entire 4th grade.
Reid finished the season as the main QB did great and every game managed 1 or 2 or 3 td's.  He impressed me in his ability to recall all the plays and what to do and when.  I was a little concerned with him doing that position bc there is alot of pressure but he did really great.  Next year he has to move up teams so he may drop back to full time running back which he loves and let an older kid toss the ball but only time will tell.
So I made posters for the final game and did one for each team, and one big one with the logo and they looked great, and footballs for my boys, and goodie bags, and shakers and photo pins for my parents .....yea I went a bit nuts but it was fun.  Only sad part was the giant logo banner got shredded by the wind when we put it up so notes for the future... DO IT ON VINYL OR CLOTH THAT WILL NOT TEAR.....  there were 2 other big posters I did not photo but the 2 smaller ones were done by Macy and Reid.... solo... I LOVE that Macys says "viper poster"  so cute and Reid has a shout out to Dale on it... super cute and the only other posters except for mine.  Way to go kids!

We briefly joined boy scouts and the boys have decided they did not like it ....well Dale had 3 boys and Reid had abunch but they wanted to shoot guns, and camp.  Found out the camp outs were all booked out and only available for older kids and they get to shoot like 3 shots and share maybe ride 4 wheelers.  Well that is all fine and well but we own bb guns and 22's and air  pistols and can shoot when ever, we can camp, and have all the stuff, and each have their own ATVS to ride.... so they opted to pass and we are now doing some batting cage work, catch, and speed and agility training a couple times a week.

I also took the opportunity of my new found time to actually think.... wow now that football is over I have all this TIME.... well apparently Murphy heard and tossed in something for me to do.  I got a call from the head cheer coach saying the director and owner had a blow out she quit took her daughter and 2 other girls left as well and they needed help in re-vamping the entire routine , could I please help.... so I said yes and now have practice until thanksgiving 4 times a week.... yikes so there went all the extra time.  Compounded by the notion that I am taking the kids out of school the 2 days of thanksgiving week to drag them to Nebraska to see great grandma and kin and then pulling them another week in December to go to Disney.... so I am going to get the work before hand and have them caught up before we go.  SO now I need lots of caffeine and probably a patience pill or 10 to get it all accomplished.

Halloween was great we started the weekend heading to Austin to the UT / Baylor game ....that stunk bc we lost to BAYLOR... but go to visit Sam and Sophie and Tanya for a little bit and that was well worth the trip.  And the cherry on top was we went to Northrock to Church on Sunday before we headed home... man I LOVE that church.  We still have not found a church here in the valley but are looking and yesterday I had teary eyes bc they sang a song I loved, but I loved it how Jonathan and Alicia sang it, and they did it different and a lady behind me was truly tone deaf and should not have been singing but I suppose God does not mind so I shouldn't either.  So back on point had a great service in SA saw some wonderful friends hit Pericos on the way out of town for my po-ho de mexico fix.... and it was AWESOME.  And made it home in time to trick or treat.  Dale was a gangster, Reid a ninja, and Macy a bunny.  Macy won the candy getter award.... she hit every house at a run, Dale in veteran fashion hit all the houses at a pace and Reid.... well he began as a ninja, complete with swords, mask, shields... by the 3 house mask was off, at the end of our street he gave me the swords, took off the belt, made it another half a block and took off the vest.... so he ended up being the black thing on heelies and I was a ninja... and he skipped numerous houses bc he wanted to go home and hand out candy.... so we headed back and had 3 count them 3 trick or treaters... there are about 18 homes on our street but at the main street lots of vacant lots so all the homes are together at the back which may have affected the traffic and one of those customers was a repeat .... a little neighbor just turned 2 ... needless to say he got alot of candy from us, I guess I was feeling generous when I got the candy bc I got ALOT and the good stuff too.   Then to the kids horror I sent three huge bags to work with duke to get it out of the house and my potential mouth.... and we did not need that much candy.

We also found time to run to SPI for Sand Castle Days which were cool but playing on the beach won out and the best time.  We took the dogs and made a huge hole and moat ... and we would have taken 1st place if that was a catagory.  Bevo loved the water, and digging in the sand.  We would bury a kid and he would start digging them out.... as if to say You guys are crazy you can't do that.... I gotta get them out!

So that should make us current in the happenings here in the valley and the weather has cooled off enough that the pool it too cold to swim in... and I have worn jeans .... so the face of the sun does cool off .... good to know.

Trying this from the iPad hope it works


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