August 15th, 2009
A few weeks ago our church had a field trip for the younger kids to go to the Austin Zoo. It was doing summer school hours so Nichole couldnt tag along. By the way, NICHOLE PASSED summer school. One step closer to graduation. We have never been to the zoo before so we didnt know what it was like. I knew it wasnt going to be a big zoo despite being in the capital of Texas. It actually is a rescue center that they turned into a zoo type of place to raise funds to help take care of the animals.
We all had a great laugh at this monkey, he loved this toy. 
I should of left this duck at the zoo, I dont know how she got in my car.
They had some huge tortoises, once the food was put out they were actually pretty quick.
The zoo had rescued tigers and lions that were either pets or used as entertainment in a circus.
I could tell you terrible story about how this lion got his head injury, it is actually a ball he was playing with. Once he tired out of playing with it he sat under it and it landed on his head.
As we were walking around and especially when we were eating luch we had peacocks walk around us. They were so cool especially the males when they opened up their tail feathers.
They had a little train that took us around the the border of the zoo. Em sat up front with a couple of other girls and when the train picked up speed and went around corners they thought it was appropriate to raise their hands.
We had a great time here, we left early and there was still things to see. Maybe next time.
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August 13th, 2009
Four years ago when we moved here my cousin Melissa introduced us to the Musical in the Park. Every year at Zilker Park in Austin a musical is shown.
This year it was The Music man, to my kids amazement I did not know one song. NOT ONE. We brought our blankets and our dinner and kicked back till the musical started. One of Rob’s old co-worker’s, Karen, is actually in the musical and she put out a blanket for us but we couldn’t find it. We still had a great view from where we were sitting at.
This bee decided to join us, it took us a while to figure out why it kept on going on this blanket on the same spot every time. Emily had spilled some Sprite on it and I guess it liked it?
As in years past it was another great performance.
At the end of the musical you could go up front and get signatures from those who performed. We took the opportunity to have a picture taken with Karen.
At the end of the play we usually took a picture on a tree limb. See there is this big old tree nearby the stage and it had a limb that you could sit on and bounce. Last year there was a tree that had it’s limb break from the tree and land on a car, don’t remember if anyone was hurt. So I think this was why they just cut the limb the kids bounced on so kids would get hurt. We didn’t let that spoil the fun, we still took picture as best as we could.
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August 12th, 2009
This 4th of July we went to the Pflugerville Lake to sell fajitas and watch the fireworks. Rob and Andrew helped the Boy Scouts with a Fajita fundraiser, to raise money for camping trips and other activities. Sadly they did not sell as many as they hoped they would sell. As a matter of fact we have fajita meat sitting in our freezer, we were able to buy some of the left over meat so they could break even.
While the boys were busy with the fajitas the girls and I went walking around. Yes, Mom… Emily has had her bangs trimmed since taking this picture.
The Boy Scouts also sold ice to the vendors, until the ice truck refridgeration went out.
While we were waiting for the fireworks the girls and I were playing with the glow in the dark necklaces.
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August 10th, 2009
When Andrew was in cub scouts his troop had scheduled a trip to NASA in Houston. It was in June, long after he moved up to Boy Scouts. Actually the day he got back from his week long camping trip with the Boy Scouts he left to NASA with Rob. Space is one of Andrew’s favorite topics to learn about so this was going to be a fun trip for him.
Rob had taken the camera so I will wing it when it comes to describing what is going on. I wasn’t there so I dont know what really happened.
Uh o.k. how are we suppose to know what this is? I bet it has something to do with the space shuttle or something like that.
There that is better, see I was right it was part of the space shuttle.
I knew I did not take the pictures cause this car wouldnt of made the cut, leave it to Rob to take pictures of a car.
Andrew standing next to a shuttle replica coming out fo the wall. Good thing it is fake otherwise the pilot of that shuttle would have some explaining to do.
Andrew and the rest of his Cub Scout troop went to different Boy Scout troops in the area to see where they wanted to go. Andrew went off on his own so he hasn’t been with his old friends for quite some time. They all had a great time at NASA.
I guess this could be a future race car?? Of course the boys had to take a picture of themselves in it.
One thing that was pretty cool was where they got to sleep. They set up their sleeping bags right in the NASA building with the space shuttles, the exibits all around them. I would of loved to have gone but there was no way I was going to sleep on the cement floor. My body would have never forgiven me. It was also nice that Rob and Andrew got to spend some father and son time together.
Houston, We’ve had a problem, that is what comes to my mind when I see this. This is the Houston Command Center:
From here they stay in contact with the astronauts up in space, even have screen where you could see any activity that is going on. Here is a great shot of someone’s butt out in space!
The End. 🙂
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August 9th, 2009
I had this old camera that I had issues with, Em found it and said Mine. So it is now hers and for some reason it works o.k. for her. Wonder what sort of spell she put on it to make it works for her.
It took her a while to figure out you look at the screen while you are taking a picture. 
Here are a few pictures, through the lens of Emily’s camera.
Here is my big sister Nichole, she doesnt shave her arm pits. She is pretty and she sings good.
Here is my big brother Andrew, he likes to play video games. He always yells safety, that means he is going to fart.
This is me, I like to dance and sing. I am going to go to school this year, it is going to be so much fun!
I seen my mommy take a picture of this, so I had to as well. My picture is better than hers.
The TV, it was on so I took a picture of it.
My bike, I love it! I am going to be riding it without training wheels soon. Then ride with no hands, then jump off the curbs. Have you seen those guys on TV where they jump off ramps… cool.
Mine is the strawberry, Andrew doesnt touch my strawberry tooth paste. Not because he doenst like it, I will beat him up if he tries.
My mommy likes to read, and read and read. She has her own library and she gets angry if I help the authors write a story in the book.
I am hungry…
I dont like it when it rains, the under ( thunder) is scary.
Well there you have it, a few pictures that Em took with her camera. Just a glimpse of what goes on with her busy life through pictures. More Emily the Photographer photos coming soon.
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August 8th, 2009
A couple at church recently adopted a little boy from Africa. They just brought him home last week, before they left to pick him up our church had a baby shower for them. I am so happy for them, they are going to make wonderful parents to their new son.
Of course I had to make the cake, since Isaiah was coming from Africa the theme was Safari. Everything is edible even the little elephant.
As a gift I wanted to make something special and with my recent quilting lessons I decided to give it a try. I tried to remember everything Linda my MIL taught me while I was making the quilt. Little by little the little blocks and backing turned into something that actually turned out!
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August 6th, 2009
During the winter time I was looking online for garden ideas. I looked into what I would need to do to start one in my backyard. I even looked into getting a plot at a community garden, most were too far to get to so I stopped looking. Then I read in a local paper they were planning on starting a garden here in Pflugerville. I quickly made a few phone calls and got the information I needed to get my hands dirty.
In March the Pflugerville Community Garden opened and with Jill ( our next door neighbor) we got our little plot of land. Actually it is a decent size, 20’x20′ to plant our veggies and flowers. We paid $50 for the whole year and it included the water. The water alone made it worth it as we have had the hottest summer since they started recording the weather here in the Austin area.
So much room to plant things and see what we could grow. It is also neat to see what other gardeners had put in their gardens and learn from each other.
We divided our plot into smaller spaces to allow paths and to group plants that help each other. Since it is a organic garden we can not use pesticides. So we are planting marigolds next to the tomatoes to keep the aphids away.
It seemed to take forever to get things we could actually eat, I think the heat is getting to them.
I think the plants we liked so far was the sun flowers. I should of known they would be huge when the name has skyscraper in it.
We also have watermelon, herbs, onions, green beans( even though we have yet to get any green beans) peppers, squash and a few other things in the garden.
We also have one corn plant, yes I did say one. Sorry Jill.
Remember how I said Jill and I are in this together, learning to see what we could grow. Well Jill is very very new to gardening. One day she went to the garden to water and to pull weeds. A bit later she was at my door, apologying. She was so eager to pull weeds and she just pulled away. Then she noticed that there were some weeds that were in a row. Then she figured out the weeds she was pulling out was in fact corn. In Texas we do have some grass that sort of looks like corn when corn is beginning to grow. She felt so bad for pulling out the corn she quickly went to Home Depot to get more or get something. She brought over some grapes for the kids area of the garden. This whole time she was telling me her story I kept on looking at the plants she bought, then with a giggle I told her what she bought. She had bought grape tomatoes, poor thing.
The next time I went back to the garden there was the sole survivor, it sure misses it’s brothers and sisters.
Soon after 4th of July Em and I planted some pumpkin seeds, cross your fingers for pumpkins for Halloween!
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August 5th, 2009
In June  Andrew joined his boy scout troop for their summer camp. He was going to be gone a whole week so Rob and I made sure he was prepared. Made sure he had enough snacks so he wont get hungry, had enough bug spray in case if the bugs were hungry. Made sure he had enough clothes to change into since he was going to get very dirty.
The night before he came back the camp had a dinner for the boys and their families. I was anxiously waiting to hear about his adventures, to see if he took care of himself and to see if he missed us.
We got to see where his troop camped, the camp had tents all set up on raised platforms.
When we got to Andrew’s tent we noticed all his stuff was packed up and he was ready to come home. Awww… my baby missed us. I asked why his stuff was all packed up, he said he wanted to come home. Â Awww… then he added he needed some AC and he missed it. He wanted to come home because he missed the AC!! Not his momma! So he was punished and forced to stay the night in the heat. Now we are even.
Andrew looked great for being gone for a whole week on his own more or less. He wasnt sun burned, he was fed, and he had plenty of clean clothes left over. Stop… what?
A fellow boy scout mentioned Andrew wearing his troop t-shirt EVERY DAY! He wore it to the showers and he did take a shower but never changed his shirt. GROSS!! So a whole week with no washing, with dirt and sweat and food stains. Again, GROSS!!
Oh wait the t-shirt did come off every now and then for dinner and the flag ceremony. You could tell mom wasnt there to fix him up and make him look decent. He actually tried to leave the camp to dinner like this.
How embarrassing! That is all I can say!
On second thought, he wasnt alone on his dressing himself skills.
Andrew had a great time despite the heat, actually it was “cool” when he went. In the high 90’s I believe, something we dream about now. So far being in Boy Scouts has been a wonderful experience for him.
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July 23rd, 2009
We have been here for four years and we have had some bad weather. Some storms want me to run back home to California where it is safe. O.k. California has earthquakes but to me since I grew up with them the small ones are no big deal( the big ones are scary but infrequent).
The day was June 11th, the weatherman was talking about strong thunderstorms later that night. We needed the rain so I tried to think of it as a positive thing.
Around 6 or so I went outside to take some pictures of the sky.
Here we have one view, it was blue skies with thin clouds. It looked like the weatherman was lying about the upcoming weather.
Then I turned around to take the view from the other side, a very different story!!
Then I went to the backyard to take some more pictures. I wish the color of the clouds were better in this picture cause they seemed unreal. I have never seen anything like it before, only heard of it. From my dad, my father in law and Rob, one thing they have in common they all lived in tornado alley. They all at one point or another mentioned the greenish hue of the clouds before a tornado. I also heard from the weathermen andthe Weather Channel that there is a wall in the sky as well. Huh, I noticed this too….
See that cloud wall now?
Exactly45 minutes the sky turned into this, sunset wasnt for another hour and 1/2. Outside it turned dark, really really dark. I had to use a function on my camera called available light to take this picture cause it was so dark outside.
This is when the emergency warning came on TV. Beep, Beep, Beep. Then they weatherman told everyone that lives between Wells Branch, Highway 130, Highway 45 to seek cover NOW! Huh, doing the calculations in my head.. OMG OMG OMG the kids and I were smack in the middle of these!!!
I had previously took out everything out of the bathroom and brought Luna inside. I had told the kids to put their shoes on and go to the bathroom NOW! We left the TV on blasting it’s volume so we could hear it from the bathroom. We also have a weather radio in there just in case if we lose electricity.
Andrew and Emily in the bathroom, Nichole was visiting family in Ca. Lucky girl!
Yep, in the corner of that picture you see my laptop. I was watching the newstation and talking to Rob and my neighbors online. Then a bit later Luna stopped being relaxed. Uh Oh..
She kept on trying to hide behind me and kept on putting her paw on me to comfort her. Then the noise.. wow. The storm got really loud, I was imagining the windows in the house breaking because the hail was slamming into them. Then the lights flashed off..
We all survived, there was funnel cloud spotted a bit too close.Not close enough to hit us.. whew. Here is a picture someone took of the funnel, this area is maybe 8 or so minutes away if that.
Soon after I called my daddy to tell him I wanted to go home. 🙂
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July 23rd, 2009
Here are some pictures from Andrew’s graduation. I had tried to take some pictures with my camera but there was a balloon in my way that caused a reflection from my flash. One of Andrew’s friends mother was there and she sent me some pictures she had taken of Andrew getting his paper from his teacher.
Here is the graduate getting his diploma:
The graduate:
The graduate and his teacher:
After the graduation the parents were kicked out of the gym so the graduates could have a dance. Here we have Andrew at the dance. Once again, they are just friends.
Off to middle school now! Rumor has it he will be playing the trumpet this year, I need to invest in ear plugs.
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