Gruene, TX

...So take me out to the dance hall
And slap my foot down to the rhythm
Tell'um to play them old songs we all love...
Pat Green

I have never been to Gruene. Or the dance hall. And I am a Texan. How is that possible?!? My lovely husband bought us tickets to go see Bob Schneider (an old favorite of ours) and we spent a great night in Gruene! Dinner at Huisache Grill, a fabulous wine bar, followed by the concert...


S0 happy to be back home in Texas - cheers to many more fun nights out!

Austin Metro

Luke loves trains. Thomas, Chuggington, even plain old school wooden trains (he spends so much time building and redesigning tracks, quite the engineer!) Hannah loves trains too! Not necessarily playing and building to the extent of Luke, she prefers riding on real trains. They both do, having spent a lot of time on trains while in Italy last year, not to mention the excitement of airport shuttle trains every time we fly through airports that have them! HA! Well we couldn't be more thrilled that there are two Metro stops very near us, and we decided to hop on one and take it downtown one beautiful Saturday afternoon! Kids loved it, in fact, it was hard to convince them to get off the train so we could go to dinner, we had to convince Hannah there was no restaurant or bar car or menus to order from!


After a short walk to our next stop, Moonshine Bar & Grill, we sat outside on the patio drinking cold drinks (Aug is hot in TX) and eating complimentary popcorn! The kids were less than thrilled with the whole dinner experience, thank goodness for the DVD Lady & the Tramp...but Mike & I enjoyed our delicious dinner downtown, and the kids rallied for another train ride home! Looking forward to many more weekends together, exploring Austin, and eating our way through the delicious food scene! See you again soon Metro...we will be back!

Pizza & Movie Night

To celebrate the end of the first week of Kindergarten, Hannah chose to make our own pizza for dinner and watch Paddington! (Excuse the mess that is our tiny, yet functional, apt kitchen!) I had lots of help, although not too much space, as we prepped our pizzas. We chose an HEB thin crust (store bought) and then rolled out dough for a second kind, thin crust was way better...we all agreed! Hannah was so excited - can you tell?!? What a fun night in for our family!

Hannah's 1st Day of Kindergarten

"Be strong and courageous
For the Lord your God
Is with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9



A Mother's First Day of School Prayer

I wonder what you're doing now
And if everyone is treating you kind
I hope there is a special person,
A nice friend that you can find.

I wonder if the teacher knows
Just how special you are to me.
And if the brightness of your heart
Is something she can see.

I wonder if you are thinking about me,
And if you need a hug.
I already miss the sound of your voice,
And how you give my leg a tug.

I wonder if you could possibly understand
How hard it is for me to let you grow
On this day know that my heart breaks
For this is the first step in letting you go.



Tough day, but GREAT day! I am so very proud of my Hannah, KINDERGARTNER! And honestly, I don't know who missed her more, me or Lukey!



Hannah got unpacked and settled in, took a few more pics, we chatted with her teacher Mrs. Champion (whom she loves), and before her tears started to really fall, we said goodbye with lots of hugs and smiles! Thanks so much to Mrs. Ball (in purple), her other awesome teacher (aid) who stayed with her as we left. Hard to leave, but confident knowing Hannah was going to have a great day. Which she did...


Hooray for Hannah! After much hugging, we headed home for 1st Day of Kindergarten surprises...

AND she was super excited to go back to school for day #2! (So was Luke, he thought we was going to stay too!)

AND a week into school, her new backpack and lunchbox arrived! Hip hip hooray for Kindergarten!