Mabel's recital

Mabel is definitely a performer!  She walked up to the stage with all the confidence of a seasoned pianist, sat at the piano and played beautifully!  She then took a graceful bow.  So proud!

Gymnastics

Asher and Atley invited us to their gymnastics event.

 We missed Atley's "mayfest," but she gave us a demonstration anyway.

 Asher showed great form.  He loves gymnastics!

 Asher with his "team."

 I captured Atley jumping off the wall into the foam blocks.  That girl has no fear.

 Asher LOVED his trophy.  Atley got a trophy at hers, which she called her "Congratulation."
"Congratulations" to both of them!  They did great!

Here is papa with Ainsley after the event.

Birthdays

 Beautiful flowers for my birthday - from  DTB.

Annie turns five!  Happy Birthday, Annie!

Easter 2013

I'm a little late, but Easter was great this year.

I woke up with this on my pillow:

 The Katy grandkids had a blast together.

 with an indoor Easter Egg Hunt (because of rain)

 The funnest part, however, was the new tradition that we started.  An ADULT easter egg hunt.  Much more interesting - and fun.  They were even more excited than the kids.  At least they were after I outlined the rules.
Each person was allowed to fine four eggs.  These eggs had a variety of treasures - candy, booby prize (chocolate-covered peanuts that look like rabbit droppings) and various amounts of cash, including a cache treasure of a $100.00 bill.   This is where it got interesting, and everyone was trying to figure out which eggs contained loot.  (I was pretty clever about disguising them)   To add excitement, every time  the bell rang each person had to swap one egg with someone else.  Much more fun than the kid version!

It was great to have some fun family time!  We missed our kids who are not living in Houston.

Rock 'n' Roll in Washington D.C.

Last weekend we flew to Washington D.C to visit Poodle.

(Oh yeah, and run 13.1 miles with 30,000 of my closest friends)

First stop was the "Expo" where we justified our paying $100 per person to run 26.2/13.1 miles by stashing away free samples of Gu Chomps, Power bars, and packs of Gu.

Maintaining tradition, we took pictures of the clothing we were to wear the next day. 

(although I changed my mind and wore something else)

 The weather prediction was temperatures in the 30's and rain throughout the race.  Luckily, they were wrong.  Although the temperatures were brisk, (in the 30-40 range) and we stood in the cold for 2 hours waiting for the race to start, there was little to no rain.  Perfect weather for a great race.

Dad brought his Garmin, as did Poodle.  They both clocked the race as 27 miles for the marathon and 13.5 for the half.

Which makes Poodle's 3 hr 55 min even MORE impressive!

Note the great quality (ignoring the alignment) of the only photo I didn't have to pay for.

The quality of the others that I paid $79.00 to download was abysmal.

After the race we ate gobbled up calories at some great restaurants in D. C. and enjoyed being with Poodle!

Thanks for a great weekend!

At the office

Good news:  I finally got an I-pad to use when I see patients.  I can access the patient's file and check the previous weight, prescriptions and notes.

Bad news:  I'm not quite proficient, as noted in a recent conversation with a young patient (6 yr old)

Me:  "Let me check and see what antibiotic I prescribed for you at your last visit."

Patient:  (after watching me fumble with the i-pad for several minutes)  "You're not very good at that."

Me:  "Nope, I'm sure not."

Patient:  "Want me to help?"

Me:  "I'd better do it myself."

Patient: " Well that's going to take a long time.

I think I need practice.

Valentine's Day

I came home Valentine's Day and this is what I found in my kitchen:

My sweetie had sent  messengers to deliver chocolate and flowers.
Although I loved the presents, the best treat was seeing these sweet grandkids!
Totally made my day!
Thanks, Graytop!

The Black Eye Story

Since Cindy asked so nicely . . . I guess it's time.

So on Christmas Eve Poodle (Brittany) and I decided to make a quick trip to Anthropologie to buy a  replacement gift for one of the stocking stuffers I had broken.  We were chatting and laughing and, as usual I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings. (yeah, shocking!)  I backed out of the driveway my usual way, head out the window keeping my eye on the edge of the driveway so I didn't drive onto the neighbor's lawn (well sometimes that happens.)   Since we were in a hurry, I backed out quite swiftly, right into the car of our cleaning ladies, who had parked in our driveway.  My head slammed against the window, and I was a realized IT HAPPENED AGAIN!  Dang!

I jumped out of the car to assess the damage.
Brittany:  "mom, you're bleeding."
Me:  "Yes, I know, but I"m fine."
Brittany:  "Mom, are you sure you're OK.  You don't look OK."
Me:  "Yes, I'm sure.
We ran into the house to tell the cleaning ladies.
They took one look at me and screamed "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  You're bleeding!!! (in spanish)
Me:  I hit your car.  I'm so sorry (in spanish)
Them:  "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  You're bleeding.  We're so sorry!  We're so sorry.
Me:  It wasn't your fault, it was my fault entirely.
Them:  "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  We're so sorry!

Conversation continued like that for a few minutes.
Mike came in and assured them we would pay for all of the damages.  I grabbed a bag of ice, paper towel,  changed my bloody shirt, and we took off again.  Luckily, I didn't really look into the mirror until later.  I probably would've stayed home.

Interestingly, people in the store looked at me funny, but nobody said a thing.  (My eye was huge by this time and I looked horrible)  The cashier politely pretended I was a normal person.

I got home and Mike had cleaned up all of the blood, washed my clothes, and taken care of the car. Yeah, he's awesome.  And pretty accustomed to these things.  Unfortunately.