CELEBRATIONS

Last weekend made for an active one. It was really just Saturday though. Colson had some Olympic games with AWANA in Kingwood. Since he goes to AWANA with Grammies church and since I had to be somewhere with Calli at the exact same time, Grammie took him. They had fun and finished in 2nd place. Calli had a piano festival where she played two pieces in front of judges and a classroom full of other people. She did fine...just glad to get it over with. Sunday Calli had her cheer banquet which I'll detail more about another day.

                                                               Colson and Landon

But by far the most important part of the weekend was celebrating Calli's 11th birthday. Calli loves parties. And she loves it when people come over, especially the family and especially little man Hudson! I asked Calli what she wanted for food last week. She wanted my pepper steak and Grandma's baked potatoe soup. Not really a meal that goes together but hey it's her birthday. The girl can eat what she wants....and make the rest of us eat it too. After dinner we played a little baseball, enjoyed the weather outside, Calli and Hudson jumped on the trampoline, opened her gifts and had cake!

I think I've said before that Colson is not really fun to give gifts to. Of course I compare him (I know as parents we aren't supposed to compare) to Calli who squeals with delight at every gift she gets. And she got 2 gift cards to Justice and was so excited to spend it all on Sunday...it was buring a hole in her pocket. Or maybe she is a wise spender and wanted to hit the sale that was ending that day. She says a wise spender...I say sale or no sale, she would have been begging me to use it on Sunday. She squealed everytime she tried something on too.

                                                         Grandpa Murdock and Calli

I'll give the scoop on what we did with her friends tomorrow....or the next time I get a minute. Until then the cuteness of the Mohawk man will tie you over. And here's a little secret....Christina, Scott and Hudson didn't really come over to celebrate they just came over so they could take a bath at our house since they don't have one. Hudson and Stina got clean (she wouldn't let me take her picture in the tub) but Scott is stickin to the shower.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR CALLI GRACE

Eleven years ago tomorrow, our lives changed forever. It no longer was about us, we had a BABY to tend to. I'll tell you now, there were days that I was not in hog heaven but if there is ever a quote that is true, it's this one...."this too shall pass".

And so it has, almost before our eyes.
The sleepless nights...passed (well because of a crying baby they have passed)
The time outs because of fits....passed
The potty accidents in the middle of a store...passed
The helping with the seat belt...passed
The nights of reading 3 books before bedtime....passed
The nights of taking 30 minutes listening to a book that would take me 5 minutes...passed

Now I realize we still have a long way to go before this girl hits full blown, on your own, adulthood but my goodness so much time has passed.....so quickly. So many milestones have already been accomplished and yet I am not naive enough to KNOW that my hardest days lie before us.

THIS little girl is loved beyone belief. Not only by her two adoring parents and her pesty little brother and her grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins (especially Hudson) but honestly she's loved by most people that she comes in contact with. Her history teacher told me last month she just wants to clone her. Her coaches dote about her being the model student (in the gym). I picked her up from Sunday School with a new teacher who didn't know Calli belonged to me and she said "Oh she's so sweet!". That's my Calli. So sweet! So good with little kids! She works so hard at being kind to her friends, even when they are rude to her (you know how girls can be). She gives 110% almost all the time. She's smart! And she genuinly wants to do the right thing. Oh how I pray I can say that about her brother when he's 11.  Now don't get me wrong....she's not perfect! But she's as close to perfect as I could ask for.

She's beautiful inside and out! Happy Birthday Calli! You have brought joy to the last 11 years of our lives! We love you!

What happens when you get 4 really fun girls together on a Friday night? Well you have a lot of FUN and a barrel of laughs!

Last week I randomly happened upon 4 tickets (and a parking pass) to Alan Jackson at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo FREE! Ok so it wasn't randomly, it was a blog stalker (Hi Rex!). Yes, you heard right, my blog is read by someone other than family and it actually awarded me financial gain. I wonder it I'll get a 1099 (or whatever tax form it is for gifts) from Blogspot. So my friend from High School, Rex, had read on my blog about our family visit to the rodeo and HE had won tickets (ironically from another friend from High School who owns a construction company and was giving them away on Facebook) only to find out he had one of his kids birthday parties and therefore couldn't go. (Is that the longest run on sentence ever?) Since on his birthday a few weeks ago I posted on his Facebook wall that he was the nicest guy from the Class of 92 at CHS, I think he felt obligated to live up to that compliment so he offered the tickets to me saying "Since you had such fun the first time, I thought your family might enjoy them". My family? Do I really have to take them? Just kidding! Wes couldn't go so I took the next best thing....Robyn, Stephanie and Stacy.

We did a little shopping, cheered on some young cowboys and cowgirls, made a few friends with the truffle guy (well Robyn did) and those sitting next to us (well Robyn did) and watched Alan Jackson in some really great seats! Rex asked for another tooth extraction and I tried to loosen one of my own but to no avail.

We made some memories that night and while I can't share all of the details due to privacy clauses I had to sign with my very secret (yet friendly) friends I will say that we prefer to live in the land of the milk and honey!

Thanks girls for a (much needed) girls night out! And thanks to Rex and Kent for allowing it to happen!

I NEED AN ANSWER

Can someone tell me why the whitest girl in Montgomery County (that would be me) gets this magazine at her house? This is my 3rd one, addressed to me and everything.

NO DIRECTIONS NEEDED

I thought the tooth fairy was maybe gonna move in this week when Calli lost her tooth on Tuesday and Colson lost his on Wednesday. Calli was at school and surprised me with her big hole.

On Wednesday we headed to the rodeo for some action. One bite out of the turkey leg and Colson was on tooth watch. He made me keep my cheese container from my baked potato so that he had something to store it in when it did come out.

And he wanted it out BAD. He tried to get Wes to pull it but it wasn't quite ready. Wes loosened it and then told Colson just to play with it for a little while. And he did. And after he had gotten it a little more ripe for the picking Wes plucked it right out.

And thankfully I had obeyed and had kept the cheese container so the tooth made it home safe and sound and right into his little tooth pillow. He left a note, a picture of him and Calli from Chuck E Cheese and 2 pennies. The note said "Have it. I love tooth farees" and then it had an X________ where the tooth fairy was supposed to sign.

So the Schubert kids became a little richer this week and their smiles became a little more adorable. And who thinks I would make a good cowgirl?

THAT'S A WRAP

So this past weekend we spent out final competition in San Antonio working to keep our undefeated title on the Lieutenants. And we did it! Although it was kinda handed to us because we had no competition in our age group. So we were going for high point....the highest score in the level 3 categories against all ages (Jr, Sr, Co-ed). And we had it the first day. Even though it wasn't their best performance, they just didn't look like they were all in sync at times, they still had high point! But day two brought a very well synced routine BUT our 2nd fall of the season which bumped us out. We've competed this routine 16 times and have had 2 falls all season...that's pretty darn good. This is THE most consistent team we have this year and their coaches argue maybe ever! Now that the season is over, we are "allowed" to post videos. They don't want other people stealing our ideas. Like I have such a mass group of followers, but still I'm a rule follower (when I want to be). This is day 1's performance. Note: I never claim to be a videographer.

Calli's sub team also took home first. They beat the team that beat them last week so it was a redemption weekend for the Master Chiefs.

One of the fun things about competition is watching the older girls. THEY.AMAZE.ME. This is the Woodlands Elite Generals. This is our very best of the best at the gym. It's not a good angle to see the whole team but it is a good angle to see up close and personal how amazing they are. Not only is the tumbling hard...the stunts are hard to fathom. I show you this too so you can see what Calli is working toward. She WILL be a General one day she says. Enjoy!