Aprilcadabra

I'm not really sure how April just disappeared, but it was here and then it was gone, just like that! Once again, we filled the month full. I'm thankful for these highlight reel posts because sometimes I get so caught up in the day-to-day living of this crazy life that I forget to appreciate all the wonderful moments along the way. These posts are such great reminders of all we have to be grateful for.

Clay and I did some drawing to kill time while waiting for the other boys at a Scout event.

Girls' Weekend in Big Bend

Clay was a big helper in picking out and moving tile into the house
for our big bathroom remodeling project.

We basically scrapped the bathroom we had and started over.
We are so happy with the finished product!

Clay took some refresher swim lessons to get ready for our beach trip this summer.

Jeff and I had a couple of dates to Local Pint.

Max led the morning exercises.

I had the opportunity to be part of Central Elementary's Career Day,
and I absolutely loved every moment of it!

Ruth got to attend a fancy Sweet Sixteen party for one of her friends.

These two turned up matching my Central Elementary mug,
and we thought it was photo worthy.

Clay found a "sushi" recipe in his cookbook to make for us.

There is not much better than chunking rocks in a body of water!

Weston was selected to be a member of the Order of the Arrow,
which is a special service oriented group of Scouts.

The boys had a field trip to LLELA to learn about small pond creatures.

These three rolled themselves up in a giant sibling burrito.

Supporting their baseball playing brother

We were thankful to get to spend Easter with family.
We were also thankful for all the amazing wildflowers on the way,
including a solid red field of poppies.

Clay bought himself a multi-tool, which he is very proud of!

Ruth got a job at City Vet, working in their kennel.

The flowers at our house were very happy!

Last day of Arrow for the year:
Weston wore every name tag he had neglected to wear for the last ten weeks.
Clay dressed up like Leif Erikson.
Max dressed up as and gave a presentation on Robin Hood. 

Arrow's Spring Handmade Market:
Clay sold slingshots; Max sold chocolates; and Weston sold loaded popcorn.
They all sold out of their products and felt very rich by the end of the evening. 

At Arrow's End-of-Year Celebration, each of the boys got to
demo something from one of their classes.
Clay performed with his dance class.
Max sang with his history class about the plague.
And Weston participated in a mini debate and gave an impromptu speech.

The kids were gifted a couple of drones, which the boys took to immediately.

Max got to spend some time on the mound in a couple of games.

We had fun hanging out with Mimi at Bumbershoot BBQ/Gnome Cones.

We took Mimi to brunch at Cafe Komali and hiking on the Katy trail.

We played pub trivia a couple of times at Vetted Well and had so much fun.

We kind of went crazy at the library's book sale. This is only half of what we bought.
We bought somewhere in the neighborhood of 172 books, 11 movies, and 1 puzzle.
The deal of buy one bag at $4, get a bag for free was just too much for us to resist.

Clay couldn't believe the whole store was celebrating Cinco de Mayo
when we went to pick out some things for his birthday party.
I think he thinks that day is just for him!

Before and After

Our move back to Texas has taken my breath away...and my words right along with it. I'm hopeful that my voice will eventually return, but, in the meantime, perhaps you'd like to see some before and after shots of our remodeling project. (The "before" shots appear on the left. Click on photos to enlarge.)

New paint outside

The view from the front door:
Sunk-in living room to the left, dining room behind that, wine bar to the right

Looking back towards the front door from the dining room

Wine Bar

2nd Living Room

Kitchen

Home Owners

Yesterday, we officially became homeowners again. We've done this many times, but this is the first time we've immediately started a big remodel job on a new house. In fact, I'm not even sharing any pictures of the house, because, by the time we are finished, it will hardly resemble the house we bought. It's interesting and exciting, and we can't wait to see how it all comes out. We will be moving in next week, and hopefully the plastic will be removed from some of the surfaces by then and I can share pics.

My favorite thing about the house is the mature grapevine covering the back porch