First Month of the New Year

We are already a month into 2019, and I honestly can't tell you how we got here. It just went by so quickly! It was a month packed full of family, friends, and fun! Our new year is definitely off to a great start, as you can see from the following highlight reel of January:

We spent the first week of the month in Houston,
making special memories with our Watts family

Ruth gave an Instagram tutorial to her aunt and Mimi.

Clay was glad to get back to school. He was excited to work on his reading,
discover a new love in Ken-Ken puzzles, and teach us all a money game.

Jeff spent two weeks in Mexico in an immersion Spanish class.
The vendors wouldn't approach him because they said he looked like Secret Service!
Nevertheless, he was able to track down all kinds of fun surprises to bring home.

We celebrated Max's 11th birthday with doughnuts, cake balls, and gifts.
And we spent the day at Corky's, playing arcade games,
throwing axes, and escaping from Alcatraz.

Weston and I got to attend Ruth's CAP banquet, where, among other things,
we saw her march in with the color guard, be recognized with her CyberPatriot team,
and receive an award for "Americanism" from the American Legion. We are so proud of her!

Max got a baseball pitching machine for his birthday,
and the boys have had a big time trying it out.

We somehow managed to survive WINTER STORM 2019. 

We made out like bandits at the library used book sale.

Clay adores his big sister and couldn't resist surprising her with flowers!

Mimi and Grandpa came to visit twice during the month,
and we had so much fun hanging out with them.

We attended the Minutemen Disaster Response open house and had a great time.
We were especially impressed with the 28-bed bunk trailer.

Ruth achieved the rank of Master Sergeant and
the title of First Sergeant at the CAP promotion ceremony.
She also gave a recruiting speech to encourage cadets
to attend Airman Leadership Training in the spring,
which is an event she will attend as medical staff. 

Clay started golf lessons and is absolutely the cutest little golfer ever!

The boys got new dressers, and I acquired
some new skills by putting them together.

Ruth brought me these beautiful tulips for no reason!

Weston spent hours climbing every tall tree in the woods.

Weston spent a ton of time working on Scout stuff this month.
He attended a Merit Badge College, where he worked on three
different merit badges. He hiked a total of 65 miles to complete
his hiking badge. And, he went on the monthly campout with his troop.
He also interviewed and was accepted to be on staff for one of the summer camps,
making him one of the youngest Scouts to receive such a position.
He has already attended one training session and begun practicing his speeches.
He loves Scouting so much, and we are so proud of his hard work and dedication!

One of my book clubs got together to throw axes, and we had so much fun!

Our last week in Mendoza

It's hard to believe we've already come to the end of our month in Mendoza. It has been amazing, and we are sad to leave. But new adventures awaits, so the sadness certainly won't linger, and we will always carry a fondness for this city in our hearts! Our goals while we were here were to eat beef and drink wine, and we were quite successful at both! But there was so much more to our time here--from the people we met, to the personal growth we each experienced, to the laid-back pace of life here, to being literally surrounded with nature's beauty. This was an important stop on our life's journey, and we are so glad we had the chance to be here! We hope to visit again.

This last week has mostly been about the World Cup. We have become super-fans and have watched as many matches as we've been able to work in. We've also set up a friendly intra-family bet, picking teams to support basically at random. I can tell you my teams are generally not doing very well, but it's been fun to cheer them on at various bars and restaurants around town. We also visited the Mercado Central, participated in a going-away dinner for one of our new friends, enjoyed time at the park, played at the house, experienced another national holiday (Flag Day), and ate some great food.

"Speed" Demon

Cheering for England

Our personal collection of wine bottles from our month here in wine country
--from least favorite to most favorite--

World Cup viewing at a sidewalk cafe
(The sign says, "Eat Healthy, Live Better, and
I can tell you we did one of those while in Mendoza!)

This little inventor made all sorts of gadgets this week

Mercado Central

Lerot was our favorite venue for World Cup watching
because of the big screen, but the decor was also pretty interesting.

Dinner at El Club de Milanesa

Many happy hours at the park

Our last night in Mendoza
--Sunset view from Mirador,
City view from El Faro Bistro,
Dinner at La Florencia--

April

I can't get over how quickly the months are rolling by! I feel like it was just January, and now here we are at the end of April! (Part of the confusion there may be that we've had some January-like weather this month, which is just ridiculous, if you ask me!) Here are the highlights of another full and fun month:

• We got to spend time with my grandmother and parents in Haskell on Easter (and I managed not to take a single picture).
• Clay and I got to go on a real date.

Date night at Chick-fil-A

• Weston attended the Camporee with the Scouts, where his troop engaged in friendly competitions against some other local troops. And, he got to do that in freezing temperatures! But his troop got second place overall, so he didn't mind too much.
• Ruth marched with the CAP Color Guard in the Medal of Honor parade in Gainesville, also in freezing temperatures.

Nighthawk Color Guard
(Ruth is carrying the blue CAP flag)

Enduring freezing temps is worth it
if you know you're going to load up on candy!

• Clay earned his yellow belt in his "croty" class.

Proud of his yellow belt

• Clay attended the Cub Scout campout, where he finished up the last few requirements to earn the Tiger rank he has been working on since he started in the Fall. 

Our sweet Tiger Scout

• Weston got to go on a tour of Love Field with his Boy Scout troop. He was most impressed with how quickly the safety slides could be inflated. (3 seconds, if you're curious)
• Ruth's CAP flight assisted with an equestrian special olympics event, and she marched with the Color Guard for the opening flag ceremony. (Again, I managed not to get any pictures!)
• Ruth went to Six Flags with one of her best friends as an early birthday celebration.
• Ruth and I got to have a special mother-daughter breakfast at Mango's.

Fun times!

• Max and Clay participated in a Ninja Warrior contest at the gym where they take their lessons.

Taking the leap into the outdoor course

Tire hopping with a little guidance from Coach Josh

• Weston and Max presented their Faces of History research papers at CC. The FOH project involved doing research on a person important in U.S. history, writing a paper with at least five paragraphs, coming up with a costume, preparing a snack representative of the person they were writing about, and presenting their papers in front of a fairly large audience. They worked many weeks on this and did a fantastic job!

Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson

• Nana stepped in and helped with 3rd grade Math one day, which impressed us all. 

Special math teacher

• Jeff and I booked a trip to Costa Rica for a week in August. We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary and wanted to give each other a new country. 😊
• We visited Mimi and Grandpa and got to play in the lake. 

Clay was more interested in collecting
bluebonnets than playing in the chilly water

Max and Weston had the best time
cruising around in the tubes

• Max, Weston, and Mimi ran in a Foam Fest fun run.

Before...

...After

• We attended the Llano Crawfish Open, and I ate crawfish from their shells for the first time.

A "flat" of crawfish

• We attended Nana's birthday party and had fun celebrating this wonderful woman and spending time with family.

Clay did an oil pastel drawing for Nana's birthday

• Ruth received a promotion to the rank of Cadet Airman First Class with CAP.

Cadet Airman First Class Watts

• Jeff travelled to Washington D.C. for the third round of Foreign Service Officer testing and the in-person interview. He got a very high score and has now moved into the security clearance stage. 

So proud of this handsome FSO candidate!

• Ruth had her wisdom teeth out, which wasn't any fun.
• Max participated in a Mud Run with his Ninja Warrior team.

Running plus getting dirty? Yes, please!

• Ruth enrolled at the local community college for the fall semester.
• Weston received the Boy Scout rank of Star, which he has been working hard to complete before we leave on our summer trip. Very few 12-year-olds achieve this rank, and we are so proud of him!

Star Scout

• We wrapped up all our school work for the year and can put 4th, 6th, and 10th grades behind us for now. 1st Grade is behind us for good! 

Max taught Clay how to play Multiplication
Squares on the last day of class