LandFamily

Just a day in Shanghai

2009-05-04T05:08:00.001-07:00

Today I did just a normal day. I got up, got the kids off to school. Then Heather and I walked Daisy and went to the gym. This is our new routine as we are trying to get ready to come home to Texas and dawn swim suits. Then we headed out to the fabric market. I had to pick up some sun dresses that I had made for the girls and Heather wanted some things made. It was not a pleasurable experience today. Not very good bargains and the beggers outside where quite aggressive. From there we grabbed some lunch and went by Ava's school to drop off paperwork for Ella to see if I could get her into the same school as Ava for next year. I took my camera today and snapped some random pictures of things we see in Shanghai everyday. We are getting immune to it but you will probably wonder how we could stand it. Well, we just laugh a lot. In the pictures are the fabric market, laundry day, a group of employees playing musical chairs before work, a lady with a baby bed set up on the side of the road and street sweepers taking a rest. Yes, I saw all of this today. So, as you can imagine it is quite a different world here.

Ella turns 5!

2009-04-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

We had a great birthday week for Ella. On Wednesday (her actual birthday) we took cupcakes to school and had a family dinner of "pea pie" and a molten chocolate cake creation. Then on Saturday we went with one of Ella's friends and one of Ava's friends to the Shanghai Barbie Flagship store. It is 6 stories with a spa, boutique, Barbie design center, runway, and restaurant. The girls got to go thru and find out about fashion design. Then use the computer to create their own Barbie. Afterwards, we went to the restaurant and had an ice cream and pink lemonade while we waited for the Barbies to be put together. Finally, we had all the parents and kids back to the house for hamburgers, potato salad and more birthday cake. Ella finally fell asleep on the couch and I think she was quite satisfied with her birthday. Now I may need a vacation just to recover.

Easter In Shanghai

2009-04-13T19:06:00.001-07:00

Well, Easter was a little different this year. Good and bad. We did not attend church all though we did talk about the meaning of Easter. We pulled together enough overly priced items from various stores to decorate cookies and a neighbors husband was coming back from the US (Bedford, TX none the less) and brought us some Easter grass and plastic eggs. So I think the girls were pretty pleased with the Easter bunny's visit. He also brought me a Southern Living magazine!! Oh was I in heaven. We went to an egg hunt at the German Center and they hid colored hard boiled eggs. So, we really just enjoyed them for the moment and then quietly got rid of them so as not to have a salmonella outbreak. Finally we ended up at a little restaurant with a group of friends and ate dinner while the kids played some more. If fun is measured by how dirty you can get then I believe the girls came home having had as much fun as they possibly could. I will enjoy spending time in the US where they might be able to play and stay relatively clean. Anyway, hope your Easter's where good.

Xian 2

2009-03-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

We really enjoyed our trip to Xian (She Ahn). We went on a guided tour with 10 other families. Our tour coordinator is awesome. She has lived in China for about 8 years. She sets up the trips to be completely kid friendly and has plenty of snacks and activities for the kids to do. We will definitely go with her again. So the first day we flew to Xian and then went and ate a big Chinese meal. It was raining so we changed from going to see the city wall to going to an art museum that showcased traditional Chinese art. The kids got to try their hand at calligraphy while we heard about the history. Then we went to our hotel which was very nice and checked in and then off to the Bell Tower. From the bell tower you could see down the avenues at both modern and historic buildings (and lots of cars and people). Then we went to a 40 course dumpling dinner and stuffed ourselves silly. On Saturday we went to the site of the Terracotta Warriors. This was really neat to see all the different facial expressions. When I get all the way thru the pictures I'll post some more. We ate another big lunch where the kids got a chance to make dumplings with the chief and then headed back to the city wall to take a bike ride or a golf cart tour (that is what we did) around the wall that is about 10 miles. The next day we went to a really old mosque that dates back to the silk road days of China and it was amazing. We even got to witness some of the praying. Not quite like you see in the middle eastern mosques. We also went to another site with more artifacts. It was interesting but not as much as the warrior site. The day was so pretty that we rushed thru and then let the kids play outside. Then we got on a plane and came home. All the Chinese food that we ate over the weekend was not the spicy kind that we are used to. So when we got home we had to hit the Indian food restaurant for some spice. That is our new form of a Mexican food outing. Anyway, it was a good weekend but we are happy to be home. It was funny listening to the kids begging to back home to Shanghai instead of back home to the US.

Xian Trip

2009-03-30T18:00:00.001-07:00

Land Family Art Day

2009-03-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about living in Shanghai is that they have this street with store after store of cheap art supplies. So we can experiment with all kinds of art creations with little money. Yesterday, Ava and I went into one of the shops and she picked out all the canvases and today we did family painting day. Mark only got a drawing done because he was working while we painted. Ava started out making a picture of Poppy (my dad) and then decided to make it a girl and then she said it was a chinese girl. Ella made a butterfly garden. And I tried my hand at pulling together some pictures I liked into one painting. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Random Photos

2009-03-19T01:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we are officially settled in. We've got our daily routines and they aren't much different than in the US. We had a busy time for a while. Ella did a double whammy ER visit one week. First we went because she had some breathing difficulty and we thought she was going to have to be admitted but then they gave her a round of breathing treatments and she cleared up and not 2 days later she fell off a chair and broke her arm. Then Daisy, our dog, got an imbiblical hernia and had to go into surgery and stay at the vet's for 5 days. But we are all better now and like I said, life is as normal as it can be for us.

Ella's 2nd day of school.

2009-02-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

Would you believe me if I said I chose the 2nd day to take picture of Ella starting school because she is the 2nd child? Please believe it because I feel like a heel for not taking a camera on the first day. She is loving school. We had a set back because she got sick this week and had to miss a day but overall she is excited to go everyday. And she gets to do big kid things like eat in a cafeteria and go to the library and check out books like Ava.

A day at Yu Yuan Gardens

2009-02-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was a beautiful day in Shanghai. We've not had many of those since arriving. It was also the last day of Chines New Year. So we thought we would take off and do some more sightseeing. We decided on Yu Yuan Gardens which is world famous mostly for the traditional dumpling type things they sell there (I forget the chinese name for them). People will wait in line for 2 hours to get them. Anyway, this garden has been referenced in a book I read, on travel and cooking shows and is a populare tourist stop here in Shanghai. So we were really excited to go. We were dropped off they the taxi on this old street and he pointed and said over there. We didn't see anything that looked like a garden "over there" but we got out and armed with the address began walking. We saw a lot of really neat things. We came across a park that I suppose was ment to be the garden but didn't look very exciting and so we decided to give up and just walk around. Then we found the market associated with the garden and the place where the dumpling things are sold. Oh my, we definetly were not the only people thinking of going to the Yu Yuan Gardens that day. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T16:14:00.000-08:00

Oh I may never look at 4th of July the same. We can buy professional grade fireworks at the firework stands and shoot them off on our street. I think that the neighbors who stayed for Chinese New Year have their garages packed with explosives right now. Most Expats choose to leave and go on vacation outside of China because of the noise, traffic and the fact that for 3 days the city practically shuts down. Here are pictures from Chinese New Year's eve. We had a family dinner of "Pea Pie". For those of you who don't know that is my kids name for pork chops, mashed potatoes and peas. They then mix them together and call it pea pie. They have not seen pea pie since we left the states but I was able to assemble all the ingredients once our sea shipment arrived. So in Chinese tradition of a big family meal, that is what we had. We then went outside to see our neighbors shoot some fire works and they were amazing. We were invited down to have dumplings a midnight with some neighbors (that is a chinese tradtion) but the girls fell asleep. Mark went to represent the family and I thought I was going to turn in. Then midnight came and I was shocked out of bed by all the noise. It sounded like the biggest baddest thunderstorm you could think of. So I ran out to witness the site and every bit of the sky line was filled with fireworks. They do this to ward off the evil spirits from the year before so they don't follow into the new year. The next night we went to a banquet hall that can seat about 1000 people. We expected to it to be full because many chinese take their whole family out for dinner during this time but the place was empty except for us and another party. So we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. The kids ran, listened to music and danced on the stage. We took a tour of the kitchen and watched our food getting prepared. They would not let us take pictures. One guy did and they asked him to go sit down. But it was surprisingly clean. The woks were huge and they had fish tanks with every sea critter imagineable. So it was really a neat experience. And that is what we have done so far during Chinese New Year.

The Girls

2009-01-24T01:15:00.000-08:00

The only thing good I can say about these pictures is that Ella grew hair, finally. Otherwise it just shows how fast they are growing up.

Chinese New Year Celebration at Ava's School

2009-01-21T01:57:00.000-08:00

We went to a Chinese New Year celebration at Ava's school. It was supposed to be outside with fireworks included but due to rain was moved inside and no fireworks. It felt like a pep rally until the band began. It was drummers beating loud and then the dragons showed up and put on a show. They were kinda scary looking but the kids seemed to really enjoy it.

Just an update

2009-01-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Ava started back to school today and we are hoping for good things. You never know, sometimes, how they are adjusting and we thought she was doing well, but then found out towards then end that she was having some crying spells at school and a few fits. Hopefully, she has adjusted well enough now that she can start again on the right foot. Ella is starting in February after the Chinese New Year, when the 2nd semester begins. She is the one I worry most about because she is such a mama's girl.

On the food here. I really like it. I've not eaten anything weird, although it is on the menu. I stick mostly to the standards that I would eat at home like kung pao chicken and pork stir fries. But everything is a little fresher tasting and usually more spicy. So far, the only problem I've had in the stomach department is from eating something to spicy but that is better than eating something bad.

Cooking at home is a little different. Most of the ingredients I am used to using like eggs, milk, chicken broth, even salt taste different here. So when I try to make traditional American things they never turn out right. I've decided to let the American dishes be American and not even try to incorporate them here because I always end up disappointed. Oh, the other thing is that some things like taco seasoning and chips (I tried taco night) are imported from home but may sit for some time before hitting the shelves and they have a bit of an old taste. So, I am doing a lot of Chinese style cooking. I would highly recommend to all of ya'll who are adopted parents of Chinese kids that if you want to cook Chinese food to get the "Everything Chinese" cookbook. My mother in law gave it to me before I left and it has really simple recipes in there with ingredients that wont force you to hit the Chinese market and everything so far has turned out good and cooks up fast. Plus I've found that all the chopping relaxes me. And please, please, if you can, try to have traditional sweet and sour pork or chicken. I would never eat the stuff in the States. The sauce scared me. But here they cook the chicken with pineapples and some other syrup type stuff so that the chicken itself has sort of a sweet taste and then you dip in a chili sauce and it is way better than any sweet and sour dish I have ever eaten at home. Also, in a past post I talked about making Chinese Spaghetti and Meatballs from the Rachel Ray web site and they are great. It does not look like spaghetti and meatballs as we know it. The meatballs taste a lot like the filling in dumplings or pot stickers and the noodles and sauce are a soy saucy, noodle mixture similar to what you might find here at a noodle house. It is good and my kids actually eat it. So check that out if you like.

Finally, back to Christmas. It would seem that Santa does not come here by reindeer but must have to scale a wall by rope to get into the house to deliver presents. I didn't think much about it when I first saw it because Santa was in a tree at the Aquarium and the rope seemed appropriate for the scene but now that I have seen Santa hanging from a rope with no reindeer in site on multiple occasions I have concluded that he must leave them at the North Pole and brings his rock climbing gear instead, to China.

I hope all of that was informative. We are still enjoying the ride so far but missing ALOT of the modern conveniences of home. I always thought I would love having a driver but in reality I long to get in my own car and drive myself to the grocery where I could grab just a carton of eggs and some milk and be back home in 30 minutes. Instead I have to wait for a cab or the driver to show up and take me on a 15 minute death defying trip to a grocery that seems to always be full of every person in China who push their shopping carts like they drive. It's not good for the kids either. They've taken to the pushing and shoving quiet well. I caught Ella trying to get thru a crowd the other day by pushing and telling people to "just get out of my way". We had to have a little civility discussion after that.

I'll post again soon!

Our Year In Review

2009-01-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What was Daddy doing?

2008-12-31T21:47:00.000-08:00

I took a nap one day and woke wondering why the kids were being so good. When I came into the kitchen I found them playing dominoes with Mark and eating peanuts. Needless to say, Mark was not showing great concern about where the shells fell. But I got a nice nap and that is all that matters.

The Buddist Temple instead of live chicken bait (see below)

2008-12-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

Well, we decided to go to a Buddhist temple instead of the wildlife park. It was traditional chinese and probably more like what everyone expects China to be like. It was a real temple with people coming in to pray and light incense. It would have been tranquil, I suppose, if Ella hadn't picked that time to throw numerous fits. So as the monks ate she screamed, as they chanted down the hall she screamed, I think pretty much everytime we really wanted to watch something she had some drama. I'm thinking that a good bit of the praying that was going on in the temple was for us. Or atleast I hope it was. Is that selfish? Anyway, the Happy Buddha helped a little. It atleast brought some funny moments. Like Ella saying, "there's another fat guy" every time she saw one. It is a tourist trap though. They charge for everything you do. Some Buddhas you could look at for general admission others were extra and the coy food cost more than the general admission which you had to buy, if you wanted to take a picture. It was still a good day and at the end of it we stopped at a little pub by our house that welcomes children and met another couple from the US there. The wife had been here about as long as I and the husband as long as Mark so we hit it off and they had a daughter Ella's age. We may have made some new friends. Only in China can you go to a temple during the day and a bar at night (with your kids) and come home feeling satisfied. Is there something wrong with that?

Should we go?

2008-12-25T17:26:00.000-08:00

We've seen most of the major tourist attractions and needed something to do so we went to the internet to find something. This was one of the options. It sounded intriguing at first and then we read the last part. Do you think we should go? That is the problem here. Aside from your day to day activities of school, work, school activities, social commitments (which should be enough)there is not much to do. Unless you want to shop everyday. Even our driver complains that there is "no play in Shanghai, only shopping." It is cold right now so getting out and exploring is kinda hard and even then you fight the ever present crowds of people. Many of the people we know have gone home for the holidays and with the kids out of school and Mark off work we are a bit stir crazy and maybe the reason for considering traumatizing our children with this park.

11. Shanghai Wild Animal Park (Shanghai Yesheng Dongwuyuan)
Description: drive-through "safari" wildlife park with ability to purchase live prey to feed animals
Address: Nan Hui San Zao Zhen, Pudong (near Pudong International Airport)
Opening hours: daily 8am-5pm
Admission: 80rmb, 40rmb for kids under 1.2m (4 ft)
Getting there: no metro stops
Comments: visitors take buses through the park. Children who may not be able to handle the sight of live chickens being tossed to hungry tigers may prefer the Shanghai Zoo (see next entry).

Merry Christmas from China

2008-12-24T22:48:00.001-08:00

Well, what can I say. It is not home. But we are making the most of it. I always thought we were alone at Christmas because we chose to stay in Houston so the girls could get up Christmas morning in their own home but we always had our Church family to fill in the gaps when family was not there but this year it is just us. Not a sole insight (that we know anyway). So, in the spirit of "The Christmas Story" we ate chinese food on Christmas eve and it was really good. Here is the Christmas tree outside the Green Leasure Center where I spend most of my time becaue mostly westerners shop here and it just seems comfortable. I'll venture out to more local places later when I can speak the language. Then we got home and the girls opened one gift and off to bed they went. I was so full and sleepy that Mark took over the Santa duties and low and behold at 1:00 AM Ava came to get us up, telling us that Santa had been there. We told her we needed to sleep a while longer as it was the middle of the night but let her go back to sleep in the living room near the tree and as soon as light broke she was back in our room telling us to get up. I believe they were very pleased with their gifts. And I was very excited about my super duper foot massaging soaking machine. So me and the girls had "Tai Tai" time with our new lotions and potions of Christmas. (That translates to wife in chinese but most of us use it as a way of saying girl time). We ate blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast and I am getting ready to make Chinese spaghetti and meatballs. We'll see how it turns out. It is a Rachel Ray recipe so it can't be that bad, right? I'll let you know how it turns out. So overall we feel pretty blessed but nothing takes the place of family and friends at the holidays. All our love to ya'll.

Museum of Science and Technology

2008-12-24T22:35:00.000-08:00

This was an awesome place. Very interactive for the girls. We spent about 4 hours there and the girls still did not want to leave. All of the animals are real stuffed ones posed in natural scenes. It was amazing. They even has the prey depicted actually (Do I need to go into gory detail?). There was a rain forest to explore, a robot and technology area with the original computer and the latest technology. The big face is a computer that can determine smell. Now whether has was accurate or not I do not know. It was all in Chinese and I haven't learned that yet. There is the big gem room with so many different precious stones and minerals in their raw state. And a television studio where the girls could see themselves on TV.

Christmas in China

2008-12-20T01:47:00.000-08:00

We got our air shipment this week that has all of Santa's gifts in it so we are ready for Christmas. Christmas seems to be a big deal here. There are lights and decorations and Christmas music in the stores but it is the commercial side only. We would normally go to candle light service on Christmas eve but wont this year due to having only 2 churches in Shanghai and the crowds being absolutely enormous. They say it is standing room only. As much as I would love to go we will have to wait for a regular service. There is a really old church downtown in People's Square that looks beautiful and a newer more modern church near the house. There is a sad side to this story. It is my understanding that the Christian churches can only be attended by foriegn passport holders and they do tend to check your passport at the door. This is a Chinese government regulation. The general population of China is denied the opportunity to know the story of Christ's birth. So as you attend your Christmas services this year think of the people who are denied the right to worship as they please and give thanks that you live in a country that allows you the opportunity to know God and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Ava's Christmas Program

2008-12-18T04:41:00.000-08:00

We went to Ava's Christmas program this week and despite only being at the school for a week and a half I think she did pretty good. We did have the music forwarded to us before we got to Shanghai for her to practice so that helped. We like her school. It is the only Christian private school in Shanghai and pretty tough to get into but so far so good. I just wish they had room for Ella. Ella will attend another private school until there is an opening at Concordia where Ava attends. I went to enroll Ella today but she wont start till February. I hope the two of us can make it that long. Trying to get thru a crowded market with a 4 year old in tow is not my cup of tea.

Shanghai Aquarium

2008-12-18T04:31:00.000-08:00

We had a good time at the Shanghai Aquarium on Sunday. We've been to a few in the States but this one seemed to have really exotic stuff. Overall I would recommend it as a tourist attraction. I ran out of film but at the end they had an area similar to and a smaller version of Chuck E Cheese. They also have "squatty potties". I had heard but this was my first experience. There is not toilet. Just what looks like a toilet seat over a hole in the floor and you have to hover over it like you do when you go camping. Now, trying to get a four year old to do this without having to disrobe and stand on the public restroom floor barefoot was a bit of a challenge but we did it and sanitized our selves afterward.

Our Subway Adventure

2008-12-13T04:35:00.000-08:00

Here we are on the subway. It is a crazy crouded mess. And dirty too. When we got home I had to strip the girls down and bath them. But they did make a new friend.

2008-12-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

Here it is. Our first week in China. We are going out today to sight see so will have more to share. My only complaint. Grocery shopping takes entirely to long. It is not one stop shopping here and it takes most of the day and then you have to go back several times a week because they don't sell things in large portions. But overall it is great.

Well, I need to get going but my slideshow will not give a description. You are looking at our plane ride and then Ava's school. Did you see the school bus. It is like a charter bus you take to the casinos! Anyway, we did up a Christmas tree with chinese decorations and I found a tree skirt that looks like traditional Chinese dress. Mom, I found a bullet here and got it. I thought you would be so proud. The flowers - I got them from a flower vendor for $10.00. I would have had to pay atleast $40 at home. We put the picture of "success" in there for a good laugh. We wondered what success looked like in China and now you can see it, too. Finally, The full moon in our backyard on Friday night. It is not like the bay but pretty nice. I think we can enjoy this place for a while.

We Made It!!

2008-12-07T11:42:00.001-08:00

We are here in Shanghai and it is really neat. The plane ride was relatively uneventful. The girls got plenty of attention from flight attendants and slept quite a bit so we were able to relax a bit. Our house is wonderful and we live near some good friends from Baytown so we have instant neighbors. We've already gone out for a night on the town and it was wonderful food and good dancing!! We took the kids on the subway sunday and that was pretty freightning. There are a lot of people in this town. By far the most freightening was the cab driver who stopped on the off ramp of the highway because he was mad at another driver and did not want to let him over so we sat at a dead stop while the highway traffic rushed all around us with no car seats for the kids and no seat belts either. I was about to come unglued but he finally gave in and BACKED UP on the highway and off we went. Oh, I told you my posts would get livlier. I've found my usb cord for the camera so I should be posting pictures soon.

Ava's Birthday Weekend

2008-10-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

We had a fun filled weekend. On Saturday, we went to the Barbers Hill Fall Festival. We took my sister Whitney and her daughters Katelyn and Brooklyn. Then we had some of Ava's friends over for Ava's 7th birthday party. It was a pumpkin theme and we decorated pumpkins, hunted for pumpkins and broke a pumpkin pinata. I think a good time was had by all despite the way Ava looks at the Fall Festival. And by the end of it all Ella just pooped out.

We had a fun filled weekend. On Saturday, we went to the Barbers Hill Fall Festival. We took my sister Whitney and her daughters Katelyn and Brooklyn. Then we had some of Ava's friends over for Ava's 7th birthday party. It was a pumpkin theme and we decorated pumpkins, hunted for pumpkins and broke a pumpkin pinata. I think a good time was had by all despite the way Ava looks at the Fall Festival. And by the end of it all Ella just pooped out.

2008-10-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mark came home from China and brought us some pictures and the camera back. So now I can do a little updating on what has been going on. Here is a little slide show of our new home. Our actual house is the last few frames.

Ella's Pre K Open House

2008-10-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went to Ella's Pre K Open House and she was really proud to show off her stuff. The did a couple of songs for the parents and Ella was on her best behavior.

Barbers Hill Tail Gate party

2008-10-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

We went to the annual Tail Gate Party at the school parking lot last Friday and on to the game. The girls seem to like all things football but the game. We made to half time then went home. I took this picture at the Tail Gate Party. They weren't really in the mood for pictures.

Ava's First Day of School

2008-10-23T19:57:00.001-07:00

Here is Ava's first day of school picture. Doesn't she look big.

More Hurricane Ike

2008-09-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to another web site that I made to share photos of our home after Hurricane Ike. Again we are so blessed compared to what others went thru but we did get some damage.
http://myhouseafterike.shutterfly.com/

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that the girls and I are safe and sound in Ft. Worth. I can't seem to take my eyes off the TV but will try for the next few hours knowing that I will probably be up all night watching. It looks like the storm surge will reach our house and we are just hoping for the minimal damage right now but it is in God's hands and he will give us the strength to handle whatever comes in the coming days. I am thankful that while it is going to be devistating, we are well insured and in a good place to deal with it all. Many families can not say the same and they will be in my prayers tonight.

The Lands are off to CHINA!!

2008-09-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while due to a hectic summer and some big life changes coming up in the next few months. It is hard to remember who has been told and who hasn't but we will be relocating to Shanghai China with Mark's job. He left on labor day and took the digital camera before I could get the first day of school pictures off of Ava and then didn't have a camera when Ella started pre K. The girls and I are making it fine with out Mark. We are to busy and the days go fast but we look forward to him coming home for a visit in October and back again in November to pack us up and take us with him. I think he is having a harder time without us. But we will look back at this time apart as a bump in the road and have many wonderful memories of Shanghai. We will be there for 3 years and then hopefully back to Baytown. We are keeping our "little house by the sea". It is my third child and I'm not done with it so I couldn't let it go. The good thing is that our housing is taken care of there and what a house it is. I thought Texans did it bigger and better but Shanghai may have us beat. So in the coming months the posts should get livelier. I wont be working when we are there and have no excuse for not keeping up the blog unless the shopping is just so wonderful that I can't stay off the streets.

I can't make up my bed!

2008-06-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

We also got a new puppy. She is a Jack Russel Terrier named Daisy. She likes to take her morning nap in my bed so if I haven't gotten around to making it then I have to wait for her nap to be over. It maybe an accuse but I think it is a good one. I don't normally like to show my bed unmade but here you go.

Kindergarten Graduation

2008-06-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

Finally, Ava graduated from Kindergarten. It was a very emotional experience. Especially when they announced, "the Kindergarten class of 2008, future Senior class of 2020." I really wanted to keep living in denial that she would ever grow up, graduate and go off to college but I guess I'm going to have to face reality.

Blue Ribbon Art Work

2008-06-05T09:23:00.001-07:00

I know these next few posts are going to be a big brag session on Ava but so much went on these last 2 months of school that I couldn't hardly keep up. Ava also got a blue ribbon on some Christmas art work that she did. It was displayed at the Chambers County Youth Expo so went went to Anahauc to see it. The expo showcased a lot of art, woodworking, science, cooking and sewing projects from youth of all ages. They also had the 4H and FFA there showing their animals. The girls really liked walking around and looking at all the animals. I think we are going to investigate 4H for Ava.

Ava was the star!

2008-06-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Earlier in May the Kindergarten Center had a program. Ava never made a big deal about it so I was surprised to find out that she had a staring role. I'm glad I did not miss it that day. I took some video but for some reason I can't get it up on the blog. Basically, Ava did the last lines. She asked the audience to stand to salute the American and Texas flags then lead the group as we said the Pledge of Alligiance and Salute to the Texas flag. Then she thanked everyone one for coming and that ended the show. I was so proud and she seems to really shine on stage. Imagine that!

Gymnastics

2008-05-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

The girls finished up there gymnastics classes. While I don't think the Olympics are in our future, they did learn some new skills.

Ella turned 4!

2008-04-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ella turned four this week. She is my little home body and would have preferred to stay home but we did throw a party at her preschool. Of course I tried to be the perfect momma. I got up made her a special breakfast, got everything together to leave early so we could stop at the store and pick up some special birthday flowers and a balloon for a center piece. At the store I realized I forgot all the important stuff, the cupcakes and camera. I bought more cupcakes and borrowed the school's camera. So, I don't have the pictures back yet. Here are the pictures from the evening home party. They are all put in individually because I tried a program that was supposed to give me a slide show but could not get it to work.

Mark went off shore fishing

2008-04-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

He could probably write a book on it all but I will just post pictures.

We have some catching up to do!

2008-04-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we had Easter and a fishing trip and now Ava was just the star of her school program and tomorrow is Ella's 4th birthday. Here are some pics from the past few months. The first is the Easter hat parade at Ava's school. Let me tell you, they must have had professional help on those hats because there was not an ugly one. Then we went to Aunt Whitney's neighborhood egg hunt and the girls enjoyed spending time with Katelyn.

We had another hunt at Nana Julie's and then Easter morning at the church. We were hunted out by the time it was all over.

We Went Ice Skating

2008-03-03T12:56:00.000-08:00

We took the girls over to the Galleria in Houston to go ice skating. I wasn't quiet sure how that would go but they did pretty good. Mark was the most successful. I finally got off the wall after a lap or two and Ava managed a few attempts without hanging on but she tried really hard. Ella just couldn't get it and stayed in the stands with my Dad and stepmom most of the time. The best story I have of the day was the girl's reaction to Neiman Marcus. We came in the mall that way and had to come up the escalator to get to the mall entrance. When we came up in to the bright, shiney and very beautiful makeup and parfume floor, both girls eyes got huge and let out a big Wow, this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen! I hope that is not a sign of things to come. Mark might have to get a second job to afford them.

The Work Continues!

2008-03-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

We did a little more work to the house. The kitchen is a work in progress and we are trying to work with the existing structure. Maybe some day we can gut the kitchen and start over but for now we just keep updating. When we moved in it was an all brown kitchen. We had brown cabinets and beautiful 1970's paneling. We pulled all that down and painted it blue then painted all the cabinets white and new hardware. But I still was not satisfied. I got a dishwasher. Yes I went for about 4 months hand washing all our dishes. Whew, I felt domestic. It was especially fun because that summer we had a constant parade of guests coming thru to see the new house. Just recently we put in new counter tops and a bead board backsplash to match the rest of the kitchen. The old counters where white formica that went all the way up the wall. Everything stained them and I was constantly having to bleach them. So now I feel even more modern. Appliances are next but until then you can enjoy these transformation pictures.

2007-12-26T07:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Lands!!

What a whirlwind Christmas season. We enjoyed having our families here and the girls had many gift opening opportunities. Here are some pics from all the visits. I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas and that this new year brings great joy. For Poppy and Penny and Whit, Chris, Katelyn and Brooklyn, we are not leaving you out but I think all the pictures were taken with your cameras cause we did not have any. Please send some for me to post!!

Santa brought some new fish for the fish tank and Daddy has been catching them for the freezer. The one below is a 28" Red Fish (The limit and probably the biggest Red fish Mark has ever caught) Merry Christmas Mark!!

Santa brought the girls a fairy village and a My Little Pony village (not pictured but THANK YOU Grandpa Larry and Grandma Helen) The girls have taken over the dining room table with it and sit and play with it for hours. That would be the reason for the wordy blog this morning!

Nana and Grand Nana came for a visit and brought new sweat shirts with the girl's names monogrammed on them and singing Rudolph and Santa. Rudolph made a great bed companion for Ella. Its nose lit up every time you pushed its ear.

So that is it for now. If I get more pictures I will post those as well. Our girls were very blessed this year by all who gave gifts and we were equally so for all of you who care so much. Thank you and God bless.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope all had a happy Thanksgiving. We could not have asked for a better one. We were so busy we did not take many pictures but here is what we got. We went to Ballinger where my dad lives and Mark did some hunting. He got 2 does. I'll spare you the gory pictures though. The girls enjoyed playing with their cousin Katelyn and seeing Poppy's horses. Then we went to Ft. Worth and were pleasantly surprised by snow on Thanksgiving day. It did not stick but Ava and Ella got to play in it for a little while. The last picture is of the girls before church one morning and I think the look precious in their pink!!

Halloween

2007-10-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

We've had a busy day. Both girls had parties at their schools and then we went to Trick or Trunk at our church. Trick or Trunk is where we line cars up in the parking lot and everyone decorates like we would decorate our porches. Then the kids go down the line doing their trick or treating. Here are some pictures of the girls and some of the cars. Ava was Peter Pan and Ella was Tinkerbelle. I think a fun time was had by all. We also went to a pumpkin patch and to Ava's fall festival at her school last weekend. And finally, we had a pretty cool full moon and it made a really spooky picture. I thought it was appropriate to add.

Ava's 6th B-Day

2007-10-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

It was a low-key evening at home with the nuclear family. Ava has been looking forward to her birthday for quite a while (since the last one, I think). Everything she sees on TV is something she wants for her birthday. I suppose that will start again tomorrow.

We had a nice dinner with cake and presents.

The checkers were a big hit. Ava is quite a competitor--and she wasn't too happy that daddy didn't let her win (I guess she comes by the competitiveness honestly :-).

She loved all of her gifts. We set them all aside to play with one per evening for the next week or so.

Our Construction Project

2007-10-07T15:07:00.001-07:00

Ava Looses a Tooth

2007-10-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Ava lost her first baby tooth tonight. It is possibly the world's smallest tooth, but she is very proud and excited. It fell out naturally (without thread or doorknob assistance) while she was taking a bedtime sip of water. She obviously didn't stay in bed after that.

PS For any of ya'll wondering, our kids do wear clothes sometimes. Mainly when they go out in public. But once they get home we can't seem to keep them on. We've kinda given up so needless to say, when we need to catch a priceless moment, it usually means sens the shirt.

Just a Quick Update

2007-09-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

School is making all of us tired. I think Mark and I are having to adjust more than Ava. Ella is really starting to blossom since Ava is not around and I am really enjoying our conversations on the way to preschool. Here are some pics of Ava getting on the bus. That was a big deal for me. And the completed garage. We just have lanscaping to do. And finally, some of the girls just playing around.

Almost complete

2007-08-28T18:55:00.001-07:00

This is Mark writing again. Our carpenters finished up today. The stairs were the last item to complete. Today, the roofers started. They will finish tomorrow. Just electrical and dirt work left to complete the project. We will need to work on finishing out the upstairs later as time and money permits.

The garage doors were put on Saturday and the painting of the houe and garage was completed on Sunday. The blue film on the garage doors is protective. The doors will be white.

Last but not least are the fish that I caught on Sunday. I went off shore with my neibor and his boss. We had a great trip and I put most of the fish in the boat. In addition to the fish below, I caught a 29" redfish that we released. I could have tagged it, but it looked kind of funky--like it had had a few run-ins with sharks, etc. The red snapper in the picture are all in the 5-7 lb. range the redfish is 24". I can't wait to go back!

First Day of School

2007-08-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Ava started Kindergarten today. I thought I would be sad but so far I am ok. I think the morning was to crazy for me to think long enough to get sad. Anyway, here are the pictures from this morning. Ava was so busy looking around that she wouldn't look at the camera and smile. Of course, I wanted the pictures to be perfect and wanted to fuss about it but then had to remember that it was her day, not mine. I hope ya'll enjoy. I'll let you know what she says when I pick her up this afternoon.

We are getting there

2007-08-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I haven't put up any posts lately (this is Mark writing), but I have been working hard to get things in order around here. We were sweating about Hurricane Dean, but it looks like we will dodge this one. Good thing too, because the garage would fall down without two sides upstairs and no doors and windows! I trimmed trees two weekends in a row both for asthetics and to keep the trees from being top heavy, with saturated ground, and possibly falling over in a high wind. After the tree work I got conscripted to work on the garage (the contractor wants more money, so I offered my time). I have been putting on the hurricane straps and clips for the last four or five evenings. I basically plan to work every free moment around the house until we start to see light at the end of the tunnel. I started building steps to the porch (we are going to demo out the brick steps). I got the posts set and the boards cut. I have a couple more hours of work on the first set of steps. Two more sets to go! The back stairs (our normal entry facing the garage) will be a small deck with a roof and handrail. I have designed this, but haven't purchased the materials yet.

The garage is taking shape. The carpenters estimate four more days until they are finished. They will complete the framing, construct the stairs (opposite side of the garage) and put up the siding. The contractors will then roof the garage and paint the garage and house. They still need to put in all the doors and windows and do all the electrical work. After all this, they will bring in dirt and caliche for the parking area. Then we will have lots more fun trying to get everything up to Stephenie's specifications. That could take a lot of time...and money!

We will keep you posted. Our to-do list is long, so we should have something to post pretty frequently...weather and money permitting.

House siding finished--framing begins

2007-08-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

A new crew started on the siding on Monday. They seem much more professional. The lead man is actually a carpenter (I am not sure what the other guys were). They are the ones who will also do the framing on the garage.

By Tuesday, the siding was almost done. Most of the lumber showed up today. The house is looking great!

The house looks finished from the back. Just some trim to finish tomorrow before framing starts.

The guys laid out the ground floor framing today after finishing the house details. We are happy with the results so far.

The framing was in full gear today (Thursday) The center garage door is huge! We can have a nice big boat in there (you can tell that it is Mark writing this :-).

We hope that the garage doesn't dwarf the house. However, I am very happy with the amount of floor space that we will have in the garage. The footprint is about the same as the ground floor of our house! Steph and I talked about landscaping today. We will have a lot of work to do just to prepare the grounds before planting anything. It should be worth the work in the end.

Tyvek to Concrete

2007-08-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

The house guys got the OSB and Tyvek on Wednesday. The concrete guys worked on making revisions required by our new engineer. He appears to know more about how to build a windstorm rated building than the last guy. The previous engineer only seemed to know one way to do things.

The house is looking cleaner, but he yard is getting worse and worse.

The rain held off here long enough to allow the concrete guys to get their work done.

The picture above is where the stairs will go.

We have some work to do on the yard. They drove right up to the house with the cement mixer. We are in construction mode, so we will deal with the damage later...

Making Progress...on the house

2007-07-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

The rain is holding off again this week. It looks like we may get to pour concrete this week. The new engineer is more creative than the last. He knew how the builder needed to reinforce the front of the garage for a windstorm rating. So now we start moving faster. This was the view behind the house today. It was a nice morning.

You can see the progress. They are getting OSB all around the house. They will wrap with Tyvek and then start putting up the siding. The concrete guys will be back tomorrow to make changes to their layout and steel.

The porch is looking good. Looks like Mark needs to do some serious tree trimming. The rain has really helped them grow.

The back is starting to come together. We need a load of trash removed from the premises.

It was a hot day, but a nice evening.

We got the revised drawings today. This gives an idea of what the street side of the garage will look like.

The side facing the house is shown below.

Destruction Mode

2007-07-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of workers out at the jobsite the last two days. The rain has gone...for now. More is predicted for this weekend. We are waiting on approval from an engineer to have the garage plans approved as 'wind storm rated'. It is going to cost us a few bucks more than expected, but not as much as previously thought. While we are waiting to pour the foundation, they have started work on the siding and porch. As you can see from the picture, the house looks pretty bad right now. The brick is all off and most of the vinyl siding is down.

The old wooden siding is looking rough. It is interesting to see how the house has evolved over time. You can tell that the original entry was on the left of the view above. This change must have been made just before adding the vinyl siding. There is also an old window that would look right into the shower if it hadn't been boarded up from the inside and then covered over with siding!

We knew that we had previous termite damage on the water side of the house. The siding is pretty well eaten up and the porch has some structural issues. If we had waited another year to do the porch portion of the project, we might have been doing it because the porch fell down.

We laid out the spots for the new 4x4 posts to go on the porch. Hopefully, tomorrow they will make repairs to the porch structure, replace the rotten wooden siding (so that they can nail to it) and get the rest of the vinyl siding off the house. They will wrap the house with Tyvek and insulate between nail strips before putting up the Hardee Plank siding. We look forward to turning the corner on this phase of the project. This is simply destruction at this point.

Start of Garage Construction

2007-07-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

The construction of our three-car garage apartment was begun last week. They have so far set the forms, although the engineer didn't sign off on the architect's drawing...so they will now need to fill in and dig new trenches for the beams on the outside walls! This change will also cost us around $2,000 and we have only just started the project!

You can see from the picture that the new garage is almost as large as the house! The upstairs will be over the middle stall and will be 360 sqft.

The destruction has also started on our house. We are having the old yellow vinyl siding removed and replaced with Hardy Plank (concrete siding) to match the garage. They are demolishing a brick skirt around the lower four feet of the house at the same time. When they remove the skirt from aroud the porch, they will also remove a hip-high wall and 2x4s and replace with 4x4 posts to open up the porch. We will most likely put in a chair rail later. Mark will be building wodden steps in three locations including the entry below (where there are brick steps now). We have also removed the bushes (pulled them outfrom one side of the back of the house (view above) and from along the entire bay side. They were looking bad and we want a fresh start with the new siding. The rusty, leaking drain pipe below will need to be replaced with PVC and framed in with the new siding. Just one more surprise!

The brick that they are removing is being piled into the rip rap behind the house. This will help to prevent mishaps like children falling off the bulkhead and into the jagged rocks (yes, this happened--Ella has no permanent damage :-).

We have ongoing drainage issues that need to be worked out. It has been raining here again this week, and Lake Land is getting full again. Will get the drainage issues worked out as our project progresses.

We are still really excited about our project. We just need to keep our patience and stay positive. This will be really cool when we are finished. There should be plenty of space to do projects, for guests to come and stay and for RV's to hook up (we are putting in a plug on the side of the garage for friends and grandparents!). In the next couple of months, we will be getting things the way we envision that they should be! Then we will be ready for guests.

So much for that boat

2007-07-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

Mark's boat was destroyed the day before Father's day. We are not exactly sure what happened, but the end result is that it sank in a squall while it was tied up to a piling behind the house. Mark, Chris and Steve Grissom attempted to get it floating again, but the weather and waves were too rough. While waiting for the tide to go out over night, the boat actually flipped over and was totally destroyed. The lower unit and some accessories were salvaged, but not much else...

We will need to save up for at least a year before getting a new boat (Mark is crying).

Fortunately, Mark went off shore with his friend Oscar last week and they filled the freezer with fish. They caught four Dolphin, two King Mackeral, two Cobia and a Red Snapper. They nearly got stranded over 10 miles off shore when the steering wheel of Oscar's boat broke off! The welds holding the steering wheel in place all broke. They were able to steer the boat by holding their mouths just right. The fishing was great, although the seas were rough for the first couple of hours. The catch of the day was Oscar's Cobia, which weighed 55 lbs. It was a monster that took 30 minutes to land.

With gas prices as high as they are, there are plenty of offers to go fishing--and to split the gas! That will have to get Mark by until he can get his own boat again.

Disney World

2007-07-17T11:22:00.001-07:00

Back by Popular Demand!!

2007-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

While this post will only be a teaser, I will catch you up. This last spring was a busy one. My sister was pregnant and on bed rest and needed much help with her then 2 year old. So every other week me and the girls packed up and headed to Ft. Worth to help. After months of being on edge that the baby would come early, She finally got here right on time. Then 3 days after she was born we held a joint birthday party for Katelyn (my sister's daughter) and Ella (Mine). They were born 1 day apart and so we were celebrating their 3rd birthday. Here are the pictures of the birthday girls and Ava with my sister's new daughter Brooklyn Adeline Harter.

Next we went to Disney over Memorial Weekend and the digital camera got drug thru the sand and no longer works. I had to go buy some disposibles and have not gotten all of them developed. Then my sister and dad came for a visit and two weeks after that we headed to "Ballinger 4th of July". That is my family's big 4th bash and reunion on 120 acres outside of Ballinger. We had a wonderful time and made more memories. My kids are the 3rd generation of kids to grow up runnining the dirt roads of that place and aside from my house it is my favorite place to be. Hopefully, I will have pictures to share.

Finally, we are embarking on a major home renovation. The concrete guys came today to start on the new garage and we are getting ready to remove all the vinyl siding from the house and put up hardiplank. I will try to get some before, during and after pics to show.

Anyhow, I regret the delay in posting but will try to do better. I don't know how some of you blogger folks do it. Cause while I have a full life, I know others are even more full and they still find the time to keep everyone posted :)

2007-04-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

From the Land Family

The Easter Bunny came early to the Land house due to the rough weather expected on Sunday. Although, it was not quite early enough to beat the rain and he had to sneak in and hide the eggs in our living room. The girls did not seem to mind.

2007-01-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Land Family

We had a very merry Christmas. We spent time with all of our family. Some here and some in Ft. Worth. The girls had a Christmas party at their preschool and went on a HO HO Hayride. The fish have really been biting since Mark got a boat. I never would have thought it would make such a difference. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and that this new year is a blessed one.

2006-12-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Mark and I went on a cruise over the Thanksgiving holiday. Here are some pictures of our trip. The boat took us to Progresso and Cozemel Mexico and Belize. It was a great trip.

2006-12-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Ella turned 2 this year and celebrated at the old house. Ava helped with the present opening ALOT.

Ava turned 5 and had a big party at the Jumpin Jungle with friends from church and preschool.

2006-12-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

Most of you know we moved this year.
Here are some fun images of the house and the girls.

We don't normally have this much beach but the north wind blew the water out of the bay so we ended up with a few days of beach front property. The first is a picture looking back up at our house. It is the one on the hill. The second is Ava and Ella playing on the beach. Doesn't it look like a terrible way to grow up!

2006-11-14T10:54:00.000-08:00

Inspired by another blog, I am starting one for our family. I plan to post updates on our family and pictures to keep everyone informed of how things are going down here. This may be an easier way of communicating other than email and mail. I never seem to get pictures out in a timely manner and we are always on the run. Check back often to see how things are going and I look forward to hearing from you all!!