My Dancing Girls

Here are clips from Merlova and Zhivanna's dance class. The last day of the month they have a parents preview, where we get to go into the last 15 min. of class, so we can see what they have been working on. These are from the dances that they are going perform at the end of May for their recital.

Below is Merlova with her class practicing part of the dance, she is having too much fun.

This is Zhivanna and her gal pal Ava. They met going to the Little Friends preschool program. Watch how these girls shake their hips. I'm a little worried, sorry part of it came out so dark, I was shooting the clip and had back lighting.

Merlova's Party

This Saturday we hosted a gymnastics/Dora the explorer themed 3rd b-day party for Merlova. Many of her little friends got sick or did not make it so it was a bit smaller then planned but she still had a great time. She liked having a special day and was very comfortable at the gymnastics place since she is there every week for lessons.

Presents time...the rest of the kids look on with excitement. Fun, Dora toys!

Merlova and her 3rd, b-day cupcake. She wanted red cake with chocolate and white frosting and sprinkles of course. And we had ice cream cups as well to go along with them.

The party table with kids ready for snacks. This is after we played in the gym.

The parachute play time. Merlova got to pop the bubbles on top and then we all did a few activities shaking it and going underneath. Fun!

Monkey Merlova swinging on the rope across the foam pit.

Zhivanna, Merlova and gymnastic pal Bizzy stretch to warm up for playtime.

Merlova inside the parachute, just after she stuck her head through the hole in the middle. Quick clip, sorry.

Crawdad feast

So it is funny to be back where I started a year ago. Last year I began my blog with an entry in April about the NASA DX crawdad feast and today I am back where I started. The kids again this year had a great time and managed to take home one of the only alive crawdads from the feast. Last year we managed to keep it alive for the 5 months+, when it was under our care. This year this one is named "Rocky" and it is already settled into the cage we have ready for it. The kids decided it was a boy.
After all the craziness of the flood this weekend it was nice not to have to prepare dinner for one night and be able to go to a place where the Shiner Bock flowed FREE. I definitely had my share of it. The evening was a minimal cost for our family of 5 to attend, and I know for sure Akorren ate his weight in crawdads. they had a bounce house and all the food we could eat. It was a blessing in that it was great diversion from all the reality of the big life stuff that we have been dealing with over the past week. As a busy an now mostly working mom I enjoyed the break. Here are the kids with our new family member, Rocky.

Character Award

Ms. Shaffer with Akorren, mommy and sister Merlova outside of his class after the Character Counts Awards.

Akorren was given the character counts award at Gilmore school for "trustworthiness". He figured it out that he was going to win it when I showed up at school. We found out at the last minute that he was going to be presented with it so only Merlova & I could attend the ceremony. He was really proud. Merlova and I came back to have lunch with him later that same day.

BUGS! performance Gilmore

Tonight Akorren had his 2nd grade musical performance of BUGS! it was so cute. All the kids did a great job in it. Akorren was originally going to tryout of a part but then got too nervous about it. He was so good as a chorus member during the performance, we were so proud of him. It was such a joy to see him having such a good time with it, he moved really well during the hand gestures and I could tell that he sung out as loud as possible during the singing parts, he made me so proud. I hope I can provide him with other experiences like this so he can enjoy the pleasure of theater during his growing up. It was so much fun for all the family to see him. His class was bumble bees during the performance and he was in the second row of the chorus. You can see a part of it in the short video clip I took on my camera.

The Clean Up Begins

Here is Glenn tearing up the floor in the kitchen. This one was a hard one to see. It seemed to dry out well, but the baseboards were still very wet and separating from the walls. Once Glenn started to pull up the floor, it was all wet underneath. The water barrier held the water down to the floor and the linoleum under was all wet and had to be pulled up. This one is going to be a big job and will take a while to get all cleaned up. We will have to take our time doing the repairs on this. Some of the cabinets will need fixing as well.

The mess of the living room. All this stuff needs to find a new place or be moved around. Water got in here as well, it damaged the baseboards but the tile did just fine and dried out in no time. I hope to make this back into a living space, at least in the next few days.

The dried out playroom, minus toys and most all of the furniture. The bookcase shown will go up stairs into the spare bedroom and then the work desk will be put back into the study. This room will get tiled first, we plan to pick tile out tomorrow and get is going asap.

This is what our study looks like now. All the floor and wall are dry, just missing the baseboards and carpet. It is much cleaner now that all the work and project junk is out of it. We will probably leave this room without flooring for a while. It will be the last place to get done. A low priority on the list of to do's.

As soon as the rain stopped on Sat. around 4;37PM Glenn cut into the playroom carpet and we began the drying out process. With the help of our neighbor Scott and Young Family (thanks Tom, Lynn & Jeremy) we were able to clean out the study that night as well.

More Flood Pictures

Here are more pictures of the house when we were taking on water. Here you can see the water seeping down around the base of where the toilet was seated.

You can see the water level in the kitchen with our towels. They did not do much but I guess it made he kids and us feel like we were doing something. It was less then 1 inch.

The laundry room took on water too, it came in through the seep holes in the brick facing. You can see the carpet all wet and some of our recycle goods that got wet too.

The last photo is a really good one. You can see the water level through the window behind Glenn. Yes that is across the street... the water is all the way up to neighbors front yards. You can also see the water that was already getting inside the house.

What...FLOODED?

Now these photos are taken about 2 hours after the picture of Akorren with the bee costume on. See this Saturday the rains came to Houston and after getting back from church (for a 4 hour meeting) I came home to a rainy day. Akorren had a friend over to play and Glenn I were working on things around the house like the bee wings.

We noticed the water coming down really hard outside and then while working on the wings I looked out the front window and could see the water starting to back up by the drain. No worry this has happen before. Then about 20 minutes later. It was covering the sidewalk. I mentioned it to Glenn and asked if we needed to worry about it. The kids were so excited as they wanted the streets to flood so they could go out and play in the water after the rain slowed down. They were chanting "Flood, flood, flood!"

We both took note of the water level again. Then it really seemed like it was not clearing very well by the drain. So I mentioned it to Glenn, ..."I know we will need to take these papers and albums up stairs if water starts to come in." The rain was still very heavy and looked like it was still not going to let up. So Glenn again said okay let's just watch it. Then when he noticed it more then halfway up our front yard he made the decision to have the kids help us tote things up stairs. Up went the paperwork, albums, stuffed animals, and toys. Unplugged the electrical stuff, put the things up.

The kids were great they hauled and hauled until I need to get lemonade and let them rest while Glenn and I hoofed it up and down a few more times. Then the water was at the door not inches from it; at the door, knocking to let it in! It was still raining like no tomorrow. And the chanting of "FLOOD" was not heard in the house. I told the kids to be careful of what they wished for. And then we calmly explained to them that it looked like water was going to get into the house. And shortly around 4:27 PM it started to come in through the front and back door. (see lowest picture)

For a while we let the kids grab towels and throw them down, to feel like we were doing something about it, there was not really much we could do. And then by 4:35 water was coming in from the seep holes in the brick facing, into the playroom corners, the study the living room and throughout the kitchen. The carpet was just soaking it up. We both hated the carpet so now was our time to get rid of it. By now we chased the kids up stairs and out of the way so we could monitor the damages. FYI- Merlova was put to bed just after 2:30PM and she slept all the way through the whole thing. Such is the life of the 3rd child.

Zhivanna was trying to work herself up into a crying fit, but we curbed that really quick. We let her know that in this family we do not panic in an emergency situation and that crying will not solve anything. The worst thing that could happen would be 1 to 2 feet of water and that we did not feel it would get that bad and that if it did we could always go up stairs. So we just waited and sighed and were glad when it slowed down around 4:45 PM. The cars parked out in front of our house (not ours) were toast, I mean filled with water up the midpoint of the door. I guess it was just our day to get flooded. It really sucked but I guess it was our turn to have some excitement for the weekend! I just love life, really....

Bee Costume

This is the back side of the bee t-shirt costume I helped to put together for the BUGS! musical that Akorren is doing at his school on the 21st of April. I have to get the wings laminated and ready to be pinned on for Tuesday. I just love the little stinger I sewed on the backs. The kids will also be wearing bee hats on their heads as well, they are at school.

My Baby is 3!

Akorren, Merlova & Zhivanna with her cake just after she blew out the candles.

Merlova turned 3 today and we made her a cake and took her out to Mongolian BBQ for dinner. She really enjoys the cooked meats. We plan to do her party at the end of the month on the 25th at the gymnastics place. Tonight was just about being together as family and letting her feel special since she is such a big girl now. She is a chocolate monster so I made her a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Notice the big green sprinkle spot on the cake in photo, she helped to decorate it. Happy Birthday my big baby girl!

Now you must pardon the video. This is the first time I have attached one or recorded one on my photo camera. So when I meant to take a picture I actually took a video but here it is. Very brief and bad pan up at the end, sorry!

An Egg Hunt

Today I was on kid duty as Glenn had work stuff to do at church this Sat. I took the kids to YMCA with me so I could dance Zumba with Zhivanna and then it was off run household errands, then to a friends house in Houston for an Easter kid party and egg hunt.

I forgot that now Akorren is getting older he does not do the egg hunts at school anymore. So this hunt at the party was a big deal for him. He and Zhivanna both got into it. This was her second as she got to do one at preschool.

Now this was Merlova's 1st for this year and she was into it. Grabbed every egg within her reach. Now she would share and drop one or two in a friends or sibling's basket but she went for everyone that was in her sight. It was a nice afternoon, even if it was a little chilly for us Texas folks. The kids did get into the pool after the fun and food.


Merlova shows off her eggs, Zhi & Mer, the 3 kids, the group of children who attended the party.

Dye the Eggs!

Tonight after my Taebo class and dinner, I had it enough together to have the kids dye eggs with Glenn. It almost slipped my mind. I still have Merlova's b-day, party, child dedication, and home paperwork that has to get done on my list, so I am a bit distracted.

The kids all had a good time. It is nice now that they are older. Akorren wants to do it all on his own and is very capable of it. Zhivanna enjoyed the eggs and welcomed the help and Merlova really got into it this year and was obsessed with the blue egg she colored. Not wanting to put it down and putting some small cracks in it because she dropped it, only once. We did a marble egg kit and a tradional colored kit only 1 dozen that way each kid could do 3, with mommy or daddy help.

Merlova holding her favorite blue egg, Zhivanna getting some help from daddy, Akorren coloring his eggs yellow (his favorite color).

Animal Project

Akorren has been working on a project in his second grade class on an animal report. The class took a trip to the Houston Zoo where they were able to look at their animals. He decided to learn about the octopus. (I guess that underwater theme in his room as a baby has influenced him) He decided to make his own diorama on it. Being creative and seeing all the things that daddy uses, he took the polymer clay we had and made some underwater life as well as origami sea life. He is doing it all on his own with guidance from daddy. He is very proud of it so far. The project is due on the 14th and this shows what he had made so far. It is looking good.

Akorren's 2nd grade octopus animal diorama project, he will add more to it over the next few days.

More Easter Bunny Photos

My version of the paid shot we took. I used mine to make some cards at CVS with for the family. The kids did a good job. Merlova was okay sitting near the bunny, no way would she get on the bunny's lap. I thought she did a good job.

Just waiting our turn. I love Merlova's look as she is watching the bunny.

This is good photo of Akorren looking at the bunny, I took one like this of Merlova but it came out dark because of the light coming into the mall.

I love Zhivanna when she is being cute! These two kids look so big now.

Zhivanna being a clown with her gestures and posing, Akorren with a silly face and Merlova looking cute. We are next in line to see the bunny at Baybrook Mall.

Easter Bunny Photo

Here are our kids with the Easter Bunny over at the Baybrook Mall. This was the first year that we did not have a crying and screaming Merlova in the photo. I like this photo but I was expecting the bunny they had the year before, it was a white and pink one with a cute purple bow, oh well! Merlova was funny she did not want to sit on the bunny's lap but was okay sitting near it.