Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

We had our big ultra sound and it is time to share the results.

If you know your Burton Stevenson nursery rhymes, you can make a pretty good guess to the gender of our pending new arrival.
Despite the fact that some of the ultrasound images look pretty questionable, I was guaranteed by the nurse and the Dr. that there are no animal parts in the pictures. So far all of the big and little parts are present and accounted for in their correct locations. We were assured that we could expect arrival of the bouncing baby in the middle of April.

We are big fans of the Disney cartoon series "Phineas and Ferb". The cartoon is about two bothers that get into lots of adventures together and their older sister that is always looking for ways to get them in trouble with their mom.

In one episode, the big sister realizes that she misses her little brothers and a really cute little song is sung by her friend.


Alayna and Stacy like the definition of little brother in this song. "You're younger, we're related, and you're boys."

Alayna is looking forward to her new younger brother with a similar excitement and Cavell can't wait to get into adventures with his new companion.

Our Blog

Do you notice anything different about our blog? Quick clue, look up.

I'll post a little more later.

Student of the Week

Alayna was named Student of the Week on Friday. Her reign began during the weekly Friday morning assembly. Stacy was tipped off by Sra. Sauceda of the impending coronation, so we were able to sneak in and surprise Alayna at the ceremony. We had a good time reciting the pledge of allegiance and we learned that there is a pledge to Texas. We sheepishly mouthed silent words trying not to stand out as the only people not completely loyal to the sovereign state of Texas. Luckily, we know the Student of the Week, so we were OK.

Alayna will continue her reign when she returns to school on Monday. As a result of the Thanksgiving holiday, there will not be a Friday morning assembly next week. Alayna will have the grueling task of maintaining the office of Student of the Week for two weeks in a row. She has no immediate plans for revolutionary changes right now. She is focused on incremental changes around continued good citizenship and maintaining eligibility for future terms.

Stacy's Half Marathon Race Report

My race was a HUGE marathon and 1/2 marathon combo with over 31,000 people. Because of my estimated finish time I was in start group corral 26 out of 35. It took 50 minutes from the time the gun went off just to get to the starting line! I didn't bring my music and enjoyed listening to the bands along the route and the other runners. I was surprised at the number of people carrying lots of water and "stuff." I thought it might be because I was with the slow/new/inexperienced people but Paul saw a gal up in corral 5 with a baggie of makeup, that she used before the start!?!

The Before Picture. See how happy I am?

My run went really well. I stopped along the course to use a port-a-potty after the first mile. The funny part is there was a line, and when a lady came out no one would go in because she said it smelled really bad. I didn't care so I got in and out fast and avoided the line.

Running in a group this big was a new experience. I had to walk at each water stop as I drank otherwise I end up choking and splashed all over. Not to mention, the pack I was in all slowed down and you couldn't get fluids unless you slowed down as well.
The first half of the race, I was right on pace to finish in 2:30. I really enjoyed being able to check a pace band I printed up to help keep me on track. Around mile 4 and 5 there was a hill that slowed me down, but I wasn't too far off. Kept it up for a few more miles but had slowed down for mile 8, and felt a little confused about my fuel plan. I couldn't remember when I had planned to take more gel and electrolytes, but I ended up getting it all in me.

I knew I was getting even slower and when when I got to mile 11 I decided to walk a bit. Except I was wrong, I had only made it to 10.5 miles. That was a bit demoralizing, but it was too difficult to comfortably run anymore after the walk break and I had promised I wouldn't push myself. Around mile 12 it hurt to walk and stopping to stretch hurt even more. So I found a "slog" to be the most comfortable movement and made it up the hill to cross the finish line in 2:48. I got my medal, posed for a picture and scavenged for free food before getting bags of ice for my legs.

Play Time

Cavell and I have found a new game to play. Actually, it's an old game and ours is a set that Grandma Onines made for Alayna. And it's educational.

We are playing the matching game.

We lay out the colors . . .

and Cavell matches them.

Then we cheer for the color he matched. When he matches them all, we give a Super Cheer for Cavell.

When Cavell is in an extra silly mood he will mismatch the colors, on purpose. How do I know? He looks up at me with a grin, starts laughing and shaking his head while saying, "nooooooooooo!"