SATURDAY NIGHT OUT

Our family decided to go out on the town this past Saturday night. We rarely drive into Houston for anything since we can do most everything we like close to home. A trip into the city on Saturday night is not a common thing. We decided to go to Dave and Busters and have dinner and enjoy the game room. Elise was so excited about the games that she started asking if it was time to go at 9:30 Saturday morning! She loved the games but does not like to lose....EVER. As long as she was winning she was happy but if she lost she had a meltdown!! She told me, "Dave and Busters has more games than Chucky Cheese!"

GUS GOES PATRIOTIC

Gus has been with us for a year now, and he got his name at last year's 4th of July celebration. He is in a party mood today and wishes all our friends and family a HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

MY LITTLE DANCER

Elise had her first dance recital today. It was just the cutest! She did a good job of not getting stage fright and actually knew the steps. It reminded me of Melanie's recitals. We started Melanie in dancing at about this same age. It is amazing the resemblance of Melanie's pictures at this age and Elise!

A PORCH WITH A VIEW

I spent some time on my back porch with a book this holiday weekend. I haven't spent much time outside since we moved to this house but the view is quite nice and I hope to spend more time out there this summer. The birds like he place and I was able to get some pictures of one of the redbirds that visits often.

AS GOOD AS IT GETS

My Mothers Day was indeed as good as it gets. We all went to church together and came home and had lunch and visited. Then we went to dinner together. Then we came back to the house for coffee and desert. Jamie's parents joined us and we had a great time together as a family. We are so blessed that we all enjoy one another and look forward to our time together. Jamie's family have taken in Melanie and Elise and have truly been great to them. On the other hand, Greg and I count our blessings every day that Jamie came along into our family. He has certainly completed our family and we love him like a son. As the commercial says....you cannot put a price on that.

Melanie and I are already planning something special for the guys for Father's Day.

Our Men surprised us with a gift certificate to the spa and have informed us that they will babysit while we go!! They are just the best!!!!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all.One is Evil.It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good.It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.The grandson thought about it for a minute
And then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'The old Cherokee simply replied,
'The one you feed.'

DISNEY ON ICE

Saturday was a very exciting day. About 3 months ago I purchased tickets for all of us to attend Disney on Ice. Little did I know when I bought the tickets that we would have a flood the day of the performance! We were all a little hesitant to venture out as we watched the weather all morning but Melanie said she would not tell Elise we weren't going after doing a count down to the day of the show for the past week. The weather was awful with lots of wind and rain. Jamie was our driver and he was certainly a good sport about it. All of the way there we were observing how deep the water was and sometimes choosing the route or lane that was the least flooded. It was a slow treaterous trip to say the least. Once we parked the rain had let up a little so we got under umbrellas and ran for it. Our seats were second row so we had no issues seeing. It was such fun to watch Elise. She never took her eyes off the show for even a second. Of course the big hit was Tinkerbell!! She just happened to have gotten her own Tinkerbell doll while we were there. It was lots of fun. We went from the performance to eat pizza. Other than the weather it was a great day!

EASTER FUN

Melanie and Elise colored eggs at our house yesterdsay so we could watch. Elise loves anything to do with art so this was fun!

Then Elise and I did a Build A Bunny that my Mom sent.

We had lots of fun family time.

FUN WITH FRIENDS

We had a visit from some friends on Saturday afternoon. We always say we are going to get together but life is so busy that it doesn't happen as often as we would like. We finally made it happen and we all enjoyed our time together very much. Aaron and Cindi were really good sports and gave Elise some attention. First Elise and Cindi played the rabbit race game. Then Aaron played flick fishing with her.

We hope we can make the time to get together more often (and if all goes well maybe these friends will go to Alaska with Greg and me next summer).

FISHING WITH PAW-PAW

As mentioned in previous posts we have a little lake in our subdivision. This lake has been a great place to go and feed the ducks, take a walk, and enjoy the fresh air. we throw bread to the ducks and in addition to the ducks getting a meal we also have a lot of turtles who enjoy the treat. For a long time now we have been observing catfish who come to the top to eat the bread. They are quite large and Greg has been threatening to go down there and go fishing! Elise thought that sounded like a lot of fun so she and Paw-Paw decided to get the rod and reel and go try it. This was a first for Elise. She caught on quickly and they actually caught several. She thought they were scary and did not want anything to do with them once they were out of the water. Greg is delighted to have a new fishing buddy.

GUS GETS A HABITAT

If you have ever been to our house you know who Gus is. He is Greg's bronze pelican. While we were building the house Greg decided that he had to have a pelican to remind him of all the days he spent out on the boat fishing and seeing the pelicans on those trips. He went on line and found the artist he liked and ordered a pelican from New York. On moving day we had the pelican loaded up and brought over. We placed it in the back yard where we could see him out the back windows. We had a Fourth of July gathering at our house and everyone who attended was advised that at the conclusion of the evening we would take suggestions for a name and vote on it and name the pelican. You have probably guessed by now that the vote was to name him Gus.Once we got settled and were about to turn our attention to some touches in the yard along came Ike. We lost our back wall with the storm so we had to wait to get the wall rebuilt. By that time along came the holidays. And then the cold weather held up progress. As the months passed and we looked out back at Gus Greg decided that we needed to put some ornamental grass around him so he would appear to be in a natural habitat. This is the first warm weekend we have had so I went out and built Gus a little habitat with some tropical things and some grass that I thought might resemble a marsh. So now Gus has a habitat and Greg a can look out and remember all of his good times out in the boat looking at the birds!

DRAMA ANYONE?

The definition of a drama queen is one who turns something unimportant into a major deal; blows things way out of proportion.
This person craves attention and will go to any extreme to attract attention and/or sympathy. We all instantly think of someone we know when we hear the words drama queen. These people are shameless in the extremes they will go to in order to put themselves in the spotlight. Bless their little pea picking hearts....they have no idea that others laugh at them and find them to be totally outrageous. I now have proof that species other than humans engage in this behavior. Here is the proof:

CAREER NEWS

I am starting a new job tomorrow. After 14 years in stem cell transplant and 2 years in ifectious diseases I am making a big change. I will still be employeed by MD Anderson Cancer Center and will still work on research projects but rather than to coordinate the trials I will manage the area that audits the National Cancer Institute's multi center clinical trials. These trials are conducted all over the world and MD Anderson is the lead center on the trials. I am excited that the new position will include travel (both domestic and international). I know already that one of my big sites will be in Italy. I know as some people near retirement they sort of kick back and coast across the finish line but that just isn't me. I still feel the need to grow and learn and be challenged. I love meeting new people and doing new things so I am excited about this change. Having said that I also know that change is hard (even if it is good change). I am about to have to learn a new area, new duties, new people, a new physical environment, and a very different approach to research. I expect to feel the stress of adjusting to all of this. The one thing that I am very clear about is that I will always do something that will contribute to improved knowledge and treatment of cancer. I am very devoted to the cause. I am fortunate that I chose a career that I believe is my calling at a young age and have been blessed to be a part of some projects that have been significant advances in my field. Some 20 years go MD Anderson gave Greg another chance at life and I will forever feel the need to give back to that great system. So here I go on a new adventure...

IT'S A MYSTERY TO ME

We have a small lake in the community where we live and Elise has aways loved to walk down and feed the ducks. We have about a dozen white or brown regular everyday ducks. Well this winter we have had some new residents move in. I have no idea what they are but we must have 2 dozen of them and they seem to have moved in for good. Anyone out there know what they are???

DO I HAVE TO HAVE A BIRTHDAY???

I hate birthdays. I have never been truthful about my age. I avoid or lie about my age in every instance except for legal documents. My birthday is usually not a happy day for me. This year was different. I had the best birthday ever. I didn't even mind that it was my birthday, and in fact, I had a great day!
My family made it so special. They started a week ago and it just went on and on. They put a lot of thought and effort in making it special and it was indeed special.
My friends also made me glad it was my birthday as I received numerous texts and e mails from many friends both close and far away.
Thanks to everyone for all your well wishes.
I was having such fun with my birthday this year that I went out and bought myself a present. I have been admiring Melanie and Jamie's iphones ever since they got them and I just took my happy self over and purchased myself one yesterday! I still cannot believe I was so bold as to do it. My old phone was fairly new and there was nothing wrong with it. I cannot justify such unneccesary spending but it sure was fun. I love the iphone. I am still learning what all I can do with it. So far it sure is a fun toy.
I don't mind birthdays anymore. That does not mean that I will tell anyone my age. I will still avoid the subject or lie about it!!!!

MY NEW FAVORITE PLACE

I found a place last night that is perfect for any chocolate lover. My family took me out for dinner at The Melting Pot. The first course was the next best thing to chocolate....melted cheese with garlic and seasonings in it. We were served cubed bread, vegetables and apple slices to dip in the cheese (yum)! Next came a choice of probably 6 different salads. Mine was spinich salad and it was GOOD. Then came the entree...it was filet mignon, teriyaki sirloin, shrimp, chicken, and salmon. We dipped that in a seasoned wine sauce. The best came last. We had smores chocolate that we dipped cheesecake, bananas, strawberries, pound cake, and marshmallows in. The entire meal was very special but I could have made a meal of the chocolate.....it was the best! The evening was a special time with my family and a very special meal. Thank you Greg, Melanie and Jamie.

NEW HEADER

I have added some photos from one of our favorite trips to my header. In 2005 Greg and I went to Alaska. It was a dream trip that we hope to repeat if the stock market ever recovers! We went to Brooks Falls during the salmon run and watched the bears catch and eat fish, saw the glaciers, went whale watching and fishing. We were in the back country most of the time and we got there via a 4 seater plane that landed on rocks, dirt and even a water plane in many cases. We also flew right over Mt. McKinley and took a train ride. We were there for 10 days and could have easily stayed another 10! The scenery, and wildlife including puffins and eagles was just spectacular. We have been blessed to take some geat trips. I will post segments from time-to-time of some of our favorite places.

THE GIRLS

I managed to get a few shots of the girls new years day:

I'M A GRANDMA

Anyone who knows me knows that I am Elise's Grandma but what you might not know is that Melanie and Jamie have 2 boys! Here they are:



Bailey

Dexter
They are beautiful and very well behaved children.

WELCOME 2009

Greg and I brought in the new year with some very special friends. Leah, Tito and Diolino joined us for the evening. They are a very sweet couple with an amazing love story. Leah and I worked together in the transplant department for several years and then she and I both transferred to other departments several years ago. We have kept in touch since and occasionally had lunch together and shared photos and e mails since then. Greg and I were very pleased that they joined us for the evening. Here is the star of the show, Diolino:

Such a cute family!
Elise in her new pretty pony PJs with Diolino
The girls