The Texas Tuis: January 2010

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Christmas Day Snow

Just wanted you to witness this amazing event. We haven't had snow on Christmas eve or Christmas day since, well, I can't remember if the kids or Komi have ever had a snowy holiday. My last snowy Christmas would've been when I was a teen living in Utah. We did have snow in Oregon, but it usually came after Christmas day. Great memories! I'm glad my kids finally got to experience the magic - even if was just a little magic! Christmas day '09

So much for my winter flowers. Poor things.

DECEMBER '09 - can you believe it?

YESSSSSSSS - I am officially caught up with 2009. I'll do better in 2010!

ENJOY and HAPPY NEW YEAR, YA'll!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Yes - I Am The Master Blaster Blogger

My booty aches, my ankles are swollen, my neck is stiff, my head hurts, my fingers feel numb, BUT I am determined to catch up with this stinkin' blog. I am up to December '09 and won't be defeated - yet, I am soooooo tired. I have finished 22 postings over the past 2 days covering the past 6 months of fun and frenzy in the Tui household. I will beat this thing. I have a dream. I will not give up. I will rise to this challenge. I will sit in this chair until my arms fall off so I don't have anymore guilt hanging over my head about not staying current for my family and friends that read blogs often (unlike me, obviously). 2010 will bring better blogging days for this technically challenged chic! Wish me luck - one month to go. May the force be with me (as my kids might add) - tomorrow.

By the way, this was the fourth time I had to edit this post due to my eyes going cross-eyed at 2:30 in the am. Love ya'll - really, I do!

BRRRRRRRRR - it's sure cold in TEXAS?

Can you believe we got snow in TEXAS on Dec. 2nd this year? That is crazy! The kids were so excited that they wanted to walk to school in it. Now, they made me drive them everyday as soon as the weather hit the 30's in the morning, yet when it snows they wanna walk. Go figure. Even Ezra walked that morning with a friend. Oh, to be a child again and want to walk in the snow.

Eva liked playing in it, too. Can she ever just give me a straight face anymore? What a goof.

Eli and Ez were snuggling as we were waiting for the parade of lights in Grapevine to start. By the way, don't ever waste your time with that parade. It was, well, a lot less than we expected.

Em and Eva trying to stay warm. All I had in the car were towels to put on us. We didn't think we would have to wait so long. Apparently the web site was wrong on the starting time. Ugh!

BRRRRRRRR!

Double BRRRRRRRRR!

Atleast we got some free funnel cake and popcorn for our troubles. They ran out of hot cocoa. Figures. Check out Eli in the back seat. He was wiped out after eating the funnel cake. Look closely at his nose. Too cute.

Hee hee, powdered sugar is so messy.

Eli's infamous quote about powdered sugar just after he tried some "Hey, mom, this powder needs some more sugar in it." tee hee hee

Thanksgiving Eats '09

Eva was ancy to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Let's see, what was on the menu this year. Well, the kids asked for roast potatoes, Kahlua pork, turkey, sweet potatoes w/ marshmallows on top, homemade rolls and dad's chocolate trifle. Komi wanted a shrimp plate, raw mushrooms and peas. I made stuffing and cranberry sauce for me and picked tomatoes from my sad plants in the backyard. I think that covers it all.

Time to eat.

Oh yeah, here's the cook. :)

Thanksgiving day '09

Our trip to Austin, TX

We decided to take a quick trip to Austin and check out some sights the weekend before Thanksgiving. Of course, we stayed in a hotel, which I'm sure was the highlight for the kids. We stopped along the way at the Texas Ranger Museum. This was a winner for Eli & Komi. Lots of guns! We went to the Austin flea market (wouldn't recommend it to anyone!) soon after we checked into the hotel. Dinner at Golden Corral was next(cheap, and not bad). The pool wasn't open (darn it) so we spent the evening watching cable. Yeeha. The next day we visited the Texas History museum downtown and drove past the capitol building (kids weren't interested in going inside since we spent 2 hours in the history museum). However, Inner Space Caverns (just outside of Austin in Georgetown) were the most interesting of all the places we visited. It was so beautifully weird, like being on a different planet. Everywhere you looked there were fascinating and unique formations. It's underground and stretches for miles, with lots of it not even explored as of yet. They have found dino bones down there, also. Lots of bats live in the caves, too. They weren't scary, just tiny and cute. They would fly really close to you, but swerve just as you thought it might hit you. Never thought I would hear myself say bats were cute, but they really were. Komi and I took pics mostly of the caves, since they were the most visually interesting. Enjoy.

I Need To Borrow Someone's Green Thumb!

Mom, this is for you. I wasn't going to post it, since it's quite embarrassing. Maybe, however, someone will take pitty on me and lend me some suggestions on how to do this next year. These pathetic looking plants are the two cherry tomatoe plants you saw in my backyard. They produced a lot of tomatoes, but they over grew their stakes. Oops. Being gone for 6 weeks during the summer didn't help either. Very sad, very sad.

Doesn't this salvia look good? This is the one we bought at Costco, mom. The rest of the plants around the yard looked great. I just need practice with the produce.

These pics were taken in November.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Fall - still in December

It's strange for me to have leaves still falling in December. In Oregon, the leaves are long gone by then. Anyway, just wanted to show you we do have a little color during the fall here in Texas.

These were taken the second week of November.