Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Summer Schedule
Between work and home, we're very busy this summer. We have a new staff member beginning in two days (yeah, Mimi!). That will require some additional travel for me to help make introductions for Mimi. I will be in Houston Thursday and Friday this week for a jammed packed schedule of nonstop meetings. Mimi will be up here in the Dallas office for all of next week with a full training schedule. I go back for a day the last week of June and at least two or three times in July.
Maggie loved dance classes at her school last year. To test the waters, we signed her up for a dance class for four weeks this summer at a dance studio. Lessons are at 6:05pm on Thursday nights. This will be a test for us to see if we can handle evening classes once a week during the busy Fall/Spring work seasons for us. I know how much she loves it so we're going to try our best to make it work. We have two weeks of swim lessons that begin at 4pm (latest I could get, but that is NOT going to be an easy task for me!) every day. She's very excited to learn to swim, even though she is convinced that it's "Aunt Bobby" who will be teaching her since she is now a swim instructor.
Maggie and I are going with my co-worker Danielle and her two kids to see the Wizard of Oz at Music Hall this Saturday. We are so excited! Tonight, there was a commercial for the show and she screeched, "That's what we're going to see!!" She and I both love going to the theater. It's something I love doing with my mom and a special thing I hope to be able to share with her. I love dressing up and going to a musical. I'm glad she likes it too. Mary Poppins is coming in the Fall and I'm hoping Andrew will let me fork over the money to go to that too (though I am doubting it right now after hearing his grumblings about Wizard of Oz).
July will be equally busy. Camp Discovery is only a month away and I am already getting so excited. The day after camp, we head to the lakehouse with friends for our second annual trip. August has a trip to visit his dad and stepmom and then we'll be settling back into a crazy work schedule for the busiest time of Heroes for Children's year (September--November).
So, that's us this summer. Nothing real crazy, but definitely keeping us busy. I have something on my calendar for every single day in June. Lunch meetings are at least three or more times a week (as in four this week alone). We're spending as much time in our backyard as possible in the evenings--between her new "wiggly frinkler (pronounced frinkle-er)" and her great new wooden swingset, our yard is perfect!
Maggie loved dance classes at her school last year. To test the waters, we signed her up for a dance class for four weeks this summer at a dance studio. Lessons are at 6:05pm on Thursday nights. This will be a test for us to see if we can handle evening classes once a week during the busy Fall/Spring work seasons for us. I know how much she loves it so we're going to try our best to make it work. We have two weeks of swim lessons that begin at 4pm (latest I could get, but that is NOT going to be an easy task for me!) every day. She's very excited to learn to swim, even though she is convinced that it's "Aunt Bobby" who will be teaching her since she is now a swim instructor.
Maggie and I are going with my co-worker Danielle and her two kids to see the Wizard of Oz at Music Hall this Saturday. We are so excited! Tonight, there was a commercial for the show and she screeched, "That's what we're going to see!!" She and I both love going to the theater. It's something I love doing with my mom and a special thing I hope to be able to share with her. I love dressing up and going to a musical. I'm glad she likes it too. Mary Poppins is coming in the Fall and I'm hoping Andrew will let me fork over the money to go to that too (though I am doubting it right now after hearing his grumblings about Wizard of Oz).
July will be equally busy. Camp Discovery is only a month away and I am already getting so excited. The day after camp, we head to the lakehouse with friends for our second annual trip. August has a trip to visit his dad and stepmom and then we'll be settling back into a crazy work schedule for the busiest time of Heroes for Children's year (September--November).
So, that's us this summer. Nothing real crazy, but definitely keeping us busy. I have something on my calendar for every single day in June. Lunch meetings are at least three or more times a week (as in four this week alone). We're spending as much time in our backyard as possible in the evenings--between her new "wiggly frinkler (pronounced frinkle-er)" and her great new wooden swingset, our yard is perfect!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Our playgroup girls with a summer favorite. Love these girls
times when they were right at a year old. We love our group! Today's
playdate was at our house and we had a great time!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Ten Years
Today is officially our tenth wedding anniversary. Ten years--WOW. We've been through so much in the past ten years. So many good memories and so much love. Andrew is my rock. He's the consistent factor in my life, the person I can ALWAYS depend on. He's easy going. Very easy to love and easy to be married to. I often joke that I have a lot more to lose in this marriage. He puts up with a lot. He's hilarious, with a dry sense of humor and wit that sometimes just kills me (like currently, his facebook picture is of Sloth from Goonies. Before that, it was Michael Jackson with ET because he saw their picture on a skateboard with the line "Alien vs. Predator" and loved it!) Andrew is a wonderful dad, fully dedicated to his girls. Maggie is a very lucky little lady that he is her daddy!
We got married SO young. It was three weeks after college graduation. I moved in with him before the wedding because I didn't want to move my stuff back home only to move it again three weeks later. During that time, I was my father's caregiver during the day, transporting him to and from radiation treatments and handling all his tube feedings. Andrew would join me every night at my parents' house where we would at least stay until dinner.
Our first year of marriage was spent typically at my parents' home at least a few nights a week. With my dad so sick, we wanted to spend as much time as possible with him. Then, he died 10 months into our marriage. Andrew got me through that time. He loved my father and misses him just as I do. To this day, we will often have something happen (like Maggie doing something silly or Brandy acting crazy) and one of us will say, "What would Jerry Lawson think about that?" When it came time to name our first child, Andrew didn't hesitate to agree when I said I wanted the middle name HAD to be Leigh in honor of my father.
We've been able to grieve in different ways through both the loss of my father and the loss of our daughter. We respect that each of us handles it differently and we don't hold the other to an expectation that we feel the same way. I truly believe that has made a difference in us making it to ten years after Allie's death. We respect each other, even in grief.
Starting Heroes for Children and growing the organization has not been an easy task. There has been a lot of work along the way. Recently, Andrew was asked, "Did you have any idea this would be so big one day?" His answer, "Oh yes, I know my wife." You see, he supports me. He knows my drive and determination to make Heroes for Children succeed and he wholeheartedly supports that. He loves Heroes for Children. He will never serve on the Board of Directors or be willing to speak, but he volunteers in his way. The staff refers to him as "I.T." He handles all our computer work. So, when there's an issue, someone will say, "Better call IT we need help!" He puts in countless hours working for us as a volunteer, working on everything from the server to ordering laptops for the Laptops for Love program. We're so lucky to have him!
Andrew is my best friend and my favorite person to be around. He and I are very different in personality, but we compliment each other well. We rarely fight (possibly more because he is just a very passive laid back person who doesn't make a big deal of things) and we truly enjoy each other's company.
I'm so thankful for ten great years. I'm looking forward to many, many more!
We got married SO young. It was three weeks after college graduation. I moved in with him before the wedding because I didn't want to move my stuff back home only to move it again three weeks later. During that time, I was my father's caregiver during the day, transporting him to and from radiation treatments and handling all his tube feedings. Andrew would join me every night at my parents' house where we would at least stay until dinner.
Our first year of marriage was spent typically at my parents' home at least a few nights a week. With my dad so sick, we wanted to spend as much time as possible with him. Then, he died 10 months into our marriage. Andrew got me through that time. He loved my father and misses him just as I do. To this day, we will often have something happen (like Maggie doing something silly or Brandy acting crazy) and one of us will say, "What would Jerry Lawson think about that?" When it came time to name our first child, Andrew didn't hesitate to agree when I said I wanted the middle name HAD to be Leigh in honor of my father.
We've been able to grieve in different ways through both the loss of my father and the loss of our daughter. We respect that each of us handles it differently and we don't hold the other to an expectation that we feel the same way. I truly believe that has made a difference in us making it to ten years after Allie's death. We respect each other, even in grief.
Starting Heroes for Children and growing the organization has not been an easy task. There has been a lot of work along the way. Recently, Andrew was asked, "Did you have any idea this would be so big one day?" His answer, "Oh yes, I know my wife." You see, he supports me. He knows my drive and determination to make Heroes for Children succeed and he wholeheartedly supports that. He loves Heroes for Children. He will never serve on the Board of Directors or be willing to speak, but he volunteers in his way. The staff refers to him as "I.T." He handles all our computer work. So, when there's an issue, someone will say, "Better call IT we need help!" He puts in countless hours working for us as a volunteer, working on everything from the server to ordering laptops for the Laptops for Love program. We're so lucky to have him!
Andrew is my best friend and my favorite person to be around. He and I are very different in personality, but we compliment each other well. We rarely fight (possibly more because he is just a very passive laid back person who doesn't make a big deal of things) and we truly enjoy each other's company.
I'm so thankful for ten great years. I'm looking forward to many, many more!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
More on Alaska
Well, it's Friday night and I'm finally sitting in front of my computer to do something other than catch up on work. This morning was Maggie's dance performance at her preschool. She has taken a little dance class through the school this past year (it's cheaper and much more convenient given that it is during the school day). We're going to a real dance school next year because she loved it so much. I plan on posting the video when I figure out how to get it to go up. It's adorable, I promise. After her performance, I took her to her classroom to drop her off with her friends. She cried. She clung to me. She begged me to leave. With that, a surge of mom guilt kicked in, and I scooped her up and took her to work with me instead. I use the term work very loosely, but it was fun to be with her today.
So, time for the Alaska write up....
We cruised with Holland America on the Westerdam. It left out of Seattle and returned to Seattle. This is the same ship we sailed on just ten days after Allie died. That time, we left from Lisbon, Portugal and ended in Rome, Italy. I have to tell you, I was really happy about getting back on this ship. When we were on it the last time, people would excitedly ask us "are you on your honeymoon?" (seeing as we were the youngest couple on that cruise by more than twenty years). We would lower our heads and mumble no, or sometimes we would tell them we were grieving parents. I hated that feeling. This time, I was happy to answer the question if we were celebrating anything special. YES! As a matter of fact we were--our tenth wedding anniversary!!! Finally, it was the honeymoon I dreamed of (our first one was three days in San Antonio because we had no money).
Here are a few of the trip highlights:
So, it only took me two hours to write this because I've been distracted.
So, time for the Alaska write up....
We cruised with Holland America on the Westerdam. It left out of Seattle and returned to Seattle. This is the same ship we sailed on just ten days after Allie died. That time, we left from Lisbon, Portugal and ended in Rome, Italy. I have to tell you, I was really happy about getting back on this ship. When we were on it the last time, people would excitedly ask us "are you on your honeymoon?" (seeing as we were the youngest couple on that cruise by more than twenty years). We would lower our heads and mumble no, or sometimes we would tell them we were grieving parents. I hated that feeling. This time, I was happy to answer the question if we were celebrating anything special. YES! As a matter of fact we were--our tenth wedding anniversary!!! Finally, it was the honeymoon I dreamed of (our first one was three days in San Antonio because we had no money).
Here are a few of the trip highlights:
- The Experience Music Project Museum in Seattle. This was a last minute decision we made when we went to the Space Needle. We loved it and especially loved the Science Fiction Museum that was there as well.
- Brunching at the top of the Space Needle. The restaurant rotates all the way around every 47 minutes. This was such a cool way to see the city. The food was surprisingly good too!
- Cruising Glacier Bay. The ship cruised through Glacier Bay in Alaska for more than five hours. From any spot on the ship, the view was breathtaking. They opened the bow of the ship which is normally closed to guests.
- Whale watching in Juneau. One of my favorite childhood memories was whale watching in California. I loved it. I think I drew a whale's tale coming out of the water for more than a year. When we were looking at excursions for the trip, this is the one thing I insisted we do. Before we got on the ship, I got a little anxious. I was so worried it would be like those experiences where you loved something as a kid that turned out to be totally lame as an adult. Thankfully, it wasn't. I loved it.
- Ocean rafting to the volcano coast in Sitka. This was my FAVORITE thing we did the entire vacation. It wasn't what I was originally envisioning--just so much better. We rode a ocean raft that has six seats that look like you have to stradle a mechanical bull. The seats are padded and you have a metal bar to hold on to. Your wearing a big old red jumpsuit and then a big hood tight on your face to protect you from the cold. The driver goes 45 miles a hour jumping the waves on the water. It is exhilirating! We laughed, screamed, and bumped along the water. We were flying through the water! He slowed us down after about 15 miles and took us to the volcano coast. All inactive volcanoes. Amazing. We saw otters floating around us, sea lions that craned their necks to see us, and a giant bald eagles nest. All of my pictures of that were corrupted, so I don't have any to share from this. It was so fantastic. We loved it.
- Snorkeling in Ketchikan. Yes, we snorkeled in Alaska. No, my pictures aren't corrupted from this one. I just refused to take a picture of us in wetsuits!! It wasn't quite as much about what we saw but the fact we did it. The water was 40 degrees. The wetsuits (only our lips and cheeks were exposed in the end) helped keep our bodies at 98 degrees. It was very fun.
So, it only took me two hours to write this because I've been distracted.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Alaska!
It's my intent to do a full write up, but I don't have time yet. So here are some of the pictures!
View of Seattle from our ship.
Mt. Rainier outside Seattle.
Lounging outside watching Glacier Bay go by
The ice that had broken off in Glacier Bay
On the bow of the ship watching Glacier Bay. It was chilly!
One of the glaciers we passed
View from the boat when we went whale watching in Juneau
First sighting of a humpback whale
Mother and calf
Humpback diving for food
Bald eagle hanging out on the rocks
Sea lions lounging
He hates this picture but I like it
The tramway to the top of Mt. Roberts in Juneau
View from the top of Mt. Roberts
"Lady Baltimore" in captivity on the top of Mt. Roberts. She was shot in the beak and it blinded her in the left eye.
Our ship, the Westerdam
Ketchikan
In Ketchikan. We had to get this picture for Maggie!
They are hanging out the second floor window. These dogs were cracking us up.
Another picture intended for Maggie
Our last night on the cruise. Second formal night.
Victoria, British Columbia. We loved walking the city
Victoria
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