Hi Bloggie!
I just had to tell you all about my little ants school play. Kylenns' Kindergarten class put on a little performance for the parents the other day. When I went I really didn't know much about it, I knew Kylenn had a part in it, but that usually amounts to them saying a line in the middle of a choir song, cute but not usually anything too spectacular.
So I went to the performance. I didn't see Kylenn before they started, but when they came out on stage I saw that he was dressed like an ant, complete with feelers! He looked SO cute. They sang lots of songs about bugs, like "Shoo Fly", and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". He did so good, he was very in to each song and did all the hand motions perfectly!
THEN, at the end they started to sing "The Ants Go Marching". Kylenn and several other children made their way to the back of the stage. I was excited to see what he was going to do when he came out. They did the ants go marching one by one, two by two....five by five, and out comes marching Kylenn, ant costume, feelers, green goggles, and a pink floatie ring in hand! IT WAS SO CUUUUUTE! The whole audience just cracked up when he marched across the stage, and he looked out at everyone with those goggles on and a bashful look on his face. He was the cutest little ant I have EVER seen!
I'm so glad I get to be around for each one of my monkey's events, I wouldn't trade seeing those precious moments for anything Bloggie! My camera died just as Kylenn marched out on stage, of course, but I went home and charged the cam and O.H. got a good video of it that evening when they performed again!
The ants go marching five by five and the little one stops to take a dive...
Your Friend in Texas,
Amanda with an A
Hey Bloggie!
Nice to write with you again! Tonight I have a couple things to catch you up on so let's get started...
First, I had the good fortune to meet up with one of my dearest friends. Her name is Dace Chamchot, I have been friends with her for about 13 years, and although I don't get to see her very often we always keep up with one another. Her, her husband Tera (who is from Thailand), and ten-year-old son Amon moved first to Hawaii about four years ago, and then about six months ago they moved to Thailand.
She contacted me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that they were in town and she would like to try and meet up. I said, "YES" of course! I couldn't wait to see her and Amon! We met at the Fort Worth Nature Center, I took my monkeys with me and we had a great time! We looked around the center, and then we took a couple of hikes. We talked alot, and at one point we even plopped down in the middle of a trail and had a pow-wow!
Dace is a first grade teacher in Thailand, and Amon goes to an International School there. Tera runs an organic farm in the countryside, and they are planning a camp for people who practice Moi Thai (sp? it is Thai martial arts) coming up in the fall. Dace is always a calm, gentle person, full of wonder for what makes each person tick, and a wealth of worldly information. We have always been kindred spirits and whenever we get around each other it is as if we have never been apart.
I am soooooo glad I got the chance to see Dace and Amon! Dace is the only person that has ever called me Mandy, and I kinda like it! :)
Then Bloggie, I got a new arrival in the mail! I was so super duper excited! I had been waiting and waiting for it to arrive. I had scoured the internet for hours looking for the best deal I could find. My O.H. (obsessive hubby) told me I spent more time pouring over buying it than I did buying my house....maybe.
Hello Bloggie,
I have a few things I would like to share with you tonight. They are a couple of my favorite things I was lucky enough to grab in Nola last month. I had a ton of fun while we were there, and truly enjoyed everything New Orleans had to offer. The culture is rich, and the locals so much fun. I felt the history alive in the city, soaked in the architecture, and kept my eyes wide open to all the beautiful sights. The word I would use to describe New Orleans is gritty. Mainly because everything about it had texture, the smells, the foods, the people, the surroundings...everything. When I think of the word gritty I think of texture, gritty is the opposite of smooth, full of little bumps and flaws which make it unique and wonderful.
One thing that is a big part of New Orleans culture and history is voodoo. I don't practice or believe in voodoo myself, but I can appreciate that it is part of that areas past, present, and future. Besides, as I love anything spooky, it is right up my alley! SO, that being said, one of my treasures I acquired in Nola was a voodoo doll.
She is so cute! I picked her up at The Jamie Hayes Gallery on Chartres Street in the French Quarter, from the Voodoo Child Doll collection. The tag told how she had a pinch of Gris-Gris (magic potion) inside her and that ifyou wanted to cause someone pain hold her, think of the person, then stick her with a pin (which there was one provided on the back of her head). Hahahaha, it was said with a wink and added to her charm, I love how the tag says, "the better to stick you with"! She now resides on my purse, just incase I need to use a little emergency voodoo action. Watch out foes o'mine, you may end up with a headache...;)
Another treasure is something I was given, I didn't spend a dime on it. While in the Quarter we were delightfully surprised to learn there was going to be a parade. We had made our way there just after Mardi Gras so we weren't expecting anymore parades. We watched as an Italian parade for St. Joseph's Day made it's way through the Quarter, it was a big parade and they threw LOTS of loot consisting of various things, most of which was in the italian colors, red, green, and white. Necklaces, flowers, stickers on our cheeks that looked like lips, feather boas, garters, candy, footballs, waterguns...everything you could think of, everytime I would look up it would be something else.
Then a man walked over to Savannah, my sister Daley, and I and took out some of the cutest little bracelets from a baggie he was carrying. He put one on each one of us, and then said, "My daughter made these for me to give out." Awwwe, I thought they were adorable anyway, but when he said that I fell in love with mine! I could picture this little girl sitting down and making a bunch of bracelets for her Daddy to give out at the parade. That is something my daughter would do, and I have loved the bracelet ever since. I don't know who this little girl was, but she represents the love of a daughter to me and I have worn it ever since...
Hey Bloggie,
I have to tell you, I was SO excited for our families recent road trip to New Orleans that I started getting ready for it early. It was going to be eight hours in the car with three kids and a husband, so I wanted to have fun with it.
While on a trip to the Dollar Store for a school project I found some FABULOUS Mardi Gras glasses, and I do mean FABULOUS! Exactly what I needed to get the kids excited. There were several different pairs of various shapes. One pair that looked like a butterfly, one that had fancy swirls on them, and one pair that had cool spikes coming off of each eye. All three were completely covered in glitter in the Mardi Gras colors: gold for power, green for faith, and purple for justice.
My favorite were the ones with the spikes, I had to have a pair of those for myself, then I bought one of each for the kids. This meant we had two pair of the spike glasses, which was great since they were the best. I didn't try them on, or even take them off the backing, I wanted to save them for the trip. I sat them in my closet where I could see them every time I passed.
They were SO awesome. Every time I looked at them I thought of the upcoming trip. The kids wanted them but I made them wait. "No," I said "We will open them when we leave and wear them all the way in the car. Maybe we can even make a sign that says "New Orleans or Bust" for the window, and stare at people as we pass them in our glasses." They liked that idea.
The day came to leave and the kids, and yes me too, were SO excited to get out our glasses. I unpackaged them and everyone chose a pair. My nine year old son, Causen, chose the second pair that looked like mine, while my eleven-year-old daughter, Savannah, chose the butterfly ones, and my six-year-old son, Kylenn, chose the swirls. Savannah put hers right on...
She chose well! They looked SUPER cute on her!
Then it was my turn, I couldn't wait, my spikey glasses were going to be so great!
Uuuuummmm, wwweeeellllllll, not so much Bloggie. They didn't fit and looked TOTALLY ridiculous! REALLY, come on! Nothing EVER fits my face right! I had to hollar at myself in the picture for having such a big round face! Ugh!! Well....maybe they will look better on Causen, since he was the lucky one to choose the matching pair of super NOT cool spikey Mardi Gras glasses. Let's see...
Hmmmmmm..........maybe it wasn't my face!
So much for our future in those shades...
Your friend in Texas,
Amanda with an A
So Bloggie,
It occured to me recently that simple is one of my favorite words. Everything I have, everything I do, everything I enjoy can be summed up in that one "simple" word, simple.
One thing I love to do is travel, and I love to travel...you guessed it, simply. I prefer a car to a plane when going long distances, when going short I prefer a bike or my two feet. Can't get much more simple than that.
Camping is a wonderful way to practice the art of simple. My most recent camping trips have included a tent, BUT to make it even MORE simple I have just ordered a hammock... I CAN NOT wait for it to arrive! A bed the size of a grapefruit I can take any where! AWESOME!!! I thought I had the market cornered on this simple living stuff, and then...
To my point of this post, on a recent road trip I discovered that there is someone else out there that is using their noodle to think of new ways to live simply. While driving down the road I suddenly feasted my green eyes on THIS sweet ride/home...
YESSSSSS!
Now that is a beauty Bloggie! You just drive your little bitty truck around with your house in the back, complete with a numbered door! Number SIX!!! That suggests there are five others just like it! Woohoo! Where can I get my hands on one of these babies?
Then there is the jug on the back, now I ask you bloggie, is that a container for this fabulously simple persons water, OR a portable bathroom? Hmmmm, if only I had been able to ask. I was not fortunate enough to meet our truck/house driver...
Oh well, I'll just continue to dream of owning my own some day. I do also wonder....is there even enough room to lay down? It's cool if there's not, I always have my hammock.
Your friend in Texas,
Amanda with an A
