Yum!

Hi, my name is Sarah, and I am a blueberry addict. Seriously. I have to limit myself to one pint a day. I suppose its the best $3/day habit I could have. I'm setting up an account for anyone who is interested in helping with grocery costs. $190/month for milk, eggs, and blueberries alone. That seems ridiculous. It seems impossible, but no matter how many times I do the math, it always comes out the same. With 3 boys who are only getting older and bigger, I cringe to think of my grocery bill, say, 6 years from now. I will be working a full time job for that alone. Dennis, actually, just left for what will most likely be a 60 hour shift at the fire station. Thank goodness for OT! Honey, you can retire as soon as the kids stop eating.

We spent some time Sunday and Monday with Dennis's Aunt Velma, in Cypress. She is a wonderful, strong, lady with 2 teenage daughters (bless her). Her home is always open, and she is an exceptional hostess. She also shares our love of food, so we take advantage of that, and Houston's many dining options when we visit. She has lived in many interesting places, and travelled extensively, so when she says a place is good, we trust her. On our last visit, we had Thai for the first time (and cosequently fell in love). This visit we delved into Mediterranean/Arabic cuisine. It was fantastic! Hummus, tabhouli, grape leaves, and shawarma. All of it incredible! Monday we had Vietnamese, which, while not new to us, was still delicious. The boys' favorite part this trip was Aunt Velma's tea "bar". She loves her hot tea, and has a table in her kitchen devoted to it. They loved choosing their own flavors, and customizing with sugar and milk. They've requested a similar set up here at home, and Coy is planning a tea buffet for his birthday. They also had fun playing with their dog, Mango, and watching her dance for bananas. Yes, they have a dog named Mango who loves bananas. The girls are always gracious enough to entertain the boys as best they can so we can enjoy some adult conversation; although at times, I think they are surprised at just how different boys can be. Thank you, Aunt Velma, for your wonderful hospitality and sharing with us your kind and loving spirit. We hope to visit again soon.

We sped into town last night just in time to drop Coy off at basketball practice. He really enjoys playing, and is in his second year. Cade is trying his hand at it this year to bridge the time between soccer and baseball. He asked me last night why I didn't make him sign up sooner. Maybe he'll remember this lesson of when to take suggestions from his mother (although you won't catch me holding my breath). He is really enjoying the fast pace of it, and when its his turn on the bench, you can just see him thinking of how he would be playing it differently were it his turn. Being Cade, he has also shared with me the history of basketball. I also found out today that baseball sign ups are this Saturday. I can hardly contain my excitement. Okay, I do enjoy baseball season. Sometimes it flies past, and other years it just seems to go on forever. This directly correlates to the coach that we end up with after tryouts. I, however, am not going to volunteer for the job, so I try to keep the complaining to a minimum. Tee ball is the best. We don't keep score, everything the kids do is funny, we practice once a week, and play a game on Saturday. Its perfect. We, however, are past tee ball, until next year when we start over with Kyler. We are now into the fun stage of kid pitch baseball. Completely new experience. No coaches pitching the ball until the child makes a hit. No machine making perfect pitches every time. Just a child pitching to another child. 2-3 two hour practices and 2 games every week. Its cold some, and hot most others. But, its part of the journey. The kids love it, if for no other reason than the free sno cones at the end of every game. Sarah

P.S. I would also like to report that the 3 inches of rain Thursday morning made a huge improvement in the appearance of the neighbor's charred lawn. The two inches we get tomorrow evening just might bring it back to normal. Maybe Thursday would be a good day to do some burning. Someone put the fire department on standby. SP