Catching Up, again

There has been a lot going on around the Calvert home:

• Emma started Kindergarten the end of August
• I went to CA for a scrap book retreat with Julie
• Emma acquired a black eye while at school (and I was in CA)
• The air conditioner downstairs quit working (yes, we have two a/c units - one upstairs and one down)
• Emma also started taking tennis lessons and doing really well.
• I started a Beth Moore Bible Study on Wednesdays and loving it
  

So, I'm taking the lazy way out on some of this :) to hear about my get away with Jules, go here she did a much better job recapping the weekend than I could have done.

Emma was out on the playground when she and another child ran into each other. I'm not sure if I completely understand the whole story as Emma says her face hit the cement, but in this picture you can see on her right eye it looks a little black and blue. Her teacher, Mrs. Baker, said she was such a trooper and didn't even complain.


As you can also see in this picture, she's painting pottery. Yes, that is a monster truck she is working on. And by the way, it turned out awesome! While I was in CA Emma and daddy went pottery painting, which is something she enjoys.

The a/c was fixed in a matter of hours. Thankfully we did not need a new unit but some gadgets and such needed to be replaced, tightened or something like that. All I care about is that it works. However, I am starting to see signs of fall. The weather is cooling off and today we saw some trees starting to turn colors. Aaahhhh.

Emma is also enjoying her tennis. She just finished two lessons, with her coach, Matt, and seems to be really enjoying it. Emma has even been practicing at home with daddy. I'm hoping she found her "thing." It would be so fun to have her play and then her and I, and daddy, can go to the courts and play.

Today is a school day, but Emma's got this cold and last night she was up 3 times blowing her nose and then could not go back to sleep until 3 a.m. So, being the loving, caring, mommy that I am, I decided to keep her home (for the second day in a row). However, she woke up at 7:30 totally mad at me because she was waiting for the alarm to go off so she could go to school. Sigh. Well, she did end up staying home but decided she wanted to make her snack, so we baked brownies.

She's going to school tomorrow.

The Last Month...

has been filled with lots of activity and a lot of fun.

In July we flew to California for vacation and had such a great time with our family. One of the things we did was have an "Open House." We set this up for our friends to be able to come and hang with us for a little bit. We have found that we just can't get around to seeing everyone when we come and the times we have, we leave feeling like we drove all over Southern California. So, my sister was gracious enough to open up her home for our Open House. It was so much fun seeing friends we had not seen in awhile and appreciated their efforts in coming from places as far as Murrieta and Corona! Thank you to all who made it over, it was wonderful to see you!

Some other highlights of our trip:

• Beach at Corona Del Mar
• Long Beach Aquarium
• Old Spaghetti Factory
• Walking down at Balboa
• Seeing The Hammerman Family and their new baby

(Pictures are not in order. I was also having trouble posting, but you get the idea).

Our 4th of July...

Our friends invited us out to their parents (Machelle's) house on lake Conroe to go boating. This was going to be Emma's first time in a boat and she was EXCITED, which is an understatement.

We spent about 3 hours on the lake, inter-tubing and enjoying the water. It was a beautiful day. We then docked the boat and ate some BBQ lunch and afterward we all went back to the White's home where we spent the rest of the day. I took a nap, Emma and Hannah played all afternoon and then we had dinner together and went on home.

The White's are such generous people and have been so kind to us. They feel like family. Thank you Machelle for inviting us to go with you and your parents on a fun outing!

Emma's trying to decide if she likes the inter-tube

We finally got her in the water and she eventually enjoyed it

Robert and Hannah
Can you see Emma trying to hide the smile?

Hannah and Machelle

Barry and I were the first to go

Me and Mrs. White

Trip to NASA

On Wednesday, July 1st Emma and I took a trip with Robert, Machelle and Hannah to the Space Center. We have been before, but Emma really enjoys it there. Barry was suppose to be on a trip, but ended up sick so was home in bed, instead.

Quite a bit has happened in the last few weeks...

On June 8th I had the first, of two, procedures to rid myself of varicose veins. Over the last several years I have had increasing pain in my left leg due to these things. It had gotten so bad that when my feet hit the floor in the morning my leg was already hurting. Standing for a long period of time was painful, but I would just push through it. Until finally I went to the doctor to talk about my options. Endovenous Ablation was what was recommended. My doctor said it would only continue to get worse if I did not do anything. So, on that Monday afternoon Barry drove me to the doctor where they numbed my leg and threaded a tiny catheter through my vein from the ankle all the way to the groin. (I know, can you feel the pain too). At that point they used a laser to kill off the vein and start to close it up. The whole procedure took only 45 minutes and was relatively pain free. I had to wear a compression stocking from my toes to my waist for a week, taking it off only at night and to shower.

Then a week later, I had a second vein, on the same leg treated, only this was on the back of the calf muscle, so it didn't seem so invasive. This procedure seemed to be the most painful in recovering as the vein was pulling away from the tissues and I had more inflammation. The nurses described veins like children, "No two are a like." However, now three weeks later, my leg is in no pain and looks like a normal leg, with no bulging veins. Ah, sweet relief.

Barry was going to be gone most of the week, during my second procedure, so my mom flew to Texas to help me and Emma. Now, my mom has not stepped on an airplane in 21 years so this was a HUGE deal. We were so excited to have her come and be with us and proud of her for taking that step to fly. Thanks mom for making that sacrifice!

Between all of this-

• Emma had swim lessons twice a week
• Has had summer school the other two days, during the week
  
• Hung out with her friends
• Been swimming at the pool a lot
• Barry's been traveling
• Staying cool from the 100 degree plus heat
  

In the next few days I'll post pictures of our trip to NASA and our 4th of July adventure.

Stay tuned....

We are thankful the electricity was out for only an hour this morning. Apparently 26 homes were effected because a fuse blew. It's been like a 100 degrees people!