Field Day 2013

Field Day this year was split into two days.  May 23rd was the field day for Julia and Blake and the 24th was for Brayden.  They changed field day back to how it was originally where they get to choose 4 events, a running race, and the tug of war in classes.  

Julia chose the events of soccer punt, hula hoop relay, flag pull, and obstacle course. I was able to watch her in two of her events the hula hoop relay where her team got 1st and the flag pull.

Blake is in Pre-K so they assigned them a 4th grade buddy to help them do the events.  They didn't compete, they were able to "try" the events.   He did the scooter race, hula hoop race, basketball throw, and obstacle course.

I missed Brayden's field day because Blake had his field trip on the same day.  He competed in the tennis ball throw, scooter relay where they got 1st and in the Obstacle Course where he placed 3rd. Part of his events were cancelled because it rained in the afternoon.  I ended up going on May 30th to the make up day and got to see him run a race where he got 1st place.  The kids really enjoyed participating in Field Day.  They especially like the class competitions of Tug of War.

Blake's Field Trip

Blake's field trip landed on the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend.  It was a family day at Wilford Hall so Matt was free to go with me on Blake's field trip. They combined both morning and afternoon Pre-k classes to go together to the San Antonio Children's Museum downtown.  With double the number of kids they needed a lot of help with chaperons.  Matt and I had Blake and another boy to take exploring through the museum.  They had fun with all the activities.  They spent a lot of time trying to pull the bubble wand up their whole body.  They especially liked the demonstration by one of the employees who put dry ice soap bubbles in their hands.

Plumbing Woes

Before we purchased our new house on Wind Ridge, we of course got a thorough inspection, which indicated it was in pretty good shape.  After moving in, however, we noticed that the downstairs Jack and Jill bathroom between Kylee's room and the office would flush once, but subsequently had a weak flush if at all.  I did some major plunging and then purchased and used a drain snake with no effect.  Not clear on what exactly the problem was, I decided to just swap out the toilet which I figured would still be less expensive than calling a  plumber out to the house...but still no resolution.  So I gave in and called a plumber who was able to send a camera down the pipe and figure out there was a break underneath the foundation.  Apparently the dirt that filled the very deep foundation on the downhill side of the house was not compacted well enough at the time the plumbing was installed, and as it settled the weight pulled the horizontal run of pipe away from the pipe coming down through the floor.  We got several quotes on the repair ranging from $7,000 to $11,000.  We went with the low bid, but after jack hammering through several feet of solid rock just to get up under the house, fixing the break, and then discovering and fixing three more breaks, we arrived at a final bill of $15,000.  I did some investigating to the extent of tracking down the previous tenants to verify that the seller had not knowingly concealed the problem, which was not the case.  It was a painful bill to pay right after moving in, but we had some consolation knowing that, had we known about the magnitude of the problem before hand and had the chance to back out, we still would have considered this house well worth the price.  

Triple Celebration

As plans began to take shape for Carlos' law school graduation, it was realized that most siblings would be able to attend.  So we started to make an effort to get everyone there.  With so many family members getting together, the Gaspar de Alba family decided it would be a good time to have Kristina go through the temple in preparation for her mission.  On Friday, May 17th we accompanied Kristina as she attended the San Antonio Temple for the first time.  It was great to be there for that special experience.  Because of traffic and work related issues not everyone was able to make it.  After the temple we celebrated at a Brazilian Restaurant.

Carlos' graduation was the next day, May 18th.  We were sad that Bert ended up having to stay and deal with some issues with the drilling of wells, but Dad was able to fly in Saturday morning and make it just in time to the graduation.  We were happy to be there for Carlos and for all that he accomplished.

We got some gifts for Carlos' graduation.  Brayden was pretty excited because he got a judge Lego Minifigure and he saved it for him for several months to give it to him after graduation.  Matt gave him a judge wig and all of us siblings gave him a leather bag.   

That night after the graduation we had a little celebration for Dad's 70th birthday that was in April. Camille came up with the idea to do a memory book for his birthday.   We compiled memories and letters from the grandchildren and adults and put them in a book that we gave him that night. It was fun to gather around and go through it with him.

Mother's Day

Kristel got her standard Mothers' Day crepe breakfast as well as cards from the kids.  Kylee put together this cute little booklet.

Piano Recital

Another great piano recital.  I am always impressed with how well the kids learn and memorize their songs.  

Here is the program and their certificates for the recital.

 

 

Blake's 5th Birthday

The night before Blake's fifth birthday we started celebrating a little early by going to Chick-fil-A.  Blake had wanted to go since a new one had opened up near our old house right before we moved.  The next morning we did our traditional birthday cinnamon roll breakfast.

Blake had never had a birthday party, but started talking about having one months before his birthday this year.  The recent move made putting on a party a little difficult, so we decided to invite a couple of families over and do a smaller party.  We invited friends over from the old ward, the Jensen's and the Mason's, to see our new house and celebrate Blake's 5th birthday.  We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and Kylee made balloon animals for the kids.  We didn't really do the games we planned because the kids were pretty entertained just playing around the yard and driveway.  We did a monkey pinata and Matt made an incredible Neigh cake.  It was a lot of fun and  Blake said he enjoyed it.