February brought James's 40th surprise birthday -- it was a real surprise! He had no idea and the kids were REALLY good at keeping the secret. All four of his college roommates and their families flew in -- it was awesome.
It was the month of Fiesta, the St. Mark's annual fundraiser which I chaired and which just about killed me:
It was also my very first girl guitar performance and open mike at Freddies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNh7_n6LkUo&feature=youtu.be
And Nani's art show featuring "Shark with 10,000 Eyes" based on Louis's original drawing:
And that, was just February and January. You can see why I declared the next year the year of NO VOLUNTEERING and PARTY ORGANIZING (which lasted a good six months :-)
March brought our wonderful friends Becky and Murray to Austin, spring break, the rodeo (Becky got a grant to study the connections between Scotland and the rodeo... don't ask!). So.. pineapple drinks with some of my favorite ladies, gardening with Louis, sticky weed with Murray, and DEATH MARCHES. Oh, and James started to play the mandolin (and rapidly proceeded to get very good). I've always wanted a mandolin-playing husband. Really!
Do things slow down in April and May? Of course not... it was time for Easter, carrot harvest, and Maureen and Paul's wedding, and for installation to begin on the mosaic wall. And for our remodel and addition and construction to start (so a good week of packing and moving, which was awful)! Plus, starting tennis, annual camping at Enchanted Rock, registering for kindergarten, pre-school graduation, another girl guitar show,
and the Happy Hikers end-of-year scavenger hunt. Wowsa, that's crazy stuff
