End of our weekend

Hi All! Well it is the end of a typical Texas weekend. We almost froze yesterday morning watching Katie's soccer game. We were all bundled up. My hands were numb while I was taking pictures so I had to stop shooting and put my gloves on. The wind was blowing and it was icy cold. Her team won but they were really glad to get off the field. They are undefeated in their U12 Division so far this Spring season. Katie's team is co-ed. It took awhile for the boys to believe that the girls could play but after a few goals, they were believers. By the afternoon, the sun had come out but it was still chilly. Not by our Yankee family and friends standard but by South Central Texas standards it was cold. Today was sunny and beautiful. Still cool and windy but really a beautiful Spring day. We went to a reception today at the Kerr Cultural Arts Center that displayed art from all the area schools. The variety was really impressive. The art teacher entered the same drawing that you saw in the previous post.

We also had an Orchestra and Honor Choir concert at the end of the week. Katie plays violin and sings in the choir. With school moving into the last six weeks, there will be more end of the school year activities. (As you can see, I am loving the new camera with the awesome zoom. )

And where are Paul and Chris in all these activities you might ask??? On the sidelines, of course, chauffeuring, cheering, shooting pictures, trying to stay warm and trying to keep up!! Bye for now!

Four Days for Easter

Katie was honored recently by having one of her drawings chosen to be displayed at the Western Art Museum in Kerrville. (Formerly the Cowboy Artist Museum). She has won a number of awards for her artwork and is in Art Club at school which is by invitation only.
She looks less than pleased that I made her pose with the exhibit. I keep telling her she will be glad when she is older that I have scrapbooked her whole childhood. Mine is thrown in a box somewhere. A project that I plan to tackle if I EVER retire.

Katie just gave me a notice that the same drawing is going to be displayed as part of the Hill Country Youth Art Exhibit at the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center in Kerrville. She has won ribbons for her art work before at this same show. They also have a Teacher's Art Exhibit every year and I won a blue ribbon for one of my folk art pieces a couple of years ago. I've added a link to the Center. It is Kerrville's old post office that has been remodeled into a gallery and classroom space.

Today is sunny and cool so Paul has taken the opportunity to run to the shooting range to expend some bullets. For our Yankee friends and family, that means going to a friend's property with a canyon and setting up targets. A real Testosterone filled afternoon. They also go to the "real" shooting range but this one is free.

We are looking forward to having four days off from work where our pace is a little more leisurely. Sleeping in and staying in pj's a little later than usual....Picking up a book to read longer than 10 minutes and I may even make it to my paint table that I haven't seen in weeks and listen to good music while I paint. Life is good! Happy Spring!

Spring in the Hill Country

Well, the rain has finally let up and we have had a beautiful weekend. The bluebonnets are starting to bloom. . . not many but as soon as we have more than a couple of warm days, they will explode

Paul is busy getting ready for his Black belt test in May for Tukong Moosul martial arts. He already has a Deputy Black belt (a black with a silver stripe) but a full Black belt is the next step.

Katie has started Spring soccer and is playing on a coed team. The boys have finally figured out that there are a few good girl players and if they pass the ball to them the girls won't lose it. They tied their game on Saturday 5-5 ; Katie and Anna made two of the goals. They won their first game last week, 3-1.

Katie is becoming quite the young lady as you can see from this picture. She will be in 6th grade next year which is really hard to believe. She has been an outstanding student and generally an easy child to raise, with Aunt Donna's help at critical times. Katie is signed up to go to Camp Honey Creek again this summer and talks about it almost daily. She won a gold P last summer for being high point Pawnee girl for her riding, rifle and bow shooting ability.

I am busy with work. It's time to register children for next year. I have rejoined CURVES and am looking forward to having more energy. I really missed seeing my CURVES friends and having that 1/2 hour for myself several days a week. We stay pretty busy in the afternoon running Katie to soccer practice and other events so that 30 minutes is special

Our big news is that Paul has started a construction business with a friend. He is an accountant so that is a great partner to have. They had a lawyer draw up their partnership agreement, have a new trailer for tools etc., have their cards and reserved a domain for their website. They have 3 or 4 bids out which they hope will come through about the time that Paul finishes a job he is currently working on. The business name is Rejuvenation Construction and when the website is built, I will send you all the site address.

The older kids are all doing well. Camy graduated from Texas A & M Corpus Christi in December and is working for American Bank. Lisa and her husband Jason are working for Nike and traveling all over the place - Hong Kong, Switzerland, France, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Miami, New York and Beaverton, Oregon are their main trips. Paul Jr. is working for the Kerr Wildlife Area and his wife Martha is teaching Kindergarten and working on her Master's degree at Schreiner College.

That is about all of the news from the Simone's in the Hill Country. Hope you all are doing well and enjoying the cool Spring weather!