Holy cow, I’m SO behind in updating.

Well, I guess that the biggest news is that after 4 years of homeschooling, Jake is back in public school.  He had been talking of going back for 7th grade, but when Camden transferred from the science magnet to the school in our district, Jake decided he’d like to go back at the same time.  He’s doing really, really well.  He had a rough start, because of things like having no clue about how to work a locker, poor guy.  But his grades now rival Camden’s and he’s completely comfortable.  We’re really proud of him for being so adaptable.  He’s going to be in band next year, and at try outs last week he settled on the trumpet.  This should be fun!

Like I mentioned above, Camden transferred out of the science magnet program he had been attending so he could finish out 8th grade at our local school.  He’s finally got his head out of his butt, and is doing well and getting good grades again.  Thank goodness, because he’d been grounded and without a cell phone for the last 9 months and it was getting really old.  Ha ha. He already knew most of the people who go to this school, so he had no trouble fitting in.

Believe it or not, Camden will be in high school next year.  Gosh, where did the time go? He’ll be going to the newest high school in the district and we went there for orientation and it’s really pretty.  Gorgeous architecture! He hasn’t settled on a schedule yet, still trying to figure out what electives he wants to take…

Did you hear Wes got really sick a couple months ago? We had all gone to the beach (a really nice day in March, oh, the joys of living in Houston) and on the way home he started feeling bad.  He ended up in bed by dinner time and … excuse me saying this … but he had bloody diarrhea by bed time.  We had him to the emergency room the next morning and they ran all kinds of tests, pumped him full of antibiotics and pain meds and eventually sent him home with a referral to a gastroenterologist.  That doc ended up doing an endoscopy and colonoscopy, and came to the conclusion that he had gotten a hemorraging e-coli from eating some raw oysters the Friday before he got sick. He’s back to normal now, thank goodness.  That was pretty scary.

Wes’ job is going good … for now.  Even though his job is to supply builders with things like appliances, windows and doors (and most builders are not doing well right now), he’s doing pretty well.  He’s a real hard worker and is always out looking for new ways to get business.  He’s been working with apartment buildings recently since apartments are hot right now.

I’ve been looking for a job (outside of running my websites) since Jake went back to school.  It took 5 months, but I finally found one.  I just started working at PetSmart here in League City.  The people all seem really nice and I think it will be a fun, part-time job.  We’re hoping I can earn us some vacation money so we can go back and see Dave and Jen, or have them all fly down here to visit.

Speaking of Dave, Jen, and Max … Max will be 1 year old on May 28th!  Hard to believe a whole year has already gone by. We talk to Dave and Jen and she sends up pictures frequently.  She’s a good daughter-in-law!

John and Pat visited in February.  While they were here we went to the Mardi Gras down on Galveston.  It was our first time to do Mardi Gras and we had a blast.  There were day time festivities, including a parade, so we were all loaded down with necklaces, crazy hats and goodies.  We also checked out some boutique shops here in League City one day, then went out to Kemah, which was also hit hard by Hurricane Ike, and hit up some shops out there.  We had a fun day of shopping that day.  Another day we went to Old Town Spring, where there are a lot of craft and antique type touristy shops.  I’d never heard of it, but Wes told us about it and even met us for lunch that day.

Wes and I are both on Facebook now.  If you look to the right, at “Our Links” you can find links to our Facebook pages.  We both update frequently so you are more likely to be up to date with us if you friend us there.   I post pictures there, too, so you’ll see more of us as well.

I think that’s about all for now.  Hopefully I’ll update again before Christmas.  :)

Love,
Sherri

I’m about to introduce you to an awesome person.  Family members will remember her.  She has been one of my best friends since 10th grade in high school (that’s over 30 years, if you’re counting…)  We grew up in San Bernardino, CA, went to the same high school, hung out with the same people, and like most friends, went through periods of love and hate.  She eventually moved to Bishop, CA and I’m currently in Houston, TX, but we still keep in touch.

But now she’s doing something so awesome and thoughtful and HARD that I need to brag on her.

Her name is Marie and she runs a rabbit rescue out of her house called The Bunny Castle Rabbit Rescue.  She’s currently taking care of over 200 bunnies!  Some came from shelters, where people who could no longer care for them were nice enough to take them to find new homes.  But many were found roaming the countryside, abandoned, alone and sometimes, hurt or sick.

She cares for these bunnies with the help of her daughter and husband, and a handful of volunteers.  They’ve converted their backyard into a bunny care station.  They feed, clean up after, provide medical care and find new homes for all the bunnies that are brought to them.

She needs our help.  Here are several ways you can help her out:

Visit her website here.  In the left hand column you’ll see a link to donate money directly through JustGive.org.  This is the simplest way to donate.  You can give any amount (over $10) to help the bunnies.

You’ll also see a button that looks like a badge that you can click on to vote Bunny Castle Rabbit Rescue as your favorite shelter (or click here to go directly to the voting site.) You can vote every day!  First click on the button to give food to shelter animals.  Then click on the Shelter Challenge Vote Now icon at the top of the page.  Search for The Bunny Castle Rabbit Rescue in Bishop Ca. and vote!  She really can use all the help she can get for the bunnies and she’s up against popular and well-known sanctuaries like Best Friends. You can vote through the middle of July!  So go back often!!

You’ll also see a link for iGive.com.   At iGive.com, you can buy gift cards and help the bunnies at the same time.  Got a birthday coming up?  Need a gift card?  Start here.  A percentage of your purchase amount goes directly to BCRR.

At the top of the page you’ll see information about adopting the bunnies Marie cares for.  But if you can’t actually bring a live bunny into your home, she offers virtual adoptions.  I know this because I’ve seen it in her newsletter and I just adopted two bunnies for Jake for Christmas.  I just suggested she put that info on the website, and as soon as she does, I’ll update links here.  In the meantime, you can email her atBCrabbitrescue@aol.com for more information.

You can also sign up for her newsletter, by emailing Marie at BCrabbitrescue@aol.com.

Thank you so much for reading about my awesome friend!  I hope you can find it in your heart to help her, and the bunnies, even if it’s just a little bit!

Sher

Birthday Boy

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, Dear Jakie,

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

… And many more, on channel 4 …

So, Jake’s been in public school, and Camden’s been at a new school, for one whole week.  Five days.  And they are both sick!!!

Jake has not been to a doctor in 4 years.  When I’m in the doctors office with Camden, they ask me about Jake — “Do you still have Jake?  We haven’t seen him in years…”   Now, he’s got strep throat.  The boy is miserable!  Poor thing.

In addition, Camden feels very warm, although the thermometer says he’s not feverish.  He felt bad all day at school.  Wes feels like he’s coming down with a sinus infection and for the last couple hours, I’ve started feeling nauseous and achy.

Anyone want to come over and take care of us?

Sherri

Jake and Cam, with whipped cream on their noses while eating Fried Ice Cream at a Mexican restaurant.

Jake and Cam, with whipped cream on their noses while eating Fried Ice Cream at a Mexican restaurant.

Well, Camden has been “trying” to do it for the whole year now and he’s finally accomplished his task. He’s gotten such bad grades that he’s being kicked out of the science magnet middle school program. Today, Friday, January 16th, is his last day there. As of Monday, he will be attending the local middle school (which just so happens to be across the street.)

Jake has been talking about going back to public school for a few weeks now. We thought he’d do it at the beginning of next year. But since Camden will be attending the same school starting next Monday, Jake, Wes and I think this would be just as good a time for him to go back as well; maybe better, because he’ll have Camden there to sort of guide him.

I can’t decide if I’m happy, nervous, sad.  Wes has been bugging me for years to get a job, so now I guess I’ll have to get one…  It won’t be a “real” office type job, though.  I’m thinking Starbucks or McDonalds (I’ve done that before, and it was kind of fun), or one of the new craft stores opening up around me here.  Good news is we’ll have vacation money now.  Look out Max!  Here we come!!

Sherri

So, Wes and I were sitting around, watching TV on Friday, wondering how we were NOT going to be bored on Saturday.  We knew we wanted to watch the Ravens football playoff game on Sunday (go Ravens!!!) but had no plans for Saturday.  Then we saw on TV that Galveston’s Grand Opera house was reopening and they were having an open house.

Apparently, they had been undergoing extensive remodeling when Hurricane Ike hit and did even more damage.  We had never been to an opera house (didn’t even know Galveston had one) and we had received gift certificates to Joe’s Crab Shack for Christmas (thanks John and Pat) so we decided to take a drive down to Galveston for the day.

We arrived in Galveston around lunch time.  To get to Joe’s, we had to drive a short distance on Seawall Blvd, which, as it’s name implies, runs beside the beach along the Gulf of Mexico.  We caught a glimpse of something big washed up on the shore and decided to go back after lunch to see what it was.

The weather was beautiful!  We sat out on Joe’s patio enjoying the sunshine and surf (love the smell of the beach, don’t you???), getting sunburned while we got a full belly.  The beach is across the street behind Jake and I in the picture, but it’s hard to see with the glare of the sun…  (Oh, sorry to those of you in snowy climates … ) I had a cobb salad, Jake had a fish sandwich and Wes and Cam shared crabs.   For dessert, we had a Sea Turtle sundae and OMG, it was so good.  The best dessert I’ve had in years.

Anyway, after lunch we drove back down the beach to see what that big dead thing was.  Wes and I said it was a dolphin, but Camden and Jake predicted it would be a shark.  Turns out it was a dolphin.  There was only one and no one appeared to have called authorities.  It had no signs of why it died.  Lots of people were looking at it…  We also saw a big dead fish further down the beach.  (Last summer, we found a dead shark on the beach when we stayed at the time share in San Leon.)

We walked down one of the jetty’s on the beach.  They are comprised of huge squares of granite stacked next to each other.

By then, it was 1:30 PM and the opera house was only supposed to be open until 2 PM, so we had to skidaddle.  We weren’t sure where it was, but we found it.  It’s really pretty on the inside.  Everything is new and shiny.  They had cake and lemonade.  We got to go in the balconies and those cool seats they have on the sides (why can’t I remember what they are called???) You know, where the rich people usually sit???

Anywho … after that we went home.

Someone asked me how Galveston looks these days.  Actually, Galveston looks pretty damned good!  All the boats and debris that were piled along the freeway are gone.  All the piles of trash, debris and old furniture that were piled along every street are gone.  Most stores are back open again.  People seem to be getting their homes back in order.  The beaches, while they are not as big as they used to be due to massive erosion from Ike, are clear and clean and pretty again.

I’ll admit it now, before you read too far … I was lame with the Christmas pictures this year.  This is all I got…

We had a great Christmas.  We stayed home this year, didn’t travel anywhere.  Wes cooked us a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, gravy and a boat load of other stuff.  It was all very good.  We all got good presents — Wes got fishing gear so he can go surf fishing; I got a brand new cruiser bike; Camden got a bass guitar, gift cards, and an iTunes gift card; Jake got Lego’s from Santa, a new DS, money and gift cards; and the dogs got new toys.

Sherri

It was Christmas Eve (day 4 of school vacation).  Camden was grounded (bad grades AGAIN) and Jake was bored.  What better activity to do than bake???

So we headed off to Wal-Mart and bought every type of dessert item we felt like and spent the rest of the day baking!

Sherri

When we moved to Houston almost 6 years ago, I told the kids to kiss snow goodbye, thinking we’d not see it again unless we went back to Maryland…

Well, the year we moved here (2003) we got a couple inches of snow on Christmas Eve! It was enough for some people to build snowmen.

This year on December 10th, we got snow again!  It had been SO cold all day long.  Very unusual for Houston.  It had been lightly raining all day.  North Houston and further north, had snow early in the day.  We didn’t get it down here until almost bed time, but when it started, it was really coming down.  Camden was already in bed and Jake had to come downstairs in his pj’s to see it!  The dogs thought it was all very fun and interesting.

We went to bed hoping it would continue to snow all night so we’d have a snow day the next day, but, alas, no such luck.  There was still some snow on the ground, but it didn’t last long.  Jake eventually went outside and threw some snowballs (some of which stuck to the side of the garage).

Sherri

Ok, I admit, I think I’m becoming addicted to facebook… I’ve spent hours looking for friends and family I know on there; adding photo’s; and other useless things!!!!! Here’s my personal page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=78791&id=837177563&saved#/profile.php?id=837177563&ref=profile

And I just made my own fan page for my store, Sherri Crochets & Crafts:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sherri-Crochets-Crafts/59347935882

That’s all for now. Go friend me on facebook and be my friend now!!! LOL.
Sherri

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