We love you, Houston!

I love comments on my blog. It's nice to know that people read it and it makes me smile to hear nice things said about my family. But seriously...viagra spam? On my tiny little family blog that 10 people read? Give me a break. Since I can't delete the stupid spam (check my last blog entry if you have no idea what I'm talking about), I have changed my settings. Now I will have to approve all comments before they can post. So friends, please don't think I'm trying to filter you - you I love! Say what you like!

Happy Halloween, everyone! I know, it's been a while. I didn't take too many pics of Romelie in her duck costume, but I know my mom took a ton the previous weekend so I'll post some of those when I see her next and steal her camera. We had a low-key evening. We decided to surprise my grandparents (my mom's folks and my dad's mom) and spent a little time hanging out at each of their homes, and then we put on some aluminum foil hats and headed over to Chipotle for some free burritos. Best free promo ever.

Volleyball season has ended. We came in 6th place out of 30 teams, so I'm pretty proud of the players. The girls gave me a volleyball-themed blanket with all their names and numbers embroidered which was very thoughtful and is super warm, and now I'm just enjoying having my afternoons with my family. Granted, I start coaching speech at BSM on Tuesday. It's a short break...

And we're back from Texas! We had a nice, relaxing time in Houston. We spent most of Friday with Chason's mom and with Bronwyn and her family. There was a fall festival at Torin's school, so we went there and had snowcones and got balloons and tattoos, then headed to Bronwyn's for dinner. The kids played pretty well together, and I rocked out on Torin's "Rock Star" game. Because I'm awesome.

Saturday we had a birthday party for Romelie at the Dancers' home. Romelie got to see her family, play with some kids, eat some cake, open presents, play with balloons, and get lots of hugs and attention. It was a really nice way to celebrate her birthday. Thank you so much to everyone who was able to be there, and thanks especially to Angel and Steve for hosting and putting so much thought into making the day special for Romelie.

Chason and I got to see a movie on Sunday night, "The Men Who Stare at Goats." Not bad. First movie I've seen in a theater since "Twilight," so I enjoyed the night out!! Sunday we relaxed at home, and Monday we visited with our friend Trisha and her daughter during the day and then we saw Aunt Crystal in the evening. It was so wonderful to spend time with our friends, and unfortunately I'm a total schmo and didn't take any pictures. Boo. But we love them and can't wait to see them again when I will take hundreds of pictures to make up for my slacking.

By the way, Crystal completed The Breast Cancer 3-Day in Dallas/Ft. Worth while we were in Houston! She walked 60 miles in three days to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust. I'm so proud of her accomplishment, but she's not done yet. She still needs to finish up her fundraising to reach her (required) goal of $2300. If she doesn't reach this goal, she pays the difference herself out of pocket! She's already done so much good, so if you can help her out, you'd be giving to a wonderful cause as well as congratulating an amazing accomplishment. Click on this link: http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/DallasFtWorthEvent2009?px=2145147&pg=personal&fr_id=1295 Give $5, give $100, give whatever you can afford; any amount will help. And yay Crystal.

Finally, we saw Cinderella last night at The Children's Theatre. As some of you know, this is my favorite play/production of all time, and it's the reason I purchased season tickets to CTC this year. The production hasn't been done in 10 years (due in part, I'm sure, to the fact that Wendy Lehr, who has always played the role of Pearl, one of the stepsisters, is no longer with the company), and I wasn't sure what sort of changes they were going to make. I won't go into too much detail (mostly because I'm sure I care about it way more than anyone else would), but although I was disappointed with a couple of the changes, overall it was a wonderful show. I dragged Chason along, and both he and Romelie managed to sit through the entire performance - a big achievement for both of them, I promise. ;)

Romelie turns two on Monday!! I'll tell you all about it next week. Meanwhile, here's more pictures from her birthday party.