December 5, 2009

It's certainly Christmas time!! We've even had the cold weather and SNOW to show for it!! More to come on the Historic Snowfall in Houston, TX in a moment....

Yesterday, 12/4 - Rachel had surgery to correct the socket gap problem in her shoulder - this time her right shoulder. If you remember, she had surgery last May to correct the same problem in her left shoulder. I took a lot more pictures then. This time... just one!

Just wasn't in the snapping mode I guess. We made our way up to the hospital at 6 am yesterday and she was home snoozing on pain pills by 10:00 am! She slept most all of yesterday and will be again today I would guess. The doctor said the gap on this shoulder was even larger then the gap on the left shoulder. She's such a trooper though and I'd love to have her pain threshold. She didn't have the nerve block (she didn't last time either). A shot for pain afterwards - not morphine as we found out she was allergic to it last time. Something the nurse said was better with not as many side effects. Wonder why the go to morphine first then? Anyway.... Looks like just oral pain meds are doing the trick and keeping her comfortable right now.

Now... on to the Historic Snow of December 4th in Houston, TX

Wow... we had some snow. Not just a little flurry, but real a real snowfall. It started early on our side of town (South of Houston) and stuck around until about noon and then melted. We had another little snow band come through in the afternoon which dropped a bunch of snow, but none of it stuck around that time. Schools all let out early (not Friendswood!). Companies/cities let employees go early. Not that there was really any need to until later last night when all that wetness on the roads froze over with our 25 degree night.

Amazing for there to be snow in Houston and then even more amazing for it to come this early. First time ever for it to happen.

Check out these pictures.

Our House with Snow

Neighborhood Playground


My Favorite place - Starbucks....


See... we really were getting a good snowfall!! If the ground had been cooler than 70 degrees, we might have actually had some good accumulation!!

Not sure what we're doing today... but it might involve a few things.

FRIENDSWOOD faces DAWSON (our Pearland friends) again today in Football, but this time for the Quarterfinals on the Path to State!! We probably won't go with Rachel's recovery, but we'll be thinking about them and anxious to hear the outcome!!

UT faces Nebraska this evening for the Big 12 Championship on the way to the National Championships!! HOOK EM HORNS!!! Will definitely be watching this one.

Christmas Decorations - need to get them up in the house and perhaps get a tree decorated soon.

Have a great Weekend!!
MA

December 1, 2009

Happy Holidays everyone!! Hard to believe it's already December!! The next 24 days before Christmas are filled with decorating, great christmas music, events, concerts, and all sorts of other festivities!

My first task of the holiday season was to give my blog a festive holiday update! Let it Snow!! Not that we get a whole lot of snow here in Houston, TX, but we've seen a bit here and there the last few years. The forecasters here today are even saying we might see some snow on Friday! We'll have to wait and see if it actually happens!! I like seeing a little bit of snow. Not sure if I'd want to really have to actually live and work in it regularly though.

Our weather here is so wacky though so we'll be looking at potential snow on Friday and back into the 70's soon thereafter. That's why we always have to have both seasons of clothes in our closets and flip flops nearby. It just doesn't stay one way or another for us in the "winter"!! LOL

Here's the lyrics for a song that gets played here in Houston during this time of year by our wonderful Christian radio station - KSBJ.

http://www.myspace.com/brandedtheduo for the link to the music; look on the right side in the box, may have to scroll down

White Christmases in Houston by Branded

If you dream of horse-drawn carriages
Dashing through the snow;
Before you move to Texas
There's something you should know...

That they don't have White Christmases in Houston.
I've lived here most my life and I should know.
I've prayed and I've pleaded for way too many years
But they just don't have White Christmases down here.

I've heard of winter carnivals in Aspen.
It looks just like a winter wonderland.
But remember while you're freezin' throughout this Christmas season
We'll be down here with Christmas cheer and flip-flops in the sand.

I've seen all those Christmas shows on TV.
Blankets of white powder; my, how grand!
But while you've got snow and holly, I'm feastin' on tamales;
Sittin' on my back porch with an iced tea in my hand.

That they don't have White Christmases in Houston.
I've lived here most my life and I should know.
I've prayed and I've pleaded for way too many years
But they just don't have White Christmases down here.

Hope your December 1st has been happy!

MA

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

I am truly thankful this year for many people, places and things!

• Loving family - My husband, John and Rachel, Stephen, Ariane, Laila & Justin
• My parents, Austin & Walter, my sisters, Perry & Stacey, and my nieces & nephew - Macie, Holley, Allie & Scott
• Thankful for my friends!
• Thankful for our health this year and the availability to choose our own medical care. We've relied on access to great doctors and hospitals this year. Pray that doesn't go away with a government run option.
• Thankful for our jobs and abilities to earn a living to provide for our family & children without a great deal of worry.
• Thankful for our service men and women who are out there every day trying to fight for our country. Praying for their safety and security!
• Thankful for coffee, cheese & chocolate!! My favorite "C's".
• Thankful for a husband who cooks, cleans and otherwise keeps us organized! (of course, I have to leave extra early for cowboy games in exchange!)

Where are you spending your Thanksgiving today? With whom?

I'm up in Dallas spending my Thanksgiving Day with John, Laila & Justin currently sitting in the 45 degrees with my coffee in Blue Lot 15 tailgating for the Oakland v. Dallas Thanksgiving Day Game. On tap for Thanksgiving lunch is Ham, Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatos and gravy, mac & cheese, and pecan pie! All very expertly cooked/warmed on a Old Smokey Grill. Along with bloody mary's & beer. Game time = 3:15 pm. Yes, we were here at the parking lot at 9:00 am with many, many other people!! After the Dallas game comes the Longhorn v. Aggie game this evening!! Football... bring it on!

Here is a question for you to consider! I am hoping if you are a member of my family, you will join in with answers to this question! However, would love for anyone to join if they'd like.

What are 10 of your most simplest pleasures in life?

Mine -

1) Coffee w/half-n-half

2) Quiet house with taped DVR programs to watch

3) My fabulous MACbook Pro

4) Mobile broadband access

5) Watching the kids march or play ball

6) Sitting outside on a Friday evening grilling & sipping some wine

7) Reading a good book on my Kindle

8) Chocolate Kiss - dark chocolate of course

9) Driving in my Jeep with the top down.... going anywhere

10) Time to scrapbook and write.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

MA & John

Thankful for........

I am starting off easy with my thankfulness this morning......

Today.. I am thankful for being blessed with loving friends and family members!

Sunday, November 8

It's been a quiet weekend here at the Cox house! We haven't had a quiet weekend in a long time with all the marching band and baseball stuff that goes on in the month of October. We've been taken a really needed deep breather the last few days.

Coming back from the State Contest at 3:00 AM on Wednesday morning put us all very behind in the sleep category. It took a few days to catch up really. Friday night was a football game with Friendswood defeating LaMarque in the last regular season game and advancing to the playoffs next weekend. Friendswood will be hosting it's first ever playoff game at our stadium. It's a small stadium so this should be interesting!! The good news is all the extra concessions monies that the school and band will get because of it. That's a good thing!!

Trying to find the newly minted 16 year old a car to drive. That's a tough thing to do when you don't know a whole lot about cars. She hopes to get her license sometime this week so geez... here we go right?? I'm really not sure I'm ready for it. No... I know I'm not ready for it. Although... getting her to go the grocery store for that ONE item we need will surely be nice!! :-) I'm sure it just will take her 30 minutes to do that and drive by all her friends on the way there and back.

Updated my blog design with a Fall Design!

Ok - back to the Dallas Cowboys vs. Eagles!!

Have a great week!!

State 4A Marching Band Contest - San Antonio, TX

Friendswood competed in the State 4A Band Competition today at the Alamodome. I am chaperoning and we left yesterday and rehearsed last night in San Antonio. The Band did great placing 2nd in the State after all was said and done. Dripping Springs placed First, then Friendswood second, then Poteet third.

We are now on the long bus ride home to Houston where we will arrive somewhere around 2:00 am or so. More to come about the past few days - need sleep now!!

Night all!

16th Birthday Report & Halloween

Just didn’t have time to get to more blogging last night but with all the Halloween preparations and birthday happenings. It was a busy day and evening!

16th Birthday Report



A flock of pink flamingos landed in our yard on Friday bearing a message wishing Rachel a Happy Sweet 16th! They were very cute and a public announcement of her birthday!! They arrived Friday morning and left on Saturday late morning. Unfortunately, Rachel’s schedule on Friday was such that she left for school at 5:45 am and didn’t return home until almost midnight from the Away Football Game. She saw them in the dark at that point. She got to see them for a few more seconds the next morning as I took her back to the school for Band Practice on Saturday at 7:30 am. By the time she got home later in the afternoon, they flock had moved on to celebrate another event! Mom was good though and was able to capture some pictures!



Rachel’s day was a busy one as you can read from above. She started out getting up early to head to Band practice at 7:30 am. I decided she needed a tiara for her special day so she wore it for the most part. I think it bothered her head a bit, but she was a trooper!! It looked so Rachel!



Off to band practice! Only a couple of more days and the Band performs in the Stand Band Marching Contest in San Antonio!! Their show is really, really good. The kids are working very, very hard to make it the best it can be. Hence... the practice on Saturday from 8 - 1 pm (with bus rides to Dickinson stadium to practice as it’s bigger than ours) and again on Sunday from 2 - 4 pm. We (I’m chaperoning) leave tomorrow for San Antonio. GO BAND!!

After band practice, I picked her up and one of her friends, Alex, and we went to Hobby Lobby. The girls want to make some shirts to wear to school on Monday showing their excitement for the State Competition! We grabbed a few items - zebra striped fabric seemed to be a hit matched with pink and purple shirts accented by blue and green paint. Should be quite noticeable!! I’ll take pictures no doubt and share!

From there we returned home (thank goodness) and everyone took a bit of a breather for a couple of hours. Cleaned rooms for friends coming over to spend the night (uh hmm... Rachel), etc.

Her friend, Kayla, brought over a pretty balloon birthday greeting!! Very Rachel - the Disney Princesses!!



Alex came over and everyone got ready to go trick-or-treating!! We were trying to squeeze it all in on this Halloween Day!! So, Rachel, Alex and Stephen all left while it was still light and went out to trick or treat for about 1 hour. LOL... funny.

Halloween 2009




Stephen was Gene Simmons from KISS mixed with a Ghoul. Rachel was a bumble bee and with the crown on her head could have been called Queen Bee! Alex was an Indian Girl! They were funny.

Scary Stephen!


Silly Rachel!


Rushed back home at 7:15 pm so everyone could do a quick change into their really nice clothes and we could head off to a very special dinner for Rachel.

John & I gave Rachel a pretty silver and pearl drop necklace and pearl earrings for her 16th birthday!! Something that hopefully, she’ll take care of and put up for special occasions. It’s jewelry that you can wear forever.



Everyone looked so nice!! We went to Killen’s Steakhouse which is a really small, but very nice steakhouse in Pearland. The Chef was the runner up for being the Executive Chef at the Whitehouse and was offered the job of Assistant Executive Chef. He grew up in Pearland and chose to come back to open his own restaurant and it’s doing quite well. They also have a really nice wine list which I was happy with of course!!




Our guests with us this evening were Kayla & Alex!



All the girls looked lovely. Unfortunately, in all the rush of the evening, I didn’t get several of the pictures I wanted this evening. But, the ones I did, were beautiful!! It was all very grownup! We had some wonderful food and our dinner lasted about 3 hours!!

Picture of the waiter, Chad, with all the girls.



There are more pictures in the Flickr Gallery. Feel free to peruse!!

Off to watch the Dallas Cowboys play Seattle!!

Later!

MA