Spring Break Madness

Kalea Bowling

Nathan's Golden Egg

View from the cliff

The Swing

Here are pictures of our Spring Break Highlights
I know that it seems like I've fallen off of the face of the earth, but I am still here. Things are very crazy in the Saenz household and I've spent the last few weeks trying to get me in order. I have so many things that I want to blog about that I've spent many a night just blogging in my head. If only I could hook a USB port to my head and podcast Sarah thoughts onto my blog.
We had an amazing Spring Break. It was filled with family breakfasts, a ton of bowling (we scored free passes from the school district), and a trip to Katy equipt with another midnight hotel fire drill. I can definitely say that we are now hotel fire experts. Families could pay us for the knowledge and skills we have acquired for getting our kids up and out the door when that hotel fire alarm starts ringing. I have so much to write about spring break, that I think I'll break it down by each child's highlight.
Kalea- Kalea's highlight was definitely bowling. She is a very free spirited bowler. It was beautiful. I think my sides were sore for days from laughing so hard. She was so excited when it was her turn to bowl. She would grab the ball with both hands, waddle and slide out onto the wooden floors in her clown shoes (they didn't carry shoes her size so they were at least an inch or two too big) and she would chunk the ball with all her might. Sometimes the ball went down our neighbor's lane, other times it would go BETWEEN the bumpers and the gutters, and still other times, it would just come back towards the couches. Steve would go running after the ball while Kalea would spin joyfully in the spotlight with one toe on the ground and the other foot lifted up pointing to the heavens. She would throw her head back and sweep her arms out and yell, "YEA!!!!" like she had just made a strike. Every turn was celebrated with spins and dances all across our lanes and our neighbors lanes. To Kalea, it didn't matter where the ball went, what mattered was that she threw it and for that, she was thrilled. All of our neighbors would stand back and laugh at Kalea's outward joy. We were blessed that no one really cared that Kalea's ball didn't always stay in our lane.
Nathan- Nathan's highlight was the golden Easter egg. We went egg hunting at the YMCA in Katy along with our 1,ooo best friends. The announcer spoke of a golden egg, and that was all that Nathan could think about. The buzzer went off and the kids torpedoed out to the field. The one golden egg that we had spotted was grabbed up immediately, so I found myself on the ground tossing eggs into Nathan's basket while he stood sulking that his golden egg was gone. I realized how ridiculous we looked so I stood up to give Nathan the pep talk about how the hunt was about having fun, and not about getting the golden egg. The field was cleared and the eggs and kids were gone before I could convince Nathan to at least pick up a few eggs, and that's when I spotted it. The golden egg was sparkling in the sun in a tall patch of grass right next to us. Nathan grabbed it up and inside was a whole dollar bill. Nathan was stoked. He carried it around the entire day showing everyone his prized possession.
Steve and Me- Our highlight actually started 10 years ago when we worked for the Boys and Girl's Club. Every summer we would take the kids to picnic at a park. When everyone was done eating and settled in on the playground, the staff would sneak off in groups of 2 or 3 (depending on how many of us there were that day) and we would go to this swing in the woods. We would stand on a cliff about 30 feet in the air, hold onto a rope swing, and would swing off the cliff. It was scary (and dangerous) and fun all at once. It was sort of an initiation for all of the staff members. Steve and I always joked that we would take our kids there when we were old and gray.....well, on Spring Break, we went hiking and found ourselves at that very swing. It was still there, only there were about three more ropes tied to the ends of where the original swing had broken off. We didn't allow our kids to swing off of the cliff, but we did have the opportunity to share some Sarah and Steve history with them and let them do mini swings on the ropes. It was just amazing and awesome that we had stood in that very spot 10 years ago, dreaming about what our future children would be like and then (bang) there we were with our perfect family on a perfect day talking about what the past was like.

A VERY Close Call

On the snow day that wasn't a Snow Day for the school kids, Nathan and Steve were driving very carefully to school. Steve was a bus driver so I am pretty confident in his driving (even on icy days). They were traveling very slowly on a very icy overpass when some high school kids tried to pass Steve and attempted to cut him off. On their way around Steve, however, they hit an icy patch and flew out of control spinning wildly in front of Steve's car as he frantically tried not to hit the twirling kids. The high school kids ended up facing Steve (and oncoming traffic) about a quarter of an inch away from rail, while Steve slid past them and onto dry road. God was watching out for both Steve and Nathan and the high school kids. As Steve drove down to safety, he watched the two, newly cautious kids, turn slowly around and off the bridge to school. I am sooooooo very thankful that no one got hurt. Afterwards, Steve witnessed about three wrecks on the half mile stretch of highway leading to his school. School should definitely been cancelled that day.

Snow Day

The weatherman said that it would snow at 5PM, so in joyful anticipation, we pulled open the blinds and waited for that first blessed snowflake to fall. The entire evening revolved around the exposed window. We did Nathan's homework facing it so we could sneak glances outside; we ate our dinner with our chairs carefully rotated just enough to see out the window; and when each of us thought that the other was not looking, we would open the door just enough to peer outside into the dark, cold night.....but alas no snow. Steve and I took turns racing back to the computer to check the newest update. 5PM passed, 6PM passed, and at 7PM, we put the kids to bed without a single snowflake. At 8PM, the weather station changed it's forcast to snow at 11PM, but Steve was not convinced. He was confident that the snow just was not going to come.

Kalea woke up crying at midnight. I normally would not answer her midnight call, but we took away her nighttime pullups for the week and I wanted to make sure she was still dry.....plus I wanted to check for snow. Both Kalea and the ground outside were still dry, so I went back to sleep in my warm bed thinking that maybe Steve was right. At 5AM, Kalea was up again, and this time, to my surprise, the ground was covered with a white blanket of snow! Steve and I sat in bed and waited for our ISD to be flashed on the TV screen with the other school closings.....but alas, our anticipation was broken and so were our hopes of a snow day. Steve and Nathan went off to school with their heads hung low. I felt bad, but not bad enough to waste a playdate with the snow. Kalea and I got dressed and went out to play. Kalea didn't know what to do at first, but after she warmed up to the idea, she made snow balls and watched them explode as she threw them on the ground. We played until the sun came out and began to melt all of our powdery fun. I put a snowball in the freezer for Nathan and cooked up a can of chicken noodle soup for Kalea and I.

UPDATES- Nathan got 'Lonestar of the Week' at school. He has caught up in reading and is expected to exceed expections by the end of the year. He really likes school now. (This is a first in the history of Nathan.) Now that he is completely settled and has friends, we found out that he can't go to that school again next year because Steve won't be teaching. Back to the ghetto school he goes. :o(

Kalea is now 100% potty trained both during the day and at night. She rode her first horse at Huntsville State Park on Saturday, her first roller coaster on Sunday and made her first snowball today. She proudly tells me that she is "strong and big."

Steve is looking into all sorts of interesting jobs.....no leads yet......

A Week N' Saenz

I heard a statistic that most Americans spend 2.5 hours a day on the computer, and less than 15 minutes a day in their Bibles. Did you know that it only takes about 15 minutes a day to read the Bible in a year? Me being the world's slowest reader can accomplish this. Anywho, here is the long awaited blog. I hope that it doesn't let anyone down. It's been a crazy month and this has been the first time that I've been free to do nothing. First of all, I passed my TeXes exam!!!! Secondly, I really, really, really enjoyed seeing a lot of you a million Sunday's ago when I came to visit. It made my heart sing to hear from you and to know that you read my blog. Soooo without further ado, here is what is up with the Saenz family:
Sunday- We started this week off in Galveston at a family reunion. There is no better way to wake up than with your family by the beach. It was a lot of fun. Kalea had to stop every couple of miles to go potty, making the trip home be the world's longest, but it was well worth it.
Monday- Steve had a meeting with his principal and learned that not only is his teaching contract not getting renewed, but that he will be unable to teach any where in the district. When he told me, my first thought was; "I JUST LEFT EVERYTHING FOR WHAT?!!!" I was mad but wanted to be a loving, supportive wife, so I said nothing. I said nothing to him for three days, because I just didn't know what to say that would be loving and supportive......and I have no friends here, so I had no one to talk it through with over Starbucks (which usually solves everything).
Tuesday- Kalea and I spring cleaned the house.
Wednesday- We have crazy schedules on Wednesdays, so I don't get to see Steve until 7 at church. He brought me Starbucks and after the service and our marriage Bible class (Marriage Matters is the world's best class for couples.) we finally had a chat about the future. He has decided that he's done with teaching and is going to change jobs altogether. As for what that is, he has no clue.
Thursday- I went in for a teaching interview for a private Christian school and they loved me. I will be called in for a second interview with the pastor sometime either next week or the week after. With the discount, Kalea's tuition will be about $250 a month cheaper than day care, and she will get to wear a super cute uniform.
Friday- We drove to the Woodland's area to play a show at the largest Christian club in Texas. It was super fun and the most entertaining part was that there was a professional photographer who took a million pictures of us and would superimpose fans into our pictures as a souvenir.
Saturday- We spent Friday night at the owner's house and spent the day at Huntsville State Park. We spent forever going on the trails because Kalea had to 'clean' all of the pine needles off with a stick. Steve said, "hey look kids, there is a turtle!" We all crowded around and at first glance, I knew that it was not a turtle, but three foot long green snake!!!!"