The new wiggle

Our friend Skippy has an interesting dance that all affectionately call "the Wiggle." While fishing on Galveston Bay today the song "Five Pound Bass" by Robert Earl Keene came on the radio. Caroline took a break from the action (she caught over 20 fish) to do a bit of boat dancing. Move over Skippy, there is a new dance in town. Since this is my first video post I want to remind some of you to turn on your volume and click on the arrow to make it play.

The Tiki Park

Tiki Island has a wonderful community park with equipment and a great view of the water. The storm did some damage, but with a little bit of community help we were able to get it back in working order. This was our project over the Christmas break.

On a Friday, a dump truck delivered the mulch we would need to fill the space back in. Caroline is in the jeans on the right side of that group hug.

On Saturday several families arrived to spread out the mulch. We were all enthusiastic and most of us had children so we were determined to get this done. Notice the mulch hill is shorter than the swing set, but not by much.

After several hours of spreading by hand with shovels, rakes and wheel barrows, someone called in reinforcements.

You can now find us at the park several days a week learning to "pump" and stomping around to spread the mulch a little bit more.

the Kinder Garden

Caroline's class adopted a bit of dirt outside their playground in November. The shrubs that had been there were all lost in the storm. So, the students went on a field trip to Tom Thumb Nursery and each got to pick out six plants (any six bedding plants) to bring back to the school.

Some picked flowers because of their color, some picked ones based on smell (there is lots of rosemary in the garden), one picked plants based on height, but they were all very proud of their choices.

They brought their plants back to the school and lovingly planted and watered their little section of garden.

They continue to take care of their Kinder Garden each week. Who knew such an eclectic collection of daisies, snapdragons, pansies, mums, herbs and a few vegetables thrown in for good measure could look so wonderful.

A happy IKE story

Yesterday at Caroline's school we were preparing to move the Kindergarten and first grade kids back into their classroom. I was helping to unpack boxes of things that had been rescued by the remediation company that cleaned the school and church. These boxes were packed by the workers and labeled with the classroom before being placed in storage. The teachers did not even know what was in them. In one box we found the blankies and loveys that the kids had brought for nap time. They are currently in my dryer and will be reunited with their owners this afternoon.

The overwhelming generosity of people is amazing. While unpacking donations we found entire boxes full of brand new markers, crayons, glue sticks even one whole box of pencil boxes. The kids and the teachers are excited to come back to their classroom and be real kindergartners again.

update: Caroline saw her nap mat in our laundry room and her jaw dropped. I asked her if she recognized the towel and told her what had happened. She threw her arms around me and cried "Oh, Mommy. I didn't think I would ever see any of my lost things again! We have to thank my teacher and the cleaner men!"