Happenings

Not much to post since my camera is back in the shop....again. There is a part in the A70s that does not do well in humid climates and I am on my second new part in six months. But they fix it for free so I can't complain.

I think we might FINALLY settle with the insurance company when we got hit a few months ago. After hours on the phone and email I finally blew a gasket at a supervisor and within an hour the problem was fixed.

We painted all weekend. Jared painted the arbor and I started on the nursery - it's honeydew. Very bright and cheery and almost blinding. I have the walls almost done and then have to paint the trim.

Thats about all!

NASA Shooting

Just a heads up we are all fine. We received many calls over the past days with people hearing the name Crenshaw in the news. We thank everyone for checking in. We knew none of the individuals personally, but have friends that worked with the victim and gunman.

Jared does not typically work on the NASA JSC campus, his main office is a few blocks off site, but the day of the shooting he was in a simulation in mission control (MCC) only a few buildings away from building 44 on the JSC campus.

He called me right away, they locked down the MCC and he works pretty deep in the building behind several security checkpoints. His work went on as usual for the day as his simulation went until 6 pm anyway.

From the way we see it, there was nothing to stop it. NASA has tight security (I have a clearance and badge just to pick him up in the parking lot) and a no firearms code on campus. Over 10,000 employees and contractors work at JSC, there is no feasible way to check every car and body every day.

It was a sad ordeal and an end to a week of bloodshed and we count our blessings.

CNN STORY

Go Stro's

Last week was NASA night with $5 tickets for the Astros vs. Marlins game down at Minute Maid Park. We went with five couples and what now seems like a boat load of kiddos. We were in the nose bleed sections, but had great seats right behind home plate. It was an amazing night out and the first time I had been to the park when the retractable roof was open, which provided a great view of the city.
Erin received a pair of binoculars for Christmas in the shape of the cheetah head. They went MIA for some months and last week they made their return. Erin walked down stairs holding them and exclaimed "Daddy, look at my knockers". The look on Jared's face was priceless. So at the game this week, Erin and kylie spent most of the time playing with a set of "knockers."
On our way out of the stadium there was a street musician playing a sax and Erin thought he was pretty cool.

Astros won by one, Erin kicked a beer over on some guy on the section below the food court and he did not beat us and we returned to our $5.00 parking lot to find our car still intact, hubcaps and all.

Easter Weekend

Friday night we headed out after work and drove north to Huntsville State Park to camp for the night. It was beautiful, towering trees and large campsites and low humidity. We got in about 6:30 pm and set up camp. A cold front dropped in and by 9 am it was about 38 degrees. Erin did really well camping in the cold. She even managed to sneak a s'more to bed with her. In the morning all of her blankets and the floor of our tent was covered with marshmallow.
Camping in the rain
We got up and it started to drizzle so we packed all of our gear and sat in the cold drizzle for about an hour before deciding to head home. It was a good choice because when we were leaving the park it started to sleet.

Saturday night our ward had its annual Chili cookoff and for once we had perfect chili weather.

Erin's new easter dressSunday morning we got up and Erin found her Easter basket. The Easter bunny brought her a new rubber duck for the tube, a baseball bat and ball, and a rocket kite. She was pretty excited. Kite flying is an Easter tradition in our family. We went to church and then came home and attempted to fly the kite, but it was not ideal kite flying weather.Then we headed to some friends for our holiday "orphan dinner". Most of the couples we hang with are miles from any family so we get together for the holidays. The food was awesome and a good end to the Easter weekend.

My Amazing Feat of Strength...

So as you can see I am having an extremely productive morning. My Google home page has this "how to" section that changes everyday and its most entertaining. Todays topic was "how to rip a phone book in half" and I decided I want to test my Hulk-like powers and to my amazement I did it ( and not I did not bake it in the oven). It was a smaller phone book, but considering I am seven months pregnant I didn't want to have to explain that I forced preterm labor by attempting to rip the City of Houston phone book in half.

The down side.... I am now without my trusty yellow pages.

Here is the link...give it a try
RIP IT LINK

Its raining, its pouring

Yesterday we got about 5-6" of rain within a few hours. I woke up early and Jared and Erin were in still in bed, so I decided its a little rain and headed out to the local hardware store to buy a $1.65 ball of twine for my garden. It was only about a 4 mile drive but it took me over an hour to find a way back that was not flooded. I was driving our Dodge Dakota and several of the roads had over 15" of standing water with full ton trucks stalled out. I think I could have kayaked our city. Our street drained well, we are on a high point of the neighborhood at a whopping 26' above sea level. It make me nervous, the last tropical storm to hit dumped upwards of 18" of rain in 24 hours. I am thinking about putting a canoe in my attic for the hurricane season, which starts in 60 days.

With that being said why do people irrigate and not harness rain water run off? Last fall we had the same type of storm (rainfall in the 4-6" range is common here) and I calculated 8 gallons/minute coming out of one of my rain spouts. I am looking at buying a few 55 gallon barrels to for rain water storage.

With all the rain we have spent a lot of time inside. Erin found the crib mattress and decided it made a nice landing pad as she launched herself off of our guest air bed. This set-up provided hours of entertainment this week and miraculously no injuries.

New growth

Spring had finally spring, even though it been about 75 degrees for the last month. My mom brought me some lilies from Iowa in the fall and I ran out of room so I threw this one on the corner of the house. They all died except this one and it bloomed yesterday.

Erin was so excited and said it was very pretty. I told her not to pick it or it would die and she said she understood. Five minutes later she walked into the house with it. Jared told her it made mom very sad and now no one could enjoy the pretty flower.

A while later we went into the back yard and Erin had carefully set the bloom back on the top of the stem and exclaimed "look mommie, I fixed it"! We were just cracking up, sometimes they make you so mad, but then they are too sweet.

Renshaw's Spring Break

Jared three youngest brothers and sister and his mom came down for a week over their spring break. We spent a day at Bolivar Beach playing in the sand. Erin had always been scared of the ocean, I think because of the vastness of the waves. But she finally decided it was fun to chase the tide in and out.
Devin and I constructed an sand alligator and Erin decided that she would ride it like a horse.

Tuesday we spent the afternoon at the Natural History Museum. They have a really great exhibit on the oil drilling process. The museum is huge, it can be a whole day adventure if you can take that much natural science.
And Jared had his moment of fame this week. Monday Jared, Devin and I went out golfing at a par3 course. Jared hit a hole-in-one on the second hole. He got his name in the Houston Chronicle and on the wall of the club house. As for me a was just happy I could still hit a strait shot while attempting to swing across the bowling ball in front of me.

The rest of the week we spent playing Frisbee golf, did a little shopping and just chilled.
'

And the terrible two's begin.....

We just dropped over $200 bucks on a top-of-the-line Britax car seat, only to take it out of the box and hear Erin say "I don't like it" and refuse to sit in it....grrr.

Anyway we just got a call and our car is FINALLY finished. Its been almost a month. Erin's last car seat had to be replaced when Jared was hit and we decided that it was worth the money to buy a Britax since most car seats are only designed to take a 30 mph crash. Plus this one is good up to 65 lbs so it should last her a while, if we can get her to sit in it :)

I just want to soak up the sun....

Jared surprised me with tickets to see Sheryl Crow at the Houston Rodeo last Wednesday. We parked downtown and took the light rail to Reliant stadium. I guess I would consider the rodeo comparable to the State fair - lots of odd people and deep-fried food. We got to the area in time to see the bull riding and the chuck wagon races. It was also breast cancer awareness night so all the cowboys wore pink shirts to support the cause.
Sheryl Crow put on an awesome concert! The photos are not great since we had top-of-the-world seats, but we had a great night out...alone!

Good-bye to an old friend

We sold my 1994 Achivea this weekend! Yes the one I purchased the year I graduated high school. After 8 years of road trips from Vermont to Yellowstone and Canada to Texas I passed it on with 196,250 miles on him and I still got $800.00.

The car formally known as Maverick no longer had air, heat, defrost, socks, struts, the windows didn't roll down, the locks didn't work (except when it randomly locked you out every now and then), and was the only car I have seen with major rust damage and gravel dings on this side of the city (thanks to those salty Iowa roads).

May he have a few more good years!

24 Weeks

I had my second fetal echo yesterday with the fetal specialist and we are happy to report the baby looks strong and healthy. Now I am officially released from the specialist and will go solely with my midwife.

The baby is:
...still a girl (there was a shot that no one can deny, and my specialist said if she came out a boy he would pay for the plastic surgery :)

....Weight: 1.5 lbs

.....Growth: 23 wks 3 days growth

......I was promised that I would not be having a 10 pound baby woo-hoo!

I can't believe I am already six months along, it has gone so quickly this time. A few of you were badgering me for some preggo photos so here they are, as always I carry my weight in my face and in my trunk, not my stomach.


Last week I was at Lowe's picking up soil and had 2-forty pound bags and a 60 pound bag. There was a man leaning his truck parked right next to me. I was dressed in my pregnancy shirt, so it was pretty obvious that I was expecting. I threw the first bag on my shoulder and tossed it into the bed of my pick-up, then the second and low and behold that man just stood there and watched the preggo woman load 140 pounds by herself. There are days I hate Texas.... I decided either he was a lazy prick or he stood there in shock to watch a pregnant woman load her own soil.

Erin's New Pet

I was working outside yesterday and our neighbor was throwing away this giraffe. Erin has been a giraffe kick lately so I went over and asked what the deal was. It was his x-wifes and he didn't want it. He said that its hand carved and she brought it back from Africa.

Needless to say he was hit.

Day at the park