The Olsen Update

As many of you know I've been the photographer for the Space Center Lecture Series for a year now. The upcoming lecture is by Gary Kitmacher (pictured right) His lecture, "Views From Space" will combine the history of civilization, exploration, and spaceflight with exhilarating images from spaceflight. Kitmacher's work is well known - the systems he has conceived and developed, like the soft stowage system, CTBs, used on every flight since STS-71, or the COSS computers first used on Mir, the Priroda Lab Module which served as the center of US operations on Mir, the contracts and international processes he established for integrating payloads, or the ISS Cupola, Nodes and Racks, developed while he served as the Station's Man-Systems Architect in the 1980s. His Emme Award nominated book, Reference Guide to the International Space Station is in its third printing, and his ISS Interactive Web Guide won the Adobe Max Award for the best government website l...

Ariana came into the living room crying just a bit ago. I asked her what she wanted and this is what she signed.... "EAT!" (nothing like peas and Kix) I'm not surprised that eat was her first sign. Not one bit. Lets just face it. The girl can eat. I was so happy I scooped her up and put her in her booster. She was so happy that I understood her that she fallowed "Eat" with "Yeah!" I can't believe it. Two signs in just a few minutes. I'm just glad I'm not signing to myself anymore.

The last night I was trying to come up with other ways to use my heart shaped ice cube trays. I had already ruined a set making heart shaped crayons for Alana's birthday party. So I bought another set knowing I would get use of them. I thought it might be fun to have fruit punch hearts to eat as a refreshing treat but it's a bit cold outside and they are messy so I put them in my Sprite and I came up with "Sweetheart Soda". Alana LOVES IT! It's really girlie so its right up her ally.

.. It's because Ariana puked all over Alana, Myself and the pew. Enough said. Side note to Amber: No, I didn't make my kid puke so I could have an excuse to not hear your talk. I was really looking forward to it. Maybe you can brief me on it later. I hope you did well.

If you didn't know by now, Ariana is into EVERYTHING now! She loves the studio and I catch her in there all the time tying to get all the fun toys. Her eczema is looking much better now and so I thought I would get a few shots as I had promised in previous posts. Hi! I can walk! Yyeeeeeeeee Hhhaaaaaa!

I commented this to her... ..."Alana and I are the same way. I'm beginning to think it has to do with our dairy intake. Because we're all lactose intolerant we don't get the extra iron. We've always had to supplement in other ways. Like beans. When I'm pregnant I'm a wreck of an anemic." So I looked up "Lactose Intolerance and Low Iron" on Google. Boy I got an immediate list of thousands of sites talking about this issue. So next week I'm going to call Ariana's Dr. about this and see what we can do to fix it. The iron supplement is helping a bit but not nearly enough. UUuugggggghhhhh!

Dr. just called and said that she is still abnormally low in iron but it is up. She wants us to continue with the supplements, but now I'm wondering if there is some kind of problem that is causing it. I guess we'll find out in time.

Today is day 2 of the new meds and it seems to be working. New pictures soon. ...I hope :-s

We'll, I've had some people ask why I haven't posted any new pictures of Ariana lately. The answer is that she has eczema on her face (as seen in the photo above. This is when it first showed up a few weeks ago. It's much worse now). Today we went to the doctor after trying multiple treatments, and found something that seems to be working for her. We are putting cortisone on it twice a day and keeping it covered with vasseline all day. It's hard to look at because she has such an adorable face. We initially went in today to have her iron checked. Shes been anemic every time she has blood work. We'll find out the results in a few days. We also talked about Ariana's gap in her teeth and about the possibility of clipping the skin between her lip and her gums. She decided that the best advice would be from a dentist. So I'll be making appointments soon. Ariana has had so many more problems than Alana has had health wise. I just hope thing get a little ea...

Rod has left now and we're back to having our home to our selves. It was sad for me to see him go because I had gotten so used to having him around. Ariana looked for him this morning and has had a glum look on her face all day. As for the "Bitter sweet"... Well, I got my studio back. It's taken me almost three days of work, but I've moved all my studio and craft supplies into the room and set up. I've still got some crafts to put away but other than that, I'm back in business. Not to mention the girls get their play room back. We've done away with my hunky old craft table and moved everything into the closet. There is an outlet right next to the door that I can plug my glue gun and heat sealer into and thats what gave me the idea. I'm really happy with the new set up because I can just close the closet door and not have to see it. On Saturday I tested out the new studio set up to be sure I had plenty of room for family shots. This vinyl backdrop i...

How much do you think I payed for all of this? Let me break it down for you so you can see how much the items are. Then I'll tell you how much I paid. 92~ Ball ornaments -$51.88 2~ Cars the Movie ornaments-$13.38 70~ Bows-$5.76 118 feet~ of Garland-$15.00 140 Christmas Cards- $37.00 2~Child size Santa hats- $5.00 138~ Sticker gift tags- $8.00 3~ Decorative accents- $9.00 4~ Bags of snow-$8.00 4~ Bill Nye Paper Making Kits $120.00 -------------------------------------------------- For a grand total of $273.02 OK.... Are you ready for this? This full cart load of Christmas Decor cost me... ....Oh the anticipation.... Drum roll Please..... ---$10--- Get this... Everything from Christmas is now 25 cents each. I went loco. That's right 40 items. I think this is the best deal outside of FREE I could have ever gotten.

Alana is definitely growing up. She doesn't have her baby face any more, but a more grown up look. Oh, how I wish they could stay little forever, even though she is at that rotten phase of life where she defies me and talks back. The silly things she does totally out weigh it. I love the outfits Alana choses to wear! Today was a TUTU, Pink winter stockings, and this lovely purple hooded shirt I got for $2.40 on clearance at Target. Not to mention her pink crocks with the Mickey Mouse giblet. **Note**I think this is Alana's signature pose. These last two posts she has done this same stance. Kind of funny

Alana has really proven to be a dreamer. If I had to compare her to any Disney character it would definitely be Alice in Wonderland. It helps that she looks like her too. Look at those eyes! I get lost in them all the time. I've been thinking about what she will be later in life a lot lately. So I thought I would ask her what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said very quickly... " Mommy, I want to be a Astronaut Princess." Well I guess that says it all. Dream on Alana... Dream on!

I've been very fortunate to be involved with the Space Center Lecture Series for a year now. Friday was a great lecture by Shuttle Astronaut- Dr. Tom Jones. Dr. Jones in front of a picture he took of Kamchatka volcano eruptions while aboard the ISS. I enjoyed the sections that he showed off his photos from space. Many of which have been published in his book "Planetology". This time we brought the girls along. Poor Chris! Since I was working he had to tend to the girls and try to pay attention too. Dr. Jones was really a pleasure to meet. He even autographed a poster for Alana.

Please... Love, Tina the Cat

Yesterday was Alana's first day as a Sunbeam! She has been excited all week, so when Sunday rolled around she was just about jumping out of her skin. After church, Sister White pulled me aside and told me that Alana was the most enthusiastic of all the kids. She even wore her crown the whole time, were the other kids took theirs off. She told me that when she welcomed all the new sunbeams she told them that whey were all big kids now. Alana responded by saying... "I'm not a big kid, I'm little!"...thus cracking everyone up. She had a really good time and can't wait for next Sunday.

Look at my little cutie! We bought this lolly pop for her while at Disney World and waited till now to give it to her. So we are on day three of munching on the sugary goodness and we aren't even half way done eating it. I guess we'll find out how many licks it takes.

My father in law, Gary, is not doing so well right now. Today he went in for a procedure to fix a rhythm problem in his heart. The two chambers were not in sync. They stopped his heart the first time to try to jump start it back to the same pace. It worked for a short time and then it went back. They tried again and it failed. So Gary is setting in recovery right now and is ok, but we are not sure what will happen next. I'm told that he will have to go to another Dr. to do more investigating into the problem. Please pray for Gary to get better.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to get rid of the two live oaks that are in our front yard. Well, Houston Garden Center is having a big 70% off sale this week and that helped me to make up my mind. I ran down and picked up two queen palms and some mulch. Here is what it looked like before. Alana was a big help today. After I pulled the tree down, she made sure it stayed down. Of course playing in the "GUMBO" (Texas Clay) was one of her favorite parts. Being the "GREEN" person I am , I couldn't kill a tree. Even though I thought they were ugly trees I decided to put them in the back yard to give them a fighting chance. Yeah... we finally have something in the back yard. Noni and her shovel. So here is the new look. What do you think? I still need more rocks and to put much in the other planters. Oh yeah... the two spikie plants between the palms are tops to pineapples that we potted in 2008.