The Traudt Family Blog

School, football, and family

2011-09-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

I really need to start taking more pictures. I have noticed how my picture taking has declined dramatically. Below is a picture of Rainey on her first day of school. Below that is a picture from Jacob's first football game last night where he made a touchdown!!! It was so awesome!! My battery had gone out on my camera right after I took this first picture so I wasn't able to take any other pictures, I'm sorry!

It has been a great week for Jacob, he had a homerun this past weekend, a touchdown last night and he turns 14 on Friday! Pretty good week I'd say.

I've also included pictures of my cousin and her baby boy, Tyler. They came and visited last week with my aunt. We had not met Tyler yet and he's almost two...it was fun to spend time with them.

We have just been keeping busy with work, school, gymnastics, football, baseball, bible studies, small groups and church!

Road Trip 2011

2011-08-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to apologize for not posting more pictures from Brian and Jacob's trip. Brian took all the pictures from his phone and it's a bit time consuming to transfer each one over one by one. He did take some good ones though, maybe I'll let him post those on his blog. :)

We just got back from a fun road trip to Nebraska! We left last Thursday morning, early, and drove straight to Kansas City to see Brian's Aunt Joan on the way. She made us a wonderful dinner, and Brian's 3 cousins (Dave, Tom and Kurt) came over along with 5 of the grandkids. Jacob loved hanging out with his cousins and Rainey was a bit overwhelmed with all the boys. I FORGOT to take any pictures, not sure what I was thinking, but I did get up at 4am that morning, so that's my excuse. Sorry I have no pictures from that night, but it was fun to see everyone and catch up.

On Friday, we got up and drove to Nebraska. Here are the kids (and our driver) in the car that morning.

And then we, of course, had to stop first to get a Runza! Rainey and Jacob had their first Runza's.
When we got there on Friday, Margaret had all of the stuff ready for Rainey to make her own stepping stone (which was very sweet). Here Rainey is creating her stone.

On Saturday, Margaret took us to the Farmer's Market in Lincoln. Here they are by the train right outside the market.

Rainey recently was given a bird book and she brought it with her to show Margaret. They enjoyed watching all the birds out Margaret's kitchen window. This is what I saw many times while we were there.

Then Margaret showed Rainey how to make a "Hollyhock Doll". She made quite a few.

Jacob got to drive the Corvette a few times while we were there too, here he is behind the wheel. He's a pro.

On Sunday after church we went out to Vern & Rita's house and the kids dug for potatoes and rode on (& drove) the tractor. It was a lot of fun. (That was my first time to dig for potatoes and ride on a tractor too! - what can I say.....I'm a city girl)

Here are the supervisors

Here is Brian pulling the tractor out and Jacob waiting for his turn to drive

And on the way back in, Jacob took over.

Rainey had her first ride on a tractor too.

We had a great time with Grandpa Miles and Rita. (Thanks for letting us come visit!)

When we got back to Margaret and John's we had a ladder ball tournament and the women won the first round. (Of course) :)

Then Jacob made a fire and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.

Then we went down to the creek (or "crick" if you will)

And then walked through the fields of beans. Margaret was showing Rainey how they grow.

We had a GREAT time in Nebraska. It was a fun family trip, but we left Jacob there to spend more time with Margaret and John and then go onto his other grandparents house to spend time with them. We missed him on our trip back.

Rainey LOVES to stay in a hotel and she hadn't stayed in one since last summer, so as a special treat Brian booked us a room in Dallas on our way back home, so we stopped and stayed there to break up the trip. Rainey was so excited, she loves everything about a hotel. Here she is in the lobby.

I'm looking forward to our next family road trip to Nebraska!

Thirty One

2011-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you have heard of Thirty One, but I am currently leading a Bible Study and one of the girls showed up with this cute bag that she carried her Bible in and I asked her where she got it. She said "Thirty One" and then she proceeded to tell me what it was because I'm certain from the look on my face she could tell I had never heard of it.

Well, I was intrigued. I went to their site and fell in love. I just decided to become a consultant! I think it will be a fun way to get together with friends and also make some extra money to help pay off our debt!

Check out my site and their fall catalog. Let me know if you ever want to order anything.

It's a great Christian company and it is based on Proverbs 31. It enables women to make extra money (many women make enough to supplement their previous income) so they can stay home with their kids.

Click here to go to my website and from there you can check out the catalog. They have cute things for you, for friends and family, kids, mothers-to-be, etc.

More Pictures

2011-07-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I've received a few (very few) more pictures from their trip. They went from Philadelphia, up to NYC and then to Buffalo, NY and they visited Niagra Falls. They are now back in Philadelphia for a couple of days and will head to West Palm Beach, FL. I sure do miss them!!

Sunday night in NYC, they went to Hillsong NYC (Like Brian and I did in June). This is a picture of part of the line outside to get in. It's crazy and awesome.

I think you know what this picture is.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll receive more! :)

10 Day Trip

2011-07-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Brian and Jacob left yesterday on a 10-day trip. I will miss them terribly, but I'm so glad they get this time together. Jacob is still at the age where he wants to do a trip like this with his dad, but barely. :) So this is a great time and we are blessed that they are able to do this.

Brian has to travel for work, but we were able to send Jacob with him because Brian has some free Southwest tickets, so it worked out great. Brian will have to do some work, but they will have plenty of time to see the cities they are visiting, go to some events and more importantly they will have a lot of uninterrupted, focused, time together. Something that is difficult to find when you are in the midst of busy lives.

So far, these are the only pictures they have sent me... :) I'll post more as I get them...

The last few months...

2011-06-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted any new pictures. Sorry about that! I've been busy, but I guess that's no excuse! Let me get you up to date. First of all, in May Rainey had her gymnastics performance night to end the semester. She is really enjoying gymnastics.

Here she is with her trophy after the performance

At the beginning of June, right after school was out, Jacob went on a trip with his best friend, Micah, to Florida and had a great time. Rainey went with her dad that first weekend and Brian had a work trip scheduled. So we planned a little vacation and just had to buy my plane ticket, which was nice. I went along to Philadelphia with Brian and then we took the train over to New York City and spent a few days. It was a lot of fun and a lot cooler than it was here in Texas!! Here are a few pics from that trip:

Making cheesesteaks in Philly at Pat's.

Brian after eating one. :)

You can't visit Philadelphia without seeing the Liberty Bell!

I just thought the mural above was really cool.

Chinatown in Philly.

And yes, those are frogs that you can purchase. Gross!! When we walked into this place and walked right by them, a few of them jumped and Brian and I both jumped back a few feet at the same time. On to NYC: This is Little Italy and this was my favorite part. We had a GREAT lunch and it was so fun to sit out on the patio and watch all the people.

Central Park is so pretty!

This is the double decker bus we went on for a tour of the city.

The trip was a lot of fun!

When we got back Rainey did VBS at our church, here she is with Caroline, our pastor's youngest daughter.

Jacob went from Florida straight to Memphis on a mission trip for a week, and then he came back and spent Father's Day with us. We went to Stubb's for the Gospel Brunch, which is our Father's Day tradition now. We all look forward to it every year!
Jacob left Monday with his mom to go to Angel Fire with his friends and all their mother's. He is having fun and getting to travel a lot this summer! Rainey left on Wednesday to go with her dad, they are going to the coast until next Tuesday. She is very excited. And Brian and I have a few days just to ourselves, so we are going to

Easter Boat Picnic

2011-04-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last year we started a new tradition. After church on Easter, we take the boat out with my parents and some good friends. We want to always welcome anyone that doesn't have family to celebrate with on Easter. This year our friends from church, Christina, Ron and Jen joined us. Jen's friend Barbara came with us too. It was a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day! We had a great picnic!

Our captain :)

Jen and Barbara

My parents

Christina and Rainey about to get in the very cold water!

Rainey was loving life getting to hang out with Jen all day! Jen leads the kid's worship at our church and Rainey absolutely loves her. Of course it was such a treat for Rainey to have her with us on the boat!

It was a great day and Jesus is alive! Hallelujah!!

Gymnastics

2011-04-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Rainey has gotten back into gymnastics this year. She started in a new class in January and she is really enjoying it...much more than a couple of years ago when she took a class. I think it's becuase she is older and can do more. Here is a video of her during one of her recent classes. She is in the light blue shorts.

Spring Break

2011-03-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

I just pulled up this blog and realized the last post I had was when it snowed! I had to change that quick because it is beautiful and sunny here in Texas right now. Spring has sprung and I'm enjoying every minute of it. Because I know that in about 2 weeks (slight exaggeration, but only slight) it will be in the triple digits. We have to enjoy Spring and Fall quickly around here...they move fast. You might miss them if you aren't paying attention.

Jessie came to visit us over her Spring Break and we loved having her. We hope she comes back often! Annie and the girls came over the weekend while Jessie was here and we had a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures from their visits and our Spring Break.

This picture (above) is at Seaworld. We all went on Monday of our Spring Break before Jessie left.

Tuesday I took another day off and Rainey and I spent the day together. This was taken downtown.

We visited the Capitol, the Museum of Art and Zilker Park. It was a fun day.

It Snowed!!

2011-02-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

We had a 50% - 60% chance of it snowing last night, so when Rainey and I said our prayers together before bed we asked God to please let it snow for us, and He did!! We were woken up by Austin ISD calling to tell us that school was closed for the day. When I got up, I looked outside and there was snow!! I know to many who read this blog that snow is no big deal...but it is of course to us Texans. It snowed last year (once) and it's very rare that we get snow two years in a row. Anyway...about 6:20 or so Brian, Rainey and I got in the car and headed out to see all the snow. We luckily had Brian to drive us around...if he had been out of town Rainey and I would've stayed home, I wasn't about to drive on the ice. Brian, being an experienced snow and ice driver drove us around town without a hitch. Here are some pictures I took:

This is when we first walked out this morning.

Brian was warming up the car

The Capital

The dogs loved it. Oscar is chasing Abby in this one.

Abby has loved eating the snow.

Here she is with a little of it still on her nose.

It is melting now...but it was fun while it lasted!

2010 Traudt Family Album

2011-01-13T06:26:00.000-08:00

I just completed our 2010 album and after I purchased it I saw the option of "sharing" my album on either Facebook or Blogger. I didn't really want to paste it on Facebook, but thought it might be pretty cool to post it here. A lot of the pictures you have already seen, but some you have not. Also, you may not be able to read the captions even if you choose to view it larger, but most of the pictures speak for themselves. Just click on the "Play" button in the post below this one. This was our year, enjoy!

2010 Album

2011-01-13T06:23:00.001-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Christmas

2010-12-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve we went over to my parents house and then to a party at the Cornelius', which we've done the past few years. It's a fun party with lots of my parents friends and lots of food! After that we came home and decided to open most of our presents with Jacob.

Brian and Abby were singing Christmas Carols together.

Then there was a little guitar playing.

This is the picture I took Christmas morning before anyone else was up. Sadie is on the right sleeping under the tree.

After we looked in our stockings, Brian gave Jacob a haircut.

This is before:

And after:

Rainey was able to come home early and we picked her up at 5pm on Christmas night.

We watched her open her gifts

And then that night we took the kids bowling and then to dinner.

December

2010-12-29T07:09:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind on pictures so this post may be a little long with lots of pictures. On the weekend of Dec. 11th, Rainey and I went to visit Annie, David, Paisley and Piper. It was our first time to see Piper. I had so much fun holding her and seeing her smile. She is so sweet!

She is such a cutie!

The girls had a lot of fun decorating cookies

This was after church, they had a lot of fun together.

We had a great visit and look forward to going back.

On December 15th we had my family over to our house for the "Morrow" Christmas Party. We only did gifts for the kids this year, which was nice. They had fun and we were off the hook. It was great to have everyone together at our new house.

Jack had already gone home so he missed out on this picture and Jake wasn't able to join us (we missed him!) but I thought this was a cute pic of the rest of the kids.

On Saturday, December 18th, we had our first Annual Traudt Christmas Party and it was a lot of fun. I did a horrible job of taking pictures (I put that down as something I need to do better of next year) but here are the pictures I did take.

This was before everyone got there, we were ready and waiting. (which is new for me)

This picture is as the party is winding down. We had a great time seeing everyone. We had some of our neighbors over too, so it was nice to meet them as well.

Brian in the NY Times!!!

2010-12-13T14:21:00.001-08:00

My sweet husband was featured in the NY Times on Sunday. Yes, he is big time. He is available for autographs.

Click below to go to the NY Times site for the full article, I pasted his portion below.

Sunday Times - "Gizmo's Come To Play at Winter Meetings"

At one booth, Brian Traudt explained his company’s innovation, which could improve the fan experience at stadiums, unless some people actually enjoy waiting in line for three innings for a cheeseburger. The product, Bypass Lane, is a kind of E-ZPass for concession stands that is administered through an application on a smartphone.

The user enters the stadium and confirms its location via GPS. Once the section, row and seat number are included, the application identifies all the concession stands and provides menus. The fan orders — and pays — from the phone. When the order is ready, the fan receives a text message to pick it up at a lane dedicated to Bypass Lane orders. The fan can skip the longer lines — though perhaps not the jealous glances of other fans.

Fans may also buy souvenirs, hats and jerseys with the application. Bypass Lane also has a feature called Last Call, which notifies patrons when beer sales are about to conclude.

“We really believe this is going to revolutionize the fan experience,” said Traudt, the director of venue operations for Bypass Lane. “Fans can spend more time watching the game in their seats instead of waiting in line all that time.”

Jacob Made the A-Team!!

2010-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Not the movie....the O'Henry 7th Grade Basketball A-team! Congratulations Jacob, we are so proud of you!!

As soon as the season starts I'll post some action shots of our star player!

Tree Lighting

2010-12-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

This will be the 5th Christmas that Rainey and I have spent in Austin and neither of us had ever been to the Zilker tree lighting. In the main park in downtown Austin each year they string over 3,000 lights over a Christmas tree frame anchored by one of the city's original moonlight towers. They light the tree on the first weekend in December. It was tonight at 6pm, so I picked Rainey up a little early from her Dad's and we headed over to the park. We got there in time to get a place inside the tree. I thought we would be standing on the outside watching them turn the lights on, but you actually get to stand within the frame of the tree. They had children's choir singing Christmas carols and a few of the city officials spoke to the crowd, including the mayor. I was most impressed with one of our city officials, (I believe they said he was with the police department) who had us join hands with the people next to us as he said a prayer. It was a beautiful prayer and reminded us all what this time of year is all about. Towards the end of the prayer he encouraged us to look around and notice those around us and help them when they need help. Today in church, the pastor spoke about not keeping our head down, but lifting our eyes so that we stop worrying only about ourselves and start seeing those that need our help. I think God is trying to tell me something..and I get it.

Here is a picture I took with my phone of what it looked like for us to be in the middle of the tree when they switched the lights on.

Thankfulness

2010-11-23T18:54:00.001-08:00

Rainey's class worked on a website called Wordle yesterday to list all the things they are thankful for. You can create these word "clouds" with words you type in and the size of the words depends on how many times you type that one word in the box. Then you can change the colors etc. I thought it was pretty cool. This is the one that she created when she came home from school yesterday. It is up on our fridge. I love it.

Here is the website if you are interested. www.wordle.net

Halloween and Other Happenings

2010-11-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been WAY too long since I've entered a post...but we've been just a little bit busy. I started a new job, Brian started a new job and he travels a lot, we sold our house and moved into a new one, and Rainey started a new school. Jacob had the least changes, however he's busy with school and two sports. We really went from 0-60 in about a month. It was crazy, but God is soooo good!!

Anyway...I'll take some pictures of our new house soon and post them. We are just renting for now, but we LOVE our new neighborhood. We live very close to Jacob and close into town, it's great. We do not have to drive far for much of anything. I get to walk Rainey to school, which is so much fun. I'm working from home, so I can pick her up from school and she does homework while I finish working.

She was a Candy Corn Witch for Halloween....she really just looked like a candy corn with a hat. We walked around the new neighborhood and trick-or-treated. It reminded me of when I was a kid. Tons of families and kids were walking around, it was a lot of fun. We then came and sat on our porch and handed out candy. It was great.

Here are some recent pictures:

Rainey on her first day at Bryker Woods.

The Pumpkin Patch

Candy Corn Witch

Halloween Painted Nails

The Stash

My 40th Birthday!

2010-09-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I turned 40 this week. 40. Ugh. I feel old. It just sounds old to say it. FOR-TEE. I like thirty-something so much better, but I guess I don't have a choice. :) Obviously I wasn't super thrilled to be turning 40, but Brian made it very special! He surprised me with a party this past Saturday night. He did a great job and invited a lot of people from different parts of my life. It was great to see everyone! He even reached out to some that didn't end up coming, but I was amazed at how many people he got in contact with! Thank you honey!

The party was at the Hotel San Jose. They have a really nice courtyard where you can sit and talk. It's one of my favorite places to go.

Here is a picture of Brian and I soon after we arrived at the party.

Jacob Is A Teenager!!

2010-09-19T18:36:00.001-07:00

Jacob's birthday was this past Thursday and he turned 13!! For his "party" he wanted to have a few of his closest friends over to spend the night. Jacob requested tortellinis, that is one of his favorite meals. So we made a big batch of tortellinis, caesar salad and garlic bread. They all seemed to enjoy it. Here they are about to dig into his cookie cake. They had a good time and I think they got a little sleep.

Here is Jacob with his friends...from left to right: Riley, Nick, Micah, and Sterling (and of course Brian in the background)

At some point during the party, Jacob came upstairs and I took this picture of he and Abby. I think the boys wore her out. They were playing keep away with her outside. She was tired, but woke up to take this cute picture!

Rainey's Front Tooth

2010-09-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Rainey FINALLY lost her tooth today. Well, actually the librarian pulled it. The librarian at her school is the resident tooth-puller. She finally let her do it today. She was so proud when I picked her up! They even gave her a little tooth necklace to keep it in.

First Day of School

2010-08-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here is Rainey on the first day of school before we left home and with her teacher, Mrs. Monk. Monday was her first day of 2nd grade. I can't believe it! Jacob was not with us for the first day of school morning, so I do not have a picture of him before school and then with his teacher. (wouldn't he have loved that if I would've dropped him off at school and then followed him in to take a picture with him and his Homeroom teacher.) :) I'm pretty sure 7th graders do not do things like that.

Rainey's Visits To Spicewood

2010-08-20T14:31:00.001-07:00

Rainey has been going to my parents house in Spicewood (just outside Austin) every week or two this summer for an overnight stay. She has had a lot of fun. They've gone swimming and gone for rides in the golf cart. They have also been visiting two puppies that live a couple of doors down. They are my parent's friends, Sue and Dick's puppies. Their pretty cute. Here they are posing with Rainey. Their names are Heidi and Lily.

Winding Down Summer

2010-08-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost time for school to start. I can't believe summer is almost over! It went fast, but we've had a lot of fun.

John and Margaret came and stayed with us for a week and we really enjoyed it. Margaret spent a lot of time with Rainey doing some fun things. She taught Rainey how to sew, worked on crafts, played games, and had a tea party. Rainey really enjoyed it all!

Here are a few pictures from their visit:

Here they are at the tea party with a vase full of magazine flowers that they made. They are drinking real tea too.

Margaret is patiently teaching Rainey to sew. Rainey really seems to like it. I think I'm going to have to brush up on my sewing skills!

Here is their finished sewing project. A cute quilt that Rainey designed. What a great project. I am very thankful to Margaret for spending this time with Rainey.

We visited a local farm one day and bought some okra and eggplant and grilled it, it was so good! Here is a picture of Rainey and Margaret at the farm.

My parents came over one night for dinner and they were able to spend some time visiting with Margaret and John. Here is a picture of them sitting around the dinner table.

Before Margaret and John left Rainey went with her dad for the weekend so we were able to spend some time just the four of us. We had a Scrabble tournament and played almost every night. I never won, but was proud to get into 2nd place only one time. Margaret was the champion. Margaret and I had some great talks and we visited a fun farmers market on Saturday (and enjoyed a ton of free food samples). I enjoyed the time with them and look forward to them coming back this weekend.

I wanted to add this cute picture of Rainey and Paisley at Jacob's last baseball game. I left it off of my last post, but wanted to include it because I think it is so cute. They are wearing their red to support the team.

A Great Way To End The Season!

2010-07-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

Well...Jacob's baseball season is over, but not without an awesome catch that he made at the end of their last game last Sunday night. Here is a picture of it the catch. I wish I could claim the picture, but I didn't take it. A sister of one of his teammates took it. She has one of those fancy cameras. What a shot! So...this is how Jacob ended his season...way to go Jacob. They lost on Sunday night, but they gave these tournaments a good run and I know they had fun. We enjoyed watching the games and we were able to see some new towns in East Texas and visit family all at the same time. Not a bad deal.

Now It's On To State!

2010-07-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

Jacob's team won Sectionals last night in the final game! 6-5. It was a great game! They spent the last 5 days in Crockett, TX and now it's on to Tyler, TX this Saturday. Brian went up on Saturday and came home late on Monday night. Rainey and I went back up with him for the last two games, it was fun to watch! The boys are so excited (as they should be)!

Here are the champs right after the game!

And with the Dads..

Jacob and Rainey after the game (with a little shout out to Big Red)

Proud Papa

Here we are before the game (well I'm taking the picture). We were hanging out in the hotel lobby. There was a lot of hanging out and trying to kill time before the game.

On a side note...during the game I turned around and this is what I could see. I had to take a picture of it.

Updates

2010-07-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Jacob's team played their first game in the Sectionals last night and won! 6-5. They play their next game tonight at 8pm. Stay tuned...

I took this picture after Jacob's team won the Divisional Championship last Sunday.

I also wanted to post a few pics from Annie, David and Paisley's visit last week. I didn't take many pictures at all, but here are the few I did take.

The girls put on a few "shows" for us. Paisley is a good singer, and a great storyteller!!

Brian was teaching Paisley how to play the guitar.

Hanging out at the baseball game together. There were a few baseball games during their visit. :)

Jacob Made the News!

2010-07-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

With his new mohawk and all! :) Check it out...click the link below to watch the segment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XwIOD1i_7I

District Champs!

2010-07-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Jacob's All-Star team won the District Championship and they are headed to Crockett, TX this next weekend for the Sectionals. Here is a pic of the team after winning the championship game! The game ended with Jacob striking players out, he wrapped up the win!

Annie, David and Paisley were in town this past weekend and were able to see a few of Jacob's winning games! I'll post some pictures from their visit in the next post.

Vacation Bible School

2010-06-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

This was the 3rd year for Rainey to participate in VBS at our church, but the 1st time I volunteered. I was a "shepherd" which means I had a group of kids that I had to stay with the entire day and get them everywhere they needed to be. I checked them in, checked them out and carried their stuff, kept them together, etc. I had Rainey in my group and a total of 7 kids. It was fun (but tiring). Here are a few pics from the week:

We only had one boy in our group...so he felt he had to represent.

Here they are in the craft tent.

This is towards the end of the day..

This was crazy hair day, yes there is pink in their hair.

Last day

Jacob's Mission Trip

2010-06-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

I mentioned Jacob's mission trip in the post below. He went with the church he and his mom go to, Austin Stone. They joined together with a group called SOS (Service Over Self) in Memphis, TN. http://www.sosmemphis.org/ He left REALLY early on Sunday, June 6th and they stayed there all week, returning on Saturday night, the 12th. SOS sends volunteers out to areas of Memphis that are the poorest and need the most help. They do repairs on houses for people that cannot afford it. Mainly roof repair. Jacob had a great time and God did some amazing things in him and through him that week. We are so proud of him and I'm so glad he was able to have that experience. Here is a picture of he and his friend Micah on the job. A couple of hard workers!

Savannah

2010-06-22T04:40:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind on my posts again, sorry about that. Brian and I recently went to Savannah, GA. Both of the kids were on trips themselves (Rainey was at the beach with her dad and Jacob was on a very cool mission trip in Memphis). Brian had to go to Savannah for work, so I decided to tag along. He had a conference to attend, so while he did that I saw the sites. Savannah is a very historic city with some beautiful old buildings. It is also the home of Paula Deen's restaurant (The Lady and Sons), which of course I had to try out. It was very good, not low fat, but very good food.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

This is a pic of the crazy spanish moss they have there, it is hanging from all the trees and looks so cool. This tree is actually in one of the first cemeteries. Some of the headstones were so old the words had sort of worn off. They had a 700 people buried there that were killed by a yellow fever epidemic a couple of hundred years ago.

This is one of the many squares that are throughout downtown. Most of them are just about one block, some are more than one, but they are so pretty.

This is the largest church I saw while I was there. There are many old beautiful churches in Savannah, but this was the only one I was able to go inside of.

This is the inside, it was a beautiful church. Incredibly ornate.

This bridge goes over the Savannah River which separates Georgia and South Carolina.

This lighthouse is on Tybee Island, only about 15-20 minutes from Savannah. I climbed all the way up to the top (and I'm not a big fan of heights or a large amount of stairs).

This is the view from the top (and it's also proof that I did, indeed, climb to the top)

This is the house where the founder of Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low, was born.

This is a tanker that we saw pass by while we were eating dinner at a restaurant on top of a hotel. This picture doesn't even do it justice, it was massive. The bridge pictured above was built to allow 98% of the worlds ships to pass underneath it. Those other 2% must be HUGE. We learned while we were there that Savannah is the 4th largest port in the US. I had no idea.

Catching Up

2010-06-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I posted, so this will probably be a long post with lots of pictures. It got busy there at the end of school and beginning of summer, and then I went on vacation (which I'll update you on in the next post) so I got a little behind. But I'm back!

Here is what has been going on the past few weeks:

Jacob finished up his regular season baseball (and is now about to start All-Stars)

Rainey has been doing a lot of swimming at the neighbors house (this pic is from a pool party)

Rainey's class made plates with Texas themes. Her plate is a monarch butterfly, which is the state insect (I did not know that). She presented it to me at the "Student-Led Conference". The kids get to show their parents all that they have accomplished during the school year. It's pretty cute.

Then they had "Field Day" at Rainey's school. Just an excuse for the kids to play games and get wet. Here they are before going outside.

And here is her entire class..

Here she is enjoying the slide...

This is the unwelcome tarantula that decided to come visit us. Ugh.

Rainey had her end of school party last Thursday. I volunteered to help out (and Jacob came with me since he was out of school already)

They played games..

and Jacob joined in the fun..

We had to say goodbye to Rainey that day because after school she was going with her Dad for a week, they went to the beach. I miss her! But I'll actually get to see her tomorrow!

Then Jacob participated in a Triathalon last Friday. I was so impressed! I could never do that and he came in 5th place!! Way to go Jacob!! Here is a picture of he and his friend Nick before it started... (it's early and they aren't quite awake)

Here they are after the race..

Here is Jacob crossing the finish line...he did so awesome!! We were so proud!!

Bridge to Brownies

2010-05-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

Rainey is now a Brownie! Her troop had their bridging ceremony this past Monday and the girls "bridged" from Daisy's to Brownies. They created a fake "bridge" and the girls walked across and got their new badges and pins. They also sang a cute song. Rainey is very excited, she keeps asking me when we are going to go and buy her new Brownie vest. Here are some pics from the ceremony.

Mother's Day

2010-05-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

I had a very nice and relaxing Mother's Day thanks to my sweet husband. We went to church, then lunch with my cousin Kelly, her husband Earl, and her son Tanner. We went to Hula Hut and had a good lunch. They headed back to Houston after lunch and the three of us (Rainey, Brian and I) went to the Four Seasons to have some yummy chocolate cake! Then Brian took us to the Botanical Gardens. I've never been there but we pass it all the time. It was really pretty and fun to walk around. Here are some pictures at the garden.

Sunday Outing

2010-05-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

Two Sunday's ago we went to the Reckless Kelly Celebrity Softball game at the Dell Diamond (thanks to our friend JJ!). It was fun to watch and then afterwards they had a concert with a bunch of different bands and singers and free food. It was a beautiful day and we sat out on the grass and listened to the music. It was a fun day! Here is a pic I took of the kids.

Abby

2010-05-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

We decided to name our puppy Abby. She is so sweet and is really a good puppy overall. She does try to chew and eat just about anything, but we are trying to keep things off the floor and we've bought her plenty of toys to chew on. She loves to snuggle and be held. She also is having a blast chasing our cat and tormenting her. Sadie isn't having as much fun. Abby and Oscar play for hours, it's good for both of them (and me). I don't have to entertain her or find toys for her to play with every minute. She has Oscar as a big toy.

Here is a pic of her and Oscar, this is pretty much what they look like all day long:

New Addition To The Traudt Family!

2010-04-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

We got a new puppy! We really hadn't planned on it.,,.we were going to wait awhile....but we took the kids to the animal shelter last week just for fun (we do this often just to see what dogs are available). Well...we fell in love. We tried to put our names in for this one particular dog in cage 129, but they were not taking anymore applications. They only take two per dog at a time. So we called and visited daily. We found out a few days later that the first person on the list backed out, so we were able to be the backup application. We persisted. We found out the next in line only had until Monday night at 7pm to let the shelter know if they would take this dog. Rainey and I were there at 6:45 and they still had not heard from them, but they could not release the puppy until Tuesday morning. I was there when they opened and I got her!! This couple was standing behind me and they were trying to get on the list for her too..I felt bad but they were very nice and told me congratulations.

Here she is in my car on the way home Tuesday morning. There will be many more pictures to come, don't worry! We have not named her yet, if you can think of any cool names for her please let us know!!

Bluebonnets

2010-04-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

The bluebonnets are beautiful right now in Austin. They are all over the sides of the roads. The other day I took Jacob and Rainey to a spot near our house with a nice field of them to take some pictures. Here they are:

Jacob took this cool picture, he's quite the photographer

Easter Weekend

2010-04-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend! On Friday night we attended a Good Friday worship service that was held at the Long Center near downtown. Our church was one of 5 churches that participated. Our worship band was there and performed and our pastor spoke. It was great. The music was inspirational and so were the talks. The name of the event was "For The City", so the theme was for us, as Christians, to get out in our community and serve. We need to be good examples. We really enjoyed it and will be working on serving more! Saturday Brian, Jacob and I worked in the yard for about 6 hours! Jacob bagged 14 bags of leaves, Brian cut down a few trees and hauled all the limbs, etc. across our yard and down by the creek and I planted a ton of plants. It was a beautiful day and now our yard looks ready for Spring. On Easter we went to church and we brought our friend Travis and my parents met us there. After church we all came back to our house and changed, packed up and took the boat out for a picnic. It was so much fun! What a great way to spend Easter!! Here are some pictures from the day.

My dad relaxing on the boat.

My mom and I enjoying the ride.

Jacob and Travis.

Jacob getting some "air" on the wakeboard.

Here is a video of Jacob going from wake to wake on the wakeboard!

Our Weekend

2010-03-28T16:57:00.001-07:00

Last night Jacob had the best game ever! First of all, let me say that at about 4:15 he called Brian and said he had been throwing up and did not feel good. His game was at 7. We thought he would not be able to play. However, about an hour or so later he called and said he felt fine and that he would playing, and boy did he play.

He had TWO home runs.!! Yes, two. I've always seemed to miss the games where he has hit a home run, but last night made up for that. It was awesome!! My parents went with us last night to their first game and they said they really appreciated him hitting those home runs especially for them. :)

He also had quite a few runs batted in and struck out a bunch of kids while he was pitching. Overall, he had a GREAT game and they of course won 7-4. It was a lot of fun. I do not have any pictures of him in action....I will work on that and post some from one of the upcoming games.

We are having gorgeous weather here and we are trying to enjoy every minute of it!! (before the heat of summer comes) Rainey has done a ton of playing outside this weekend and I did some gardening. Brian spent a lot of time today with the Men's Group at church recruiting new members. They are grilling dinner tonight for the late service. So he's been working, but having fun and still getting to enjoy the weather.

Spring Break

2010-03-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

This past week was Spring Break for the kids. We luckily had a lot of pretty weather (with a few days that were cold and/or rainy). Today started out with a ton of rain and it is now cloudy, windy and 45 degrees. Yesterday was sunny and 75. Oh, the fun of Spring weather. This week we did a lot of park visits, as well as playdates, sleepovers, watching movies and eating ice cream. We also listened to some live music at SXSW which is going on right now. Brian loves going to listen to music at SXSW so we walk along the streets downtown, enjoy the weather and listen to some good bands. Today Brian and Jacob are out there in the cold weather, hopefully staying warm and listening to bands indoors. Here are a few pics from the past week:

This is at the Kite Festival and Rainey was making Oscar look like SuperDog with a "cape" (I just noticed Oscars growl face - I guess he was growling at another dog, maybe he felt tougher with the cape) This is at a park near our house, it goes down to an inlet from the lake and they put in sand and created a "beach". The kids had a blast.

This was just after they finished some Amy's ice cream.

They definitely got their sugar quota in over Spring Break. Here is Rainey about to dig into a huge chocolate cupcake.

We had a little picnic at the park with some friends.

After we ate they rode these wiggly scooter things, they had so much fun! Here is Jacob and Lily racing.

And here is a video of them going down the sidewalk:

Talent Show

2010-03-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

Rainey was in her first talent show last Friday night. Last year a group of her friends did a dance routine to the song "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" and that night she told me she wanted to be in the talent show the next year (this year) and let me tell you...she did not stop talking about it ALL year. :) She was so excited once they started practicing a few months ago.

Here are some pictures of that night, they looked so cute! They danced to "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and they were dressed like little baseball players. We had some technical difficulties (and operator errors) with both the videoing and picture taking that night. So, these pictures are from other mothers that were nice enough to share them with me. I have no video of the performance, but I do have a video at the bottom of them practicing part of the routine. Rainey did great and didn't have to look around, she knew the dance. I was proud of her. Now that it is over, guess what she is talking about...?? Next year. :)

Snow!!!!

2010-02-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know a lot of you that read this blog get a lot of snow, probably sometimes more than you ever wanted...but we RARELY get it here in Texas. In fact, I think I've only seen it snow in Texas maybe 5-6 times my entire life (that's not much in nearly 40 years). Here are some pictures and a few videos of the snow. As you can see from the last video Rainey was just a wee bit excited.

Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Birthday!!

2010-02-13T10:17:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow! I hope you all have a great day and get to spend it with those you love.

Also,Happy Birthday John! We hope you have a great birthday today and we wish we could be there with you to celebrate!!

Happy Birthday Tanner too!

February Already?

2010-02-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's already February, but what a great year it's already turning out to be!

This week Rainey has 3 days off of school. Today she played with our neighbor Lily and then had a playdate with a girl from her class named Amanda. She is now watching PBS kids and relaxing.

Tomorrow we have two more playdates set up and then Wednesday is going to be an errand day and then we will go together to pick up Jacob from school and sell some more Girl Scout cookies! We've sold a bunch so far (and we've bought quite a few for ourselves). It's just too tempting when you have an outside fridge filled with all kinds of Girl Scout cookies.

Jacob is doing great in basketball this season, he carries the team in points. It's fun to watch. He has a game every Saturday.

On Thursday I have my first meeting with a church counselor to discuss helping them with counseling. I'm working with my church already, but this will be my first meeting outside of my church. I also already have one referral on the way, so I should be hearing from the client soon. I'm very excited to get started!

Brian had a great first week although he was VERY tired each day. Training all day is so mentally exhausting. He learned a lot and this week is more about planning. He is very ready to get started with his sales team and get to selling! We rearranged his office this weekend and it looks good. I am going to be looking for some "accessories" for him. i.e plants, pictures, etc. However, for now it looks good. He has a really nice size office and one wall is windows.

That's about it around here...it's cold again! We are ready for spring, but I bet it will get here fast since time seems to be flying lately!

Great Start to 2010

2010-01-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

Brian has a new job and he started on Monday! We are so excited and feel so blessed by God. He is the Sales Director for a company by the name of Continuum. They sell aviation software (don't ask me much more than that, I'm not really sure all what it does). He had a good first day on the job and was ready to get back there today. I'm so happy for him and proud of him. He worked really hard and found what I think is a great job for him.

I have finished my classes and now have a Certification in Biblical Counseling. I'm working with our church and will hopefully have some clients soon. I'm also contacting some local churches and trying to establish relationships there so that I can help more people.

It's going to be a great year! We are so thankful that it has started off this way and we look forward to see where God leads us next! :)

Roller Skating Party

2010-01-19T12:20:00.000-08:00

It was time once again for the annual roller skating party for the Girl Scouts in our area. It was on Sunday evening (because she had a holiday from school yesterday). It was so much fun, I'm not sure if I had more fun or if she did, it's a toss up. It was just as fun as last year. Here are some pics: And here is a video I took of Rainey and Lily skating, I'm skating in front of them turning around taking the video because I do not know how to skate backwards. It didn't go so well, I fell. You can hear me start to fall at the end of this video and then the camera quickly goes off the girls and up to the ceiling. I was laughing so hard. I didn't get too hurt, just a nice bruise now on my left knee. It was worth it.

It's COLD in Texas!

2010-01-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know those of you who are in Nebraska or Minnesota are laughing right now, but this is why I live in Texas....to avoid cold weather!! It got down in the teens over the weekend, and it hasn't been this cold here since 1976! They said it was 10 degrees at the airport two nights ago. That is cold anywhere, but especially cold for us wimps here in Texas!

Here is a picture of our pond...we hope the fish are huddling together and keeping warm!!

You can see our orange fish in the bottom of the pond if you look close to this last picture.

It's supposed to be warmer this week, I sure hope so. I don't have enough warm clothes to keep wearing daily. I have to keep doing wash, but then it's so cold in the garage I don't want to. :)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

I've gotten behind again...I meant to post one more time before Christmas, but that did not happen. Anyway, we had a great Christmas break with the kids. Rainey was with us the week before Christmas and Jacob was with us the week after Christmas. It was a nice, fairly quiet, holiday. We spent some good quality time together enjoying the nice weather, reading, building lots of fires, cooking, watching lots of movies and resting. We are ready to get back into our routines. Rainey went back to school today and Jacob goes back tomorrow.

Here are a few pics from Christmas...

This is Rainey and a few of her good friends at their class party the Friday before Christmas break.

Here is Rainey rock climbing at her friend Isabella's b-day party over the break.

Here they are with their faces painted and playing video games.

Brian and Rainey at the park, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Rainey helping bake cookies. We took some to a few neighbors and the fire station near our neighborhood. We also kept a bunch and ate too many!

Christmas Eve at Nanna & Poppy's house

Here is my dad drawing a picture of Rainey. (He's very good)

Rainey on Christmas morning with her new puppet

Jacob opening his presents on the day after Christmas

Rainey went back to school today and wore a shirt that was one of her Christmas presents, and her best friend Lily showed up at school today in the same exact shirt.

What We've Been Doing Lately....

2009-12-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going on here, but I haven't been posting about it! I will try to get you caught up on what we've been doing.

First of all, Rainey had a Gingerbread Party the first Saturday in December. Here is a picture of her creation.

The next day she had a Santa party at a friends house. Here she is with Santa.

We have a little cut through that goes from our neighborhood to the neighborhood next to us (which is where Rainey's school is). Those of you who have stayed with us know what cut through I'm talking about. Anyway...last year the families on our street decided to decorate it for Christmas. This year we had a little party beforehand and went out together to decorate. The kids love it! Luckily both Jacob and Rainey were with us. Here are some pictures from that night.

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids out on a Sunday afternoon to take our Christmas card pics, they were great sports! Here are a few that we didn't use, but are still cute.

And last night we had the Christmas Party with my family at my cousin's house. We had a good time! We do what is called a Chinese gift exchange where you draw numbers to determine who opens a present first, second, third etc. And you can take other's gifts (that have opened a present before you) or open a new one. It's pretty fun.

Lastly, there is a house in the neighborhood next to ours and their light (and music) display is pretty amazing. Here is a video of it.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

We had a great time this past week with Annie, David and Paisley. Rainey was with us until Wednesday afternoon and she and Paisley played non-stop. I think Paisley was a little sad when she left, but she did great and I think still had some fun with the rest of us.

Annie brought her bread machine and made us homemade cinnamon rolls, french bread and crescent rolls. They were all so good! She also was giving me all kinds of money saving tips and she brought us a ton of stuff that she received free with purchases, all kinds of toiletries and candles, etc. Thank you Annie!

I, for one, definitely ate way too much! But hey, isn't that what you are supposed to do on Thanksgiving?

Here are a few pics

Rainey's Birthday Party

2009-11-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I think that will be the last time I let Rainey invite 15 friends to a birthday party! Whew! It was a bit stressful, but they all had a lot of fun. I decided to let her invite a bunch of her friends since we were having it at the park instead of places like Build-A-Bear, Libby Lu, or Toys R Us where we've had them in the past. You have to pay for each individual girl at those places and it can add up quick.

The girls played on the playground together for awhile and then played a game and worked on some crafts that Rainey and I came up with. I also made cupcakes beforehand and let them decorate them themselves with all sorts of toppings (or I should say all forms of sugar!)

They had a lot of fun, but I did not take a ton of pictures. I was too busy handing out craft supplies or cleaning up messes. :) So here are a few I took.

Rainey says that next year she wants to have a slumber party with only 3 friends. Right now that sounds good! When we are up until 1am with giggling little girls it may not sound like such a good idea. :)

Two Pics of Jacob Today

2009-11-07T18:29:00.001-08:00

Today we had nothing scheduled or planned, no games, no parties, nothing. It was a nice day to relax and get a few things done.

Here is a pic of Jacob and Sadie relaxing together.

And I had to post this picture because it's not too often you see Jacob in any Nebraska gear these days. I wanted to have proof.

Birthdays and Losing Teeth

2009-11-07T18:10:00.001-08:00

This week we celebrated Brian's birthday and Rainey's birthday! One of them is 37 and the other is 7.

On Tuesday night we were celebrating Brian's birthday and eating the cookie cake, when all of the sudden Rainey looked at me and told me to come with her to the bathroom. She had a funny look on her face, we get to the bathroom, she opens her mouth and her (very) loose tooth was bleeding and ready to pull. As I was telling her it looked ready to pull, she just reached in and pulled it out. I don't think I've ever seen her that excited. She was dancing all around the living room. She was so proud that she lost her first tooth. She is sort of late, most of her friends have already lost a few teeth. She has also been a little hesitatnt becaues she did not know if it was going to hurt or not. Now she knows it doesn't.

Here is a picture of Brian and Rainey right after the tooth pulling.

Brian and Jacob (after no tooth pulling)

The tooth fairy came and left a $2 bill along with a letter.

October

2009-11-03T05:57:00.000-08:00

Well, October has come and gone. Man, this year is going so fast! Is that because I'm older? Ugh.

Here is a picture of our jack-o-lantern. Jacob carved this masterpiece and he did such a great job!

And here is Rainey's classroom after their Halloween party. We carved pumpkins. They LOVED it. I was there to help out and wondered again how 1st grade teachers do it! :)

And I unfortunately do not have any pics of the kids in their costumes. Jacob was "Bubble Boy" and was wrapped in bubble wrap and Rainey was an angel. Jacob went trick or treating with his mom and friends, and Rainey was in San Antonio with her Dad. So we did not see them dressed up. I'll work on that for next year.

The Buck in our Backyard

2009-10-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

This buck has been walking around our house now for a few days. One day I saw him chasing a doe. You can guess why, I'm sure. It's that time of year. He has been prancing around our yard looking very tough. I sure do not want to get too close. I told Rainey yesterday to come inside if she is outside and he comes in our yard. I told her it is mating season. She said.."Oh, so he is looking for a wife?" Yes, I said. She continued with "and he needs to look really tough?". Yes, that is exactly right. Nothing gets past her.

Garage Sale and Open House

2009-10-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend this weekend! We had a garage sale on Saturday morning and an Open House yesterday afternoon. The garage sale went well, we sold over $500, so that was good. Jacob got up with me and helped me get everything out onto the driveway. We got up early, when it was still dark. We had our first customer at 8am and she was our biggest customer all day. We definitely had quality customers, not quantity...but hey, that works too! Our neighborhood doesn't get a ton of traffic, so that didn't help. And we had a bit of sign sabotage. But I did run an ad in the paper and listed it on craiglist, so that seemed to help. I think I'm gonig to work on a Garage Sale Tip list to put on my website.

Right at the end of the garage sale (before we had cleaned up) a realtor called and wanted to show the house in about 3 hours. Oh my. The house wasn't yet cleaned up because I was busy with the garage sale, and I wanted to super clean it for the Open House we were having on Sunday. I asked her if they could come to the Open House, and she said no. This was the only time. So we cleaned up in a hurry...within about 30 minutes you couldn't tell we had even had a garage sale, and the guys helped me clean up the inside as quick as possible. We made it in time, and left to have dinner while they showed the house.

Sunday it was easier to clean since we did a quick clean on Saturday. The Open House did not get a ton of traffic, but we had two different people that seem very interested. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Please pray for us that it sells soon!

I'll keep you udpated....

Wires, and Cords, and Plugs, Oh My!

2009-10-14T15:26:00.000-07:00

I know it may look like we are planning to open a Radio Shack, but I assure you we are not. What you see below is something that has been bugging me for a long time. I referred to it as "the box". Inside it were cords Brian had been accumulating for....well, let's just say for too long. When I moved into this house, I pretty much organized every cabinet, closet, and corner....except for this box. I was scared.

When I would open it and peer in, all I could see was a massive amount of cords all intertwined. I kept hoping Brian would just decide we could chunk the entire box. :) But that didn't happen. So, I faced "the box" today. I dumped it on the floor and went through it and pulled out every single cord, plug and wire. It was time consuming, but I'm so happy to have that box cleaned out!

I'm having a garage sale on Saturday, so I wanted to see if we could sell any of the cords in the garage sale, and also just get that big box out of the back of one of our closets!

Before

After
If you are in need of any type of cord imaginable, please let me know. I'm sure we have it. :)

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-12T04:41:00.000-07:00

Rainey and I went to a pumpkin patch yesterday to pick out our pumpkin for this year's jack-o-lantern. It was raining, but we still had fun. Rainey loves going to the pumpkin patch. Here she is among the pumpkins. We'll post a picture of our pumpkin once we carve it.

Good Sign?

2009-10-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

We put our house back up for sale yesterday, and the day before that I got this fortune in my fortune cookie at lunch. Do you think this is a good sign?

Funny Video

2009-09-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I thought it was pretty funny...

State Fair

2009-09-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Brian, Rainey and I took a quick day trip to the State Fair. Rainey and I had never been. It was a lot of fun. I was a little nervous about the big ferris wheel, it is 210 feet tall, and I'm a little scared of heights. It was fine though, because luckily it had a cage all the way around. I just tried not to think much about it. It didn't help much when the people that were with us in the little car said..."what if this thing just dropped right now?"...when we were on the very top. I didn't need to hear that. But I made it through two times around. We didn't get any of the crazy fried stuff, but we did get a funnel cake. Those are my favorite! I can't go to any type of festival or fair and not get a funnel cake. It's like the movies, I can't go to a movie in the theater without getting popcorn. Some things just go together. They did have some crazy treats, that we saw, but did not try. Here are a few: fried butter (yes, fried butter), chicken fried bacon, fried pecan pie, and fried peach cobbler. I think they just think of things they can fry and how they can make it even more fattening. Here are a few pics from our day: Here we are on the ferris wheel, I made sure there was proof that I rode it. They had a really large petting zoo area that was actually pretty clean and well maintained. There were some interesting and very cute animals. Here are a few of them.. This baby giraffe was so cute, he just sat there the entire time looking at everyone. And they had a ton of goats and baby goats. The baby goats are so cute! I don't remember what this animal was called, but it as 4 horns! I've never seen anything like this. And these baby pigs were so cute, I don't think I've ever seen this before, in person: And here is one of the alpacas, they are so funny looking....

I like this sign...just as a reminder It was a great day We also watched the dog show, here is a video from it.

Cool Pic

2009-09-23T07:30:00.001-07:00

I love this picture, so I had to post it. I took this the other day at Jacob's football game. Brian was standing at the top of the bleachers, and I was sitting down. I think it turned out really good.

Football Season

2009-09-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

Well, football season is in full swing for Jacob (and of course everyone else). Jacob's team, the Corsairs, won their game this past Saturday! Jacob is doing really good this year. Here is a picture of Jacob and his best friend Nick. Jacob is #90 and Nick is #98.

The Best Birthday

2009-09-22T07:11:00.001-07:00

I had the best birthday yesterday!! It started with sweet cards from Brian, Jacob, Rainey and even Oscar along with a perfume set (which was perfect b/c I just ran out of the perfume they gave me last year - now I don't have to stink). Then Brian came back home after taking Jacob to school and picked me up. He took me to get breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, then to the nail place to get my nails done...and then, to a massage appointment!! I recently hurt my shoulder in a biking accident (fell over b/c my shoelaces were stuck around the pedal), so this massage was perfect! It felt so good and she really was able to help my shoulder. Ahhh...I was so relaxed. He then picked me up and took me to a great lunch and we were able to sit outside. What a perfect day! I even got to take a nap, and the he and Rainey took me dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and I had a big piece of chocolate cake for dessert. Did I mention it was a great day!!

Thank you honey for making my birthday so special!!

Jacob's 12th Birthday!

2009-09-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

Well, Jacob is now 12. This is his last year as a kid, next year he will be a teenager. A teenager. Are we ready for this? :)

We celebrated his birthday last night, with gifts, brownies and his favorite ice cream from a placed called, Teo. Here are some pics..

He was having fun with the candles...wishing he was turning 21. Ha! Don't rush it Jacob...enjoy being young! It will go fast!!

Raging Turkey Creek

2009-09-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

I took this video this past weekend. We FINALLY had some rain...well, actually a lot of it. Some of you have seen the creek behind our house, which is usually bone dry.....well, take a look...

A Hint of Fall.....

2009-09-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

The past few days it has been raining here (FINALLY!) and the temperatures have been in the 70's and 80's, which has been such a nice break from the heat. We had over 65 days with 3 digit heat this summer. It was the hottest summer I can remember and I've lived in Texas most of my life. It was a HOT one!

I love Fall, it is my favorite time of year. In Texas we do not have as much of the color changes with the trees, but the weather is perfect. It is such a nice break from summer and I know it will be awhile until it gets really hot again. And Fall means the holidays are coming and that is always a fun time with friends and family.

This Fall is going to be busy and exciting for Brian and I. Brian is working very hard on his new business and he's loving it. I'm so happy for him! And I am studying away, learning more and more about Christian Counseling. I just met with our church counselor this week to give her a status update on my classes. I will have the initial round finished by the end of November, and that will allow me to get my certification from AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors) and the church will sign off on my certificate and hopefully be able to start sending me clients in January. I will then continue to work towards getting additional certifications. I'm so excited to get started. These classes are great and I'm learning so much about other people, but also about myself. I'm enjoying the journey. I'm also going to be co-leading a Bible study this fall, and leading one on my own in January. I can't wait.

I will continue to do the organizing on the side, although it has been very slow. Unfortunately people are cutting back, and hiring an organizer is definitely a luxury item. I will continue offering those services until the counseling takes most of my time.

I recently bought a new website...with my name as the address. I wanted a site where I could write about anything I wanted to and provide inspiration. I wanted a place my clients, friends, family, and Bible Study groups could go and get some encouragement and inspiration on a lot of different topics. I did not want to create that on this site because this is very personal with what our family is doing and it includes pictures etc. So this blog will stay as is, for family and friends. My website will be more for the public. If you want to check it out....here is the link:

http://www.michelletraudt.com/

I will continue updating my Creating Peace blog with organization specific posts throughout the rest of the year, but I plan on incorporating posts about simplifying on my public website.

I'm excited about all the things God has done, and is doing in our lives this year. As I type this Brian is at the first men's retreat that our church has ever hosted. I hope he is having a great time and I can't wait to hear about it. They asked him to be one of the leaders of the small groups at this retreat, since they've also asked him to be a leader for the Fall Men's Bible Study this fall. I'm so proud of him, and I have been telling him that he should be in leadership roles, he's great at it.

Jacob had is first football game last Saturday. They did not win, but Jacob did great! He made some great tackles, and he really got in there and played hard.

Rainey is doing great and playing a lot of piano lately. I want to find a teacher for her sometime this fall. We are also trying to figure out what other activity she will want to take part in. She is doing Daisy Scouts again this year and they will be meeting more than last year, but I also want her to do something active. We are working on figuring that out this month.

Well, that's about all the updates I have on us right now. I'll be posting some pictures soon...and we have some birthdays coming up, so we'll be having fun and keeping busy. And we'll be enjoying the beginning of Fall.....

***I can't believe 9-11-01 was 8 years ago today, how time has flown, but we'll never forget what happened and all the people that were affected. I prayed for them today as they are reminded of that day. I asked God to comfort their hearts.

First Day of School

2009-08-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is officially over today. We had a great summer, but we are still dealing with the heat, and looking forward to fall! We had both kids this weekend and John, Brian's dad, came and visited us, which was fun. It was a nice way to end the summer. To celebrate their last night of summer we took them out to dinner. We had a fun night just the four of us, and this morning it was back to getting up early and getting ready for school.

I'm happy to report that they both had a great day today and the first day went well. Here they are this morning before leaving for school.

Look at that big middle schooler!

This is Rainey right outside her new classroom. They have desks this year. It's big time.

The Last Week of Summer

2009-08-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Last week was the last week of summer for the kids. We had Jacob with us for most of the week, and on Tuesday the three of us went to the Blue Bell Creamery. They both really enjoyed it and they got to eat some ice cream at the end, so that was a bonus. They would not let us take any pictures inside, so here are some in front of the building.

They told us the #1 flavor is Homemade Vanilla, but second is Cookies 'n Cream, not chocolate. They also told us that if you work there you can eat as much ice cream as you want. I think Jacob wants to work there when he's old enough.

New Single - "The Critter Song"

2009-08-10T15:21:00.001-07:00

Jacob came up with this song in about 2 seconds. He told me he missed Critter, then he just sat down with the guitar and started making up this little catchy song. Rainey sat down to add some drums and this is what it sounded like.......pretty talented song writing if you ask me. (I had to download it to YouTube because it was too large to post on here for some reason, you can watch it at the link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grrls2M_Cfg

Hanging with the Pets

2009-08-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

I took this first picture of Jacob with Oscar upstairs, and then when I went downstairs and into Rainey's room a few minutes later....I found her just like she is in this picture with Sadie.

Expensive Library

2009-08-10T15:09:00.001-07:00

On Saturday Jacob, Rainey and I stopped by this brand new library. It was dedicated to Laura Bush (our former first lady). Anyway, we went in and looked around and they had a ton of DVD's, so we were going to check some out. I went up to the counter to find out about getting a library card (because this library is not part of the Austin Library system) and they told me that since we did not live right near the library it was going to be $100 to join for a year. So....needless to say, I told the kids we needed to put back the DVD's and head home. I did get these two cute pictures of them outside the library. Jacob is sitting on Laura's lap.

New Release from the new band "Rainey and the Traudts"

2009-08-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

Rainey and Brian were playing music the other day and Rainey was just making up words and melodies to the music. I find that hard to do. Here is a sampling of their current work...

Ice Cream and Pottery

2009-08-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

Rainey's Daisy Scout group had a get together last week. They had ice cream and painted pottery. This lady brought all of these different items for them to paint. She then took them home to "fire" them in her kiln. Rainey can't wait to get it. Hopefully it will be soon. Here are some pics, I'm sure it will look different once fired. It reminded me of a time when I was about Rainey's age, and I made my mom this heart dish. I picked this paint that looked peach and she loved that color at the time. Well, our art teacher took the items we made to fire them, and told us she would bring them back to us the next week. Well, when they held up this green heart dish with darker green spots on it, I wondered who had copied me, but picked a horrible color!! Well, it was mine! Someone just forgot to tell me that the "peach" color I used would change a bit once it was fired in the kiln. I went ahead and gave it to my mother, and the funny thing is....she still has it to this day!

That is a temporary tattoo on her arm if you are wondering.

She and Lily picked the same thing, a heart box, to paint

All finished....for now.

California

2009-07-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Brian and went to California last Thursday and we came back on Sunday. We had such a great time together. Brian planned it all, and it was so much fun. It was really nice to get away and experience weather in the 70's. We had forgotten what that felt like. Here are some pictures from our trip.

This is in Beverly Hills

This was one of our traditional take-it-ourselves pictures, and like always we had someone ask if they could take it for us. We had to explain that this what we do whenever we go somewhere.

This is when Brian to test out the water...it was cold!
This is in Laguna, it is so pretty there.

This was in Newport.

We drove around the coast and just enjoyed the beautiful weather in this convertible. We had such a nice relaxing trip and cannot wait to go back!

Margaret & John's Visit

2009-07-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

Margaret came back with us and had a very short visit (and a scenic drive from Longview on the way). John came to stay with us the week before. We enjoyed their visit and look forward to them coming back! We went to see the bats while they were here. Here are some pictures from their visit and a video.

Here is a video of the bats leaving the Congress Ave. bridge. You can hear the lady that was standing across from me talking to her child, rather loudly.

On the bridge

Jacob went back to Nebraska with Margaret and John, here they are about to leave our house.

Balloon Festival

2009-07-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

On July 11th Rainey and I drove to Longview to visit Annie, David and Paisley, and to see the Balloon Festival. We really enjoyed our visit and the balloons were fun to watch. My favorite part was at night, when they lit up. It was such a cool site to see. Here are some of my pictures from the weekend.

This was in the sky during the Star Spangled Banner

This is probably my best picture of a balloon during the day.

Here we are at church. Margaret came home with us, so the three of us left right after church. It was a very fun (and fast) weekend!

Rock Star Husband

2009-07-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Brian participated in Rock Camp at our church a few weeks ago. They rehearsed 3 songs all week, and then performed them for friends and family on that Friday night. Here are some pics and a video of Brian playing the drums. He did such a great job!

4th of July

2009-07-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

An old friend of mine from Houston, and her two sons, came to visit us this past weekend. I had not seen Linda in about 7 years, and we had a lot to catch up on! Her boys are 9 and 12, so they had fun with Jacob. Jacob was a great host to them. Her oldest son's name is Jakob also, so that got a little confusing. We took them out on the boat on Friday, to Barton Springs on Saturday during the day and then that night we went to a concert and fireworks show at the Round Rock Express ballpark. We had a fun weekend.

Linda, Josh (left) and Jakob (right)

Josh, Jakob and Jacob

Jacob took this picture of the fireworks. There is a firework setting on my camera and that was the first time we used it. This one turned out really good.

Playdates

2009-07-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been slacking again! The days are getting away from me and I haven't spent a ton of time on my computer lately. Rainey had a few playdates over the past few weeks, with new and old friends. They all loved the slip n slide!

Rainey and Macy ( a friend from Kindergarten)

Kalley (minus her two front teeth) and Rainey. Kalley is a friend from preschool, they have known each other since they were 2.

Rainey and Ella (also a friend from preschool)

Father's Day

2009-06-21T19:58:00.001-07:00

First of all, I hope all the dads had a great day yesterday! We took Brian to Stubb's again this year to see the Gospel Brunch after church. Jacob and I surprised him last year, but this year he requested it. It was really good, here is a video of the band that sang.

Father and Son (enjoying an awesome buffet - the food was so good and we were so stuffed)

After that, we sort of surprised Brian with a Duck Tour. He guessed it once we told him we needed to go home and change into shorts. A Duck Tour is a guided tour on a vehicle that drives on the road and can also float in the water. They drive you around downtown and tell you facts about Austin, and then you go right into Lake Austin. Here is a picture of the vehicle.

Here is a picture of the Capital from the tour...

They gave us these duck whistles, here is Jacob with his. They had us blow them at people as we drove by. Some pretended they didn't hear or see us, others just laughed and waved.

And here is a video of us going from land to water....rather quickly. It was a lot of fun.

Slip 'N Slide

2009-06-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

I bought a slip 'n slide the other day, and the kids used it for the first time on Thursday. They had a lot of fun, I think it is going to be a hit. Rainey told me it was better than a swimming pool! Wow. She is having some playdates this week and next, and they will be able to use it and stay cool. And here is Jacob in action...

Crazy Hair Day

2009-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Rainey is going to Vacation Bible School this week at our church. Every day has had a theme. Yesterday it was team jersey day, and many of you woud be proud to know that she wore a Nebraska t-shirt! Sorry Dad. But she did inform us that it IS the only team shirt she has. I guess I need to get her a Texas Tech t-shirt.

Today was Crazy Hair day......

A good side view (before the pink hairspray went in)

Rainey and Lily with pink highlights

First Cucumber

2009-06-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

One day I was walking by the garden and noticed this huge cucumber, I had no idea how we had missed it. It was in plain site. Well, we picked it this weekend, here is a picture of Jacob holding it. It is a pretty big cucumber.

Our first large tomato turned red and something ate half of it! We aren't sure if it is a deer that has a really long neck to lean over the fence, or if something small is finding it's way in. But hopefully we'll get to the rest of the tomatoes before it does.

This Past Weekend

2009-06-18T04:57:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had both kids (which is rare). On Saturday Jacob had baseball practice in the morning, so Rainey and I went to the Lavendar Festival (I do not have any pictures because I left my purse in the car and forgot to get out my camera). There wasn't a ton to see, but it's a fun little festival. The festival is in downtown Blanco, which is a town between Austin and San Antonio. Then you can go and visit one of the 5 or 6 lavendar farms nearby. Rainey and I went two years ago...and all I really remembered was how hot it was. Well, it was the same thing this year. Super hot and no breeze. Rainey decided that next time we should have a booth there selling donuts and water. Not a bad idea. Then she and I went to see UP in 3D. It is a cute movie.

Here she is with the 3D glasses, I think they should make some in kid sizes, they were a little big.

Then on Sunday the four of us went to Barton Springs after church. I had never been there and was looking forward to going. We were going to take a day trip to San Antonio, but Brian decided that we need to discover our own town this summer, so that is what we are going to do. Barton Springs is known for having very cold water,which it did. It felt good on such a hot day, but Rainey was shivering a lot. She needs to get some meat on those bones!

After we swam we rode the little train that is in the park (right next to it). It was fun and actually not too hot. The train goes fast enough to create a nice breeze.

The Traudt Band Live

2009-06-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is our first day of summer with Jacob and here he is with Brian playing some good music! It's really nice, I get to have live music while I sit and type on my computer. I don't think many people can say that.

Summer Hair

2009-06-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

Jacob just got his hair cut for summer. It looks so cute, and he really likes it. He said he is just going to let it grow out and then have them use the clippers again when it gets too long. No more regular haircuts. And it's just in time for the really hot weather that has officially arrived. It's around 98 everyday and humid. Summer is here!

Our Garden's First Harvest

2009-06-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to pick some tomatoes, bell peppers, serrano peppers and one jalepeno! We have only one tomato plant that has these smaller roma-like tomatoes. All the other tomato plants have the larger tomatoes. Those are not even yellow yet, but they are getting big. We also have a bunch of little cucumbers growing, but they have a ways to go. There is also one ear of corn starting to grow. What a difference this year. We are looking forward to next year and making the garden even bigger. We've really enjoyed it this year.

Kindergarten Graduation

2009-06-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Rainey's Kindergarten Graduation was last Friday. We didn't have graduation when I was in Kindergarten that I remember. But then again, that was a LONG time ago, as Brian would remind me! :) Here she is crossing the stage (yes they really had a somewhat formal graduation)

Here she is with one of her fellow graduates and close friend, Isabella.

Her entire class with Mrs. Lohman (she is in the middle)

A 6th Grader & Splash Day

2009-06-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

Jacob is now officially a 6TH GRADER! He had his last day of school yesterday, and they had a graduation ceremony. I was unable to go, so I do not have any pictures (sorry). But, no more elementary for Jacob...he's on his way to Middle School!

For Rainey, yesterday was another excuse to get outside and get wet. There were little pools, more sponges, a slip and slide, bubbles, a sprinkler and lots of getting wet. It's hot here in Texas....we need to cool off! And they had fun doing just that.

Tomorrow is Rainey's last day of school, they are having a little graduation ceremony. I'll post pictures of that. I can't believe she'll be in 1st grade!

Daisy Party at the Little Buckaroo Ranch

2009-05-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

Rainey's Daisy group had an end of school party, and they had it at this place called Little Buckaroo Ranch. It's pretty cute, they have a bunch of miniature ponies, regular horses, goats, chickens, fish, rabbits, etc. It is a couple that own the place and they run the party. One of their horses had a pony three weeks ago, it was so cute.

Only 3 weeks old....so cute.

This bunny's name is Peter Cottontail

Cowgirl Rainey (minus a hat)

This is her Daisy group

Field Day

2009-05-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

Rainey had Field Day at school on Friday. Basically field day just means getting wet. They set up a bunch of activities outside and let the kids do each activity twice. Most of the activities involved water. They had a lot of fun, of course her favorite thing was the water slide with dolphins on the top of it. (Dolphins are her favorite animal and she says she wants to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up).

This activity included someone squeezing a sponge on your head the entire time you bounce on the ball to the other side.

This is Rainey's 5th grade buddy for the day, Kara. She is our neighbor down the street.

Opera Night

2009-05-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

Jacob's school put on a 5th grade opera last Thursday night. It included all of the 5th grade classes, and there were 3 different shows. Jacob was in the first show, which was about the three little pigs. It was really cute and Jacob did a great job. He sang a solo and sounded really good. The kids came up with all of the songs and changed up the original stories for the script. They did such a good job. Here is a short trailer, we will post the full version of it once we download it from the video camera. I took this with my camera and it only takes 20-30 second videos.

Baby Deer

2009-05-31T18:29:00.001-07:00

We have a new baby deer that lives around our house, and it is sooo cute! We see it running behind the mother through the trees. It looks like a little dog, with spots. Here is the best picture I could get. They started running away when they saw me crouched in the woods holding my camera. They weren't sure what I was doing.

Gymnastics Pics

2009-05-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

The other day at Rainey's gymnastics class they let the parents come in and take pictures.

She loves the bars

They gave each of them a blue ribbon, she is really loving gymnastics.

This is a pit of foam cubes. It looks like a lot of fun, I almost asked if they would let me jump in.

Nebraska

2009-05-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, last week was a sad one and I had not yet updated this blog with what we did in Nebraska. So, I'm backtracking a little, but here are some pics from our trip to Nebraska two weekends ago. We went up there for Brian's sister, Jessie's graduation. It was fun to catch up with his entire family. We had such a good time and the weather was beautiful. And the car trip went really well. Not until about the last few hours on the way home, did we all start getting a little restless. And understandably.

Here is Margaret, Brian's mother, preparing dinner Friday night.

Saturday morning was Jessie's graduation party, here is a pic of Brian, Jacob (who is being tickled by the way), Jeremy (left) and David (right) waiting for guests to arrive. Jeremy is married to Brian's sister Stephanie, and David is married to Brian's sister Annie.
Brian and his 3 sisters, from left to right: Jessie, Stephanie and Annie
This is Stephanie and I posing for a picture. Normally we were the ones behind the cameras.

Jacob, Rainey and Paisley (Annie and David's daughter)

Jessie walking into the Graduation ceremony

The girls playing. Rainey, Emily (in the car) and Bri (Stephanie and Jeremy's daughters)

You know who these two are...

Big smiles as they wait for dinner...

The neighbor's cat had new kittens and Rainey had to go over there about every 10 minutes to make sure they were still cute.

Thank you Margaret and John, we had a great time and we look forward to our next visit up there!!

Another Sad Day at the Traudt House...

2009-05-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

We had to put our youngest cat, Critter to sleep yesterday. It was very sad and we will miss her very much. When we came home from Nebraska we noticed that she was very lethargic and not eating much. We took her to the vet and her kidneys had basically shutdown. We had a flower arrangement in the house that had tiger lilies in it while we were gone, and that may have been the cause they said, or she just had a very bad kidney infection, they were not sure. We did not know this, but tiger lilies are toxic to cats and if they eat them, they can die. We had no idea and we still do not know if she ate any of it, it did not look like she did, but you never know. So, if you have any cats, please do not have any tiger lilies or easter lilies within reach of the cats.

She was such a fun, sweet and loving cat. I thanked God for letting us have her for a year, she brought a lot of fun into our house. She will be very missed by not only the four of us, but by our other cat Sadie, they were best buddies.

We know she is in a better place now, but we wanted more time with her!

We love you Critter....