Great Strides for Miss Em!

Miss Em

We'd like to introduce you to our sweet friend Emily.  She is 11 years old and we have been a part of each other's lives since before she was born.  Her mom Lori and I are dear friends.  Her brother Will and Michael were inseparable the first 5 years of life...literally they were Batman and Superman.  So we were delighted to find out about 12 years ago that Lori and I were both expecting again, just a few months apart from each other.  Trevor was born in April, followed up by Emily in July.  That first year Trev and Emily spent lots of stroller time together, hanging out at the boys soccer games, church functions, and just fun playdates.  It was the start of another beautiful friendship :)

Halloween 2000 - Will, Trevor, Emily, Lori and Michael

When Emily and Trevor were 1, the Andres family moved to Utah. Through the years, we have remained close friends and seen each other several times. Even though they have grown up miles apart, Michael, Will, Emily & Trevor all remain good friends and we love to see each other every chance we can.

2 years old-Emily and Trev

March 2003 - Emily taking care of Hayley
and her baby in Utah

April 2007 - Fun at the Houston Zoo together

Emily and Trevor on the wild animals

Meeting for breakfast is always a favorite activity!

2009 - Luke, Emily and Hayley in Utah

July 2011 - The Whole Gang at 59 Diner in Houston

Emily had some serious health challenges that first year of life, and after several rounds of testing, it was discovered that she has cystic fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis is a life-threatening genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. Right now there is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but you can help us make a difference. In just a few weeks, Emily and her family are coming back to Houston to participate in a Great Strides walk where we will all walk together on Ms. Em's team to earn money and take steps to cure cystic fibrosis.

If you would like to help us raise money to blow away Cystic Fibrosis and help our amazing friend Emily, please consider donating to this great cause.  Trevor's account is http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/TrevorMangum or mine is  http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/JeanMangum.  Any donation helps.  Thank You!!


to learn more about cystic fibrosis, please go HERE.

Brotherly Love

Movie time, and Trevor and Luke were just hanging out with each other.  I walked by and saw them snuggled up, and wanted to capture the moment.  

Love it.



Muggle Fun

Trevor and I went to the 12:55 AM premiere showing of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.  We are crazy but it was so fun!  If Michael was home from Scout Camp, he would have been sure to join us, but we just couldn't wait.  It was a great movie and so fun to hang out with Trevor and eat popcorn in the middle of the night! 



Trevor as Harry Potter, 2011



I guess it is now a tradition to bring an 11 year old son out at midnight dressed like a wizard.  4 years earlier, in July of 2007 Michael and I went to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Book 7 at Borders.  We did learn one thing from that night and skipped the hair dye that permanently transformed our bathtub. 

Michael as Harry Potter, 2007



Loving the final book, he read for 5 hours straight



Moving on with Trevor

In June Trevor wrapped up his elementary school adventure and is headed off to middle school in the fall.  The last week of school is always great for 5th graders, filled with a fun class trip to Regal Ranch, making class autograph shirts, lots of recess, and of course, the promotion ceremony.  Since Trevor is a Boy Scout, Trevor's teacher asked him to be in charge of the flag ceremony for the event, so instead of his suit and bow tie he was planning on wearing, Trevor was sporting his Scout Uniform with his newly earned Tenderfoot Rank on the pocket.

Trevor and Megan, last day of school!

We were able to bring one of Trevor's best friends Megan with us.  She went to Kolter with Trevor until last year, so it was a treat to have her celebrate with Trevor.  Plus she sat with us and entertained Luke, who absolutely loves Megan.  It was great!

Luke with 2 of his favorite girls, Hayley and Megan

Trevor did a great job with the flag ceremony.  After a few talks, awards and presentations it was on to the reception and pictures with friends, the fun part of the program!  

Megan, Kendall and Trevor

Always the entertainer!

Good Friends - Jonathan, Jaden,  Melissa, Megan, Kendall and Trevor

Best Friends - Trevor and Grant

Trevor and Liam enjoying the slideshow

Trevor had some fantastic teachers at Kolter, a few who have left or retired over the years. One of them even came back just to tell the kids congratulations and good luck!

Trevor and his 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Brownstein

It was fun to see the slide show they had of the kids through the years.  Here is one of the pictures from Trevor and some friends of his in Kindergarten at field day, they were so cute!   

Ms Hoyos Kindergarten - Trevor, Brian and Braden

 Look how Trevor has grown at Kolter! 



First Day of Kindergarten, August 2005




Last Day of 5th grade, June 2011

District Champs!

Saturday Trevor and I spent all day at HISD's UIL Districtwide Tournament.  Hayley tagged along and hung out with us and her best friend who was there.  It was a long, fun day.  Trevor competed in 3 different events including a new area, Impromptu Speaking.  He had only been to 2 practices for this but the magnet coordinator said he was a natural and so good at talking about any subject she gave him... I believe that! 

Since he was in a speaking event, he dressed up nice and went with the bow tie for a little flair.  People kept commenting on his "tux" or "James Bond" look.  It was pretty funny.

The kids I coach in Oral Reading did great and came in 2nd and 3rd in the district. Trevor tied for 3rd place in Number Sense, an incredibly hard math-in-your head only test of 80 problems in 10 minutes. So this year Trevor medaled/trophied in 3 of his events during UIL competitions - Listening, Social Studies and Number Sense. All those areas included lots of practices, meeting before or afterschool each week. He learned a lot (I think) and more importantly, had a blast with his friends doing it all!

 

The kids all did a great job and our school came out winning the whole thing again for the 2nd year in a row - District Champs!

 

Arrow of Light

Trevor had his Arrow of Light Ceremony the end of April.  The Arrow of Light is the highest rank in Cub Scouting and Trevor was able to earn all of the requirements before he turned 11 and went into Boy Scouts. The ceremony was a lot of fun.  Because we have a small pack, siblings were enlisted as natives to help in the telling of the legend.  Jake and Hayley had fun playing their parts. 

Hayley excited to be a part of the action



The natives in the canoe

 


Trevor has worked really hard in Cub Scouts, earning all the rank advancements and many extra things as well over the years. 

Trevor receiving his Arrow

Proud parents with Trevor

He had some great leaders and we appreciate all their hard work too. 


Trevor showing 2 of his leaders the key on the back of the Arrow























One of our favorite people who used to be involved with the Cubs for all of Michael's time and the first few months of Trev's time in Cub's was Sister Eccles.  She came out of retirement briefly to make Trevor his authentic Arrow.  It is amazing!  Now we just need to hang it on the wall next to Michael's.

Trevor with Sister Eccles and the great Arrow!

Michael kept Luke busy and did great taking pictures too! Afterwards Luke was able to come closer and check out the canoe and bridge to Boy Scouts. 

 

We ended the night with some of Trevor's favorite things, homemade chocolate chip cookies and Blue Bell Ice Cream.  Congratulations Trevor!

Random April Pictures

Just a couple other random events from April....

Michael is always on the run and is hard to get a picture of.  But thanks to me working with the youth program at church now, I get to see him in action a little more often (something I am sure he just loves sometimes!).  He was able to do a couple of really cool things in April, including having fun at a Hawaiian themed dance and visiting Merrill Lynch downtown one evening.  The view was amazing!

Michael and friends at a Hawaiian Luau Dance in Sugar Land



Checking out the view from the 74th floor of the Chase Building

Trevor had his 2nd UIL tournament for the year, this time at Davis High School.  Grammy and Grandaddy came back to her old high school stomping grounds and were able to go on a tour before the awards ceremony where Trevor medaled in Social Studies, one of the 3 events he was busy with that day.

Trevor with Grandaddy and Grammy at the UIL Awards

On a Friday a couple of weeks ago, the kids at the elementary school had a gigantic lemonade sale, hosted by the lower grades, to raise money to send to Japan for the relief effort from the recent natural disasters there.  Our school is a magnet for foreign language and cultures and Japanese is one of the four languages that the kids can learn, so it was important for the kids to get involved and help out one of our "sister" countries that they know so much about.  For about an hour, the kids had a fantastic time buying and tasting lots of different types of lemonade from the 8-10 booths of the different primary grades.  Music was blaring and the weather was perfect.  Who says you can't drink lemonade at 9 am?  The kids had a blast and the school raised over $1600 to give to the Red Cross for Japan.  Luke and I had fun checking it all out and tasting a couple unique varieties of lemonade.

 

 


With all these fun activities that are always going on, Luke has some big shoes to fill to keep up with everyone...and on this particular day, the shoes he found he liked the best were Don's!

Luke having fun in Don's shoes

Trevor's Birthday

On April 4th Trevor turned 11 years old. He was up bright and early, ready to seize the day. Since we knew he had TAKS testing that day, and would need a good book to read when he finished his test, Jake steered him into opening a present he could take to school with him.

Trevor opening Brandon Mull's new book,
The Beyonders

In fact, most of what Trevor wanted for his birthday were books or pre-orders of sequels to books that he loves, all coming out in the next month or so. So we wrapped a few things like his favorite mechanical pencils with a pre-order to a book so he had something to open.

Trevor with his pencils

A big surprise gift he got was the wii video game WIPEOUT, based off a crazy show that Trevor and Don watch occasionally together. I always know when it is on because they are laughing hysterically. So we decided to give the video game a try.

WIPEOUT!

It is pretty funny stuff! From the funny different characters they are get to be to the crazy stunts they do, all while others are throwing things at them to make them fall, it does makes us laugh.

But after a little while, I found Luke alone in the kitchen....

Just a little taste!

That was our cue it was time for cake!  For the last couple of years, Trevor has requested I make the same cake for his birthday, one called "The Best Chocolate Cake Ever".  It is so good, and of course, we make it just a little more chocolaty by adding a delish chocolate icing on top of the cake. 

The Best Chocolate Cake EVER!

Trevor likes his with a side of Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream too.  So sweet!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREVOR!!