Happy Texas Day!

We get to dress up like Cowboys and Cowgirls for school today. Don't they just look the part.

Definitely need some proper boots for next year.

Yuck!

Phoenix has gotten into this horrible habit of complaining about EVERYTHING we eat for dinner. I swear if I told him we were having Chocolate Cake he would still complain. But, we are horrible parents, and we still make him eat. No matter what.

So I bought a Turkey for Christmas, then we decided to have Ham instead. So I finally got around to cooking the Turkey and thought we'd go for the goal and made mostly all of a Thanksgiving dinner, in February of course. It was excellent, loved every bite. Especially the Pumpkin Pie.

But of course Phoenix did not like anything. He did eat the Turkey of course (he's quite the carnivore), but the potatoes and corn were not going down no matter what. This was the out come of us being horrible parents. Keep in mind he only had about 2 Tbl of Potatoes and maybe a 1/4 cup of Corn.

My Crazy Life

When Jared and I first got married he told me he wanted a type of job that payed him to travel. One where we would move around the world at the employers expense. I told him he was crazy and that jobs like that didn't exist. Little did I know.

Now that we're back in the States this travel has stopped on my part, a bit, but he continues to go from time to time for work.

We were discussing our happenings for this week and which TV shows he wanted me to record, so I posed this question:

"Where you going to be tomorrow night? I mean, what State are you going to be in? That’s seriously a messed up question."

Honestly in the next 3 days, Jared's going in and out of about 4 states. And though we just talked about it last night I honestly can't tell you exactly where he's going to be. :) Welcome to my Crazy Life.

Family Flashback

When I was a kid my oldest sister, Marlene, was frequently left in charge of all 6 of us. Needless to say we did not always do what she said. And like most sisters it was not uncommon for her to loose it on us.

There was one time in particular that I was reminded of today. And I'm sure many of you out there have stories similar to this one. My brother, Evan, did something to set Marlene off one night and she threw a fork at him. It stuck in his arm.

Now I was reminded of this because, my little Sicily (17 months old) stabbed her brother, London (8 yrs old) in the arm right in the middle of lunch. She thought it was the funniest thing in the world. London did not agree.

So even though they're both sick and there's such a difference in age, every now and again the youngest does get the upper hand on the eldest.

Flu Shots

What a bunch of Bologna the Flu Shot is. I know it may help against some strains, but why is it that the 2 kids that actually got the shot are now the only ones with the Flu. (knock on wood) I mean seriously isn't the Flu Shot meant to keep it away.

Sicily started with an ear infection on Sunday which escalated to a fever that night. London woke up Monday morning with the thickest cough ever and a fever just as bad as Sici's. Straight to the Dr we went Monday morning and 8 prescriptions later we are hopefully healing.

Poor things can't sleep due to coughing and just being down right uncomfortable. Jared thinks Sicily was up at least every hour, plus she had 2 baths and 2 bed changes during the night due to vomiting. We are all so tired.

I am grateful for one thing though. Aspen and Phoenix are both healthy and both at school today. It makes it so much easier to just have the sick ones. One more good thing is London is finally catching up on all the Library Books I've had sitting around waiting for him. There are pluses that always go with the minuses.

Elder Pann

It seems no matter where we live we tend to get mighty close to the missionaries. Elder Pann, of San Diego, was transferred into our Ward, in Houston, just 2 weeks after we moved here. That's a total of 8 months in 1 area. And now he's going home.

We are so sad to see him leave. Aspen cried herself to sleep after he left this evening. But we were able to Celebrate his Birthday with him. Aspen gave a rather rushed FHE lesson on the Liahona, and how there was sometimes writing on it giving Lehi and his family instructions. So we made our own Liahona, Birthday Cake, with the writing "Happy Birthday Elder Pann." I think he liked it.

Free Day at the Zoo

Presidents Day at the Houston Zoo is free. But even cooler, the older kids were all still in school. So me and my 2 littlest went to the Zoo with some friends. It was fairly empty, and families that were there were all toddlers too. So fun.

So we started off with the seals. Fattest thing ever, but we only got to pose with the fake one.
Never thought an Eagles nest would be low enough for kids to play in. The ladder helps though.

This cute little Otter swam and swam for about 10 mins. He's like a little beaver but cuter. Phoenix walked off with out me cause I was having too much fun watching him swim.

My little train engineer. This hat was Aspens Christmas present so it got passed on. Too good too, looks so cute on Sicily.

Big scary cave, actually took me a few minutes to convince Phoenix to go in there. Cute little fake fox though.

Phoenix took this shot of Sicily and Me. That's a goat we're petting. They were the most docile things I'd ever seen.

Flamingos are just the prettiest birds ever. And I love how their knees bend backwards.

Coolest animal in the Zoo. Panther, there was a solid black one in the cage too. Looking at him I could understand why women wear fur.

"THE FOSSA ARE ATTACKING!!!" -Madagascar. They are for real animals and they really are from Madagascar.

Just swimming with they Piranhas Mom. Took some convincing to get him in there but then he went through 2 more times after this one.

Burmese Python. Phoenix thought it was cool that this snake could eat Dad.

Put this right by your back gate and you'll never get Burglars. I gotta figure out how to make these. I need a few in my yard.

She can Stand!

I love this stance. She was doing it all morning and after naps it lead to....
this

This standing was a long time coming. YEAH for Sicily!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

The kids had Big Parties at school and came home with more candy than they need. They also got a BUNCH of Carnations each, the kids could order them for their friends and they were delivered to their classrooms.
I on the other hand was alone for Valentines. My sweet Jared had to be away for work. But on the PLUS side he still sent me a beautiful Valentine. We got a knock on our door at about 7:30, kind of late for visitors at our house. When I answered it, it was 2 of the Young Women from our Ward, who immediately burst into, "Let me call you Sweetheart." They even knew ALL the words, I don't even know all those words. :) At the end of the song the pulled, from behind their backs, this beautiful red rose and a box of fudge. Then told me they were from my husband. I was so happy I almost cried. I was missing my Jared a lot, and this just reminded me how much I love him and how much I miss him when he's gone. Thank you, my sweet Jared, I love you!

Happy Birthday Jared

He's 33 today, and has never looked better!

We love you Daddy!

Dang those Scooters!

We had another eventful evening on the scooter. Pretty sure Aspen and London were racing again, but this time it was on the sidewalk. London hit a rut, lost control and went down. He would have been fine except for those dang glasses. Serious puncture wound right at the tip of the eyebrow, and he'll probably have a black eye in the shape of the glasses lens by morning.
He was screaming like a Banshee, blood all over the sidewalk. Aspen was freaking out. But as I wiped it off and saw how tiny it was we all just took a breather and I got them to relax. After I explained how bad head wounds bleed, even when the cut is small London calmed down quite a bit. He walked the rest of the way home and said it only stung a little.

It'd more or less stopped bleeding by the time we got home. No stitches or glue needed. Just a little Neosporin and a bandaid and we're good to go.

Our neighbor friend just put his fist through a window and did have to get stitches just last night. So we made up a good story that they got into a fight. Personally, I think London looks like he came out on top. :)

Kids Quotes

Phoenix taught Family Home Evening on Monday and we learned about obedience. The scripture story that applied this principle was:

"The Armies of Helium"

Happy Birthday to Jared!

1998 Honda Shadow
Everyone needs a ride, including a few neighbor kids. Here's Phoenix getting suited up for his first ride ever.

Aspen is just suited to ride passenger. Not sure if that's a good sign for the future.

More Daddy, More

Still bribing that girl with Chocolate. He'll be her favorite forever if he keeps this up.

Crazy Phoenix

We were getting a bit bored towards the end of the Derby so Phoenix decided to "scare" Mom and Dad. Upon being caught, or tickled on his retreats this was the face. I'm not sure if it's evil, crazy, scared or overwhelmingly happy. But it's the best face ever!

Quotes from Phoenix

On the way to the Pine Wood Derby:
"Iso esited!!!"

While eating oatmeal for breakfast:
"Mine not hot eader"

Pine Wood Derby

Well, the Pine Wood Derby was Saturday Feb. 7th. It was LOADS of fun. This shot is London and our little neighbor friend Jacob. They're just getting weighed in and ready to start.All the cars in the line up. Well, not ALL of them, there were about 30+ when all the weighing was said and done. Some pretty sweet styles if you ask me.

Our old wooden Pine Wood Derby Track was ancient and crumbling. So the Cub Masters work donate boo-ku $$$$ and bought our Pack this stream line beauty. It attaches to a computer, has laser timing, monitors and saves the times of every car...this thing is just awesome. So each kid raced 4 times (once on each track, to be fair), the computer erases their slowest time, adds up all their other times, and the top score wins. AWESOME!

London won 2nd in this particular race. Not sure where he placed overall.

Besides 1st, 2nd and 3rd place pins they gave out only 1 other award. Best Paint Job, and London won. His trophy, as you can see, is an awesome Eagle Head Bike Helmet.

Overall it was an excellent event. London had loads of fun, and though he didn't win the races he was happy just to be there.

Jared was sweet and signed me up to help with refreshments for the event. I don't think I've made this many cupcakes EVER. But I was pleased to see mine were chosen 1st before the other ladies cupcakes. :)

My Brave Little Swimmer

These are shots from our 2nd Swim Lessons EVER!!! Phoenix is just AWESOME!!! I am so proud of my little guy. He was blowing bubbles non-stop, and dunking his head clear under. He even "walked" along the wall, with his hands, the full length of the pool.

Even Miss Heather, the instructor, was impressed by how improved he was from last week. Given any improvement from last week would have been improvement. He screamed the house down, that is until he figured out she wasn't going to drown him. Then once he saw it was as fun as it was he was happy as a clam. Now we LOVE swimming lessons, and LOVE to brag to London and Aspen that they don't get to have lessons too. ;)

FHE on a Warm Night

Too cold, too often. We finally got a warm evening so we headed outside. Our adventures took us to the Hill/Amphitheater where we live. The kids brought their scooters, we tried to fly our toy Helicopter (which failed due to wind), and we enjoyed throwing rocks in the near by river. All in all a wonderful evening.

And as you can see we even brought our lazy dog Charlie. He's the best dog ever, but would only run up the hill if you did it with him. Not about to expend any more energy than absolutely necessary.

Sicily Scooting

Phoenix does not share his scooter with just anyone, so this was a big deal. She LOVED it obviously.

Wipe Out & Bed Time

Aspen and London thought it was a must to race down the hill. Aspen did finish first, though it came with a cost.

Pretty sure she didn't fully break her pinkie. No bones poking out or anything. But there was immediate swelling and a fare amount of bruising. So if you see Aspen with her taped fingers ask her what happened. The story is hilarious coming from a 6 year old.

Personally I thought by the way she'd landed she'd have broken her nose. I guess we're pretty lucky it was just the pinkie.

By the time we got home and everyone was in PJ's we were ready for bed. Sicily though thought she was still good to go. She'd do fine wrestling with Dad and then have to take a breather like this. Then she'd bounce back up and get going again, only to droop 2 mins later. Definitely Time For Bed.