5 min Diaper Change

This is what the older ones found to do while we changed a quick bum. Amazing how fast they got up there.

Ground Squirrel Pit Stop

Of all the Rest Stops we stopped at this was the funnest. These crazy Ground Squirrels were everywhere. They'd come right up in your lap, let you pet them and were just the cutest. Towards the end of our loaf of bread though they started to chitter rather loud and all took off for their holes. When we looked around there was a lady walking her dog. Supper cool that they communicate like that.

Sam Houston

This freakishly huge statue of Sam Houston is on Interstate 45, North of Houston. Jared didn't want to stop but I thought it was the coolest thing, so we had to get a shot. That's us tiny people at the bottom.

For those of you that don't know Sam Houston was the first Governor of Houston.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Too much rain for your own good, is not good. There is just too much rain on this road to be desired.

Jared made us a wonderful picnic to enjoy on the road yesturday, but no dry areas to enjoy it. Around lunch time today the rain let up. But it was none too warm. 50ish at the least. Now some of you may say that's warm but me and my poor kiddos have not been in "cold" weather for a very long time. Enjoy our picnic.

On the Road Again

Well folks, we are on our way. For the next month we will no longer be in Texas. I'll try my best to keep a running log of all the craziness our little family gets up to.

To start things off right we've already had some adventures. True to form Jared did his best to get the first ticket of the vacation. 78 in a 65!! Not much you say, but it adds up to about $145 fine. Dang those cops.Next on the trip the joy of a hit and run in the Pizza Hut Parking lot. Nice swipe on the front drivers side bumper. So this time we called the cops, and they kindly gave us a Claim Number so we can declare Uninsured Motorist at $250 instead of Collision at $1000.

Following this beauty I was pulled over for 70 in a 60. But unlike Jared, I, also true to form, only received a warning. Jared was infuriated. LOVE IT!!

So begins our excursion. Eventually we are headed all the way up to Washington. We'll keep our fingers crossed for no more Cops!

Last Day of School

Kids got out at 10:45 today. Not really sure what they did at school but they seemed to be glad they're done. They were all VERY excited to have Mac & Cheese for lunch. London and Aspen never get this unless it's Mom and Dad's date night, Phoenix on the other hand has it at least 3 x's a week, definitely a favorite.

This is Aspens Mac & Cheese, still not healed.
After lunch we headed straight for the pool before little ones nap times. LOVE the pool! So nice to get wet.

Tonight we'll go out for dinner, probably Chilies or Italian. Then headed to a free Karate class. And probably top the night off with a movie.

Summer's just begun, but you gotta love it.

Sick Bubbas

My little girls have not been feeling well for the past few days.

Our little Sicily took the brunt of everything. I finally took her to the Dr when her temperature spiked to 101. Here's a list of the diagnosis:

Bronchitis
Mouth Ulcers (many Cankers, caused blisters on the thumb she sucks)
Heat Rash on her bottom (may have been an allergic reaction to Huggies)
Ant/Mosquito/Flea bites all over her legs (dog now on Frontline)
Ear Infection

She's been on Azithromycin for 3 days now and is feeling SOOOO much better.
Aspen on the other hand has only 1 problem. OH but it's a big one. And when I say big I mean BIG! Check out that Canker on her tongue. She hasn't been able to talk for about 4 days, and cries whenever she trys to eat. I made her a mashed potato shake the other night for dinner. By putting the straw way back in her mouth it didn't hurt her poor tongue. Major flashbacks of Wisdom Teeth.

Houston Astros

Jared got an invite from a friend in the Ward to go to a Houston Astros game. Now he's not a huge fan of baseball (I am) but you can't pass up a good opportunity when it's stareing you in the face. They had box seats, catering and good times. Notice the price on these tickets, our friend didn't pay for them either, we love when our jobs give us the best.

Field Day

This is the funnest day of the year. Sack races, water relays, Magician (doves and bunnies and everything), movies, friends and fun.

London came home absolutely disgusting. Apparently he rolled in a muck hole, one big muddy grass stain.
Aspen came home and promptly crashed on the couch for and hour and a half. She was wiped out.

Awards Day

We are overly proud of London and Aspen this year. They made Top Marks in almost everything they did. They're teachers LOVED them and they loved their teachers.

In honor of all their achievements we had Awards Day. The teachers were all in tears by the end, so proud of their kids and so sad to see them move on.

This is London and Mrs. Jordan after the ceremony. London was up and down at least 6 times to get all of his Certificates.

Aspen receiving her Honors from Mrs. McCarthy. She was the best Kindergarten teacher we could have ever asked for for Aspen.

Aspens sweet class did a little production for us before they handed out awards. This song was just so cute I had to post it.

Phoenix and Sicily, bless their hearts, had to sit through ALL the awards. They did their best.
The only way I could keep Phoenix entertained was to give him the camera. He took 40+ pictures easily. But when I needed the camera to actually use it for London this is what happened. Add A LOT of whining and you'll have it just right.

Lost Another One

She can now stick her tongue out without opening her mouth.

That other top one is just about to go too, we thought it'd go first but you never know with teeth.

Humidity Haircuts

BEFORE:
AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER #1:

AFTER #2:

So much hair, such different colors.

Memorial Day

You'd think that in a town as large as Houston, TX it wouldn't be hard to find a cemetery. Well...it is.

It was a tradition, when I was a kid, to go to the cemetery where my Grandparents are buried in Riverdale, ID. We'd wander around looking at all the tombstones and really just enjoying the day. We'd also say thanks to ALL the service men and women who have died to keep us free. We tried to do this this year but alas could not find a cemetery. So we said many prayers of thanx for all that they've done and do and just enjoyed the day as a family.

Went to the movies (which I think most the town did), had a picnic in the park. Then...


Met up with some friends from Hobbs, New Mexico that evening. Had a Bar-B-Q and fed the turtles in the park by their home. It was a wonderful day and the kids were all zonked by the time we got home.

Walking Right Along

She's getting there, 5-10 steps at a time.

Phoenix the Photographer

Nuff said!

Where is She?

Every now and again my kids get themselves in the most unlikely positions while sleeping. Last night was no exception.

After putting the kids to bed at the blissful hour of 7:45, Jared and I enjoyed some down time in the quiet. Well, as is routine, we tucked them all back into bed again before went down for the night, some time around 10:30.

I went into Aspens VERY dark room and was right up next to her bed before I realized she wasn't in her bed. This is not entirely uncommon, she sometimes decides to sleep UNDER her bed. I don't know why, but she does.
So I was backing out of the room to turn on her light to find where she actually was when I paused because I could hear her breathing, and the sound was not coming from UNDER her bed, but from the opposite corner of her room.

Of course the room was littered with toys, as usual, and I could not make out her form. I approached the only place she could possibly be and this is what I found. No idea how long she'd been zonked here but she was dead out when I lifted her back into her bed.

Final Strawberries

Poor London and Aspen have been at school all these times we've gone to pick Strawberries. So we went to the Strawberry Farm one final time for a Family Night. Here's the entire box we all picked, I think it was about 15 lbs.

Literally, Strawberries coming out our ears.

TAKS

TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). Kind of a mini SAT's or ACT's.

We are so Proud of our London today. He received a PERFECT score on his Math test and only missed one question on his Reading test. For being the youngest in his 3rd Grade class he's definitely one of the smartest. Only 23 kids out of 150+ received a Perfect score in Math.

SO PROUD!!

Ice Cream Bellies

This is what happens when you eat too much ice cream.

Sick Buddies

Charlie with his surgery and Phoenix with a MAJOR frog in his throat.

Every now and again Phoenix would reach back and pet his big best friend.

Pickle Juice

When I was a kid we ate and drank all sorts of nasty stuff. And if someone "Dares" you to do something, there is just NO going back

I'm the youngest of 6 and have 3 older brothers. I'm not sure which one it was but we were visiting my Grandparents in Preston, ID one summer and one of those darn older brothers dared me to drink a whole quart of Pickle Juice for a Dollar. I was probably close to 8 or so, so a dollar was a TON of money. Of course I did it. Think I about puked afterwards. :)

Well, I didn't "Dare" Phoenix to do this. But he said he would if I did first. I took a tiny sip and got blasted with more dill than I ever remember Pickle Juice tasting like. And even after my Nasty/Sour Face, Phoenix was still brave enough to try it.

Enjoy!

Pickin Strawberries

We have strawberries coming out our ears. Jam, shakes, on ice cream and cereal. So nice to not feel guilty when I feed them to my rabbit. We are loving the strawberries and going back for more.

Hematoma

More animal drama at the Walker house.

Apparently Charlie has allergies or got some type of ear infection. Due to these he scratched at his ear too much and popped a blood vessel. Well, for us humans that'd just cause a bruise. But for a dog it literally made a blood bubble (water balloon like) on his ear.

Being cheap we tried to drain it ourselves using the hypodermic needles Jared has for his allergies. But it came right back and got bigger. We had to break down and take him to the vet.

$325 later he has a hole in his ear and lots of drugs that cause him to sleep A LOT. Which is saying a lot since he already sleeps A LOT. But the point is he's healing and it's, hopefully, not going to come back.

They stitched this X-ray film onto his ear to help keep it flat and to heal better. We have to go back in 2 weeks to get it removed. It was either this or a BIG ol' cone head, this vet does the x-ray film which I'm kind of glad for. He's a bit big and the cone would have been a bit of a joke.

Give Daddy Kisses

Sicily learned how to give proper kisses today, with the sound effect and everything. So sweet! You gotta love how she MAKES him turn his face so she can kiss him on the cheek.

Please ignore London's burping in the background...BOYS!!!

Phoenix bounces Sicily

I've decided I have the best kids ever! These 2 get along so well it's not even funny. Mind you they still have their moments when they wish the other one would go down for a nap. But mostly they just love on each other.

They've recently discovered the joys of the Trampoline. Neither of them like to jump with London or Aspen because big kids ALWAYS bounce little kids too high. (I have vivid memories of this with my older brothers too) So...while school's in session these 2 get the Tramp all to themselves, and they LOVE every minute of it.

Gator of the Week

Aspen was picked this week at the Student of Honor (Gator of the Week) for her Kindergarten Class. It's so cute.

First she got to show off a collection of photos that told all about her: Dance Recital, Oreo & Charlie, Family pic, her as a babe in front of the Sphinx, her feeding Kangaroos in Australia, getting a massage from and Elephant when she was 3 1/2. Her classmates loved it.

Then she'd filled out a questionnaire that told her likes and dislikes. That's what this video is. The classmates got to ask questions at the end, which I thought was cute.

So then for the rest of the week she gets to lead them with the Calendar each day, help pass out papers, and I think be the line leader whenever they go somewhere. IT'S ALL QUITE AN HONOR! She was so proud. :)

We love our Aspen, and I love to see her get honored for the wonderful little girl she is.

Graduation Party

A good friend of ours just Graduated with his Masters in Business this last weekend. They had an awesome party on Saturday to celebrate. Needless to say the kids were up a bit late that night.

Do to the after affects of sweets and partying this is what they all looked like after church, it was only 4:30. London was the only one able to function normally. A quick dinner then straight to bed for everyone Sunday night.

Field Trip #2

London's 3rd Grade went to the Houston Museum of Health and Sciences for their Field Trip this year. Jared was able to stay home with the 2 littlies so I got to tag along. We had so much fun. I'd never been to this museum and it was just about right for the 3rd Grade age.

This was the COOLEST game of Operation I have ever seen. It really buzzed at you and everything. I think if mine were this size I might have a prayer of not loosing those tiny pieces all over my house.

This is London's best friend, Star. He's a cool kid and luck has it, lives right around the corner. So we have plenty of play time at school and at home.

Both these boys are in the Gifted and Talented group, so they'll be in the same class for the next few years. Always nice to know you'll have a friend in your class.

We got to watch a lady dissect a Cow Eye. Totally gross. I made a video to put on here but all those 3rd Graders were so obnoxious and noisy you couldn't really hear what she was saying. But, of course, the boys LOVED it. So I had to put a shot on of all the pieces for London's sake.

Oh! And Jared wants you to all know he ATE cow eyes on his mission to Guatemala. Only one though, I guess they're not tasty enough for a second go around.

My Mom

I love my Mom SOOOOOO much! She is the best Mom any kid could ever hope for. I don't know why the Lord let me be raised by such a wonderful woman, but I'm sure glad he did. I've learned and continue to learn so much from my Mother.

Every time I hear this song it reminds me of my Mom. She sang this to us kids whenever we were fighting. :) This is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Love at Home."

Monkey #2

Since she was 1 Aspens nick name has always been Little Monkey. Up trees, over fences, on top of the dog house.

Well we now have a Little Monkey #2. She can't even walk yet but she can scale just about anything. In this shot she's trying her darndest to see Charlie (the dog) out in the backyard.

Gratefully she can't actually get onto the couch by herself. We were reading books when she decided to climb instead. Hence the photo.

Treats

One of my favorite Ice Creams as a kid was Burnt Almond Fudge. But you don't get the true goodness of it till you add some Rice Crispies.

Well, Aspen was being ever so helpful to get the treat on the table and accidentally turned the box upside down. Whoever had put it away last time did not roll the bag down. This is what happens when you don't put the cereal away properly.

New Doggy

It is getting much too hot much to soon here in Texas. So lucky Charlie, who sleeps outside, got himself a hair cut this weekend.
I think the hair I cut off weighs more than my all the neighborhood dogs put together.
So here's our new pet LION. We've nick named him Simba for the time being. Isn't he cute!?!?!

Soccer Queen

Our little Aspen has quite a kick.

I think it's from all those years of practice on her brothers. :) We were so proud of her this Saturday. She ran and ran and ran. So much running it's not even funny. But she had fun and loved the Gatorade at the end, that's what it's all about when your 6 anyway. :)

Ode to Babies

Jared's little sister, Katy, had her first baby on May Day (May 1st). A little boy named Memphis James, he was 8 lbs 1 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. Congratulations guys, can't wait to meet him!