Week Long Picnic in the Park

Each day after the Children's Theatre we scattered around Hermann park and enjoyed a picnic by a different tree every time. It was a bit warm, but not too bad. And the animals were quite a distraction. Distracting enough that my kiddos had an awfully hard time eating their lunches and not just giving them away to all the squirrels and birds.

This brave little bugger I thought for sure was going to drop right down on our table and steal our sandwiches. Phoenix turned right round in his seat, multiple times, and gave him his crusts or chips. And of course the little guy just keep coming back for more.
Phoenix would have brought him home if I'd have let him. But being a "little" nervous for rabies I said no. :) Go figure.

Sicily got in on the action a time or two. She was more interested in trying to pet the fluffy guys than feed them though.

They really liked London. He was calm and patient enough to not chase after them. So they kept coming back.

It's no wonder they're the fattest squirrels I've ever seen. Eating peanut butter sandwiches and Cheetos all day.

Of course there were plenty of pigeons and ravens, but we did catch sight a few other types of birds. A couple of Woodpeckers joined the que for some crumbs.

And a Blue Jay or 2 swooped in before the others could get at it.

And Sicily's ultimate favorite. She followed this little family around for a good 15 mins. She eventually did come back with a smile on her face because "Baby eat my b'ed!" She was so excited.

Childrens Theatre

Last week the Miller Outdoor Theatre of Houston hosted a Childrens Festival, that went on for 4 days. They did 4 little plays: "3 Billy Goats Gruff", "Tortoise and the Hare", "3 Little Pigs" and "Jack and the Beanstock." We went everyday and had so much fun. The kids just loved it.

Here's the "3 Billy Goats Gruff." The Billy Goat with the yellow shirt would panic all the time when they mentioned the Troll. So the other 2 billy goats would coax the kids in the crowd to yell, "Chill Out Fred!!" Then he'd calm down. The Troll was actually really nice and she just wanted to play pretends. She came out as a Cowboy, a Pirate and last a Rock Star. And she wouldn't let them cross the Bridge till they said, "Please!"
It was great, all of the plays taught a little moral about something or other. "Jack and the Beanstalk" taught the kids to be obedient to their parents. Jack finally cut down the beanstalk like his mom told him to and gold coins fell from the sky. So he was blessed for his obedience. :)

All up it was a lot of fun. We got to take different friends with us everyday and Jared even took off one morning to join us. It was a good week.

What Really Happens at a Swim Meet

A typical Swim Meet lasts from 4:00-9:00. So with 5 hours to spend, and only about 30 mins of that, swimming for each kid there is a lot of time to kill. So here's what really happens as a Swim Meet.

Swim Caps have many functions. Not sure what this one is, but hey...it's a function.

Cute little 7-8 year old girls, playing cards and being cute.

Boys being boys, eating snow cones to keep cool and pretty much just hanging out.

This is Aspen and Sophia. They found a good seat in the bleachers during one Meet to watch the other swimmers.

Later they raided the boys "fort" (made of deck chairs) and camped out in the shade for a while. Aspen was hiding in the corner, so this is just Sophia.
London and Dillon playing Slap Jack. We had to teach the boys in our group how to play, none of them knew. So sad! But it was a big hit once they figured it out.

Almost ready to race! You can see London there stretching his arms.

And NOW we finally swim!!

London and Aspen did such an amazing job this swim season. They made quite a few new friends and built many memories. We are so proud of their accomplishments, and we had so much fun watching them learn and grow.

Swim Team Party

Swim Team is finally done and we had a wonderful end of the year Party. Complete with Pizza, cupcakes, games and of course...swimming.

Here's London (on the edge) with a few of the boys his same age. I think that's Landon and Jullian.
And what good is a party with out Trophies. Here's Aspen being presented hers by Coach Daphnie and the other coaches.

London was pretty proud of his. Another one to add to his collection, if you ask me. We just love those trophies.

Varmint Hunting

The big brave hunter stalks his quarry. Sneak, sneak, sneak! You never know what prize he'll bring home next.
Stinking little RAT this go around. This little bugger found his way into our very protected garden and was helping himself to our cantaloupes.

My big brave Jared got him though. The kids thought it was awesome. And Jared was a little concerned that he'd get in a bit of trouble for shooting his 22 in our, kind of fancy neighborhood.

Twister

I got roped into a game of Twister during Aspens sleep-over last night. But I wasn't the only one. Notice the dog. Charlie doesn't allow me to do anything on the floor with out him. He's worse than the kids begging for your attention.

But that's only because he'll breathe right in your face and bump you with his huge wet nose till you pay attention to him. And let me tell you, trying to keep your balance in Twister while your dumb dog keeps bumping into you is no easy feat.

Message from my Niece

My sweet little niece, Jennie, left us this message while we were out. I thought it was so funny! I've had it saved on my Voice Mail for about 2 months. My sister, Amy (her Mom), wanted to have a listen so I decided to post it. Keep in mind that Jennie is currently 6.

Kids crack me up sometimes!

So Tired

This is how you know your child has had too many late nights and too many early mornings.

Aspen had been whining, crying and complaining all afternoon about this, that and the other. I finally sent her up to her room for the evening. About 5:00 I called her down to help me find a library book, about 10 mins later this is what London found. She is zonked!

New Back Porch

This has been our back porch since we moved into our house 2 years ago. And due to the crazy humidity of Houston, TX we have never felt a desire to worry much about having a bigger back porch for BBQ's and such. You'll notice the big mud puddles on both sides of the porch. Every time it rains we get 2 HUGE waterfalls pouring off our roof and onto the sides of the porch, and because it's so humid they NEVER dry. So after 2 years we've gotten sick of these puddles and have decided to extend our porch to make it more useful.

First we had to plot it all out. With a bit of string and some broken wire hangers (I think that's what they were) it's all in place.

Next step is the "free" labor. Jared was out there for quite some time, sweating his brains out, digging up all the grass. But we put all that sod to good use and filled in some roley parts in the back yard.

The next step was the frame work, which as you can see Jared got in. But the last step is the actual cement. Alas, it rained for a week strait. So instead of a larger porch we have had 2 swimming pools on both sides. So we had to wait for that to dry, COMPLETELY! Which took quite a lot longer than we'd have liked, something like 5 days.

So last came the concrete. Jared found some crazy place that mixed it all up for us, then he'd drive it home in this huge trailer. He'd then dump a load into the wheel barrow, bring it around back and pour it into the different sections. Then I'd get the joy of moving it all around to make it all even.

Next we flattened it out with the board, and Jared would then use the big float thing, and scrape it all nice and smooth. I tried to "smooth" some of his "smooth" bits when he went around front, and he ended up having to re-smooth them for me. I didn't try to re-smooth after that.

Of course we had to add in some hand prints of the family. What good it making your own back porch if you can't put a stamp on it. The obscure one on the right is Charlie's.

And here's the finished product. Eventually we will tile the whole thing, put a round picnic table complete with umbrella where Charlie is standing, and of course, finally get the BBQ over where the hammock is. Man this was a lot of work, but it turned out beautiful.

Fun with Daddy

I think my kids have the coolest Dad there is. He lets them do about anything to him, and they "always" come away laughing. We were watching a movie tonight and Phoenix found a good position to watch in.
And who doesn't remember their Dad's doing this to them. It was my brothers that did it to me as a kid, and I'm sure London will take his turn when he gets a bit bigger.

4th of July

Technically we're not supposed to do fireworks in our neighborhood. But what's the 4th with out a little pyrotechnics? So we bought a few for our kids, headed over to a friends and had a lot of fun.
After a few Root Beer Floats (vanilla ice cream with root beer on top, for all you foreigners), we handed the kids some sparklers and enjoyed the evening. Heaven forbid they're allowed to play with matches, but we'll give them these and let them chase each other around. Go figure.

This was my ultimate favorite firework when I was a kid, it's called the Pagoda. I swear they're smaller now than then, but they're still really cool. They start out like a little cylinder box, then spin around shooting out sparks, then pop up level by level and finish off by the windows all glowing like there are lights on inside. They're just supper cool.

And the Grand Finale of the evening are the Fountains. It's really hard to keep the kids contained with these things. They had so much fun, and I just loved watching them have so much fun.

By the time we got home it was 10:00. But the kids were not about to go to sleep. So we put on our PJ's, turned out all the lights and sat in our lovely Air Conditioned home and watched our back neighbors HUGE fireworks out Sicily's bedroom window. Those suckers were huge and quite professional, so fun, and even more fun in the AC!!

4th of July Breakfast

Our Church held an "early" breakfast on the 3rd to celebrate the 4th of July. Since we don't live near any family it was so fun to be with our Ward family for this Holiday. This picture's a bit fuzzy because the humidity kept fogging up my camera. But it still turned out pretty good.
Time for breakfast. The kids (including Jared) thought they were all starving, so everyone was pretty happy to eat their Red, White and Blue breakfast.

Aspen and her little friend Sophia matched so cute I just had to take a picture. Their outfits were Not planned, but went perfect together.

London had to get in on the art, while Dad was next door working on an Americana word search.

At the end of the day they had a bike parade for the kids.

Aren't they all so cute!

Summer Swimming

There are so many kids in our neighborhood, so not only do I get to entertain my own kiddos, but sometimes we have a few extras. I'd have to say, things are a bit more calm when you have a group of girls over vs. a group of boys.

Today though, was a bit of an exception. It's been raining, non stop, over the last few days. And when there's no lightening these little girls find many things to do in the rain.
Somethings boys just never understand, but are jealous that they can't do. :)

Babysitters :)

We just love our Babysitters. They are such tough cookies. I think we stayed out a bit too late this night. Gotta love these 2.

How to Entertain a 3 Year Old

She kept at this for over half an hour.

And of course, big brother is not to be left out of the mix.

Another Bug in the House

How do these things keep getting in? Couldn't be the fact that my kids leave the doors open to cool off the neighborhood, could it? Yuck!

Jared was kind enough to scoop this grasshopperish thing up and put it outside for me. I realized too late he'd have made a good addition to the Bug Collection.

Lawn Mowing in Texas

I grew up in Utah where it's so dry in the summer that your lips crack if you don't use chapstick daily, sometimes hourly. So moving to Texas with all its "wonderful" humidity came as a bit of a shock to me. But it's not just the air, it's the grass too. Back home if you didn't mow the lawn once a week it really wasn't a big deal. But in Texas if you skip a week this is what happens.

It's got to be 8 inches tall, and that's in only 2 weeks. And to put a little more perspective to this growth, the only time my lawn gets watered is when the kids are on the trampoline with the sprinklers on.

Another fun thing about mowing the grass in Texas is all the little animals hiding in the 8 inch growth. This week was a Toad, much to Phoenix's pleasure. He sat in the empty pool for an hour playing with the thing. Eventually, to his sadness, he had to let it go so he could come in for some lunch.

And yes, he did chase Aspen around a little bit with the frog. She screamed like a Banshee. :)

Cleaning Schedule

A few weeks ago it was our turn to clean the church. Jared got some easy job like vacuuming while Aspen, Phoeninx and I cleaned the Men's Bathroom (Yuck!).

In the end we all cleaned windows. There was always a fight to see who got to use the sprayer, which they all ended up with a turn. I was shocked to see how many paper towels we used, and have officially decided to never install these kind of doors in my house. There are just too many little windows, with too many little hand prints. :)