Oreo Passed Away Today

We've had some bad luck in our house this month. First Charlie passed then today we found Oreo gone too.

We don't know what killed her but all that was left was fluff and fur. Our yard is lined with chicken wire so we know it wasn't a dog. We're thinking raccoon or possum. I found her, thank goodness it wasn't the kids.

So now she is buried with her best friend, Charlie. Right about on his head, Jared said, because that was one of her favorite places to sit. He'd lick her and lick her, they'd play tag and eat each others food. Unless Charlie was really hungry, then he'd bump her around to the other side of his bowl so they could eat at the same time.

Oreo was Aspens sweetest little pet for the last 4 years. She started out sleeping in Aspens room in a little cage. Look how cute and tiny she was!

Just a little ball of fluff. Who wouldn't want to bring her home. And yes, we are positive she was a girl. Aspen was very specific that she wanted a girl bunny. Oreo's Birthday was Easter 2007, so she was about 3 1/2.

This is our very fast neighbor friend, Sophia, one of the few that was quick enough and gentle enough to catch up with Oreo and be able to pet her once Oreo was let out into the back yard.

Phoenix sometimes caught her and sometimes didn't. :)

No she wasn't all just fluff and cuddles. Being a rabbit she did like to burrow.

And she ate every leaf off of this tree. At one point she made her way into my garden and ate EVERY little green plant I had just planted the day before.

Oreo was a good fluffy bunny. She was an indoor/outdoor pet. She loved to be snuggled, and would lick your feet if you stopped petting her. Jared would never pet her long so she'd hop around and around his feet, finally thumping her feet on the ground and leave behind a little round present of "thanx for not petting me." She usually got thrown out of the house when she did this. :) We loved to feed her strawberries and watermelon because her little white face would be covered in red juices. Then her little tongue would dart all over cleaning her off.

Oreo was an awesome pet. I would recommend a bunny to anyone, especially if you can't have cats because of allergies, like us. Bunnies are sweet and snugly and we were lucky to have our Oreo for so long.

Playgroup

With no more siblings around to play with everyday, we've started a Playgroup to keep our kiddos busy. They LOVE it. Sicily is so happy to go every Tues and Thurs, and today was our 2nd chance to host it at our house.

It's like Nursery all over again. 2 hours of free for all, with a snack in the middle, a couple of stories and some singing. They are all so cute and really do get along quite well.
None of those boys would hold a smile for longer than 2 seconds. Notice the girls are ready and posing, forever.

Just Missed Him

Jared has been in Mexico, for work, since the 7th and gets back on the 25th. See that little black dot...yep that's where he is, way down on the bottom. He's having fun and learning lots but says there's a bit of rain. Go figure. That's Hurricane Karl knocking on his door step. But that hasn't stopped him from speaking Spanish 24 hrs a day. He loves it, though says he's really having to learn the Technical words, you don't use that much as a missionary. He also got to join in on the festivities to celebrate Mexico's 200th Independence Day. Let's just say he was up till 4:00 am, and was SUPER tired at work the next day. Good times! Wish I was there.

Nick Names

While Sicily and I were on our walk this morning we had this conversation:

M: "Sici are you my little walking Buddy?"
S: "Yep, I'm your Buddy....no not Buddy I'm Sicily Doodle."
M: "Are you sure?"
S: "Yes. Daddy says I'm Sici Doodle."

She was very strong in her convictions of her name...because Daddy said so.

Cleaning Out the Garden

I grew up in Utah where it's very dry and NEVER humid. So I have new and exciting experiences here in Houston, Texas all the time. The last one occurred this weekend.

My garden has been slowly dieing and no longer producing, so it was time to rip it all out and clean it up. As I pulled out the cucumbers I saw something big and black scoot under the plants. I thought for sure it was that rat come back to haunt me. But nope, it was a Frog. I eventually caught 4 frogs, 2 lizards, and at least 2 more lizards got away. And my garden's really not all that big. Phoenix, as you can see, was in Heaven. We do have frogs in Utah but not all over the back yard. You'd usually hear them out in the field, in the random wet spot that never seems to dry up. Well, in Houston nothing ever drys up. Every time I mow the lawn there are at least 6 frogs hiding amongst the grass. And those are only the ones I see. I did think I saw a baby snake there in the garden. I made Jared kill it because the baby's, if venomous, are the most dangerous. But after he killed it we discovered it was actually a legless lizard. They are really long and skinny, like a snake, and have these stumpy little legs. I felt so bad.

OH! One more story. Jared and I went to the temple last week. While in one of the rooms on at least the 3rd floor, the last room you go to (if you know what I mean), I looked down on the floor and a little pale gecko came crawling out from under the chair. Me and a man next to me just stared at it in disbelief. I looked up at him with a smile and said, "I'll let you catch that then." So he scooped it up, passed it off to another laughing man that was leaving, who then showed it to a Temple worker who just laughed, and I'm assuming it was passed off to someone downstairs and eventually made it's way outside. Too funny! That was the last thing I ever thought I'd see in the Temple.

Crop Circles

Our neighbors have had a little above ground pool in the back yard for at least 2 months. They swam in it at first but then not for quite some time. Eventually they got around to cleaning it out (I think it was growing red algae) and then moved it to give the grass a break. If you ask me, they should have moved it a little sooner.
Not that I have room to say anything, we have at least 3 rectangular spots in our back yard due to the same problem.

Find a Perch

This funny little bird was following me all over the house. I don't think he realizes he can walk, but his wings are clipped so he can't fly either. So he'd take 2 steps, then flutter a foot off the ground, take another couple steps then try to fly again. He finally got tired of chasing me down and took a resting spot for a while. But as soon as I snapped this picture he was at it again. I finally gave in and held him a while. He's a sweet little birdy, but he loves to sit on your shoulder and whistle right IN your ear. I'm going to have to start wearing just one ear plug so I don't go deaf.

Time Out Daddy

Sicily put Jared in Time Out last night. He was working on his computer and she reached across him so he bit her.

S- "No Daddy, no bite, Time Out."
J- "I'm sorry."
S- "No Daddy, Time Out."

She then grabbed him by the shirt and drug him over to the corner and made him stand in Time Out. She sat on the stairs, waited about 10 seconds then said,

S- "OK, Daddy come here...Why you get time out?"
J- "Because I bit you."
S- "You have something say to me?"
J- "I'm sorry Sici."
S- "OK, you no more bite"

Then she gives him a hug and that was it.

Kids crack me up. She really isn't in Time Out that often, but apparently she knows the routine.

Charlie Died Today

Two weeks ago Charlie was diagnosed with Lymphoma (cancer in the lymph nodes), he was already in Stage 3. They can treat K-9 Cancer with Chemotherapy, but this type can only be put into remission and is not curable, it would come back in 13 months time or less. He's put up a good fight, and we made him as comfortable as we could.He really has been the best dog in the world. So sweet and funny. Protective of the kids, and me. Our big Teddy Bear and footstool (when Phoenix was little). Such a comfort to have there with you, especially when Jared was out of town. We could not have asked for a better dog and I don't know if we'll ever have another as good as him.

Jared gave me and the kids some amazing words of comfort, they are found in Doctrine & Covenants 77:2-3. They pretty much tell us that we know we'll see him again, and we know he is in a much better place and no longer hurting.

We love you Charlie!!

Riding the Bus

Our Bus Stop is a bit crazy this year. I think every house in the neighborhood added a Kindergartner. So there are a ton of kids. But to Phoenix's immense pleasure (as you can see), his little best friend, Zach, is on the bus with him. They aren't in the same class, but that doesn't mean they can't have a bit of fun at the Bus Stop.

They just grow up so fast. He's such a big 5 year old, Kindergartner. YEAH!!!

I miss him every moment.

First Day of School, First Day of School!!!

I woke up with thoughts of "Nemo" in my head.

These 3 were so VERY excited to head out the door and on there way to Kindergarten, 2nd Grade, and 5th Grade. Can you believe it? What an amazing day! They all had so much fun, meeting up with old friends and making new ones.
I walked them each to their classes this morning. But Phoenix's was the most eventful. I introduced him to a little boy named Dane who promptly asked Phoenix, "Do you want to be friends?" It was so sweet it made me smile. Life's just so much easier when your 5.

Houston Museum of Natural Science

We have a Family Pass to come to the HMNS every year. The kids love it, all of it.

I'm not sure if Phoenix or Sicily love the dinosaurs more, Sicily's always growling at them, while Phoenix just runs from one to the next asking what they are called.
They have a Wonderful exhibit on Oil Production. Jared was so excited when we saw this the first time. And is intent on bringing all visitors to see it so he can truly explain his job. This particular part give you examples of the different types of crude oil you find around the world. They differ from a red syrup, to a silver mud, to one that's almost green.

There is a really neat shell exhibit, for all those kids out there that have collections from the beach (me included). I liked the size examples of this particular display.

Right down to the larges Snail in the world, from Australia of course. I'm not sure if this is modern or a fossil, either way it's HUGE, and I definitely wouldn't want that thing in my garden.

This one was my favorite. So intricate and delicate. True beauty. Only about 3 inches tall.

Where Jared likes the Oil exhibit my favorite it the Crystal exhibit. Just amazing. You wander through all these natural crystals, Quartz, Copper, Gold, Amethyst...etc. Then you enter the Jewelry vault. Tiaras, necklaces, rings...everything. Love it!

Sicily liked the Pendulum this time around. She had a nice little break watching it go back and forth waiting for it to knock over the little cones. Through the course of the day it swings all around the circle knocking every one of those over. And it just keeps on swinging, it's actually controlled by the rotation of the Earth, not batteries or electricity.

Last but not least, Compact Car Parking. I think they parked sideways on purpose to show that their car really was a Compact Car, just in case someone was wondering.

Back in the 80's

Marlene had me French Braid her hair for one of our outings because the heat and humidity were killing her. She went upstairs to do her make up and bangs and came down with the classic poof of the 80's. Sicily was enthralled, thought it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Kept asking to touch her bangs. Too funny!

NASA Space Center

My brother, Mark, served his mission here in Houston, Texas. And for my Birthday (I was 11 or 12 that year) he bought me this poster of the Grand Opening of the Houston Space Center. It's seen better days but it now hangs in my boys bedroom, they love it. It goes well with the glow in the dark Planets and constellations.Years later this is still the coolest museum ever. So many things to do and see and SO MUCH for kids to dream about becoming. It gives Science a purpose and gives kids a goal.

London rode on the little air puffer thing. You have to move yourself around and try to touch the target, it's harder than it looks.

Phoenix liked the play land. Balls and wind and shooting things, so fun.

Men on the Moon, just cool.

But all of this finally took it's toll on at least one of our kiddos. We got her to stop running for 5 mins while we watched a film, and she was out for the rest of the afternoon. Too much fun for this little one.

NASA Tour

I stole a bunch of these photos off of Marlene's Blog, she just got some better shots than I did, thanks sis. Just a bunch of cool rockets to enjoy outside.Family Photo, these are few and far between lately.
They took us inside the actual training center for the astronauts. Those people down there are real live astronauts, so cool!
This is a model of the Shuttles they fly into Space, life size! It was huge! They train in here.
And of course the wonderful American flag. Under the flag you will see the Challenger and Columbia Mission Patches. Both of these missions ended in explosions, so sad yet so neat to see them honored here.
Phoenix was bored out of his mind at this point of the tour. As we were leaving the training area I looked down on the ground and saw this "Batman" exit thing on the ground. It was some type of grate. Phoenix got all excited when I told him that's where Batman comes in to help the astronauts. I don't think the people behind me were too impressed, the didn't even smile or anything. Boring! Hey, Phoenix was impressed and that's all that counts.
As we moved on to the next area we passed this grove of trees. Each tree was planted to honor one of the fallen Astronauts. Pretty cool. Onto the Saturn 5! This Rocket was HUGE and used multiple times to launch all the Apollo missions into space.

Here's London in front of 1 of the rocket blasters used to shoot this thing up.

But it actually required 5 of these rockets to get it into space.

And it's no wonder, look how huge it is!

And all they were trying to get up there was this tiny capsule that was on it's nose. Crazy eh'?

Neil Armstrong and Buzz, 1st Men on the Moon. And my kids got to pose with them, how cool is that!

Apollo 13, no it wasn't really Tom Hanks, but these are the real guys, plus London.

NASA Star Wars the Clone Wars

Our next adventure with Aunt Marlene was to the NASA Space Center. Totally fun! And what got the kids most stoked was the Star Wars the Clone Wars exhibit. They had games, rides, mazes, all sorts of adventures all themed around Star Wars.

I don't watch the show enough to know but apparently Count Duku rides on some cool motorcycle like cruisers. So this ride was based around that. You had to be over 12 and under a certain weight. I only missed the weight by 5 lbs, so that's the goal for now so I can go back and do this ride. Way too cool.

I convinced Phoenix to go with me on the Obstacle course though. It was set 15 ft in the air so he was not too excited. But had fun all the same.

London and Aspen were way more brave than Phoenix. The worker guy had to carry him across this ladder bridge. And check out the crazy boards to the left.