Sicily's Goals

Our Dentist gave us some wonderful advice to make Sicily a sticker chart for her Thumb sucking. She has been doing such a good job. The Dentist said to give her a sticker once a day for not sucking her thumb, but we didn't really think that was enough for a little 3 year old. So now she gets a sticker if she doesn't suck her thumb between Wake-up & Breakfast, Breakfast & Lunch, Lunch & Dinner, Dinner & Bedtime.

She loves it! She gets to pick out whatever sticker she wants 4 times a day, which to a 3 year old that is just Heaven!
On the other hand, we tried to imply the same concept to her Nap time. Obviously that's not working quite as well as the thumb sucking.Since Aspen and Sicily have started sharing a room, Sicily no longer thinks she can sleep by herself. During her naps I have to sit in her room and read a book until she falls asleep. It only takes about 5-10 mins, so it's not a big deal, but it'd be nice if she could just GO to sleep.

We'll keep trying.

Brazos Bend Birthday

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we live in a very cool place. We were lucky enough tonight to be invited to a rather fun Birthday Party held at Brazos Bend State Park. It was much the same as any other party. Hot Dogs, Chips, Watermelon, Presents and Pinata! But the ending was rather different. We went for a little hike around Elm Lake, there are many lakes in the park. Sicily found a fun stick, London located some stray fishing wire and we also came across some of the local animals that make this park fun.
If you look in the general direction that London is looking you will see what lives in this Park. You can't see it? Oh! Here, let me give you a close up.
There. You see it now? Yep, Alligators! Awesome!
"Look there's some more!!"
Oh! And some more!!!
"Mom, Mom! There's even one off this bridge."
We saw a grand total of 58 alligators, 3 Gar (huge fish), 2 snakes on the path (possibly cottonmouths), a bunch of Golden Orb Spiders and a 3-4 ft tall Blue Heron. Oh! And Phoenix caught a little skink (a kind of lizard), of course.
The birthday was for a young boy that just moved into our Ward. All of their kids are the same age as mine, so Sicily was ever so happy to make a new friend. These 2 little girls hoofed it all around the 1.75 mile lake. They did awesome!

Garden Woes

My garden is growing. And growing. And growing. I have 6-8 tomato plants that are over 8 ft tall. But the only plant in my garden that seems to want to produce anything besides green leaves is the free Cayenne Pepper that I got at a Relief Society Meeting. There are seriously new red ones out there everyday. And what the heck I'm supposed to do with Cayenne's is beyond me. I only planted it and let it grow cause I knew it would. Now I'm not sure what to do with it.
Suggestions?

New Bike

Our older kids never got the 12 inch tire size tiny bike, they all had to wait until they were big enough to ride the 16 inch. But watching your older siblings ride bikes day in and day out Sicily was getting a bit sad that all she had was a tricycle. So when Sicily and I spotted this sweetest little Princess bike and we couldn't resist. She of course got straight on it with Daddy, and rode all around our circle. So happy.
Note to younger parents: NEVER try to teach your child to ride a bike while they're wearing flip-flops. It is impossible to figure out how to peddle and keep your flip-flops on at the same time. Jared still can't figure this out and he's been riding a bike for a while now. :)

Paper Airplane Frenzy

Phoenix has this uncanny ability of getting paper airplanes stuck in the most unlikely places. He and Sicily have been on a paper airplane craze these last few days and this is where the latest one landed. That fan was going top speed when he chucked it up there. He thought it was funny how the fan would flip it across the room. But one time that plane just did not come down.
He wasn't sure what happened, until he turned off the fan and it started to slow down. Needless to say, like most 6 year old boys, he was rather proud of himself.

First 2 Days of School

First 2 days of school have been absolutely awesome. It's kind of creepy how quiet my house has been these last 2 days.

Sicily started Preschool this year and today was her first day. I got to teach 10 little munchkins all about Colors. We had a blast singing the "Colored Hockey Poky" and finger painting with Red, Yellow and Blue Pudding. Preschool is the best.Phoenix started 1st Grade this year, and has Aspens 1st Grade teacher. We love her, he loves her and one of his best little Kindergarten friends is in his class so he is Happy.

Aspen started 3rd Grade and has her Kindergarten teacher as her teacher, she moved up. Aspen couldn't be happier. One little boy on our street is in her class, and Aspen being Aspen pretty much already knows everyone in her class.

London started 6th Grade Middle School this year. He is going to the Gifted Academy and has loved every bit of it. He has his own locker, started Spanish and got Art as his elective so he's good to go. He has 3 of his good friends in 3 of his 7 classes, and is quickly making new friends.

Our only downside this year has been London's bus. It has not come the last 2 days in the mornings, so we've had to take him to school. Then yesterday he didn't get home from school until 6:00 pm, he was meant to get home at 4:30. It's currently 5:30 and he's still not home today yet. But I'm not too fussed. I've been told the last 2 years it's taken the bus system 2-3 weeks to get the schedule in order. So in the mean time we'll work out a carpool system so he's not missing out on school.

Happy Belated Birthday London

London turned 11 on August 9th. I can not believe he is that old already. And since he is that big we opted to have a smaller group of boys over than we have in the past. 4 (not so) little friends crashed our house for all the pizza they could muster. Add in a little Just Dance Wii and you've got yourselves a party.
We did get a chance to open a few presents. Nerf Dart guns, of course, and a few Gift Cards to the Game Stop (video game store). To be expected. I lucked out and snapped this shot of everyone that was at the party. Because when I actually tried to have them pose for the camera their true personalities came out...
Little stinkers! It's to be expected, they are 11 after all. You can't even SEE London.
Of course there were cupcakes, and what better way to try and blow out so many candles than with your new Nerf Gun. Didn't work of course. But the cupcakes were good.
We hired a Babysitter for the rest of the evening, and took London and his friends to see Spy Kids 4D. They loved it, and it wasn't a bad show if you're a boy between the ages of 6-12. So too much pizza, popcorn, candy and soda later I am ready for bed. It's been a long day.

Cross Eyed

London taught Phoenix and Sicily a new trick. Obviously it worked for Phoenix.
Not so much for Sicily. (sorry it's sideways)

Chucky Cheese

Phoenix was invited to a Birthday Party at Chucky Cheese, and once he figured out what it was all about, boy was he excited. It's like a 6 year old boys paradise. Any age boy for that matter. :) But from the smile on his face you can tell he had a blast. Thanks Leah for inviting us.

Last Week of Summer

This is my house to the T! We are so ready for school to start.

Blogging Re-Start

I was just looking back at my past posts and realized I've gotten a little boring about my posts. And lack thereof. Keep in mind that it is summer, and with 4 crazy kids driving me and each other crazy, I don't get a lot of free moments to catch up on the posts. But YEAH! school starts on the 22nd. So be prepared for the updates. They are forthcoming.

Happy 11th Birthday London

Late last night, before the big day, Jared and I blew up 100 balloons for London to wake up with. We weren't too smart and inflated them all downstairs. Taking them upstairs seemed to be a slight problem. But with the ingenious help of a fitted sheet we made it in 2 trips. The trick was getting it through the door and dumping them all in with out waking up London. We were so nervous one would pop and the surprise would be ruined. But we made it. Morning came and we had fun burying London in a not so heavy pile.

He really liked his surprise.

Happy Birthday London! We are so blessed to have you in our family. You're helpful, smart, inventive, creative, curious and fun. Your the best big brother ever, and your siblings love you. Thank you for being such a great son. We love you London!

Phoenix's 2011 Stingray Season

Aspen's 2011 Stingray Season

What a season Aspen has had. She improved so much throughout. She was always so intensely ready to go.

And so fun to watch her swim. I don't think she got disqualified once. She was always very intent on her stroke. One relay race she was the last swimmer, starting in last place. The second to last team was already half way across the pool when she jumped in. But guess what, she passed her and won by over 2 body lengths. Aspen's definitely a strong little swimmer.

Just waiting in line for her ribbons.

2 little Church friends that were also on the team, Julie and Molli. Aspen had a blast swimming this year. I'm not sure if she had more fun actually swimming, or just playing with her friends in between races.

London's 2011 Stingray Season

What a fun summer of swimming we have had thus far. London has done amazingly well. Last year he mostly swam Freestyle and Back Stroke. But this year they upped his game and he raced in Butterfly. He did so good too. That stroke is crazy complicated and he does it really well.

I was London's Age Group Parent. So I got to hang out with him all night at the Swim Meets. We always had fun playing card games, DS and board games.

This is all of them...well, most of them. There were a few not at this last meet, but this is the majority.

Back Row: Reece, Julian, Trey, Dillon, Reed, Blake, Ethan, Marc

Front Row: ?, ?, London, Colby (or his twin Brady), Adam, ?, Jacob

Laying in Front: ?

And this is how they usually act. 9-10 year old boys, 25 of them in total. What else can you expect?

Swim Practice

Swim Team this year has been so much fun. But we do practice 4 days a week for an hour and a half. Sicily, being so little, didn't do Swim Team this year, though she'll definitely be ready for next year. So she got to hang out with her friends, Courtney being a favorite.

Not Australian Emu's

We found a local Tack and Feed store to buy our awesome cheap chicken feed. While coming around the back for them to load it up we noticed some Emu's. There were 5 in total, sharing their field with this cute little donkey. Aspen really wanted to pet them, until I reminded her that they're not the most friendly birds in the world.

These birds are wild in Australia. Our friends, The Walkers, had one as a pet that they raised from a chick, they'd bought it at a fair for $15. When it was full grown they let it run wild on their property. Their Moms goal every time she came home was to try and run it over. I was always impressed at how fast emu's can run.

She never was able to hit it. :)

Aspen's 2011 Dance Recital

This is Aspens little Dance class. Once a week all this year I drove her 25 mins up the road to her dance studio where she did Ballet and Jazz. She loves to dance, but has since learned that she does not love tights. In the mean time I love watching Aspen dance, she's a natural and really does enjoy it.


Video Dance Recital





























The best part of any recital for little girls comes at the end, when their Daddy's bring them flowers. Jared just made it to the recital, he was on a business trip in Alabama and drove straight to the recital from the Airport. He jumped in to a florist for Aspen on the way.


And from that smile it paid off. She as so proud of her dance, and so happy for her flowers. Thanks Daddy!One last shot with her little friend Tatiana. Dance is a great place to make friends with silly little girls just like you.

Late Summer Night

The first of many to come late summer nights. London is not here because he's probably pulling an all nighter at a sleepover. But as you can see... Sicily did not make it much passed 9:00. I think she clonked out around 8:00. But she just had to "stay up" to watch the movie too.

I just love when they think they're so big.

Little Hula

Aspen brought home a TON of stuff from the last day of school. Amongst the mess was this cutest Hawaiian gear. So while babysitting cute little Porter Nelson she apparently had to dress him up. He just so stinking cute.

Peace in the City

Sometimes a shot comes along that I just can't miss. I'm always grateful when I have my camera in these moments. While driving down a very congested Houston Highway we had a moment of respite at a red light. I turned to look out the window and the beautiful clouds and spotted this rather old water tower. So with the right angling of the camera (to block out the power lines and such) I snapped this shot.

Gives you hope for the future of the metropolis, that no matter how big a city gets you can still find those rare moments of peace and beauty.

Good Bye 5th Grade

5th Grade gets 2 teachers. Mrs. Terry for English and Social Studies. And... Mrs. Smith for Math and Science.

London had such a good year this year. It was so fun to see him grow and mature, make new friends, and learn so many new things. I got the joy of being his Room Mom and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was fun getting to know all the kids, and see London interact with those his own age (and not just his little siblings). London is definitely growing into a good young man, and we are looking forward to the Gifted Academy Middle School next year