Turning 8

It's so hard to believe this sweet boy is already 8!  He loves reading fantasy books, especially things about dragons.  He read Eragon this year at the urging of his teacher and became a huge fan.  In fact, he wanted his birthday party to have an Eragon theme.  It was a little challenging for dear old mom, but Google saved the day.  We pieced together ideas from other dragon parties and added parts J wanted to include.  We even had a problem finding a cake.  Granny had one made at Target for his "real" birthday.  We couldn't include the name of the book, but they were able to airbrush a picture of Saphira.  I made the cake for his party...a first.  I think it turned out ok, and it was tasty.  In the end, our creative one forced us to all be creative.  The result was a party like no other.

All Abilities Park

This spring we had our first playdate at the new all-abilities park.  The park is absolutely amazing!  We love it and have already been back at least 5 times.  One of our favorite parts is the mini town with real buildings, complete with working traffic lights and crosswalks.  It's kind of like a children's museum except that it's outdoors.  I wish I had more pictures to share.

Ah, spring...

Love this time of year!  Our yard is beautiful...

Spring Break in Houston

Our spring break this year was very low key.  We went to Houston to visit J.  Mighty LOVES being in the hotel.  The first thing he did was climb in the bed with Boppy and his iTouch.  Over the next couple of days, we explored some Houston sites.  We found this awesome park downtown where the boys were able to operate remote control sailboats.

Toward the end of the week, the boys went to Louisiana with Mer and Pop.  They so enjoy being in the country and getting to do special things with their grandparents.  Who wouldn't?  This time they decided it might be fun to dig for crawfish.  Looks like it got pretty serious...

Sweet Berry Farms

In March, we made a trip to Marble Falls to visit Sweet Berry Farms.  We had been in the fall for pumpkins, but never in the spring.  Needless to say, it was beautiful!  We all enjoyed picking our own strawberries.  The down side is that we picked more strawberries than we could eat. 

Music Makers

Mighty's school has a special week called "Music Makers."  During this week, parents can attend music class with their children.

I think his face says it all, and I was honored to witness his excitement!

Double Digits

K made it to the "double digits" this year!  We absolutely cannot believe that ten years have already come and gone.  We celebrated on his real birthday with family at our house.    He asked for a morph suit, which he proudly wore for most of the evening.  He was great entertainment.  Apparently a blue bodysuit takes away all inhibitions!





The birthday celebration continued in San Antonio with some of his best friends from CLH.  It was great to get them together during the school year.  They picked up right where they left off last summer...a sign of true friendship.  It was fun to watch!

Valentine's Day 2012

Valentine's Day in a whole new way...

1.  We don't care.  Our Valentine's Day box is now a Nike shoe box with no decorations added to it.  Just the name will suffice.  I don't think they even read the cards.  They just eat the candy and move on.  Hmmm...

2.  We do care.  Notice the special Valentine treat in his hand.

This must be the beginning of the end for us.  Yikes!



Evidence of  #1


Evidence of  #2

4th Grade Musical

The 4th Grade Musical was fun to watch this year, as it was the only year since Kindergarten that our child actually participated.  He has a new found appreciation for music and singing.

3M Half Marathon

PJ and Charlie came to Texas to run the 3M Half Marathon. We had a wonderful time...although running was not our main focus. It was fun to catch up and enjoy some Austin sites.

Artwork at the Public Library

J's artwork made a public appearance again this year. Only a handful of students have work displayed in the community. We are super proud of him!

He continues to take art lessons and loves it. We have an art show at the end of April, and this time we will have two children participating. Mighty has joined the ranks.

Winter Sports

This winter our boys went their separate ways...J played flag football and K played basketball. It was fun on all accounts because both boys played with pretty much their whole soccer team. We didn't do a very good job of capturing the "moments." Somehow we only managed to bring our camera to football once and not to basketball at all. Yikes! Note to self...take more pictures next year.

A Mighty Special Delivery

All of our neighbors are fantastic, but Ms. Deborah just takes the cake. She knew about Mighty's new delivery truck and created a special delivery for him one day. She contracted his services the day before. He waited for her call in full uniform (asking me every 5 minutes if it was the right time). When she was ready, he drove down to her house, picked up the package, and proudly delivered it to me in our driveway.

J and I watched from our yard like two of the proudest parents in the world. We tried to capture the moment with our camera, but I'm not sure the pictures do it justice. This was one happy boy on a very important mission.

Mission complete!

Post-Christmas in Louisiana

We were all glad to visit Mer and Pop, Grandma Betty, and Aunt LB for a late Christmas. The boys were thrilled about all of their gifts and even more excited about spending some quality time with family in the country. They love being outdoors at Mer and Pop's house...jumping on the trampoline, picking up limbs, making a "camp," and doing little projects. They also love visiting Grandma Betty...feeding her fish, counting and chasing her cats, tinkering on her piano, and getting some sweet treats.

We all enjoyed family movie nights and our trip to DI's. You just can't beat it!

Christmas Day

Christmas was extremely low key for us this year. In fact, it was the first year in a very long time that we have been home alone. We weren't sure if that would be good or bad. The boys kept asking who was coming for Christmas. I don't think they believed us when we told them it would just be us and Nan and Gran. In the end, it was a wonderful Christmas. It was super relaxing and quiet, but it was not at all what we are used to doing. We certainly missed everyone and would welcome the noise and excitement next year.

Here is the update on our Christmas wish list...

This year Mighty asked for a mail truck he could drive. Santa delivered. He asked for a baby penguin pillow pet and a fleet of delivery trucks. Numerous people delivered.

JC asked for lots and lots of Legos. Everyone delivered, including Santa.

K asked for Nike Elite socks, video games, and new shoes. Mom and Dad, Aunt Barrie and Uncle DM, and Santa all delivered.