Computer Crash :-(

Well about a month ago my laptop motherboard crashed. This means that all of my hard drive data is saved, but I have had no access to anything. We have now gotten a new computer, but unfortunately the hard drive was "locked" and denied us access. I am now in the process of having someone unlock the drive so I can move all my pictures as a group and not one at a time!!

I will soon be back to blogging once my pictures are all moved to my new computer. Thanks for reading and waiting.

Delaney-isms

D: Dad can I have some of your "fun-sour seeds"?
Translation: sunflower seeds

Abra-Ca-Nabra
Translation: abra-ca-dabra

Do you recognize this song?

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, "Hallelulah"
Praise ye "Yor"
Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, "Hallelulah"
Praise ye "Yor"
Praise ye "Yor"
"Hallelulah"
Praise ye "Yor"
"Hallelulah"
Praise ye "Yor"
"Hallelulah"
Praise ye "Yor"

Oh Sweet Delaney...you make me laugh. Thank you for loving life and having such a great personality that you willingly share with your family and others. Now if I knew someone who could work on your speech.... :-)

Pumpkin Contest for the Library

LVPS had a pumpkin decorating contest for the library. It had to be a storybook character (notice a theme yet :-) Blaine decided he wanted to paint the Cat in the Hat. We never realized just how difficult it would be to make a 3 diminsional character out of a 2 diminsional drawing - so John chose the best picture he could from the book. We thought we were very creative and the whole family was able to participate in making the pumpkin. Notice the "Honorable Mention" award!!

So now I must confess...everyone received an "Honorable Mention" award if they did not win 1st -3rd place. Everyone was a winner in PreK and K at LVPS.

Max - King of the Wild Things

Today at LVPS was storybook character dress up day. After being presented with many choices (of course significant research involving easy storybook costumes was performed first by mom :-) Blaine decided that he would be Max. He ended up being the only one in his class to actually dress up, but he had a great day. He also loved being recognized as a "Wild Thing" by his teachers. He was worried that no one would know who he was. Costume: white hoodie, white sweat pants, crown made from yellow poster board (so you don't have to make ears), tail made from faux snow leapord fur hot glued together and tied around a belt, add white gloves and viola!!

Now to see if my very own Wild Thing can go see the movie...will have to check into that. Have any of you seen it and have recommendations?

The Finished Product

Labor Day Project - 2009

Delaney had been refusing to sleep in her crib turned toddler bed since May (I think she still viewed it as her crib). She was sleeping on a palate on the floor, but I finally was able to convince her to at least sleep on the toddler mattress on the floor. Then in July, I was tired of seeing her bed in her room, but her not sleeping in it. So I gave it away on Freecycle.org - mattress and all. Only problem...what does she sleep on now? Well we solved this problem with our Labor Day Project - Delaney's New Bed!!

Here is her room with her new mattress making a palate on the floor.



Everyone wanted to help with the project. Just click on the collage to see the pictures better (sorry for all the shirtless boys - but you know when it is a work day at the house....). The kids LOVED working with Dad and using all the fun tools.

These are the progress pics in the room. We took down her baby changing table and slid the plywood base in its place. We built a frame for the mattress, top rails so no one falls out of the bed and the end supports double as the ladder. B and D loved hanging out under the bed - it used to hold her dirty clothes and trash boxes (you can see them in the first pic) - now they are fun hiding places. We may make it into a desk area in the future.

The finished product with new bedding (note D's legs under the bed)


We have now painted her bed blue - but no picture of that yet - it will come.

Delaney I am so glad that you are actually sleeping in your new big girl bed. Praises also that the past 3 nights you have slept through the night without waking Mom up either to go potty or to restart your music or just because you didn't want to go back to sleep.

Crazy Hair Night at Sparks

Blaine had been sick with a sinus infection all weekend, but fever free for 24 hrs meant that he could go to Sparks Sunday night...and let me tell you he was very excited that he did not miss the theme night.



So hard to get the full effect from the front, so here are the back and side shots...

Needless to say we had to have a shower before bed to get all the black and red out of his hair. Didn't think LVPS would approve of colored hair Monday morning.

C is for....

Crazy Clothes Day at RCC to reinforce the letter of the week "C"



Remind you of anyone from the 80's?

The First Week of School

Wow, let me first say just how difficult this post is for me. I have actually been postponing doing this post because I didn't want to accept the fact that my baby is a Kindergartner.

We were overwhelmed the second week of August when we registered Blaine for Kindergarten. He will be at the Primary school for just Pre-K and K. So after we completed our very large packet of information and had to produce mass documentation proving we live in LV district (remember, we don't own the bldg yet) we were ready.

I must brag on B now. I told him he had to get a haircut prior to school. My only requirements were out of the eyes and off the ears. So we looked through the Sunday ads and found some styles that he liked and met my requirements. We went to Sport Clips and showed the stylist the two very distinct styles - and B picked right then. Without my prompting, he picked the shorter style. He says to be like his Uncle Joe!!

Thursday, Aug 20. Meet the Teacher Night. Let me back up just a bit. Ever since we moved into the back of the shop in 2001 I have dreaded placing my children in LV schools. As this year approached, I have been amazed by how many people were telling us that they knew someone who taught, who attended, who student taught and how much they loved LV. God has not granted us the freedom to move or build a house so obviously we are suppose to begin in LV schools. So given all the positive feedback, we began to pray for B teacher and that they would be the perfect fit for B and all his energy. God truly is gracious and blesses us, despite our fears. Okay back to present day. We walk into his classroom and I realize that we know his teacher...Miss DeNoyelles. What an unexpected blessing after all.

Blaine (love the new do!) and Miss D


Monday, Aug, 24. The First Day of School. LV serves free breakfast for the district. Classes also start at 7:40 - so here we are enjoying some breakfast for the VERY early morning. Choice of pizza or fruit loops - he chose fruit loops.


Outside Miss D's room and the "Kindergarten Corral"

I love this face. He is actually very, did I say very, excited about his first day of school. So we all give hugs and see him to the door.

I must say that I didn't get completely emotional until after I dropped him off in the carpool on Tuesday. He seemed so big and slightly unsure.

This is Friday. It was the last day that parents could walk their kids into school. From here on out it is the carpool lane for us. You can't see D because she is in front leading the way. You would think that she is the one going to school. Note the backpack? B decided that he wanted to use Dad's old hiking backpack. I think he is trying to get used to it since we promised him he could go to CO hiking with us the summer after Kindergarten.


Of course we have to include D first week of school too. On Monday, Aug. 24 we had our annual parent meeting and meet the teacher. D has a new teacher this year and was originally not to happy about being a "Busy Bee", but before the mtg I asked her if I could get her picture with her new teacher. As you can see all is well.

Delaney and Ms. Ginger


Delaney for her first day of "school" - mother's day out for all the rest of you :-) This is as still as she would get to pose for her picture. I again was super emotional as I left the school. I mean really - this is her 3rd year at RCC - maybe it just the overall emotion of the week.


Blaine you are such a brilliant little man. I hope that this first year of school challenges you and encourages you to continue to love learning.

Delaney you love people and enjoy learning new things so you can keep up with your big brother. May you continue to thrive and be loved at RCC. I hope you have a great year continuing to grow and excel.

How We Celebrated the First Week of School...

As we anticipated the beginning of school and the start of a new chapter for our family, we decided we needed to mark the occasion with significant family time. We began with the opening day of the new Asian Forest at the Cameron Park Zoo on August 15. We actually sat through all the dedication speeches and watched as they released Mukah, the most social of the three orangutans, into his new habitat. The kids had a blast.


Delaney hugging the komodo dragon sculpture (much bigger than the real one). Neoma is apparently only 2 years old and still very small. She was threatened by the crowds and spent her day high up in the corner of her habitat at the top of a branch. You can barely make her out in the collage below.




My two little orangutans! Who needs an exhibit to watch these two?


They very much loved swinging on the ropes. Blaine thought he was pretty cool being able to climb the rope swing all the way up and touch the top.

Here is Mukah. He was being fed fruit by the zookeepers. The kids loved the waterfall. The overall exhibit is very nice. Can't wait to go back when KJ and Mei are out in the exhibit.


Then what are the last days of summer without friends coming over to play? This is their "camp site". I promise you ever single blanket, pillow and stuffed animal from all the bedrooms and the living room ended up in the hallway upstairs between the bedrooms (plus a few books and toys). Don't you just love their sweet angelic smiles?? Thanks Amy for coming over - it was a great chance to catch up. Moms definitely need their "play dates" too.


After the kids' first full week of school we decided it was a cause for celebration!! We went to the Waco Water Park on Saturday with the free passes from the church (even better). Except for one incident with two high school lifeguards who thought we would actually let our children drown while we were standing RIGHT THERE....we had fun.








Like Father, Like Daughter...


"Don't forget me...I can be like them"

What an exciting week. Blaine and Delaney you are growing up so fast. We are blessed that the two of you enjoy playing with each other - most of the time. You make Daddy and I laugh at the things you think up and we love playing with you guys. We pray these times are special memories that you will take with you always. Love Mom and Dad

Annual Hiking Trip to CO - part 1

Sweet wonderful Colorado and our annual hiking trip that we take with Sean and Cami Barr. What a great combination every summer. This year the 4 of us climbed Pikes Peak - 26 miles round trip. It began snowing right after we all made the summit, but this quickly passed.


A few days later we stayed in Salida and the guys climbed and made the summit of Mt. Shavano...



...and then across the ridge to summit Mt. Tabeguache...



...and then back across the summit of Mt. Shavano to return to the trailhead where Cami and I were waiting with cold drinks in hand!!

These are the big highlights. I will post more as I go through the more than 400 pics that we took on our 5 day trip.

We heart CO!!!

What Happens When....

Have you ever wondered what your kids do when they go to their rooms to rest for an hour after lunch - note rest not sleep? Have you ever wondered how they process being mad and upset earlier in the day for not getting their way? Have you ever wondered how kids do after being at their grandparents for a week only to then be taken to Houston for a wedding and then home again within 36 hours? Well when you combine these three thoughts you apparently get this....Blaine in his Easter clothes down to his fancy socks, asleep only 5 minutes before he is suppose to get up.

4th of July 2009

This year we stayed in Waco to celebrate the 4th. We decided to try some place new instead of the very crowded downtown area. We went to Speegleville Elementary. There were bouncy houses, silent auctions, vendor tents and of course fireworks. Unfortunately my camera battery died just as the fireworks began. I had to keep turning my camera on and off to get the last pics of the kids.

This has to be one of my favorite family pictures (except the background of the truck). Thanks Todd for taking such a great picture.



The kids showing off THEIR new chairs. They have seen their friends in smaller chairs at the soccer fields and have been asking for their own. We were going to get Blaine a small one too, but as you can see he is just a bit too big for them. So he was very excited to have a "youth" size chair - with cup holders.



Some random shots of friends who joined us for the fun and fireworks.



The past year or so, Delaney has been very scared of loud noises. The weeks leading up to the fireworks this is what we have heard, "I not like fiwoks". This was my solution...Daddy's ear muffs from work. Isn't she a cutie? And this was her response, "those fiwoks not too loud" and "I yike fiwoks".

Blaine playing Star Wars with his "lightsaber" - glow stick from the Go Fish concert. This facial expression seems to be a theme in recent pictures. What can I say, Blaine you are all boy!!

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th of July. Thank you God that we live in a free country where we can freely worship you. Thank you to all the men and women who fight everyday to maintain that freedom!!

Hanging out with Blaine - June 19-21

On Friday of VBS, Delaney went to Abilene to hang out for a few days with Nana and Papa. So we decided to go to our timeshare in Tyler and have a fun weekend with Blaine. We didn't tell him until late Friday we were going to the waterpark - just the 3 of us.

We arrived early evening in Tyler and got into our condo - needless to say this was one of the worst ones that we have EVER stayed at in the several years we have been going. Blaine's first order of business was taking a bath in the HUGE jacuzzi tub - let me just tell you our entire fam could have fit inside this tub. Then off to bed, the end to a very busy VBS week.

Saturday morning after breakfast and some cartoons, the time had arrived to experience The Villages Waterpark. The last time we were at our timeshare was 2 years ago when they we completing the waterpark. Needless to say, there was much anticipation...


Blaine hanging out in the kids area.


This is what the majority of the day looked like. Blaine and John hanging out in the water. I felt like the 3rd wheel most of the day, but honestly isn't this what is suppose to begin to happen? Sons leaving their moms and beginning to identify with their dads? Thank you God for a great weekend for this to begin. Here they are in the wave pool.

And here they are in the lazy river in the single tube.


I did get to spend some time with Blaine in the lazy river.

Blaine was 1 inch too short to ride on the big slide, but some of the lifeguards didn't actually measure. He was able to go down several times with both of us. There were actually two tube slides that wind around outside to dump you into the pool back inside. I snapped the picture of John and Blaine just coming out of the tube on my first attempt. John tried 3 times and never could time it right...he says I was just lucky...I call it skills :-)

Here is the rest of our day. It was a small waterpark, but we had fun and could let Blaine go and play by himself too. (Click on the pic to enlarge)

Sunday morning we decided to go to one of the many pools. Unfortunately they didn't open until 10am so we had to entertain ourselves for a little while.

Here is our morning at the pool. Blaine loved the sprayers.

My budding photographer took a great pic of mom and dad.

On a side note about our trip. We went to our timeshare for a free weekend stay in order to attend our annual meeting. We have never gone to one of these in the past because we knew they were only going to try and get us to upgrade. In the words of Dave Ramsey, our timeshare has been our "stupid tax". I know that many people love theirs, but we made a mistake when we bought ours. In our meeting they were very rude to us when we did not upgrade, and we told them we wanted out. So several phone calls and two weeks later....we no longer have our timeshare. Now we didn't get to sell it and make any money, but we no longer have monthly dues and have rid ourselves of this albatross from around our neck. They allowed us to sign a mutal release and be free. So what a great weekend this actually ended up being. (Even though the sales lady was in tears saying that she is just sick that our kids will no longer be able to enjoy the waterpark. I guess that she forgot that owners and non owners both have to pay for admission. Non owners pay $3 more and can enjoy the waterpark. Small price compared to the monthly dues and continual headaches). Again thank you God for releasing us from our "stupid tax".