Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Here Comes Peter Cottontail
Happy Easter! The festivities began a few days early with an Easter egg hunt at Will’s preschool. Will was on a mission to find his 12 eggs as quickly as possible while Hallie daydreamed and wandered around behind the “big” girls in Will’s class – sounds about right.
At the starting line.
While his teachers tried to get everyone to smile for the camera, Will and Jackson had a bunny battle.
Close enough.
Two days before Easter we made rainbow cupcakes (the layers didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped they would, but there were no complaints in the taste department)…
…and lemonade popsicles…
…and Rice Crispy treat bird nests. (This project proved particularly difficult. We make our Rice Crispy treats with “Will butter” because of Will’s dairy allergy, and “Will butter” doesn’t set the way regular butter does. The mess was ridiculous, the bird nests didn’t much look like bird nests, and Hallie so disliked having her hands dirty that she wouldn’t touch anything but the jelly beans.)
What a mess!
Will with the finished bird nests, and Hallie with her jelly beans.
In case you're wondering, this is what they were supposed to look like.
On Easter Eve we dyed eggs – another messy but fun project.
Our dye was particularly dark so the kids stripped down to their unders. (There were no complaints, since it the temperature was in the 90's.)
The finished eggs.
And on Easter morning the kids hunted for eggs and played with the gifts the Easter bunny left for them before we headed off to church.
Happy Easter!
At the starting line.
While his teachers tried to get everyone to smile for the camera, Will and Jackson had a bunny battle.
Close enough.
Two days before Easter we made rainbow cupcakes (the layers didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped they would, but there were no complaints in the taste department)…
…and lemonade popsicles…
…and Rice Crispy treat bird nests. (This project proved particularly difficult. We make our Rice Crispy treats with “Will butter” because of Will’s dairy allergy, and “Will butter” doesn’t set the way regular butter does. The mess was ridiculous, the bird nests didn’t much look like bird nests, and Hallie so disliked having her hands dirty that she wouldn’t touch anything but the jelly beans.)
What a mess!
Will with the finished bird nests, and Hallie with her jelly beans.
In case you're wondering, this is what they were supposed to look like.
On Easter Eve we dyed eggs – another messy but fun project.
Our dye was particularly dark so the kids stripped down to their unders. (There were no complaints, since it the temperature was in the 90's.)
The finished eggs.
And on Easter morning the kids hunted for eggs and played with the gifts the Easter bunny left for them before we headed off to church.
Happy Easter!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!
I had a completely different Mother's Day post planned, but decided to go a different route when I saw this:
To "never see the things their children couldn't do and only imagine what they could"... What a powerful way for mothers to raise and show love to their children.
Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms in our lives - my mom; Tom's mom; our grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and friends; and my little sister, who is celebrating her very first Mother's Day today.
To "never see the things their children couldn't do and only imagine what they could"... What a powerful way for mothers to raise and show love to their children.
Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms in our lives - my mom; Tom's mom; our grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and friends; and my little sister, who is celebrating her very first Mother's Day today.
He Reads!
Will’s preschool set a collective goal of reading 5,000 books during the month of April. Each child kept track of the number of books that were read to them, and then reported that number to their teacher at the end of each week. The kids met their goal, reading an impressive 5,191 books between April 1st and April 30th!
Because I thought it’d be interesting, I kept track of not just the number of books we read to Will but the titles of the books as well. (This list doesn’t include the MANY books Will read to himself after he climbed into bed for the night.)
10 Friendly Fireflies
A Giraffe and a Half
The Berenstein Bears and the Real Easter Eggs IIIII
The Berenstein Bears and the Trouble with Commercials III
Big and Bad II
Blueberries for Sal
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
Corduroy
Counting Colors
David Goes to School
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash IIIII
Dinah!
The Gingerbread Man
Goodnight Moon
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
I’ll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words II
Iron Man 2: Iron Man’s Friends and Foes
Knuffle Bunny Free II
Llama Llama Red Pajama II
The Lost Treasure of Skull Island II
The Magic Treehouse #1
Mater the Greater
My First Nursery Rhymes
Nate the Great
No More Diapers for Ducky
One Monday II
One, Two, Three
Ouch! III
Puff the Magic Dragon II
Rescue Squad Mater II
Something Might Happen II
Spot Goes to the Farm
The Bunny Who Found Easter
The Strange Case of the Missing Sheep
Theodore’s Super Heroes III
Think Big III
Three Cheers for Tacky
Transformers: Attack of the Dinobots II
What is a Dinosaur?
What is a River?
When Daddy Took Us Camping IIIII
Whistle for Willie
The Windy Day
83 books!
And because this news is related, this is me shouting from the rooftops that Will is officially a reader. He’s been devouring “beginning reader” books for a while, but has officially graduated to almost any children’s book we put in front of him. We are so impressed, and so proud. And he’s so proud of himself, especially when he reads to his little sister.
Congratulations Will!
Because I thought it’d be interesting, I kept track of not just the number of books we read to Will but the titles of the books as well. (This list doesn’t include the MANY books Will read to himself after he climbed into bed for the night.)
10 Friendly Fireflies
A Giraffe and a Half
The Berenstein Bears and the Real Easter Eggs IIIII
The Berenstein Bears and the Trouble with Commercials III
Big and Bad II
Blueberries for Sal
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
Corduroy
Counting Colors
David Goes to School
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash IIIII
Dinah!
The Gingerbread Man
Goodnight Moon
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
I’ll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words II
Iron Man 2: Iron Man’s Friends and Foes
Knuffle Bunny Free II
Llama Llama Red Pajama II
The Lost Treasure of Skull Island II
The Magic Treehouse #1
Mater the Greater
My First Nursery Rhymes
Nate the Great
No More Diapers for Ducky
One Monday II
One, Two, Three
Ouch! III
Puff the Magic Dragon II
Rescue Squad Mater II
Something Might Happen II
Spot Goes to the Farm
The Bunny Who Found Easter
The Strange Case of the Missing Sheep
Theodore’s Super Heroes III
Think Big III
Three Cheers for Tacky
Transformers: Attack of the Dinobots II
What is a Dinosaur?
What is a River?
When Daddy Took Us Camping IIIII
Whistle for Willie
The Windy Day
83 books!
And because this news is related, this is me shouting from the rooftops that Will is officially a reader. He’s been devouring “beginning reader” books for a while, but has officially graduated to almost any children’s book we put in front of him. We are so impressed, and so proud. And he’s so proud of himself, especially when he reads to his little sister.
Congratulations Will!
Friday, May 6, 2011
She's Back!
Grandma Brenda visited us again for a few days back in April. (Grandpa Paul was in China this time – one of these days he’ll finally make it down here.)
In the mornings while Will was in school, Grandma, Hallie, and I worked out at the gym, shopped, went out for lunch, and painted our toenails.
In the afternoons we played outside – mostly basketball, but we also took a couple of walks to the park.
In the evenings Will helped Grandma work out the kinks in her back.
Our big outing was to the A&M athletic museum, football field, and bookstore. A&M allows visitors to tour the stadium unaccompanied (unlike most universities these days), asking only that they don’t walk on the field.
Here’s Will running out of the tunnel, just like a real Aggie football player.
And showing me his best Heisman Trophy pose.
Grandma and the kids pretended to watch a game from the stands.
After the stadium we stopped in the bookstore to buy a REAL A&M basketball for Will to take to Tom’s department’s spring picnic that evening. While Grandma, Will, and I were searching for a basketball (they were tough to come by, as Aggie fans had gone crazy for basketballs a few days earlier when the A&M women’s basketball team won the National Championship), we lost track of Hallie. After panicking for a minute or so I found her here:
We were extremely lucky that Grandma was in town that day… As you may know, that evening at the department picnic Tom fell playing basketball and broke his collarbone. Grandma helped me shuttle our cars home, and took care of the kids that afternoon and evening so that I could stay with Tom and urgent care and make multiple trips to the pharmacy.
Come back again soon, Grandma – we promise no broken bones the next time around!
In the mornings while Will was in school, Grandma, Hallie, and I worked out at the gym, shopped, went out for lunch, and painted our toenails.
In the afternoons we played outside – mostly basketball, but we also took a couple of walks to the park.
In the evenings Will helped Grandma work out the kinks in her back.
Our big outing was to the A&M athletic museum, football field, and bookstore. A&M allows visitors to tour the stadium unaccompanied (unlike most universities these days), asking only that they don’t walk on the field.
Here’s Will running out of the tunnel, just like a real Aggie football player.
And showing me his best Heisman Trophy pose.
Grandma and the kids pretended to watch a game from the stands.
After the stadium we stopped in the bookstore to buy a REAL A&M basketball for Will to take to Tom’s department’s spring picnic that evening. While Grandma, Will, and I were searching for a basketball (they were tough to come by, as Aggie fans had gone crazy for basketballs a few days earlier when the A&M women’s basketball team won the National Championship), we lost track of Hallie. After panicking for a minute or so I found her here:
We were extremely lucky that Grandma was in town that day… As you may know, that evening at the department picnic Tom fell playing basketball and broke his collarbone. Grandma helped me shuttle our cars home, and took care of the kids that afternoon and evening so that I could stay with Tom and urgent care and make multiple trips to the pharmacy.
Come back again soon, Grandma – we promise no broken bones the next time around!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
We Meet Again!
A couple of weeks ago our good friends from college, Bri and Jon, were in Austin with their beautiful new daughter, Ellie, for a wedding. As soon as Tom and I knew they’d have a few free hours we made plans to drive to Austin to see them – it’s not every day that friends from the Midwest are within two hours of our small town in central Texas. (Our friend Kristin was in Austin for the wedding as well, but sadly we missed her.)
The “men” and their little girls (with their matching blond curls and pink, polka dot outfits).
A few close-ups of Miss Ellie Grace.
Nearly three hours flew by as we caught up on the goings-on of the past year. (We hadn’t seen Bri and Jon since last spring. Check out one of my favorite pictures from that trip – Jon is watching TV, completely oblivious to the four rowdy children climbing all over him.) I love that when Tom and I get together with our college friends, even if months have passed since we last talked in person, we can pick up exactly where we left off.
Too quickly though, we all had to go our separate ways – our kids were starting to fall apart and were ready to nap in the car on the drive back to College Station, and Bri, Jon, and Ellie had to head to the airport for their flight back to Illinois. ‘Til we meet again…
Oh, and just for fun – check out what a difference a few years make!
Summer 2002 – Florida
Summer 2002 – California
Spring 2011 – Texas
The “men” and their little girls (with their matching blond curls and pink, polka dot outfits).
A few close-ups of Miss Ellie Grace.
Nearly three hours flew by as we caught up on the goings-on of the past year. (We hadn’t seen Bri and Jon since last spring. Check out one of my favorite pictures from that trip – Jon is watching TV, completely oblivious to the four rowdy children climbing all over him.) I love that when Tom and I get together with our college friends, even if months have passed since we last talked in person, we can pick up exactly where we left off.
Too quickly though, we all had to go our separate ways – our kids were starting to fall apart and were ready to nap in the car on the drive back to College Station, and Bri, Jon, and Ellie had to head to the airport for their flight back to Illinois. ‘Til we meet again…
Oh, and just for fun – check out what a difference a few years make!
Summer 2002 – Florida
Summer 2002 – California
Spring 2011 – Texas
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