Claire

My sister, Taryn, took some precious pictures of Claire. Mind you, Claire was about three minutes away from melt down, before her nap . . . but Taryn is magic - I think. Thanks Teensie . . . I LOVE THEM!!!!

Happy Anniversary Boyfriend . . .

Here's to 12 years of love, laughter, and absolute BLISS! I love you baby!

a little bit country . . .

In an effort to preserve our kids' East Texas "country roots," we got a fishing boat (just a bare bones 18' fishing boat) to enjoy the outdoors on the water, soak in the sunshine, catch some fish (we miss those fish fries, courtesy of the Wrights), and spend some quality family/friend time away from all the hustle and bustle of daily life . . .

Oh, AND we got a steer. I know. "WHAT?"




THE BOAT:

The "Red Neck Yacht Club"

I love this picture!!

Quinn, Luke, and Haylie (our little friend) -- consulting with our "fish finder" to see where we should stop.


Caleb, and his buddy, Carden LOVE getting splashed in the face, while leaning over the edge -- wet faces!

Liam and Sadie -- they were BEGGING to jump in and swim -- we're waiting till the water gets a little warmer.

See . . . Claire DOES wear a life jacket! (But she doesnt usually look this happy about it :)

AND NOW FOR THE STEER:

We have some friends who raise steers, to show, and then sell . . . and I guess they convinced us that it would be kind of cool for us to do it too! So we bought a steer, Quinn could tell you what kind -- I can't. He's a 600 lb. baby. Liam is raising him and keeping him in the FFA barn here in town. He will show his steer at our county fair, and then probably go to San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Houston to show there as well. Our friends that introduced us to this have two boys that raise steers . . . their 5th grader has already earned enough money to cover the cost of his mission and pay for his first year of college! He was "Grand Champion" last year. Now, we don't forsee us having that kind of success right out of the box, but what a great opportunity for Liam to learn to work hard, serve an animal, and MAYBE even earn some money for his future. AND, the whole family is pitching in -well, I just kind of stand around and hold Claire and take pictures, BUT all of our boys have jobs and work right along side their dad.

This little calf is in the stall across from ours

Here's Liam (trying to) lead his steer . . . practice, practice, practice! (right?)

Easter . . .

at Grammy and Grampy's house! My brother Mike and Sister-in-law Caroline were there, from Austin, with their four cuties. We had a great day Saturday . . . we played and played and played outside, ALL day!!

Bella, Grampy, and Claire

Liam and Josh and their "brick city"

Luke filling Savannah's tank with sand

We planted pumpkin and canteloupe seeds in Grampy's garden

We colored eggs

And there was a whole lot of soccer played by the uncles and cousins!

That night Caleb had a really bad stomach bug. Four loads of laundry and three showers for Caleb throughout the night = no sleep for me. And Claire was just getting over croupe . . . she looked like this the day before . . .

So Easter Sunday wasn't quite what we (O.K., I) were hoping for. The Easter bunny DID come however, and left full baskets and hidden eggs . . .






No family picture this year . . . not even a picture of just the kids, but I did manage to almost get a picture of Claire in her Easter dress. She was playing with a toy and it was in every picture except this one.
Everyone went to the Singles ward this year (where Dad is in the Bishopbric) . . . except for Caleb and me. I did the breakfast dishes, swept and vacuumed, while he rested and watched an Easter show. My Caleb turns very cuddly when he is sick -- and I was so grateful for that little time I had with just him, to cuddle away. (I tried to remember not to be a "Martha" and choose instead, the thing that was MOST important.)

When everyone got home, I crashed with Claire. I even missed Mom's big Easter feast. It was still really good, a few hours later though!

All in all, it was a great time with family . . . we are so blessed.

Caleb and Mama

Last month, my sweet Mom came and watched Luke and Claire so that Caleb and I could have a "special day" together, just me and him. We decided to go to "The Heard, science and nature center" here in town. We had a great time. I love my Caleb boy. I'm so glad I got to have him alone for a little while. I was reminded how important it is to do this with each of my children, such precious time.

So, at this place, they had an "animatronic dinosaur" exhibit, outside along the pathway. This is pretty much why we were going -- to check out the dinos. We happened upon the first few and they were big and cool, but not moving. Bummer. I guess they weren't working -- lucky us. But Caleb didn't really care -- I think he just liked being outside on a walk with his mom. (I'm probably humoring myself here :)

So Caleb is pretty confident at this point, he was going up to each dino and posing for a picture for me, and then this happened . . .

It was so funny!! Caleb was a LOT slower to approach the rest of the dinosaurs. In fact sometimes he didn't even want to pass by them. There was one dino that spit water -- man did he get me good in the back of the head!! -- Caleb liked that. Anyway, we waited until right after he spit again, and I told Caleb to run past him. He wouldn't budge -- he was frozen. Funny boy.

We also visited the animal exhibit there . . .

and some of the other neat exhibits . . .

Caleb got to pick out a little souvenier from the shop and then we were off to McDonalds!! A great day with a SUPER SWEET and SPECIAL boy!! I love my Kay-bub.

Where has the time gone?

Claire-bear has TWO teeth!!

my baby is growing up = : (

(as of Feb. 5, and Feb. 15)

"COME SEE WHAT LUKIE DID!"

. . . Five little words I have dreaded hearing (all too often) over the past year and a half. Our sweet Luke is one busy boy. Very fun, but very destructive! My grandma joked that we should write a children's book titled, "Come see what Lukie did!" to record his antics. The lastest addition to our story, is our carpeted stairs . . . 11 of them, with lovely black sharpie artwork! Even a call to the carpet cleaners couldn't remedy this situation.

I'm not even going to mention the flooded bathroom two days before this . . . when the sink was plugged and left on, carpet into the bedroom soaked. O.K., I guess I DID just mention it. It's always something with this boy!

Anyway, I found a very effective TIME OUT . . . buckled into his carseat, in the van, in the garage. He hates it -- but it keeps him out of trouble while I try to clean up the mess he just made. And when he's not minding, all I have to do is ask, "Do you want a carseat timeout?" and he says, "sorry Mama," and immediately obeys! It's great! I know it may sound cruel, but don't judge me until you've walked a mile in my shoes . . . or at least, down my stairs. ;)

leap frog

Liam has two really good pals, who happen to be girls, Sadie and Siri - (Think Miley, Lily, and Oliver, on Hannah Montana) They were over the other day, and Quinn taught the three of them how to play "leapfrog" . . .

standing up, mind you, . . . kneeling is for pansies.

It took a few tries to get it down . . .

sometimes they landed on someone else's head . . .

sometimes they landed on their own head . . .

but eventually . . . ALL 3 GOT IT!


SADIE


LIAM


and SIRI!



Good job guys!!