Don't Mess with Texas

We spent our Memorial Day weekend in Houston, Texas, visiting our dear friends the Titus family. It was such a blast and great to see everybody! Everyone had a great time together. Especially these two...

They played all weekend and probably could have played for at least another week. Christopher's friendship with Olivia is like none other that he has had so far. Among many other things, they played and created several iMovies, one of which included this archery ensemble...

The Titus's live in a part of Houston that is near a lot of museums including the most incredible children's museum. One section of this museum had a kid village where they could have jobs and take out and deposit money into checking and savings accounts. (Not real money of course!). Here is Chris writing out a deposit slip to add his "paycheck" to his account...

There was also a three story climbing maze that Chris and Olivia completed together...

We also went to a science museum but mostly we just visited and had a great time. Here are the big kids on a slip and slide in the back yard...

We are happy for our friends in their new and awesome location and for sure we will be back!

Lettuce

Our first harvest from the garden is lettuce! 

An Ark

Now that our garden project is essentially done, I'd like to build an ark, as all it seems to do around here is rain!

Mommy!

J has been saying Daddy forever. Well, he finally figured out how to say Mommy and it's really cute!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjc3WXXWe9E

How to Crack Up J

Mackenzie was making J laugh today with a cup tapping game. She took this video of him cracking up...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92w7R_zDns4

Christopher's Spring Recital

Chris had his spring piano recital this afternoon! He played "Spanish Caballero" and "Shave and a Haircut." Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sex4UbVWTqM

Running Bases

After Christopher's game, J showed us how he runs bases...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MKHDJg8h84

Also the vegetable garden is growing!

Look at this zucchini plant!

Forward Facing!

Although he's not sure what to make of it, our little boy is now facing forward in the car!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Today we celebrated Brian/Daddy's 40th birthday! Daddy had a well-deserved day off and we all went out to dinner at the Blue Moose, followed by cake back at the house. And speaking of cake, here is what happens after cake...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkBdV45GOsI

BBQ Time!

We had the Basinger family over this afternoon for a barbecue (that's Tiffany, Jerry, and Noah for those who don't know)! It was fun and the boys all had a great time together. Christopher was cracking up Jonathan and Noah. 

It's been so fun watching Jonathan and Noah grow up together. Just as Chris had Olivia for essentially all of his life, so does J have Noah. Noah calls him "JJ" by the way and it is so cute!

Yesterday Christopher got a pair of rollerblades, and in between all the other things we had going on this weekend, you could not get the kid off of them!

J

Look! Mommy got me a new watering can that is just my size! Now I can actually help out in the garden. Also, here is me doing down dog...

And relaxation pose...

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day (a few days late) to all the mothers and grandmothers (and any other type of mothers) out there! I am so thankful to be the mother of these two fabulous boys and I am incredibly grateful for my own mother too!

We got a special treat at church on Mother's Day when the kids all sang for us. Here is a video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4rk3kVWxcI

Done! (Pretty Much)

This may be beginning to seem like a garden blog but we are very excited about the completion (for now) of our butterfly/hummingbird/pollinator garden! I finished the planting and mulching today and added an extra suet bird feeder to our original feeder and later today we are going to put up our hummingbird window feeder. Christopher has always enjoyed watching the birds we get to see and we may even start keeping track of the different birds we see. This has been so fun and we're looking forward to enjoying our garden this spring and summer!

Not too big

Apparently he doesn't realize he's outgrown this thing...

The Garden Bench

We had ordered a bench for our garden from a local man (Howard Huggins with KC Adirondack) and it arrived today! It is a homemade cedar bench and Chris helped me pick out the pillows to go with it. It is a lovely addition to our garden!

It looks better with these fine young men in it...

This afternoon, Chris helped me spread mulch throughout the garden bed (while J supervised) and we will finish that tomorrow!

More Plants!

There is a section of our backyard bed that was very bare, save for our two lovely electrical boxes. So this morning, Jonathan and I (and by Jonathan and I, I mean... I) planted some azaleas and day lilies in front of the prairie grasses I put in the other day with the hope that eventually those electrical boxes will be somewhat hidden by beautiful plants... Kasey apparently thought she also worked very hard and made herself at home in the blankets and pillows of our couch!

First Baseball Game

Chris had his first game of the season today and it was a chilly one! He went 2 for 2 and got an out as the pitcher's helper... And then here is the post game uniform...