Dean and Suzie's Family Fun

Season's Greatings!

2009-12-24T12:46:00.005-06:00

We saw this at Great American Cookie Co. at our mall. We are going to submit it to CakeWrecks.com!

iLove Valentines

2009-02-14T13:54:00.019-06:00

I saw these in Family Fun magazine and thought they were so cute and perfect for the boys to hand out in class! The boys thought these were "cool" and not frilly or girly like a lot of valentines. Plus, they just love iPods!

All you do is cut out construction paper and tape it around a box of conversation hearts. To print the scroll wheel and playlist, search "Rock Candy" on familyfun.com or go directly to the printable scroll wheel and playlist. Cut them out and glue them on the front with a glue stick. The boys then wrote their to's and from's on the back and that was it. You could also tape on "headphones" made out of string and mini peanut butter cups or kisses. So fun and easy!

Santa Pictures

2008-12-09T23:07:00.001-06:00

It's just not Christmas without a picture of someone crying on Santa's knee. Poor Little Joshie! He doesn't get the whole Santa thing quite yet. He did run up at first and check out Santa's bucket to see what treats he had. :o)

Awww, look at that sad, sweet little face!

Breakfast with Santa

2008-12-09T14:24:00.008-06:00

The title should actually be "Breakfast with Santa whom we saw for a few minutes from a distance". :o)The breakfast was so much better last year. Santa walked around during breakfast and talked and took pictures. This year he read a book and then we didn't see him again. The kids did enjoy their goodie bags and Chick-Fil-A breakfast. Considering it was basically free, it was a pretty good deal! We went and saw Santa later on that day.

This is the only group picture we could get before Josh got away!

It is amazing how well behaved he looks here! It took a lot of effort to get one picture of him looking at the camera.

This was Josh's highlight of the event. He kept looking around for more trash to throw away. One of the thrills of having a two year old!!!

Christmas Parade

2008-11-29T11:18:00.001-06:00

We went downtown Austin to the Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade. We sat next to the State Capital where the parade started. It was a cold day, well for us anyway. I think it was in the 50's and windy. This was our first time at this parade and I think it might become an annual tradition for us.

The kids want one of these for Christmas!

Josh ran right up to Elmo and gave him a high five! We were surprised because he usually isn't that brave. Everyone around us thought it was the cutest thing.

Here is Dean's favorite. ;o) These dancers stopped in front of us for a long time. The leader cracked us up!

Star Wars! Another one of Dean's favorites, oh and Nathan and Matt also.

Hello Kitty, one of Hailey's favorites.

Josh loved the Coca Cola Bear Balloon.

Nathan loved putting the toys we brought into the truck driving by.

And no Christmas parade is complete without Santa and Elvis!

Sibling Love

2008-11-22T23:55:00.000-06:00

Play Date

2008-11-22T23:30:00.004-06:00

We had a play date at our house with our Bible Study class. Josh and Hailey were so excited about it! Josh was so funny handing out toys and trying to zip his friend's jacket. Hailey was proud showing off her room. Nathan and Matthew had school and were sad to miss out on all the fun. The kids spent most of the time playing in our playroom. I didn't get any pictures of the babies that came, but they were so cute. The kids also decorated a cookie. I was going to get out a craft, but they were enjoying the playroom so much, we just let them play. You may notice that Josh has started posing for pictures now. After the picture, he runs around and says, "see" and wants to see the picture.

Hailey's 5th Birthday

2008-11-10T18:37:00.005-06:00

Princess Hailey is 5! She wanted to get her hair done like last year. I took her to Club Libby Lu and she got the Royal Princess treatment. She got her hair styled, nails painted and some eye shadow and lip gloss put on. Oh, and lots and lots of glitter! She filled a backpack with makeup and jewelry. She chose the wings and wand as her accessory. We had the whole store to ourselves, she was so excited!

We really celebrated Hailey's birthday all weekend. We do this for all of the kids. We went to her favorite restaurants and play places.

Hailey used all of her birthday money to buy a pink Game Boy with a pink Princess Peach case and some "girl" games.

She loves this Pretty Pretty Princess game. The winner of the game is the one with all of the jewelry on. The boys love playing it with her. They don't even mind the clip on earrings. :)

I took her hair down and it was so curly, I had to take a picture. It didn't capture it that well on camera, but I thought these pictures were cute.

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T18:36:00.007-06:00

The Peanut Gang had a great Halloween! Sally was happy that Linus didn't wait around this year for The Great Pumpkin. Charlie Brown didn't get any rocks. Little Snoopy didn't bother his clip on ears after he realized there was candy involved.

Sally wore a "Sweet Baboo for President" button.

Sweet Berry Farm

2008-10-18T18:35:00.003-05:00

We went to Sweet Berry Farms with friends from church. The kids picked out their pumpkins. They painted the small ones and carved the big ones at home.

The kids had fun on the hay ride, well maybe not Josh. Instead of riding back on the hay ride, Dean walked to the car to get our lunch. Josh was so worried about his Daddy that he cried and kicked the whole ride. When we stopped, Josh took off towards where we left Dean. Josh calls Dean "Addy" now. He was calling us both Mommy for a long time.

Hailey Style

2008-09-23T18:35:00.002-05:00

Hailey styled her own hair. Isn't she lovely!

First Day of School 2008

2008-08-26T18:34:00.005-05:00

Nathan is now in third grade and Matthew is in first grade. They really like school. It is always sad to see them go back after spending the summer with them. Hailey has one more year at home before she starts Kindergarten next year.

Nathan picked out his own outfit. He had to have it after he saw it on a mannequin at The Children's Place. :D He likes to dress "cool".

Matthew with his teacher.

Nathan with his teacher.

Waco Zoo

2008-08-17T18:31:00.005-05:00

Josh loved feeding the catfish!

He was thrilled with his alligator squeak toy!

Nathan's 8th Birthday

2008-07-18T18:33:00.004-05:00

Nathan chose to have a few expensive gifts this year, instead of having a party. He got a red Nintendo DS lite, a red plasma car and a red electric guitar. Can you guess his favorite color? He had a very Happy Birthday!

Summer Houston Trip

2008-07-05T18:29:00.000-05:00

We made a stop at Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory for a tour on the way to Houston.

Our hotel room over looking Clear Lake

Kemah Boardwalk

Johnson Space Center -Cameras were allowed inside NASA, but not at Blue Bell. :S They had a big play area.

A long tour

Matthew's Kindergarten Graduation

2008-05-29T18:28:00.007-05:00

They called Matthew's name as he walked down the aisle.

Matthew on stage talking into the microphone.

Matthew with his teacher.

Each class had a class themed cake. Matthew's class were the "Almost Angels". Their edible class picture is on top. You can see him on the bottom right with the blue shirt and tie.

They also had angel cookie pops with individual pictures on them.

Hailey's Ballet Recital

2008-05-24T18:27:00.012-05:00

Hailey was very excited for her big recital! She had a lot of fun and loved that she could wear some makeup!

Here is a video of her performance . Click on the play button to view.

Nathan's Birthday at School

2008-05-16T18:26:00.006-05:00

Nathan decorated the cookie cake!

Black Bean Brownies

2008-05-05T18:24:00.006-05:00

I read about these brownies online and thought I would give them a try since Josh is allergic to eggs. Also, what a great way to get the kids to eat their beans!

Ingredients:

1 15.5 oz. can black beans

1 box brownie mix

Directions:

Stir beans and mix together. (No eggs, oil or other ingredients needed.) You can use a blender if you wish, for a smoother batter. Pour into greased pan. Bake according to brownie directions.

They loved them!

Egyptian Day

2008-04-25T18:22:00.007-05:00

Nathan has been studying Egypt this year in 2nd grade. Today was Egyptian day at school. The kids had an Egyptian lunch and played Egyptian games. I put his costume together last minute with glue and safety pins. :) I brought Hailey and Josh with me and we were all able to enjoy Egyptian day with Nathan.

Matthew's 6th Birthday

2008-04-19T14:58:00.005-05:00

We had Matthew's birthday party at our local park. His theme was Webkinz.

Here is Hailey spinning the Wheel of Wow. We gave the kids Webkinz shopping bags to hold all of their prizes and Kinz Cash.

The kids made Crowns of Wonder and searched for gems.

Wacky Zingoz Pinata

We had a balloon pop.

Webkinz coloring

A Webkinz logo cake. Our grocery store was nice enough to make a custom W cake.

A new Webkinz!

Josh was such a good boy. He sat in his stroller the whole time. I think he felt safe in there with all of the people around.

Josh's First Hair Cut

2008-04-05T14:57:00.000-06:00

Josh had his first professional haircut! Dean cut it at home a few times before and he always cried. We were surprised at how well he did today! He didn't cry at all. He just sat in the little fire truck and held his ears with a look of concern on his face.

BEFORE

AFTER

Dean's Appendectomy

2008-03-31T22:28:00.006-06:00

We had a big emergency last Thursday. Dean started having stomach pain around 4 am. On my way home from dropping the boys off at school, Dean called me to come right home. He had severe pain in his lower stomach. I rushed him to the ER and they took him back right away. I have never been so scared in my life! It took 5 hours of tests and waiting and then the CAT Scan confirmed it was his appendix. He had laparoscopic surgery shortly there after. The surgery went well and his appendix didn't rupture. Dean was able to come home on Friday. He is resting at home and is feeling a little better each day. The full recovery time is 6 weeks.

We had a wonderful friend pick up the boys from school and take care of them in the afternoon. I had Hailey and Josh the whole day at the hospital. Hailey was an angel and Josh did OK for Josh.:) I had someone offer to watch him, but I knew he would cry, like he does when I leave him at church. Poor little Nathan had a hard time leaving his Daddy at the hospital on Thursday night. I am so glad Dean was able to come home so quick. The kids were so worried and missed him so much.

We had to cancel Matthew's birthday party on Friday and he took it so well. I was so proud of him. We are planning on rescheduling it sometime soon. BTW, the birthday cake count is up to 3 now. :)

Here is a picture I took of Dean in the ER on my cell phone after they gave him the pain medicine.

Here he is today.

Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T21:57:00.002-06:00

The Easter Bunny left the baskets outside of the kids' rooms. They brought them right into our room bright and EARLY! Next year, I'm hoping he will hide the baskets to be found after we all wake up.

Josh thinks he's a big boy and wants to dye eggs too.

Here is Dean "enjoying" the days activities. :)

Church Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-22T21:35:00.001-06:00

Matt's Birthday at Home

2008-03-21T21:29:00.000-06:00

This is from Matthew's actual birthday. His birthday was on Good Friday, so we planned his big party for the next week. I wonder how many cakes he will end up with?

Matt's Birthday at School

2008-03-19T21:25:00.000-06:00

Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-17T08:54:00.003-06:00

Our neighborhood had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Josh loved all of the candy he got out of his eggs! He was so cute picking up the eggs. Nathan, Matt and Hailey didn't find any eggs and they handled it so well. Dean went and got them some eggs from the volunteers running the hunt later. We took them for a shaved ice treat after the hunt because they were so good.

Spring Break

2008-03-17T07:33:00.003-06:00

The kids had spring break last week. We had a nice relaxing week. On Friday, Dean took off work and we went to the zoo, Lake Austin for lunch and swimming in our neighborhood pool. It was a high of 96 degrees. The pool was cold, but the kids didn't mind.

Joshua's 2nd Birthday

2008-03-08T18:12:00.008-06:00

Our little baby boy turned 2! I thought his cuteness peeked around his 1st birthday, but he has grown even cuter every day since. He is doing so well. He is eating everything, walking everywhere and is finally learning several words. The therapist comes once a week and Josh is still about 6 months behind, but we are hopeful he will close that gap.

We went to one of Josh's favorite restaurants, Red Robin for dinner. Josh had some chicken sandwich, fries and a banana milkshake with whipped cream and sprinkles. Then, we went to the park and headed home for ice cream cake and presents.

Josh goes down the slide all by himself!

He liked being sung to.

Gotta lick the frosting off of the candles!

Everyone loved the big cardboard bricks! They could play with them for hours.

Catching Up

2008-02-29T15:05:00.000-06:00

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. We have been sick for what seems like most of the last 2 months. We have all had the dreaded stomach flu several times and we've had strep throat, ear infections..... We haven't taken that many pictures, but I will share the few we did take.

Here is a picture of sicky Hailey and Josh. Aren't they sweet? :)

Pop Pop Bob's Visit

2008-01-21T14:57:00.006-06:00

My dad came to visit us from Maryland. Josh warmed right up to him.

It was freezing on the Zilker Zephyr train!

We had fun playing Wii with Pop Pop Bob. We made his Mii to look like his character from a Grease spoof musical he was in recently. His character's name was Hotsy. :)

Happy Birthday Dean!

2008-01-03T14:53:00.001-06:00

Christmas Day 2007

2007-12-31T22:51:00.006-06:00

Nathan made it down first.

All of the kids LOVE their Webkinz animals!

The favorite and most played with gift.

Matthew still loves his Thomas trains.

Christmas Portraits 2007

2007-12-31T22:50:00.008-06:00

Getting 4 children to look at the camera and smile at the same time not only sounds hard, it IS hard! No wonder we only attempt this once a year. Here are some outtakes.

Their smiles look so natural, don't they? ;)

We had to give Josh a candy to keep his finger out of his nose.

Here are the pictures we ended up with.

Hailey's Ballet Open House

2007-12-27T22:54:00.000-06:00

At Hailey's last ballet class of the year, the families were invited in to observe the class. This was in preparation for a big recital coming up in May. We usually wait outside and peak through the window. Hailey loves ballet! She couldn't be happier and insists on wearing a "crown" at class. The girls hug good bye after every class. It is so cute!

Matthew The Christmas Tree

2007-12-27T21:49:00.000-06:00

In Matthew's Kindergarten class, they dress up a lot. So far, he has dressed up as an Indian, a 50's greaser, Joseph and the coat of many colors, a candy cane and he was darkness in the school creation play.

On the last week of school before Christmas break, Matt's teacher asked the children to dress up as Christmas trees. They learned all about the origin of the Christmas tree that week. He actually left on his costume all day. The "star" on top didn't make it that long and a few ornaments kept falling off, but at least they waited until after the pictures.

Breakfast With Santa

2007-12-09T00:08:00.000-06:00

We had Breakfast with Santa at the mall this morning. Josh enjoyed the breakfast, but Santa, not so much! The kids had Chic-Fil-A for breakfast (sausage biscuits & hash browns) and got Santa cups, bell necklaces and candy canes. It was wonderful!

Pink Lipstick!

2007-11-24T14:53:00.000-06:00

This is from Hailey's birthday, but I just had to make a separate post about Dean. This was hilarious!

Dean discovered that the heavily colored icing from the rose cupcake did not wash off very easily. After the cake, he headed to Walgreens down the street for batteries and had forgotten about his hot pink stained lips. While he was paying, the teen cashier says, "Dude, are you wearing pink lipstick???!!!" Dean then explained to him about the icing and the cashier then said, "That sucks!"

Hailey's 4th Birthday

2007-11-24T14:16:00.000-06:00

Hailey has been anxiously waiting to go to a new little girl's salon called Sweet & Sassy. She got her hair, nails and makeup done. She was in heaven!

Striking a pose on the runway!

Time for cake!

Deeeep breath!

That's a lot of candles!!!!

"Do I have anything on my face?"

"Want a taste?"

Presents! "Hey, my mommy had the same My Little Pony's when she was little. They are the 25th Anniversary edition."

"It takes a lot of hard work to keep the ponies looking pretty. It's a good thing my brothers like helping!"

"Thank you to Aunt Mary Lynn, Uncle Kevin, Kevimark, Carrie Ann, Mandy, Ricky, GramE, Nana, Cockle, Pop Pop Bob, Nanny April, Grampy, Aunt Terra and Andrew for helping me celebrate my 4th birthday. You all made me feel so special!

More Halloween Pictures

2007-11-23T21:42:00.000-06:00

Can you guess what they are dressed up as? We have had people guess the older boys were engineers and Josh was the Pillsbury Doughboy! :) (We love your emails, Nana and Cockle!) Nathan and Matthew love their Game Boys so much that they wanted to be the Nintendo characters, Mario and Luigi. Since I like to do a theme for Halloween, I also dressed Josh and Hailey as Nintendo characters. Nathan is Luigi, Matthew is Mario, Hailey is Princess Peach and Josh is Toad. I had to make all of the costumes because they don't sell these anywhere for under $90!

Here is a picture from one of the games for those who have no idea about Nintendo.

Church Fall Fest

2007-11-10T22:42:00.000-06:00

I had to talk Dean into letting our littlest go on his first ride. Josh loved it! He was so happy and tiny in the boat. He was cracking people up at how excited he was.

Halloween 2007 Preview

2007-10-31T20:30:00.000-06:00

More pictures to come!

First Soccer Games

2007-10-21T14:43:00.001-05:00

Nathan and Matthew had their first soccer games at the YMCA yesterday.

We were really surprised at how good Nathan was. He had so much fun! His team is named the "Pan-Cheetah Cats".

He was a great goalie!

Here is Matthew's team named, "The Storm". He got to kick-off.

His first throw-in.

Day Out With Thomas

2007-10-20T16:57:00.000-05:00

This day was all for Matthew. Well, the other kids like Thomas, but nothing like the way Matt does. He has been waiting this day for a long time. We bought the tickets back in June. It was at the Austin Convention Center downtown. The train came right up next to the Center on tracks in the street.

"Hurry, Thomas is that way!"

Josh's little tantrum! :)

Thomas at last!

Waiting for our ride on Thomas.

All aboard!

Matthew was overwhelmed when he was meeting Thomas. He had a little melt down, but managed to put on a smile when promised some toys in the gift shop.

Here is Sir Topham Hatt. After the picture, Nathan said, "That guy was freaky!"

Enjoying a favorite snack.

Making Thomas hats

Josh was so cute with his James temporary tattoo. He kept pointing at it and saying, "oooooOOOoooo".

I think Dean took this picture just to scare me. I don't like escalators.

Josh Enjoying Food

2007-10-20T15:59:00.000-05:00

We had baked ziti for dinner. Josh thought it was so funny when he put the noodles on his thumb! He showed us every time he did it.

I made cookie pops for the kids and Josh loved them. They are huge and he ate the whole thing and was begging for more!

This is how I found him when we go home from Target. He was holding his chocolate chip cookie from the bakery the whole time in the cart without taking a bite. When I tried to take it from him in the car he started screaming, so I let him keep it.

Creation Celebration

2007-10-20T15:08:00.000-05:00

The Kindergarten classes learned about God's creation and then had a performance to show their families what they have learned.

Matthew starring as "darkness".

Josh's First Steps!!!

2007-10-04T21:59:00.000-05:00

Today was a big day at our house! Josh took 5 steps on his own!!!!! He will be 19 months in 4 more days, so we have been waiting for this for a long time. Of course, his brothers and sister were thrilled by his latest achievement! We are so blessed with our precious children!

First Day of School 2007

2007-09-09T13:55:00.000-05:00

Nathan and Matthew getting ready for a great year at Hill Country Christian School!

I can't believe Nathan is already a big second grader. He looks so grown up.

Here is our excited Kindergartner! He has been telling us all summer that he was "not going to school". All of his fears were calmed when he met his teacher the day before.

Josh is all smiles, even though we woke him up really early. Don't tell him he is wearing one of his sister's bibs.:)

Hailey getting her hair done for the big day.

We had to drop Nathan off in the auditorium, so we didn't get a picture with his teacher.

Matthew waiting for his class to be let in.

Matthew with his teacher, Mrs. Jackson. He loves her! We are so blessed to have this sweet, loving, wonderful teacher for Matthew.

Trying to hold back the tears.

Giving hugs goodbye. I am going to start crying again after looking at all of these pictures.

What am I going to do when our last baby starts school?

Here is Matthew after school. Kindergarten had a half day the first week and I picked him up outside of his classroom. Both of the boys love school and their teachers. Matthew wishes that he had school on the weekends too.

GramE's Visit

2007-09-08T22:55:00.001-05:00

The kids were so excited to have GramE come for a visit! We all had a fun time together. We love you GramE!

Hailey LOVES her Littlest Pet Shop from GramE. The boys love it too.

Cousin Mandy needs to come visit to play LPS with Hailey.

GramE bought the boys each their own Game Boy. I don't know who was more excited, the boys or me! I remember playing all of the Mario games when I was little. It is still just as fun!

This is for you, Kevimark.

Tent City

2007-09-08T22:20:00.000-05:00

I Need More Practice...

2007-09-07T22:27:00.000-05:00

..with my "new" camera. We bought a digital SLR camera just before last Christmas and I am still pretty bad at using it. I guess it's one of those things where it helps to read the instructions. I would say about half of the pictures I take on manual mode turn out blurry or focused on the wrong object. The reason I am telling you all of this is because I wanted to share a couple of pictures that are kind of out of focus, but too cute not to share.

Josh is noticing that we moved his swing to a tree.

BTW, I just realized that I haven't posted any new pictures in a month!!! Sorry about that. Things have been busy around here. My mom came for a visit, Nathan and Matthew started school and all 4 kids got a stomach flu that took a week to fully recover from. I will try to catch up this weekend.

Our Little Explorer

2007-08-08T11:42:00.000-05:00

Josh got out all of my cookie cutters the other day while I was on the phone. He was so pleased with himself and had a great time! He is now 17 months and is on the go and into everything (still not walking yet, but almost)! He loves to explore around the house. I think the kitchen is his favorite place, second to Daddy's office.

When your husband gets a new TV...

2007-08-07T16:31:00.000-05:00

...he will want a new built-in entertainment center to put it in. ;) We had these built-ins made by the same cabinet maker that did the rest of the house. They are the same as our kitchen cabinets, since the family room is open to the kitchen. It took 6 weeks to get them made. I am so glad that Josh can't get finger prints all over the TV any more.

Dean put speaker felt in the doors, so that the remotes work and we can hear the center speaker. The pics aren't the greatest, but you can get the idea.

Before

& After

Nathan's 7th Birthday

2007-08-03T21:54:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Nathan's birthday at Inflatable Wonderland in the mall with a few of his friends from school. Nathan had so much fun and wow do the kids know how to play hard!

Nathan was proud of his Transformer themed cake. He chose white cake with strawberry filling and butter cream icing.

Nathan and Matthew love these walkie-talkies! It is so cute to listen to them talk to each other.

S'mores

2007-08-03T21:17:00.000-05:00

We love our new patio set! Dean got the last set at Sears on clearance. Of course, we had to try it out right away.

I had to included this picture of the "scary" marshmallow that fell into the pit. When it started growing and bubbling up, Hailey was READY to go inside. I don't think she would enjoy camping very much.;)

Baby Swing

2007-07-16T22:56:00.000-05:00

Josh loves his new swing! He laughed and laughed. He could have stayed in there for hours. He was so content. (BTW, check out his new little loafers. So sweet!)

Josh's sister and brothers love pushing him!

I thought I would include this cute picture of our little Princess Hailey. It is hard to get a good picture of her. She usually tries too hard to smile for the camera.:) She loves getting her picture taken.

A Fun Week

2007-07-13T21:14:00.001-05:00

Dean had off for the week of the 4th. We decided to stay in town and do some fun things around Austin. It rained most of the time, so we left our camera at home a lot in fear of it getting wet.

Our first ride on the Cedar Rock Railroad, a miniature train in a park near home. We rented out the whole train for ourselves.;) I don't think it's a very popular attraction.

We went to Zilker Park one morning.

Mommy and Josh

We had lunch one day at The Hula Hut. It is on a dock on Lake Austin. Thank goodness it had a roof or we would have had to eat inside. The kids loved the chips and salsa.

A couple was nice enough to offer to take a picture of all of us.

Here we are at the mall. Someone had abandoned their mall stroller and Matthew and Hailey were so excited to ride in it. It was worth pushing that thing around, since we got a dollar back when we returned it.

One night, we had dinner at The Oasis, it is 450 feet up overlooking Lake Travis. Again, the kids enjoyed the lake view and the chips and salsa. You can see the dark clouds rolling in. It started pouring as soon as we got in the car to drive home. We had great timing that day!

4th of July

2007-07-08T22:12:00.000-05:00

The neighborhoods all around us were cancelling their firework shows because of the rain, but ours luckily proceeded as the rain hovered close by. We went to our community park and sat on a blanket to watch. It is one of our traditions to have cupcakes while watching fireworks. Josh enjoyed them very much!

No 4th is complete without corn on the cob!

New Swing Set

2007-06-27T22:14:00.000-05:00

The kids have been begging for a swing set and after much shopping around, we ordered one from Costco. It is really nice and just what we wanted! Dean worked hard putting it together for two days while dodging rainclouds and lighting bolts.

Hailey posing for a picture while patiently waiting.

The "finished" product. Can you guess what is missing?

The slide has gone missing from the freight company, so they are sending another. The kids are certain to be excited once it arrives. We also have a baby swing coming for Josh.

San Antonio

2007-06-18T22:05:00.001-05:00

Dean surprised us all with a weekend trip to San Antonio! We spent one day at The River Walk and one day at Sea World. We celebrated our 11th Anniversary and Father's Day too.

Matt watching a family of ducks from a boat ride along The River Walk.
If you look closely, you can see Hailey holding hands with Josh. She does this a lot, especially in the car because they sit next to each other. How sweet!

Josh's first time in a pool at the hotel. He was a little nervous at first, but relaxed so much that he lied his head down on his float and almost fell asleep.

The kids enjoyed their first roller coaster ride on the Shamu Express.

The 4-D Pirate show ended with 3 of the children in tears. Who knew that the seats vibrated, blew air and squirted lots of water at you! Oops!

This is where our little trooper, Josh spent most of his time at Sea World. (If you all didn't know, you can click on some of the pictures for a better view. Check out those cute thighs!)

The Lost Lagoon was Nathan's favorite part of Sea World by far!

Hailey and Matthew were holding on for dear life floating in their tubes.

The water slide was a lot of fun! We even convinced Matt to go down. Hailey and Josh enjoyed watching at the edge of the pool.

The Shamu Show

A much needed rest at the end of a fun, long day.

Josh and His Bottle

2007-06-10T21:59:00.001-05:00

Our cutie pie has started drinking from a bottle, to the great relief of his Mommy! He enjoys whole milk and water. Maybe we should try milkshakes to get our tiny guy growing.;) Someone at church today thought that he was only 5 months old!

Josh's 1st Ice Cream

2007-06-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

It finally happened! Josh ate his first bites of ice cream at 15 months old! We have tried many times before, but he refused. He is doing so much better with his eating. He usually doesn't like to be spoon fed, but he opened his mouth wide for this one tonight! We are all so proud of our sweet baby Joshua.

"Mmmm, I wonder what this tastes like?"

"Yum! Ice cream is my new favorite food!"

"What was I waiting for?"

"All done! You got any more?"

Shrek the Third

2007-06-03T14:58:00.000-05:00

We all have been wanting to see the new Shrek movie. We surprised the kids yesterday morning with Shrek t-shirts and announced we were going to the movies.

They liked this movie poster.

Enjoying their popcorn, drinks and Skittles, while waiting for the movie to start.

We ended the day at McDonald's for Shrek Happy Meals!

Josh loves french fries!

1st "Summer" Day at the Park

2007-05-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

It is officially summer for us and this was our first outing since everyone got sick last week. It was a beautiful day.

Princess Wishes On Ice

2007-05-30T21:18:00.000-05:00

The kids loved Princess Wishes On Ice! We were surprised that all of the kids, even the boys, were kept entertained for the entire show. Hailey wore her Cinderella costume from Halloween. Matt wanted to wear his Prince Charming costume, but it was too small. Nathan wanted to wear his pumpkin costume, but we talked him out of it:) We were not allowed to take pictures during the show, so these are from after it was over.

You couldn't tell by these pictures, but Hailey had a great time.

"I'm not losing my slipper again!"

Swimming Lessons

2007-05-29T22:04:00.000-05:00

Nathan, Matthew and Hailey took 7 weeks of swimming lessons. The boys loved it! It took Hailey a while to get used to it. The first few weeks of class she spent more time out of the pool than in. I don't know if their swimming really improved, but I know they had fun!

Baseball Game

2007-05-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

The kids had a blast at their first minor league baseball game. It was Kids Day, so they got sweat bands and got to run the bases!

Nathan brought his First Grade class mascot, "Pooh-bee".

Glasses for Nathan and Matt

2007-05-29T17:28:00.000-05:00

We found out at Matt's 5 year check up that he needed to get his eyes checked. We checked Nathan's also and they both ended up needing glasses. Don't they look cute?

Texas Bluebonnet Pictures

2007-05-29T17:09:00.000-05:00

We tried our best to get our bluebonnet pictures taken. The kids were itchy and worried about what creatures were hiding in the tall grass. A few days after this photo shoot, the kids saw some flowers along the side of the rode, and I heard them whisper to each other to be quiet about it or Mom will want to take pictures!