Dress up Cats

So this is what my children do when they are left to their own devices. They dress up their cats to match them. Or at least Isabelle did because we do not have any boy baby doll clothes. So both of our boy cats were wearing girl doll clothes at some point today. Check out the matching backpacks.

The "man"

We started our day playing in the snow and we ended our day the same way. We made a snowman. Then after playing with the neighbor kid I thought we might shovel the drive for Ben. I got started and he came home. Hopefully he will be able to get out on Friday.

White stuff

Wow what an amazing thing for Texas. Real snow! Not like that stuff we had earlier this year, this is actual inches of snow. The kids I think thought it was great, but were outside for all of thirty minutes. Cooper about fifteen. Oh well, I’m sure they will play more soon. I think we should make a snowman, since the snow is just perfect for that, we’ll see what they think a little later on. I wanted them the play outside more, because it is hard work to get them all ready to play outside, all those layers. I guess we should enjoy it while it lasts, because tomorrow is going to be yucky, once all the water and slush refreezes overnight to make ice. Fun times!

Seeds

Our seeds are here! Our seeds are here. I am so excited that we can finally put to work our master plan for the garden and get going on planting. We just have a few things to do to ready our beds but we are getting closer to planting.

We have decided to expand our garden this year a lot. Ben would like to see the garden go all the way around the back yard in a U shape but we’ll see. We are going to plan an herb garden in the front yard that should hopefully come back every year, or at least that is my plan.

So as our garden progresses I will keep you abreast of the activity and harvest. I can hardly wait. Homegrown tomatoes here I come.

New Family Members

I would like to introduce you to our newest family members, TuTu and Viking. Can you guess which one belongs to which kid, oh yea their both males. Yes, I finally broke down and let the kids get kittens. Let me just say I am ready to give them back. Hopefully though after a new plan of action things will get better and I might change my mind into keeping them.

So far they are kind of cute and fun. It was probably good that we got two kittens because they help to entertain each other; so much like, at least two children. The kids love them and enjoy having them around. We did have to teach them how to carry their cats by the scurf of the neck because Isabelle was being too rough when picking up her cat.

I think they will be enjoyed for a while and once this crazy weather levels out life should get better. Then the cats can go outside for the majority of the day. I’m sure no matter what I say they will always sleep inside. Just not by me.

What they say

Isabelle: Mom

Mom: What

Isabelle: Mom I just heard a new "v" word, Vegas, Vyzs but I don't know what it means

Mom: That's not how you spell it, laughing.

Happy 1st Birthday Cooper

Today my baby is no longer a baby or infant. He is officially a toddler. Never mind that he has been walking for a month, and getting into everything he can get his hands on, all which would make him seem like a toddler already. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday with friends and family. I figured the grandparents would want to be able to share in our joy of his wonderful boy, so we got together a little early.


He was very excited to have all the attention and spend time with some of his favorite people. Great Grandma Libby, Oma and Grandpa Don all came up from San Antonio. While Grandpa Bernie and Grandma Susie came in from Sulphur Springs, plus we had wonderful friends who live close by, Angie and Gene and their two kids came to play. Along with my college roommate, Paige and her son, and you can not forget Auntie Penny. It was a perfect amount of kids and guest for the little guy.

Everyone enjoyed themselves and welcomed Cooper into the world of being one. He was too cute with his cake; he really just wanted to eat the frosting and only really got into the cake when we cut it open for him. He did not really focus on any one present but checked them all briefly out and moved on to the next one.

I cannot really say what his goals will be for the next phase of his life, but you can be sure it will be walking and then running (since he already tries that). And in the summer swimming and enjoying life outside since what kid does not want to play outside. I think there will be facial features, colors and shapes on the menu as well.

So here is a very Happy Birthday to Cooper Finn! You are such a joy to have in our lives.

Teamwork Baby

My kids make me laugh everyday, multiple times a day. I was folding laundry today and I look out the window to check on the kids and they are pushing each other up into the tree to try to get a bucket. Or who knows what but it was so funny to see them “helping” each other in this way that I just had to take a picture. They are very creative and have wonderful imaginations; I hope they keep that up all their lives.

Window

In the continuing adventures of an almost one year old, today I thought I would open the windows. I was working on the lap top because something mysteriously happened to the mouse on the big computer. And after I was done I decided to check things out at the big computer. I forgot to move the stool under the table so Cooper would not climb on it. Well the next thing I hear is a big crash, bang. I run into the living room and don’t see Cooper but I can hear him crying, it is kind of muffled, I figure he’s between the couch and the wall. Well no, Bear informs me that he fell out the window. Yup that’s right he climbed up on the stool, onto the table and thought he would check things out by going out the screen. I’m sure it was a pretty scary two foot fall for a little guy. Fortunately he is just fine two little scrapes on his head but nothing else wrong. I’m sure it won’t be the last time this kid falls down. After I picked him up and made sure he was fine a gave a little chuckle, it's kind of funny. And this is the reason why I don't open the windows up stairs unless I'm there with them, and sometimes not even then.

Skate Away

Isabelle has started her extra social circuit of birthday parties for friends from school at last. She is the oldest in her class and now all of her classmates are starting to have their birthday celebrations. One of the first parties she has gone to was an ice skating party. She could hardly wait! We got there and the first thing out of her mouth was, Mom when are we going to skate. Never mind that other party stuff, I want to have fun and skate. Unfortunately we did have to do that other party stuff first before hitting the ice. She was so excited about skating that she did not even have any cake. I know a kid who does not eat cake at a party. I had to eat her piece. (I even thought about an extra one, but passed).

Once she as on the rink she stayed pretty close to the wall but did venture out some. It was pretty fun to watch and be close. Last time I had to stay on the side lines and just watch. I think she did pretty well; I wanted to get a picture of her and Milee (the birthday girl) together but never quite got the chance on the ice. Oh well I’m sure there will be other parties.

Except for being a little shy and not wanting to show off her Vikings jersey she had a great time. I was sad she did not show off her jersey since the Vikings really put it to the “Cowgirls.” Oh well maybe next year Romo.

Toilet Paper the great debate

I was watching TV at some point very recently, as I have been known to do on occasion, and this ad comes up for toilet paper. Now I do not usually pay too much attention to ads, why give the advertisers the satisfaction, after all they are pretty much a waste of time. Cottonelle is currently running an ad that is encouraging people to go out and vote for which way their rolls go. Now I prefer them to go over, easy of use and everything. While I do not think Ben puts any thought into it and just places the roll. So I can always tell when he has put one on because it will be facing the wrong way. It amazes me that something so simple could intrigue that many people to go out and vote. Or that it would be worthy enough to produce a commercial for in the first place. Oh well, I guess I'm blogging about it too, so what does that say. Which way do your rolls go and are you going to vote?

The Gander and Hwy 360

Happy New Year, I hope everyone had a fun, safe and relaxing New Years Eve. We had a great time with a few close couples and their kids. Now on to my interesting story:

One time as a kid, when we were living in California our family was driving along the road and we saw a Red Tailed Hawk attempting to fly but unable to get in the air. So being the caring, compassionate people that my parents are we stopped and rescued the hawk. It turned out that the hawk had a broken wing in three places, which explains why it was unable to fly. Once he was in the car, we took him to an animal hospital that fixed him and then they released him back into the wild. Let me just tell you, seeing that magnificent wild bird up close and personal was amazing. It is not like the zoo at all, I would like to say that we were just a couple of feet away from my Dad while he was holding him in the back seat of the car. So cool!
Anyway, on my way home this morning from picking up our produce Co-Op I spotted a Gander wandering along the road, with a definite limp. Now not as amazing as a Red Tailed Hawk but still a wounded animal in need of help, I rushed home and got Ben and the kids. Since the bird was on the side of a very busy street where it could one get hit by a car or eaten by a coyote, I figured moving it to a park with a pond would be a very nice thing to do. As Ben and I are trying to coral the bird to wrap up in the blanket we brought along, he actually flies away. I told Ben I wanted to go check on it and make sure it was ok so we turned around and found him on a not so busy street in someone’s yard. Fortunately they did not have fence and we moved right in. It was actually helpful since, we used some of their bushes and fence line to coral him and wrap him up. It took a couple of tries and Ben was finally able to grab his neck and then pick him up in the blanket to carry in the car. I’m just gratefully that the people were either asleep, saw what we were doing and did not say anything, or just did not notice us being on their property. After all we do live in Texas, where everyone has a gun, (except us).


Once we had Gandlof (to use one of my childhood gooses names) wrapped up we got in the car and made our way to the park with a pond. He did pretty well on the ride and only moved around his head a little bit, we kept him covered so that he would not freak out and try to snap at Ben or “fly” around the car. We got to the park and the other geese immediately see us and come across the pond to see if we have any food, they only made it half way once they noticed we were releasing another gander. He seemed to be accepted into the flock without too much trouble, no other goose pecked at him so hopefully he will enjoy his new home. We decided that his foot would be fine and would not need medical attention; I hope we are right, since he swam pretty well. I’m sure being off of his foot and in the water helped a lot.

Merry Christmas and Walking

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and received everything they wanted from Santa or family members. I know our kids sure did. Everyone had a great time. We spent the holiday in San Antonio at my parents house, where we helped put up a playhouse for the kids, visited Fredricksburg, and had lots of great family time. The best thing that happened for us on Christmas was watching Cooper discover a new skill, walking. That’s right; he turns eleven months old and decides that is a good time as any to start walking. Now he does not do it all the time but he will walk towards you. He can still crawl faster than walking. I’m sure though in another couple of weeks he will be walking faster than crawling. Since he is a little monkey, I’m pretty sure this kid will be running sooner rather than later. From our house to yours, we hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

(ok my video camera and I are having some difficulty comunicating so I am instead going to show you what it is like taking pictures with three small children and no adults. Please refer to our Christmas Card if you would like to seem them acting properly.)

5 years, Really?

Isabelle is 5 at last. She has been asking when that is going to happen since about her fourth birthday. Two days before she turned five she accomplished one of her life long goals, learning how to whistle. I know to be so young. She has a blast being four and is ready to tackle the world at five. Here is her list of things she would like to accomplish in her fifth year:

1. Learn to ride my bike without training wheels (Mom's falling down on the job)
2. Read better on my own (chapter books here I come)
3. Go to Kindergarten
4. Take pictures everywhere (she must take after mom)
5. Help my brothers learn to do stuff

I’m sure that there is no doubt that she will accomplish all of these goals and much more. Her level of determination is great and she pretty much gets done whatever she sets her mind to. So to another great year of firsts here is to Isabelle, Happy Fifth Birthday.

Backyard Play

For Christmas from Oma and Grandpa Libby, the kids received a wonderful playset for while in San Antonio. It is pretty cool, everyone helped to build it, even the kids. The weather previous to the holiday week was not so good so Grandpa had to take some time while the kids were here to put it together. And let me tell you they could hardly wait to get on and play. We even went so far as to go out of order to put the slide in so the kids could go down while we were building the remaining parts. Now the playset is up and running, or swinging if you like. There is a rock wall, rope ladder, swings and a slide. I think I even heard that Grandpa is going to do some additions, like monkey bars. I know the kids will love the playset and use it every time they come down for a visit. At least right now it helps to distract them from the fact that the pool is not swimmable right now, it’s too cold. Even though they both said they did not think it was too cold. I know children of all ages will enjoy the playset, all the way from the youngest to the oldest.

Breakfast with Santa

We are on our Christmas Break/Vacation and have started the week off with a bang. That’s right we went to Breakfast with Santa. Although it was not so much with Santa as with other people but we got a chance to see Santa.

So this Christmas Tree Farm called Devine Acres just outside of San Antonio puts on a great time for families to bring out there kids and have breakfast and visit with Santa. But it is so much more. Really it is a great way to draw people out to the tree farm to check things out and possibly drum up business for choose and cut trees.

They had a hayride, playground, “petting zoo,” mazes and so much more. Do not forget about Santa of course after all he was why we came. And I will say that all three kids did great with Santa, no one cried. Even Cooper got in the mix of things, before sliding of Santa’s lap to the Oma.

The kids could have stayed, played and explored the tree farm for hours, but it was cold and we had other cool projects to work on. I think they had a lot of fun and Isabelle is already asking to go back. Who knows maybe next year.

Isabelle's Friend Party

Isabelle requested for her 5th birthday that she have a party at a local bounce house place, called Pump It Up. Since I’m such a wonderful, agreeable mother, I said yes. After of course much hemming and hawing about various aspects of parties for small children. Either way, she had so much fun, with her friends from school and various places that it was all worth it. Plus all of the kids got a chance to burn off some great energy while at the same time celebrating a friend’s birthday.


Isabelle and all of her friends had so much fun. They kept playing and running around, and bouncing that you hardly knew they were even there. One of the great things about having a party at Pump It Up is that it is pretty well organized and if there is another party going on you hardly even know that they are there. Plus the help you cut the cake and serve your guest so that you can enjoy yourself and take pictures or visit with your guests.

I’m sure that we will have and go to other parties at Pump It Up, since the kids have so much fun. Or we’ll just have to drop in to get out some extra energy. Now for a few particulars, Isabelle requested a Rainbow cake and that I can say turned out great. Ben made it and it was just a regular cake with a rainbow made out of sprinkles. She loved it and it was exactly what she wanted. And you would think that I had pictures of it but, yea no, I forgot. I was not on my game. She also had Ranch Flavored Chex mix, thanks Joni for the great Ranch mix, and of course Ben for making it. Ben gets the Dad of the Day prize since he helped out so much for Isabelle’s party. (I was a little under the weather.)


I think that overall Isabelle had a great time celebrating her birthday early, with her friends. I wonder what next year will hold.

Christmas Program

The kids both had special Christmas programs at school this year. And of course they could not happen on the same day. Oh well, I guess that is bound to happen. Isabelle did great she has so much fun performing and showing off. Plus she has been practicing her songs for a long while and did just wonderful.

Bear was great too. He sang all the songs, at least I could see his mouth moving and did the signs as well. He was too cute. I think he had so much fun and hopefully was not disappointed by not having cookies and punch with the parents afterwards like Isabelle.

I’m so proud of both my kids, and I am happy that they are getting along so well in school. They were both a joy to watch perform.

Santa's Little Helper

While the big kids were at school today Cooper and I put up some of the Christmas decorations. Here is his version of being helpful. I mean really this kid can get around. I feel pretty confident that he will be walking soon, he is starting to stand longer and longer and is really thinking about moving those little feet unaided. Oh well, it is too cute to pass up.

Snow??

Ok so for about maybe an hour it was snowing in Texas. One minute it was raining then next I looked out and there is snow falling. Crazy! This Texas weather is just strange. I wonder if the rest of my cherry tomatoes will turn red.