downtown

Brian relocated his office downtown a few weeks ago. I went downtown today for lunch, it's my birthday. I love the building he is in. It has soo much character. He is on the 7th floor with a corner office! Sounds cool, doesn't it? It is. It's smaller than their last office, but this office has windows!

The elevators are a little slow, they were working on them while I was there. Hopefully that will improve.

The first time I went to see the place Brian tells me it feels like an old time PI movie. It did!! He just needs to put his name on the frosted glass door ;0).

I even love the hardware. I guess sometimes old is better than new. Now I really am sounding old....I'm feeling old too.

"bat" boys

another temple

This past weekend Brian needed to attend a conference in Houston. With some help of some amazing friends, that watched out kids, I was able to go with him.

Friday afternoon I hung out at the conference. It wasn't so bad. We ran into a couple of former GM's that now work for another company. One of them, Don L, has always been one of my favorites. I would often sit next to him and his wife at Christmas parties and any other events spouses were invited. It was great catching up with him.

Saturday I slept in till 9:30...heaven!! Then did some shopping at the Houston Pavilions while Brian was at the conference.

On our way home we stopped by the Houston Temple...another beautiful temple.

cub scouts

Wednesday afternoon and evening it had rained off and on around the area. On our way to den meeting we saw a rainbow! The boys thought is was very cool. That is all they talked about on our drive. They kept saying how cool it would be to find the end of the rainbow and find the "pot of gold". With every turn Mason would comment at how close we were to the rainbow. That is looked like it was ending at a house. Then with our final turn he realized that we weren't going to find it. A little sad but didn't dwell on it. He then moved to the new excitement and that was den meeting.

Den meeting was a lot of fun. Teresa always does a great job. If you can't tell we are about to play chess. By the time all the "pieces" were on the "board" everyone was involved. Mason loves cub scouts. He looks forward to it every week.

weekend

Saturday night Bailee went to a dance in another Stake. It was semi formal and she wasn't sure what she was going to wear. Luckily she was able to find a dress in McKinzie's closet. I think she liked dressing up a bit. What girl doesn't.

Then on Sunday we were able to attend a fireside in Colleyville, Paul Cardall was the speaker. He was born with congenital heart disease and had a heart transplant just over a year ago. He is an extremely talented pianist, self taught. I have one of his CD's and he signed it for me. He ended up playing three pieces. I would of loved hearing him play more.

Just an FYI...he is not that tall. As soon as we turned for the picture he "stretched". We all laughed. He has a great sense of humor.

babies

I know Adam is a big boy, but he looks like a giant next to Oscar.

tennis

Karlee is trying her hand at a new sport. When she did C4K during the summer she took a tennis class hoping it would give her an edge when she started tennis practice. Well...these last couple of weeks she has been worried about today, her first match. She tries hard but struggles. I keep telling her that she's not the only one that has a hard time getting the serves over. Or, that she's not the only one that this is the first time to ever play tennis. Wednesday she found out about what time she would play, so parents could be there. Come to find out, she is one of the top six! Evidently the top six of the boys and girls teams play doubles first, then play singles. What a surprise!

Karlee didn't win either one, both 6-3. But, she felt good about how she played and even had fun. I'm glad she enjoyed playing. Now she's got to work hard and hopefully she'll play even better next time.

here kitty kitty

Yes...we really did. We got another pet. Like a dog isn't enough. Cali is NOT happy.

We actually started considering a cat before another dog. Then we had a brain freeze and got us a dog.

Sunday night some friends called us and told us their cats were old enough to find a home. Karlee has been wanting her own pet for some time.

Isn't it our job to give our kids whatever they want? Lately with pets that is what we have done.

Oscar is soo cute. I wish there was such a thing as "toy" cats. I love them this size.

Sunday night he slept in the laundry room. We had to make sure he knew where the litter box was.

Last night he slept with Brian and me....ahem... isn't it Karlee's cat? Every few hours he would go crazy in my hair!! It was a long night.

He's really quite brave considering Stella pounces and and growls because she wants to play. But Oscar is quick and feisty. Cali hisses at him from a distance too. They act like the rest of our kids. I hope we can all learn to get along.

Today he is 5!!!

Today is the big day! Although Saturday might of felt more like it with his party. We all had lots of fun. A couple of hours into it we were exhausted. The kids were all great, just very busy.

When I was checking out bounce houses online Carson said this bounce house looked like Batman's castle. Done...that is our theme.

The bounce house is huge!! Pictures online don't even compare to how big it is.

I mentioned to Brian a week or so ago that I wanted a Batman logo to go on the bounce house. Not really following through with it I then mentioned it to Brian Saturday morning. This is what he came up with. It's perfect!!

After some bouncing we went inside to play games.

Instead of duck, duck, goose we play chicken, chicken, wiggle. When you run around the circle trying not to get tagged you have to wiggle. The kids loved it.

The kids were all "Batman" and I was informed (by Carson) that I was "Joker". They all had to keep the balloons off the ground or I would take them.

Then we played musical chairs. This was fun too.

Only four left. I kept hoping that Pheobe would win...it's a girl thing. The last two were Mason and Theron. Mason ended up winning.

Presents!!! They were very excited to open the presents. Carson got Toy Story, Legos, lots of Spiderman stuff, Hotwheels, Ironman, bow and arrow set (I told a friend he likes weapons. She really came through with something new.), RC 4 wheeler, clothes, and amazing science.

Mason had a more difficult time than Carson waiting until the friends went home before opening boxes.

Logan N, Matthew L, Carson, Madelyn P, Michael M, Rion N, Trinity H, Aubrey P, Grace B, Kylie R, Phoebe D, and Theron S in front. Near the end of the party 4 more friends/neighbors (Ben P, Jackson P, Nichol R, and Isabella R) came over. They weren't able to be here for the party so they stayed later to play.

Pinata!! There is this new kind of pinata that everyone takes hold of a streamer and they all pull at once. Only one of the streamers is connected to the trap door. So know one really knows who opens the pinata. Much safer. As exciting? I'm not sure.

The picture below looks like Batman is flying.

Happy Birthday Carson!!! I hope you had a great 5th birthday! We love you!!!

blessings

With Brian being the Bishop of or Ward, congregation, we often get calls from people traveling through that need help. There is actually a Bishop in our area that is assigned to help these individuals, Brian is not that Bishop. I usually take down the information and pass it along to Brian for him to call the correct Bishop.

Friday afternoon I got one such call. A woman called explaining that she is a truck driver from California and her truck is in the shop. She has been in a hotel for a week and needed a ride to cash a check and get some groceries. She was in tears because she couldn't find anyone to give her a ride. My first thought was to offer her a ride, but, I wanted to follow procedure. So I took down her information and called Brian, with my fingers crossed that I would be able to go help her.

Brian said that would be great. Just take along the correct Bishops name and number in case she needed something more than a ride. I called her back and told her I could give her a ride. She was excited and tells me that her husband is with her also. I got a little nervous...Carson and I still went.

Tina and Soyvan. She is Mormon and he is Muslim. She has been a member for 5 years and they have been married since January. They were great!! They were so gracious and extremely easy to talk to. I am grateful that I was able to help. I'm grateful that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a church of order. That this couple called Salt Lake and was given a phone number of a local Bishop for help. I'm grateful that I answered the phone and listened to the prompting to give them a ride. I'm soo glad I was able to lift their spirits for the day, they lifted mine as well.

and it begins

Today is just the start of celebrating Carson's birthday. Some years birthday celebrations can last 3 or 4 days, depending on what day of the week the birthday lands.

I took some brownies to his preschool class this afternoon, which they all loved. Miss Kara, his teacher, said that Carson only took off his crown to play outside and for rest time. :) That's my prince.

More birthday fun to come!!

tropical storm hermine

I drive this road every day, many times a day. In the 7 1/2 years we have lived here and through all the storms, I have never seen this road flooded. The fields along the road often, but never have I seen water crossing over and causing this road to be closed.

McKinzie lives only a couple of miles from us, but with the rain and multiple roads closed due to flooding, it took her 50 minutes to get to my house so I could watch Adam.

We are expecting more rain. Definitely a day to stay home.

Preschool

Today is the day this fun, imaginative, almost 5 year old starts preschool. He was soo excited. It's the same place I took Mason for preschool so I am very comfortable with the environment.

I won't normally have Adam on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Carson is at preschool. But today I do, I think it's good thing Adam is with me. When I dropped off Carson it felt kind of weird. I think I might of had a more difficult time all by myself.

That said...I'm soo excited to have time during the week to not be interrupted. To do something I enjoy. To go to lunch with my "best friend", or a girlfriend and not have to worry about a little one. I love my kids very, very much!! But it's time I find out what I enjoy.

my kind of gardening

Imagine our surprise when we find a wild melon plant in our flower bed. We decided to let it grow to see what we get.

Cantaloupe...YUMMY!! This with no work what so ever. I wish everything we touched would do this. :)

rainbow

Wednesday afternoon and evening it rained and rained. The sun finally came through and I saw this amazing rainbow. This is the best picture I have ever taken of a rainbow. It also rained most of Wednesday night. Hard enough it woke many of us up. Today has been beautiful. I turned the AC off all morning and opened windows. I love Texas heat, but I'm ready for fall.

look what we did...

OK...let me explain. She is 2 years old, so hopefully no chewing. And fully grown! She is not house trained, although she will pee on demand. With toddlers and dogs, that is trained in my book. :) Stella is very sweet and great with Adam. She only wants to lick him. She is my shadow. All day long she has been right next to me, almost between my legs as I walk. She doesn't like to be left alone. I really think she has some separation anxiety issues. I hope we can figure out how to help that.

I always knew we would get another dog. It just had to be the right one/size. Mason has been asking for another dog every since we found Peanut a new home. We already love her.

We still miss Peanut...

Birthday Girl

Today Karlee is 12 years old!! Wow! How time flies. Because of crazy schedules after school today, we celebrated her birthday early. Last night we went downtown to Razzoo's for dinner. Then had cake and opened presents at home.

Today I will be taking her lunch, as I do with all our kids on their birthday. The other day she asked me if I was going to bring her lunch. I asked her how long will I need to do that? She said until she moves out. I laughed, she smiled. Unfortunately for her, taking her a birthday lunch is only through middle school. Sorry Karlee.


Bailee gave her some cash for her birthday. This has been her excitement with every gift.

One of the things she wanted was changing her room. I kind of struggled with that. It hasn't even been a year since the last time this room was painted. I know, that was for Kinzie and Adam. But still...only a year. I finally agreed but told her the bedding had to have red because of her desk and bookshelf. She was ecstatic and started checking out bedding online. After only a couple of days we found this. We ordered it then had to wait for it to arrive. She was hopeful to have it finished before her party so she could show off her room to her friends. The pressure was on. We only had one Saturday before her party, luckily nothing was scheduled for that day. The bedding arrived on Friday. That night about 8 or 9 pm we went to choose paint. Brian started the flowers on Saturday, but they took more time because paint had to dry. The morning of her party Brian is finishing up the flowers and I was pressing curtains. The party started at 1 and at 12:30 we were finished. Whew!! That was close. I think it turned out great.

Karlee, I hope you've had a great birthday. WE love you!!!