Owen's New Ride

Today Owen received his new Amtryke. He has been waiting for quite some time for the bigger size. This is a larger version of a similar bike he received when he was 2. He rides a bike just like this at physical therapy and so he has experience and was able to get right on it and did very well. He was very proud of his new bike (and helmet!).

Spring Break Part 2

We drove to Tyler TX on wednesday of last week for a family getaway. The kids loved the hotel, of course..... especially the indoor pool which we used 3 times in 36 hours. The highlights were a few late nights of giggling while trying to all fall asleep in the same room, a beautiful day at the Tyler Zoo, lunch at Chuck E Cheese and a go-kart adventure. We came home exhausted but refreshed. The memories are worth the exhaustion!

I am including one of henry's wildlife pictures from the zoo. We handed the camera to him for most of the day and he had a blast taking pictures. I am including his favorite close-up of a giraffe's rear-end which is most hilarious when seen through the eyes of an almost 8 year old who is laughing so hard the camera is shaking :) There is also a picture of the kids in the sandbox at the zoo- the zoo's best feature if you ask me!! Eric and i were able to put our feet up for a while the kids made sand castles. The kids also loved the parakeet exhibit at the zoo. The each had seed sticks and at one point or another were able to get a bird to eat off of their stick.

On friday, Chuck E Cheese was Meghan's request and was made more fun thanks to a year-old gift card from Grandpa. The boys played skeeball and other video games. After lunch, we headed to a go-kart and bumper boat place just outside of Tyler which of course both the boys loved. Once we finished racing, we headed home and at least one of us feel asleep in the car on the way home. Poor girl.... that's what all that adventure, late nights and no naps can do to a 3 year old.

Spring Break - Part 1

Owen, Meghan and I returned from Austin this evening. We had a great time hanging out with our friends, Matt, Chandra and Maia. We visited a fun park, ate pizza (of course!) and went to the Austin Children's Museum. It was great fun and a super time catching up with our friends. Here are a few pictures from our quick trip:
- Meghan in the sandbox at the park
- Super Owen in his cape in the "wind tunnel" at the Children's museum
- Maia taking some steps
- Chandra and Owen driving the old fire engine at the park
- Maia worn out after having 3 crazy visitors!

A Saturday Project

It was a beautiful day here in Dallas. Sunny and 60's...feels like spring is here. Eric and the boys set out early on a project for the day. They are building a raised planter box so that we can experiment with growing a few things in the backyard.
Here they are in the driveway working on the legs of the planter. The project will probably take several saturdays and sundays but the boys and Eric had so much fun, i don't think they will mind one bit. Doesn't Owen look especially great in his "protective goggles" (ie mom's purple sunglasses)?
If Eric's hands are functional tomorrow (after all the chiseling) they will be back to work as soon as we are home from church.

A Few Pictures

Here are a few recent pictures just for fun. First is the boys in their current preferred home-school setting. Yes, they are both in Henry's bed. When we started the year we all sat nicely around either the kitchen or dining room table. What I have found recently is that that is wwaaaaaaayyy too boring and when I asked them where would be better they said "in bed!" So off we went and it has worked out well. They think it is fun and that's all that matters as long as they are still willing to focus on their work.


Next are some pictures of Meghan opening some birthday presents that arrived a little later. It is

so fun to get late presents!! It is like having another birthday. Here she is sporting a new hat and shades and also pushing her new double doll stroller. "Double" is the key word here. Of course she already had a single stroller but with her 3rd birthday came a new doll, Jenny, and in order to take care of Jenny and Mary (last year's doll)..... well you have to have a 2-seater. She looks so good pushing that thing around the house. A future mommy in training for sure!

Spring Break is Here!

Today was the beginning of the boys' spring break and I am really not sure who is more excited about it.... me or them. A break from home school will be welcomed by all three of us. Maybe Meghan will be the most excited not to have mommy so busy with school for the boys on monday and wednesday this coming week. It will be nice for all of us to break from routing and just have fun together.

We started our spring break with a trip to the dentist for their semi-annual check ups.... way to go Mom, nice timing on that appointment. With that out of the way, we did get to have some friends over to play which was fun for everyone.

We have some fun things planned for the upcoming week. Henry is going to Lake Texoma with the Cole's to celebrate Caleb's 8th birthday. Caleb asked Henry and one other friend to go. They will be there for two nights. While they are there, Owen and Meghan and I will head to Austin for one night to visit our old friends and neighbors, Matt and Chandra, and their sweet one year old Maia. It should be alot of fun. For Eric's spring break.... he gets to go to work.

Well, that's not completely true because later in the week when the rest of us are home from our first adventures, we will head out on a whole-family adventure. We are heading to Tyler, TX for 2 nights. We had some last minute plans change and so we chose to go to Tyler so that we could still stay in a hotel (the highlight of any trip from the perspective of a 7, 6 and 3 year old!!) and so that we could get away from the house and relax a little. The hotel has an indoor pool which will probably be the highlight. Tyler has a small but very nice zoo which we will probably visit if we can convince Henry that it doesn't smell that bad (no kidding here, his chief complaint against zoos is the smell). Of course, if there are go-karts anywhere nearby the boys will certainly both cast their vote in that direction.

A New Start/Meghan Turns 3!

It's been a long time since we posted anything out here. But in recent months, i have had a recurring thought that it was time to try again.
Meghan turned three in February. Her birthday was so much fun. We threw a small party for her and invited over a few friends. It was a "mommy and baby" party and each of her friends brought their baby dolls. We changed diapers, took our babies on walks, took them to a pretend library reading time and music class. Finally, the kids all put their dolls down for a nap so that we could all enjoy some cake and ice cream. It was so much fun and such a great way to celebrate with her as her most favorite thing to do these days is take care of her dolls.

The boys were especially sweet in helping with the celebration. They helped make nametags for each of the diaper bags (party favors) that we put together for each friend who came to the party. They also each read a book out loud at the pretend library. Henry picked out a pink soccer ball for Meghan and Owen gave her a huge pink stuffed monkey.