School is back in session!!!

First day of school went great! Rhys told me, "Mom, you should leave before you cry." Awwww..

Last days of fun

We squeezed every bit of fun out of the summer...we went to the circus and spent some time making s'mores!

Things that make you go Hhhmmmm...

Things you Never thought you would say....

"STOP going down the stairs in a laundry basket. The pillows you have in there are NOT going to help break your fall."

"You DO NOT need a knife for that!!" (said while running after them as they run into the house to cut tags off of Rhys' new bookbag.)

"You know that you are going to have to wipe your own hiney at school."

"Thats okay that you barfed on the carpet. I know that you tried really hard to get to the bathroom."

"I don't care that a kid at school said that your teeth look fine, we are still going to the dentist."

Our Adventure in Houston.....

We packed up and headed to Houston. Now this is not usually a town that would beckon tourists; it is hot and the humidity is ungodly. However it's Museum District was a welcome alternative to sitting on hot beach next to hot water. We started off our trek with a stop in Brenham, which is where the world's best ice cream is made. Of course we had to go on the Blue Bell tour and get a free scoop of ice cream. Then we headed on to Houston and played at the Children's Museum. It was an awesome place full of fun. The next day we spent all day at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I have never been to such a cool museum. It was fantastic! It had dinosaur bones, a wonderful butterfly exhibit, tons of beautiful shells and gems, African animals, and Indian artifacts. It was amazing. To top off the museum tour, we headed to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. We saw some amazing paintings and even got to do some of our own art. The boys were good, but a security guard approached Jake and let him know that the Control Room was nervous about their behavior. Aaahh...words that every parents longs to hear. So we booked it through the rest of the exhibit, each of us clamping the boy's hands! We had a great time and were sad to come home. To visit our modern day trip slide show click HERE.
Summer is fading fast and we are trying to enjoy the last few days!

A Random Picture of Fun

I know it is blurry, but I have to post this picture of cousins having fun with laundry baskets!

And on this day Brian came forth.....

8/8. Who else but Brian could be born on such an auspicious day? And in the year of the snake to boot. I could not ask for a better brother. I love you Brian, Happy Birthday!

Here are the Top Ten things that I love about my relationship with Brian (in no particular order):

1) He taught me that lava takes a million years to cool. Wow, all of these years and scientists couldn't figure that out. Silly scientists.
2) He always let me go 2nd in Super Mario Brothers.
3) Has NEVER forgotten the time I destroyed his Lego masterpiece while he was out w/ Poppa.
4) He & I have hiked most of Silver Falls together...each secretly hoping that the other one would show weakness and suggest we quit. (FYI we had to quit b/c Joon started limping.)
5) Could never visualize Indian leg wrestling until Jacob, Brian & Widmere showed me.
6) Will NEVER let me forget that I was a selfish & unbearable teenage girl.
7) Love that he once gave a ticket to a woman b/c she had something sticking out of the trunk and did not have a "caution" flag on it.
8) Taught me that Iron Maiden was evil and that I would go to hell for listening to Black Sabbath. Still carry that lesson with me.
9) I know that he will make up words to beat me at Scrabble.
10) He & I know what "The Pledge" is all about.

A Night with the Biscuit Brothers

We took the boys out to see their favorite kid band, "The Biscuit Brothers". These guys are great and their show was very entertaining. It was actually really cool because they played on the deck at Central Market. CM has a great playground under large oak trees and the deck is really shaded. It was an awesome experience to get to sit in the shade, eat some mighty fine food and watch the kids have a great time. They were exhausted by the end...yeah!

Buford looks a little cracked out in this photo, but I guess that is what playing music for 1 hour in the Texas heat does to a person; especially when you know that you still have 1 hour to go! What's up with Ethan's model pose?

When the children get ahold of the camera......