Baby in the Sink

Drive Home ~ Last day of our trip

Finally, we get to the end of our trip. We stopped at Pate's Transportation Museum, which was deserted and a bit creepy. But hey, they had old bombers and artillery in the grass so the boys LOVED it!!

Then it was back in the car for the drive home. The kids did great, but they were full of laughter, giggles and mischief. Indian burns & cowbites were high on the list. We had to draw the line when they started to try and bite the other's finger as hard as they could!! How do boys come up with these games? Jake could not drive fast enough those last few miles!! :) Memories are made of this stuff!

Things that make me want to shout at people...

I cannot understand WHY people do not turn the lights on if there is morning fog. Is it because it is morning and they think, "Hey it is daytime, of course people can see me." Or is it just because they think they are invincible? I especially love it when a WHITE car decides not to opt for the lights. Don't they get it? Are they looking out their front windows and looking into the same poor visibility that I am looking at? Seriously folks, help me understand.

Warning...Hallmark moment!

Windermere Primary School has televised morning announcements. Each week a different class gets to do the staple duties: hold the American, Texan & Windermere flags for the different pledges & hold the weather card. So today Rhys got to hold the American flag. This afternoon I received an email from his teacher, she sent me a forward from the librarian (director of the announcements). I thought it was pretty cool, so I am going to pass it along:

"Kelley this would be Rhys :-)....................
After announcements this morning I overheard one of the kinder flag holders from Ms. Perkins' class say as he headed out the door, 'That was the first time I got to hold the flag on TV. I felt brave and proud.'

I sometimes forget how moved children can be with such seemingly small things. "

Dinosaur Valley State Park

Glen Rose Park

Can You Spot the Animals?

Here are the pics from our time at the Waco Zoo....

Spring Break Roxz!!

Aaahh the last day of Spring Break. We had a great time. We started the week off visiting some family in San Antonio. It was the first time the kids had gotten to see Opa since his surgery, and they were happy to see him. Lucy especially enjoyed some time with Opa. On Wednesday we headed back home to get ready for a road trip with Dad. Jacob took Thursday & Friday off and we got the heck out of Dodge. We headed to Waco to check out their zoo, which turned out to be phenomenal! Then we moseyed over to Glen Rose. Glen Rose is a really cool little town, and it's claim to fame is a state park that has actual dinosaur tracks. We spent the day checking out dino tracks and hiking. Next day we hit Granbury where we ran into an old fashioned Texas festival. They were having a BBQ contest, so the brisket was flowing. Those smokers had me salivating before we even hit the square! They also had a nice parade, complete with people riding Longhorns. Unfortunately there is no pictures evidence of this part of our trip, I forgot the camera in the car! On the way home we found an old transportation museum. It never fails to amaze me that nothing can make a little boy's day like finding a field with old planes and tanks in it. It was a great trip, except for those last 5 miles...why are they always the longest?
I decided against making a movie for this trip, instead I am going to post some new pics everyday. Keep you wanting more!

At the park with Jack & Elise!

Words Matter

I don't usually discuss politics on this blog, but for some reason Mr. Obama's offhand comment about the Special Olympics really upsets me. I find it ironic that the first black President would make a comment that degrades a group of people that are not 100% accepted by society and have to fight for respect. Call me crazy, but I thought he would totally understand that the slightest word can set back progress towards acceptance. Silly me. I guess it is easy to make offhand remarks about people, when they are not your people. Sad.
Check THIS out.

Like Father, like Daughter

Who couldn't love these faces?

Vaquero Rojo

testing their gold!

That's right, it's that time of year folks...rodeo time! The Kindergarteners got to put on their cowboy duds and have a rip roarin' good time. They roped cactus, won gold at cowboy bingo, ate frito pie and drank cactus juice. They even got to race their horses! What a way to start Spring Break!

It's Official

We received our notice in the mail that our business name has been approved. Watch out world, Forbes Electrical Systems Design in on the loose!

Lucy Sittin & Playin

It has taken Ms. Lucy a long time to get to this point, but she has done it...sitting straight up and balancing on her own! Yeah! Most of you know that her muscle tone is our biggest challenge, so when she hits a marker it is a big event in our house. Now Ms. Nosy can see & touch things at a new level!

Time Change Sucks!

I hate changing the time! I don't care if it is falling back or springing forward, it all makes me crazy and it takes me weeks to adjust!! Just leave the time alone!! AAAGGGHHH! Anyone else?

Exploring UT

UT held an awesome event on Saturday. It opened it's doors to the public, and every field of study did something cool: lectures, games, exhibits, crafts and games. Needless to say, we spent most of the day at the Engineering school. We were able to see a robotic dog play soccer, Ethan powered a light & a TV by riding a bicycle, and the kids + Dad got to design a safety jacket for an egg. FYI, the "jacket" worked; the egg did not get smashed when it hit the target, but then the egg fell out of the "jacket" and broke! It was a fun day, and it was really cool to see how large UT really is. Made me miss college...for about a minute.

we wore Lucy out!

Spring has SPRUNG!!!

I saw my first patch of Bluebonnets today!!! It must be Spring! Don't forget to turn your clocks forward tonight!

By-Bye

Lucy waved by-bye for the first time today. It was a pretty exciting milestone. She had her annual assessment last week, and she is doing pretty well. Cognitively she is only about 1 month behind, and physically...well physically we have some work to do. Which is not a bad deal because we can give her more muscle tone, we can't give her more brain activity. This Down-Syndrome thing is a trip, because we have no idea what to expect. When she was born we only had this doom and gloom outlook, but she has proven us wrong every step of the way. She truly is the light of our family, and brings us all such happiness.
I love looking at pictures of older kids with DS and seeing that they are just like everyone else (check this LINK out). The funny thing is that kids with DS are not like everyone else, the real science of it blows me out of the water. An extra chromosome makes such a difference in the human makeup. I once heard people with DS referred to as modern day mutants, X-men if you will. To live one's life always having to prove that they can be "normal", and yet still deal with differences that others don't have...yeah that sounds like the X-men alright. So we try and not put Lucy in a box, not to label her abilities or rank her achievements...just to enjoy & appreciate her as she is. Society makes that hard, but we have Ethan & Rhys to jump through those hoops! :) Maybe tomorrow I can post a clip of our X-Woman waving by-bye!