Here, goaty, goaty!

This is a video from our visit to a small petting zoo. It was actually right before Halloween.



I'll have you know that I did not teach them to call a goat "goaty". But Britta's irrational fear of goats is from me. I teach her all the important things in life.

A Visit From Mom

It's hard to get mentioned in a post on this blog. Really, it's a prestigious thing. People spend a lot of effort trying to buy their way on, but there's only room here for a select few. Well, that and we're pretty lazy about posting to the blog. I guess if people were more persuasive in their bribery more people would get mentioned ... or if we allowed guest posts....

I digress.

This time my mom gets not only a mention, but an entire post to herself! Just what did she do to buy us off? She bought us pies. They were mini pies, but she bought four of them, and that's good enough for me.

This weekend she came to visit us. We gave her the grand tour of the house, fed her home-baked gingersnaps (can you see them on the table in the first picture?), set her up in her own room with her own bathroom and even took her to Six Flags. I sent her back to the airport tonight, feeling like a queen. I mean, she felt like a queen, not me.

Okay, okay, I may have felt a little bit like a queen, too.

The kids were thrilled to have her here and did a suitable job running her ragged. I'm assuming she didn't fall asleep in the airport and miss her flight! She would call if that happened, right?

Ostensibly, Mom came to take the kids Christmas shopping for other family members. She even helped them wrap the presents they bought. Unfortunately, the kids got so excited about wrapping gifts, that even after Mom left, they kept wrapping things unsupervised. I'm not sure what's in all the boxes Maddy put under the tree, although I suspect they're mostly her own toys. I haven't seen Britta in a few hours either, but I hope that's unrelated.

Thanks for a memorable weekend, Mom! Don't tell the family all our secrets. We know where you live....

Happy Anniversary

December 5, 2010 marked the 7th Anniversary of our marriage.  We take turns each year planning our day.  This year was my turn.  Saturday I dropped the kids off with a friend for the morning and early afternoon while I took Cameron over to downtown Round Rock.  We were able to enjoy a nice lunch at "The Recession Cafe" here in town.  It's a new little place with a really fun hometown feel to it.  

When we were done there I surprised Cameron by picking up the kids again and announcing that I had purchased us all season passes, and the remainder of the day was to be spent all together at Six Flags Fiesta in San Antonio.  It's unusual for us to spend time all together during our anniversary festivities.  It was fun to have the kids with us as we enjoyed the theme park.  It just wouldn't have been the same without the whole family.

In the parking lot at Six Flags

Waiting to ride on the train

River rode his very first roller coaster!  He was white as a ghost afterward.

They actually got to ride the train twice in a row!

Saddle up!

Ready?

At the entrance to Santa's Castle.

There was a giant Christmas Tree.  I was shocked to see that Cameron was nearly as tall as the tree.  Next year he's going to put the star on top.

The park was decorated so well for the holiday.

It was freezing cold and I left most of our jackets in the car.  Britta was content snuggling in the stroller with her blanket though.

What Would You Do With a Big Backyard?

Would you use it to train your children in small arms combat, too?

Here's the story. This week for date night, Pheobe and I purchased two Nerf dart guns. After the kids went to bed, we turned on the lights in our backyard and played a couple variations of dart tag. Nothing like shooting at each other to fan the flames of romance in a marriage.

Yesterday we decided it would be more fun to play dart tag with more players, so we started to get the kids acquainted with the finer points of dart warfare, like don't shoot people in the eyes, and don't fire at military helicopters.

Ironically, the very next shot Maddy fired after this instruction accidentally hit Britta in the eye from at least 20 feet away. If it had been intentional, it would have been incredible aim. As it was, it just turned out to be a very good initial lesson on why rules and conventions in warfare are important. Since then they've been much more receptive to memorizing the Geneva Convention.

I'm just glad she didn't have a chance to take a shot at a military helicopter.

We've learned that we need more guns. I'm surprised at the variety of Nerf guns that exist. Some are better suited for certain types of games, I'm sure. These particular ones are a little difficult for the kids because they have to be cocked. I'm also quite sure that we'll go through more darts than is healthy because we have so many bushes for them to get lost in. But it all seems worth it if in the end we've trained up little assassins.

Now I just need tips on how to erase their identities....

I Had a Little Turtle / It's Name Was Tiny Tim....

Halloween brought a turtle to our home this year.

Britta had endless comments wherever she went in this costume. Usually she would shyly turn away, which made it look like she was pulling into her shell.

Once again, all of this year's costumes were homemade by Pheobe. She's an artist. My only concern is what we'll do with these costumes as the kids grow out of them. That's why I'm encouraging her to go green next year--only edible costumes.

We cut out the middle man this year and went straight to the farm for overpriced pumpkins. Now we know exactly who profited from us city folk. We made jack-o-lanterns at home.

The kids had their pick of Halloween parties this week. So many, in fact, that we couldn't attend them all.

Pheobe found them all matching skeleton pajamas to wear throughout the month. They even glowed in the dark! 

Madalyn stopped wearing hers for a week or two because they scared her at night.

"A day without Britta is like a day without sunshine"

That's according to a retired football coach that lives next door. Surely, Britta is a sweetheart, but that speaks volumes about the kind of neighborhood we live in, and the kinds of friends the kids have.

Maybe it's just a Texas thing, but this neighborhood is so darn friendly! So friendly, in fact, that our first week here, one neighbor mowed our lawn and another edged it.

In a neighborhood like this, telling the kids not to take candy from strangers just seems silly. I mean, the candy is probably delicious!

Oh well, I guess our kids will have to learn stranger danger the way the rest of us did -- by being kidnapped by an actual stranger. After one kidnapping, you're pretty well trained for life, I hear.

Our kids even got invited to a wedding!

We got invited too, but I'm sure it was an afterthought. The bride lives next door, and she is seriously considering having our kids involved in the program. She almost had them act as flower girl and ring-bearer, but she was concerned it would weird us out.

It probably wouldn't have.

Sigh.

Our kids are growing up so fast!

Backyard Bliss

One of the most important things to us when we were looking for a house was finding one with a good sized usable backyard.  This house certainly fits the bill.  There is a ton of space and also a bit of fun landscaping to work with.  While we do plan to redo a few things in the coming months and years, there's already a lot of fun things for the kids to do outdoors.

The previous owners left behind a teatherball pole.  The kids love this and often ask Cameron to come out and play.  He's darn good, too.  Nobody has beat him yet!

There was also left a pitching net.  My kids aren't really old enough to use it like it was intended, but they sure love climbing on it.  Don't worry, I'm sure to be heard in the background yelling warnings about safety hazards.  But, aside from that, the kids are getting all their monkey-like tendencies out of their system very well.

One of the great things about the yard is the variety.  We have a nice stone patio, along with an area with a ton of trees (last count we have over two dozen trees in our yard!), an area with open space for running and playing games.

 The first day we were here the kids discovered an area in the back that was littered with shells!  I have no idea where they came from.  They also found a ton of acorns -- which would explain the many many squirls we see in our yard.

It always amazes me how long kids can dig in the dirt.  We hope to have a sandbox built within the next few months.

For now they're content with digging holes in the dirt and looking for worms.

 Such a fun asset to our family's resources.  A good backyard is critical in a well rounded childhood.  Now we just have to figure out a way to get rid of the mosquitos that like it as much as we do.

Halloween Decor

We are big on good quality, classy, holiday decor.  Whatever the holiday may be!  The fall and winter holidays are some of the most fun though!  We found the greatest solar powered LED ghosts at Costco.  To celebrate our new house with it's cute little path leading to the front door, we decided to decorate!

We are hoping that the ghosts will scare away any ill meaning people that would have otherwise tried to come to our door.

I find myself looking out the window and just watching them change from one color to another.  It's mesmerizing.

These are definitely my favorite holiday decorations that we own.  Definitely a good buy!

Royalty for the night

I apologize for the delay in posts, I lost all the USB cords in the move and just found one this morning.

So, for date night last week (actually it was a week ago Friday) we had a "Royal Night" together. I bought the movie "A Knight's Tale" to watch. While we watched we made crowns out of manilla folders, foil, and glitter. Mine was much more ornate than Cameron's was (the picture doesn't do it justice). It was also much taller. LOL. It was also too big for my head. I'd intended on giving it to the kids to play dress up with, but it doesn't come close to fitting, and in order to size it down I'd have to cut off the glittery pink hearts in the back -- and I can't bring myself to do it.

Anyhow... sucessful first "crafty" date since moving into our new house!

Our First House

Today we signed all the papers to purchase our very first house. It's a 5 bedroom 3 1/2 bath home in Round Rock Texas. We fell in love with it the first time we saw it.

Austin Storm

Let me start out by telling you I love the rain. I do. I think I always have. It's refreshing and fun. I love Arizona Monsoon season a lot. However, I live in Texas now. I have never lived in Texas before. I have never been in a storm like this one. An Arizona Monsoon usually lasts a few hours -- tops -- if we're lucky. Sometimes there's some damage (if we're unlucky), sometimes it's just a bunch of dirt and leaves in the bottom of our pools. Well, I've come to learn that storms that are a result of a Hurricane, or a tropical storm, can last a lot longer than that. This particular storm lasted more than 24 hours. We had solid rain for OVER 24 hours. It was so crazy to me! Tuesday evening the winds also picked up and we had *tornado* watches. I can't remember ever having a tornado watch before.
I was in our hotel room on the 4th (and top) floor of our hotel watching the storm from our window. It was already pretty loud from where I was, and the winds were already whipping around like nobody's business! I guess that wasn't enough for this storm though. All of a sudden the winds picked up and rain started pouring even harder than before. Pieces of the shingles of the roof were being blown off. Then we heard a crack and watched as the 3 story tall cypress tree fell to the ground in the small court yard right in front of our window. CRAZY I tell you. Then the winds died down a bit and the storm went about it's business. It rained on and off all day yesterday, but today we woke up to sun. This is the aftermath. The kids were fascinated by the uprooted tree.

The kids got a little lesson on nature.

Posing by the fallen tree.

It was a really tall tree with really shallow roots.

I got to be in a picture, to

Maddy showing us a big chunk of the roof shingles.  It was HEAVY too.

Austin Children's Museum

I've been meaning to take the kids to this place since the moment we stepped off the plane here.  I haven't for various reasons.  Wednesday, I decided, was the day!  It is only about a 20 minute drive from our hotel in Round Rock.  I was nervous to take the kids downtown by myself, but it went really well!

Okay, so this was actually taken as we left to go home.  It does show you how awesome downtown Austin looks though.

This train table was the first thing the kids saw as they entered 

Britta was all about the play food diner.

Construction workers.

She's always glowing it seems.

Right at home with the tools.

It was a nice little break to have story time in the museum.

All in all we had a fabulous time.  The kids were even pretty well behaved.  I only lost each of them once -- and only for a few minutes.  During the day while the other kids are in school seems to be a quiet time to visit. If I want to come when there are lots of other children for my kids to play with, I'll be sure to bring another supervisor!