AJ's first T-Ball practice

AJ had a great first practice.
She looks SOOO cute in her little
baseball pants and helmet.
This should be a lot of fun!

We MISS Y'all

I was walking through Lowe's the other day and this smell hit me like a ton of bricks. At our Huntington Ct. house there was this very inconspicuous looking shrub that I never thought anything of until the first time it bloomed. It is called a "sweet box" or "sweet olive" and it gets tiny fragrant blossoms that have an unmistakable smell. So after that first bloom I went to the nursery on Caldwell and got 4 or 5 more of them and planted them all over.

So as I was walking through Lowe's, all of the sudden I was transported back to a summer day by the pool with all of you. I honestly got choked up. Of course I had to by one of the bushes, and I am sitting out on our new porch swinging in our swing and smelling that one of a kind smell that I will always associate with summer and friends. We really miss our Visalia gang.

Texas, oh Texas all hail the mighty state...

For those of you who don't own a TV or listen to news in any form, Texas has suddenly become a very hot commodity in the Democratic race. Hillary and Barack have been campaigning all over the state and our local channels are flooded with commercials ending with, "I am so-and-so, and I approve this message." Anyway, being a democrat myself, I was excited to have the chance to attend the debate held at the University of Texas this week. So I got online to find out how to get tickets and as it turned out, they weren't easy to come by. After all of the muckity-mucks were given tickets, there were only 100 tickets left for the lowly citizens of Austin, and over 10,000 people fighting for them! So we threw our names into the hat and the winners were chosen by lottery. Unfortunately we didn't get in, but it was exciting to know that the debate we were watching live was happening just miles from our house.

Valentine's Day

AJ worked really hard on these Valentines cards. My mom gave me a "Cricut" machine for Christmas that cuts out all these cool shapes, so we cut out cards and AJ decorated each one. Of course we made about 6 batches of suckers and gave them to everyone from the mailman to our neighbors to the crossing guards. I got to volunteer at her class party and she had a great time.

Brett and I celebrated in out normal way of eating way to much candy while watching a movie on the couch. He knows how vehemently I dislike Valentine's Day celebrations for couples (I don't think you should have to prove your love in one day with wilting flowers and expensive dinners at overrated restaurants) so I got just what I wanted–a hubby who makes me laugh every single day of my life. Now that's the Valentine's gift for me. Hope you all had a great V-Day. Whatever your philosophy is, I hope you all got what you wanted!!!

Even more big news...

Well AJ is growing up right before our eyes. I feel like I will be sending her off to college sometime next week! She lost her first tooth tonight. It has been loose forever and was leaning over precariously tonight. I was afraid it would come out in her sleep and she would choke on it! So I steeled myself and pulled it out. That was right up there with the grossest things I have ever done. Seriously disgusting. But she was thrilled. I guess we will be having our first visit from the tooth fairy tonight.

HI PAUL!!!

Hi Paulie, We miss you so much and HOPE you get to come visit us this summer.


Love, AJ and her family

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE!!!

Jack wanted to go fishing for his birthday, so we did just that–
followed by cake and presents.

I can't believe my baby is 3!!!

Jack Skellington

Here is another instalment of Jack's alter-ego "Jack Skellington–Born Rocker"

AJ's learning curve

AJ has a penchant for just learning things all of the sudden. For example one day she can't swim, the next she can. She does it all the time. Well, Friday she couldn't ride a bike without training wheels and Saturday she could.

Her friend left her bike at our house and AJ asked if she could ride it over to her house. Of course we said sure, okay. Well, she did just that and now she is riding all over the neighborhood–honestly.



Crazy.

How much fun can you pack into an afternoon?

We went to a state park yesterday on Lake Travis and had just an unexpected amount of fun...
First there was the totally extreme rock climbing...

then some fishing/duck feeding...

then feeding and petting some uncharacteristically nice geese. Especially surprising since a park ranger showed us a nest with 5 big eggs in it under a nearby tree.


Then AJ got to "drive home."


Awesome day!

Gittin' them youngins sum learnin'...

Saturday we went to the LBJ Presidential Library. It turned out to be totally fun. The grounds were beautiful (even with major remodeling going on) the weather was gorgeous and the museum was interesting. We had a great time until Jack fell into a huge mud puddle by the fountain. I can't believe I didn't take a picture–it was the best part!

Public Service Anouncement–Eat carrots...don't breathe them

Funny!

Lion Hunt

AJ's performance at her school's talent show.
Unless you are a huge fan of 5 year old skits, I won't be upset if you skip this one, it's more for the grandparents : )

Not much going on...

I haven't been blogging much. Truth be told, there's not much going on. Just the normal routine. But AJ took this picture this morning and I thought it was pretty cool. One of the kids favorite things to do is take pictures with Mac's "photo booth," it has a bunch of crazy effects. Anyway, I think I will save this one to enlarge and put in one of our frames for Halloween next year.