Tooth Fairy Trickery...

On Sunday afternoon Nathan lost his second tooth. The tooth fairy showed up on Sunday night to give him a dollar coin. Well, last night Nathan tried to trick the tooth fairy. He has a pillow that has a pocket that he puts the lost tooth in and puts that under his pillow and when the tooth fairy comes she can find the tooth with ease. Well, last night he put a clear Lego in his tooth fairy pillow for the tooth fairy. Paul just happened to put his hand under Nathan's pillow before we went to bed and found the "tooth". Sneaky little boy...

his pillow with the Lego...

Grandma and Grandpa Hellen

Paul's parents were here over the weekend. We had a good time hanging out (in the house), going fishing, swimming, and just playing games. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

a turtle, we caught a turtle!!

Making a bridge for the turtle to go through

We caught a whopper

time for tea!!

The Party Continues...

We celebrated Maddie's birthday on Thursday with Paul's parents and as is true with all of our kids she was too tired to partake in the festivities. She did however have a cupcake on her birthday and enjoyed it very much. I gave her, her cake on Friday afternoon and she was wide awake to eat it then. She was unsure about the texture of the frosting, but had no hesitation to bite at it without touching it. Eventually, with some help a piece was broken off and she held it and ate the cake. She had a good time and her high chair is now the cleanest hat it has been since she has started to use it. Thank You to everyone who sent cards and gifts. She was given a baby doll from her godparents and almost in pure instinct she hugged it and gave it kisses. It has since been adopted by Kayla, but it is still being cared for.

cupcake~

Thursday's Festivities~

Friday Cake~

Awesome Dude

The other day Emily slipped on the stairs and started to giggle, then said, awesome. I laughed and asked her, "Did you just say awesome?" Her response was "Yes, awesome!". It was pretty funny here is clip of her saying awesome dude.

4 more weeks

I am just now realizing that Nathan and Kayla go back to school in 4 weeks. August 13 is the start date, and I have done nothing this summer. I had all these plans, go to the pool once a week, go to the library once a week, take them for ice cream, etc... I have done none of that. This week we have company, so I am hope full that in the last three weeks, we will make it to the library at least once and to the pool at least twice and we will go to get ice cream as well. Where does the time go.

Happy Birthday Maddie!!

Today is Maddie's 1st birthday. She is a joy and always ready with a smile, even if she is sleep deprived she will play happily until put to bed. Maddie is trying to walk, 10 steps is her maximum thus far, but she is getting better every day. She is a happy little girl and loves to be where the action is. She will climb the stairs in the morning so she can "play" with the others. Maddie is also figuring out coming down the stairs, there are times when she will turn around and crawl backwards down the stairs, then other times she holds onto the posts and side steps down the stairs, yesterday she stood and actually walked down one of the steps holding onto the post, she has even sat on the steps facing forward and scooted down. I guess she will try all options until she finds the one that works best for her. When music is on she will bounce up and down "dancing" with the music. She has change a lot in the first year and I am truly blessed to have been able to stay home and see all of the changes. Happy Birthday Maddie!!

Time to open presents!!

I got the bow off this one now how do I get off this paper??

Now pull!!

No, like this

By this point everyone has given up and Maddie is just watching the show

This dress tastes great

Mmmm, cake!!!

***more pictures to come soon!!

walking...

Down The Stairs

Rain...

Saturday evening we received some much needed rain, not even half an inch, but it was something. There was enough to flush out a frog, that the kids had fun playing with, and some puddles to splash in. It was a nice shower that cooled things down to a balmy 78 degrees, one might call that a cold front! We have climbed back into the high 90's with humidity in the 60% range. We are so happy to be back in Houston!!

then there were none!!

Well the one lonely caterpillar has died, it tried to attach itself to the top of the container and began to turn into a chrysalis, well, it was literally hanging by a thread and it fell and died. Poor little guy. I am going to try again in the fall, so until them I am dome with trying to raise any for of animal. I kill them all~ birds, butterflies!!

there is one...

One has made it, it has been crawling around and is getting FAT!!

painted ladies

I ordered some painted lady caterpillars and they have arrived in the mail. They look like the are all dead, but I am suppose to wait 3 weeks to see if anything happens. Let the waiting begin...

Abandoned

With all of the excitement around here the last few days and fireworks going off 2 feet from her nest the mother mockingbird has abandoned her nest. One egg has a part of the shell missing and one of the three eggs has gone missing, there are no shell pieces and I am not sure what happened to to. There is a rumor floating around that someone touched the eggs, but no evidence. The mother bird is gone and I do not expect to have and baby birds come from the eggs that remain. I am sure Nathan will end up playing with them. Maybe next year!!

Great Invasion

My brother, his wife and their 6 kids arrived here on Wed. July 1. Followed by the arrival of my parents on the 2nd. We have a total of 16 people in the house and it is crazy!! Nathan has enjoyed playing with his cousins. I know he will miss them when they leave and I will here the complaints of how he "needs" a brother. We had a good time with everyone and were sad to see them go. Highlights from the weekend were swimming in the pool (the neighbors were out of town), the boys enjoyed Super Mario brothers, Annie's birthday, the girls playing hide and seek, lots of eating, we all enjoyed playing with Rosie the rabbit and the Guinea pigs, scratchy and scruffy. Kayla and Annie were ready with clips to "fix" my hair. We had a great time with our family and look forward to their next visit. I know Nathan can't wait to see the boys again.

What mess??

Where's Claire? Gram and the girls

Nice hair!!

personal pizzas

Happy 7th Birthday!!

confetti eggs

Mmmm, ice cream sundaes

Yes, that is John flying over Ben, no photoshopping required!!

James was swimming even with a broken foot!!

Yes, we gave the kids golf clubs to play with !!