Happy 4th of July!!!

First we went to a bike parade for the kids. Everyone was suppose to decorate their bikes, strollers, wagons, or whatevers and meet at the pool at 10AM. The kids rode around the community lake and back to the pool. Then it was time for a Bar B Q and games in the pool. The lifeguards had arranged games for the kids to play and people in the neighborhood brought their grills to the pool area to grill up food. You were suppose to bring your own meat to cook, but then everyone brought side items to share. By 2PM everyone was tired and ready to go home for a rest. While the girls napped Nathan "watched" cartoons and by "watched " cartoons I mean he fell asleep in the chair. During this time of peace Paul worked to get things done around the house while I baked cookies. Emily the first to awake was assigned the duty of official taste tester fro the cookies. After trying 3 of the cookis she deemed them worthy for all to eat and enjoy.

At about 8:15Pm we loaded up in the car and headed off to downtown Tomball where we found a parking place in the Lowes parking lot and waited for the fireworks to begin. At about 9:15 they started and the kids sat and watched them. Nathan bored quickly and tried to play hide and seek with Paul while Emily burried her face in my shoulder waiting for it all to over. Occasionally, she would peek out to see what all of the noise was. Kayla found a place on daddy's lap where she watched with her fingers in her ears. She would say "that one had pretty colors"; every so often, just to let you know she was paying attention. All in all it was fun, I think we would rather do our own fireworks next year and play with the neighborhood kids, who were up and playing in the cul-de-sac at 10PM when we got home.

We wish everyone a happy 4th of July and hope you all had a great day, no matter where in the world you may be!!

What's new??

It has been a while since I have typed and I can only blame it on being home with 3 little ones continuing to try to settle in, being 36 weeks pregnant and dealing with a toothache. Where to start? Well an update on the house and family would be a good start... I am still pregnant; due anywhere from the 24th of July to the 2nd of August. I have seen 3 different doctors and they have all agreed on 3 different due dates, I am hopeful for the 24th, but have resigned myself to believe it will not be until the 2nd of August. I have decided that being pregnant and due in the middle of the Houston summer is not a good idea. I prefer being pregnant in the winter months as you are always able to add layers of clothing, but you can only take so many off. Plus my energy/money conserving husband keeps turning the air conditioning up so that I am so HOT in the house I do not rest very well. Plus I am already tired from the normal pregnancy, but this heat just makes me 10 times more tired, which makes me a bit short with the kids and not a very fun mommy to be around. Other than that the pregnancy is going well, and I will be ready for this baby whenever it does decide to make and appearance. The kids.... Nathan has settled into life here to some extent. He does not like to have his own room; he would rather share a room with his sister. That way he could talk with her instead of sitting in his room all by his lonesome. He enjoys playing with the neighborhood boys, Jake and JT. Jake is probably his favorite, mainly because he gets to play with him the most. Nathan has really gotten into baseball and enjoys going in the front yard and playing baseball with his daddy after dinner. He is still trying to figure out the rules and has an occasional fit when something happens and he thinks it should not have happened (like him getting 'out'). When Nathan is tagged out he is getting better about just going out and not pouting for 5 minutes before he does what he is suppose to. His swimming has improved and he swam from one side of the pool to the other side with no help on Sunday (thanks to those lessons in Spain from Rob and Jill!)

JT, Jake, and Nathan

Nathan's Shrimp Plant (he bought it because it looked like corn)

Kayla loves to tag along with the boys and go to Jake's house to play as well. I think she does a lot of watching them and trying to keep up with whatever they are doing. She is quite the 3 year old going on 15 years old. She likes boss others around and at times it is pretty cute, although we try not so show our smiles to promote the behavior anymore than possible. She will get her hands on her hips and start talking in her sweet gentle motherly voice "Bud, now don't go to fast", "You can have that." Some of her sayings that I like the best are, "No Matters, I will do it." With her sweetness there is also the wrath of Kayla. She LOVES her nap and will take one at anytime of day if she is allowed. She may have been awake for 1 hour, but she will be ready to go to bed. When she is woken from her nap (which is a daily routine, otherwise she may never get up from bed) she is full of furry. You do not want to be near her feat because they will start flailing all over the place and she has no remorse if she kicks you!! Overall she is sweet and definitely a girl, she likes to dress up and wear her bracelets and necklaces.

Kayla with her pink flowers

I was vacuuming the floor and the girls thought I was being too LOUD!!!

Then there is Emily my little tomboy!! She is as rough and as tough as they come, she enjoys being part of the action and wants to be where the others are, even if she is in the way. Her vocabulary is growing and there are more and more words coming out of her. Her favorite thing is to get her blanket for bedtime and carry it all over the house. She still has very little hair and it is getting blonder and blonder as the summer goes on. Which makes her look balder than she really is!! She likes to help out around the house with cleaning up messes and with getting things for others. She is a very sweet little girl and so much fun to watch!! Unlike Kayla she does not like to go to bed. She would rather stay awake and not miss out on anything going on. So this has been a challenge as I want her to take a nap and she refuses. I am usually victorious as she is not able to get out of the crib yet.

Paul is busy keeping me happy as my mood changes frequently and without warning and I am eternally tired. He has had to do a lot of biting of his tongue and dealing with a hormonal woman. He is busy with work, probably not as busy as he would have been if we were still in Spain, but busy. We see him more often and he gets home at a decent hour in the evening, which is nice because Nathan really enjoys playing baseball with his daddy. We still have some boxes laying around the house that are in need of finding homes and a LOT of decorating to be done, but in time. We have received our sofa and chairs in the living area which is nice because I now have a place to sit when I need to sit for a few minutes. Next to arrive will be the table and chairs for the dinette and the formal dining room. We will have to make some trips to look for area rugs still, but all in time!! I have found some time to do a little gardening and have found a plant that is called a balloon plant, it has a pretty purple flower and well, I will post pictures of it's flowering stages, pretty neat...

Stage 1 Stage 2

Stage 3

That is about all that is going on in our lives. I am sure there is more, but for the moment this is all I can come up with, so until next time…Adios

Visit with Grandma and Grampa Hellen

What a weekend!! On Thursday Paul's parents made a trip to Houston to visit us. Their flight was delayed due to bad weather here in Houston. They were suppose to arrive into Houston at 2:45PM, but actually arrived around 8:30PM. On Friday after a big breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, and french toast we headed off to Brenham for some ice cream and to check out the mini horses. Our first stop was the Blue Bell ice cream factory, which I must admit, the best part of which was the tasting at the end. The tour was fairly short, and limited, but you were able to see them packaging some of the ice cream and storing it (they claimed it takes the milk from 50,000 cows to support one day of Blue Bell ice cream production) . Once finished at the ice cream plant it was time to go for a little walk around the old downtown before heading off to lunch. Brenham is a neat little town full of antique shops and other knick-knack type stores. Lunch was a restaraunt made to look like an old time saloon. Nathan drank a bottle of root beer straight from a bottle which seemed to be quite exciting for him. After we finished lunch it was time to head back to the car to go to the Monestary of St. Clare (i.e. Poor Clares) to look at some miniature horses that they raise to support themselves. It was kind a disappointment, I thought. Neat to see all of the horses, but there was cat in the barn that had open soars and was in need of being put out of its misery. The gift shop seemed pretty sparse and not as exciting as the brochure made it sound. The kids enjoyed looking for rocks, picking flowers, and finding locusts' shells. Once finished at the farm we headed back on the road to find a roadside market in Hempsted (the name escapes me). Once we found the market we bought some watermelon (grown locally), bananas, peanuts, and fresh ears of corn. Then with children asleep in the car it was time to go home!!!

Future owner of Blue Bell!!

note that everyone in the picture has their mouth open!!

Saturday after breakfast we went to a local fishing hole that did not have much fish. We caught a few perch, and that is about it. Nathan fed the duck a few worms and we were super HOT and ready to go home. On the way home we bought drinks at Sonic to help and cool us off. At the house we had watermelon, played in the back yard and just relaxed.

waiting and waiting for a bite...

FINALLY!!!

Sunday it was off to church, breakfast at a local café and home to swim in the pool. After the pool we came back to the house where we just relaxed and played a few games. Bocce ball was played quite a bit and there was even a game or two of baseball played in the back yard. There was a nice rainstorm which brought a fairly large frog, that Paul thought he stunned or killed as it would not jump away after he picked it up and then tried to release it, but eventually it fled our front garden to the back yard where all of the rest of the frogs seemed to have ended up. Then for dinner we tried to order a pizza but it took almost and hour and a half, which arrived too late as Paul’s parents had to get on a plane to fly back to OKC. That was about all of our weekend!! I hope your weekend was as enjoyable!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Today is Father's Day and I think it only fair to wish all the Father's a day of rest and enjoyment. I hope that you are all able to spend time with one or all of your children whether it is on the phone, in person, or praying to them. HAPPY FATHER"S DAY!! Today we made it to 8AM mass then it was home to make breakfast. After breakfast we were lazy and stayed indoors playing games that required minimal effort. Once Kayla awake from her nap, which she put herself to bed at 11AM, we all put on our swimsuits and headed off to the pool. After playing at the pool for about 2 hours we decided to come home and get cleaned up. Then it was time for some play time in the front. Paul and the kids played basketball, baseball, and rode their bicycles around while I sat on the porch and enjoyed a root bear float (don't tell the kids)!! For dinner the kids had Macaroni and Cheese while Paul and I ate a dinner of cheeses and crackers. That is how we celebrated Father’s Day!!

Haircut...

On Wednesday Kayla was asking for a hair cut,so I gave her one. I was a little reluctant as her hair was getting long enough for a pony tail and is so pretty, but I caved and thought this is the perfect time of year to trim it up. So, we got her hair wet, and went out to the back porch for a cut. With the first snip, I knew it was going to be shorter than I wanted, but the cut was made!! After the first round with the scissors there were a few stragglers and then it was a little lopsided, so I trimmed that up and now it is a little lopsided the other way. I am holding off on any more cutting, until Paul is here to help me straighten out the mess.