January Fun...

Porter's Masterpiece... The finished product...

Tired kiddos...

We give our neighbor boy Diego a ride home from school every day. Lately the boys have started walking home whenever they can. They take over half an hour to walk  the half mile home. But they are loving their freedom and fresh air.

Porter is hilarious... He rearranged the video labels to declare the truth

A peek into preschool fun... Look how cute he is! So studious!! He has just eaten school up. He is a good, obedient, diligent, happy student.

Mars Rover helpers...

The boys fell asleep on the floor next to me waiting while I finished ironing... They wouldn't go up to bed without mom...

Mars Rover - 3rd Place!!

Sophie was so excited to be part of this Mars Rover group, and so disappointed with the display the group came up with.  A day or two before the competition, they had a disaster.  I told her to tell her group we'd create a new one.  This was the new one, and it turned out fabulous!  We also got Jennifer Warr to help us create t-shirts.  Their hard work paid off with 3rd place! I got to go spend the day with her at the University of Houston for the competition.  It was a fun day.

Porter's Basketball Season

Porter was thrilled to be on the B team this year. Less pressure, lots of experience (he played almost the whole game almost every time), and lots of fun. He improved so much, the whole team did. It was so fun to go watch the games.   Way more fun than watching a Rocket's game!

Shopping with kiddos 1-27

We made friends with Heather Liddiard, a girl in our ward. She has kids Logan and Luke's age.  We headed over to the woodlands for an outing. Looking for chocolate at Whole Foods and inspiration at World Market.

Note Ethan's jammies... He wears them everywhere. He agrees to put clothes on over his jammies for preschool, but the second he gets home (or in the car) he takes off the top clothing later and it's back to jammies again...

Lunch... The kid table...

We went out to lunch at Jason's Deli for Eliza's birthday.  The kids cracked me up.  Look how grown up they're acting.  They did great at the kid table, while the mom's enjoyed lunch at the mom's table.

Dentist

Park Day

Since we are at 8:30 church now, we have a little more time (or a lot more time) in the afternoon, we have been able to take some family walks... Which usually end at the park...

3rd grade program

Training Sophie for Esprit de She

Sophie and I are both signed up for a race in April. We've been going for a run a couple of days a week after school. The boys join us on their bikes, Logan and Luke sit in the stroller, and after the run we play at the lake or park or basketball court. It just makes getting homework and piano done...

Can't get enough of our cute baby!!

Kitty

Preston loves his kitty.  I think she is hilarious.  Every morning as I get ready to go running, she comes and rubs up against me while I'm trying to get dressed.  She tried to attack my toes, especially when they're painted.  She joins me on the stairs while I put on my shoes and socks.  She loves to try to get my shoe laces.  The kids are often sporting injuries doled out by her sharp kitty claws.  She has a crazy attack mode.  I really don't mind any of that, I guess I feel like it comes with the territory.  What I do mind is the terrible stench coming from the boys room... and her home base.  Blah!  If we don't figure out something soon I don' know that she can stay! She has taken to peeing on random things.  The sheer curtain one of the kids (or maybe ninja kitty move).  Porter's basketball jersey left by the front door so he didn't forget it.,  Oh.....Shadow, what to do what to do.  The only benefit I see in having a pet is the fact that kids love and I do mean love them.  And it's fun to see that love and see the smiles and laughter and comfort the animals bring.  But honestly, there is no part of me that "needs" an animal.  But I do feel like I have kids who need an animal, so as long as we can, we will have animals, of this I am certain.

Pinewood Derby Winner!!

Preston was the overall winner of the Pinewood Derby. He called it the Ten Ten Mobile... in memory of when Ethan used to call him Ten Ten.  It was a sleek red design. Doug was instrumental in the victory.  The best part was that the car was 100% legal, no illegal modifications... making victory even sweeter!

Fire on Greenbelt

 

One afternoon my neighbor pounded furiously on our door.  She was franticly yelling there was a fire in the greenbelt behind her house.  Luckily Doug was working from home.  He grabbed the hose and ran back there.  I called the fire department and stood out on the street waiting for them to come.  It took fifteen minutes because they couldn't find us! The fire was big and growing quickly, but luckily Doug was home.  He had the fire under control by the time the fire department arrived.  They assume some teenagers were back there smoking.  It's crazy how quickly fire can spread.  I'm surprised there haven't been more fires on the greenbelts with all that kindling back there.

Uncle Vaughn and Sophie

Vaughn surprised us by dropping in for Sunday dinner.  We had all of the ingredients to make him his favorite German Chocolate cake. I am not usually a fan but this cake converted me, it was amazing!  It's always fun to have Vaughn around.  He makes us laugh.  This time he told lots of stories about when we were kids.  

My oldest and My youngest and other pics