Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Catching up



A couple weeks ago we all went to Texas.  We all stayed in Austin the first night, at Karl's sister Katie's house.  It was a very nice sized house, but Sam later stated that it was a "teeny tiny house."  She's got a beautiful back yard with a nice vegetable and herb garden, and fruit trees.  Everything is so green there.  On Sunday, we drove down to New Braunfels and surprised Karl's brother David, who was the main reason for our trip (his high school graduation).  We hung out for a bit, and then drove down to Mathis/Sandia and spent the next two nights at the Ranch House with grandma Peggy and grandpa Dan (another reason for our trip).  We drove into Corpus on Monday, and visited the King family who was like family to us while we lived there.  Tuesday through Saturday were spent in New Braunfels.  We attended a dinner with the Knights of Columbus where Catherine got recognized for all her dedicated work with the Gabrielle project (a program that helps young mother's in crisis pregnancies).  It was sweet, because as she gave her speech, she was able to not just talk about her own experience, but she was also able to introduce Karl as living proof of her faith, and good choices.  There was an audible gasp when she said he was there, and many tears all around.  
I brought both cameras, and took no pictures.  We were so busy the whole time, I'd forget to grab either of the cameras, or my hands were so fully of clingy Violet, I couldn't take any pictures!   Anyway, let the lack of pictures be the proof of a good time, I was having too much fun to stop and take a picture!  What I do have is a few pictures of the boys on the way home from Texas.  Karl drove the boys there and back, and Violet and I flew (neither of us like driving too long, but Karl loves it).  On the way home, Karl stopped in Oklahoma and did a little family history research, and found some relatives in a forgotten cemetery.  They had a great time together, and the boys were really good.  I enjoyed a nearly solitary weekend with Violet.  We had a great time too, and the house stayed record clean for a record amount of time.  Woot! Woot!

When moms not there, you get to jump on the beds!


... and stay in you're pajama's all day, and make silly faces in almost all pictures taken.






Several weeks ago, our little black cat, Colette got out of the basement through a window that blew in during a windstorm, and we haven't seen her since.  She was a feral cat from birth, and we never were able to tame her.  She didn't really like anyone, except for  Violet and our cat Kitty, but we missed her presence, and we could tell Kitty did too.  So we got a new kitten.  His name is Toast, and he's only four or five weeks old.


Their first encounter.


Slightly annoyed, but not too bothered.

Their first nap together, not wanting to be too close yet.

And for the grand finale of this post.  Here are some pictures of Violet, with her hair done up pretty.  Her "bangs" if you can call them bangs, are growing out and bothering her, so I have to pin them back.  She would NOT hold still for a picture, so they're all a little blurry.






Monday, May 18, 2009

Childrens Museum

We went to the childrens museum on Saturday.  We had a super duper great time.  Enjoy the pics!


Fire Chief Violet and her daddy
Fire Chief Sam
Violet the Birdie with her stuffed worms... Yum yum!
Ben the ant crawling out of a tree.
Cutie Joe in a club house
It was crazy hair day at the museum, Joe and Ben got their hair done.
Joe got a faux hawk with purple and red hair colors
Ben got spikey hair with blue green and yellow polka dots

The work shop, there's all these little stations, all equipped with a saw, screw drivers, screws, scissors, glue, clamps and vises, and all kinds of cool stuff.  Over on a wall there's a bunch of bins with recyclables like boxes, milk and juice containers, toilet paper rolls...  l
Sam's manually screwing a screw into a block of wood.
Joe at his station
Karl helped Joe make a train, and Ben a robot.
Sam the vet, taking the dogs temp.
Giving him a shot...
Bandaging him all up.


These are pictures of the baby area, four and under only, it's very quiet and clean and soft in there.
She loved this log, she crawled through it over and over.
She absolutely adored these stuffed bears, she carried them all over and would lay down on them and laugh!  It was too cute.
Sam in his fishing boat, there's even a little dock to the left of it.

This it the cutest little country play house,  Sam and Violet loved it.


Joe and Ben's Robot and Train

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Behold it's Spring!




There were dozens of these little blue birds trying to get out of the storm.
Spring Break 2009!  Jilli gone wild!
She was being so silly in the tub, blowing bubbles and accidentally swallowing water.
So cute I could die!


It's not easy walking up hill when you've only been walking for three months!
There's lots of little teeny tiny purple flowers in the grass.

She was just taking it all in, the birds, the breeze, the colors...
Okay, so the first two pictures, and the video are of the huge winter storm we had while Jillian and my mom were visiting in April.  We got almost two feet of snow in two days, it was crazy, it just kept coming!  It was so pretty.  But because of that storm, and then the 70 degree weather we got after the storm blew over,  it is now looking like spring!  It happened so suddenly, the grass grew in all green, daffodils, tulips, lilacs and irises are all blooming, and the trees are getting leaves.  There are bunnies, squirrels and birds EVERYWHERE!  Everyone here is outside gardening, including me, which is a first.  It's been rainy the last day or so, but before that it's been absolutely glorious outside.  I got a sunburn on the backs of my legs on Tuesday because I accidentally fell asleep outside on a blanket for a little while.  I'm so glad we moved here, we love it so much.  It was really nice to have my mom and Jillian here, and of course little Lainey Rose (we renamed baby Faith while they were here).
Mother's day has been really nice this year.  The kids are big enough to actually do little acts of service for me.  They all brought me a dozen roses last night, Joe picked dark pink, Ben picked white, and Sam picked red.  They're so pretty.  I also got a shopping spree all to myself yesterday, and Sam and Karl made me breakfast in bed this morning.  Our bishop arranged for us all a special lesson in the cultural hall (the men took over all other callings for us) during which we were served cake with berries and whipped cream.  It was really nice and so considerate.  I do have to mention that half of what I bought was for Violet, even though it was my mother's day present.  When Karl questioned me about it, I explained that, when you're a little girl, and you get to pick out presents for yourself, often you pick accessories for your dolls.  Violet is, simply put, the best and most fun "doll" I have EVER HAD!  I bought her the little picnic basket tea set in the pictures, she loves it (and so do the boys!).