Neighborhood Park

One of the highlights of our new house is the neighborhood park within walking distance. Each one of my kids has embraced a random, unforeseen part of the park I would never have guessed.


Wyatt has taken to "burrowing" down in the bottom tire especially when he has a little snack baggie.




Shelby loves this whateveryoucallit. After watching her climb and swing and flip, I finally enrolled her in gymnastics.


Our current park attendance has been curtailed by the summer heat but we'll be baaaaack!

Little Boys

Reasons I love this picture:

-it includes all of Wyatt's favorites:
Toy Story sunglasses
his tractor
a trip to the park
his Superman shirt (which he has no clue about-just likes it)

-his little smile

-the fact that his glasses are slightly crooked

-his wispy, white-blonde hair

-and many more unexplainable reasons that every mother has when she looks at an "ordinary" picture from and "ordinary" day.

Summer Duet

fresh mowed grass and itchy ankles
coconut-scented sunscreen and chlorine
frozen treats and sticky fingers
mosquito bites and kickball
grilled steak and watermelon wedges
late nights and lazy mornings
fishing and napping
freckled shoulders and flip-flops
parades and American flags
sandy toes and sea-salted hair
best-sellers and hammocks

Ah, today's youth...

So, when I graduated from high school the peak of technology was power point, and, if you were really advanced, you could make it swirl into place with cool sounds. Fast forward a decade plus and envision my recently purchased iphone/life-saver. This baby can do it all and is incredibly user-friendly. It has an amazing camera that has usurped my "old-school" camera's place. No you may have noticed two key words pop out at you: user-friendly and camera...


pretty decent pic of my flowers




dog butt



more dog butt





princess pjs???

Hey wait a second!

These are not pictures I took!







Ah-ha! The culprit!

Yes, folks. My four year old has mastered the iphone camera. She can take a picture, flip back to the entire roll, back to the camera for more pics. This is all without me teaching her or letting her touch it. Crazy right?

Makes me wonder what our kids will reflect on.

My bet is that none of the modern achievements will surpass mankind's greatest milestone: Atari.

Who doesn't miss that guy swinging from vine to vine?

Houston Rodeo

Off to the rodeo decked out in our "dude" gear. Wyatt opted for the Bass Pro hat over his cowboy hat.




Shelby's first roller-coaster. Big, BIG hit! As you can see, she is masking her fear well.




FYI-Wyatt juuuuust didn't hit the height requirement in case you were wondering why he got left out of the fun.




So, Wyatt was fading a bit towards the end of the morning which perfectly matched Mommy's first trimester exhaustion. Fortunately, a cherry Icee perked everyone up on the way home.

Braggin' on my Shelby

It all started with a converted potty training chart.

I saw it for a dollar and decided that it would make a great chore chart if I just wrote over "tee tee in toilet" with "made my bed" or "dressed myself."

Well, this chore chart has really proven itself to be worth it's wait in gold. Shelby really took to the sticker achievement chart. She took to is so well that now, we don't even use it. After all her chores are done, she can watch 30min of her favorite show "Martha Speaks" (it's about a talking dog, go figure right?).

I just wanted to brag on my oldest a little. For all our ups and downs she is really making me so proud how she is blossoming into her new responsibilities. That is not to say that she is getting dull by any means. One has only to look at her outfit concoction below to realize that "dress myself" opens all sorts of avenues to express her blossoming personality.

It just so happens that her blossoming personality is dominated by the color pink:).

Sooo sleepy...

OK! I've been getting some serious heat for my lack of updates. I'm not going to name names but most of the pressure applied had been by people who are very closely genetically linked to myself.

Well, I have a reason.

I am tired. My restless nesting phase (you know the sudden, irrational panic that you are bringing home a child soon to a home with a completely disorganized pantry. Oh the horror of a disorganized pantry!) is winding down. That almost frenzied need to paint, hang frames, find matching pillows for the guest bed, sort clothing, etc. has been replaced by exhaustion. I do have pictures that I intend to load soon I just find myself unable to move my body on certain days between the hours of 1-3.

Stay tuned and I promise to update soon!