It's Gotta Go

Here Wes goes again. I had put a new shirt on him in the morning. Not long after, I see him outside on the back porch. It's like a light bulb goes off in his head. He quickly starts reaching for the offending tag. I guess some tags are "soft" and therefore are okay. While others are not and have to be taken care of.

This one is the offending type, I guess.

And, off it goes.

Although, he then forgot to put the shirt back on. He looks a little distracted by morning cartoons:).

Super Saturday

Zane and Wes had some fun jumping on the trampoline. They even mixed in some water for added fun. Although when Todd sprayed the hose straight on them, they thought that was tooo much cold water.

But, then the boys found the mud and the fun got dirty!

Here's Wes trying to wash off the mud...aka. evidence:). Somebody smeared mud all over the guest house. Wonder who it could be? Two guesses.

Playing in the MUCK!

So, we got irrigation yesterday for the first time this year. And, of course, the boys were out in it today. Neighbor boys came from all over to play in it. The older boys were busy skimboarding in it. (Yes, once again, I missed the photo-op of Lance riding the skimboard...and what was the funniest was that for some reason he was wearing Wes' Batman Cape - see previous post - I really should have gotten that pic.) The younger boys just enjoyed running around in it. Here's Cole and Zane after rinsing the muck off in the outside shower. They had a lot of fun out there....and ended up with a little bit of a sunburn unfortunately.

Wes was avoiding the rinse off for some reason....gotta love the mud clot on his back...and especially the cute crack.

He decided to rinse off in the pool. The problem was that he only dipped his feet in the pool. As one can see - that left an awful lot of MUCK still on him.

To The Batmobile!

Somedays you know....it's just gonna be a Batman Day!

"POW!"

"KABOOM!"

"ZOOM!"

"BOP, BANG!"

Houston Spring Carnival

Last Saturday was our elementary school's carnival. We had a great time together. I was in charge of all the games, so I had been preparing for it for about a week and a half before. I headed down that day at 7:30 am to set up. The carnival was 11-3 and so by the time I cleaned up, I was home around 4:00. It was a long day for me. But, it was all worth it because the kids loved it and the school earned a few bucks:). Here's Wes at the Frog Toss.

Here's Wes showing you one of his prizes....I can't tell what it is though. He's got quite the cheesy expression though.

Zane and Weston after bouncing in one of the inflatables.

Sierra and Wes going for a train ride.

Here they go down the big inflatable slide.

And, no carnival would be complete without a snow cone (and cotton candy for that matter....which they also had:).

Zane on his train ride.

My three cute kids with their snow cones (cause we missed Zane in the first shot when he was on the train).

Zane trying out the Ping Pong Toss.

And, lastly, the three of them trying the Tic Tac Roll. Lance did make an appearance at the carnival but he hung out with his friends....far, far away from my camera. I don't think that was a coincedence.

Here's a couple of movie clips from our fun at the carnival. The top one is Weston going down the slide. The bottom one is Sierra and Wes racing through the inflatable obstacle course.

#1 Reason to Shop at Basha's

The Basha's Cubhouse....a play to drop off you little ones while you shop. Wes came home all excited about his spider hat that he made there.

The Perfect Way to Celebrate a Horse Lover's Bday

First, we went out to dinner as a family. Sierra got her present from us....just what she asked for. An ipod. Yes, a non-horse related item. Yes, I was shocked too. Could she be growing up?

While we ate dinner, Weston shared with us another one of his many talents. Coloring....two handed. Amazing and cute. It gets it done twice as fast.

After going out to dinner, Sierra and I left in a separate car. I surprised her by taking her to see Cavalia. What a spectacular show with beautiful horses and amazing acrobatics and tricks. We loved the show.

Lunch at the Farm

A couple weeks ago, I was reading one my ol' high school friend's blog. She had a post on this cute restaurant that looked so fun. Her kids were running around playing outside at the restaurant. I thought to myself, "That is the kind of restaurant that I need for my kids."
Well, this weekend Lance was gone snowboarding with the deacons and teachers from church. On Sat., Todd and I were out running errands with the three younger ones. I remembered her post and that the restaurant was out where we were going. And, so my easy-going, spontaneous husband said, "Let's go there for lunch today." As we drove up to it, I realized that I had noticed it once before a long time ago, but I don't usually drive down Ray. It's the cutest restaurant made out of an old farm house....with cute picnic tables outside. And, to make it even better, we loved the food. Well, not Sierra. She had a hot dog. Apparently, they use "natural casing" hot dogs that she thought had a too chewy of a outside. (Todd tells me later it's cause it's the intestine? hit my gagger)

Anyways. We had a great time. Todd had some pesto burger and I had the same thing but in chicken. Yum! The kids loved being outside. There was this HUGE, old tree that we had to get a photo by. Isn't it neat the way it splits off into 3? But, they do have signs up saying no climbing...talking about torturing a kid:)

Zane is having fun taking pictures lately and so he took this one of the rest of us by a citrus tree.

Oh, and how can I forget?!!! My son's got talent, so I need to share! Here at the restaurant, he doesn't have a straw for some reason, so he proceeds to show me how he can make his very own homemade straw...with his own tongue! Way to go Zane! Always entertaining!

Thanks Jennifer for the great tip to eat at Joe's Farm Grill:)

The Coolest Straws EVER!!!

I think that Todd is a lover of gadgets & gizmos, and so he passes that fun on along to his sons. He came home with a couple of straws...or rather, pieces of straws where one gets to assemble the tubes and connectors however he wishes to create his own unique straw. And, so the fun began. They were originally getting out drinks...some yummy SunnyD. But, when they realized they were having Top Ramen Soup for dinner (cause Mom and Dad were going out), the straws quickly went to use for sucking up the liquid in the soup. Gotta love it!

Quite the masterpiece....even includes a convenient handle. The looks of it remind me of that MouseTrap game for some reason.

But, when the liquid was gone, the fun continued. I guess their Mom never told them not to play with their food!

YUMMY. I bet you're craving some Top Ramen now:). It's one of our children's favorites. They like it even better "dry" with egg cooked in it....one of Todd's mission specialities. But, I don't think that would come up through the straws very well.

YEE HAW

Gotta love hand-me-downs. A friend of mine asked me if Wes would want a hand me down horse. She warned that it was big...one that he could sit on....in fact, another friend had turned it down not wanting more " big junk" in the house. But, I said, "sure, bring on the junk." Wes is loving it. YEE HAW. The big kids push him around on it and he can't stop giggling. Unfortunately, as the vinyl hooves rub across the stone floor, it makes a certain noise. And, so Lance named the horse "Toots". And, the name stuck. So, here is Wes giggling while riding Toots.

Oh, and you gotta love that Cash, the dog, wants to eat the horse's mouth for some reason.

Homemade Slide

For Christmas, Lance wanted his bunkbeds gone and a full size bed in it's place.

We got the bedding by Christmas, but we are just now getting around to getting the bunkbeds out and buying the new bed frame and mattress. Plus, we still have some painting to do. Can you say procrastination?:)

Of course, as the mattresses were coming out, they had to make a stop on the stairs. And, so the fun began. The three boys really enjoyed it. Cash tried it once, but apparently he wasn't too fond of it cause he didn't do it again....or he just never got the chance again cause the boys kind of hogged it.

"TOTALLY AWESOME"

So, I have to admit that before I had kids, I thought I'd NEVER put one of those cheesy character shirts on my own kids. never. too nerdy. totally cheesy.

Then, I had my own kids. And, I saw the joy in their faces as they saw their favorite characters on pieces of clothing. And, then I saw the joy triple as they got to WEAR such clothing.

And, so it began.

Lance had pokemon. Sierra wore all the princesses. Zane enjoyed the hand-me-down pokemon clothing and added Dash from Incredibles to the collection. And, with Wes, came Lightning McQueen.

The clothes still aren't my favorite outfits, but the other day Wes let me know this shirt is "TOTALLY AWESOME." And, I thought, let the kid wear it everyday of his life if it makes him that happy. It was so cute!

And, so now, my opinion has changed. And, I get all excited for the kid that is wearing a character shirt cause I know what they're feeling inside! TOTALLY AWESOME. But, don't expect to catch me wearing one:)

Just Following the Trail of Poop

Somedays I just gotta remind myself why I chose to stay at home with my kids....isn't he cute?!

But, I just got finished cleaning up footprints of poo.

Apparently, he had an accident in his undies and tried to clean it up himself. The problem is that he dropped the poop on the ground and then stepped in it.

So, he then comes crying to me leaving a trail of poopy footprints to clean up....on my carpet even!

Somedays I wonder why I didn't choose to work and send him to daycare. They could be cleaning up the poopy footprints instead of me. (jk)

Our Neighbors Probably Want Us To Move

So, I think Wes may be spending a little too much time with Cash lately. He is picking up his toiletry habits.

Now, I have to admit that I have told Wes, downright encouraged him, to pee outside in the backyard grass. You see, I get tired of cleaning up pee around the toilet. You know it's bad when, out of habit, Wes immediately tears off toilet paper and starts wiping around the toilet as soon as he is done peeing.

But, I have NEVER told him he could poop outside. NEVER. And, for some reason, he thinks he can. And, so I blame Cash. Why not? The dog must have given him the idea.

Unfortunately, Wes has pooped in the FRONT YARD giving our neighbors quite a show. He gets in trouble and immediately says "sorry" to make it all better. But, then, today he did it again. I think the neighbors are wishing that we would move. Who wants to see a little boy squatting, doing you know what, out front for everyone to see?!

Intense Concentration

Wes was given a racetrack by his Grandma that he already had. So, he got to return it and go exchange it for something else. He took a long time to browse and decide. He was very methodical about it. But, once he saw it, he knew what he wanted immediately and then was no mind changing at all. First, he picked out a toy model motorcycle. Since, he still had money left, we went to the book section. He then picked out this CARS watercolor painting book. He spent a lot of time today painting.

It takes a lot of concentration to paint.

And, I mean, A LOT.

It was pretty cute to see him work hard for so long. Yes, I'm a bad mom cause I think this was his first painting session.

And, boy, was he proud of his work. He was sure to show Dad as soon as he came home from work.