Fun day at the Houston Children's Museum

Valentines Day

To celebrate Valentines Day, we made some DEE-licious sugar cookies (thanks to Kara for her awesome recipe!!). Allison & Sarah helped add the ingredients into the mixer, & also helped cut the cookies out with the heart-shaped cookie cutter. Kimball helped EAT the cookie dough. Here's a picture of the girls (still in pajamas) after a few batches were out of the oven :


I also got a picture of the kids on Sunday morning, before church. I decided to do my best to make them look as "valentine-y" as I could.


As for Kimball . . . well, he didn't have much pink or red in his wardrobe to offer, but here he is too (without his glasses, though.)

As long as we're on the subject of LOVE . . . below is a picture of Allison & Sarah "warming up" in Allison's bunk bed together. It's been so cold here (relatively speaking) that after breakfast, they got back in bed. I really enjoy watching them play together. There's nothing like a sister . I'm glad they have each other.

quick update on us

Well, it's been a while since posting much . . . so I thought I'd write a "newsy update" on us.

1. Matt's still at working hard at Sysco. He's been with them for 2 years, this coming June. Hard to believe time has gone by so fast.

Matt is the ultimate handy man. It seems there's no job on the cars or around the house that he can't fix. Just the other day, he removed the toilet when Kimball clogged it by flushing a drain plug (from the bathtub) down the toilet. That was nice. He also fixed an outside plumbing issue we had, when we had a hard freeze that burst a pipe.

He surprised me for my 33rd birthday by taking me out to a FANCY Italian Restaurant for dinner, and he also bought me a new camera! It's a Canon Rebel XS. He scored major points for all of that. He's always very good to me.

2. I am plugging and chugging with raising kids, keeping up with obligations at church and running the household (aka: cleaning, laundry . . . you know what I mean . . .) I'm beginning to realize that the best way to keep the house clean is to GET RID OF STUFF. Less stuff means less mess. I'm cleaning out, baby!

Last November I miscarried a pregnancy . . . that was hard for me. I was only 8 weeks along, but I had already told ALOT of people that I was "expecting." That would have been baby#4 for us. I came to realize that I really wanted that baby, but I was also having alot of anxiety about it. In the end, the decision wasn't up to me. I'm still trying to figure out if "baby #4" will be in the cards for us. Time will tell, I guess.

The surgery center that I have been working "prn" for recently closed its doors. They couldn't make enough money to keep it running. So, I'm no longer working in the OR for now - which is fine. I'm still working 3-4 days a month for an opthalmologist on his Lasik Eye Surgery days. And that's enough for me right now.

3. Allison is really growing up. She's had some good lessons this year, in first grade. Like being honest, even if it means getting in trouble. :) And being more responsible for making sure her backpack is ready for school the next day (with completed homework, the necessary daily signatures on everything, library books to return, etc.)

Allison's a great girl, and is a real help to her younger siblings. She LOVES to read, and she loves creating. Lately, she's been painting with watercolors and she's painted some REALLY good paintings! I'm beginning to think this girl needs art lessons. And music lessons! I've gotta get on the ball with those.

4. Sarah's new favorite thing is a "cheeseburger with pickles." I can get her to do just about anything if I bribe her with one of those! She's so funny. Yesterday she helped me clean practically the whole house, and all the motivation she needed was a cheeseburger with (extra) pickles. I can do that! She's very loving to Kimball, and loves to play with her friends. She asks to play with one EVERYDAY.

5. Kimball's recent tv obsessions include Little Einsteins, Goofy cartoons, and the short animated movie, "Lambert, the Sheepish Lion." He would happily watch any combination of all three -- all day long, if I would let him. It's a constant struggle with the tv battle.

Kimball has started to really balk against going to bed. We think he's starting to be scared. And guess what he's scared of? The WOLF from the Lambert movie!! He talks about the scary wolf that's coming. Oh boy, That kid!! So to help him feel safe, I pulled every lion toy we had in the house and put them all over his room, to scare away the wolves. It's not working. HE still screams when we put him to bed, every night. Grrrrrr.

So that's us in a nutshell. Sorry this is probably a boring post. More exciting ones, with pictures to come . . .

Snow in Houston?

Ok. I have been chastised . . . I will now update my blog. It's been tooooo long.

So, I'll be doing some catch-up posting, aka: blog-barfing, since this is basically my journal and my way to capture family memories.

Here are some pictures from a RARE moment this past winter, here in Katy, TX. We had SNOW! IT wasn't much, and it didn't last, but it WAS enough to cancel schools, close businesses down early, and get the kids excited!! (Houston is so funny about inclement weather . . . )

So, even though we have grown out of most of our proper "snow gear," (we've lived in Texas too long . . .) we made do, and made, What else? Snow angels & a snowman!

We had to use every inch of snow in our yard to "eek out" a tiny snowman. The snow was sooo wet that we kept going through gloves after gloves (because, again, of improper gear!) We needed waterproof gloves!

Hope you enjoy the pics. Oh, and by the way, the reason you see NO pictures of Kimball outside in the snow is because he will have nothing to do with it. He is a true Texan when it comes to cold weather. I can't even get him to wear coats. He hates it!

Sarah (4) making a snow angel. Notice the amount of snow on the ground:

Not enough to even completely cover the grass. Our front yard had even LESS snow.

Yet, you should've seen the parking lot at Walmart and the lines at the Gas Stations.

You would've thought the world was going to end.

Sarah and Allison (7). Cute sisters . . . love it.

On the second pair of gloves, still trying to make a snowman.

The girls - so proud of their accomplishment.

Kimball on the Potty

A few months ago, Kimball surprised me and actually wanted to go "poo poo on the potty." So, I willingly obliged, and he actually did it!! Just to document, I took this cute picture of him sitting on the potty. I won't post the picture, (that I emailed Matt at work), of the prize inside the potty :)