Howdy y'all

So I realize that a post once every six months is probably not considered "blogging" ..... but oh well.

I am currently sitting in a rather small, bare, and yet very charming apartment in Texas. The kids won the coin toss for the bedroom; Ryan and I get to enjoy the cheapest futon at walmart as our couch/bed located in the dinning/living room. It was a great idea, multitasking furniture, but we are only a few weeks in and every time one of us sits on it we hear metal cracking. I know someday soon I will sit down and land on the floor. Not to mention that I wake up with the metal frame impressed on my skin. The padding is not quite padding. Oh well, its fun to laugh at.

I'll fill in the six months gap with this very lengthy post. We are half way through Ryan's MBA. He pretty much LOVES everything about school. Business is most definitely his thing. We are making Texas home for the summer while he does an internship and we go swimming. It's a hard set up.

The kids are bigger, smarter, cuter, and enjoying the ride of Daddy's career pursuits.I'll spare you the glory stories of school, and parenting discoveries. So that's it, six months in review :) Maybe in six months we will announce our next state to call home. Stay tuned.

Our last week:

Big projects going on here

Wrestling is pretty much always a hit. And with one box of toys it's a regular choice of fun.

She has the flair for dressing up

Don't ask why we were out doing this when it was 105 degrees

Punky Brewster and Ductors

My children probably have the best sense of fashion of any I know. As each day evolves so do their outfits. I'm not sure why they both LOVE to dress up - but that is what we do here.

I never know how it happens - Around 2:00 each day she starts looking a little punky brewesterish


This is "ductor Jackson" (conductor jackson -he wears this 80% of his day)
Thanks to Grandma, Grace can now join the pirate games in style (probably her favorite hat to wear)

Christmas Glitter

Merry Christmas to everyone!

I remember the school janitor lamenting over the holiday season each year because of all the glitter on the floor. It just never went away - he'd vacuum and somehow it was still there. I was in the teachers role then and just laughed and said, "glitter - it's a must." I am eating my words now that I am head janitor at home. We have glitter EVERYWHERE. No matter how many times I bathe the kids they still have sparkles in their hair, vacuuming doesn't last, it's just a permanent fixture in our home now (thanks to cheap ornaments and fancy art projects).

I hope your season is merry and bright too!

And some pictures from Disneyland - we were spoiled and had a great trip over thanksgiving with the family. (We LOVE Disneyland!)

A cute gold hungry pirate

Loving having uncles to play with

Trains - life is bliss now

He fell asleep just as we got on the pirates ride....he looked so ready for it too

Always her favorite thing to do

Standing in long lines gives you lots of walking practice

He is the captain - and he knows it

And more train riding

Grandpas are great pirates

My Favorite Things

I'm in such a jovial mood, I just watched the Sound of Music Reunion on Oprah. I'm not really an Oprah fan, but when I heard about the Von Trapps I HAD to watch. This has to be my favorite movie and if you don't get why that is, I feel soo sorry for you. I'm pretty sure my life will not be complete until I do the Sound of Music tour....(which my little sister just got back from Europe doing - for some reason she decided to break our deal and go without me!!!) Okay on to the kiddos. Let's see....

Just busy growing more curls. The little lady has voiced her first words: mama, dada, hi, vroom vroom (that is a word in our house), and some form of "ball." She firmly believes in scooting not crawling, and enjoys stealing the brother's chocolate milk as often as is possible.

The man cub has fallen in love with his bike and spends every moment possible riding through "jungle paths and desert paths." Current conversations with him revolve around reciting the letter sounds, discussing the train tracks he wants for Christmas, and marveling at the flashlight Jesus is using to light up the sun (some family home evening lesson apparently got a little off).

We have also recently enjoyed the magic of the first snow storm. We sat next to the window all morning in our P.J.s staring at the winter wonderland and trying to understand why it really wasn't Christmas morning yet.

Dinner Conversations

Typical dinnertime chatter:

"I am the world's greatest superhero. I need to fly over there and go to my superhero club. I need to go to my superhero club meeting. Cause I'm going to save you, cause you are in trouble, cause Jackson is a superhero and will save you.'

da da da da ......(scream of joy).....ma ma ma ma

inverted yield curves lead to....(interrupted with) hey I found crushed tomatoes for $.20 a can!

Pass the peas please."

We are a pretty "together" family and yet so in our own worlds.