Coloring Eggs, and, well, laying eggs

It's strange how they only need me to buy the egg coloring stuff now, and boil the eggs for them.

They can do the rest themselves.

But, they do still need me to buy the stuff, did I mention that?

Connor, Tanner and Allison had some fun laying some eggs, too, in the cubbies in the family room......the things they think up sometimes ;)

Ruffles and Light Sabers

That's our girl.....

What a tender mercy that little girl is to me, and how much I LOVE getting to do the girly things. I like how tough and strong she is, along with all her ribbons and curls.

And I know you already know, but I'm rather crazy about our three sons, too!

Louisiana

Well, I guess I'm starting at the end of the trip....

The last thing we got to do with Edd and Anne and

family was to go to Church with them.

It's no fun to say good-bye to cousins!

(It snowed on the drive home, so that was a good distraction for the sadness.)

I made Edd take a pic of our family before we headed home.

Edd and Anne always serve the best food.

Edd had a crawfish boil for us.

So, the light hit Connor's ears just right---too funny!

This is where we ate some fantastic po' boys.

We also had beignets one evening. The trip also included a trip to Lake Pontchartrain and some blow-up mattress playing.

I will end this post where the trip began: an amazing swamp tour!

We enjoyed the boat ride and I couldn't believe some of the things we saw.

We still miss them...

We still miss our neighbors, Wade and Loren.

The kids have spent hours playing with them. They always left their socks at our place.

They moved away this past summer.

Tanner still talks about Wade.... I still miss my good friends who have moved away, too, Tanner.

MLK sports center

We spend LOTS of time at the Martin Luther King Park and Ballfields.

This past spring, Tanner played on the Phillies and Quinn played for the Astros.....while Allison and Connor played on the playground ;)

Connor 5th grade reading celebration

This is the day the 5th grade celebrated their book reading.

The theme was centered around the Olympics...thus, the red, white and blue attire.

I served cake at the celebration.

Tanner's Artwork

Tanner had his artwork chosen and displayed at the AISD main building. He is here with his art teacher, Melissa Black. His artwork is inbetween him and his teacher---the alligator looking piece of art. This is still backtracking....notice his teacher's coat. It's about February 2010.

Back up: January-ish 2010

Tanner got to go to the Elks Hoop Shoot Contest. He didn't win, but he did just fine! I think Scott and Quinn ran in the Mark Evans fun run while we were at the hoop shoot contest. Connor and Allison were good sports.

Sophie turned 2, and I couldn't resist getting matching dresses for her and Allison. And I still can't resist---they have another set of matching jumpers from this summer....can't wait to see what I find next!

The last photo is of Allison with her Kindergarten friend, Sydney. I love having a new friend, too: Sydney's mom! Sydney's mom, Karrie, isn't a member of our Church, but she went to Church girls' camp with a friend when she was a youth! Pretty neat!

You will appreciate me not posting a photo of another event that happened around this time (and I do have pics of it). Tanner had his pinewood derby cub scouts race. That went just fine. Quinn made a car, and was drilling whilst holding the car, and, well, the drill drilled right through the car and started drilling into his hand. Kind of put a damper on the event.... Tanner will have one last pinewood derby next year, and Quinn IS NOT allowed to make a car!

Backup: Earlier in 2010

A few random photos of earlier this year (as I try to catch up)....I took the kids to Austin to see mom and dad and grandma. Eldon and Stephanie came, too. We went to the livestock show and saw pigs race. I loved the shot of Sophie with my dad. He's so sweet to the grandkids. Gotta love Allison with her spunk and Connor in his stripes and plaid (he did good, it's all the same color family with orangish-brownish-white)!

Sara, that's why we don't have a garden---just kidding, we just can't plan and do it! I think we have more fun playing in the mud than picking weeds! We had a FHE and got the bed all cleaned out for a garden this spring, but it never happened. Is it too late for a fall garden? We'd have to have another FHE to pull all the weeds again....

And that amazing snow day....WOW! It was the coolest thing how the snow just fell, and fell and kept coming some more! The kids had a blast in the way back field. Some friends invited us over to their big backyard to sled/tube/4-wheel. What a neat couple of days that snow gave us!

And the bottom photo is Connor playing ball in the backyard....one day you're out playing in the backyard, and the next you're building snowmen! Speaking of snow, I'm really ready for some cooler temps around here. Really ready. Really ready.

I'm finally off to run and it's almost 10:30am. It's probably almost 90degrees (86.7) now, too ;)

Four pigs in a blanket

I haven't posted in forever (as you already know). And I have a lot of updating to do (actually, I have a lot of things to do, and so do you...;) I hope to update a little here and there, and maybe even keep up a little bit. I don't know how or when, I just know that I like to have a little place to put what happens at our place.

One of the nights during Labor Day weekend, the kids thought it would be fun to sleep outside on the trampoline. They each worked on something (scouting, reading) that evening, in order to be able to camp on the tramp. It was a huge motivator! We brought Allison in, but the boys slept out there allll night. I love their creativity!