Houston Rodeo 2011

We made our annual trip to the Houston Rodeo this past Friday and had a blast. Unfortunately Brian had to work but thankfully, Aunt Jocelyn decided she wanted to go with us (it was her first time). Jude had a ball touching all the animals in the petting zoo. That child has no fear what so ever. He'd touch any animal he was allowed to. James was the exact same age when Kristen and I first took him to the rodeo. It was so much fun seeing Jude's little face light up the same way James' and John's did. We caught a bit of the livestock show before heading out to grab some lunch. Thankfully it was overcast most of the day so we didn't get too hot. James grew quite a bit from last year and was able to ride almost everything this year. There were only a couple of rides he wasn't tall enough or big enough to ride. He had a wonderful time with Kristen and the big kids. Jocelyn and I took John and Jude on some of the little kid rides including a little roller coaster. Jude loved it and John kept his head down almost the entire time. I guess he's going to take after me when it comes to roller coasters. The biggest ride John went on was the water slide (the one with the log that splashes down into some water). He had so much fun on that ride and kept talking about how his shirt and shorts got wet. We all rode the Ferris wheel and then started to make our way back to the car. Both Jude and Jonah were exhausted from all the excitement and passed out in the car. I think everyone went to bed early that night.

Rhinofest Quilt

Every year for the school's spring carnival, each grade chooses an art project that will be auctioned off. This year the first grade chose to make quilts. Here are the pictures of Ms. Meyer's class quilt which I have been working on all week. All told it hasn't taken long (in comparison with my past quilting projects), we've just been busy doing other things as well.

From Rhinofest Quilt

Visiting the Stanfield Family

We've had a very busy Spring Break this year. We began the week with a trip to Granbury to visit Aunt Sally, Uncle Jason and Baby Blaire. All the boys loved her. John and Jude most of all. John wanted to hold her an give her kisses all the time. Jonah enjoyed playing with her toys and sleeping in her crib (thanks for sharing Baby B!!). We had a wonderful time at the park playing on the enormous playground, in the sand box and on the tire swings. After that we cleaned up (lots of sand in all sorts of places) and went out to lunch with MaMaw and Poppa Steve. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and all took turns holding a sleeping Blaire. Man, you really forget how tiny they are at that age. She is such a sweet baby. She rarely cried and was happy just taking in the world around her. Saturday evening the older boys headed to Georgetown with MaMaw and Poppa Steve for a few days. We were surprised at how quiet it was in the house without them. Sunday morning we loaded up and started the long drive back to Katy. Thankfully both Jude and Jonah took good naps and we were home in the early afternoon. I wish I had taken more pictures but we were just too busy enjoying our time there. Hopefully I'll do better the next time we see Blaire.

From Photos for Blog

Jonah's First Haircut

This past weekend we took Jonah to Cool Cuts 4 Kids for his first haircut. I had her take just a bit off the top and clean up the sides and back. It's a good thing I didn't ask her to use the clippers because he really didn't like it when she tried to use them to trim his sideburns and neck. He kept trying to find the source of the noise. Unfortunately I left the memory card for my camera in the laptop so the only photos I got were with the camera on my phone. Here's a before and after from that morning.

Before

From Photos for Blog

After

From Photos for Blog

Jonah at 6 months

Happy Half Birthday to our baby Jonah Charles!! I can't believe the first year is already half over. Jonah is growing and changing fast these days. He's almost able to sit on his own. He tends to topple one way or the other after a few minutes. He has mastered rolling front to back but has yet to roll back to front. He's also starting solid foods with apples being his first fruit. His hair is definitely getting a lot longer so it won't be long before we go get it cut for the first time. He still enjoys laying on his play mat and sitting in his exersaucer although neither one holds his interests for too long. He prefers to watch his brothers or interact with Mom and Dad. Jonah has also graduated to spending the night at Gammie and Poppa!! He spent the night with them while we went to work on the land and also when we attended Supper Club. I took Jonah for his 6 month check up yesterday and he's growing and developing on track. He was just a hair under 17 lbs and 26.25" long. Both are just under the 50th percentile. Jonah also just graduated to his crib! YAY, no more sleeping in Mom and Dad's room. He does wonderfully with naps but is still struggling with nighttime sleep. Hopefully that will resolve itself in the next month or so. That's about all I can think of at the moment. Be on the look out for new pictures!

Land Photos 2/2011

February was quite a productive month for us at the land. We were only able to go up once since we were busy every other weekend but we did get a lot done. Brian got some super awesome clippers that can cut anything up to a 2" diameter so I was able to cut down a ton of smaller holly trees. We were able to completely clear the area we nicknamed Darren's Corner. From the trailer we can now see the street and from the driveway you can see the fence. We also made some headway into clearing the area behind the trailer. Hopefully later this spring we'll be able to clear out the area between Kristen's Corner and the garden. Here are some photos I took when we were done.

Sorry for lack of posts

I've been sick the past couple of weeks so I'm behind a bit in updating the blog. I'm finally feeling better and can catch up on everything.