Goggles!

We bought Logan and Kayleigh some goggles to use in the pool. Logan does great with them on - he swims and kicks underwater. For Kayleigh, they're just a cute looking nuisance. So, she doesn't wear them much... but aren't those cute waterbabies with their good looking Daddy!

Moving sand

Shane made a new sandbox for the kids, and to fill it, instead of filling it with bags from Lowes, we got a full yard of playground sand. Here, Kayleigh sits in the Gorilla Cart half full of sand.

Logan worked hard to empty the truck of the sand. He worked many minutes before handing the shovel back to Daddy. What a hard worker!

Gram and Bapa come to visit

On April 15th, Gram and Bapa came down for a quick visit. That Saturday, we went for a quick trip to Froberg's Farm in Alvin to pick strawberries. Logan and Bapa picked together. Logan was good at holding the bucket, not so good at the picking of strawberries.

Kayleigh helped Gram pick strawberries.

She also helped herself - as evidenced by her hands and face. Good thing they don't weigh kids before and after the picking!

Logan and Gram cooked Rice Krispie Treat eggs for us. Say, "Cheese!"

On Sunday afternoon, we celebrated Kayleigh's birthday. We called Grandma and Grandpops so they could be in on the festivities too. Gram made Kayleigh a strawberry bread and cream cheese icing cake with the fresh strawberries from Froberg's. YUM!

Blowing out the candles, with Dadden's help (not with the blowing, but with the standing).

The aunties came over to help celebrate - Hope, Angela, and Phil. Phil helped Kayleigh open her presents, and also served as the trash receptacle when she was done opening the gifts.

Bapa helps Kayleigh with a present.

Okay, funnest game EVER - table hockey with the lid of a Tupperware. Wooo! Can be played at any time, but is most fun at breakfast.

Fun for all ages!

On Monday, Gram and Bapa left (after we tried to go strawberry picking again - but Froberg's was closed! Sad clown! No more strawberries!). Thanks Gram and Bapa for a fun, but short trip! We had a great time!

Happy birthday, Kayleigh!

It's hard to believe that two years ago, we were at the hospital looking at a baby with thick dark hair.

Now, she's a smiley little 2 year old! She's almost 34 inches (54%) and 26 lbs and 6 oz (45%). Such a big girl!

Today, we were all dressed up in yellow for some reason. Aren't they cute?

Here, Logan pushes Kayleigh in the swing. He's so funny, he grabs her feet and says, "Got your feeties!"

Kayleigh with her favorite Dadden. Look at her little munchkin smile.

We are so grateful for our little Kayleigh! She is a little conversationalist - she can tell you what she wants, how she wants it, and remembers what she likes. She is also an independent little lady - she wants to do as much as she can herself. And of course, she is her mother's daughter: a perfectionist through and through - and she gets frustrated when she can't get it right the first time. Gotta love her! When she's happy, she is an absolute joy to be around!

Kayleigh has become a songbird - her favorite songs are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me", both of which she can sing almost the whole way through. When I "rockabye baby" her at night, she'll sing some of them with me. Though it is hard to sing with your thumb in your mouth...

Plants...

In addition to having basil run rampant in our yard, some tomatoes, and some yellow cucumber flowers (on sad little plants that have been chewed up by dogs/rabbits/armadillos), we have some other interesting plants.

Our agave plant is growing a stalk - ever since we transplanted it into the back part of the yard. It's HUGE!



Our peach tree has several small peaches on it - actually, over a dozen. Maybe some peach cobbler this summer!

Giving a frog a bath...

Logan is getting really good at scooping up frogs. He loves them (one of his favorite books is "Jump, Frog! Jump!"). Today, he caught two. This is one of the frogs he caught. The little guy is getting a (rather traumatic) bath from both Logan and Kayleigh.

Logan cradles his little frog - before unceremoniously dumping it in the tub for a bath.

Playing "Lego Indiana Jones"

Logan enjoys playing "Lego Batman" at the gym (he just runs all over the place, but loves it), so Shane broke out our copy of "Lego Indiana Jones". Logan and Daddy had fun playing together - and Shane was very impressed how well Logan did. I loved hearing the conversations, "Logan, come over here and help me do this." "I coming Daddy! I coming!" "Oh, no! I fall down. Oh whale." They had a blast!

Kayleigh's first REAL haircut

Today, Kayleigh got her first REAL haircut - you know, not a Mommy butchered job. I figure I've cut it 4 or 5 times, so I can splurge on a real cut.

Here Kayleigh is with her stylist, Ms Karen.

Kayleigh did great - she didn't move much and was not squirmy at all. I was pretty impressed with her ability to keep still. Unfortunately, that didn't translate so well while I was getting my haircut, but whatever.

Ms Karen put some layers in Kayleigh's hair, which makes her hair look a little more curly. It is is fabulous. We'll be coming back!

"You'd better wipe that grin off your face"

Shane has been telling the kids, "You'd better wipe that grin off your face..." and both of them try to wipe it off.

Kayleigh doesn't quite understand - she wipes her face and then her bottom lip is sticking out - not in a pout, just sticking out.

Logan, on the other hand, tries to wipe and wipe his face with his hands, but he keeps grinning, and then it degrades into giggles. He'll stand in one place and try to wipe his smile off, but the darn thing gets bigger!

Bay Colony Garage Sale

On Saturday (April 9), our subdivision had their biannual garage sale. We actually had some stuff this time, so we joined in the fun. Apparently though, the time to put stuff out is on Friday, because that's when the "serious" garage salers come out. But we had a great time hanging out with our neighbors - it was more like an impromptu block party than a garage sale.

Kayleigh rests on Auntie Hope. Angela and Monica just laugh at the two tired puppies. Hope was a little allergy/coldish (the Houston crud), and KayKay had been up since 5:30 (because she's crazy!).

Shane got home from work at 7:30 and hung out for a while before hitting the sack. He actually stayed awake until 1oam, pretty late for him. Here he is hanging out with Jen and Steve Martin (our side neighbors) and Kostas, who lives up the street (Stavros and Dmitry's dad).

We had a good time - didn't sell much, but we had fun. We have great neighbors!

My little Texans

Finally, real Texas pictures! Bluebonnets! The generally wet Houston weather is not great for bluebonnets, but since they're the state flower, it is imperative that Texan children have their pictures taken in them. There's a planted field of them a few streets away. So we got a few pictures taken.

Heaven forbid they actually sit next to each other...

My Southern gentleman - he loves to pick wildflowers for the women in his life. He gives me one at church most Sundays; he picks them for his Bible study teachers (Ms Debra and Ms Christine); and I think he's given some to Hope and Phil. No coaching was involved - he does this freely. So here, he picked a yellow flower for me.

Walking through the flowers...

On the phone

Kayleigh talks to Dadden on the phone as he drives home from work in the morning. I think she's reiterating her order of a pink donut with sprinkles to him. But note, she puts the speaker part of the phone up to her ear. The ear piece is in her hair at the back of her head. So it's not that she isn't listening - it's that she really doesn't hear!

Really in the pool

Still filling up the pool, but April 5th, the kids really wanted to get in. So we let them, and their friend Levi (or as Kayleigh calls him, "Lebi") from up the street. Levi is 6 weeks younger than Logan. They all had a good time splashing in the not quite filled up pool.

Logan dives into the water. He's becoming quite daring when it comes to water - he really tries to swim.

Levi enjoyed throwing the rings - but his aim is still pretty bad. Most of them were chucked in front of people ("duck!"), or behind him. Although, then he decided throwing them out of the pool was both fun and hilarious.

Kayleigh, our bathing beauty, decided that it was so much fun to hang out on the ladder. That was probably because it was rather cold in the pool. All three kids had blue, trembling lips when we finally convinced them to get out. Oh, but Levi and his mom, Kendra, brought down Pop Ice to share - so little cold kids crammed icy candy in their mouths.

Oh, and all this time Daddy was working on putting up a new double fence. So, Logan, being the good "helper" that he is, had to get in on the job. He got to cut a few of the 2x4s with Daddy (all the while being supervised - apparently, the only tool Shane leaves plugged in is his screwgun, which Logan uses to drill into the ground). Notice, our management in the back - aka Bug. He has to make sure the hole in his fence is patched correctly.

Undress yourself

Kayleigh's new anthem is "Undress Yourself" (to the tune of Madonna's "Express Yourself"). She can now take off her PJs and diapers, so the world is a much scarier place. She is rather proud of her new found talent though...

Setting up the pool

This year, we had to get a new Intex pool, so we got a slightly bigger one that has metal posts, not the blow up ring around the top. And because it's a bigger pool, we had to move it. On Monday, April 4, it was windy and overcast and cool. Because of the wind, we needed to put some water in the bottom of the pool to keep it from blowing away. That meant "swimming" for our two water babies.

Here are the kids at 10am. Cute, dry, inside.


Here they are at 3pm.

Kicking water at each other.

Launching themselves into the inches deep water.

And, getting down in the cold water to blow bubbles!

It was in the mid-60s while we were putting water into the pool. And the kids HAD to get in, and get soaked. Both of them had blue lips and were shivering, but neither wanted to get out.

Suburban armadillo

I think I may have found the cucumber plant munching culprit. On Saturday, just after Shane got home, the dogs were whining and barking at the door, like they do when there's another dog outside or a rabbit. But as we looked out to see what they were carrying on about, we saw an armadillo run underneath our truck!

This is the first time I'd ever seen an armadillo alive! By the time I got my camera, he was romping in our neighbor's grass. He didn't romp very long, as Shane let Bug and Zoe out. They were more curious about the armadillo than anything. But they gave it a good chase.

Here Bug tracks the armadillo in our azaleas. Both dogs were worn out from all the excitement, and slept all morning (okay, that's pretty typical).

Trike rider

Kayleigh has pretty much mastered the trike. She loves to ride around the cul-de-sac, and today went all the way down to Stavros and Dmitri's house before turning back (at Mommy's insistence). She usually has some "junk in her trunk" - a ball, a car, or her baby doll. Oh, and she's much faster going backward than forward - go figure.

Sprinkler system repairs

My boys were out March 28th working on the sprinkler system. Because the sprinkler system is about 6 years old, and we had a couple of freezes this year, we had a few leaks in the system. The boys checked each sprinkler head for leaks.

Logan shows off his gloved hands - they were "a little" too big for him.

Logan vacuums out the holes while Daddy tries to find the leak. Such a good team!

Shane counts all the sprinklers. Talk about wet pants!

Logan in Shane's raincoat so he didn't get wet running through the sprinklers. To me, he looks kind of like a blue Jawa (Star Wars).

Now if we could just figure out where to put all the sprinkler heads as we redo the yard, we could actually use the system...

New Braunfels

The day after I got back from Wisconsin, I said "HI" to the kids and then Shane and I left for a mini-vacation to New Braunfels. This was our first time to have a vacation without the kids since Logan was born! So fun!

Since New Braunfels is basically becoming a subdivision of San Antonio, we decided to make a trip in to see the Alamo (briefly, though it is the 175th anniversary of Texas independence). Here's my sweet husband in front of the Alamo.


This is the Founders Oak in New Braunfels. It is possibly the biggest live oak I've ever seen. Apparently the Native Americans would take saplings and tie them down in the direction they were moveing to let others know where they were. This tree is so big, but it still was pointing.

We had a great time, and even had fun at the timeshare presentation. Which we didn't buy, but it was a fun time - and nice that the timeshare paid for the hotel. We had fun there, and as Shane said, "I miss my little buddies". So we were glad to get home.

Wow, Kayleigh!

Today, Kayleigh came up to Daddy with her shirt pulled up trying to pull down her pants. "Off! Pants off!" So Daddy helped her take her shoes and pants off. Then she made a beeline for the bathroom, sat down on the training toilet, and had a pretty good sized poop! She enjoyed the 4 Pringles she received for going potty. Shane and I were both amazed, because Logan has been so hard to potty train. WOW!

Good thing I picked up some Pull-ups for her at Kroger today!

New favorite movie

If you haven't seen it, go rent/buy "Tangled", the Disney version of Rapunzel. It is Logan's new favorite movie. But as in all Disney movies, the sidekick becomes the star. As "Up" was called "Dog" (after Dug the Dog) at our house, so "Tangled" is now called "Horse".

Mary Mallof's wedding

On March 18th, I left the kids in Grandma's capable hands, and left in the wee hours to catch a flight to Chicago. I was going north to see my best friend from elementary/middle/high school get married. I made it there (the flight was even early), waited around thirty minutes and met Jamie, one of my best friends from middle/high school, at the gate. Amazing that we both flew standby to get there, since our flights came in such close succession!

After getting the rental car, we started the 3 hour drive from Chicago to Madison, WI. I had the Garmin set up so it wouldn't take us on toll roads (which most of the interstates are up in the Midwest), so we ended up driving through cornfields. When we passed a big red arrow that said "FOOD", Jamie looked at me and said, "are you SURE we are going the right way?" Heehee.

We did end up making it to Madison, and then to to hotel where we were staying (which had a fantastic view of the state capital and all the protesters). Here are Jamie and I in front of the capital.

The night we got in, we met up with one of Mary's friends from college, Rhegan Hyypio, and went out to dinner. The place we went, called The Old Fashioned (after the drink), was apparently really good - it was packed! In good Catholic form, we all had the fish and chips for dinner. So yum. I cleaned the plate, I'm ashamed to say, but it was delicious.

Jamie and I got to hang out with the Mallof clan for some of the time (when they were actually in their suite and not running around doing wedding stuff). Eileen, Mare's youngest sister, looked at us, and said, "you have known Mary longer than I've been alive." We laughed, remembering going to visit Mrs. Mallof and Eileen in the hospital after Sports Day at CA. I then realized, I had known Mary for over 2 decades! It is so amazing to have such good friends you can just pick up with whenever you are able to see them. What sweet, wonderful ladies Jamie and Mary are!

We finally got to meet Brad Feider - at the time, Mary's fiance. He has a great sense of humor, understated and dry, but Jamie and I loved it! He really makes Mary happy, and for that, and the glimpses of his generous spirit, we loved him.

I hope to get a good picture of all three of us gals soon. My camera died on me while I was there (sad clown!). Jamie and I teared up through the whole wedding (good thing we both brought waterproof mascara). Mrs. Mallof, amazing wedding coordinator that she is, forgot to put tissues on each aisle! Jamie and I had got a lot of catching up done - Jamie even said, "I haven't used this many grown-up words in a long time". So yeah, super fun!

We hope to get all our kids and husbands together this summer in the Northwoods for a fun time! We'll see if we can swing it.

Congratulations, Mr. and Dr. Feider!! Many blessings!