The Houston Zoo

On January 21, we went to the Houston Zoo. This was one of our "Good Times" things. We've been having a lot of fun making an effort to get out and just hang out as a family. That way, we can say we actually "did" something during the weekend.

We finally got to see the elephants in their new enclosure. Usually we get there early, and they're getting bathed and are in the smaller enclosure. The two "little" elephants were having a blast swimming and horsing around in the pond. It was really fun to watch. Kayleigh LOVES elephants, so she could have stayed there most of the day, I think.

Below is a picture that Kayleigh took with her camera. It takes decent pictures in full sun. And K-bob did a pretty good job of framing...

Logan and Daddy check out the chimpanzees through a telescope.

By the end of our time at the Zoo, Logan was getting tired. So, Helper-girl Kayleigh pushed him in the stroller. Good thing the sidewalks are big and apparently all the people we passed were on their toes. Kayleigh is not the best stroller driver in the world.

On our way home, we stopped at Hooters for lunch. The kids are super funny - Kayleigh loves the fried pickles, and Logan doesn't. So Logan ate his hot dog at lunch but Kayleigh had two bites of her slider hamburger because she had filled up on pickles! Oh well. Kayleigh has found a new place to carry her crayons - her sock! Pretty ingenious, if you ask me...

Who needs a table when you have TRAINS!

Seriously, who needs a table when you have trains to play with? Eating as a family is overrated when you could be zipping trains around a track together. Eating or playing people - get your priorities straight!

Shane finally broke out his N-scale trains for Logan. Logan loves these trains: the "steam engine", the Pepsi car, the speed controller. He thinks it's all so cool! Of course, Shane just sits there and prays he doesn't break anything...

Kayleigh enjoyed watching the trains zip around the track (and compared to Logan's GeoTrax, these trains ZIP!). Thanks Daddy for getting them out (and putting them back up!).

Jiggle-ator!

This is the massage chair with two crazy kids in it. Put them all together and you have squeals, giggles, and general mayhem. The kids love it when the chair does the percussion mode. Shaking baby syndrome...

Everyone's new favorite toy

My Christmas present this year was a Kindle Fire. It has become the whole family's favorite toy. In fact, the boys will spend an hour together playing "Where's My Water?" or as Logan calls it, "Swampy". Kayleigh likes to sit on the couch and play "The Match", actually called "Monkey Preschool Lunchbox". Both kids are pretty proficient at the games. Amazing how fast kids pick things up!

A rainy day...

Welcome to the Texas Drought! On January 9, we had major flooding in parts of Houston. Of course, it was a Monday, so our family was out on our "Good Times Monday" (we choose a slip of paper from the "Good Times Bucket" every Saturday to do on Monday - the zoo, McDonald's, watch a movie and pop popcorn, etc). We had been at Chick-Fil-A which was super empty on a Monday at lunch, since it was raining.

Shane stands out in the rain. What's the point of shoes when your feet will just get wet in them!?! At the front of our street, the water was over the curbs, but it wasn't quite that high at the cul-de-sac.

Even with French drains, it still accumulates in the side yard. Kayleigh takes a jog (or a slosh) through Lake Flachman.

Logan and Kayleigh were SOAKED! Might as well have dipped them in the pool. But the two of them had a great time playing in the rain - something they'd missed out on this past summer. Zoe had fun running around in the water, too.


The sandbox pool and the actual pool. Our pool level went up several inches in one day. It was a good rain!

Our expensive drying rack...

Cupcake Day!

We borrowed a book from the library called "Ruby and Leonard and the Great Big Surprise". The two mice in the book make cupcakes for their brothers and sisters. To be like the mice, we made the recipe in the back of the book after reading it.

Kayleigh "eats" her cupcake. She likes to lick the icing off and give the actual cake part to the dogs. When she was icing her cake, she ate about 80% of the icing out of the bowl. So much for making iced cupcakes.

Logan - post icing! Look at all that icing on the table and on his face.

Our finish products. Yes, Mommy ended up icing the pink cupcakes (stealing icing before it was all gone). Logan did a pretty good job on the green icing.

Gram and Bapa visit

After Christmas, Gram and Bapa came down for about 3 days. The kids were more than happy to show them their new presents, and expect Gram and Bapa to play with them.

Kayleigh tells Gram what's on her mind. Must have been pretty serious stuff! Although she may have been telling Gram to leave. Kayleigh did not want Gram and Bapa at HER house. She wanted them at THEIR house so she could go visit them! She would have driven back up with them, I think, if they'd have let her.

Bapa and Logan played some Leapster. The two of them were huddled like that for a really long time! Logan asked Bapa (Mr Illegible Handwriting) for help tracing his letters. Oh, the irony!

One night, we downloaded "Pirates of the Caribbean" in 3D to the PlayStation. I wear my sunglasses at night! Literally! I know, these people are too cool.

Gram even had the guts to jump on the trampoline. Pretty impressive! Kayleigh is just praying she doesn't get jumped on.

One night, I even got to drag a sick Shane to see a movie. We saw the second "Sherlock Holmes" movie, which was a fun flick.

The kids are already planning their flight up to Bapa and Gram's house. They pretend to go to the airport everyday. They "pack" their suitcases (and the grocery cart) and go. It's amazing how fast you can get to Little Rock or Indianapolis in a kid's airplane!

Thanks for a super fun time! Next time - stay longer!

Christmas

Christmas was exciting. Christmas Eve we put out pumpkin pie (we had made pumpkin pie and not cookies), milk, and carrots for the reindeer. Logan then thought the milk wasn't enough for Santa - so he got a Pepsi Max from the pantry and set it out. Such a nice little guy!

Our Christmas tree before it gets "broken" into by little kids.

Here they come! Dive into the stockings!

Logan got some airplanes in his stocking. He really liked them.

Kayleigh loved everything in her stocking - especially all the goodies. The little girl ate her way through her stocking. Here she shows off her pizza goldfish (she finished the bag in two days). Santa put some fruit slushies and Clif Z-bars in the kids' stockings - so it wasn't all just goldfish and Hershey's kisses.

Santa left us a trampoline! Poor guy - he must have been out there in the cold, windy, rainy night setting it up, slogging through the super wet grass.

After a few minutes on the cold and wet trampoline, Daddy made us some Swedish pancakes on his new crepe pan. YUM! Roll 'em up, put some sugar and milk on them - the best Christmas breakfast!

Kayleigh and her new camera.

Logan tries out the sit and spin. Weee!

Auntie Angela gave the kids some BIG lollipops - that spin! And both lollipops were licked and spun so much that they shattered on the floor.

Kayleigh got a marble set for Christmas. Logan has claimed it - and Daddy is great at building them! The three of them had a great time.

Kayleigh and Logan jumped some more on the trampoline. Good times! We had a great Christmas - just hanging out and enjoying our presents and enjoying each other. I really don't think we got out of our PJs all day. I didn't get a picture of it, but Kayleigh's room at the end of the day had foil kisses wrappers all over it! My little sweetie has a sweet tooth!

Christmas Eve

Before we went to church on Saturday night, Kayleigh did the advent calendar. It was the Little Drummer Boy. I'm not sure how he fits into the Nativity, but whatever... guess he represents the "everyman" at the manger.

Our tradition is to open one present on Christmas Eve. Here Kayleigh opens her present.

Logan gets ready to dive in.

Look! Foopa and Lightning McQueen!

Kayleigh, Mommy, and Logan, all ready to go to church.

Logan grabbed my camera while I was at church and took some pictures - a pretty good picture of Daddy and Kayleigh.

The camera was also brought to church. So, I got my picture taken several times.

Some kid took this picture of the band singing Bebo Norman's, Angels from the Realms of Glory.

Kayleigh was taking pictures of me during the Angels song, and since she wasn't getting good pictures from behind the pews, her daddy told her she could go up front to take a better picture. So at the end of the song, she marched up to the front, camera around her neck, walked up the stairs to the stage, took a picture of me (the hand below), and marched back down the stairs then to her seat. Mr. James said it was the best part of the service. Glad we could be the entertainment!

I think Logan took this picture of Grandma Micki. We were so glad that she was there - it was the first time we'd seen her in a while.

Dickinson Festival of Lights

On December 22, we went to the Dickinson Festival of Lights. This year, we parked at the Catholic church down the street and took the big yellow school bus to the park. Logan really loves to ride buses. He was so excited!

The buses lined up for taking people to and from the park. They were super efficient.

The kids run to the lights.

The light tunnel - one of many.

The gingerbread house - and two of the cutest gingerbread kids.

While we were there, we got to play at the "brown park" that we love (when it's not closed for the Festival, we stop there on Thursdays on the way home from school). The kids were so excited to play at the park again, that they really didn't want to go home.

It was a great time - and really got us in the Christmas spirit.

Tomatoes in December

Due to our rats that ate our tomatoes this summer (a drought makes animals get their water from somewhere), we now have a tomato plant that "volunteered" to come up next to our air conditioner. It now has taken over - along with all the many cherry tomato clusters on it.

This is another plant with larger tomatoes on it. I guess with all the heat this summer, not many of the tomatoes produced much, so they're making up for lost time.