Rearranging

Shane is going through his spring cleaning phase again (watch out closets, you're next!). We have rearranged our bedroom. We put our bed at an angle, sort of opening up the front of the room. We really didn't add much space, but we added the illusion of space...

Reading to Grandma and Grandpops

Kayleigh wanted to talk to Grandma and Grandpops (and Keegan) on the computer. So, after talking to them for a minute, she was done, and Logan took over. After showing them all the toys he owns, which they have seen, he wanted to read his books to them. He did a great job! And they were an attentive audience - listening to stories about fat, fat cats and rats sitting on cats.

Boys will be boys

Logan loves to hang out with his Daddy. In fact, Daddy is one of his best friends. The two of them are crazy people! Sunday, they were playing cars on the trampoline. They were racing them around it, and both of them were cheating! I don't know if it's really cheating if the game you're playing doesn't have rules, but they both claimed cheating (on themselves - such honest guys).
Then it was a game of "chase me through the poop" in the backyard. Logan lost - and was thrown on the trampoline as punishment. From the grin on his face he is very upset about it.
Then there was a game of "see how high you can bounce me". Daddy did not bounce very high, but Logan did!
And to cap off an eventful afternoon, there was the "squish Mommy" game, or the "Logan sandwich" game. The only game I was not fond of was the "Logan jumps on the parents as they are lying on the trampoline" game. Ouch! Especially when he would jump off my sternum!
Poor little Kayleigh missed it all, since she came home from church as Little Miss Cranky-pants and had to take a nap (no homemade pizza for you!). But she was in a much better mood when she woke up, and who wouldn't be after sleeping almost 3 hours!

Colorful lasagna

So I've been reading on the E2 (Engine 2) diet - a plant "strong" diet. The lasagna is rather interesting - it uses no cheese, and subs the ricotta/cottage cheese for firm tofu. But look how wonderfully colorful it is! Broccoli, carrots, red bell pepper, corn, onions, good stuff! It even has sweet potatoes in it! And surprisingly, I thought it was pretty tasty - different, but tasty!

Our butterfly

On Valentine's Day, Logan's teachers gave all the kids in his class a monarch butterfly pupa. And surprise, after being knocked around, almost knocked off the bar, it still came out! Shane didn't see it actually come out of the cocoon, but he did see it at like 4am. Here it is in the jar...
Zoe, Logan, and Daddy let the butterfly out of the jar. The butterfly actually lit on Logan's shirt for a few seconds, which brought some shrieks (from Kayleigh, she's not a big bug fan) and giggles from Logan.
Logan was so confused that the butterfly wouldn't get back in its house, the jar. He thought, like the dogs, the butterfly would go out and come back home when it was finished flying around. Sadly, he found out that this is not how butterflies work.
Our beautiful butterfly flies away to make the world a little more colorful.

Jump N Jungle

For our Family Fun Day on February 22, we pulled out Jump N Jungle. Usually, Jump N Jungle is closed on Monday, but because it was President's Day, it was open. So we were able to take the kids - which they were super happy about.
We have to pay for the kids, but mommies and daddies jump for FREE! So, here are my three crazies coming down the slide.
Kayleigh tries to make a basket. She made a few, but she also threw some behind her as she tries to score.
Logan scampers up the slide obstacle course. He had a great time going up and down and jumping and sliding.
We had a great time jumping and hanging out with each other. And both kids slept well that might.

Movie Theater

We were talking about movie theaters. And Logan told us we were wrong: they're not movie theaters - they're movie FEEDERS. You get lunch and you see a movie!

Which plant?

One day, on our way home from the Baytown YMCA, we drove past Choate Rd, the road where the EVALCA (or Kuraray Americas) plant sits. I told the kids, "Mommy used to work at a plant over there." Logan looked out the window at the line of trees by the railroad tracks, and said, a little confused, "You worked on a tree, Mommy?"

I'm a logger...

Best friends

Kayleigh is my new best friend. We took a nap together today, and she called me her best friend. (Sweet!) Then she started calling me "Bear" when I would call her "Boo". So I changed to calling her "Sheep" - her favorite show is "WordWorld" and Sheep and Bear are best word friends. She giggled, and thought it was super funny. There was not much sleeping going on...

Reading to Daddy

Logan knows all his letter sounds, so Shane has decided to work on "Hooked on Phonics" with him. He actually read one of the books. Logan is doing great! He wants to learn to read so he can play his videogames better...heehee, anything works.

Yogurt face

Today, the kids ate some soy yogurt - which for some reason, they loved. Logan fed some to Kayleigh.
This is what happens when you let your brother feed you...

CBS Retreat - Trinity Pines

This weekend, Friday Feb 10 and Saturday Feb 11, the CBS Leaders Council had a little retreat at Trinity Pines, in Trinity TX, about 2 hours from League City/Clear Lake area. It was a blast - as it always is when a bunch of crazy women get together. Good, good times.
Here are some ladies taking it easy after the long drive up there: Lalla Goka, Pam Prow, Dianne Cook, Jodi Mooreman, Connie Niebert, and Carol Lawrence. Now, Pam and Dianne have the loudest laughs in the world, and they love to laugh. Seriously, they were a hoot!
Cathy Heaven (on the left) was our speaker for the retreat. She was very lively, and gave us some practical advice. She was teaching on "If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat". I really enjoyed what she had to say. Plus, I really enjoyed talking to her - she was very interesting.
Some of the other ladies chill out before dinner on Friday: Dawn Lamb, Mariko Fujii (my nihonjin friend!), and Beverly Stroud.
We had a great campfire on Friday night, but it was rather windy and cold to sit too far away from it. So most people went back to our lodge pretty early. Notice in the picture below, that Beverly (on the left end) is a true Texan - she's wearing sandals in the winter!

After dinner, some of the other crazies arrived - the other children's teachers. They were playing some crazy game called Nert, or something. Here they are clockwise from bottom left: Connie, Mariko, Kristeen Koen, Lalla, Zelda White (aka Legendary or Lady Z), Dawn, Shirley Owen, and Leslee Martin. We played games until like 11:45 when we finally started for bed. Shirley pulled down the sheets to her bed and laughed as she found out that Zelda and I had short-sheeted her before she got to the lodge. However, as I tried to jump in my own bed, I had been short-sheeted! Linda, Kristeen, Shirley, Leslee, and Zelda got me! Oh well, it was too late to redo it, so I just slept under my blanket.

We had some fun times! What a great group of women!

Uncle Doug!

Uncle Doug came to stay with us Tuesday and Wednesday nights last week (Feb 7 and 8). He was in town on business, but since he didn't have any evening meetings, he was able to spend some time with us. Of course, he had to drive from the far east side of town to our house (like over an hour) and the next day, he went to Freeport/Lake Jackson area (another hour one way). We are so grateful he came; the kids were really excited about having him at our house, though they were disappointed that he didn't bring Gus Gus (the new dog) with him.

Wednesday night, Doug and the kids got on the trampoline. The kids had been talking all day about how they were going to teach him how to "butt-bounce". In fact, when Kayleigh woke up in the morning, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Where's Uncle Tris [Chris]?" "You mean, Uncle Doug?" "Yeah, Uncle Doug. Where he go?" It's amazing how coherent she can be around 6:30 in the morning.

Doug and Logan had a blast on the trampoline, too. Logan really wanted to show Uncle Doug his marbles, but we didn't have time. So, maybe next time Uncle Doug comes down, we can show him.

Uncle Doug took us out for dinner both nights, which was a super nice break for me! The first night we went to Five Guys, and the next night we went to Chick-Fil-A and Marble Slab. Kayleigh was not a fan of the walking cow. I took this picture while I was holding the almost 3 year old. Logan, however, did not have a problem, and was psyched to get his picture taken with the cow and Uncle Doug.

Thanks for spending time with us, Uncle Doug!

Levi's birthday party

On February 4, the kids and I went to Levi's 4th birthday party. The day started out overcast, rainy, but warm. By the time we got to the outdoor pavilion, the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees from what it was in the morning! It was CHILLY! And the wind was really whipping. So Ms. Kendra, Levi's mommy, had a great idea - let's eat the pizzas (yum!), smash the pinata, have cake, and get on outta here! Everyone was pretty much on board with this plan.

Here's Levi with his pirate ship pinata.

Logan takes a swing. Logan really just pushed the pinata instead of hitting it. Since both Logan and Kayleigh were pinata virgins, they didn't know there was candy inside if you hit it hard enough.

Kayleigh finally got up to bat. She was rather hesitant to do this in front of the large group of people.

So Mr. Robert - Levi's daddy - helped her take a few swings.

Finally, Levi's Uncle Matt hit the pinata hard enough that candy showered all over the ground. Logan comes back with some of his "booty" (pirate themed party here!). The kids were super excited about the candy! More sugar!

Levi had a really neat cake (Funfetti!), with candles that wouldn't light due to the wind. We sang "Happy Birthday" and then the kids went crazy on the cupcakes. Which, of course, means they licked off the icing and took a couple of bites off the top.

YUM! Cupcakes!

Happy Birthday, Levi! We had fun splashing in puddles and eating at your party!

Kayleigh's artwork

Kayleigh has become quite the artiste. I guess I should know better than to think everything is okay when it's super quiet in her room. She apparently found some crayons (that the dogs hadn't eaten) and did a little coloring in her room.

Reading to the babies

Kayleigh has become a nurturer - she loves to read to her babies. Of course, she has no idea what she's reading, but she loves to look at the pictures and make up stories to go with them.

Kayleigh moster

The Kayleigh Monster is on the loose! Run away! Run away!

Singing and playing

One morning, we broke out the xylophone, and Logan got out his guitar. So the two of them played the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Deep and Wide. It was a great concert!

Open the box

We just got a new water heater (Shane is a genius - he lifted the new one up to the attic using the winch on the ATV). The kids are loving the box - getting rolled around in it, they even tried camping out in it (but didn't last an hour).

Funny things

A couple of funny things that I have to write down before I forget:

Shane was buying something online the other day and had to type in his name. Logan was looking over his shoulder as Daddy was telling him what he was doing. Logan points to the screen, very concerned and says, "Daddy, you spelled your name wrong!"
"No, I didn't Buck-O."
"Yes, you did. Your name starts with a 'D', not an 'S'!"

We had to explain that Daddy sometimes goes by his middle name, Shane; which is true, his middle name really is Shane, it's just that his first name is Timothy, not Daddy.


Our little neighbors up the street, Stavros and Dmitri, can't remember my name. So they call me "Mrs. Shane". Funny!

Sam's birthday party

Logan's friend from school, Sam, had a birthday party on January 28. It was a construction themed party. Valarie, Sam's mom, was going to have the kids actually paint all of Sam's new fort. Then she decided she'd just have them paint some of it.

Each kid was given their own hard hat.

This is Logan's friend, Jackson.

Sam and his mom put his hand print on the fort.

Some of the handprints from the boys.

Painting the fort. They had lots of different colors.

Logan had a good time - he had lots of fun playing with their little dogs and eating cupcakes.

Some funny kids

On Tuesday, January 24, the Daniher girls came over for a little while. Naomi and Elena pretty much take care of themselves. They jump on the trampoline, play in the sandbox, and just generally entertain themselves.

Evelyn is about 4 months younger than Kayleigh, so the two of them had a great time playing together. They painted the water heater box with finger paints and colored it with crayons.

Evelyn is not so fond of Bug and Zoe. In fact, she kind of freaks out when they come within a couple meters of her. So to play outside, she brought the baby and baby stroller up to the trampoline where the dogs wouldn't get her. She actually pushed the stroller around on the trampoline! Funny!