The Jared - Laurel Thing

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 5

I promise we are almost done with Christmas Break and 2014! It was just too unforgettable to skip over. And who knows when we'll all be together like that again?

Hot Tub Time


Noah and Ellie's favorite feature about the hot tub at the condo was the handicap-accessible chair.

Sea World

Lunch time at Sea World...about the only time we were all together for more than 5 minutes!


Much to the delight of his nephew and niece, Danny spent much of the day with Noah & Ellie.

Drying off after the Atlantis (center pic) and...the carousel at the Bay of Play

Saturday, March 5, 2016

If there's anything more fun than having my family in town, it's getting to outright play together at a random playground. If there's anything more fortunate than being able to do that, it's having Jared around with the camera to capture some of the fun.

Somehow, we missed capturing Danny and Isaac, who were very active at the playground in their own sneaky shenanigans.

Uncle "Fun" Dave


Grandchild #1--such a great role model for his cousins!

Super Fun & Cute Drew

Ellie always enjoys a good time at the playground

Pregger mama ME.

My little Monkey Ninja

This KID! He's so handsome, but he's also a SWEETHEART.

Oh, this sweet girl. I haven't seen her have this much fun since she was a toddler!

My Mom. SUCH a fun lady!

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 3

It seems like a fairy tale now, but right after Christmas 2014, we had the prodigious privilege of having most of Laurel's family come visit San Antonio. We all stayed in some condos in Gruene, a small town just outside of New Braunfels, and we had a wonderful time together.

The first night we went to Cantina del Rio for dinner. With Corky's new bride, Whitney, we were all influenced to take plenty of pictures.

I love my family!!


Making faces seems to be my kids' specialty.


Lots of group gatherings. And the little ones lock each other "in jail."


Playing catch on what was the sunniest day of our time together.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 2

Christmas Day

There are certain traditions we have as a family. We do lots of Night-Before-Christmas Traditions, but I don't have any pictures of that. But everybody loves to have Christmas Crepes for breakfast!

Strawberry Crepes with Lime filling

My favorite thing about this day is everyone's happy surprises, especially from each others' gifts. But all happy surprises are great memories to record.

"Thank you, _____ (Mom! Isaac! Noah! Gerry! Jared!)"

And we have to show off something we got to wear in front of the Christmas tree. Is for fun.

Overwhelmed, Ellie could only fake a smile by this point.

New shirts!

Isaac's many faces. Love this kid!

Noah is plotting something; I just know it!

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 1

We always enjoy the good times that come with being out of school! The Christmas break of '14 wasn't fully documented with photos, but here are a few things we did:

Gingerbread Houses

Ellie's sweet preschool teacher sent a lovely gingerbread house kit home with each of her students. I might just be categorized as a "bad mom" for the bare fact that I've never purchased such a product, nor engaged in this specific activity--which is, to many, a necessary winter tradition--with my children. So we did it together. I told myself I'd never do such a project again, especially with kids...but what I tell myself is irrelevant after about a week anyway.


Posing with the Edible Masterpiece...and Isaac by his school-made penguin and birdfeeder.

Six Flags

We finally got Six Flags Passes! Pregnant people can only watch at most amusement parks (I had to hide my belly with my purse on the pedestrian train ride!), so that's what I did. And I snapped a few pictures.

Trains

Planes

Skater-mobiles

Whatever-mobiles

Shopping

Perhaps it's because I'm blogging over a year after this happened, but I don't remember going shopping on Christmas Eve. Apparently we did. And Ellie really wanted me to get this picture of her with this new, hip, adoptive family she met.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Snow!? In Texas!?

Yep, it's Sea World. You have to wait in line, but it's worth it if you love and miss snow as much as we do. We'll probably be singing a different tune if we ever move out of Texas, but for now...there's Sea World!

My Student

This guy loves homeschooling so much. Can't you tell?? He is a fun kiddo to spend the day with, although he's quite stubborn at times. Never uses a pencil; always a pen. Bathroom breaks are our favorite mandatory activity...not. All of our homeschool activities will be in a separate album, but I thought I'd give a shout out to my Noah. And, of course, Isaac is giving him bunny ears here. I guess that's what he learned in public school. Ha! Joking.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Her First Real Haircut!

It was long overdue, but we are very happy with the results.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Frightening

It's frightening to think that this blog is over a year behind and I don't think I'll ever catch up!

My kids were frightening on Halloween last year.

It was frightening (okay, not really) that we revealed the baby's gender with sprinkles in cookies and codes.

It was frightening to know we were having a GIRL (actually, just exciting...we would've been excited either way)!

It's frightening how fast these kids grow. Isaac's 9th birthday featured a Harry Potter-themed dinner with our good friends, the Souths.

The formal invitation

Potter Party

Birthday morning with a present from Grandma and strawberry crepes

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Oh, the Messes We Make and the Things We Create!

Above we have a prime example of what goes on regularly at our house. It's very serious. Here are some more examples:

That's my girl, showing off her preschool creations and hilarious expressions!

Before and after...Ellie's room took so long to finish we never got an "after" picture! Room cleaning is always a source of frustration for everyone involved.

Noah and his tangrams in homeschool one day.


Sometimes you've got to take advantage of September rain...and wrestle on the trampoline!

Yes, this ridiculous tower was built just days after that "clean room" pic.

More dress-up/fight-type play

Even moms can make messes and be creative. These snickerdoodles and the accompanying key revealed that BABY #4 was a girl! Nice Halloween surprise for us all.

-From October & November 2014.

What SHE's said

"I love Daddy. And I love Mommy. And I like shoes."
(Binky dropped) "Mom. Get it." ("You have legs. You can do it. You're a big girl.") "No, Ellie's a PRINCESS."
"Mommies like pumpkin pie."
"My name is George EleaNOR Batman."
"I burped. I burped a princess burp in the pink princess spaghetti."
"You don't have any hair!" ("Aaah! Where is it?!") "I flushed it down the toilet!"
"I don't like tickles!" ("What do you like?") "Cereal."
"Not JA-Pan; Peter Pan!"
"Every day we sleep!! IN THE WORLD!"
"I wish I had wings so I could fly with you." ("Wings like a bird?") "No, wings like Tinkerbell."
"I don't love salad."
"Ack! If you say that again to me, it's a BAD CHOICE."
"He's OLD. We have to get a new daddy now."
"Mom! Look! A Crut-knacker!"
"I hate songs. I hate 'glory to God' songs. I only like 'twinkle star' songs."
"I need to dance like a girl"

deep thoughts by noah-since 2011

"I have super-vision-seeing eyes!"
"Mom, put batteries in my car. Then you can use GOODERIES...for Cheerios!"
"I'm going to toot on you. And toots are made of fire."
"My arms can stretch really long to Alaska, Mom."
"I'd be laughing my head off! Laughing my HAIR off! Then I'll be like Daddy!"
"That's a funny sound! Thanks for doing that!"
"I'm never gonna whine like that [like Isaac]. I'm gonna whine a different way."
"I use the 'yeah' word because 'yes' is a little bit ugly."
("I'm gonna clean the kitchen for 10 minutes") "Shh. Mom's gonna eat cake!"
"Hey diddle! I'm gonna JUMP on Diddle Diddle...."
"Robin Hood doesn't hug boys--only girls."
"My king says your king likes to lie."
"I feel good when I use a sharp knife."
("Heck, no!" "Heck, yes!") "Hecknology."
("Boys and girls, this is Elder Bednar") "Ha. That's the kind of smile you have when you're about to kill someone."
"When I grow up, I'll call myself DOO DOO HEAD because I hate dads!"
"When I was a boy, I used to be sneaky."
"How did you do that?" ("Daddy Powers.") "Nobody has any powers. Only scripture powers!"
("'Free is the best place to be.'") "The potty is the best place to pee...?"
"I'm sitting on the end so that THAT Ridiculous Head doesn't [accidentally] punch me in the face again."
"Why do you have to treat me like Oliver Twist??"
("How sure are you?") "Ten times a million more than a giant."
"Mommy, do you know why poop is sticky? Because it's made part of tape and part of glue. And part of stickery!"
("Goodnight. You smell like gum...?") "That's because I HAVE gum." ("Where??") "There's still gum in my boot-y footies!"
"All teeny tiny things are squishy...except for metal...and other things...."
"My pinky toe is the longest toe on me. Just take a look at pinkytoe.com"

Isaacisms 2011-present

"I dreamed I was falling off planets in space and getting caught in cloud windows."
"I'm sad because Ellie bumped her head AND the missionaries are gone. I saw the garage door close and I waved to their kind souls."
"When I grow up and blow a big enough boogar, I might have to wear a Kleenex all the time."
"Ridiculous. They made me wear a pink lifejacket!"
"Teachers at school need more respect than mothers."
"How's this joke? Your kneecap is the capital of your knee!"
"I just zipped my courage up like a zipper and decided to eat it."
("How come you're so smart?") "Because there's a school inside my body. That's even a smart way to say it."
"Noah, I'm so glad I get to spend all these days with you." ("Me, too.")
("Are you a hot pepper?") "No, I'm good and cheesy and ice cream-like."
"Sinks are everything to me. If they don't have a sink...too bad, so sad, your dad."
"That was the best I've ever slept. Good! Great! Good!"
"Daddy, what part of that is true?" ("I don't know.") "Then why did it come out of your FACE?!"
"Grandpa, you have yellow crusty toenails."
("I've been alive over 10,000 days! What did I do?") "I hope you haven't done ridiculous things!"
"You're the commander and I'm the king." ("I command you, king.") "You can't command the king!"
"...Please help any temptation that comes my way to be overthrown by my courage--SHOT!..."
"...And please bless Daddy to not look to see if kids are not being reverent, because they're always reverent, and it's not likely that they're ever going to not be reverent..."
"You guys are lucky to be parents of superheroes. We can give you lots of good advice."
"I hate you, stupid underwear that won't stay down!"
("Noah, did you know there are some grown-ups who are smaller than you?") "Yep, they're called hobbits."
"Noah, cheer up. This is a very very sunny place. Monsters live in dark swamps."
(sigh) "Most movies don't make my legs fall asleep, but these ones do."
"I live here, so I pretty much knew that."
("I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.") "I don't think we're gonna get dessert if that happens."