Cute ones of Bensen

Before Easter, Bensen and Addie helped me get out the Easter baskets while Staucie and Parker were at preschool. Bensen opened all the plastic eggs. He thought the ones that opened the other way made good boats. He kept opening them and saying, "more boat." Addie crawled away for the picture.
And then while Addie was napping he wanted to play with Staucie's beads. When he went to put them away, they spilled. Good thing he is cute. He did a good job helping me clean them up.

He also likes to help me feed Addie her bottle. He usually climbs up on the couch and sits on Addie and I, and helps me hold the bottle. It is hard to feed Addie because she grips the bottle real tight and pushes down while you try to hold it up. On this day, he fed Addie her bottle on the bed while I folded laundry. What a good helper!

Bensen got a hold of my camera the other day and took a whole bunch of pictures. I didn't even know he knew how. When I looked at all the pictures, it looked like he knew what he was doing. Here are a few of them... I was cleaning the bathrooms and now I know what they were doing...

Crawfish Boil

On the last day of April our friends invited us to their Neighborhood Crawfish Boil. After living in the South for two years, this was our first time trying crawfish. It was fun to try and seasoned well, but they were sure ugly. After enjoying our feast, the kids had hot dogs, the kids played in some races and ran around.

Parker and Jude kicking a ball around with some guy.

Staucie had fun with the water balloons.

This is Staucie in the 'bucket of water' race. You can also see Bensen in the background. I think this is where he lost sight of us and got nervous. You can tell he is nervous because his hands are in his mouth. He is also walking right through the middle of the race. Poor kid. We worry about him.

And there Bensen is watching the other kids play with his fingers in his mouth. Poor thing.

Then we went over to the inflatables where some big, mean kids were pushing kids down the slide. Luckily, our kids were okay. Probably because they didn't know them.

Silas sliding down.

Staucie sliding down.
Staucie climbing up, Parker and Silas sliding down.

Jude climbing up and Parker sliding down.

Then the kids got snow cones and checked out the fire truck.

Parker drove.

Silas, Staucie, Jude, Bensen.

I did get one picture of the back of Tami. ha ha.

Then they waited in a line that took forever, to jump on the trampoline.

Isaac went first but we didn't get his picture. He did flips on it.

This is Silas. I think he liked it.

And then Staucie had a turn...

She was excited to jump but...

...then they raised her up and she looked terrified and I thought she was going to cry.

The guys kept flinging her up and had no idea she was scared. Oh, my kids.

Parker didn't even try it. He didn't even stand in line.

I wanted to try it, but was pretty sure I weighed too much.

It was a fun and busy day! Thanks for inviting us. The kids had a blast!

Addie started walking

She started walking a week or two before her first birthday, which was May 4th. She is getting faster everyday. Although I am sad she keeps growing and reaching new milestones so quickly, she sure is a CUTE little walker. I love her little walk. All day long she walks and walks.

Easter!

On Easter Sunday we waited until after church to have our Easter egg hunt. We also had dinner at our friends' house right afer church so the Easter egg hunt was later in the day. The kids were excited! We tried to line them up for a "before the egg hunt" picture...

Addie crawled all over her stuff...

And then drug her head across the floor... she was tired...

Later that day, we colored our eggs while Addie was napping. We ran out of time the day before so we did it on Sunday.

And then Addie woke up.

Addie's First Birthday

Happy First Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

It is breaking my heart to watch her grow. I love you, Addie.

Grass in the BaCkYaRd!

But... it took two tries...

We ordered some palettes of sod to lay in our backyard. It was supposed to come sometime before 8:00 on a Saturday morning. We were hoping it would come Friday evening, but we were having a hard time getting a hold of the company. Daniel finally did Saturday morning. They said they were on their way and would be there before 9am. Meanwhile, we had friends and neighbors, and our brother-in-law showing up to help... Then they called back and said they had another customer calling and yelling at them and they wouldn't come until 11:00am to deliver ours... Uh... what.

So, I yelled while Daniel tried covering up the receiver on the phone. Long story... I was mad... We ended up getting our sod the next weekend, which was Easter weekend. I wanted it for sure on Friday so we wouldn't have the same problem Saturday morning. After calling a billion times AGAIN (this was after already scheduling it again) we finally got them to say that for sure they would deliver it around noon on Friday. (If you are wondering why we continued to go with this company, it's because they were the least expensive. Plus, we got them to knock off some more for failing us the first time.)

We got it! On Friday around 11:00am.

And then our friends, Caleb and Tami, came over that Friday night with 3 of the 4 of their boys to help us get a head start on laying it. In about 2 1/2 hours, without much help from me because of Addie, we got 6 palettes laid. The bad news is that Texas sod comes with Texas bugs. There were a few fire ant bites and maybe some spider bites. Those 2 that would not wear gloves got bit the most; they must be father and son.

On Saturday Daniel filled in the rest of the holes and watered it. AND of course, I made Daniel buy granules to kill bugs and treat the grass that day also. Grooooosssss buuuugggs. Yeah for grass!

Someday we will add some planter boxes. I also miss the soft grass in California. This stuff is like a weed. It grows sideways. It looks like crab grass.

Thanks Caleb, Tami, Elias, Isaac, and Jude for all your help. And thanks to those who tried to help the first time and who were willing to help the second time.

Grandma and Aunt Tyne at the Zoo

My mom and sister, Tyne, came to visit us for a week. We were so happy to be together again. They came just because we miss each other and I can't go to them because it costs so much for 4 plane tickets (Addie is free still), and too far to drive. The only pictures I took were of the zoo. It was our first time going to the Houston Zoo.

Me and my kids. They are adorable.

Tyne, Parker, my Mom, Bensen (who you can't see), and Staucie looking at the weird animal that looked like it was several animals in one. Forgot what it was called.

Oh, there's Bensen.

And Addie in the stroller.

Parker checking out the lioness.

The kids with Grandma and Aunt Tyne. This is towards the end of our day and the kids are looking tired. My sister is expecting her first baby, a GIRL, in July. She is a trooper with her diabetes and I am proud of how committed she is at taking good care of herself.

This big orangutan was so funny. He just sat there with his chin resting on the ledge, staring. Barely blinking. He was just hanging out while people took their picture with him. The kids were afraid he could get them at first.

"Here I am at the zoo for everyone to look at. Blah. Blah. Blah."

Thanks for coming Mom and Tyne. I miss you to pieces. I can't wait til we get together again.