After T-day

On Black Friday we packed up and went to AR for the weekend to visit my parents. One highlight of the trip was an outing to the new art museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is a beautiful museum. What luck for us to get to go. The collection is impressive and without my family I really could have stayed all day. In between galleries there is a sitting area filled with books on all the art and landscape that you see.  I envy my fellow Arkansans that will get to just sit their and soak up so much culture and beauty. I hope they don't take it for granted.

There is a children's section where the kids can play and learn about art. There is another room where they can create their own art as well.

The museum gets its name for Crystal Spring found in the ravine. The museum spans the creek, hence Crystal Bridges. It is autumn there so the area around wasn't lush, but Oh, that I could go there when the dogwoods are in bloom.

We do have a fabulous museums here in Texas, but they aren't 15 minutes away. I look forward to going again and again while we are on vacation there.

Here are the kids with Grandma. Macey did open up some while we were there.

The only competition for Grandma was the hotel pool. It was a few degrees too cool for me, but the kids had fun playing football with dad.

On our way out of town we stopped at the national cemetery to see Grandma's grave. She shares the marker with Grandpa Staudt. It was a subdued trip without being able to 'go home' and see her and enjoy in the warmth of her fire and my old room. But life moves on and I have peace knowing that our separation is temporary. What mischief we'll be in on the other side!

Here is my Grandfather's side of the marker. To the left of Ernie's grave is row upon row of Unknown Soldiers. They were relocated here from Pea Ridge where they fought the Battle of Pea Ridge during the Civil War. Truly, I love this cemetery. It has honor and peace and is so beautiful on Memorial Day with all the flags flying high and at each marker.

In the same section of the cemetery is my maternal grandfather, Joseph Brown.

The One Halloween Picture

Thanks to a new acquaintance, I've got this one picture of us on Halloween.

Soccer pictures

Macey's second Birthday

2011-08-24

Macey started her day very early since the boys all wanted to wish her a 'happy birthday' and watch her open her bed gift. This threw her off for the rest of the. We stayed home and played with her Sesame Street playhouse all day, when she wasn't sleeping half naked on the floor! When the boys got home we went to pick up her birthday cake. I really do believe in homemade cakes, but the bakery does such a nice job and then I don't have to do anything but pick it up and enjoy it!


We had her favorite dinner, Hawaiian Haystacks and then we got ready for our friends to come. Our LDS-around-the-corner neighbors have a boy 8, a girl 4, and a girl almost 2, so we invited them to come for the fun of playing with the new gifts. Also, my friend Lora and her grown son came by to enjoy cake and ice cream.

I had to include this snippet of video because it is so classic big brother. Watch it again. Did you see that Macey did not open this gift? There were 3 books in there and she didn't pull a single one out. Did you see that the boys looked at each book first and then shared it with her? It was a great moment of sharing and it seems that she is used to it since she doesn't fuss about it.
Gift highlights: An adjustable height kitchen, finally! Ryan has been asking for one for 3 years. Oscar the Grouch stuffed animal, not so cuddly with the trash can, but certainly a favorite. Bert and Ernie action figures. Thank you to all the family who sent her gifts and cards. She had a very happy birthday and we have lots of new things to play with while the boys are off being educated.

First Day of School

Finally, school is here. The last 2 activities for the links were 'Green Lantern 3-D' with dad (he always gets to see the cool movies!) and another movie, Nacho Libre that Dan had recorded. So, for the first day of school, Alex got up ready to go and I had to drag my Ryan out of bed. But once he was showered he was ready to go.
I said goodbye at home since Macey was still sleeping and Dan got to take them to class.
No matching with Dad this year. The boys were excited not to have to wear uniforms. I was surprised this afternoon to not see a single pair of jean shorts on the boys. Maybe 10% were in khaki and the rest in sport shorts. It is just that I have been trying to instill decent wear in public and have put a ban on sports clothes except for when we are playing sports. I guess I'll have to change my ways. I sure could have saved some money and a trip shopping for my idea of decent clothes!
Both Ryan and Alex came home saying that school was AWESOME. Thank goodness!

Ryan has lunch at 10:30 and Alex at 1:00! What madness! Ah well, not everyone can sit down at 12:00 and have lunch at the same time. But I will have to invest in dry snacks...

Macey's first haircut

Macey's hair was getting a little too shaggy. After getting a referral from another mom, I took Macey to Snip-its. My boys were surprised. They didn't know that such a place existed. Basically it was a very cool kid salon with little seats, TVs, candy, and very patient stylists.
Sister was buckled into the seat but kept leaning for me so we had to move to the grown up seat with her in my lap. Alex took this picture. Look how long her hair had gotten! Macey gave out a few of her dirty looks, but managed to get a nice haircut.
The stylist even put glitter in her hair! Since the cut I have noticed that Macey's curls have got a little more bounce to them.
Here is her certificate. There is a tiny bag with a locket of hair stapled to the back. My baby girl is going to be 2 in a couple of weeks. She is growing up. We all love Macers and are so glad that she is a part of our family.

Macey playing with the water

Most toddlers visiting our house have a turn holding down the spigot and letting the water flow. Usually my own kids try this once or twice but never really get gung ho about it. However, I guess I left sister unattended and she was having a good time playing. I know this was a long video but I wanted to capture her conversation skills also. Did you see the look of excitement when she realized she could fill all the cups in the cupboard with water? Thankfully she didn't, but was diverted to the bathtub with all her bowls to play for a while.

Life in Texas

We are living in Texas! It has just been crazy trying to unpack, to keep the kids happy, and to find our way around town with a camera in hand!
The kids swimming. We swim everyday but Sunday (which Ryan still doesn't understand!) I love to walk down the street, swim in two beautiful pools and then walk home. I don't have to clean it or worry about finding Ryan at the bottom of it. There is a baby pool that is 1 1/2' deep and probably 10' square. Macey wades in it and the boys nearly drown her playing football in it.
Ah well, who could resist putting this cute picture on their blog?
This playground is in the pool area. Macey goes down the slide a few times and then goes back to the pool. Whoever dreamed this up was brilliant. The kids usually play on it and dry off just before we head home.
Happy Birthday, me! Here the kids have shot off confetti poppers as part of my morning surprise.
A wonderful message on the living room windows for me. Bruce, do you see I'm wearing your birthday present from two years ago?
Dad and boys made me a yummy cake. Sister helped me blow out the candles.
The kids enjoying the new bunk bed.

This is the most ghetto thing I've probably done since being married. We are watching the city fireworks from the WalMart parking lot. It was a nice view and an interesting crowd!

Talent Show

Here is Alex performing for the talent show at school. Things to consider as you watch this...

1. He started taking piano lessons the 2nd week of January.

2. 3 weeks before this performance he had a panic attack at his first piano recital and nearly didn't perform.

3. On the day of tryouts he only had the right hand of this song 60% memorized and had forgotten his sheet music.

4. He had to do this twice: once for the K-3 and parents crowd and again for the 4-8 and parents crowd (about 800 people all together).

I admit that on the morning of tryouts I tried to comfort him by saying that when they called his grade to go tryout he could just skip it and not feel bad about it. On the way to the talent show he was in full anxious mode and said, 'I tried out because I never thought I would get picked.' And then I used it as a great moment to say that Heavenly Father knew he could do it because he never puts us in a situation we can't handle. Certainly we are proud beyond belief and excited to see where his piano playing goes.

Family Pictures

One of my friends was willing to take pictures of our family. I selected her mainly because Macey is familiar with her and I thought it wouldn't take long for her to smile for the camera. I think she did a great job. Thanks, Lacie!

Grand Canyon

I thought it would be mighty embarrassing for our children when they say we are from AZ and then when they are asked, 'How is the Grand Canyon?' they just shrug their shoulders. So, we piled up and headed north. It was a beautiful day: 60 deg and sunny.

The boys got booklets and work to do. They wanted to become Jr Rangers and they had to do different activities throughout the day like find rocks or do Canyon Bingo finding plants and animals. It was worth it because otherwise Ryan would have lost complete interest and today he went to preschool wearing his Jr Ranger badge and said, 'The Grand Canyon was the coolest trip.'

Bruce, his sister Robin and brother in law Craig, Julianne and us at the South Rim, Mather Point.

Ryan grabbed this tree and started shaking it. When we yelled at him he said, 'It isn't even real.' Oh boy, he has been to too many theme parks.

Ryan was scared when I gave him the pre canyon trip talk. I responded that that was good, very good. And he stayed relatively cautious except when we stopped too long.

The boys: front.

The boys: Back.

I brought my binoculars and Ryan loved them. I saw some little swallows darting around. But we didn't see any condors, which would have been awesome.

The happy couple.

Now, of course we had to have puke somewhere along the way and Ryan provided that 30 min this side of Flagstaff on the way up. I'm thinking car sickness from watching a movie and eating just the charms out of his not so Lucky charms. He has been banned from said cereal until the age of 6.

We were home at about 9:30pm. A perfect day trip. Now, I would like to go back and hike down to the bottom, stay overnight and come back up. Ah, nature and birds and fresh smells. I have always wanted to go on a raft trip and I think 2 days rafting through the canyon would also be a fine thing to do.

San Diego

We made spur of the moment plans to visit Grandma in San Diego last week. It was fun as always. We spent our time mostly at Grandma's but we did make a trek down to the ocean twice.

Baptism

Our Alex was baptized March 5th, 2011. We had a shared baptism time with another family. For our part of the program Alyssa and Lindsey sang accompanied by Emily. Emily gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Dan baptized and confirmed Alex.
We are very proud of Alex. He was very confident in his decision to be baptized. The Bishop said his interview went very well. We know that Alex has a testimony of his Savior, even if it is a young and growing one.
Thank you to all of Alex's friends who came to celebrate our special day. We especially want to thank our 'Dear Friend' for being a witness for the baptism ordinance.

Alex's 8th bday

Alex had his birthday party last Saturday. It was a basketball theme; he chose the Suns colors for decorating.
Thank you Amie for teaching me the 'star technique'. I think these turned out very nice.

Kids jumping on the tramp'.
Alex won the slam dunk contest and a game of PIG.

Dinner of hot dogs and chips.
'Happy Birthday to you, cha cha cha' The cha cha cha must be at all schools now, seeing as how Trey from Peoria and the kids from Alex's school all knew to do it. Alex was given many great gifts. Thank you friends! However, there was a general shout and cheer for the CHESS set Alex got. No lie, these boys chose to play chess instead of the Wii at the end of the party. Ah, I am so glad that my son is a geek and has geeky friends to be with.

If you are curious, Billy won with a king and queen and Alex having only a king left.

Flag Football