Daddy's Helper

Ian is a worker and he especially LOVES to help his Daddy with projects. Here are a few pictures of him this month working away:

I'm not even sure what they were up to under the desk, but something must have needed to be plugged in or rewired...

Ian LOVES tools, but especially the real deal. Here he is out using the mallet to do who knows what:

Helping his daddy fix the washing machine:

I have to give myself some credit on this one. While I didn't do the actual labor, I was able to figure out via you tube how Andy could fix it. Thank heavens for a friend close by who let me do my laundry while I waited for Andy to have the time to be able to fix it. So glad I've got these two worker bees!

Looks Comfortable???

I came out of my room today and found my girls like this watching TV. Looks comfortable, right???

Silly Kids

Field Trip with Rachel

This was the first school year that I signed up to be a room mom. Rachel loved that I helped with the parties at her school. Another benefit of being room mom was being invited to be a chaperone for the field trip. They were only allowing one parent per class, so I got lucky. In years past it hasn't been that way. But this year they were seeing a play and had limited seating. So, I was glad I was able to go and spend the day with Rachel. I had actually just gotten back the day before from a recruiting trip up to BYU with Andy. We got to escape while my parents came down to watch the kids. It was very nice! It was the first time in a long time that spouses had been invited, so it was fun that we got to take them up on the offer. Anyhow, so my parents stuck around an extra day so they could watch Audrey and Ian while I went on the field trip with Rachel. Everything worked out grand!

We went downtown to the Main Street Theater to watch "A Year with Frog and Toad". I snapped a quick picture of Rachel before the play started. Poor girl, you can see her allergies have now hit. Miserable, puffy eyes...breaks my heart!

The play was pretty good. The students enjoyed it and were well behaved. It was a great field trip to chaperone for because you just had to get the kids into the theater and then back on the bus. Here's the cast:

After the play we headed over to Hermann Park to enjoy a picnic lunch outdoors. The weather was prefect! Here's my girl and I:

The kids then got the chance to get the wiggles out a bit before heading back to school. I grabbed a picture of Rachel with her best buddy at school, Kayla:

Every time I see these girls together I kind of chuckle inside. They are total opposites by appearance, but they are inseparable at school. They adore each other... Kayla pretty much takes it upon herself to "protect" Rachel. It's really sweet. They were in the same class in kindergarten, but not last year. It'll be interesting to see what happens in 3rd grade. I'm grateful for the good friends that Rachel is able to make at school.

Overall, it was a fun day. I feel blessed to be able to participate in little things like this. Some of my best memories as a kid were when my mom or dad went on a field trip with me. You just feel so special and pretty darn proud that your parent took the time to go with you. I'm grateful for this opportunity and one of these days I'm going to get Andy to go on a field trip... :) Dads need that opportunity, too.

Rodeo Fun!

Last Saturday we went to the rodeo. The kids and I had been out of town for a week, so it was fun to get out and do something as a family. Natalie and her boys joined us. The weather forecast wasn't great, so we headed out pretty early that morning, hoping to beat the rain. 

Ian's all ready to go!

 Our first event - the pig races!

Audrey volunteered and got chosen to wave the flags during one of the races (unfortunately our pig didn't win that time so she didn't get a prize like she wanted).

The pigs whizzing by:

We then headed over to mutton bustin' (where they put 5-7 year-old kids on the back of a sheep and see how long they last). Ian was enthralled:

We couldn't convince any of our kids to try it out. Maybe Ian will be willing in a few years. I caught this cute picture of these cute cousin friends watching the show:

 Ian, Landon, Audrey, Rachel, and Chase:

Time to play on the farm! The kids always enjoy this venue because they get to go through and do different things a farmer does and then at the end they trade in their produce for play money and then they get to buy a real treat from a little shop at the end.

Ian doing some gardening:

Checking out the wool:

Everyone got a chance to milk a cow:

From there we went to the petting zoo and no one was really that interested. They patted a few animals, but overall not too thrilled with the concept...

 

Llama, llama, where's your mama???

The rain really started coming down at this point. So, we got some lunch and then headed indoors to check out the livestock and other items to see, like tractors:

Ian was ready to drive away!

Pigs:

Checking out the students showing off their cows:

Cute girls!

Ready to go hunting!

Once the rain slowed down a bit we decided to make the trek to our car and head home. It was fun to check out the rodeo. One of these years we actually need to get tickets to the actual show. I think the kids would really enjoy it!

Spring Break

Andy's work schedule does not allow for any time off during Spring Break, so we've made it a tradition for the kids and I to go up to visit my parents. And now we have the added bonus of cousins in Dallas who can join us. Although, this year they were sick, so we ended up going to Dallas towards the end of Spring Break to visit them. Next year hopefully it can be all crazy the entire week at Papa and Grandma's house!!! Andy of course was working on Saturday, so we didn't waste any time and drove up there then. We stayed there until Wednesday and then headed into Dallas for a few days. Here's some pictures of our fun:

Ian sitting in his happy place:

Grandma always has lots of helpers when she makes French toast:

Ian LOVED my mom's little vacuum:

Here's a picture of the girls in front of the massive burn pile Papa had going:

Tractor ride!!!

Ian's taking over:

Papa always has some type of project going. The kids are always more than willing to help. He's so patient with them and they enjoy learning how to work with him. Papa teaching Ian how to shovel some dirt:

Tractor ride when Grandma's in charge (comfortable enough for a queen):

Ian loves riding the cozy coupe:

Ian working on the tractor:

Ian using the water can to put gas in his car:

One benefit of going up there is I can always take up projects that need to be done and my mom is always willing to help. We made the kids some seat belt pillows. They loved being able to pick out their own fabric from all the options Grandma had. And then my mom helped me make this old chair of Andy's, a chair again. We've had the base for awhile and just need to made the seat. Ian sitting in his Daddy's chair:

Ian ready to ride his car with some bling-bling:

 

As you can tell we spent a ton of time outside!!! The weather was pretty perfect. A jacket maybe needed in the morning, but by the afternoon it was nice. The mosquitoes hadn't hatched yet and since we had a cold winter the pollen wasn't out in full force yet, so it was perfect for Rachel's allergies. One afternoon while Ian was napping I was able to sneak up on these cute girls playing outside:

  

Once they saw I had the camera, they threw me some poses:

My happy place:

I don't return home to my childhood home when I visit my parents, but I'm pretty grateful they're in Texas. And I love going up to their place. It's beautiful any time of the year and it's just a breath of fresh air. We relax, we play, we sleep, we laugh, we read, we just enjoy life...

On Wednesday we drove into Dallas to spend some time with Paul's family. We had fun going to Sky Zone there (a indoor trampoline place). Audrey and Rachel loved it and Ian was a chicken. He's not big on jumping. Not quite coordinated enough to do that yet...or I guess brave enough. So he bounced some...

 

 After jumping all morning, we went to In 'n Out for lunch. Yum, yum!!!

 

We had fun spending Wednesday and Thursday night at their house. We drove a triangle on this trip. We went Northeast to get to my parents, then West to get to Paul, and then Southeast to get back home. We don't drive I-45 often, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to stop off at the Sam Houston Statue that's north of Houston, right off I-45. It was a good stretch-your-legs break. Not sure why his head was on the ground, maybe it was just the practice one... But leave it to my kids to make sure he keeps his nose clean:

Smiles!

The statue (67 feet tall on a 10 foot base):

Leave it to Texas to make sure we can claim that we have the tallest statue of an American hero. :)

On our way back to our car I noticed that people were taking pictures above the head. There was a platform to stand on behind it. It worked for me, but I still had to hold up the girls. I didn't even bother with Ian, he's still a bit too short. We'll have to stop by again in a couple of years...

We had a great Spring Break! We're grateful to be able to escape and have fun somewhere while Daddy has to work. Hopefully one day he'll have a work schedule that will allow him to join us. We have fun, but we definitely miss him...