Is it okay . . .

Is it okay to hope that kid number three isn't quite as weird as numbers one and two? Audrey took these pictures of Parker today. He's not wearing a shirt because he likes to only wear underwear. That way he feels more like Tarzan, who only wears a loincloth.

This is Audrey's favorite picture. Isn't it a nice booger shot?

Our News

Number One

Number Two

Number Three is on its way!

In case you haven't heard, our family is expecting another little Texan at the end of the summer. As I type this, I'm not feeling super fabulous, but a couple more weeks and I should be in the clear. We're going to try and wait until the baby's born to know the gender, so it's going to be a big day for us when this little person comes. Check back late August for the news!

Merry Christmas to Us!

Neal and I went to the Coldplay concert last night. It was so much fun and our first non-Wiggles concert since we were dating, and it was worth the wait! We had tickets last summer, but, unfortunately the date they were scheduled to come to town was one of the days we were in Dallas as hurricane evacuees. So the band rescheduled and we bought ourselves tickets for Christmas. We were in the 15th row, about 40 feet away from the stage, and since we are now old fogies, we donned earplugs and enjoyed the show. We we worried there would be lots of weirdos there, as there usually are at concerts, but the crowd was pretty tame. In fact the weirdest people we saw happened to be sitting right next to us, and boy, they were quite weird indeed!
Anyway, we forgot to bring in our camera, but I found this shot that shows about how close we were. We had a great time. Hooray for date night and loving grandparent babysitters!

Soccer Practice

water break

kicking around with Hampton

Audrey had her first experience with organized athletics on Wednesday. She had a great time and to all of our surprise, she wasn't the only girl on her team! On the team roster there was a kid named Hampton, who we assumed was a boy. She's not! Yay! Audrey was really glad to have another girl to kick around with. She did a great job and can't wait until next practice!

My Audrey

My little girl is nothing like me. Yesterday, we lost a snake in our house. Yes, we have snakes, five of them. They're quite small, they're called Ball Pythons, and Neal thinks they're very cool. The funny thing is, that Audrey thinks they're just as cool. Not only has she handled our other lovely pet, the tarantula, Charlotte, but yesterday, she rescued the lost snake.

I walked into my closet, where the snakes each live in their own spacious rubbermaid box, and Neal was in there tending to them. "Two of the snakes are out," he said cautiously. "Oh great," I said, looking immediately at the floor all around where I'm standing. "They're in here somewhere," Neal replied and started picking things up looking for the snakes. "Found one!" A small sigh of relief from me. "I'm going to get Audrey to help us," I said, "she would love this."

So in Audrey comes, and starts looking in the smaller places. Neal suddenly gets the idea that the snake is under our dresser, so he lifts up one end and Audrey and I peek underneath. "I see it!" said Audrey. So Audrey, being the little person she is, climbs behind the dresser, talking to the precious little snake, saying, "Awww, come on little snake, it's okay, I got you," in her sweetest little voice. She picked up the snake and gave it a little nuzzle and handed it to her daddy. How many little girls do you know that would do that? I know I would have been squealing and running away at that age like, well, a little girl!

So where did this girl come from? Neal and I have asked ourselves that since the day she was born. Her personality is far stronger than both of ours put together, and we like it like that. She's definitely her own person, not a follower and definitely not your typical almost-5-year-old girl. She's about to start soccer this week and she's the only girl on her team. Does she care? Not a bit. She can't wait to get out there and run through the mud with her new cleats. Plus, she got a dark pink soccer ball.

Quotes of the Day III

Parker really wants to get this movie, "Return to Neverland" from Netflix. Unfortunately, it's unavailable. This was our conversation about it:

Me: Parker, they don't have it on Netflix, I'm not sure why!
Parker: But I want to watch it! It has Peter Pan! I'm going to check Ebay.

Audrey was telling me about her friends on the playground at school today:

Audrey: Emily and I were being unicorns, but Rian (her best friend) didn't want to. She wanted to be a "brat."
Me, knowing how horrible those Bratz dolls are: What's a brat?
Audrey: It's a girl that's a rock star.

Happy Sunday!

Here is our ever so beautiful Houston Texas Temple.

I hope you all had a peaceful and happy Sunday.

More weird kids

Elliott's comment reminded me of this picture: Elliott, Matthew and me, back in the day. Hmm, who is the weirdest one? Love you Matthew!

These guys

Yes, I have weird kids. But they are happy and weird and they have lots of fun together. These are costumes we have on hand for when they want to be animals. Parker is a "zweebra" and Audrey, well, you can guess, a "rainbow flying unicorn," only the coolest fantasy creature ever.) Also note our fabulous antique harp. Whenever any kids ask about it, Audrey is quick to tell them, "It belonged to my mom's grandma. We can't play it." Thanks Grammy!

My Best Student

So I started teaching piano lessons to a boy here in the neighborhood. He's only five and I think it's going to be a long process, but he's learning a little bit!  Audrey has really taken to the piano lately, too. She feels so proud that she can sit down and play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Jingle Bells." Of course, we're trying to think of more songs you can play with only 5 notes (please suggest any if you can!). Anyway, here she is playing happily one evening.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! I hope your day is as romantic as this!

If only . . .

If only I wasn't allergic to cats, Audrey would be a very happy girl. Here she is reading books to her friend's cat, Koda the other day. This is pretty much Audrey's dream come true: wearing a completely dark teal outfit (her favorite color), reading books she's never seen to a cat who's laying on her lap. Forget the fact that she's not even playing with her friend; new books? Nothing better.

The Kids' Mizeum

Here are some pictures of our recent trip to the Children's Museum. Apparently ours is Number 2 in the country, second only to the incredibly larger and much more fun Indianapolis Children's Museum. That place is so very fun, just ask the Parkers, who are lucky enough to be members. Anyway, ours is quite fun, too, as you can see below!

They have an incubator with eggs and some of them hatched! Here is Audrey with the chicks.

Parker milking a cow. He said "Mommy! It really goes teetee!" Milk, teetee, whatever.

Audrey, Parker, and their friend Jayden, who gets us in free!

Parker buying orange juice, or "budgnk," his favorite food, at the pretend grocery store inside. The kids can be the checkout person or shop for all sorts of foods.

Haircuts!

I have to apologize to my mom for once again cutting Parker's golden hair, but sometimes it's just got to be done. It was quite shaggy and crazy, now he looks very cleaned up and handsome, and it's easier access to the earloobs.


Audrey had a trim, too, and a few layers added in the back, just so the curl can "bounce." She looks fabulous! Neal found the video game section at Cool Cuts quite entertaining. This is why we don't own a video game system and I'm going to hold out on buying one as long as possible. 

Pretty Bird

This little cardinal lives in our tree. While Parker and I were eating lunch yesterday, our little friend was singing us beautiful little songs so we went outside to find him.

I was trying to show him to Parker, but Parker's grey eyes can't handle much sunshine, so I popped my huge sunglasses on him. Silly boy.:)