More Kinder Eggs!!!

My brother, Nathan, travels to Germany on business sometimes.  On his last trip, he found a few kinder eggs for the boys.  They came on the very day that Luke got his first "red" at school-- meaning he'd had bad behavior at school.  Luke could not have any special privileges that day, so he could not open his eggs.  Probably the best (for me) and worst (for him) punishment EVER.  But I promised him that if he could get green-- good behavior-- at school the next day he could open his eggs after school.  Poor Micah!  Because Luke lost eggs, Micah also lost eggs.  So Micah was also very anxious for Luke to be good at school.  Micah started looking for Luke's bus by noon the next day.  He couldn't wait for Luke to get home with good news.  Finally Luke made it-- and he was green.  The boys rushed inside to open their eggs.  SO EXCITING!!!

Thank you so much, Uncle Nathan!

Plants

Also around the end of February, Jared made his first decorating request for our house.  He wanted some plants.  I have NEVER managed to keep a plant alive, but I decided I'd try it.  So the boys and I bought some plants and some dirt and got to work one Sat. morning.  They had lots of fun transporting the plants.  We got 2 for the kitchen, 2 for the living room, and 2 for Jared's office.  2 of them were big, and the rest were much smaller.

One day Griffin tried to bury a bone 3 DIFFERENT TIMES!!!

After cleaning this up the 3rd time in one day, I moved the plant (and thought about getting rid of the dog!)  It is now in Jared's office, and we haven't had any more problems-- at least with plants.

And here it is mid March and none of them have died yet.  Progress!

P.S. How is it only mid-March?!  Maybe it is just because I am ready for summer, but time has SLOWED DOWN.

Katy Rodeo

The last weekend in February, Emily told us about and invited us to join her family and a friend's family for the Katy ISD livestock show and rodeo.  It was the perfect sized rodeo for a family with little kids.  Micah was thrilled to see lots of pink pigs.  He and Jared spent a lot of time in the livestock show.  

Libby liked the pigs too!

There was a show arena near all the animals.  It was a big semi-circle of bleachers around an open area of dirt.  But ABOVE the open area was a GIANT CEILING FAN.  Luke thought the bleachers were set up so people could sit down and watch the fan.  He commented on how nice that was.  

We sat by the fan and had a snack.

Then we went to the outside rodeo arena to sit with Michael's and Emily's families and watch the events.  The actual events are done by a traveling rodeo company called iRock-- so no students were out there risking life and limb.  Micah loved watching the bronc riding.  I grew up watching the rodeo, but I never before realized how violent it is.  Those cowboy's heads looked like they were going to fly off!  Those people are super brave or super crazy.  Or both.  I don't know.

At one point there was a stick race that little kids could enter.  They had to have a stick horse to run, and then they just ran a few yards across the arena.  It was cute.  K ran in the race.  Hard to see, but he is the one in the red jacket.

Done!

And ribbon in hand!

Lots of fun!  The boys didn't last for the whole show.  We didn't really expect that they would.  And that made the Katy Rodeo all the better because it was close to home and only $30 for our family.  So for the next few years we will stick to the Katy Rodeo.  When they get older we will brave the huge Houston Rodeo-- maybe.

Mima's Visit

Luke and Mima

We had a great visit with Mom!  She flew in on the 7th of Feb., the same day that Dad headed back to Utah.  She arrived late, so the boys didn't see her until the next morning.  We kept her pretty busy although we didn't do many of the things we had originally planned to do.  The weather was pretty cold and rainy most of the time she was here, so outside plans were a no go.  We ate lunch at a delicious mexican restaurant her first Sat. here.  Later that evening I went with Mom to a wedding reception for the daughter of a family in my old ward.  It was fun for Mom to see many of her friends.  I knew a few people there too, but I mostly talked to Debbi and Terry Herrera.  

On Monday, while Micah and Luke were in school, Mom and I started some projects I wanted her to help me with.  She was a trooper and complied.  Monday was the shopping and prep day.  We went to Walmart to get fabric.  Mom Wilkerson and I found burgandy fabric at walmart to make the drapes for the living room.  My mom and I went back to Walmart and found the same color of fabric with a slightly different design, but it matched the other fabric very well.  Then we went to Lowe's to buy wood and JoAnn's to get batting, pillow forms, and cording.  It took us a few nights throughout the week and help from Emily's husband Jeff (Thanks for cutting the wood, Jeff!), borrowed tools (Thanks, Michael!) but we completed 2 beautiful padded valences for the kitchen windows (one of them over 10 ft. long!) and another padded valence for Micah's room.  And then my mom sewed me 4 pillows for my couches.  I am thankful for the crafty women in my life who have helped me make decorating affordable.  The valences turned out just as I envisioned, and I love having the bright color and finished look in the kitchen dining area.

Other than crafting we did some shopping.  We took a trip to a great thrift store down by my parent's old house.  I found some really cute things and left with 2 sweaters, 6 shirts, 1 skirt, and 1 pair of jeans for $47!  That is going to be my new favorite store, I think.

The boys each got to show off for Mima at tumbling class.

Micah's eye started gooping on Thursday.  By the evening it was pretty clear that he had pink eye.  I took him to the doctor to get medicine on Friday morning.  When Mima said something to him about his pink eye, Micah got all excited and yelled, "Pink Eye!  That's my favorite color!"  He was very disappointed to miss his Valentine's party, and even more disappointed that he couldn't go to Chuck E Cheese for Valentine's Day.  He had been talking about Chuck E Cheese for at least 2 months.  We went on Saturday instead.  Micah was so, soooooo excited!!!   He was smiling so big his mouth covered the entire width of his face and his cheeks were squished up to his eyes.  I love to see my boys that excited!

On Saturday morning, before Chuck E Cheese, the boys went to the cul-de-sac with Mima to show off their bike riding skills.  Jared ran around with Luke a few times but within 10 minutes Luke was starting and stopping by himself and riding around without any help at all.  After Jared went back to the house to do some work, Mom and I took the boys to the neighborhood community center and Luke and Micah rode their bikes along the walking trails.  Luke is officially training wheel free!  And so very proud of himself!  After they rode for awhile I took the bikes back to the car and the boys played at the playground.  Luke made friends with 2 brothers who came to the play ground with their dad.  They had a big chocolate lab with them named Casey.  Luke played with the boys throwing the ball to the dog and bringing the dog drinks.  They played chase games and then all went exploring.  While watching him play, I started to cry.  I couldn't believe how well he made a friend and played!  When I see how much our boys have blossomed in this community among family and this good environment I know we made the right choice in coming here.  It has been hard on Jared in many ways, but there is no doubt that this was the best choice for the boys.  I feel very proud that Mom and Dad both got to see so much progress in our boys!

On Mom's last night, which was a Sunday, we had a big dinner with Michael's family and the Herreras.  As an added bonus, Jennifer's husband was in town!  He is working in Brazil right now, but he flew in to surprise her for Valentine's day.  So he finally got to see our home, and it was great that Jenn and Victor could come.  Mom and Dad used to be in an empty nesters group with the Herreras and a few other couples from Bear Creek ward so it was good to all get together.  I had forgotten that I signed up to feed the missionaries that night, so they came too.  And Michael's family was here also.  It was a full house!  I wish I could have had Emily's family too, but there was already a severe lack of seating.  We will have to get a buffet table and a big stack of folding chairs so we can have bigger groups more easily.

Mom left the next morning.  We sure are going to miss her, but we are so glad she could come to visit.  My one regret is that ONCE AGAIN I forgot to take pictures!!!