Oh...So...Slow...

Ok, I decided it was time to whip myself back into shape. The kids and I went to a "fitness trail" at the local college campus to do a few laps while Katrina had her gymnastics class.




Yes, that is them - WAY in front of me. How can my children possible have so much energy???
Apparently I need to tread this fitness trail a few more times before I am "fit".

Amelia spent most of the time surrounded by her siblings. She seemed to enjoy the ride.

Jeepers Creepers!

Simon had a man named "Jungle Jim" come to his school and show off his personal collection of creeping things. These are the dead ones - thankfully.

Family was invited so Ollie and I decided to check it out too.

This big walking stick missed the world record by 1 inch - Christina's kids: imagine finding that in your front yard.

One insect of note: The large green insect in the case with butterflies - it's a giant grasshopper. Can you imagine having a swarm of these eating your garden?

I normally don't mind bugs, but some of these were truly not something I would want to encounter.

Happy 11th Katrina!

Katrina celebrated her 11th birthday with her first sleepover. She invited two friends from school. They made their own pizzas and sugar cookies, did manicures, watched movies and stayed up really late.

Abagail's comment was, "Mom, this was a boring birthday party, then you broke out the nail polish and the party began!" - the boring comment was due to the fact that she had been excluded from some of the fun up until that point.

Incidentally, the sleepover was held the night that Hurricane Ike hit Texas/Louisiana. We were a bit unsure if Seguin would feel any effects (we didn't). Late into the night the girls felt the floor vibrating and were frightened that it was the wind from the hurricane "shaking our house". They went downstairs to sleep, they felt safer there as Allen had crashed on the couch. I woke Allen around 3am to have him come upstairs - he looked around and said, "Where did all these girls come from?"

So - what was "shaking our house"? The air conditioner was going out and off balance. When the fan came on it vibrated, badly, and the floor upstairs vibrated too. The girls were glad to discover that they were never in any danger. Good thing they didn't hear the tremendous crash followed by a high pitched squealing sound that woke me up at 3am. No - it wasn't the baby, it was the death throws of the AC.

Oliver Cleans Up

We have a routine around here when Oliver has an accident at night. He is to take off his clothes and rinse them in the tub. Then we take the clothes to the washer and I give Oliver a bath to clean him off.

Today Oliver was going through the routine while I fed Amelia. I heard the bath water going and going and going. I began to be curious about what he was doing. My curiosity grew when I heard him happily splashing in the tub with his cars.

I go in and he is sitting in a filled tub in his shirt ("It didn't get wet mom" - meaning during the night), playing with his cars, with his soiled clothing floating around him.

I guess he decided to skip the step where we take out the clothes and rinse the tub before putting him in. Besides, it is no fair to let the clothes have all the fun.

Swimming with our Texas Cousins

Simon / Abagail & Katrina with cousins


Gabriel hangs with the little guys / Oliver


L-R Ryan, Manissa, Kadi, Katrina, Oliver, Abagail

Adventures in Scouting

Gabriel gets his 2nd class scout rank with a kiss for his scoutmaster (dad)


Abagail's last day as a Brownie scout


Katrina serves up fun at Girl Scout summer camp

More Precious Photos

A Cute Baby has Many Admirers

Piggy Rides!

Simon was giving Oliver a piggy ride. Oliver would stand on the stairs so he could reach Simon's neck and hold on. Then Oliver decided he wanted to give Simon a piggy ride. So...Simon stood on the stairs and held on. Simon would walk along behind Oliver.

They were both giggling so hard they kept falling down, then breathlessly they would gasp, "Let's do it again!"

They repeated the rides over and over and over...

Ollie's Quick Quip

As the boys took off at the Cross Country Meet yesterday Ollie noticed them passing (en-mass) and said:

"I can run fast like them!"

and he took of running as fast as his 4-year-old legs could carry him...arms pumping...huge grin on his face...

Chasing Gabriel

It's official, I will never be in good enough shape to catch Gabriel again - if he should choose to run away from me...

Gabriel has joined the 7th grade Cross Country team at school. He gets himself up at 5:40 each day for an early morning run and shower before school. He runs 2 miles in the morning and then does running, weight training, conditioning for the last period at school.

Gabriel's first meet was yesterday. He did great! He came in 22nd out of 47.

Today Gabriel and I got up at 6:30 to do a run before it got hot. I did jog the entire distance, but poor Gabriel could almost walk alongside me - he let me set the pace and said he wouldn't run ahead since we were a team and you don't leave a teammate behind. I told him he should have run his pace just to see how many times he would lap me...I guess I need to get in shape...

A "Bella" Post Script

Did I mention that we purchase frozen, baby mice to feed her? The mice are called "fuzzies" since they have fuzzy white hair. This is the only part I am not "cool" with.

Bella eats each Sunday. The kids get a baby mouse out of the freezer, thaw it (in it's own special cup), then dangle it in the cage with tongs.

Ew...Ew...Ew...

(It's pretty cool to watch Bella eat though)

Our new "Bella"

Allen took Gabriel, Katrina and Abagail to a Reptile Expo. in Austin last week. They were only going to "check it out". A couple of hours into the expo. I get a, "should we or shouldn't we" call. Basically the kids had found a few reptiles they wanted to take home. I guess Allen had put up with a TON of "PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE" and was finally breaking down - which means it was probably on the back of his mind in the first place since he is REALLY good at saying no.

So the kids brought home their new pet, a ball python, that they named Bella. She is only about two feet long, when stretched out, but she will grow. They were even willing to contribute all their combined allowance to the cost - a huge sacrifice on their part.


(Katrina & Gabriel show off their new friend)

I suggested forgoing the cost of a habitat and just releasing it into our walls of the house to catch the few mice we occasionally have. I was overruled. (I could just picture having guests over and having a full grown python slither out to visit...he he!)

I have noticed a pattern emerging: new baby = new pet.

Sighting a "Relic"

We were stopped at a traffic light today when Abagail says,

"Hey, check out that limo...type...thing..."

I look and see a old, beat up, brown station wagon.

In her defense Abagail says, "Well, it was really long."