Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet

Tuesday night was the Blue and Gold Banquet. The Cub scout leaders did a fabulous job. There was a hot dog feast provided and everyone ate from pie tins and drank from mason jars. I loved the "Texas" themed decorations of course. Jack received three awards/badges (I'm not sure actually what they were). The only one I can recall was the chess buckle. That makes me proud. There were great hats for everyone to wear and someone read cowboy poetry. I love cowboy poetry. We had a lot of fun.

Our friend's baby loved the cowboy hat.
Kaaryn also loved the cowboy hat.
My cute little cub scout

Kite Flying in Dallas

Our friend David ready for the bitter cold park



Sydney balances on the limbs of a tree

New friends




"Daddy, I'm cold"


We went to Dallas Friday night to see some dear friends. We went out to dinner Friday night and left the kids at home with Sydney. We stayed up playing "Name That Tune" (which I almost won, but not quite this time). The next day we woke up late since we stayed up till 2:00 am playing the game. The kids were dying to fly the kites we had bought for the occasion so we took off to the park in the freezing cold and flew kites for a while. It was great fun even though I thought I might die from cold. I'm a bit of a weenie in the cold.

Who likes the dentist?

Katie does. It's weird. She asks me about once a week when she gets to go to the dentist. She sometimes cries because we can't go to the dentist. We frequently pass the dentist office driving down the street and she starts yelling "I want to go to the dentist today!!" Today is finally the long awaited dentist appointment. She has already asked several times today if we are still going to the dentist, when will we get to go to the dentist, and have I forgotten about her dentist appointment. This is just so strange to me. I despise going to the dentist. The other two kids dread it. Jesse is not a fan. I have never known anyone who loves going to the dentist.

Later that same day...


Katie runs to the door. She can't wait to get inside.



She's so excited to get started.


Ms. Vicki lets her hold the teeth and a mirror.

Fancy, shmancy x-ray machine that goes around the entire head. This one was a first but she just stood still inside the somewhat intimidating machine.

Sitting still for the cleaning.

Jesse's Favorite Nursery Rhyme

Sometimes my science minded, non-sentimental husband surprises me. Like tonight when he has me look up his favorite nursery rhyme to tell the kids before bed. I didn't know he had a favorite. And this one is sooooo cute I had to share. I'm sure this is due to a wonderful mom who read to him often.

Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod

Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod, one night sailed off in a wooden shoe;
Sailed off on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going and what do you wish?" the old moon asked the three.
"We've come to fish for the herring fish that live in this beautiful sea.
Nets of silver and gold have we," said Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song as they rocked in the wooden shoe.
And the wind that sped them all night long ruffled the waves of dew.
Now the little stars are the herring fish that live in that beautiful sea;
"Cast your nets wherever you wish never afraid are we!"
So cried the stars to the fishermen three - Winkin', and Blinkin', and Nod.

So all night long their nets they threw to the stars in the twinkling foam.
'Til down from the skies came the wooden shoe bringing the fisherman home.
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed as if it could not be.
Some folks say 'twas a dream they dreamed of sailing that misty sea.
But I shall name you the fisherman three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

Now Winkin' and Blinkin' are two little eyes and Nod is a little head.
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a wee one's trundle bed.
So close your eyes while mother sings of the wonderful sights that be.
And you shall see those beautiful things as you sail on the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

Valentine Parties

The kids had Valentine Parties on Friday. I finally got to go to parties this year. I have missed every other party because of school. It was fun being there with them.





Jack won the "stack the heart" contest. Yeah!! Jack.

Tulsa

Jesse had to go to Tulsa for work. I decided to tag along since it's a free trip and I haven't spent any time in Tulsa before. It's about 4 1/2 hours from Burleson so I thought it would be a nice little adventure. The kids stayed with various friends- the Burkhardts, Palmers, and Smiths- and we got to have a night away. We decided to something a little different this time and stayed at a B&B instead of a hotel. We were thrilled with the place we found. It's called the Kennedy Mansion and is actually an old mansion in downtown Tulsa. The couple that own and run it are fabulous people. He is a blues singer who toured around Europe with a top 10 hit. He met her in France and they married. He moved her to Tulsa with the promise that he would find a way to let her continue doing what she loves-cooking and entertaining. So they have the gorgeous B&B. She makes a gourmet French breakfast for the guests in the morning. They also offer gourmet candle light dinners but we didn't get to do that while we were there. The house was beautifully preserved. We had a wonderful time.

Standing in the staircase when you first walk through the front door.


Our bedroom




At one time this house was owned by Stephen Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith. I thought that was kind of cool.

Addict

We go through stages in our house with the tv and video games. I wouldn't let the boys get a video game system for a long time because I didn't want to fight the battles that go along with having one. I hate (can't emphasize that word enough) the idea of my child doing nothing but playing video games all day everyday. But I finally gave in and we got a system and set up some pretty strict limits. He gets 1 hour a day. It is a privilege so this hour can easily be lost. He does okay with this rule. But he has learned the art of negotiation. He starts asking me what he can do around the house to earn extra time playing video games. That's good deal for mom because I can get just about anything done without complaints. But his hour becomes a couple of hours. This pattern just continues until one day I've had enough. Too many beautiful days go by without children seeing a bit of it. The tv is also part of the problem. The game goes off and then it's Disney channel marathon. These are creative, intelligent children that would prefer to waste away in front of mindless shows instead of doing something, anything. Today I have reached my limit. No more tv. No more games. I'm considering canceling our service for cable altogether. It is a beautiful day, too. But Jack, well I think he might have an addiction. I would be curious to know if any studies have been done about video game addicts. He is in front of me about every 10 minutes or so trying to find a new angle. Oh, he's tried everything. That boy can be quite the manipulator sometimes. But this time Mom is standing strong.

Katie got this great photo of him on the trampoline. Obviously he's not having fun on the trampoline. He's too busy obsessing about not being able to play video games. Someone needs to create a "patch" for the video game addict.

Sydney goes to her first dance

Just home from the dance.

Oh, I'm not ready for all this. School dances. Wow, she's just getting so big. The sweet thing about my Sydney is that if I said "No, I really don't want you to go" she would have just said "okay." But she really wanted to go. So I went to Dillard's and bought her 3 new outfits because I wasn't sure which way she would want to go. It was a semi-formal dance but most kids just wear jeans anyway. She went to her friends house to get ready and then rode with her :( I didn't even get to take her. I picked her up at 9:00 and she said it was the lamest thing she's ever done. Apparently kids in Middle School don't really dance anymore. They all stand around and talk to their friends. That made me a little happy because dancing leads to crushes and that leads to drama. No thank you. We'll postpone that until we can't put it off anymore. I'm thinking thirty-ish. For now we are still safe. I just love this sweet girl of mine.

Ward Dinner Groups

So we're trying something this year. I organized dinner groups throughout the ward and this was the first night. The second set of groups will meet on Sunday. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time. These were some of the groups that met.

Dinner at the Cobb Home
The Smiths and Nordquists
The Colby Dinner Group
A Night at the Newberry's

We'll be doing the next round of dinner groups during the summer.

The 14 Days of Valentine

I know, I know, Valentine's Day is a made up holiday and it's purpose is solely to guilt us into buying gifts for the people we love. I don't care. I love it!!! I love any day that gives me an excuse to buy gifts. I also love any day that is going to give the people around me an excuse to give me gifts. I LOVE getting and giving gifts. It's my "language of love". So this Valentine's Day I stole an idea that I read about on Amanda's blog (I think)and decided to do the 14 Days of Valentine. It's sooooooo much fun. I had the best time on Saturday thinking of gifts and buying cards. Dollar Tree had the cutest cards 2/$1.00 and I found enough to go with each of my days. I decided to pick reasons why I love my husband and then find a gift to match.
Here are the gifts/reasons: The cheesed-down version
1. Because he has my heart- I put sticky hearts on his car windows and left him a frog holding a heart with some hear-shaped candies he likes
2. Because he keeps things "hot" - I left him a bag of atomic fireballs
3. Because he's always game for whatever- he got a deck of heart-shaped playing cards, real cards that you can actually play spades or hearts with. So cute.
4. Because he makes me laugh- a can of silly string
5. Because he gives the best hugs and kisses- a bucket of Hershey's hugs and kisses - more of a gift for me because he doesn't like chocolate
Anyway, you get the idea. If you want to know the rest I would be happy to reveal, I just don't want to bore anyone. The funny part is that I can't ever wait to give them to him. I was planning that I would leave them out every night in different places that he would find them. But we are up past midnight every night without fail and I always have to give it to him before we go to sleep. I'm not that great with the surprise part at all.

Loved the idea and so glad Amanda planted it for me. Thanks!!!

Katie's World

I go take pictures and my camera is completely full. Strange because I just downloaded pictures a few days ago. This is what I find.







If there is every any question how Katie sees the world...