A fun game thwarted

A fun game

Poor Lukie!! Mama changed from the regular spout on the water dispenser to the "safety" spout. We've had the new spout for a week or so, but he just can't leave it alone. So today I captured the process.

First, focus:

Second, displeasure:

Next, a new plan:

And FINALLY success!

Can you see his little wet thumb??

That boy makes me smile, every day!!! Man, I love him!

First day of school

We've had a GREAT first week of school. Although we had to make a believer out of Jack yesterday, I believe he gets the point now and will cooperate in the morning. When Mommy and Daddy say, "First things First" in the morning, we really do mean it. And when you follow the policy, BIG rewards happen! I get tired of nagging and pushing and prodding in the morning, so this year, if you can get your stuff done (fully dressed, brush teeth and hair, get medicine, have your bag packed) there will be a reward in the afternoon. It might be TV, video games, their music in the van...whatever it is they want it and I'm hoping it will help encourage good behavior.

Jack's made lots of friends in school already. One little boys name is Kane. Kane is going to be the bane of my existence for several days I can tell. He's informed Jack that there will be a hurricane coming to Houston in November. To Jack, November is like this afternoon or tomorrow so he's not necessarily "worried" (to the point of crying) but he sure is perseverating about it. Since I picked him up from school yesterday, almost every "Hey Mom, did you know..." is some "fact" about hurricane's that Kane taught him. Holy Smokes! He DOES know our plan (to go to RoRo and PawPaw or Uncle Matt and Aunt AJ's house) and he LOOOVES the idea of that, but just can't quite let the hurricane talk rest just, yet. I'm just thankful that he was able to sleep through the night without having bad dreams and coming to my room for loves. Moving on before I start to perseverate! :)

Here are some pics from our first day.

Seeing all the things they are going to be learn really excites me! It's going to be a great school year! I just know it!!

wildlife

Well, down in these here parts of sweltering hot, asphalt covered Texas you have to get excited about whatever kinda wildlife creeps into view. Last Thursday, it was a lizard that was in the recycling bin as Samantha picked it up to return it to its place in the garage. And this is the hilarity that ensued. They were both happy little campers for the rest of the day. There's nothing like their genuine laughter and giddiness that releases the stress and tension of being the sole care taker for three little people that are light years apart in schedules.

After much ado, I present to you The Lizard:

A fun impromptu trip

In an effort to rearrange Lukie's naps a bit, this morning we were going to just go ride the zoo train around the park and be done. But Mama got a hair brained idea and we ended up having a ton of fun. We got on the train at the zoo, rode around to the playground and splash pad, played for an hour or so and then hopped back on the train to finish our ride and head back to the zoo.

Here are the pics to remind us of our fun:

Sorry for the weird sizing and stuff. These pics came off my cell phone and I didn't want to lose much of the quality by resizing. Enjoy!

Dear Caterpillars,

When you do this

to my

I do this

to your face.

He's got SKILLZ!

Sweet baby Luke is growing up!!! He'll be 11 months old in two days! How, oh HOW can that be???? Breakin' my heart that boy is...wow, Yoda that sounded like! Guess you can tell we've been a bit taken with Star Wars lately, huh? Jack and Samantha are totally ga-ga for Star Wars. It's pretty fun most of the time, but there are times when I have to say to Jack, "I don't want to hear General Grievous' name for the next 20 minutes. Find something else to do!"

It's been a great summer! Here are some pics of things that we've gotten to do:

Summer Vacation with the Wilsons in Branson:

Several evenings we sang church songs. This night (Friday, I believe) Samantha very specifically sat next to her PawPaw.

Two nights Jack just pooped out in the middle of the family room in the middle of family time. Michael treasured this moment with our ever growing boy, as times like this are so far a part.

Swimming in the lake

Tea parties with Nonny

This very nice man, who was actually playing the game, allowed Jack to stand beside him and jump, and "shoot" and flail himself about. Jack had NO clue (or at least he didn't care one little bit) that he wasn't actually contributing to the game. All he cared about was shooting that gun! Such a boy!

3-D, glow in the dark Putt Putt

Being the early riser, Luke got some special one-on-one time with his Great down by the lake.

Playing with Nonny and Great

Swimming in the pool with RoRo

Butterfly Museum at Houston Museum of Natural Science
We went to the butterfly museum to see Lois the corpse flower. For those of you that don't know (and I didn't before all the hoopla began), the corpse flower blooms VERY rarely and when it does it smells like a rotting mammal. Pleasant, huh!? Well, I knew my kids would NEVER tolerate the smell so we went after she bloomed and the stench died away...pun intended. :) More info on this cool plant can be found here, if you're interested.

Jack wasn't really a fan of the butterfly museum. Poor guy!

But as soon as we hit the door, he was all smiles again!

We also hit the Children's Museum one Saturday

I think this picture says it all about the fun we had at the museum:

And FINALLY, Luke and I made this video last night, showing off his newest skillz!

Well, thanks for putting up with my summer recap! Hope you enjoyed the catchin' up!