CJ is 6

Yes, our oldest is now 6 years old! Holy Cow. CJ's big day was full of fun festivities.
The fun actually started the night before with the decorating...or rather the CREATION of the cake! CJ was very specific about his cake.... it was to be a strawberry ice cream cake, with donuts as the wheels, an ice cream cone as the puffer, and a trailer that had rice krispies as the hay...put all that together and what do you get...waa laa...CJ's birthday tractor ice cream cake!






The birthday day started out early with breakfast in bed! CJ wanted Orange Juice, toast and bacon! So...he got it all smiling at him bright at early! Good morning birthday boy!!!





For lunch, Laura, Preston and Aparri kidnapped CJ from school and went to the local Pizza hut! Preston made the birthday crown, CJ chose the place, and Laura and Aparri joined in for the fun!



We then took a trip to the local donut shop where CJ picked out donuts for all his classmates....I'm sure his kindergarten teacher just LOVED that! (In all honesty..I think she was probably glad...those cupcakes with the ridiculously bright colored frosting has to be the worst! That frosting stains, gets all over everything, and makes your teeth look awful...so we were glad when CJ picked donuts...we felt like donuts were pretty safe.)



For his birthday dinner, CJ chose confederate bean soup and homemade white bread with garlic. We all had a fun day celebrating CJ... as we tucked CJ into bed, he said, "Thank you for such a perfect birthday"...awe. Those precious moments as a parent that makes you feel good! We have such a special boy...well special 3 kids that is...but today was about CJ and we are so glad that he is part of our family. We love you CJ!

WICKED in San Antonio

I know, I know...it sounds awful right? But, it is NOT...it is absolutely wonderful! The musical WICKED came to San Antonio! Clay and Laura went back and forth...should we go, not go, should we go, not go....well, we ended up buying tickets with the thought...if we change our minds we can always sell our tickets. Well, we remembered our good friends, The McIllece's, from Spokane drove all the way to Seattle to see Wicked so we thought, OK - lets go. In order to get a taste, Laura started reading the book...and it was very WICKED...she stopped reading it. So, now we were worried again! But a quick email to the McIllece's calmed our nerves! (They said the general story line was the same, but very clean and fun)

Now that the show is over and done...it was terrific. Clay and Laura enjoyed a wonderful date out, the music was fabulous and the acting incredible! We laughed through out the whole thing. Very family friendly and fun! We would definitely recommend WICKED!!! If it comes close....GO AND SEE IT without hesitation!

My Rollie Pollie Baby

Preston is a rollie pollie NUT. He loves them...and my goodness they run rampant in our backyard...so needless to say, Preston is very happy in the backyard. Today, Preston and Mom made a nice rollie pollie boat....aka..bucket full of rollie pollies...and the bucket was very full- there were tons today! But, then Preston said, "Mom, let's do school and find out all we can about Rollie Pollies..and what they eat" So..we took a break from our hunt, and went to the computer. We found out that rollie pollies eat decomposing vegetation..so, Preston wanted to feed his rollie pollies some vegetables...so we got the old broccoli from the fridge and fed his little friends.....oh the joys of life!

Exploring Texas Wilderness

We took our "day off" and ran into the wild of Texas! We found some exploration worthy territory and off we went....that is all you need when you have a handful of energetic kids. In the morning, we went for a run/ CJ bike that took us to a local rustic hill full of bamboo and cactus that lead to a muddy drainage ditch that ended up with an under road bridge that had cement dividers that made our voices echo. In the afternoon, we found a park that had some great play equipment, but across the street was the Texas Wild...okay, we stayed on the trails...but the Texas wild trails...that the kids loved. We found fire ants, of course (can you go ANYWHERE in Texas and not find them...well, maybe the swimming pool..but then again, they are probably there too!), more cactus, several good hiding spots and forts, perfect snack spot, and Preston thinks reindeer poop. After all our adventures, the boys made the comment.... We have been doing this all day...walking, exploring, playing...THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY EVER! Well...there you go. Our President's Day was walking in the wilderness and the GREATEST DAY EVER, how was yours?

Texas' Snow

Well, our winter here in Texas has been extremely MILD compared to what we are used to in the North West. We did have a little storm come through the first week of February...and the boys made a nice little snowman with ALL the snow they could gather from the concrete slab in the backyard.


Even though we did get a little bit of snowfall- the boys were still aching for some more snow.....so thank heavens for Universal City, Texas!!! They have an annual snow festival! They bring in the snow and have a ball in 70+ degree weather! We went sleding, tubing, snowball throwing (BIG SIGN said NO FIGHTS... although Preston got a few good hits in...), snow angels, bounce houses, face/hand painting(Preston doesn't like his face painted?) and even topped the night off with a tractor pulled hayride...all in all it was a great afternoon - where else on earth can you go sledding and enjoy the snow in shorts and t-shirts

Mini Vacation

Well, since Laura and Aparri were taking the long flight home, we felt like they better stay a few extra days after the funeral to spend some time with the family!!! So, that is exactly what they did!




The early plane ride and the time change took a toll on poor Aparri. While getting ready for church, she laid down and fell asleep on the floor of the bathroom.... that is VERY uncharacteristic of Aparri - so we knew she must have been truly exhausted!!!

Grandma Smith and Linda Erickson both happened to be visiting WA while Laura was there too...so Laura was able to spend time with them - shopping, celebrating Becky's 21st birthday, celebrating Grandma's 87th Birthday, going to Multnomah Falls, giving Grandma a face mask, visiting Bryce and Amy with their new baby boy, Grayson, and stomping around the woods in puddle boots!!