Trampoline Fun

Our next-door neighbors, the Woodens, became foster parents a few months ago and one of the rules for foster families is that you cannot have a trampoline.  Well, the kids all play on it so often that they asked if we would mind having it in our yard.  We didn't mind at all and have loved trampoline-sitting for them!

My nieces, Julia and Ally, and Cooper and Danielle all decided they wanted me to take a picture where they were all in the air at the same time.  

A few up...

Nobody up...

We gave up on Cooper, but got the girls up!

We have had so much fun with the trampoline and, now that we've moved, we're strongly considering getting our own.  It is great exercise!

Potty Training Judson

I'm still going back a bit to catch up.  I think little boys in underwear are so adorable, so while potty training Judson, I had to get a few pictures.  

We started the actual training in September when he was 22 months.  He has done well, but has not caught on as quickly as Russell and Randall had at this point. Oh, well.  He will use the bathroom any time I take him and almost always holds it between trips, but he rarely tells us he has to go.  I know that'll come someday...

Monkey and a cute kid.

Nothing cuter than an "underwear baby" with an evil grin.

Eating on the back porch.

He's still in diapers at night time and doesn't wake at all for us to take him during the night.  He wakes up soaked.  Not sure how to train that, but I figure I'll worry about the day time first.  He has the cutest little "squishy tushy" and all of us have a hard time not giving him a little pinch whenever he wears underwear around the house.  He doesn't seem to mind.

First Day of School (yes, this *is* a bit late...)

Well, I have proved that I am unable to consistently blog.  But, I have so much I want to remember!  So, I will just keep trekking along.

I'm backtracking a tiny bit a few months to the beginning of school.

Russ is in 5th grade and Rand is in 3rd.  These pics are from the beginning of the year, so we didn't know at that point what a great year it would be, but it has been a very good year!

I strongly believe that it is best to *not* request a certain teacher.  If I trust that God is in control, then I don't need to help Him along.  It's okay if you disagree with me on this one--my opinion isn't based on Scripture. *grin* Had I been given a choice, I probably would've chosen a different teacher for Randall.  Not for any good reasons, just opinions and feelings.  But his teacher has been a perfect fit for him.  She is very understanding of his little quirks and not bothered by his tendency to be extremely literal.  She seems to think the world of him and he really enjoys her, too.  God is gracious to us!

Russ has a wonderful teacher that used to teach middle school so she's not bothered by the difficult stage that the 5th graders are in--sarcastic, forgetful, sometimes disrespectful, etc.  Russ loves that, for the most part, only the person misbehaving gets in trouble instead of the whole class.  He's big on "fair" and that feels more fair to him.  He's doing great this year!

Both boys have made straight A's this year and, if I remember correctly, neither has had anything below a 95.  They amaze and impress me with their great study habits and ability to do/turn in homework on time without my nagging help.

We have taken a First Day of School picture with our sweet neighbor, Danielle, since she and Russ were in Kindergarten!  Such wonderful memories with this precious girl.  We are no longer neighbors, but that's a story for a separate blog post. *sniff*

The year is about half-way over now and it's continuing to be another great one!!  We are so pleased with the boys' experience at Hudson PEP and have been so thankful for the friendships that both have made (this year and in previous years).  We are right where we feel like we need to be.  God is so good.

{Galveston Vacation} Days 4 and 5

Our last full day in Galveston was spent at Pleasure Pier.  It just opened to the public in May.  It was previously closed due to remodeling and rebuilding that had to be done following Hurricane Ike.

The weather was beautiful!  It was overcast and lightly rained on us a tiny bit when we first got there, but then it was cool enough that we hardly sweated the whole day.  

This was the view over the side of the pier.  Amazing, especially with the storm clouds.

We bought an all-day pass for the whole family and were able to ride any ride we wanted, as many times as we wanted.  Apparently, we were there at a great time because we hardly waited in line at any ride.  If we did wait, it was not for more than a few minutes.  We went back to our hotel for Judson's nap and lunch and then came back for more fun.

This was Russ and Rand's favorite ride.  We rode it a *few* times.

We also rode the Merry Go Round a few times.  Judson loved it.

Even Russ and Rand enjoyed it.

This was a second favorite.  It did pretty much the same thing as the first favorite (above).  But, was a little scarier, so that added to the excitement.

Riding the teacups for Judson, who wasn't sure if he liked going in circles.

There were a few rides I would've enjoyed riding, but no one else wanted to ride them and I hated for everyone to have to sit and wait for me.  Maybe when the kids are older.  Altho, then I probably won't want to ride them...

But, Russell and Randall decided they were going to ride the scariest ride.  Not sure why they didn't want to ride the other ones, but we waited in line together for this one.

I "encouraged" them with the reminder that we might not be back for years, if ever, and the ride might be destroyed by a hurricane between then and now and they might never get to ride it if they didn't ride it at that very minute and such.  I was very convincing and they decided to give it a go.

Here we are at the top of the roller coaster, about to go down.  We are in the back of the car and Randall is on the edge.  He screamed, "I'm going to die!" over and over and said he absolutely hated the ride.  When we got off, Russ said it was very scary, but then it got more fun in his memory as we talked about it and told Slade about it.  Randall got over his fear as soon as we were off, but still said he hated it every time we talked about it. *grin*

Judson took a break on a bench.

We ate dinner at the Pier and were pleasantly surprised that everything was quite delicious!

Another early evening of watching the Olympics wrapped up our 4th day.

Friday morning, we went to The Strand, in Historic Downtown Galveston.

These are two wooden statues, carved out of old trees using a chainsaw.  Very cool.

Favorite store was the candy store!

Randall wanted to hold Judson on his lap and, altho it's hard to tell in this picture, Judson thought it was great!

A dolphin ride in one of the stores.

A life-size chess game.  These kids aren't ours, but they were actually playing a game when we walked past, so we didn't bother to wait to get a picture of Russ and Rand "playing".  And, these kids looked a lot like ours, so it worked out fine. *grin*

We headed out before lunch and made great time getting back home.  Everyone traveled great and we all enjoyed hours of listening to our new favorite radio show, Down Gilead Lane.  It is similar to Adventures in Odyssey or The Pond.  There was no fighting or arguing when it was on!

We came home to a clean house (we had a showing the Monday we left, so that was great motivation to leave it spotless) and brought some really good memories with us.  We also brought a lot of dirty, stinky (beach water--shew!) laundry!  If you're ever looking for a relatively inexpensive family-friendly vacation, we highly recommend Galveston!

{Galveston Vacation} Day 3

 We slept in Wednesday morning (everyone slept really well, but our sleeping in still isn't very impressive...) and then headed out to Moody Gardens.

We did the Acquarium in the morning, went back to the hotel for lunch and Judson's nap and then went back for the Rainforest in the afternoon.

Looking at the penguins.  I loved how everyone was squatted down.

Standing with the penguins.

Shark teeth!

The Rainforest was, understandably, muggy.  We were all sweating.

Butterflies everywhere!

Some of the birds (we thought this one looked like a flamingo's cousin) were roaming free and would fly or walk right by us.  Randall was following this one.  Poor Russ got pooped on by a bird flying above him.  He was a very good sport and didn't let it ruin his mood at all.  Altho, he wouldn't let me take a picture and he couldn't wait to change his clothes.

Birds!

There was a neat replica of all of Moody Gardens.

We thought the Rainforest Cafe was a perfect ending to our day.  Judson did NOT agree.  He didn't eat a single thing and he did a lot of crying.  I think it might've been too loud and just overwhelmed him.  And he especially didn't like the gorillas that make noises or the "storm" that happens every half-hour.  Even Randall was a little scared by the gorillas.  Oh, well, we tried... The food was yummy!

After dinner, we found a place to rent a big bicycle!  It was a lot of fun to ride along the sidewalk, parallel to the water.  We were reminded that Russ is our worrier.  He was afraid we would run over someone or offend someone or get hit by a car crossing the street or... and on and on.  We were able to calm his nervousness and after a little while, he relaxed and really enjoyed himself.  It was very good exercise and we returned it before our full hour was spent.

Another fun, busy day!  We enjoyed our evening, back at our hotel, watching the Olympics before putting the big boys down for bed.

{Galveston Vacation} Days 1 and 2

We decided (a few weeks before leaving) to take a family vacation to Galveston.  I had a bunch of great suggestions from friends and did some research and planned our 5 days out, trying to squeeze in as much as we could.

Day 1:

The boys were ready for the drive with toys, books, games and Monkey.

Due to a random fender bender the day before we left (not my fault, I promise!), we had to rent a van.

We made great time and had happy kids.  We stopped for lunch and to play on a playground.  When we got to Galveston, we checked in and unpacked.  We got a two-bedroom suite since we would be there 4 nights and wanted Judson to have a quiet place to go to sleep while everyone else enjoyed staying up late.  Here's our living room.

We also had a kitchenette and bunk beds for Russ and Rand built into the wall in the hallway.


Then we packed a picnic dinner and headed to the beach!  Everyone loved the water!  We weren't sure if Judson would because he tends to be grumpy at the pool, but he loved it and Russ and Rand had a blast in the waves.

Day 2:

We rode the ferry in the morning.

At first, Judson wasn't keen on the wind blowing so hard and he kept request to "go ih'si" (inside).  In the picture, he has his mouth wide open to feel the wind like a puppy with it's head out the window.

After lunch and a nap at the hotel (for Judson), we went on a Duck Tour.  It's called a Duck Tour because part of the tour of the island is on land and for the other part, we literally drove into the water.  It was a little... disconcerting.  But, very interesting.  Slade said that after the informative tour of Galveston, he could see why people would want to live there.  I said I could see why people wouldn't want to...

Packed a picnic dinner and headed back to the beach!  Judson enjoyed the water, but he *loved* the sand! He brought home his fair share of sand in his swim diaper...

Enjoying the waves!  In Galveston, the land slopes so slowly that you can go out really far and still touch.

End of days 1 and 2!  By the second night, Judson was sleeping much better in his new surroundings.  Altho, we were all so tired that if he did wake us up, we were back out quickly!  Swimming wears you out!

Mustaches

I thought it would be fun to paint rocks, so we pulled out the paint and supplies.  Turns out, the boys don't think it's so fun to paint rocks.  They do, however, think it's fun to paint themselves...

Serious faces.

Silly faces.

Rocks are still not finished... 

Squirt Bottle from Nanny

Slade's mom often brings a little treat for the boys when she comes to visit.  When she came for Randall's birthday party, she brought Judson a squirt bottle.  He loved it!

He had a blast with it and was soaked by the time we took it away.

It takes so little to amuse him...

Randall's 8 1/2 Angry Birds Birthday Party

 Randall turned 8 on December 24th and we did his half birthday party in July this year.  He requested an Angry Birds party.  There were SO many fun ideas out there and I had fun putting together some fun activities.

The first thing the guests got to do was make their own pig balloon to use in our life-size angry birds game.  I printed a few faces for examples.

Then the pig balloons were set up at one end of the hallway with boxes.  All the doors were closed to help keep everything in the hall.  Everyone got a few tries to knock everything down with a big red ball Angry Bird.  It was quite noisy, but seemed to be pretty popular with the kids!

I let Randall pick 3 characters (colored paper bags are kinda pricey) for the goody bags.  I printed the faces and cut them out.  To fill the goody bags, we found a great deal on Angry Bird keychains from Amazon, as well as Angry Bird gummies.  Then we just picked some of Randall's favorite candies to add in.

The food table.  We already had the plush toys (altho I had packed them away and had to find and unpack them--oops!) so they were perfect.  The wooden blocks were Russell's and Randall's when they were little.  The cake was made by Butcher Shop and we used game pieces from one of Randall's games for a 3D topper.

Close up of the cake and wooden block centerpiece.

And the cookies!  I was so pleased with how these turned out!  Thanks to some great tutorials, these were easier than I expected.  I did discover that, altho I love the chocolate sugar cookie dough--yum!, I don't care for them baked.  They are not sweet enough.  But, Randall loved them and that's all that matters!

One of the activities that was available was to set up the blocks like Angry Bird levels and knock them down with soft, plush Angry Birds.  It was noisy, too, but lots of fun.  Rand is letting Judson knock his down.

Singing Happy Birthday!

We decided to have the party inside since it's just been so ridiculously hot outside.  It wasn't nearly as noisy as we thought it might be.

Opening presents--big smile!

Another successful party!