Summer Fun

It's been a LONG time since I updated the blog, but I'm committed to getting back on track.  So please enjoy a quick whirlwind of pictures and short explanations to get us back in the saddle.  Needless to say, we're enjoying the heck out of summer and hoping it sticks around for a while, despite the heat.

Pla Shee has become quite the fisherman.  In the first picture he's holding a fish he caught at Meme's tank in Giddings, and in the second one he's got a "skipper jack" that he caught of the pier in Rockport.

Kai and Ruby are continuing their journey as the very best of friends.  I know I'm biased, but they are pretty darn cute.

 

 

 Baseball was a pretty dominant force in our lives in the spring and early summer.  I can only imagine what it will be like when both Kai and Pla Shee are playing next year.  Here are the kiddos after one of Pla Shee's last games of the season, and here we all are at the Rangers game to celebrate a great baseball year.

Pla Shee did amazing in his 5th grade year at Venus Elementary.  He finished up his Elementary School career with straight A's, a three-time principal's award winner, and he aced all of the STAAR tests.  Woohoo!  To celebrate we headed out for a mini-golf adventure one Friday evening just before the end of the school year.

 We spent a few days in Rockport at Meme's beach house and had a blast fishing, swimming, feeding the birds, and, in Ruby's case, eating a very messy ice cream cone.

A few more random pics from the past few weeks:

Ruby with her new Cabbage Patch Kid, "Georgia," a gift from Aunt Holli.

Kai playing on a real guitar at Henry's birthday party in Austin.

 The boys looking tough with their water guns in our backyard on a hot summer afternoon.

 Ruby at the Houston Zoo brushing a goat. 

All three kids are in Houston this week with Nena and Pappy while Aaron and I get some much needed work done around the house.  So far, we've had major repair work done on our foundation, installed gutters, replaced shingles, repainted shutters, decluttered and repainted the living room, enhanced our curb appeal with new flowers, front porch cushions and rugs, cleaned out the garage and filled two dumpsters with trash.  Wow!  If only we had been this productive before we had three children, who knows what we could have accomplished!

Time flies!

Yesterday Pla Shee's baseball team had batting practice at a local amusement park, and while we were entertaining the little ones in the arcade area, I remembered that I had taken Kai to the same place exactly two years before.

So here's my precious boy in April 2011, at one and a half:

And here's our picture from yesterday, at three and a half:

A perfect Spring Saturday

Today was just about perfect.  We started off with donuts for breakfast, which helped everyone maintain cheerful attitudes for the remainder of the morning.  Baseball opening ceremonies and a baseball game for Pla Shee took up most of the morning.  Kai could not have been more thrilled with the bounce house that showed up at the park while we were at the game.  We literally had to pull him off of it when it was time to leave.

Here's Pla Shee during the opening ceremony this morning.

When we got home from the game, we were so thrilled to see that Pu Lue and Paw Moo, Pla Shee's biological parents, and Pa Day Day, Pla Shee's 18 year old brother, were at our house.  Pu Lue is helping us replace some rotten boards on our house since his carpentry skills are a thousand times better (and faster) than ours.  Paw Moo and I spent most of the afternoon in the garden, getting the beds ready for the tomato and eggplant seedlings that are going in next week.  

Pla Shee and Pa Day Day played catch in the yard for a really long time.  Pa Day Day said it was the first time he'd worn a baseball glove!

Kai and Aaron got in on the baseball fun as well.  Kai can't wait to be old enough for tee ball next spring!

And finally, in keeping with our nutritious start to our day, we finished the day off with ice cream cones on the front porch.  Good times.

Muddy Puddle fun

The boys begged to go outside yesterday afternoon to jump in the muddy puddles that had accumulated in the front yard as a result of all the rain we've had this week.  It was freezing outside, but they seemed to have a blast.  Ruby was not allowed to partake in the fun, but squeezed in a grin as an onlooker, nonetheless.

Easter Weekend

We had a fun-filled weekend, starting with a trip to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Friday night to watch Michigan beat Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.  We had a blast, and Pla Shee could not have been more excited that he got to go to the game...one of the perks of being the oldest child!

Saturday we had a pancake breakfast and Easter Egg hunts at Kai and Ruby's school.  Turns out Kai is not the best egg hunter...he likes to examine the contents of each egg as he picks it up.  So Ruby hauled in about 20 eggs to Kai's 4.  But both were happy with the results, so I guess it worked.  Pla Shee lied and said he was still 11 so he could hunt eggs also, but I limited his haul, much to his disappointment.  He is a champion egg finder.

Here we are at church on Sunday morning. I laughed when I compared this pic to last year's Easter pic--Kai's doing his best frown in both!
This year:

 Last year:

And here we are at Aunt Nita's house.  Same problem!
This year:

And last year:

Sunday we had an egg hunt of a different sort, with 4 of our turkey chicks hatching in the afternoon.  They are super cute!  We put them in our rabbit hutch with a heat lamp, because we've learned from past experience that our hens don't do a very good job caring for the chicks once they hatch.  Ruby is fascinated with them.

We had a great time at our niece Sarah's house on Sunday afternoon.  The kids love playing with their cousins.  Here's proof that Kai actually did smile this weekend!

Spring Break

I was super brave and flew to Saint Louis for Spring Break.  With all three kids.  Without Aaron.  The flight there was about 10 times worse than miserable.  Ruby cried the entire flight, refused to be held, and wanted nothing to do with any of the new toys, books, crayons, bribes, etc. that I had so meticulously packed for my "supermom" adventure.  Alas, the flight was pretty bad, and we made our share of enemies.  Thankfully, the trip improved immensely once we arrived in Saint Louis and spent the next four days with our incredible hosts, Aunt Sara and Uncle Lyndy.

Ruby at The Magic House, the most incredible Children's Museum I've visited.  I can't wait to go back on our next trip.  Knocks Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Charleston, and Denver's Childrens Museums out of the water.  Really great.

The boys enjoying some frozen yogurt in downtown Webster Groves, despite the really cold temperatures.

Visiting with our friend Lit, whose mom, Melissa, is a Texas transplant from my childhood days.

 Aunt Sara and Ruby experimenting with electricity at the Magic House.

Pla Shee and a puppet at the Bob Kramer Marionnette Studio, another really cool thing to do in St. Louis with small kids.  It was like taking a trip back in time.  The kids absolutely loved the quirkiness and were completely enthralled with the old school puppet show.

Here we are cooking out hotdogs in Sara and Lyndy's backyard the first night.  We had a great time and can't wait to visit again soon.  (Sara and Lyndy may need a little while to recuperate from our whirlwind of fun, though)!

Farm Fun!

We've been taking advantage of every minute of sunshine we can get lately.  Yesterday I snapped some photos of the kids helping with the daily "chores" around the farm--feeding the sheep, goats and donkey, collecting eggs from the chickens and turkeys, and checking on our newest additions--two sweet black baby lambs.  Living on a farm can be such fun!

Kai wrestling with "Brittany"

Ruby in a standoff with a rogue hen.

Kai "helping" Pla Shee refill the chicken waterers.

Ruby with her Daiya.