So weird

Today is the Astros first game. When we look out the window, we see snow on the deck and the trees and the yard. It is just so weird that baseball season is here and there is snow everywhere. We're thrilled that we will be able to see most of the games, but it feels so weird to be so far removed from the action. This is the first year in forever that I won't see a live Astros game. :(

The game comes on in 10 minutes! Go Astros!

Haircuts!

While we were in Texas, the kids and I all got haircuts. I got mine done, but my mom cut the kids' hair.

Before self-photo of me.


After: straightened/side-view to see how it is shorter in the back and longer in the front.


Gracie took this shot of me today. (after-curly)


Gracie: Before

Gracie: after

Bradley: before (BADLY needing a cut)

Bradley: after

Funny story about Bradley's hair cut experience. It took my mom three different sittings with him to get it done. He was totally freaking out every time she got near him. It was quite amusing. What finally worked was she 'cut' Grandpa's hair first and then told Bradley it was his turn. He finally sat still and she was able to get it done. :)

Texas Highlights

Here are a few pics from the play area at the airport where we spent an hour or so waiting for our flight.

Grandpa reads to the kids. Bradley loves this book and had it pretty much memorized by the time we left.

We had a picnic lunch at the park on Friday.

How sweet are they? :)

Grammy and Bradley play on the jungle gym.

Gracie and Daddy swinging.

Ticia and Bradley... swinging or lounging?

Look at how high she is!

More jungle gym fun.

On Saturday, the three big grandkids dyed Easter eggs. Ticia was the official helper.

Grace was first.

Then Gracie.

Bradley was last.

Robert enjoyed his powdered cream donut filled with chocolate. :)

Easter Sunday: Our family and my brother's family went to our old church for service while Mom, Dad and Ticia stayed at the house to have dinner ready.

The girls all dressed in their Easter finest.

All the grandbabies.

A rare moment of quiet between these two. :)

Ticia and Bradley read a book... again.

Taking a load off.

The three big kids play with sidewalk chalk on the driveway.

Little Robert prefers to eat it. :)

All four kids in the back of Robert's truck.

The big kids 'fastened in' to go for a pretend ride.

Grandpa reading to the big kids (again).

Upon our return home, we discovered that the Easter Bunny had visited while we were gone.

I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get a shot of Gracie's basket before it was everywhere.

Here is Bradley's before it was dismantled.

Easter egg hunting in their rooms before bed.

Doug got home yesterday and it is great to all be home again. Of course, he was welcomed home with snow that fell overnight. The most we've had in a while too. It will take more than an afternoon for this to melt off. ;)

We survived

The kids and I got home from TX yesterday. Overall, the travel went fine. Last week, I had called a cab to come at 1:00, but when it wasn't here at 1:25 I couldn't wait anymore and drove us myself. This cost us $100 more b/c airport parking is so expensive, which was why we had planned for a cab instead. Then, we got to the airport and the line to check-in was a mile long and not moving. I was sitting there looking at the time and looking at my flight info on the screens with the words "Check-in closes one hour prior" and trying not to cry realizing that there was no way we were going to make it. Then I saw that there were open consoles, so I asked the guy in front of me why everyone was standing in line when they could walk right up to check in. He said he was already checked in and just needed to check his bag and thought that was the case for most of the people in line. So, I went up to get checked in. This was the moment Bradley decided to run off. In my fragile emotional state, I dang near started bawling. I chased after him, leaving all our bags sitting by the console. Once I had us checked in, I went to ask if I needed to get back in line to get my bag checked. That's when I found out our flight was delayed 2.5 hours. The woman suggested we not get back in line, but go to a play area for the kids and come ack in an hour. So we did. And it was great. The kids got to run around and I was able to relax. When we went back an hour later, there was no line and even the customs line only had a half dozen people in it. The flight went very well and surprisingly, both kids stayed awake through it all. We got into Houston at 10 our time but it was almost 12 when we got to my parents' house b/c of a delay in getting the bags.

Yesterday's flight was on time, but the kids were much more rowdy than last week, so it was a harder day. It was so good to be home again. We had a great week and enjoyed seeing family and friends, but it is always good to sleep in your own bed again. I'll be glad when Doug is home on Saturday and everything will go back to normal.

I haven't put the pictures on the computer yet, so I'll have to get that done so I can post pics from our visit. Today, we're being very lazy and relaxing, so I should have time to get to it later.

Sledding!!!!

After I bragged about how nice the weather has been to everyone, I guess we deserve the cold and snow that we got today. At least we finally got to take the kids sledding. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 6C (43F) so a lot of the snow will probably melt, but we're glad we got to enjoy it today.

Doug sends the kids down a little slope.


Bradley went down twice with Daddy and then decided he didn't want to anymore.


Gracie went down once with Mommy...


once with Daddy...



and the rest she went by herself. :)

Doug was packing this morning to leave for TX today and Gracie decided she wanted to go with him.

Bradley thought it was a fun game to close the lid on Gracie.

We love Daylight Savings Time!

We have been out several times this week after dinner, which is so nice. I also appreciate it getting light later since Bradley often wakes with the sun. Of course, in a month or so, we'll be back to when it was and by July it will be light from about 5 until almost 10. We've already been discussing getting something to blackout the kids windows.

Gracie riding her bike one evening.


The boys play 'football'.


This is how much snow we had left in our whole yard earlier this week. After I took this, it all melted, but we got a dusting last night, so the whole yard is white again.


Playing ball on the deck.

Gracie's class had a 'Medieval Feast' yesterday and the kids all dressed up like queens, princesses, princes, knights, etc. Gracie was a Queen.

This Wed, I went out for the first time socially since I got here almost 5 months ago. Two moms from Gracie's class invited me for coffee. I had to bring Bradley, so they were nice enough to offer McDonalds so he could play while we talked. We were there for 2.5 hours and all four of us had a good time. I need to find someone who has a small child to do that with, so Bradley can have playmates besides his big sister. Doug was so excited I was going out, he was throwing money at me before he left for work. :)

I read 5 books in the last two weeks. Of them, I highly recommend Water for Elephants by Sara Greun and Nineteen Minutes by Jody Picoult. I just finished the latter last night and it was fantastic. Keep the kleenex handy if you read it. I needed them several times throughout the book.

'Spring' weather is here!

Sorry I haven't updated lately.

Last weekend, we went to Michael's to look at picture frames and found these little activity trays for the kids. We took them over to the sticker aisle and let them each pick some stickers to decorate them with.

Here is Bradley putting his stickers on. No big surprise that he chose Diego.


Gracie picked Killer Whales, unicorns and flowers.


Here is Bradley with his finished product.


And Gracie with hers.

Coloring on their new trays. They also have used them to make walls for their 'houses' and as beds for babies and stuffed animals. :)

Sat night, we had three rabbits in our backyard and one in the neighbor's backyard. The kids spend a half our or more watching them out the window. :)

Yesterday we went to the park and Bradley took a header into the concrete. :(

Our weather has been incredible lately. The highs have been mostly in the mid to upper 40s with low 50s occasionally thrown in too. I have seen a guy wearing flip flops, a woman in capris and a whole group of kids wearing shorts. We're not quite ready to pull out the summer gear, but it is nice to be able to go outside without a coat. Almost all of the snow is melted too. I was starting to think that winter was officially on the way out, but then I read in our neighborhood newsletter that 'March always comes in like a lamb and out like a lion' so we should be prepared for more cold and snow before it is over. Darn! We'll enjoy it while it is here, anyway. Today's high is supposed to be 55!!!!