The new addition

Well, Emi is ready to transition out of her high chair and into a booster, unfortunately, our table only has 6 chairs and we are a family of 7. So, Brian decided to hire someone at a woodworking shop in town to build us a bench. Its not varnished yet, but Brian told him to make it big enough for four adults. Its massive at seven foot long. Brian said we had room for another kid. I told him that if he wanted to have another I wouldn't hesitate to. Then he says "so you want to?" and I say, "I'm gonna have to think about it, I'm not sure." Too funny.

Kid Update

Well, looking back at a few posts, I see that I haven't done an update in a while, if ever. So here goes, keep in mind this may be a long post, after all, I have five.
Angie is doing well. We had a couple of rough weeks with school, but after a parent teacher conference things seem to be going much better. Right now she is preparing for UIL. Third grade has 5 competitions, and she is in three. I think she would have done them all, but her teacher made her choose three, and frankly I am thankful for that. I'd much rather her concentrate on doing well in a few, than have her spread herself too thin. So she is doing Spelling, Oral Reading, and Music Memory. Spelling consists of 600 words to memorize, so I've been quizzing her on about 25 a night. For oral reading, she is reading, Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out by Shel Silverstein. Music memory, which she is the most excited about, consists of memorizing 16 classic pieces. THey play a short portion of it, and the kids have to name the composer and the piece. I'm thinking about downloading her cd to my mp3 because there are a couple of songs that I don't care for.

For UIL Tony's grade just started practicing this week, so they haven't named teams yet. Tony is also reading a Shel Silverstein, the one about a the crocodile that goes to the dentist. He reads it very well, but we have to remind him not to dance or add stuff. There are only 3 events for 2nd grade, so we'll see if he does any. right now he is in bad need of a haircut so he has a mad scientist look to him. His hair is like his dads, it just grows bigger not longer. Reminds me of when we were in college and Erick and Brian decided they were going to grow long rocker hair, and they just grew big 'fros.

Zachary is going through a big growth phase right now. He is pretty emotional sometimes. He keeps bringing things home, such as grasshoppers, to have as pets. We were working on reading skills for a while, but I'm taking a break while he gets through this emotional thing. He misses a sound and its these huge tears. I want him to love to read and learn, so I am just reading to him for now. He's such a good big brother.

Aiden is somewhat potty trained. I think Brian is going to lose his mind if he doesn't get it soon. He's pee trained, but not poop and it doesn't seem to bother him one bit to walk around with it in his pants. He has definately been the most challenging in this area. He'll be 3 in Jan. and our first three were all trained by now. He loves following Zachary around, doing flips, and his speech is improving every day.

Miss Emi is growing up. She's her brothers' shadow. She has no problem making her needs known, so at 17 months, she is just now really starting to talk. I guess it beats Tony, who didn't say one single word until 2 1/2. She says please and thank you, and since she is going through a biting phase, she has mastered the word sorry. One of her favorite words is "crab", for the hermit crabs that Pam keeps as pets. The kids have to "walk" the crabs, which is basically an excuse to let them out of the container, and Emi goes crazy. She loves it.

We finished our Texas Naturalist book, and since we are focusing on UIL right now, I am just reading stories at night. Right now we are reading My Father's Dragon, a Newberry winner written in 1944. I just ordered the second and third book of this series. I missed out on reading so many good books as a kid, its nice to get a do-over.

We missed two weeks of bible study, but were back this week. It went pretty well, until Aiden had to go to the bathroom, and Emi's scream could be heard throughout the entire church, so I missed about half of the bible study, but Brian really enjoyed this one. We were kind of at each other before, but its amazing how it lifts you. I love hearing about what the kids learned. Zach is in a class with his age group and Angie and Tony are in a class together. They actually moved Tony up because they thought he'd get more out of it, and one of the gentlemen bragged about how he aways knows the answers. Tony says he feels kind of like he cheated because he really learned them from watching the kids bible video we have.

Brian had to get in on the fun too

Brian dressed up as a wizard and read to the pre-k class. It seemed to be a hit. I came up with the two little ones just to get a few pics. I wish I could have got a picture of Emi's reaction to her dad. She wouldn't come near him and if he tried to come near her or she had to go somewhere, she'd move in a big cirlce away from him. Hilarious!

Trick or Treat

Tony the dashing young pirate
Originally a dinosaur, Zach says he's a wingless dragon
Ladybug
This year I decided not to spend alot of money on costumes, so I borrowed some from a friend. Her kids are grown now, but she sewed these for them when they were little. I made the antennae for Angie's. I love these outfits. Oh, and the kids got to wear them to school as part of say no to drugs week.

More pics of the falls

McKinney Falls

Friday I stayed home and finished up my final paper for my English class. Mom and dad picked the oldest three up and took them to McKinney Falls State Park in Austin. This was our first time there. I came up Saturday with Aiden and Emi. I was pretty surprised to see a wooded state park so close to the city and I probably would have never found it without the GPS. From our way, you pass through downtown Austin and head toward the airport. I have to admit that I haven't been in or through Austin in a long time. This park would be a perfect place for us to bring the 5th wheel if we wanted to take in the sites, museums etc.

Mom and dad took the oldest on a guided tour before I got there. Mom said that is was supposed to take an hour to an hour and a half. With them being the only people on the tour, it took two and a half hours. She said the ends wanted to know every plant, butterfly etc. My kids can now identify every plant and tree there and at least three different monarch butterflies by pattern. The lady giving the tour thought she'd give the kids the scientific names of the plants. She ended up getting a history lesson out of that. We recently read a book on Texas naturalists and many plants are named after who discovered them. So, when she told the kids that a certain plant was cassiva lindheimerii, she got a full lesson on Ferdinand Lindheimer, the father of Texas botany. Tony also have her a full report on the box turtles. My mom said the volunteer was very knowledgable and kind of surprised that she learned a few things. Too funny.

We had hamburgers when I got there and then went for a long hike. Emi did awesome. Angie was a nervous wreck being so close to the ledge with the little ones and she didn't seem to believe me when I told her that I'd take care of them. I was shocked that we walked across the creek with five kids in tow. It flowed over solid rock was only a few inches deep, but it was slippery.

That night, the kids and I read the magic treehouse book, A Good Night for Ghosts. I think I love these books as much as the kids. This particular one was about a few New Orleans Ghost legands and mainly Louis Armstrong. This trip we slept in the camper. It wasn't all that comfortable, but it was still nice. It is so good for the kdis to be away from technology, TV etc and be bored. I brought a football, and a few dumptrunks and books. Brian would have been so proud to see Tony and I toss a football. At home, he shows very little interest in being outside or any kind of sport. He's actually getting to where he can catch, and he had fun. Too bad someone didn't get a pic of it.

McKinney Falls Camping Trip