Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Completed City

It only took 3 days to complete the painting of the city. (Actually coloring- I used paint pens. Does anyone else out there think that coloring is therapeutic? It is so relaxing! OK, there were a LOT of fumes...) I'm not sure what we are going to name it, but I am thinking something like "The-Coolest-City-On-Earth, Texas". (because that is where the coolest city on earth would be). :) Anyway, here are some pics and highlights of our favorite areas...


The finished city

This is my personal favorite. Target and Ikea in the same block.

This is one of Elias' and Adaryll's special "Daddy Date" spots: The Dell Diamond. It is where they go to watch triple-A baseball. Note that the houses shown are the boys' houses (Elias, Jaren, and Holloway) and they each have a convertible parked in the driveway. LOL

Elias has ALWAYS loved airports. He has even told me what is inside this airport near gate A and what is near gate B. (food court, etc)

This is the mall. Elias likes it because it has Inflatable Wonderland. I like it because there is a Crocs store. :)

Personally, I don't know what I would do without a McDonald's drive-thru every once in a while.

This is the zoo. I meant to add an alligator to the pond, but I was waiting for the blue to dry and I forgot. Elias also informed me that he wants giraffes at the zoo. So maybe the project is not quite finished after all...

Wordless Wednesday Winner

And the winner is...

Ginny: "Oh man... more bills"

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Wordless Wednesday

Here is this week's Wordless Wednesday photo. You supply the caption. Winner will be posted Thursday night.


Monday, July 28, 2008

My City

I had a nice size piece of MDF board leftover from the playroom closet shelf project, so I thought of a fun use for it. I told Elias we could draw out and paint a city on the board, and he could use it to play with his mico machines (actually, my 25+ year old micro machines that have been passed on to him). I asked him to make a list of what he would want in his city. The list is quite amusing, so I am posting it for everyone's enjoyment.
In Elias' city, he wants to have...
*Two neighborhoods. One is called "The Branches" (our IN neighborhood name) and the other is the name of our neighborhood here. Pardon the paranoia, but I am not going to post that. Anyway, in the Branches, there are 3 houses: Aunt Jenny's house, Kylee's house, and Mylee's house. In the other neighborhood there are also 3 houses: Elias' house, Jaren's house, and Holloway's house. Funny that he segregated the girls and boys rather than putting all the people that actually live in IN in the Branches and the ones that live in TX in the other one.
*Restaurants: Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Souper Salad, Baskin Robbins, and Chucky Cheese
*Stores: Costco, Toys R Us, Wal Mart, HEB Grocery, Ikea, and Target
*Outdoor stuff: Playground, Neighborhood pool, and Sprinkler park
*Fun stuff: Putt Putt Golf, Zoo, and Bowling Alley
*Plus a mall, gas station, doctor's office, dentist's office, airport, and our church
Quite the city, eh? We drew it all out in pencil this morning and I have started coloring it in with paint pens. It might be a while before this project is finished, but he is loving the process! I am pretty sure this is going to be played with for many, many years...


Sunday, July 27, 2008

House Guest

We knew, moving to Texas, that we would have more houseguests than what we have had before. Now that we live close to family, we have already had lots of people come to visit who have never been able to do that before. It is awesome, and we love having the space to house friends and family who want to come visit. Hotel Jordan is open and taking reservations! :)
This week, however, we had a different type of houseguest. You know, the unwelcome kind. I guess this is maybe something we should have expected being in Texas and all, but it still took me by surprise. I had to take his picture before I got rid of him...


Saturday, July 26, 2008

Control

I have been on an organization kick since Tuesday. I think I get into this "nesting" mode when life seems a little out of control. Now, that isn't always the best or most convenient time to start obsessing about everything having a place, but I am starting to understand why I do this. You see, organizing my house (whether drawers or closets or whatever) makes me feel like I am in control of something. This really is a farce, because I am FAR FROM in control of ANYTHING, but it is a nice feeling to fool myself for a little while. And so, after 3 of the 4 of us were sick as could be and it was totally beyond my control, I have gone on an organizing kick.
I started with the playroom closet. I had a couple of small bookshelves in there overflowing with stuff. I pulled everything out, put in built-in shelves than span the whole width of the closet (and thus hold WAY more stuff), and then loaded everything back in. This was a huge accomplishment in many ways. Since the closet can now hold so much more stuff, I moved all the kids' games into the closet and off the playroom shelves. Now they have to ask to get a game (because there is a child lock on the closet), which has also solved the problem of walking into the playroom to find 15 games and all their pieces in the middle of the floor.
Next, since I had the bookshelves from the playroom closet, I decided to reorganize the craft closet. Again, I pulled everything out, rearranged all the shelves that I already had in there to accomodate the leftover playroom shelves, and loaded it all back in. Ahhhh, the sight of perfectly stacked plastic boxes full of craft supplies makes my heart smile.
This afternoon I pulled out all of the toys from the bottom of Elias' closet and organized them in nice plastic bins. Don't ask how long they will stay sorted and organized. Right now, I don't really care. What matters is simply that it was a wreck and I was able to fix it!
Next on the list for this evening is Elena's closet. I already sorted through her clothes a couple of nights ago and pulled out two large diaper boxes and a rubbermaid bin full of clothes that don't fit her anymore. Now I need to sort through all the stuff on her top shelf and organize it in the bright, lime-green stackable bins I got for her today. I really do love this. It's kind of sick, huh? Sigh.
Do you see the pattern? I think my life got so completely out of control for a few days that I am somehow trying to grasp any little thing that I can. Does this mean I am a control freak? Maybe. A control freak with really nice closets.


Pics added per Amy's request...


Left side playroom closet Right side playroom closet



Left side craft closet Right side craft closet


Left side Elias' closet Right side Elias' closet

Friday, July 25, 2008

Wordless Wednesday Winner

Thanks for all the comments. And the winning comment is... (especially funny in light of our week)

Jordan: "Scary? I can puke red too!"

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Wordless Wednesday

I supply the photo, you supply the "caption". I can't wait to hear the comments on this one! I will post a winner Thursday night.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Back Among the Living

Ahhhhh. I am so glad THAT is over! The kids are both drinking well and eating bland carbs, and their fevers are finally gone. I am finally eating and drinking too, and I think I am on the tail end of the fever. We are all still holding out and praying Adaryll will stay healthy!
I had a nice shower this evening and literally felt like I was able to wash all the sick off of me. I feel SO much better. Thank God we are in a country with running water, and water-heaters no less! I feel like I am back among the living! Tomorrow will be another day of re-disinfecting the house. And we'll probably try to make it out somewhere... anywhere... since we haven't left the house since Saturday morning.

Round Three

Sunday Evening Update:
Both kids are on the mend and starting to eat crackers and toast and drink Gatorade. Now it is Mommy's turn.

Monday Morning Update:
LONG night for Mommy. I was sick all night long. Elias came in our room at about 6am (he has never gotten out of bed like that before) saying that his legs hurt really bad and could he have some Gatorade. Jordan H.- is that just the electrolyte imbalance because he was so dehydrated the day before?
Hopefully today will be a better day, we will each get stronger as the hours go by, and Adaryll will still manage to dodge this one. He went to his discipleship group this morning but is coming back home to tend to us the rest of the day.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Saga Continues

There are many, many things I have learned in the last 12 hours. Maybe too many to post all at once, but here are a few...
- There is a very distinct gurgling sound that is emitted from the innards of a child about 2 seconds before they puke. Surprisingly, this is long enough for a mom to wake from sleep, jump out of bed, and scoop a bowl under a child's mouth. It's also long enough for a dad to wake from a sleep, with a sleeping toddler on his chest, and run to another room with linoleum floor before puke goes everywhere.
- If you roll up some toilet paper and stuff it in your nostrils, cleaning up stinky puke is much more bearable.
- Zofran really only last 4 hours. The bottle says "Take every 4-6 hours" and apparently they knew what they were talking about when they said that. Too bad we only started with 1 pill.
- It is possible to disinfect an entire house in one morning if you are really determined to stomp out the germ and not get sick yourself. I covered every single surface in our house today with every disinfectant we own, including light switches, door knobs, thermostats, telephones, toys, computer keyboards, etc. I am SO hoping Adaryll and I don't get sick!
- I don't know what I would do without a washing machine and dryer!!!

So here is the rest of the story...
Elias started puking again around 11:30pm (4 hours after he took the zofran), and it pretty much went on all night. There was a point at which it was every 15 minutes. Needless to say, I was a sleepy mom this morning.
When it was time for Adaryll to get up and get ready for church, he offered to take Elena with him so I would just have Elias to take care of. I went into Elena's room to get her ready to go and found her entire bed, and herself, COVERED in puke. It was everywhere! Poor little baby must have puked all night long like Elias did, but she never cried out and I never heard her in the monitor. I felt so bad for her!
I got her bathed, her bed stripped, and laundry going while Adaryll made some phone calls to get his Sunday morning responsibilities covered so that he could stay home. Then I proceeded to clean the entire house while Elias read books and Elena laid on Adaryll.
Elena is still puking, but Elias seems to be past the worst. He kept down about 4 ounces of water this morning and he is having some crackers right now, so we will see how that goes. Elena is sleeping on Adaryll right now in her rocker, which is unheard of for her. I think we will probably just hold her until the puking stops so that at least the mess is contained. Both kids still have mild fever.
Oh, I SO hope that Adaryll and I don't get this! We have both taken double doses of elderberry, sovereign silver, and grapefruit seed extract to try to ward it off. I will keep you updated!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Please Let The Zofran Work!

For those of you who know medicine and just read that title, no- I am not pregnant. But zofran is the name of the drug that was in one of my PICC line pumps for 5 months.
Now for the real story. Adaryll made a wonderful dinner tonight. He smoked ribs, made a great salad, cooked some awesome baked beans, mmmmm. After dinner, Elias came to me and said "My tummy hurts." I am pretty sure he also said that at some point during dinner and maybe even during lunch. I just can't remember for sure. I told him to go lay down, thinking that he was totally bluffing.
A little while later, I was sitting with Elena on the couch and Adaryll was on the computer. Elias was laying on the floor playing with his toy computer. All the sudden he just puked all over the carpet. Not just puke- red puke. As Adaryll and I both scrambled to get Elias a bowl and the carpet cleaned, Elena began to cry over the whole chaos of the scene around her.
Thanks to Oxy-Clean we got all the red out of the carpet and then told Elias to carry the bowl with him for the rest of the evening. He went upstairs to sit and read a book while we got Elena bathed and in bed. As Elena was getting her hair washed, Elias enters the room with a green look on his face, without the bowl, and pukes again. Once again, Oxy-Clean to the rescue.
While Adarll put Elena to bed and I bathed Elias, I started thinking about the one other time in his life that Elias has had a repeated puking thing. He ended up in the ER that time dehydrated and they sent him home with some zofran. I looked through our medicine cabinet (which probably qualifies as a full-fledged pharmacy even after purging tons of meds before the big move), and I found ONE last zofran! I gave it to him and am just hoping it keeps him from puking again!
The funny part of this story is that when he was so dehydrated from puking a year or so ago, I eventually made him a pallet on our bedroom floor. So tonight I said, "Honey, I am going to go ahead and make you a bed on our floor." He sat straight up in the bath and replied with big, wide eyes, "Yeah! I love sleeping on your floor! That is why I love throwing up!" I laughed so hard. Then I looked at Adaryll and said "Seriously, hasn't that only happened one other time in his whole life?" LOL
Ok, so I am sure that I have broken multiple blogging rules by using the word puke that many times in one post, and for sure by telling the color. But I know we all appreciate authenticity, and I am just trying to keep it real.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Fun At The Kitchen Table

The other day, as a special "art time" treat, I covered our entire kitchen table with paper. (Thanks so much to my dear friend, Lori, who got me an entire roll of unprinted newsprint a couple of years ago from her dad who works at the newspaper). Anyway, I got out some markers and let the kids just go to town.
Elena loved just scribbling away all in one little space. Granted she was buckled into her booster and could only reach so far. Elias filled the other 80% of the paper with random drawings and activities. Here are a few...

From Elias: "This is our family. Elena, me, Mommy, and Daddy. Daddy has crazy hair like Elena because he needs a haircut"


From Elias: "This is me and my new friend, Holloway. We are putting up a tent." (note: Holloway's mom works at the church and we have had a couple of playdates. The boys have VERY similar personalities and get along really well. We just found out this week that they are going to be in the same class this fall! Yeah!)

This one is hard to see, but we were practicing "dictation". I say a sentence and Elias writes it down. He has trouble remembering to put a space between words, so the first one he wrote says "DaddyHasAHat." We later went back and added ".com" because it looked like a website with no spaces. We all had a good laugh at that. He also wrote "Mommy loves Elias.", "Tom is a cat.", and "Jerry is a mouse."

Elias also loves math, so I wrote out some math problems with squares for him to write the answers in. After the first 6, he had me check his work. I wrote checkmarks next to them. When I came back, he had finished his work, checked it himself, and written his own checkmarks next to the rest of the problems. Yet another example of his independent personality!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Wordless Wednesday Marathon Winners

Thanks so much to everyone who left comments- they were much needed lightheartedness on a sort of heavy day.
And the winners are...

*Elena afro photo* (a tie)
Ali "This is the finger that went in the light socket"
Beth "Future Einstein says 'I have and idea Mommy!'"

*Elias swimming photo*
Amy "I think I just peed"

*Green dot hands photo*
(which was a picture from backyard Bible clubs where kids earned dots for correct answers, etc)
April "You know, in the NFL, the green dot on a helmet signifies that the helmet has a radio receiver in it. oh no, that must mean WE'RE ALL ACTUALLY ROBOTS!!"

*Elias contorted photo* (a tie)
Jennie "He'll flip- You want heads or tails?"
Cathy "Auntie Anne's will hire him as their pretzel model"

*Elena nose pickin' photo*
Ali "Everything's BIGGER in TX. Wait til you see this one!"
(you had to know that putting TEXAS in a comment would win you props!)

Congratulations to all the winners. You win... hmmm... lifelong history and fame when I have my blog printed into a book for my kids someday.

So Glad Today Is Over (sigh)

Elena had her allergy appointment this morning and it was LONG. When I say long, I mean we were there for over 3 hours. And we pretty much left with the exact same information we had when we got there.
He began by doing 19 skin pricks on her back, including eggs and chicken (which we already know she is severely allergic to), several other foods (mostly grains and nuts), and a couple of environmental allergens. I drew some pictures on her feet just before the nurse wrote the grid on her back, so she thought the whole thing was kind of fun. She did extremely well with the actual pricking- no real crying at all! She just sort of complained for the last few. After 20 minutes, only the egg whites & yolks were positive. I was really surprised because we know for a fact that she is really allergic to chicken (breaks out of I even touch chicken and then put her food on her plate). And we had a positive chicken test 10 months ago.
So he retested the chicken and milk (because it looked like it was trying to be positive, which made no sense because she eats cheese on a regular basis with no reaction). She decided then that she had had enough and cried for those two pricks. But it was over quickly. After 20 more minutes, still no reaction.
Then they did 6 "interdermals" in her arm for dust mites and cats & dogs. This is where they actually use a syringe and push some serum into a pocket under the skin instead of just pricking. She didn't realize what was happening until about the 3rd one, but then it was bloody murder screaming. 20 minutes and no reactions.
Then they repeated the interdermals in the same arm with a higher concentration serum. 20 more minutes and no reaction.
When all of that was over (and we had watched the entire Finding Nemo movie, colored lots of pictures, read several books, had 2 cups of soymilk and come crackers, pushed cars around the room, played with a flashlight... at least noone can say I was unprepared, right?!), we got to go to a different room to talk with the doctor.
Basically he concluded the same thing he had said before we did this test. She is allergic to tree nuts or peanuts (or both) now. He said that negative skin tests are only 80% accurate, which means that, theoretically, 20% of negatives are not right. UGH! He read the ingredients on the granola bar that she has had a reaction to (ok, I will just tell you all- when she eats it, her bottom bleeds). It contains small amounts of peanut, almond and pecan. Everything else is grain, and since she tolerates Cheerios everyday without bleeding, it can't be that. He also said that she is obviously capable of producing false negatives given that her chicken test was negative this time, but she still has horrible hives when she is exposed to chicken.
Basically all of that is what he told me 2 months ago when I went in to see him with a granola bar wrapper and a little girl with a bleeding bootie. He said then that there was no reason to test her, it is the nuts. But that he would test her after she turned 2 if I really wanted him to.
I think I am just going to do my own home food trial of each individual ingredient in a really small amount to figure it out. I just hate to avoid ALL nuts (and things processed in factories where they process nuts, blah, blah, blah) if it is just almonds. Or just pecans. Or whatever! I'll keep you posted...

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Wordless Wednesday Marathon

Wednesday is going to be sort of a trying day for me. I have to take Elena for allergy testing in the morning, which consists of a prick on her back for every item they want to test. It might be 10, it might be 75. I won't know until we get there. Elias is going to work with Adaryll, which will be really good. Her crying and him talking all at the same time would just be too much.
With that in mind, I am going to post a Wordless Wednesday Marathon. I am anticipating that if I don't laugh Wednesday, I might cry. But I know that if you all leave comments for all of these pictures, I will come home to that warm, fuzzy, feel-the-love-of-the-blog-comments feeling. And that will make it all better.

For each picture, leave your comment of what the picture's caption could be. Blogstalkers who never leave comments- this would be a good day to make your identity known. It would make me feel so happy to know who you are!

Wordless Wednesday Marathon


Wordless Wednesday Marathon


Wordless Wednesday Marathon


Wordless Wednesday Marathon


Independence

Conversation that occurred between Elias and Mommy a few days ago...

E: You know what I did the other day during relaxing time Mommy? (note: this is the time that he is in his bed reading books or doing LeapPad, etc. while Elena naps in the afternoon)
M: Nope, what did you do?
E: I asked Jesus to live in my heart.
M: You did?!
E: Yep!
M: What did He say?
E: Well, I didn't hear Him say anything?
M: Did you feel Him come live in your heart?
E: Well, I feeled it beeping.
M: Did you tell Him why you want him to live there?
E: Because I want to go to heaven.
M: Oh, well remember honey that you have to tell Him that the reason why is that you need him to forgive you of your sins. I don't think He can come live in your heart until you tell Him that. The Bible says that we have to admit that we are sinners and that we need forgiveness. Then God can forgive us and live in our hearts.
E: OK, I will do that next time I have relaxing time.

We have had a few other occasions where Elias wanted to ask Jesus to live in his heart, but the root of the motive was so that he could go to heaven. Not that he needed forgiveness of his sins. We have told him each time that children go to heaven already, and that God is very excited that Elias is learning more about being in His family.

A few days later...
E: Do you know what I did during relaxing time, Mommy?
M: What?
E: I asked Jesus and God to forgive all of my sins and all of the bad things I have done.
M: Really? And then what?
E: And then I asked Jesus to live in my heart. And He did.
M: That is great Elias!

I think he really gets it now. And it is so sweet and right in line with his personality that he would want to take care of this matter on his own in his room alone. He is such an independent kid with such a sweet, sensitive heart. I pray that God will use him in mighty ways as he grows and learns more about his decision to love God with all his heart, soul, mind & strength.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Testing 1,2,3

This is a big week of tests for the Jordan girls.
I had an MRI Friday to take a look at my foot and what might still be causing pain. It is probably going to be inconclusive, which means I will have to go back for a CT Scan or a bonescan, because (HELLO!) I have 2 huge screws in my foot which made the MRI a big, blobby blur. The hope was that the screws were titanium and wouldn't interfere with the images, but apparantly they aren't. I also saw a doctor today to address some stomach issues, so I get to go in for some kind of a scan for that too. I always try to reframe these types of things and tell myself that it is really like a day out at the spa- laying there reading a book and relaxing with no kids to worry about. But this test involves a big chalky drink that I am pretty sure is not offered at any spas.
Sidenote: When I had to be hospitalized about a year ago for an infection, the nurses thought it was hilarious that I kept saying "We are just going to pretend this is a spa..." I had this beautiful room with a flat screen TV and a laptop with internet access that was suspended over the bed. It was incredible. The food was great, the nurses were super. But then the PICC line team came in and I was quickly brought back to reality that hospitals, no matter how nice, are not spas!
Elena also has a big appointment this week. Her allergist is sure she is allergic to peanuts and treenuts because of a reaction she has everytime I give her a granola bar with trace nuts. (I won't go into the specific reaction because- just trust me- you don't really want to know) The allergist said at her last appointment that he wouldn't run the skin tests on her until she turned 2. So here we are. I'm hoping to get some clear answers on what it is she is reacting to.
Yay for modern medicine and the ability to poke the skin and figure out what you are allergic to. Or to spin a giant magnet around and find out if a bone is bad (unless, of course, you have a metal object right there!). Stinky that it is the Jordan girls having to do it.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Handsome Boy, Beautiful Girl

Could these two be any cuter? Everytime I go to get their pictures done, I have my breath taken away when I actually see the prints. Uh- they are so stinkin' cute! (Ok, I realize this is their mother talking and I am a little biased)
And I realize that we were just at the photo studio like 2 weeks ago, but I got a really good coupon (and I am addicted). Today, just before the shoot, as I was spraying Elias' hair down, he says to me "We can put this on our blog. And you can type Handsome Boy." So here it is.

My Sweet Hillbillies

Handsome Boy

Beautiful Girl

Seriously, doesn't he look like 15 in this one!?

I love this outfit on her!



Hugs all around for my sweeties!

Cocoon

About 5 months ago, I decided I had better wean Elias off his naps in preparation for all-day-Kindergarten this fall. We still have "relaxing time" while Elena naps, which means that he still goes to bed, but he gets to choose to take books, LeapPad, handheld video-game, etc. Most of the time, he entertains himself quietly for the hour or hour and a half that he is in there. Every once in a while, he is just too tired and he falls asleep.
This is what I found when I went in to get him yesterday. He must have just nodded off because I had heard him about 15 minutes before. He was inside his pillowcase, holding his pig, sitting up, sleeping. I actually went and got the step-ladder so that I could get some good pics.
Funny that when he was so tiny (just under 6 pounds with wrinkled up skin and no fat under it), I used to say that he looked like he was in the larvea stage. Guess he decided, almost 6 years later, that he needed a cocoon.





And The Winner Is...

The winner for Wordless Wednesday yesterday is Jo.
"(Elias) Something smells funny around here. It must be this kid on the floor."
HOORAY JO!!! :)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Wordless Wednesday

I post the picture, you leave your caption in the comments section.
From now on, I will post a "winner" for the best comment. Ready, Set, Go!

Fruit Tray

Elena made a fruit tray today. OK, not your normal run-of-the-mill fruit tray. She had a bowl of grapes and raspberries for breakfast, and she had a few left in her bowl when she said she was done. As I was trying to get some important phone calls made, she was pulling things she knows she is allowed to play with out of the kitchen cabinets. This purple tray is one of her favorite things to pull out. So must have decided each hole was just the right size for her breakfast leftovers, because this is what she brought to me a few minutes later.
Thanks to Jean, my Indiana Mom, who bought this tray several years ago for Elias. It is actually for making little jellybean shaped Jello-beans. Hats off to Elena for finding a second use!


The Great Adventure


Every summer, Hill Country Bible Church puts on a month long event called Great Adventure. It is totally different from anything we have ever been a part of (i.e. typical VBS). The month begins with a service called the Concert of Prayer. The evening is dedicated to praying for the month ahead and all of the different areas of ministry that will be going on at the same time. We took Elias to the Concert of Prayer Sunday night and it was amazing. There was just a buzz of excitement in the room about what is ahead.
During first week of Great Adventure there are 150 Backyard Bible Clubs (offered at 4 different times each day) happening all over the city for K-4th graders. There is a program called Ultimate Knockout at the church for 5-6th graders. The high school kids have been trained at a week of bootcamp and are put into teams which lead all of it. There are adults who act as drivers for the high school teams and they take them from club to club each day. It all culminates Friday night with Summerfest, which is a huge party on the church grounds with 9-hole putt putt golf, NFL punt, pass & kick, inflatables, games, hotdogs, popcorn, cottoncandy, etc. Last year there were over 6000 people at Summerfest.
The next 3 weeks are GO Trips. There are 12 teams going to places all over the world. One high schooler we know is going to Wales. I think there are about 400 people going on those trips.
Then the whole thing ends with the Concert of Praise. Adaryll will be playing there and we are told it like nothing we have ever experienced before.
We decided to host a Backyard Bible Club and invite all of the families from Elias' Tball team and some neighbors we have connected with over the last 6 weeks. Everyone had such a fun time last night, and the highschoolers did an awesome job with the games and stories. It rained, so we moved into the garage (and I am guessing several people probably thought it was cancelled). I have no idea what is in store for tonight, but I know I have to have a bunch of water balloons for tomorrow, so I am sure it will be lots of fun!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

And It Goes On And On And On

Seriously, the music in this house never stops. Between Adaryll, Elias, and me, we pretty much had it covered. But now that Elena is singing too- well, let's just say there won't be much silence in our house for a long time. Oh- and you should hear the car rides! The girl will sing along with CD's she hasn't heard in 3 months. Funny that it was all up in her head that whole time.
This is a clip from dinner tonight. It went on and on and on, so I finally just motioned to Adaryll that I HAD to get the camera. This is her own special self-composed medley...

American Gladiators

Does anyone out there watch American Gladiators? The boys in our house (i.e. Daddy & Elias) really get into it. In fact, most of the time they DVR it and Elias watches it more than once. It's funny because he will tell me "Watch Mommy- the red guy is going to win". I don't get it. It's like watching a 10 year old football game on ESPN Classics. Just not my thing, but I'm not a guy.
So last night we were at this great 4th of July Festival (complete with turkey legs, bbq, hotdogs, and live country music) when Elias spotted an inflatable obstacle course. They were running 2 kids at a time as if it was a race, and he was ready to go! He turns to me and says, "It's just like American Gladiators!"


This was his first time through. He didn't quite get the rope thing at first, but it's quite amusing seeing him do the slide at the end. And he won, so you see the pride on his face as he looks back at his competition. He is REALLY competitive. I have no idea where he got that...




This was his third and final run (he lost the second time, so I'm kind of glad we didn't get that on camera). You can see that by now he had mastered the rope. It's funny to me that he eyes his opponent on his way up the rope to be sure he isn't getting ahead. He just watched this with me and narrated for me saying "And right there I was thinking- oh no, I'm going to lose!" He won by just a couple of seconds.

Elias ready to go and it isn't even his turn yet...

I don't remember a 4th of July in Texas without snowcones!

Barefoot in the grass

Relaxin' in Daddy's lap

Yeah! My brother's an American Gladiator!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

ABCDEFG...

Elena has been singing a ton lately. I'm telling you- it is amazing how much like her brother she is becoming. Yet they are still both SO different and lovely in their own ways! Here she was a few days ago singing her ABC's with a toy.

4 Games in 6 Nights

I grew up going to several triple-A baseball games each summer, and I have so many good memories of those times. So I love that Adaryll has been taking Elias to the Round Rock Express (Houston Astros feeder team) games here. They actually got to go to 4 games last week because of some generous church members with season tickets. It has been so fun watching them build memories together and just "being boys".
Adaryll played the national anthem at the opening of the game last Saturday. He had seen the ad for auditions several months ago, and I had convinced him of how cool it would be for the kids if he did that! There is a video of it on his blog-http://www.adaryll.blogspot.com. That was also the night that we let Elias do the bungee trampoline thing (hence yesterday's video). I couldn't believe he wanted to do that! What happened to our shy, timid boy?!