Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Meet Muffin!

Meet Muffin, our newest furry family member!  Last week one of Jarrod's athletes discovered her near the elementary school.  She was very timid and lethargic.  After a good bath and some rest she became spunky and sweet!


Emma has a purse puppy!


And this must be why there is a basket on Emma's bike ;)


She naps a lot during the day and is crate training pretty well.


She is such a baby and loves to be held.  


 Roxie seems rather indifferent but puts her in her place a lot.


Taking a ride :)




When outside alone she stays close to the house.  Several times we have found her lounging on the kids' bench.  


"Whoever said you can't buy happiness
.....forgot little puppies!!" 
~Gene Hill

Sunday, May 19, 2013

THS Athletic Banquet 2013

The annual THS athletic banquet was held last week.  The kids and I were glad to be in attendance this year (we weren't here yet last year and hated to miss).  


Owen and I right before the program began (this is his crazy smile after "helping" us set up for 5+ hours!  Bless his heart!)


Mrs Coach O'Keefe was so sweet to spend her afternoon at the community center with me to help set up 25  long tables with chairs and to decorate.  I couldn't have done it without her and some other fun ladies!


Each sport was represented with some sort of decor.  Here is one of the table centerpieces.


My handsome hubby was emcee for the evening.  Here he is introducing his wonderful football staff.  Some were first year coaches while others have been coaching since before fellow coaches were even born!!  


Here is the 2012 Varsity Tiger football team.  We are so proud of them and anticipate another successf$ul season!  


The Tigers had a great year and excelled to post district play in eight out of their eleven sports for the first time in many years!  
Tiger Heart award winners:


Coaches' Kids 
(we sure are going to miss the O'Keefes next year but we are so excited for their new opportunity!) 


Both of our kids were exhausted during the events but they sure were troopers!  Half way through the evening Owen asked if he could take home balloons. 


We had estimated maybe 200 attendees max but ended up setting up several extra tables and cooking extra fajita meat.  Such a blessing to have so much support :)

GO FIGHT WIN TIGERS!!!

Friday, May 3, 2013

Insect Detectives

Beetles and spiders and rolly pollies, oh my!  



This Spring the kiddos have become quite fascinated in flying, creeping and crawling insects of all kinds!  


I knew it was meant to be when I discovered  butterfly nets, magnifying glasses and bug houses in the dollar aisle at Target!!  :)





We sure hope the weather remains tolerable for awhile longer.  We still have so many bugs to investigate :)

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Three-and-a-half

Our Owen is officially three-and-a-half!!  Time flies when you're having fun.  He is sweet, silly, cuddly, intelligent, hilarious and energetic!  He now weighs 37 lbs and stands 38" tall.  He is finally beginning to wear size 3T and is in size 8/9 shoes.  


His speech has recently taken off!  In fact, he has recently started asking lots of questions!  Pronunciation is still an issue and we are focusing specifically on the 's', 'f', 'r' 'm' and 'sh' sounds.  We took the pacifier completely away in January and that has helped a lot.  His favorite big sister is an excellent translator :)  He is definitely reserved but makes himself heard if need be!  He constantly surprises us with new words and phrases.  He has started to memorize songs, can recite the entire alphabet and can count to 10+!



Just in the past couple of weeks he has become fully potty trained!!!!  We stayed close to home for a few consecutive days and really worked on it.  With a little bribery assistance from a bucket of cheese balls and a lot of praise it was a success!  Just like it happened with his big sis, he finally decided that he was ready and hasn't looked back.


He still eats very little.  He usually enjoys yogurt, applesauce pouches, popcorn, peanut butter sandwiches, chips, rice, tortillas w/queso, french fries fruit cups and croutons.  That's usually just about IT.  He almost never tries new foods.  He recently requested (and finished!) a banana and an orange.  I.was.speechless!  We do make him try one bite of whatever we are having for dinner but he always spits it back out.  He still intakes two Pediasure drinks each day.  


He still sleeps through most nights but ends up in our bed (which is okay by me)!  He usually sleeps ten hours per night.  The day we took away his pacifier in January he stopped napping cold turkey. Oh boy!  It becomes rather obvious around mid afternoon that Owen needs his rest.  Temper tantrums and his strong will have definitely become more evident at age 3 ;)


He is still doing very well in school.  Some days he isn't very excited about going but he always has a great time with his friends once he gets there :)  He recently transitioned from the church nursery to Emma's Sunday School class and children's church.  He reminds us on the way to church that he is not a baby!


Some of Owen's favorite things include the color yellow, playing Wii, playing G I Joes & Barbies with his sister and being outdoors.  He especially loves picking flowers, chasing butterflies and blowing bubbles.  His favorite TV shows are Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Calliou and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  His favorite songs to sing are "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me".    


"Popsicle kisses and big bear hugs,
Little red wagons and jars full of bugs,
Grass stains, football games, 
Lots of toys, oh the joys!!"
~Author Unknown

7 Acre Wood

This morning Lansberry Elementary Kindergarten took over 7 Acre Wood in Conroe.  Jarrod and I were blessed to chaperone!! I'm not sure whether or not Emma was more excited to ride the bus or to actually go on a field trip!  When I picked her up this afternoon she said "The bus smelled like gas, we sat way up high and we didn't even have to wear car seats!"  Oh boy!  There were so many fun activities planned for the day.  We lucked out and barely beat this crazy May cold front!


Ms Thornton's class :)  What a great group!!


Emma's favorite activity was the zip line.  She has such an adventurous spirit, just like her daddy :)  One of the teachers was right when she commented that most of the boys were nervous about zipping but the girls had no reservations!!  Ashanti and Emma waiting patiently for their turns...


And zipping away!!!!!!


We were so happy that Jarrod got to go on this trip!  It was nice that he got to step away from his crazy busy schedule for awhile.  Ms T assigned him to three very energetic boys :)  The Kinder kiddos love when he comes around. In fact, so many kiddos move to sit with him on lunch visits and he is sweet enough to share his fries with them :)  He answers to several different names there including "Coach", "Emma's daddy " and "Hey you"!


Emma and Alisa clicked the first week of school and have been inseparable since.  I was assigned to these sweet girls for the day :)



There were many fun and friendly animals in the petting zoo.  They were glad we brought them a treat :)



A quick photo break with some of her best buddies :)  



Loving the mini golf course (they seriously just struck this pose on their own!!) 


I can't believe it's really already May.  Only 21 and-a-half days of Kindergarten left.  How can that be?!?  Our girl has grown up SO much over the past nine months of school and we look forward to celebrating later this month :)