Our New home!!!

Well we did it agian!! We moved from Wyoming to Tomball, TX. It is NW Houston. Dennis took a transfer with his company to Houston. So here we are in the south. We are looking forward to living in a big city and all that has to offer. So look forward to all the fun things that you can read about that we are doing in Texas. We will miss Wyoming, especially our families, but we are excited for a new place. if you would like our new contact information email me at birdchrissy@hotmail.com and I will send it to you. Welcome Texas!!!

Car ride to Houston

It was a long drive from Green River, Wyoming to Houston, TX. it brought back a lot of memories from all out trips between wyoming and kansas. One thing I remeber the most was the beautiful sunflowers in Kansas in August, and we got to see them on this trip. Also on the way we saw the most beautiful rainbow I had ever saw!! The picture does not do it justice at all, i was driving in construction, so i did not get to take a good picture. It was a full one and the kids all thought it was the grandest thing ever. It was a great sign of happiness for our new home in Houston.

Rainforest Cafe

One thing that we promised the kids from the first time that we told them that we were moving to Houston, was to eat at the Rainforest Cafe the first night that we are there. So we did and it was a lot of fun. It is a great place for kids, food is not that great, but the atmosphere is grand. The kids love it. The best things, according to the kids, is the volcano dessert. It is a huge brownie sundae with a sparkler in it. You might already know, but Sawyer hates fire. So he was not as thrilled for the dessert, just look at him in the picture. We are going to have a lot of fun in Houston!!!!

Armpit wipe

So a very funny/wierd thing that Ryan does is the armpit wipe. It all started about a year ago when we were at the Little America Restuarant and Ryan was going to eat his meal and I saw him pick up his fork, wipe it is his armpit and then start eating. I asked him what he was doing and he informed me that he was "cleaning" his fork to eat with it. Of course being the MATURE parents that Dennis and I are, we started laughing out heads off,(I mean who thinks of thier armpit when they want something clean) and said something stupid like, you could wipe it in your bum also if you would like! of course he got mad at us and to our great luck, the waitress came at that moment and saw that Ryan was upset and asked him why. Being the honest kid that he is, he informed the waitress that we just told him to wipe his fork off in his bum!! I know, our own fault. Anyhow, for some reason this method of cleaning his utensils is a instinctive habit. We are constantly catching him picking up a utensil and wiping it in his armpit to eat with it. I am not sure how he pick up on this or why, but he does it all the time. It is quite humerous, you have to admit.

Our New Pool

The greatest thing about our new house is the pool. We love it and have so much fun playing/relaxing in it. The kids want to be in there everyday and ask all the time to get it. It feels great in the hot hot hot weather of Texas. It is great becasue there is a gate you have to go through to get to it and the kids have been forbidden to even touch the gate, so it is working out well keeping them out when we are not with them. Dennis and I have even been able to enjoy it while the kids are in bed and it feels great. The kids think they are the luckiest kids in the world. It is so much fun!!!

1st Day of School

Ryan and Julia started school last week. Julia was very nervous, been she is doing well and is so happy that she was able to meet two friends, Emily and Sophia. She giggles every time she says Sophia and then says, " you know like Lis Sophia." little does she know that the name Sophia was a name before it was a jewelry!! Ryan did not seem nervous at all and in fact would not let me walk him to his classroom, he said he is big enough to do it himself. He also uses an alarm this year and gets up by himslef and showers and get ready all by himself. I love that he is so independant, even if it means he is growing up! All in all, I think the kids are enjoying school!!

Chick-Fil-A

One great thing about being in a big city is the unlimited supply of eating out!! The kids and I have found a favorite place to go. Chick-Fil-A on Tuesday nights. It is family night and there are some great perks. First of all all kids get to spin the wheel and get free food. So they got free ice cream. there is also kid entertainment, balloon animals, hello kitty visits, a playland, and of course the mascot, the cow. Sawyer loves the cow and in a 30 minute period will give him about 10 hugs. I love it because it tastes so yummy and the kids want to play so they eat well and are very happy when we leave. They asked if they could go there every Tuesday, and even though I would, we should probably make it a max of once a month.

Great Friends

I have some great friends in Green River. They were so sweet and got together to say goodbye the last week we were in Green River. I had a lot of great times with these gals and will miss them dearly!!!!

tooth fairy visit

Julia finally lost her first tooth. She had a loose tooth for a long time. We were not going to pressure her to pull it out because she can be a little dramatic at times, so we just let her work with it and it stayed in there for a long time. one night she let Dennis play with it and he pulled it. She was very happy, and I was very happy in the morning to find out that the tooth fairy did not forget to visit, since i had forgotten about it. Dennis is good!!!

Camping

In July we went camping at brownie lake.
I really love that place, I use to go there when I was a little girl. We have gone there two years in a row and hope to keep up the tradition. This year my brother Ron, my brother Casey and his girlfriend Jen and my sister Mandy and her family joined us up there. We had fun playing games late into the night and just hangng out. We took a very awesom 4-wheeler trail. Part of it was a river that we followed!! The kids love being in the wilderness,just roaming around!! Brownie lake is so pretty and never that busy, we have noticed. so if you are ever in the area, visit there.

Cute Brothers

There is nothing more cute then two brothers that love each other. Ryan is so good about being nice to Sawyer and taking care of him. Sawyer looks up to him a lot. I hope that they will always like each other like they do now.

Sawyer soccer

This was Sawyer's first year in soccer. Normally a 3 year old does not get to play, but if a parent coached then they could play. So in order for Sawyer to play, I volunteered to coach. At first I did not think that it would be that hard, but I was naive. That age is way to young to start sports and Sawyer was way to young! he turned 3 the day soccer started. There were fun times and Sawyer mostly had fun! I will say that I paid my dues as a coach and next time I will love sitting on the side lines watching. Sawyer loved to play goalie and as long as no one took the ball away from him, which was not very often, loved to kick the ball. He was so little out there!!!

Julia soccer

Julia played soccer again this year. She was on a team with her good friend Emmy, and at that seemed to make the season a lot more fun for her. She was in a higher level then last year and there were a lot more things to learn, positions and such, She was very into listening to her coach and it made her more hesitant to go after the ball because she wanted to be where she was suppose to. I like to "encourage" my kids as they are playing, which might mean me shouting while they are playing, and Julia asked me before one game in the middle of the season, "Mom, will you please just watch this game, this time instead of yelling?". I will take her advice because I want them to enjoy playing sports and not for it to be a chore!!

Ryan soccer

Ryan played soccer again this year. He moved up a level and was in the youngest age group. The field was bigger and then intesity of the game increased. It was fun and engaging to watch him play. He is really smart and understands the game. He doesn't just run after the ball, but learned the positions this year. Not many goals are scored at this level, but Ryan was able to score one goal this year. He says he likes defense, but I like watching him play offense.

Splashing with counsins

My sister Mandy and her daughter Gabby and My sister Lindsay and her nephew came to visit us in Green River, we went to the splash park and had lots of fun. The kids love taking care of Gabgy, and this day was no different. For some reason Gabby likes them to feed her and they like to feed her. I find lots of pictures of my kids giving Gabby food. I was the "mean aunt" and would put the kids in the middle of the circle and then take pictures of them when the water would start spraying, it was so cute, but they did not think it was as cute. But you must admit it makes some cute pictures!!!

Climbing Trees

This summer the kids have really taken to climbing trees. Every park we go to they go looking for the best trees to climb, and then spend hours climbing them. Even at their favorite swimming park, I found them in the trees. It is a little scary for me to watch them in the trees, I am always scared they might fall out. I do remember climbing lots fo trees as a kid, and i do nto remember falling out, so maybe it is not the common, at least that is what I keep telling myself.

4-H'er Ryan

This year Ryan was a 4-H'er and took two pigs to fair. In April he got two cute little pigs (hammy and wilbur) and then spent 4 months taking care of them. At the end of July he took them to fair. He showed one pig in the showmanship category. He did really well with this. Very good, since he was a first year 4-H'er. He got a blue ribbon for this. Later he was able to show both pigs in the market category. All I will say is that we did not buy very good baby pigs and it all ended up with Ryan's pigs placing VERY close to the, *the auction*. He was able to sell one pig and a ranch bought his pig for $4.50 a pound. Pigs get really big and he ended up with $1161. For an 8 year old, that is a ton of money and a lot of motivation to raise pigs again.

Fair Time

The Wyoming big show was the last week in July. We spent a lot of time at the fair, since Ryan was in 4-H this year. We did a lot fo fun things, like, the carnival, petting zoo, wall climbing, eating, bull riding, eating and more eating. We really got to be part of the fair this year and it was really fun. Sawyer loved jumping on the big tramp with the elastics, he would even flip. Julia loved climbing on the rock wall and Ryan just loved to do everything. Dennis and Ryan did a lot of things together since they were at the fair more then the rest of us, taking care of the pigs. We love fair fun and love love fair food!!