Our busy week/weekend

Lots of pictures of course! If you make it through this post, bless you. If you don't, I don't blame you!!!

After sitting in the airport for 5 hours on Wednesday (we were flying stand-by), the kids and I finally made it to see family. We have been going non stop ever since!!

We went the zoo on Thursday with my parents. It was a tad windy, but we survived!

Checking out wing spans! Kennan is a barn owl and Brayden is a screech owl!

Can you find the tiger?

After the zoo, we headed over to Kenny's parents house for dinner. The next morning we were up bright and early to see Thomas the Train! For part of Kennan's birthday present Lala (Kenny's mom) wanted to take Kennan for a ride on Thomas.

Waiting on Thomas to come into the station.

While Kennan and Lala were on the train Brayden, Grumpy and I walked around the station.

Meeting Sir Topham Hatt...Brayden wanted nothing to do with it!

Brayden got her first haircut while we were visiting Lala and Grumpy! She sat soooo still! We didn't have much taken off...just cleaned up a little.

The kids helped Lala decorate cupcakes!

Think they enjoyed them??

The kids also helped decorate for Easter!

Brayden and her Lala!!

Back at my parent's house, Brayden took some time to smell the...flowers.

Pretty girl!

Helping water the garden!

Check out that look!!!!

We went on a bluebonnet hunt around my parent's house. Believe it or not, my kids have NEVER had their pictures taken in the bluebonnets! We were in NJ during spring the last 3 years so this is our first spring back in Texas!

And finally, an attempt at a mommy/son/daughter picture...
As you can probably tell, we are having a great time visiting family. We miss Kenny, but know he is taking advantage of the peace and quiet to get ready for next week (one of the busiest weeks for a pastor!!). We will fly back on Monday morning and hopefully won't have to wait at the airport for too long!!!

Blizzard Fun and Lots of Pictures!

I think it finally stopped snowing sometime early Saturday morning. All in all, we received a ridiculous amount of snow (7-8 inches maybe?) and huge snow drifts (some around us about 3 feet)! Brayden hated it and Kennan loved it.

Kenny trying to convince Brayden that it really isn't that bad! (Friday afternoon)

Catching snowflakes! (Friday afternoon)
Warming up with some hot chocolate (Friday)

Saturday morning...there's the spoon!

Can you spot the sandbox?

Brayden "sleeping" with her babies. I told her to go night-night and this is what she did!

My cool dude going sledding Saturday afternoon...

Kennan with his buddy Brant

And back at home being silly...

Brayden wore Kennan's underwear over her clothes all night long!

To top off our weekend, late last night I was lying in bed watching TV (Kenny was in the living room watching a movie) when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a little something scurrying across the bathroom floor and under the armoire. A MOUSE!! Yes, I said it...a little gray mouse. I promptly screamed for Kenny and he came running to my rescue. He got some "tools" to try and catch it...2 boxes, a flashlight, and a broom. He used the flashlight to look under the armoire and the broom to pull things out of my closet. The little mouse sprinted out of my closet and into Brayden's room (hers is across the hall from ours)!!!!! My genius husband used the 2 boxes to block off her doorway so when he found it again it would run into one of the boxes. He looked all over her room and found it in her closet. It went straight into one of the boxes and he flipped it up so the mouse wouldn't escape from the box. Kenny took it outside and dumped it in the alley and told it it wasn't welcome back in our home.

The entire time I am shaking and shrieking. I usually pride myself on being brave when it comes to bugs, insects, etc (I worked at summer camp for 6 years) but evidently I am terrified of mice...maybe it had something to do with it being IN.MY.HOUSE. During the event, Brayden did wake up (we were in her room after all, with the lights on!). I layed her down in our bed (so I could assist my manly hubby) and she laid there quietly until the whole ordeal was over.

Thankfully, I did not have dreams of mice and we will be going to buy mice traps sometime this week. We will also attempt to discover how in the world it got into our HOUSE. It did not occur to me until this afternoon that I should have taken pictures of our adventure for all you loyal fans. If there is a next time (cross your fingers there isn't), I for sure will!!

Blizzard Update

Here's an updated spoon picture...I am guessing 4 inches now?(See the comparison in the post below.)

And here is Brayden Lynn, enjoying the snow day to it's fullest. Today she has decided that it is fun to yell "Mess up!!" and then destroy whatever is being built by her big brother. Oh, the things you learn on snow days!

A Blizzard?

There is only one reason I would have brought these into my house...

A BLIZZARD!!!

Round 1 hit at 6:30am and dropped about 1-2 inches of snow.

Round 2 is on its way and I am ready to see how much it brings. I put this wooden spoon outside. It is 12 inches tall...we'll see if it is still there in a few hours!

Just to remind you what we were doing 3 days ago...

playing in the sandbox

and eating popsicles!

Fun with Friends!

Hands down, the hardest part of leaving New Jersey was saying goodbye to all of the friends we had made. It was hard leaving knowing that some of them we wouldn't see again, some we would have to keep up with through cyberspace, and a few we would get to see every once in awhile. We left behind some really great friends.

One of my fears about moving to this new town 9 months ago was that we wouldn't make friends easily and that the kids and I wouldn't feel apart of "things". Well, God knew what he was doing because we have found a really great group of friends that have made us fell welcomed and loved. Our NJ friends are not replaced...but we have added new friendships to our lives. For that I am grateful!

Anyway, on to what you really want to see...pictures of our fun weekend with friends! Since we are all healthy we decided that Friday night would be a good night for Kennan's birthday dinner. The original plan was to stay in town and go to Braums so we could have ice cream afterwards! After some discussion, we decided it would be fun to head into the "big town" about an hour away and hit up Chuck E Cheese instead. Of course the kids were game, so we joined some of our great friends (they have 3 boys) for a trip to town. Kennan had asked if they could come with us and their mom and dad were game, so off we went!

I always give parents ugly looks when I see them allowing their children to do this. I wasn't in charge when this was happening, so I walked up and promptly told Kenny that Brayden had to stop (after I took the picture of course!).

Kenny and Kennan riding on the rollercoaster ride.
Kennan and his friends Jackson and Mason (Mason was much more interested in watching Chuck and his friends!)

Brayden was obsessed with the "money". She had her hands on the cup the entire time and enjoying pouring the money from one cup to another. I thought this picture turned out funny...it's like she is keeping an eye out for sometime trying to take the money from her!

Saturday was beautiful, so we decided to grill out and invited over the same family from Chuck E Cheese and another great family with 3 little boys (You might remember them from this photo shoot.) If you are counting, that is 7 boys and Brayden... The weather was perfect, the food was yummy, and we all had a great time!

Kennan's silly face and Mason busy eating.

Good thing Pops made a big sandbox!!

Brayden enjoying a cheesecake parfait thing that I made...

Can you tell that Brayden really enjoyed all of the food?

We had a fabulous weekend are excited about the Spring weather! It made me think of all the wonderful cookouts with friends at CRW. And then it made me miss our NJ friends. And then it made me miss all of Kennan's sweet friends and wondering how much they have changed. Okay...that settles it. We all need to get together!