Kindergarten --- Take 1

I cannot believe that our first child is in kindegarten. I remember wanting to be married. I remember wanting to be pregnant. I remember being excited to become a mom. Then I remember being ready for her to sleep through the night and be potty-trained and dress herself, but I don't ever remember looking forward to her going to kindegarten. It is bittersweet. I'm teary as I type. Check out the name of the parent activity on the sign in the picture above. it was appropriate. No tears from Conleigh, but I needed kleenex.

The kids were encouraged to independently walk to their class on the first day. Our neighbor Ava told her mom that she wanted to walk by herself. Conleigh promptly told me the same thing, but when we got into the school on Tuesday morning, Conleigh said, "we can walk together to my class." It felt so good to hold her hand as we walked down the hall. She was able to pick out her classroom, and we put away her lunch and backpack. We hugged and went our seperate ways.

Thankfully, the first three days have gone smoothly. Not a ton of feedback coming back through her. She pretty much says, "I had a lot of fun today." So, we are happy with that and pray that she finds a good, sweet group of friends.

Singing & Dancing in the Rain

What did you do today? I hope you can hear the original lyrics by Conleigh.

Olympics 2020

Get ready world. We may have the next Nastia or Shawn living in our house. Meet us there in 2020.

Wordless Wednesday

What did YOU see in Ida-ho, Conleigh?

Warming up by the morning fire in the cabin.

Two of the days we were on vacation Conleigh & I stole some time together, just the two of us. It was great. We don't get to do that very often. One day we were walking around the lake and we started a song. It was, "What do you see in Idaho?" I said a few things, and then sang it and asked Conleigh what she saw. It was really fun. So, here are a few pictures of Conleigh. She saw so many things in Idaho and as I've said before, she spots the SMALLEST things, so I don't have pictures of the dragonflies or the chipmunks or the flowers or actually most of the sweet things she sang in the song, but here are three pictures of things she did see and definitely enjoyed.

Catching a Rainbow Trout with Daddy & Grandpa
Swimming in Warm (Freezing) Lake.

The second day we walked down to the lodge and petted the dogs she had made friends with while eating dinner the night before, Busted & Summer. We also sat on the dock and hung our feet in the lake and just talked and splashed. I hope I remember that forever!! I love you my sweet Conleigh.

Reflections on Warm Lake

We are back from a wonderful family vacation in Warm Lake, Idaho (which is really a very cold lake). It was a fun filled, no tv, fishing often, beaching daily, casting practice, root-beer float drinking, sleeping late, reading a whole book, eating well, drinking wine, hiking, bald-eagle spotting, salmon seeing (& eating) good time!



We are so thankful to be able to share this time with Peter's grandparents, and our children's great-grandparents, Ralph & Betty Hardin. It was also great to spend the week with Peter's dad, Larry.
This was the 6th time (in 9 years) that I have made the trip. Conleigh is already on her 4th trip and this was Alex's 3rd. Campbell thoroughly enjoyed her first trip although the first leg of the trip home was a bit of a challenge. The lady on the plane behind her stopped me inside the Denver airport and said, "Your daughter is quite a handful." Now, back to Warm Lake...
Ralph's father helped to build the cabin we stay in with his friend's, the Robbs. The cabin is about 70 years old. Each year, the Hardin's get 2 weeks in the cabin. It is such a special place. Natures beauty and God's hand are evident everywhere you look! Last summer there were terrible fires all around the lake. It is truly amazing that the cabin is still there. The fires were extremely close and it will take hundreds of years for all the pine trees to grow again.
The big excitement this year was the bear that was visiting the cabins. He came by a few times, once at night and once during the day when we were at the beach. We knew because he would tump over the garbage can outside. At the cabin next door, he tasted the Pepsi from the cans in the outside cooler. We checked out the size of the holes in the cans and decided the pictures Great-Grandma had taken the first week were enough for us.
We had some late night flights and sleepy kiddos. We are glad to be Home-Sweet-Home.
I'll share more pictures during the upcoming week.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today my dad is celebrating his birthday. We had the family celebration over the weekend at my parents house in Houston. His wife(my mom), 2 daughters, 2 sons-in-law, and 5 grandchildren were all there to celebrate with him!
Today a friend was telling me a story and it reminded me of a funny story about my dad. When I was graduating from A&M, I thought for sure I would have a job and go out on my own. Turns out, I didn't have a job. I remember calling home and saying, "Dad, I think I'm going to have to move home." He replied with, "that's okay. We'll just add a little more water to the soup and we'll be fine." I love that story. With humor, he was telling me that he loved me and would welcome me home.
Other things I love about my dad:
*he is a hard worker and has loved his career as an engineer.
* he made me take typing in 8th grade. No one ever thinks about typing but I am so glad I know how to do it.
* he saved a college fund for my sister and I that put us throught 4 years of college and beyond, and he taught me how to save as well.
* he is so smart. I feel like I can ask him about most any topic and he knows something about it
* he is soft spoken, but when he talks, I love to listen!
* he has always been supportive of my efforts and interests, from gymnastics and swimming when I was younger, to my college activities and now my part-time work and his grandchildren.
*he is a good friend
There isn't enough time in a day to write all the things I love about my dad. I am so thankful that God gave him to me! Happy Birthday Dad!

The Hardins do Houston

Saturday morning we took off for an adventure in the big city. We drove down to the Houston Museum of Natural Science from my parents house in north Houston. It was a great outing for our family.
The first rooms of the museum are devoted to dinosaurs. That was a big hit. The kids loved seeing all of the skeletons along with reproductions of what the animals looked like alive. They were so BIG!
Alex also liked the gigantic pendalum that knocks over small wooden pegs. It eventually knocks over all the pegs every 24 hours. Being three years old doesn't lend itself to the waiting game, so we didn't see any of the pegs get knocked over although I could tell by the crowds dispersal that soon after we walked away, a peg fell. Alex really liked it though and we walked by it several times.
The exhibit of shells and then one of crystals and gems were right up Conleigh's alley. Here is a cute picture of her in front a big shell. She loves shells. We haven't had much luck at the beaches we've visited in finding decent size shells, so she loved this exhibit of all kinds, shapes and sizes.

She & I both liked the gems and crystals. Conleigh is forever looking for crystals on playgrounds and sidewalks, so to see these gigantic and beautiful gems from all over the world was really cool. She loved them and ran from display to display. We both picked out some gems that we would like for our next birthday. Ha! These jewels were inside a heavy duty vault, so we're not counting on that gift. Oh well. It's fun to play.
After the museum, we walked across the street to the statue of Sam Houston and the Reflection pond. It was 105 degrees when we got to the car, so we found lunch and then went to Ben & Jerry's for some cool ice cream.


Three of the five people in the van slept on the way back to grandma & grandpa's house. Any guesses on who they were?

Two are in this picture. I had to add this photo because I love it! *grin*