pancakes

Paul gets the award for happy early riser. On days when he has actually slept, we sometimes wake up to pancake creatures, a Paul specialty. We are so spoiled.

cowboy photo shoot

Solace Charles Berg is named after my dad, Charles Nathan Kent. I wanted to get some pictures of just the two of them for Sully's room. Robin had sent some cute cowboy things for Solace, since he's our Texas born baby.  I asked my dad if he happened to have any cowboy things, and he DID. So when he was here visiting us, he brought his boots, and I took some pictures. These are the winners.  Thanks Dad, for being a good sport and helping Solace to have a fun photo shoot! :)

car tracks

The boys, after starting to share a room again, have been earning a prize for good bedtime behavior. The two biggest boys love each other too much and have too much fun together to want to sleep without playing. I made up a reward system with the left over treasure from Hawk's pirate party. If each boy did these things; 1. went to sleep without talking or getting out of bed, 2. tiptoed to the bathroom for water or potty breaks, and 3. tiptoed out of the room in the morning when it was 7am, in case anyone else was still sleeping.  They each got one jewel in the bucket for each good thing they did each nap time and bed time. It was harder keeping them good when Grandma and Grandpas were here, but eventually they earned this big prize. I got it from Craigslist for a killer price and didn't tell them what there prize was going to be, but that it would be BIG. They love it.

Build your own car tracks is now a favorite toy for them and all their friends. I'm glad they worked so hard to earn it so quickly. Bedtimes are a lot more successful than they were in the beginning, even without having another reward to work for. It's just what's expected, and they know it. I have good kids.

strong

It's nice to have a strong Grandpa around when you are little and just NEED to see into the neighbor's yard. Thanks Grandpa Chuck for indulging all three big kids, while they peeked at the neighbor's dog, who was making a lot more noise than normal. Perhaps because there were children coming over the top of the fence...?

Polar Vortex?

So many people that we are friends with have been telling us about their freezing cold days and weeks lately... Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin aren't looking very appealing.  I am happy to say that Texas has decided to only have a cold day once every couple weeks. It got down to 37 on Friday. We went to the Children's Museum, but there were DON'T DRIVE advisories, if you can believe it, because no one here knows how to drive in case it ices over, or snows, but it didn't even get that cold.

Today it was back up to 70. Yes please. I love Houston.  The boys keep talking about where we are moving next (since normally this would be about the time that we would be packing up for the next place), and they have pretty much decided on a place with a beach. Florida, Galveston, Hawaii, Dominica, New Zealand and Mexico are all places that they would like to go. On cold days, we look at pictures online and talk about what there is to do in each place.  They are still completely annoyed that we will live here for THREE birthdays. THREE.

makes me happy

These two boys are so much fun to watch when they're together. They are the best of friends, and the worst enemies - but usually they're friends. :)  Bath time each night looks a little different. Some days it's three kids in the tub, some days it a shower for one or two... but when the big boys have a bath, I can be sure it will be entertaining.

I love these boys so much. I love that they are so close in age. I love that they love each other. I love that I get to watch them grow. I love that they have such huge differences, but are still so compatible. Life is good.

Fire Truck Park

We went to the Fire Truck Park with my dad. It was cold outside for the first few days he was here, and then it was really nice.  60's mostly, and some low 70's - in JANUARY, yes please.  Texas, I love that about you.  Fire Truck Park was a hit, as always. Matix was at preschool, but the other three had a blast. Plus Paul was still off work for his vacation, so we were totally spoiled.

I love everything about these next couple of pictures. They totally capture the person.  My dad took most of these pictures. Paul; in his element, playing with his kids, laughing, making sure they (and he) are having the time of their lives. Lullaby; hair in her eyes, dressed herself in her brother's socks, her favorite shoes, dress and pants that don't fit anymore, screaming on the swings to go higher and higher still.  Hawken; trying out every challenging thing he can get to, mastering it, and loving it, and of course, his pants are on backwards.

Solace

Solace is a man of many names. Sully or Sullivan (like from Monsters Inc.), Sol (pronounced like Saul), Charles Sullivan (again, Monsters Inc - sort of), Sully Boo, Charming Charlie... There may be more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. He is also a man of many faces. If he's not concentrating very intently on something, he's smiling, which is most of the time. He is such a good boy.

family pictures

While Paul's parents and sister were here, we did some family pictures for them. It had been a looong time since they were all together. In fact, the last family picture only had a 1 and 1/2 year old Gavin and a 9 month old Matix. Missing 5 out of 7 of their grandbabies. It was about time! :)  These are just some of the best out of MANY that were taken. Of course there is someone blinking or not looking at the camera in almost every picture. But that's bound to happen. Now someone needs to teach me how to do photo shop so I can crop heads from one picture and put them in another!  We did several different groups and poses. There were wardrobe changes and everything. The kids all did really well, I think.

I think this one of Lullaby and Grandma Stacy turned out cute.

Our family picture didn't work very well, but it was at the end of our long photo shoot and the kids were getting sleepy. If I crop in some happy faces and one of Solace looking forward, then it would be okay.  The more important picture was the large group, since we are not usually all together.

After the shoot, the kids fed the ducks at the pond. Well, Lullaby chased the ducks, and clapped at them, and talked to them... It was a nice afternoon. Thanks Dad for taking the group shots! You did great!

Paul and Vanessa overseeing the HUGE flock of ducks that came in for food.

Then we all went out to eat. We had to push several tables together to have enough room for everyone. 8 adults and 7 kids is a big group!