Spring Break

My mom and our/her friend Cherry came out to visit for Spring Break and Payton's birthday.  It was great having them here.  They decided to take the scenic route and drive.  Mom got a speeding ticket on the way here, ($200 for out of state, yikes!)  She wasn't too happy after that when we kept calling her and telling her to hurry. ha ha.  We kept reminding her they didn't have to stop at every Walmart on the way. :)  The kids were happy though cause they arrived with lots of toys and surprises for them. 
Since Payton broke his arm, we spent several days lounging at home til he felt better.  Grandma got brave and let Halle put makeup on her.  So beautiful. 

 The kids were then equally brave and let Grandma put makeup on them. 

The kids just love when Grandma comes to visit.  I can't say I don't either.  It's like Mary Poppins, well, without the magic and umbrella, and I guess it's not.  BUT, she's got the bag and plays with the kids all day.  We were equally spoiled to have Cherry too.  The kids hung all over her too and she was so nice to bring them toys and make fun crafts.  I grew up living across the street from her and we learned a lot of neat things about her we never knew.  She was so nice to come with mom all that way. 

The weather was nice and we were able to get outside for a picnic.  Well, until Payton broke his arm and then they were kind enough to watch Halle and entertain themselves at our boring house. :) 

This picture cracks me up!! ha ha.  We went out to dinner for Payton's birthday and it depicts so perfectly that they are arguing over who gets to pay!  They did that a lot.  ha ha.  They were both so good to us and we can't wait to go visit them so we can return the love. We were sad to see them go. 
We then put the house back together and headed up to Andy's parents for the weekend.  All the cousins were there again and it was great weather to get out and play. 

They have mostly finished the deck.  It' looks really nice.  I believe they have decided to now extend it all the way down the property so it will be exciting to see how it all turns out. 

It was nice enough to take the boat out.  Boo loves the boat to say the least.  This dog is so spoiled! 
It was a fun weekend and the kids got to have a sleep over, run, jump and  play themselves into exhaustion.  Grandpa and Grandma got last week to themselves and then we're all up there again for Easter. Can't wait. :)

Payton turned 6!

I can't believe that my sweet little boy just turned 6!  I was looking back at pictures and videos recently and just wanted to cry.  Time goes by so fast.  We've had a lot of fun these past 6 years and I hope the next years to come are just as exciting.

If you know Payton, you know he LOVES music.  As you can see, he started very young.
Payton has always had a beautiful smile.  His entire face lights up.  This kid is almost always smiling and though that little boy trouble phase is slowing coming upon us, he is still the sweetest boy.

                                                             Payton at 2 yrs. :)

We had a fun celebration for Payton's birthday.  We ended up having a change of plans at the last minute which later proved to be a blessing in disguise.  My mom and our friend Cherry were here and we all headed up to Grandpa and Grandma Golds house for the weekend.  We had a yummy picnic outside and the kids were brave enough to go swimming in the lake.  Yeah, the weather is starting to get nice but no way am I getting in the lake yet.  They didn't stay in too long but  had fun either way. :)

Payton picked out the picture of the football cake he wanted and even put the decorations on himself. Sadly since it was double stacked, it didn't last the car ride there too well.  :(  Oh well, it was delicious all the same. 

I was so surprised and thankful that Andy's family had some presents.  We had planned to have his party on his actual birthday the following week but since everyone was up to the lake for spring break we shot for that instead.  It was totally last minute and I really appreciate everyone helping out and making it a special day for him.  

The kids all gathered around and helped Payton guess his presents before he even opened them. :)  They were right on almost all of them! 

                                          Peter and Halle enjoyed the celebration too!

 I was so glad we had Payton's party over the weekend because this is what happened Monday.  :(  We had got up and headed for the zoo but since it was spring break and the Houston Rodeo, it was impossible to find a place to park.  We ended up heading home and going to a local park for a picnic.
He was climbing up the twisty slide and fell.  We didn't realize how bad it was till we got home and he still couldn't hardly move at all.  He was in a lot of pain and was being SO BRAVE.  I told him it was OK to tell the doctor if he hurt him.  He would put on a strong front and then as soon as the doctor was done, he'd turn around and cry in pain. 
Luckily we didn't have to wait too long at the ER.  However, proud of my hubby for noticing a fracture on the x-ray.  The ER doc asked if we wanted to see the x-ray.  Sure!   Andy told him it looked like there was two fractures.  The doc said, "nope, I don't see it, he's fine".  Radiology report came back and yep, two fractures!! Imagine that.......idiot.
Had to leave it in a sling a few days for the swelling to go down and then on his real birthday, he got to go the the orthopedist and get a cast.  Doc walked in said, yep, 2 fractures.. (I wish I could get out of paying the ER doc)

He was a good boy and thankfully the cast has helped his arm to feel much better.  He had a rough couple days so we are happy to have him smiling and playing again.

Grandma and Cherry took us out dinner that night for Payton's birthday.  The waiter brought him an enormous piece of strawberry cheesecake.  Payton does NOT like cheesecake, or strawberries for the matter.  He posed for a picture but looked like he wanted to cry when he saw it.  Thankfully the waiter was nice and brought him a giant slice of chocolate cake instead.

He was much happier after that and the rest of us were all fatter after eating both the chocolate and the cheesecake!

 It ended up being a wonderful birthday.  When he went back to school on Monday, he was happy to see they were learning the letter X for x-ray.  :)

Bring out the livestock

The last few weeks have included big celebrations for the Houston Rodeo.  We are all about celebration so we met up with some of our new friends and headed over to the Livestock Show. Halle and her friend are about the same age and were so cute holding hands, giggling and "oh-ing" at everything they saw.
Most of the show itself was inside the Reliant Center.  We made an immediate b-line to the big John Deere tractors.  (We being pro green and all)  The kids got to take turns pretending to drive.  Hope the uncles are prepared when we come to visit because Halle remembers that her uncles each have tractors at "their house" and she can't wait to come drive them.   I was sad Payton had to miss this.  Poor kid at to go to school. 

The girls made their own piece of cotton.  We also saw pregnant cows, (one gave birth) pigs, sheep, bulls, and chickens in each of their maturities.  It was actually pretty cool to see the eggs under incubators, the next site you could watch them hatch, little baby chicks and then of course the not so cute adult hens/chickens. 

Watch out!! Crazy driver alert.  We love our Gators!

Outside was an enormous fair with loads of yummy food to choose from.  And for the record, despite the "oh so good" slogan of fried Oreos or Snickers, they really are NOT that great.  

One section had a childrens farm market.  The kids got pellets to feed the animals and seeds to plant for crops.  Each was given a basket to carry their produce.  Halle planted carrots and then picked oranges, eggs, corn, tomatoes and even got to 'milk' a cow.  

I love the seriousness in her face. :)  All the animals and 'products' were made of wood or plastic but they looked extremely real and I think whoever came up with this idea is genius.  

After the toil of their labor, they then sold their food to the market and earned a dollar.  A few feet away was a store for them to buy a snack with their dollar.  Halle picked a nice Rice Krispy Treat for all her hard work.  She was very pleased.  Again, Payton would have loved this.  Sad he had to miss it.  

After all her hard work on the farm, daddy rewarded (spoiled) Halle with a pony ride.  This girl has no fear at all and just jumped right on.  

After a few carnival rides we wandered over to the pig races.  I can honestly say I've never done that before.  It certainly made me feel more 'country'.  Halle and I even enjoyed the (gulp) country music and danced around.  :)  It's starting to grow on me.  I was not aware that pigs could run so swiftly.  Their bribe?  Oreo cookies.  

It was a fun day and we look forward to next years rodeo.  We didn't have time to go to the actual rodeo but living in Texas, I'm sure we'll get our chance.  Mostly, I'm glad we are starting to make some good friends. 

Regrouping

So I just have to say that I was all ready to post some fun things until I read they passed the ridiculous health bill yesterday.  I am now too busy looking for a place to move, like I don't know....Outer space..
Maybe tomorrow will be better. :)

Cake and Road kill

 

Some of our really good friends live about an hour away and they invited us to come make some sausage.  He'd shot a hog and deer earlier that week and was kind enough to share some with us.  We got to help in the whole process, which I'd never seen before.  They had ground it all up and added all their secret spices before we got there. Dang!  Anyhoo, for those of you who don't regularly do this sort of thing, (laugh) you stick the meat in the grinder and press it into very small edible paper in rolls.  I found out it was harder than it looked.  Well, to get it just right anyhow.  

 

After it's in the paper rolls we piled it into the cooler.  Looks so professional, we were pleased. :)

This is how we BBQ in Texas!  Well, not really me....yet. But everyone else. ha ha.  Can't say I actually have a smoker but they are awesome and make ya food taste amazing.  Stuck the sausage on there for several hours. 

 

 

 The kids had a blast playing with their dogs while we anxiously waited for the sausage to be done.  We of course had to 'test' it to make sure it tasted good.  To be safe, we tested a lot.  

The kids were happy and all, which I'm glad, but the dogs had been rolling around in dead fish earlier and therefore they and the kids all stunk so, so, SO BAD!!  Good thing their cute. 

  

I can't remember the last time they were able to play in the leaves.   The leaves were a little wet too but they didn't seem to care.  Halle would completely cover Payton and then jump on him.  Now that I think about it, I can't believe our friends actually let us in their house with how dirty they were. :)  We had a yummy lunch and of course we then got to eat some more sausage.  

 

When Ken finally told us we had to stop eating the sausage, we decided to go shoot some of his new ak 47's.   (Yes, my kids were watched and wore ear protection)

Forgot to take a pic, but we looked like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for sure. HA! 

Andy set up some cans and then about fell over when I hit the first one.  I swear he was totally shocked.  I then hit all of them, nope, blew them up!  6 total.  He's scared of me now. :) JK.  For real though, Don't Mess With Texas!

It was a fun weekend just chillin outdoors.  Compared to many, our winter is nice, but it's been raining a lot so a weekend without rain was sweet. 

The next weekend was raining but it's all good cause we can celebrate no matter what!  Andy and his twin, (yep he has a twin), sister celebrated their 30th birthdays.  We basically celebrated all week long but Andy wouldn't let me get any pictures of him!  We had lunch one day with Ashley and her little girl at the Red Lobster.  Halle for some reason kept talking about getting the lobster.  I think she'd seen something about in on Dora, who knows.  Anyhow, I was feeling nice that day so I let her get the lobster.  She loved it.  She ate that and the broccoli off this ginormous plate.  Hey, leftovers are good. 

That weekend Andy's parents took the entire family out to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  The service was actually really good, especially with all 23 of us.  It's definitely a good place for kids, since they encourage food all over the floor.  Well, peanut shells anyway.  :)

 

The kids were the only ones who let me take their picture.  Well, and smile anyway!  It was a full house that night so they were drawing and telling stories while we waited.  

We then came back to our place and celebrated with cake and ice cream.  Ashley had a yummy chocolate cake and Andy had his favorite, Nutter-butter ice cream pie. 

 

 

Andy and Ashley were able to open a few of their own gifts.  The kids were all pretty excited and eager to help unwrap. :)   It was a really fun night just hanging out and reminiscing about the old days.  It's been a very long time since they've celebrated together and I think it should be a new tradition.  Can't believe we are getting so old!  At least we don't have to do it alone. :) We are very blessed to have such wonderful family around to share good times with. Two weeks, and then we get to celebrate again!