We are alive!

We've just been really busy lately and I neglected posting about our fun weekend trip to College Station. It's been almost 2 weekends ago now - oops!

Anyway, Bryan was in Houston most of the week, so the kids and I drove to College Station on Saturday morning. But, first we stopped (and met Grandpa and Uncle Brett) in Levi, TX. I wanted to get a picture of the "Levi, Population 50" sign. However, there isn't one, so I had to settle for this road sign. It was the only thing, besides an address on a mailbox, that said Levi. Oh, if you're wondering, Levi was totally impressed with the town he was named after. :)

Our next stop was in Reagan, TX. My sister in law gave me a black and white photo of the old Reagan post office building one year for my birthday. It made me cry, so I wanted to go back and get a picture of our Reagan standing in front of the building. Sadly, it is now an eating establishment, but Grandpa thought we should still get the picture. I'm glad we did. The next time we drive through it could be gone. (And, yes the wind was fierce. You just have to take my word for it that the little girl sitting atop my father's shoulders is, in fact, Reagan.)

Next stop - Olsen Field for peanuts and popcorn...

and snow cones...

and cotton candy!

We said goodbye to Grandpa and Uncle Brett as they headed home and we hit the road for Houston. We met Bryan at his hotel and everyone fell asleep early. The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, loaded the car, dropped off Bryan's rental and set out for College Station again. That afternoon we attended a ring ceremony for one of Bryan's closest friends from college who gave his life in service to our country. It was a moving ceremony with plenty of memories and old friends.

There were a lot of people there, including Governor Perry. This thrilled Addi beyond words since her class recently finished their Texas unit.

We're not so sure Levi's a republican!

Levi finally warmed up to the govenor while he tried to teach Levi how to stick his thumb up without sticking any other fingers up. The girls have it and Levi sort of got it. (Incidentally, we're not so sure Levi's an Aggie either :)

Major Glenn and his family were there.

A bunch of kids were there.

Christian was there. His mom and dad were there too, but I didn't get a picture with them.

I did, however, snap this picture of my child licking the glass inside a revolving door right before I told him to stop licking the glass because that is disgusting!

It was a good weekend. Ideally we would've had time to walk around campus and bore our children to tears, but Addi had school the next day and it's a 3+ hour drive back home. The girls did have fun in this huge Aggie ring outside the Former Students building. Levi was asleep in Bryan's arms or he would've been right in the middle of this picture.

After a meal at Wings N More (yummy!) with the Starrs, we made the trip back home.

And, I've been recovering ever since. :) Not really, but that would be a good excuse for my lack of blogging!

day 109 - another hint...

day 108

We had a great time this past weekend and when I get a chance I'm going to sit down and devote a post or two to our activities. For now, I'll just leave you with this hint. :)

day 107

my little boy & me

a prayer of thankfulness

Libby's prayer at breakfast this morning:

Dear God,

Thank you for healing the boy that got runned over.

Thank you for healing the people in Haiti.

And if you haven't healed them, please heal them.

Lord God, thank you for all my blessings and my food.

And thank you for my family.

Amen.

day 106

I couldn't resist disprupting this sweetness the other night when the 3 were all snug in a chair reading a bible story. And disrupt it, I did. After the last picture, the younger 2 were off the chair and in my lap with pleas of "I want to see! I want to see !" Should've left well enough alone. :)

happy birthday, aunt lisa!

Untitled from ginny parker on Vimeo.

day 105 - Rodeo Day

Last Thursday was Rodeo Day at preschool! Libby declared it "the most fun day at preschool ever!" Her class had just ended a Texas unit. Another reason I love being back here...my kids are learning about their home state starting in preschool!

She got to rope a rocking horse.

And, after she had her picture taken while sitting in a saddle, she chose this picture of a longhorn to color. I tried to move a picture of a Mockingbird or a Bluebonnet in front of her. But, she insisted on coloring a longhorn and in orange. I don't know where we've gone wrong. :)

Moments after snapping that picture, she claimed I distracted her requiring her to scribble out "REAN" replacing it with "REAGAN". I wasn't allowed to take any more pictures after that.

Well, except for this one, but it was taken after we got home. Do you think she likes her cowgirl boots and cowgirl hat?

day 104

happy bday poppa from ginny parker on Vimeo.

day 103

Sleeping Beauties

to be continued

I'm swamped! I got exactly 1 thing finished on my to-do list for today: take the kids to the dentist. Then I had to take Addi and Levi to the pediatrician. We are quickly losing control over Addi's allergies and needed new prescriptions for those and Levi has an ear infection. In both ears. Poor little guy. (Oh, and Libby has a headache. She's really hitting her stride as a middle child and made sure I knew she had a headache while I explained her sister and brother's symptoms to the nurse!) My plans included the dentist, but not also multiple trips to Walgreens and another doctor's office. In all the fussing over my children this morning, I forgot to soak the beans and didn't make my normal Monday morning grocery errands. So, we grabbed a rotisserie chicken and some tortillas on the way home from the doctor to make this. Hopefully, that and a salad will make a meal. :)

Anyway, I felt behind since I didn't get my normal weekend chores done this past Easter weekend. Now, I'm even further behind, so I'm thinking I need a "no computer" week. Or, at least a "less computer" week! No posts from me this week, but I'll start back up next Monday. This photo for a year thing I thought would be such a good idea is proving otherwise. Maybe I should change it to "365 Photos in 1489 Days". :)

day 101

Untitled from ginny parker on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, GRANDPA! We love you!

Addi is missing, I didn't get the video done before she left for her sleep over, but she called to wish him a happy birthday earlier. She'll be mad when she finds out she was left out. :)

day 100

Here she is...in Addi's old Easter dress. She was thrilled to lay it out with her Easter basket last night. :)

day 99

Reagan loves pretty things. Most girls do, I suppose. Her older sister certainly does and I do, but her enjoyment of pretty things is on a whole other level from Addi's and mine. She's been so excited about wearing her Easter dress this year. She had planned on wearing it to preschool tomorrow, but I just couldn't let her. That girl is messy! There's rarely a day she doesn't walk out of her classroom covered in some sort of food, marker and/or paint stain. Don't get me wrong, I love that she's being a kid at preschool! But, I just couldn't send her in her new Easter dress. Instead I pulled out Addi's Easter dress she wore when she was 4. I love that dress and would've had Libby wear it this year, but I had trouble coming up with an option for Levi. I just don't think I could've put him in lavender. (Bryan might have put his foot down :) I originally saved it thinking Libby would wear it and now she will. Of course, she can wear it to church also...just not on Easter. So, here are some scanned pictures of my girls from April 2007. I love them because I'm reminded how scared Libs was of the bunnies. She attacked the bunnies the year before, so that's totally what I expected. Instead she shook with fright!

day 98

I spent way too much time today prepping bribing begging coaxing Levi to perform for the video camera. After all that investment, I couldn't let the vidoes sit on my camera until later in the week, so I spent even more time uploading them to the computer and them embedding them into this post. I mean a really absurd amount of time. I should be embarrassed. Instead, I'll just spend a little more time explaining the videos. :)

I'd noticed Levi could count to 3. Not super-impressive since he's 2 and all, but last week I thought I'd teach him to count to 5. I said, "Let's count, Levi. One..." He followed my lead and said, "Two..." I got to 5 and he said, "Six..." We got all the way to 10! I was impressed with that since I'd worked on counting with him exactly one time, including that time. So, I did what anyone would. I called Bryan at work and had our son perform. I then had him do it again when Libby got home from preschool and then again when Addi got home from school. Partly because I was proud and partly because it was just so darn cute! Bryan mentioned getting it on video and that's what I set out to do today.

However, Levi was done performing. We tried about 20 times. I even promised him a pop-pop (lollipop) even though he'd already had one two earlier at the store. (I know! I never, ever would've have given one of the girls candy to keep them busy in a store. I'm so ashamed I just admitted it! Does it make it any better that they're organic??)

He never counted. While the tape was rolling, that is. Every time I stopped recording he begged to see and then he answered every question I asked. Every question he'd refused to answer while being recorded. But, what I got was good enough and then I thought I'd share one of the less frustrating other attempts. Enjoy!

Note: For some reason there are 3 videos here with the first 2 being the same. I have tried deleting one. I'm not spending anymore time on it. Sorry!

http://vimeo.com/10565721 from ginny parker on Vimeo.

leviouttakes from ginny parker on Vimeo.

day 97

Think of this as a Before

and After, if you will.

Bryan strategically packs for trips. He will spend hours loading the van just right the day before we leave for vacation. We're only allowed to use certain bags for clothing because they've passed his test for optimal conformity in our luggage carrier.

Normally I pack and am finishing with packing while he loads. However, we decided to leave a day early from our camping trip to avoid the impending snow. We decided earlier in the afternoon, but didn't really start packing up until early evening. We'd been warned rain was in the forecast for the evening, so, naturally we wanted to be in the car before it began. I decided I'd help Bryan load up the van since he tends to take a while. I'm all for order, but when it's time to go home, I really just want to throw the stuff in the van, slam the door and hit the road.

In the first picture I tried. Really, I did. I just couldn't make myself stand and stare at the back of the van for 15 minutes mentally rearranging our sleeping bags and mats and quilts. Needless to say, Bryan started all over and came up with the better solution seen in the second photo. :) As soon as I finished, I stood back and began to laugh. I knew nothing would last with my way. Then I grabbed the camera. Because I know my husband and I knew he would produce order pretty enough for a picture.

And, that's one of the many reasons I love him so much. :)

day 96

These are photos of our second hiking trip. We decided the kids did so well the day before, we'd challenge ourselves a little more on this day. It started out pretty easy. In fact, we began with one of the girls leading us on a little trail. The weather was beautiful, just a little warmer than we thought, so we stopped to shed a few layers and drink a some water.

Of course, with just a little prompting (mainly from Bryan) the girls led us off the path

and into....

and....

a forest of low, thorny branches and cacti. (I tried telling Libby that's plural for cactus and she just couldn't keep it straight. For her, one is cacti and more than one is cactuses!) After a few wacks in the face from branches, Levi was ready to get off Bryan's shoulders and into my arms. Whew! (Almost) 30 pounds in my arms while trying to navigate down a mountain is heavy! We made it through most of the branches when Libby started screaming while swatting her leg. I reached down and was immediately stung. I yelled that she was covered in fire ants before I realized she was covered in cactus needles (pins? razor blades?). They were stuck in my hands, her legs, her pants, her hands, and Bryan's hands. We picked them out of her pants for what seemed like an eternity, but, in the end had to roll up her pant leg and hope none were up higher than her knee. That was really the only drama of the trip. She's had fun telling everyone about it. :)

We were ready for a hamburger when we finally made it back to the van. Fortunately we had some snacks in the car that made the hour and 40 minute wait possible. Levi took a nap in the car with me while Bryan and the girls ate apples in line. It was all for me. I was the only one who really cared about eating in Meers. My less-than-patient husband waited in that line for me. I'm a lucky woman! I'm sure you're wondering if it was worth it. I was so worried they wouldn't be as good as I remembered, but the burger and peach cobbler with homemade ice cream did not disappoint. My mouth is watering just thinking about that meal. :)

I might have one more day of camping memories and then I'll move on to something else. I promise!