Sunday, January 31, 2010

Kids at Play

The kids received some fun Christmas gifts in the "making stuff" category, which I love. The pictures were taken in Houston, the day after they received them, but they have all been used many times since we've been home.
Kilian doesn't own a single Lego, but Lucy does. She is very good about keeping them off the floor and away from Oliver (so far).
Kilian and I are so different. These "Pixos" come with ideas and instructions and I would follow them to the letter if I made one. He always changes it up and makes things a little bit different from the example.
Soon I'll post a video of the "band" we've formed at our house with the musical gifts they received. When are the next auditions for America's Got Talent?

Also, my goal is at least 10 posts per month - I'm set for January now!

Risky Business


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Up






Hi Ho Silver - 2009

Over Christmas we got to do some more riding at Aunt Sue and Uncle Lolo's place again. This year it was bareback. All those beautiful trees prove we were not anywhere near Lubbock.




Should I file charges?

OR

Should I just file his little fingernails?


Early on Tuesday morning while I was trying to get Oliver back to sleep he scratched my eye. I tried to go back to sleep, but it felt like there was an eyelash in my eye and it was watering like crazy. I went into the kitchen to make sure I could still see, and I could if I forced my eye to stay open. I researched corneal abrasions online (with my right eye) and decided I needed to see a doctor.

So, after some antibiotics and 24 hours of a tight eye patch to prevent my eye lid from opening, I'm pretty much as good as new. Eyes heal quickly - and Oliver is way too cute for me to hold a grudge.

Six Years Old

Lucy turned 6 in December. We celebrated by going to see "The Princess and the Frog" and eating out at any restaurant she wanted....and she picked CiCi's Pizza.


I made rainbow cupcakes for her to take to school. I hear both the cupcakes and the pretty paper cups were a hit. Thank you for this idea, Aunt Angela!


One of the gifts she received was a "create your own fairytale" book. She really got into this. Her first story was titled "Lucy and the Prince".

Six things that make Lucy happy (according to her):
1. holding Oliver
2. opening birthday presents
3. singing Christmas songs
4. playing at parks
5. dancing
6. tickling Camille
I honestly don't ever remember seeing Lucy ever tickle Camille, but I have seen Camille coming to me sobbing with REAL tears because Lucy told her that "she is going to have to marry the boring prince" on more than one occasion.

Monday, January 25, 2010

London - Part 6 - The End!

The main reason we took this trip was to baptize Mr. Oliver Thomas.

So on Thanksgiving morning we headed to the girls' school for morning mass. (of course Thanksgiving is not a holiday there).

It was beautiful!
I highly recommend listening to a British girls' choir sing the word "Holy".
Fr. Chris was kind enough to do the baptism following mass.
Oliver doesn't usually cry much, but he sure did during his entire special occasion.
Jody and Brent are his godparents. Little George was a witness.
And Jody somehow caught a picture of a non screaming face. Whew!


For lunch we ate at the "Holly Bush". It seem very fitting since advent was just days away.

This is a glimpse of our British Thanksgiving lunch.
I don't like beer at all, but at the end of the trip I learned that I do like this type of apple cyder.
Cheers!
Notice how I was trying to keep Oliver's hands off the drinks? Well....
(terrible attempt to be funny)

The view leaving the Holly Bush
cute little side street
I love the chimneys.
We spent the day doing regular "everyday" things instead of being tourists. That included going to the grocery store

and carrying the groceries up some hills, picking up girls from school, and carrying groceries (that were feeling pretty heavy by now) down some hills to the house. I know why there are not any Sam's Clubs in London.

The babies stayed with their daddies while we did our errands. Prior to our visit, George had lovingly been called "Lord Fussybottom" by his parents. While I was gone Brad decided that Oliver was to be called "The Duke of Discontent".

He recovered and wore his trousers while playing some football while Jody cooked a superb traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't take pictures during the meal, but I did for dessert.

Brent has mastered the art of making crepes.

Yum! (Nutella is on the inside).
(We bought our own Nutella and Brad has made these a few times since we've been home!)

After eating turkey, we watched the Aggies play a good football game against t.u. (live), caught a very little bit of sleep, then took the tube to the airport early the next morning.

We had a long layover in Houston, so Brad's brother and our nephews picked us up and treated us to some Tex-Mex at Chuy's. Aren't they cuties? What a perfect welcome back to Texas!!

* Those are not my fingers over Ryan's head - I promise.
** We didn't make sweet Xavier lean in like that, but as you can guess Brad didn't feel like retakes.

And finally - the three faces I was missing so much! They were most excited to see Oliver, but Brad and I at least got some hugs and kisses, too.



They are holding some chocolate coins from various gift shops.

It was an amazing experience and traveling like that only makes you want to do more and more of it! We are so blessed to have such good friends and such wonderful parents that took over our kids, house and naughty little dog for the week.



p.s. Jet lag is real - not just a made up excuse like I used to wonder about.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

London - Part 5

We were really tempted to try to make a quick trip to France or Ireland, but with only 5 days of visiting time, we decided to not spend so much of it in transit.

We did take a much shorter train ride to Oxford, England.


We boarded at Paddington Station
and were very happy that Jody and George joined us.
English countryside view from the window of the train
At Oxford station, we saw this sign for porridge

and more bicycles than I would have ever imagined.


In 1939 on Tuesday evenings, a group known as "The Inklings" met at this public house across the street from Oxford University. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were two of the members that regularly enjoyed literary discussions over a pint.

"The Eagle and Child" is also know as the "The Bird and Baby" - so here is our baby looking out the window.

I liked the way that the front booths had their own little room complete with fireplace.
Brad is a huge fan of both Lewis and Tolkien and has read many of their books more than once.

I'm glad he got to make this trip

and enjoy a "pint" in the exact same spot they used to.
More literary fun...we had this for dessert.

any Harry Potter fans recognize "Treacle Tart"?
Oxford was very impressive.

Brad climbed up this tower

and got some pictures of some spires around town.

I enjoyed the campus in late November, so I can only imagine
what it looks like in the spring.
We made a quick half-day trip
but liked what we saw
and wore this little guy out.