Our Fun Family

Taking cooking classes at Young Chefs Academy has really paid off! Grace spent the last 2 days working on cookies with Gram. Yesterday, she and Gram made cookie dough, today it was time to actually do some real baking. It is amazing what a 3 year old can do given the right instruction, a few good tools and a lot of faith. I can't think of a more simple joy than watching and waiting for fresh baked cookies. I never have been particularly good at waiting, hopefully Grace will learn to have a bit more patience than I do. "Scoop, lift, flip!" Grace has been watching me make pancakes, well, for years now and that is what I have always told her a spatula is for, and how to use one. I wonder how many cookies Grace flipped before Gram convinced her that a gentle slide would do just fine. This week we dive headlong into the college football season with the first tailgate party of the year. I am sure my little sous chef will be busy by my side. Stay tuned for pics after the game.

So, have I mentioned in the last year or so that we love Portrait Innovations? Hailey is 3 months old and Grace is coming up on her 3rd birthday, so it was time for another round of professional photos. The studio was very busy today, surprise, surprise but they did a great job getting great pictures from both Hailey and Grace. I have created an online photo album with some of the pictures we did not purchase. Click on the link in the right hand navigation area to access our public photo albums. Now begins the task of frame selection! It has been awhile since I posted on the blog, and we have been a busy family lately. Brenda is back to work full-time and we are settling into real life. Grace grows daily in her vibrancy and her joy of life. She is asserting her independence and sometimes that is even a good thing. Others... not so much. We are spending a lot of time in time-out these days. Last weekend Grace and I reached a bittersweet milestone. Grace and I attended our last Big Chef/...

For the 3 day weekend celebrating the 4th of July, we packed up the girls, loaded up a travel trailer and headed off to Gramma's house. We met up with Missy, Richard and the boys, and with Tracy and together we crashed in on Mom and Ron, taking over the kitchen and spreading toddler cheer from one end of their home to the other. It was a lot of fun and we did get a little something out of it. See, this was a business trip of sorts. We were there for blueberries and an experiment in jarring salsas. We spent hours upon hours in the kitchen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday freezing quarts of blueberries; mincing, chopping and dicing up mangoes, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapenos for salsas and tomato sauce. But it wasn't all work. We did take a break on Saturday afternoon to cook up a fajita dinner for the rest of the family. Mom brought Mema to the house and Randy and Becky both brought their kiddos. It was a full house for a fajita and tamale dinner. Mema soaked up...

Hey guys, just a quick update. We had a fantastic Father's Day at our house. Bryan, Shannon and the boys and Gram and Granddad came over Sunday afternoon for some family time. Everyone had a good time swimming and eating. As always we ate very well, starting out with some yummy chilled shrimp and fresh fruit. We had meatball subs for dinner and ice cold watermelon and banana pudding for dessert. It was a great day and I am thankful to be such a blessed Daddy. We also recently had Hailey's 2 month well check. I can hardly believe she is 2 months old already. Dr. Enders was very pleased with Hailey, she liked to see that she had put on good weight (she is over 11 pounds) and seems to be doing very well with her motor skills. Brenda is back at work part-time now, she goes full time next week. It is going to be a bit of an adjustment for her, so your prayers are greatly appreciated. She enjoys her job and the people she works with, but we would love for her to be able t...

And so it begins... Brenda and I are blessed with lots of nieces and nephews. We love them all and do take lots of pride in their accomplishments. Last weekend we headed down to Houston to celebrate the Class of '09. Amber, Barbara and Cutter all graduated this year. They are our oldest nieces and nephews and it was a blast to celebrate with so many family and friends. We filled up Becky's pool with kiddos and filled up the adults with liquid refreshment from the margarita machine. The stars aligned just right for this weekend and ALL of the siblings were together! That has actually started happening with a bit more regularity, but this time we also had all the spouses and kids together. If I counted correctly, that makes 23 right now! That just doesn't happen nearly enough. You know you are getting old when you stop talking about "getting the family together" and you start "organizing a family reunion". Something tells me that our family reunions wouldn...

Hello SUMMER!!! Summer is here, so that means pool time. Here are a few pics to show what is keeping our family busy this year. Grace has turned into a fish! She loves being in the pool and she loves how her float suit and noodle let her swim all by herself. Tonight, she even asked me to help her swim UNDER water!! Woohoo! She didn't quite make it, but she is getting there. I am definitely a proud papa when I am in the water with her. Hailey is doing her job. She is eating, sleeping, crying and pooping. What more could we ask for? She sleeps through the night, and has practically since the night we brought her home. At 6 weeks old, she is starting to giggle and grin. Brenda seems to be the only one who can catch her in the act, but I am told it is pretty cute. Grace is still loving her cooking classes. Last week we made campfire potatoes and indoor smores! Her confidence in the kitchen has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 5 months since our first class back i...

How time flies when you are having fun, right? Can you believe that Hailey is already 5 weeks old? Crazy! I have been back to work and back on the road and Brenda only has a few weeks left until she returns to her job. Brenda has been making the most of her time off, and soaking up precious moments with both girls. Hailey is certainly a momma's girl for now. Brenda has also been working on potty training with Grace. We have hopes of putting Grace in some sort of Mother's Day Out program or pre-school program at least for a few hours each week, but most of them require potty training. It isn't going great, but we are making slow progress. Grace is still hesitant to give up the "baby" phase and fully embrace her big girl status. Recently, we noticed that Grace has been biting her nails a lot. They were really starting to look pretty bad and we were about to resort to some of that smell, nasty stuff that you put on them so that kiddos won't like the taste. This ...