Friendship

Yesterday Kenyon and "My Jules" as she likes to call her went to the pumpkin patch at Hall Farms in Grapevine. We had a good time. Kenyon ran and ran and ran.

Jules was a bit under the weather so she wasn't as active as she normally is, but Kenyon made up for both of them. She loved picking up the pumpkins and carrying them around. She slid in pumpkin roadkill. I think some other kid dropped a pumpkin and left the guts everywhere.

There were tractors to ride, photos to take and animals to visit. They had two potbelly pigs and rabbit that was as big as the pigs. If you go later in the evening there are hayrides, cider and a corn maze to get lost in.

We have been trying to get to this pumpkin patch since Kenyon was born. All in all it was a good way to spend the morning. A morning is always well spent when in the company of a good friend.

House Hunt Update

Well for those who didn't read it on FB or hear us shouting from the roof top we have signed a contract on a house. We close Nov 6. We had an offer on another home, but our realtor, Barbara, emailed with a house that had just come on the market. We went to look on Wednesday evening with contract in hand...you know, just in case.

We signed the contract on the roof of her jag and she phoned the other realtor while sitting in front of our house. By Thursday at 3 pm we had agreed on a price. We got almost everything we had on our list. I wish the green space in the yard was bigger, but we did managed to get a heated POOL with attached hot tub. Fair trade I would say.

It is 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and 2400 square feet. The master is down, overlooking the pool. There is a game room upstairs along with the other 4 bedrooms. We will have a designated guest room and an office.

The kitchen has the dark cherry cabinets I like and black appliances. Pantry and 42 inch cabinets. I think it will more than meet my space issues. Just having a pantry will go along way.

Now the fun begins, packing! How we will get everything put in a box I don't know. If anyone knows some high school or college kids who might want to make some extra money helping schlep boxes let me know.

We had our first garage sale yesterday and made enough to cover one maybe two days of a rental truck. We will schedule the inspections next weekend. I don't anticipate any surprises. Overall the house is in good shape.

Did I mention I got my gas fireplace. Yippeee!

I am sure I will post again in the next two months as this process will no doubt provide plenty of blogging material.

Retro will always rule!

So before I was pregnant I rescued a VINTAGE Fisher Price school house off the side of the road in Keller, complete with swings and teachers desks. This last weekend Kenyon discovered it and demanded to play with it. It had been sitting in the garage for over two years dusty and covered with God knows what.

Hank clean cleaned it as we say in preschool land and passed it to a new generation. Kenyon calls it her house and has used everything from the new little people which looks like an episode of Will Ferrell in Elf as he goes to school all the way to Little Pet Shop cats and monkeys as teachers and students.

It is nice to know that toys in which you played with 35 years ago have staying power. Retro Rocks!

P.S. we won't even discuss how grown up she looks in these pictures.

Poppy's Birthday Celebration

It is hard to believe Dad's 70th was six weeks ago. I can't believe Labor day is just around the corner. What a summer it has been. Kenyon turned two, Sara is showing major signs of growing up and hitting puberty (Those of you with teens feel free to give some advice). My favorite Uncle passed away, Dad turned 70, we started house hunting, and managed to get a romantic weekend away sans kid. Whew....no wonder we are tired.

I could not have asked for a better party for Dad. Almost all the extended family was there, we missed Uncle L's family but we know grieving must take place. We had cake, a ton of food as only an Estes party can, and saw some fireworks. Here are a few pictures that captured the moments.

On Sunday morning Poppy made us all a huge Southern breakfast complete with homemade biscuits, thick sliced bacon and all the trimmings that made Pop the heart patient that he is today.

The weekend reminded me of the celebrations from my childhood, when no one was a stranger, there was always hot food off the grill, and the kids played outside until the fireflies came out. As I get older I wish for more of those moments for my own kids. With age you realize that these are the moments that sustain you in the hard times, give you a soft place to fall, and without even knowing it a true definition of what home and family really are.


So to my family I say I love you and miss all of you, especially you Uncle RL. May you rest in peace, Sailor.

Here's Looking at You

Back in June Amy & Jules came for a visit. The girls had a great time wearing the potato head accessories. They are becoming good friends. Kenyon gets so excited when you tell her Jules is coming over. We were looking at pictures and she saw one of Jules and yelled"JULES!"

Such excitement in a two year old's life.

Go Climb a Tree

If you ask Poppy he will only be too happy to tell the story how I got stuck in a tree. As the story goes, to my recollection, Mom & Dad couldn't find me (I wasn't even 5 probably). They looked everywhere. Well, they finally found me pretty high in the chinaberry tree. So it is told, Dad had to get the ladder and climb up to get me.





That story lays the ground work for the following pictures...Kenyon has discovered the beauty of sitting in a tree. The perspective that being in a tree provides to one's view to the world. Sara discovered this and now Hank is passing it on to Kenyon.

I still appreciate a good climbing tree. With age you realize it isn't as easy to get down as it used to be and I don't have my dad with a ladder to rescue me. Does it make me want to revisit that hidden desire to live in a tree, just like Miss Suzy did in my favorite kids book? You betcha!

Ice Cream. You Scream

This is a little girl who won't eat her dinner. This is a little girl, however, that WILL eat her ice cream. With Sprinkles Please.

On her birthday we took her to get custard and she leaned over and kissed everyone and said she loved us, then leaned down and kissed her ice cream and told it she loved it. A girl after my own heart.

Rain Rain Go Away

Kenyon discovered the joys of playing in the rain. It came a downpour on Sunday and Hank & the girls were out in it. Kenyon came in yelling it was "Raining, Mommy". After looking out the window and talking about it raining. hank opened the front door and K went out on the porch to "look" (Editorial comment: you see where this is going?)

K wound up dashing out in the rain and standing in the water coming off the roof. She was squealing and dancing and splashing. Utter delight that only a child can possess. She loved it and was totally soaked by the time we dragged her back in the house to get in the bathtub.

Put Your Big Girl Panties on...

This is what a big girl looks like. Kenyon went for her two year appointment and the dr told me she is the size of a three -four year old. Tell me what I don't know. She weighs 34 pounds and is 36 inches tall. She has grown 5 inches in the last year.

She has her "heppie" (helper) chores she has assigned herself. She helps feed the dogs, carefully holding the food bowl with both hands trying not to spill. Same thing when cleaning her plate form the table. At first she would throw the plate in the garbage because that is what they do at school. Now it goes on the counter. She holds her plastic box while Hank picks the "matoes". Every Wednesday morning she collects the paper form the front yard when on her way to school. Finally she walks around the yard and point out the dog poop announcing "YUCKY!" so we can pick it up out of her way. She will be a CEO of a company, I know it because she is already managing all of us in the house - two and four legged.

Two weeks ago she was moved to the Preschool room at school - SIX MONTHS EARLY! Turns out she was more ready for it than me. I have quickly seen my sweet baby vanish and this strong independent young girl develop before my eyes.

In two weeks she can sing her ABCs every time she sees something with writing on it. She can count to 10 and when helped to 17. It is so cute when she says free and furteen. She sings patty cake almost everyday and coaches herself as to the things that she needs to do. If she wants milk we will tell her first bath then milk. Now she will sit around saying bath, milkie...or outside , no bath, milkie. Sometimes she will change the order putting what she really wants first to see if we are paying attention. I swear her vocabulary has tripled in two weeks. Now instead of "NO!" It's "I don't want it!"

The biggest growth has been the big girl panties. As of Monday she has been wearing panties at school. She had one accident on Monday, but has remained dry the last two. She naps in a pull up, but has been doing well otherwise. Yesterday when I went to get her the teacher told her to go potty before she left. She ran into the little bathroom, climbed up on the stool, dropped trow and sat down. I almost cried. She looked so grown up.

With or without me my baby is growing up. Every morning I am greeted with "Good Morning, Mommy how are you?" followed by a huge hug and a squeal and lots of kisses. That she will never be to old to do.

Dinosaur Valley

Sunday we went to Dinosaur Valley in Glen Rose. It was hot but fun. The river was WAY down. Halfway across you could stand up and walk. On the upside Hank was able to get some good shots of footprints that are normally covered. Hard to believe two years ago the camping trip to DV was cancelled due to flooding.

Kenyon had a great time. It was her first time in a large body of water. She loved her floatie and water wings. She thought she was hot stuff and didn't want anyone to touch her. IN the gift shop she picked up every dino and said "Look at this" over and over.

Of course we took the obligatory photos in front of the dinos. I was remembering back how many times we have taken photos with a varying assortment of kids over the years. It all started with Mom & Dad when we took Hunt & Roz to Fossil Rim and DV back in 1998. That was the summer it was 105 degrees and Mom had that damn mafia car that was black with leather seats. We had to sit on towels going through the animal park to keep our butts from burning.

Then there were camping trips, day trips and now Kenyon's first visit of many. It is nice to have a place that will hold family memories just like Concan and the Frio river hold for my sisters and me. Especially the trip when the Scamper almost slid into the river and Mom forgot the eating utensils. I think that was also the same summer that Mom sent Dad to take me to buy Kotex., But that is for another post.

Hunt, Roz, & Sara 2003

She is two!!!!

Kenyon turned two this week. Can you believe it? It just seems like yesterday. We had just got the house put back together after the great flood of 2007. Hank was at NRH2O with the kids when my water broke at home no less than 1 hour after he left. I was two days shy of a scheduled c-section. Miss hardheaded breech baby decided Sunday was a better day to be born than a Tuesday. Besides, 7/08/07 sounds better than 7/10/07. I had a friend rooting for 7/07/07....but that would be too trendy for our Miss K.

So there I was couldn't get Hank on the phone. I am sure he couldn't hear over the 1000 screaming kids. So I called Tom & Lucy our ever reliable neighbors. Well Lucy called the police to get an ambulance to the house. I walk outside and there are seven cute (sorry honey) firemen, an ambulance and a ladder truck form the local fire department all ready to bring my bundle of joy into the world. I told them they we just glad it wasn't another water rescue from all the flooding that went on.

I refused a ride to the hospital to let them examine me. Being big as a house I had not be able to shave my legs. I had all of these June Cleaver thoughts of being having my makeup and hair fixed, legs shaved and cute PJs on to go get my baby. Should have known. That crap only happens in the movies.

So I rode with Tom and Lucy in Tom's new SUV to the hospital sitting on a huge stack of towels. I finally got in touch with Hank and he proceeds to tell me his mom's flight got delayed. I interrupted to tell him my news. Sorry, Jeannette, I thought that kinda trumped your flight issues. He immediately said he would get "these kids" (Sara & Samuel) home and meet me at the hospital.

So, less than two hours after I arrived in L&D we had a beautiful baby in our arms. Only after my poor husband saw all my innards lying on the table in the reflection of the surgical cabinet. Nobody should have to see that.

Ever.

Happy Birthday my Sweet Kenyon. Born two years ago 8.10 lbs. Today is over 34lbs and the light of our lives.

We go for her two year check-up next week. More on that later.

Its raining!

In the last few weeks we have been getting huge downpours lasting for hours. On one had it has been good for the plants and grass. On the bad side the tomatoes have taken a beating. The storm this week had about four to 6 inches of rain and 70 mile an hour winds.

The sunflowers that Hank planted around the tomatoes helped, but even they got a whipping. They are so tall, well over the roof line of the house. Here is a picture I took of Hank working to repair the damage.

He is fighting off grub, among a vast array of bugs that are getting into the garden, but he is in his element. He is a lot like Poppy in that respect.

We are crazy....

We have decided to strike while the iron is hot and start house hunting. The rates are low and many are trying to get just get out. So...I called up my fabulous realtor Barbara and got her on board. Next thing we knew we spent most of Saturday house hunting.

Kenyon did very well. She loved running through the houses that were empty. Of course she had a fabulous outfit to wear .

We did quite a bit of narrowing down. We figured out what was going to work for us and what wouldn't. We did find one house we are interested in so we will see if it works out.

We will keep you posted. I have to admit having an updated house is exciting BUT the thought of packing all of this mess up and moving makes me want to puke or go to bed for a week.

I know. I know

It has been months since my last post and I have heard aobut it. WE have managed tomake it through finals and the beginning of summer school for hank. Thank goodness he is only taking one class this summer so he has more time to do the things he likes and some of the things that we have neglected.

One of the things we did was visit Erin and Chip over Memorial Day. We had a great visit, although much too shoort and too long in between. We went to the botanical gardens which Kenyon slept through most of it.

Roz joined us, but Hunter was working. Hard to believe he is old enough to work now. He will always be my little Huntie no matter how old or tall he gets.

Happy Easter!

Hope the Easter Bunny made it to every one's door last night. We are hoping he left some extra fertilizer in our garden so our tomato plants will grow.

We had a huge rainstorm come in last night. It dumped quite a bit of rain on our yard that really hasn't dried out from the two previous storms over the last few weeks.

Anyhoo...Kenyon experienced her first real Easter Basket. She opened the eggs and announced, "OOOh Canny" Then promptly stuffed several jelly beans in her mouth and dropped the rest on the floor.

As you can tell they make a potato head for every occasion. We are now up to five adults and two baby taters. It has become an obsession for her parents. Kenyon just likes dumping all the pieces on the floor and sticking them up her nose. I think we will take a hiatus from potato buying unless they are the cooking kind.

Sara got a new wallet and an iTunes gift card for her iPod Nano that she has. And we added a new Littlest Pet Shop to her collection. She is not the proud owner of a hermit crab. Kenyon got her first LPS. It was a baby monkey. She opened it and started saying, "monkey" and making the OOOHHHH OHHOHH sounds while itching her sides like all monkeys do.

Both girls got matching wiener dogs that are dressed like hot dogs. they are pretty stinking cute and it supported the March of Dimes.

It was a good morning, but unfortunately the cloud of departure day is hanging over us much darker than the rain clouds.

Happy Easter to All! Watch out for the little brown eggs for they may not be junior mints or milk duds!

Stockyards Part Two

Headed back to the Stockyards today for a frontier show. It was fun. Kenyon kept yelling "horsey" and pointing at the riders. She had a great time eating popcorn and clapping. She even got to pet the horses after the show. She wasn't too sure about that.

The show had singing cowboys, ropers and trick riders. Sara and I agreed we would have like to have seen some women riders. There were all men riders and one belly baring assistant that got the twig snapped out of her mouth by the bull whip. That is all I'm gonna say about that.

After the show we managed to time it just right to see the longhorns parade down Main St. They were HUGE with BIG FAT HORNS! Don't want to be on the receiving end of that.

To wrap up the day we went to Joe T Garcia's for dinner. Needless to say we are thoroughly stuffed with fajitas. Another great day.

Tomorrow is Easter and we are having a big breakfast since Sara will head to the airport at lunchtime. The week has gone by much too quickly....but then again it always does.

Her next visit will be for the month of July. She will be here to celebrate the firecracker bdays...Poppy, Kenyon and me.