I can can

For a long time I have wanted to learn to can and recently, when I was talking to a friend at the gym, and she said she was going to give it a try it for her first time. I told her I wanted to try it too and we decided to do it together! It ended up being a group of 3 of us and I think that made it all the more fun!
This morning we decided the peaches we had bought were ready to go so we gathered all our stuff at my house and started our adventure. It was a long, messy process but I am so excited about the results! I can't wait to can some more! Next time....salsa!

a new Splash Pad

A while back our friend told us about a new, fun splash pad down in Pearland. Since I was facing a Daddyless Saturday I decided to head down there just me and the kiddos and do something different for a change...while still surviving the heat. It was fun to try out a new place and to get wet in the process!

Toy Story 3

Sawyer just recently has gotten really interested in Toy Story. He has probably only seen the movies once or twice but with all the advertising and merchandise in stores he has started to recognize Woody and Buzz and get really excited when he would see them. I asked Ryan if he thought we could all go see the movie together sometime because I thought Sawyer would really enjoy it so we set a date for a couple Saturdays ago. The kids were excited before the movie but halfway through Sawyer started saying "home?" and he kept saying it throughout the movie. He did get really into the fact that Woody lost his hat and kept asking "where hat?" until he finally found it. Kate was really excited when the movie ended to tell me she hadn't cried in any of the scary parts! What a big girl!
After the movie Ryan took us to a chicken fingers place that his friend had told him about called Raising Cane's. It was quite yummy!
We don't get many days to spend carefree together as a family so this was definitely savored to the max!

Kate's first ER visit

I love Costco. Costco always brings back memories of going with my mom in Tucson all the time and, of course, large chocolate covered ice cream bars....mmmm....
Unfortunately here in Houston we don't have a membership so we rarely get to go. Yesterday we were excited to head to Costco with our friend Melissa and her daughter Summer. We ate samples, picked up some jerky, vanilla and ziplock bags and then checked out and headed over to the food court for lunch. After we were done eating Kate and Summer headed to throw away the trash and, for some reason, Kate did a sudden and fast 180 and ran smack into the cart. I was a little ways away and I saw her fly backwards and then Melissa picked her up and started carrying to her. I started saying, "oh, she's okay!" but then Melissa said, "actually she's bleeding." Sure enough, above her eye she was bleeding quite heavily (as head injuries tend to do). As soon as I got to her I headed for the napkins and started applying pressure. I had several nice people ask me if I needed help, got me ice and then fortunately there was a Dr there eating pizza who came and introduced himself. I don't know if he was a pediatrician or not but he definitely had the bedside manner for it because he was totally sweet and reassuring for Kate. He looked at it and reassured me that there wasn't blood in the cornea and that her vision would be fine (which I wasn't even thinking about...but it was nice to be reassured of anyway!) and then he even took my hand, which was visibly trembling quite a bit (thanks Dad) and told me everything would be okay. He directed me to go to Texas Children's Hospital ER. I was so lucky that Melissa was there because she immediately offered to take Sawyer.
So Kate and I headed alone to the ER, singing songs and saying prayers the whole way there. I walked in and checked in and it really wasn't long before they called us back. (The nurse told me it was a lucky time to be at the ER because it was randomly really slow.) Everyone was really sweet. They brought Kate crayons and coloring pages. After a few people looked at it they decided to do 3 stitches and they taped a cotton ball of lidocaine on it, which took the pain away. Kate eventually calmed down and we had fun coloring. After about a 45 minute wait they came in and started setting everything up. They have a special person at TCH who comes in just to entertain and distract the kids while scary things are being done. Most of what she does you need your eyes to experience so mainly she just talked in a sweet voice. Kate calmly laid down on the table and closed her eyes and let them drape the paper over her. They had told her that her job was to sit as still as possible and she took her job really seriously, she did not move or talk or anything. They did the 3 stitches without a hitch and everyone was really impressed with how easy it was. Afterward Kate got a popsicle, juice box and some stickers and she ate them while we waited to be discharged.
After we left the hospital we headed to Target so Kate could choose some jellybeans from the jelly belly wall and a toy. She chose a Sleeping Beauty Barbie (her first Barbie!) and we also got Sawyer a Buzz Lightyear. I was glad we did because when we finally got to Melissa's 6 hours later (Thanks again Melissa!) he immediately ran to us and started crying. I can only imagine what he was thinking as we left him with Kate sobbing. He was easily consoled with Buzz!
The first night with the stitches she woke up at 3am crying and telling me her bandaids fell off, which she must have dreamed about because they were definitely still there. She has been really careful with them but she really hasn't complained about much pain. I am so proud of her, I think she has really handled everything like a big girl. And I'm just excited to see how it heals and what beautiful scar she's left with!
These pictures were all taken at the ER with my phone so pardon the quality.

Dear Devin

Dear Devin,
How are things going in Cananda? Is going hot hot hot hot hot in Houston. I want to go swimming with you when you get home at Grammie's house. I can swim without floaties. I have fun jumping in the Dad. I am 4 now. I will be 5 when you get home. I know how to write cat now. I write square things that are windows. I don't wear ties. I did a talk today. I wore pink flower dress with white all over it. I wore pink boots. I wore a pink flower clip in m hair. I read Alma every night. I like the scriptures. I help mom clean out the car sometimes. I help mom throw the trash in the dumpster. I'm going to be 8 when I get baptized. Today I went to Primary and gave a talk and in Sister Welch's class I ate brownies. I know lots of tricks. I'll show you when you get back. Thanks for writing me letters. We are writing now today. What are you going to wear on Sunday? I have a pretty dress I wore to church today. I liked both the flags you dres.
Love, Kate

(Devin wrote Kate and a letter and this was her response. I'm a slow getting it in the mail to him...its a week old!)

Wicked

Ryan got me tickets for Wicked for mother's day and it seemed so far away at the time.  It was such a fun and well needed date night! We got to the Hobby Center early enough that we went into the restaurant and ordered a yummy dessert before the show. A chocolate tart with coconut ice cream...yum!
Then it was time to take our seats. I didn't know anything about the story beforehand so it was all new and exciting. I loved it!
Thanks for the fantastic present Mr Kissell!

Kate's first Primary Talk

I don't think I have mentioned the fact that I was released from my calling in the Primary Presidency after almost 2 years a few weeks ago. It really has been a defining part of my life here in Houston and I loved every single minute of getting to serve the beautiful children in Primary with some awesome women who became good friends.
That being said, I got to go back and visit today to see Kate give a talk in Primary. When she got the assignment we began talking about it immediately and throughout the week. She has been assigned prayers and scriptures before and each time she has ended with me holding her and her head buried in my shoulder, crying while I said the prayer or scripture. All of those times she had promised me she was going to do it and always ended up crying.
This time we kept talking about it and we wrote it all out but I still knew she might not do it. The day of the talk came and she picked out a special outfit...just about as pink as you can get!
When the time came, I stood by her side as she walked up the steps to the microphone. She looked up at me and I knew it could go either way. So I whispered the first line in her ear...and she said it. You could tell she was being shy about it, but she was actually saying it...and it was loud enough that probably a few people other than me could hear it too! Halfway through I could feel myself getting a little choked up with pride! She got through the whole thing and then reached for me like she was going to bury her head in my shoulder and cry so I picked her up off the steps, kissed her and sent her back to her seat. She sat down with a smile on her face.
I couldn't be more proud.

Jesus is an example
to us. He showed us
how to love everyone.
we need to love our
family and
friends and strangers.
He taught us to keep
commandments so we
can live with God again.
I read the scriptures
to learn more about
him. I know he
loves me.

the circus!

Another one of our favorite Houston things that we have done for the 3rd and last time is the circus! The first 2 years it was completely free (compliments of the Houston Library Summer Reading Program!) This year it was a little less free but still a lot of fun. As we were walking over to Reliant I was remembering back to our first time when I carried Sawyer there in a sling. This year my big boy enjoyed lots of parts of the circus...mainly the elephants and the tigers which, lets face it, are the coolest parts. Any time the elephants left Sawyer would say, "where did they go?" and then at the end when it was over I told him to say bye bye to the circus and he waved for at least a minute. Both kids were a little bored in a few of the filler acts but they were both entertained with lots of snacks and their fun friends.

older cows

I've had requests for pictures of ryan and I as cows. I don't get in front of the camera too often but here is one from ryans phone. Moo!

We appreciate the cows

Just like 2 years ago we celebrated Cow Appreciation Day by meeting our Daddy there for dinner after he was done at school. This year Sawyer was so cute because one of my favorite words that he says is cow...which sounds more like "dow"...and he would moo on cue. I had seen online some people had painted their noses black but once I did it we totally looked like dogs. But the kids were so excited about the face painting I couldn't wipe it off. I had to laugh when we walked into Chick fil a and Sawyer was literally running in circles chasing his tail. But he did moo at the counter and we all got our free chicken!

randomness

Here are some of the other more random things we've been doing lately.

I took Sawyer to the Orthopedic Dr to have his cute little pigeon toed legs checked. Turns out is pretty common and will most likely get a little worse and then get better on its own. So we get to enjoy his cute little walk and run for a few more years.

The morning of this Dr's appointment, Sawyer came walking into my room with a giant bump on the side of his head and a big red puffy eye. The night before he had been eaten alive by mosquitoes on the short walk from our garage to our house so he had bug bites on his legs. After asking Kate if he had run into anything (which happens all the time) and judging by the lack of crying, I decided these were probably mosquito bite related too. But I was really embarrassed bringing in my quasimodo son to the Dr. And sure enough, when we were there he recommended that we head to our pediatrician. So after 3 hours at the Ortho guy we got to spend another at the Pediatrician! And guess what...it was a mosquito bite. He looked better by that night. I went and saw Twilight on the first day it was open...not at midnight, but at a reasonable 8pm. It was so fun to head out with a bunch of girls, purses stocked with loads of candy and enjoy a fun movie.
And finally, this cute picture somehow didn't make it into the 4th of July posts. Looking at it makes me think about how I am always thinking about how sad I will be to leave my Houston friends in 6 months but I forget about Kate and her fun little friends. When Summer had her rainbow birthday party Kate said, "next year I want a rainbow party!" Despite my better judgment, I told her we could do that but that we won't be living in Houston anymore when it is her birthday again. She cried and cried and wouldn't be happy until I she made me promise to bring Summer with us when we move. (Sorry Melissa and Phil. We'll send her back to visit every once in a while)

4th of July...really this time!

Last night we headed to the stake center in Sugar Land for a patriotic sing-a-long and then stayed for an awesome view of the fireworks. The sing-a-long was really fun. We got to sing, accompanied by a few instruments including the always patriotic trumpet, songs like Home On the Range and God Bless America and we even sang all the songs for the military branches and people who had served or loved ones of those who had served stood up during their song. It was really fun. Afterward we ate ice cream, cookies and ginormous blue bell popsicles and then found a place to sit outside and wait for the fireworks. We had a group of us all gathered together and, thanks to some very smart friends, the kids rode bikes around and enjoyed being in the grass and on the big blankets. The moms all played a game while the dads sat and talked until it got dark. The fireworks were close and awesome. I got some good Sawyer cuddle time throughout them because he was a little scared. He held me tight but turned his head to look and eventually he was saying, "ohhh, that big!" along with me. It was a late night but definitely worth the fireworks!

God Bless America!

4th of July 2010

We weren't quite sure if we would be able to celebrate the 4th of July today after the major, record breaking rainfall we saw yesterday. Luckily we woke up to find some sun...and a LOT of humidity. Even though it wasn't the most comfortable, we were happy everything wasn't canceled because of rain. We went to the Bellaire parade and carnival and it really was just the best way to celebrate the 4th. The parade was fun, not too short, and totally based on candy throwing. Every single person in the parade was throwing candy from the firemen to the boy scouts (a few of whom threw from a catapult) to the De Lorean club (you can't see it in the picture but there were probably 8 of them.) After my kids collected a good bag full of candy and the parade was over, we bought some tickets and let them ride some rides and eat snow cones at the carnival.

After a city-wide search for root beer flavor (which was successful finally...at a wine and beer supply store) and some rest at home, we headed over for swimming and a BBQ with some friends. This was yet another event that we thought might need to be canceled but we ended up with perfect weather (and a very full pool from all the rain the day before!) Ryan offered to empty it a little with his famous cannon balls and soon he was jumping in with both my kids.

Sawyer = pure joy

I don't know if I blogged enough about Kate's swimming lessons, but she really has become quite a good swimmer. She is strong and brave enough to jump in the pool and swim back to the edge by herself. (Although I must admit that it makes my heart jump every time!)

She likes jumping with her Daddy too.

I didn't take very many pictures at the BBQ....I guess I was busy eating...but it was delicious!! It was BYOM so we had hamburgers and tons of delicious sides and yummy desserts. Ryan made homemade root beer (it was definitely worth the city wide search!) and we had perfect weather for an evening BBQ. After the eating was done the kids ran around and played until dark while the parents could chat.

It was the perfect day full of 4th of July favorites...and we didn't even see any fireworks! We're hoping to catch some tomorrow!
Happy 4th of July!