Kindergarten registration

I wish it was a joke that Owen is old enough to register for Kindergarten. But it's not. So today we headed over to the school and turned in his packet.

Cub Scout hike

Adam's den did a long hike at the trails in Bob Jones park today.

The snake in the skimmer basket

We get little water snakes in the pool a couple times a year and Alyssa (my friend) said to call her next time so she could show her kids the snake. They were much more interested in it than Owen who came to look but not to touch -- and Adam, who kept a VERY safe distance.

From Last week --

We went and saw the broadway version of the Little Mermaid with the cousins (Heidi and Aaron's kids).

Happy Easter

We had a nice Easter program at church. I conduct the ward choir and we had 4 songs. It was lovely. We've had Heidi and Aaron here for the long weekend, it was fun to have lots of kids doing the egg hunt. We heated the pool and swam and swam!

photo of a bluebonnet

I found a patch to take some pictures for easter and took this photo! I love it!

Mint chocolate chip bluebell ice cream is back!!!!

Windy day at the ballpark

The storm

Tonight, kind of out of the blue we got a huge storm. Tornado alarms, sirens, tons of teenagers taking shelter at our house because it wasn't safe to drive and our Utah cousins arriving from the airport just as it was time to head to the media room (our tornado shelter). In the end they canceled the tornado warning right before our house and all we had was a giant hail storm.

Ukrainian eggs

With spring break and Easter so close together I haven't had time to make ukrainian eggs. Tonight will likely be our only chance. So I got everyone involved.

Searching for bluebonnets

Our favorite, secret little patch of bluebonnets was destroyed by some construction crews. Owen and I went to check it out. There are a few of them, but not covering the hillside anymore. Hopefully the seeds from this year will get things going again. I may try and plant seeds there to help mother nature along.

Home again and the nice braces off picture!

Saturday --

As if to signal the end of our fun, we woke up to 37 degrees outside and just packed up.
So we headed to Shad's, cleaned the boat, parked it and headed to the orthodontist! Julianne got her braces off.

Friday on the lake -- wake boarding

Everyone did wakeboarding today -- another perfect day on the lake!

Thursday at the lake

Today Shad's friends the Scott's came up to the lake -- again the entire day was supposed to be rainy, but we had beautiful weather and glassy water!

We set up ready benches so we could do quick exchanges.

The boat and crew.
We've converted to the gospel of wake surfing!

Wednesday on the lake

Today was calm and perfect. The forecast showed it was going to rain, but the rain never came. Amber came up to the lake house and brought her 5 kids. Carrie drove up too!!!

We all learned to wake surf today!!! It was totally awesome!

Tuesday on the lake

We had the Moore's come up from SugarLand for the afternoon and had a great time tubing.  Today was a little rough on the lake and quite windy.

Monday on the Lake

Shad got his boat launched pretty early in the morning and we had all the kids out on the lake by 9:00 am. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!
This is called the big betty.  It is the funnest thing ever!

We started all the kids off on knee boards!  Everyone learned that quickly!


Julianne and Catherine trying to splash eachother constantly.

Owen didn't get all the way to his knees this first day!


The lake was cold 68 degrees but the sun was shining and the air warmed to almost 80 degrees every day.  So as long as you had a shorty wet suit you were perfect!

Meeting baby Emily

On Sunday we drove to Amber's and met baby Emily.

We grabbed some pappasitto's on the way back to the lake house (it's about an hour drive) and when we got to the house, Shad's family (and the boat) had arrived!

The start of spring break!

We are on spring break!!! Yay! We got all packed up and started to drive to Lake Conroe at about 2:00. We left all the rain and cold behind. It was a good omen to see this rainbow on the way!

We arrived to the Butler's lake house (which we rented for the week) just in time to see the sunset.

We got the place "unwinterized" as I don't think anyone had been there for a while. We got all unpacked and then we went to olive garden for dinner. We stopped and rented a few movies and then just as we were about to start watching, the lizards came out of hiding. I think we probably killed 7 lizards in the one sunroom where the girls were planning to sleep. Eventually we emptied the whole room, killed all the lizards, reset everything and then went to bed.

My fastest 3 miles yet

It's a slow and steady process, but I am improving still. little, by little.

Don't cry over spilled milk

Step 1. Fill the bowl too full of Cheerios allowing the runoff dry cereal to cover the counter and floor. Step 2. Overfill said bowl with milk. Step 3. Slide bowl across the counter to your spot with a little too much force.

A new wall Collage

I'm working on this wall collage to hang up soon from our beach trip last summer.

The pinewood derby

Adam competed in his 2nd pinewood derby. Grandpa Hanis helped him cut out his car about a month ago. Adam painted it and figured out his car weight all by himself. Owen was a cute tagalong with his own car!

Catherine soccer pic

Catherine scored her very first goal in soccer on Saturday. Playing a sport for 9 years before scoring a goal is dedication!

New niece -- Baby Emily Aird

Owen and the snapchat filters part 2

Owen and the snapchat filters part 1

My boys!

YW high adventure

I got to make the kick-off video for the YW high adventure. Here it is!

Primary election day!

I voted for Bernie Sanders. My first time to vote in a democratic primary. On principle I could not vote for hillary or donald. I think Bernie Sanders has more ideas than the other candidates. Many of them are quite out there and I don't always agree, but I think he would be reigned in by congress sufficiently.