Houston's Children's Museum-September 25, 2013

We found a groupon deal for Houston's Children's Museum and so packed the kiddos up and went on Callahan's birthday. Such a fun place! It is ranked top 10 in the nation....we incorporated a little education into the day and called it a school day :) A major pro of homeschooling!

A distortion mirror

Hard at work. He thinks like a boy. It's fun to watch his thought processes vary so greatly from the girls.

One hunky little nugget man.

Anneliese "picking up her puppy from Daddy the dog groomer"  I love her profile shot here. You can see how much fun she was having pretending with her daddy. 

Cutest little puppy in the shop. 

This random little girl was getting her some JoJo lovin! She was all up in his grill....kissing on him, sucking his fingers, caressing his cheek. That is, until he took that there hammer and wonked her over the head :) 

She painted her very own face and was quite proud. She's a kitty cat...not a bunny, don't make the same mistake I did. Sister was offended. 

First day of school-August 2013

We started our homeschool program about 5 weeks ago...and so far, so good. We are using a Sonlight curriculum for Anneliese's core subjects and we really like it thus far. If (with a BIG emphasis on if) Jonah semi-cooperates, we are done with school around noon-ish every day. We are very slowly working our way through "All About Reading" with Callie this year. It's basically just a letter recognition/phonics based program for her age. Because she has a late September birthday, she will have a whole additional year of preschool next year. She tends to march to the beat of her own drum...always has...so we go day by day with her. Her attention span is a fraction of what her sister's was at 4-years-old, so we are changing it up and doing school "Callie Style!" 

Growing Up!

Julie comes to visit-August 2013!

Jules and Ash came to visit us for a week in August. All in all, we had a fabulous time and miss them dearly. The girls adore Asher, especially Leesy. Ash will be a life long buddy to her. We swam, swam and then swam some more :) Jules was 5 months pregnant and just a wee bit hot. Hee hee. 

Community Pool-time

This little lad doesn't just LOVE the water quite yet. He tolerates it, but would much rather go about his business poolside.

I left Jonah with my madre and the rest of us drove to Galveston for two days. We went to Moody Gardens, Rainforest Cafe, the beach and Pleasure Pier. 

Wizard of Oz in 4D. So fun!

Galveston doesn't have the prettiest, cleanest, most beautiful white sandy type of beaches...but the kids didn't mind. The water was warm, there was sand to play in...what more do you need when you're 5?!

                                                             
                                             Pleasure Pier

Anneliese, a first class scaredy cat, went on every single ride that she was tall enough for. I even convinced her to go on the tall chair ride pictured above. The picture doesn't do it justice folks! The swinging chairs go all the way to the top (where it is SUPER windy) while it swings you out over the ocean and circulates round and round. I absolutely love all rides and NEVER get nervous...but this one had me shaking in my boots! 

Ash really wanted to go on the log ride and I of course being the heaviest, had to sit in the front. Hence why I am soaked! Ash loved it, Anneliese not so much. Callie was super bummed and cried for quite some time that she wasn't tall enough for this ride. My girls have such different personalities. 

Man time!

My lil' Martha Stewart

Leesy baked and delivered cookies to almost every single neighbor as their houses closed and they moved in. We are so blessed to be surrounded with TONS of kids in this little cul de sac. Such an answer to prayer. 

"Welcome to the neighborhood. Love, Anneliese" -Does it get any cuter??

Back by popular demand....our family blog! It has been almost 2 years since I last posted any pictures or an update, and since we've recently moved from Washington to Texas, it's time to rekindle that fire again :) Quite a few of our friends and family are not on Facebook, so this is the next easiest way to send mass family updates. Plus, someone gave me a brilliant idea to print my blog updates every once in a while and put them into albums so that we always have them. Such a good idea! I will try my darndest to update semi-regularly...you know, in between raising this clan, working part time, homeschooling 2 of 3 children and my wifely and social duties :) We shall see how this goes! hee hee.

Here is a recap of the last 6 months for those who are not quite in this awesome Thomas loop. Boy I feel sassy right now :)

At the very end of December and after A LOT of prayer, Casey and I made a ginormous decision to relocate our family to Fulshear, Texas. He desired to quit his job at PSNS shipyard and pursue a career in real estate...and this area of Texas seems to be the perfect place. He moved down here and lived with my very generous aunt and uncle while the kids and I stayed in Washington for 3 months without him. I continued to work, almost full time, while my mom and dad, friends and Casey's family helped me tremendously by keeping our kids when need be. Casey flew home to pick us up at the end of May and we moved in with my aunt and uncle once we arrived in Texas. I immediately started my new job as a labor and delivery nurse at a local Catholic hospital about 20 minutes away. Which by the way...I've been commuting 60 minutes one way for the last 8 years....this 20 minute business is UH-MAZING! Anyhow, we lived with my family for just shy of 1 month, then moved into our own home on June 27th. We are currently renting a new construction purchased by my aunt....it is so spacious and wonderful! I guess anything would feel amazing though after 4 months of living in other peoples' homes....3 of which I was single parenting. Wowza. We are just finally starting to settle in and exhale. It has been a long year thus far.

So that's us. So far, so good. We are meeting neighbors (the girls and I went a little old school and actually baked cookies and delivered them....and Leesy wrote them notes with smell good markers that said "I am so glad you are our neighbors."), found a church, joined a life group, went on a few play dates, hired our first babysitter, etc. I am determined to meet friends and form a support network here. It helps me miss my people back home less :(

So without further a do.....enjoy!

Rachelle's family visit-June 2013

Rachelle and her clan just happened to be a part of a wedding about 6 hours away the weekend we moved into our house. So, we moved in on a Thursday and their 5 arrived on Saturday. Apparently I attract chaos :) No just kidding...it was wonderful to see them all again! Posting these pics actually just makes me miss them all over again :( Our two families haven't all been together under one roof in over 2 years! It was definitely time. 

Callie and Julianna (3 & 4 years)

What? Everyone doesn't rollerblade in the cul de sac in their swimming suit cover up and dress up wings?

They played dress up for pretty much 3 days straight. 

          It's just a wee bit hot these days....so we did a whole lot of swimming at the community pools.

Not sure Callie's goggles could get any tighter. Poor thing. But hey, she finally looks asian :)

The Crain family

Daddy and his girls

Rachelle and Addalyn

The one and only picture of me during their trip. It always goes that way right?! The mama never gets any representation. 

Buddies-Addalyn 2 years, Callahan 3 years

The whole entire kid gang. There are 10 of us between our two families now. 

Jonah's 1 year photo shoot

We hired the same gal who took our family Christmas photos to do a mini 1-year-old photo shoot for Jonah just before his birthday. I HIGHLY recommend her. She is affordable and so so good behind the camera!