2012 Already!

I can't believe I let so much time go by since my last post.  I keep telling myself I am not going to let this happen--and then it does.  Let me see if I can recap everything that has happened since then.

June and July--swimming lessons, summer camp, the end of baseball, and a couple visits to Matthew pretty much sum these months up.  We spent a lot of time at the water park, and this summer had record high temperatures.  The water wasn't even cool any more.  It was 109 on the day pictured.

August--We continued to suffer through the heat and prepared to return to school.  Ladd and I were also pleased to learn that we were expecting baby number 3 in April of 2012.  Evan started 3rd grade (he is getting SO big, and Claire started her last year of preschool.  I tried to take a picture of them, but Claire didn't want to pose with her brother. 

September consisted mostly of getting back in the swing of things.  Evan played flag football and baseball this fall. Claire started a ballet and tap class.  This month continued to be incredibly hot.  The Dallas area suffered from a record number of days over 100 and a record drought.    My brother Matthew also had surgery to remove a liver tumor along with 75% of his liver.  This was not an easy surgery or recovery, but did yield good results.

October brought the Texas State Fair, and of course Halloween (Claire is pictured with friends).  We also were able to announce our pregnancy.

November was a busy month We were able to find out that our sweet baby was healthy and another girl.  Football and Baseball came to an end.  We got a short visit from Jeffrey and Stephen.  Ladd's brother, Tim, got married, and we gained a wonderful sister-in-law. Jennifer spent Thanksgiving with us, which the kids loved.  We also had to say goodbye to my Grandmother Grace. 

December went by in a whirlwind.  Claire had her first recital.  She loved it, but wants to try soccer in the spring.  I have gotten good reports from the doctor, so the the pregnancy is going well.  Evan entered a math contest--all those with the correct answers went into a drawing--and he won!  He also started basketball.  Ladd was very busy at work, and didn't have much spare time.  Christmas came quickly.  All of the Haluskas came to our house for Christmas.  For a couple of days we had 12 people here.  It was crazy, but wonderful!  We took family pictures the day after Christmas.  The kids had a blast with so many people here, and were very sorry to see them go! We spent the next week just catching up on things: cleaning, laundry, and other errands.  On the 30th, Ladd and I celebrated our 11th anniversary with a wonderful steak dinner on the patio (cooked by Ladd).  The four of us had an exclusive "party" to usher in the New Year.  I enjoyed taking it easy for a couple of days (after making stuffed cabbage and black-eyed peas.)

Now, it is 2012, and time for work again.  One of my resolutions is to make my blog posts more frequent so they won't be so long!  Also, I am sure that I missed some stuff that I would want to remember.  Happy New Year to all!  I hope that 2012 is wonderful for you!

Another School Year Ends

Well another school year has come to an end!  The last couple of months have been crazy.

In January Basketball season came to an end.    This season wasn't fantastic, but the kids all learned a lot and had a lot of fun.   Claire continued to take gymnastics and do really well in school.  January/February had record cold.  We had a record 5 ice/snow days.  We went sledding on the golf course, and our neighbor was ice skating on the street. 

In March, during Spring Break, we took a family vacation to Colorado.  We went to Salida, Colorado, and it was absolutely fantastic.  Evan and Ladd went snowboarding, while I went skiing.  Claire went to the childcare facility and got ski lessons as well.  We all had an awesome time, and can't wait to go back.

 In April, baseball season started.  Baseball season continues through June, but Evan has been playing really well. In school, Evan continued to do well.  Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away rather suddenly at the beginning of the month, but I have confidence that he is watching over us now.

 At the beginning of May, Evan made his First Communion.  My parents and my brother Matthew all were able to come.  It was a pretty happy and emotional day.  Ladd even said it got a bit "dusty" in the church.  It was so special that my parents and Matthew all took the time to make the trip here for the occasion.  Just 10 days later, Evan turned 8.  I can't believe how fast the last 8 years have gone.  The kids had a combined birthday party here at the house, and everybody had a great time.  On May 17th, Claire turned 4.  She is getting so big, so fast.  She takes every opportunity to tell us how big she is.  At church she tries to copy Evan, and gets really upset when they won't give her communion as well.  She has even learned the Our Father, and is working on the Hail Mary because she thinks it will help.  She has had a great last couple of weeks in daycare/preschool.  They have been doing Fairytale units, and she loved every minute of it.

Which brings us to June, and the end of school.  Evan has finished 2nd grade, and is moving on to 3rd.  Claire is home with me for the summer, although her  daycare teachers were really sad to see her go.  Both Evan and Claire are about to start swim lessons.  Evan will be doing a baseball camp, and Claire will be taking ballet and tap lessons at the city rec center this summer.

We also hope to be able to spend some time with Matthew this summer.  I hope that his treatment will not prevent him from having visitors.  Follow Matthew's story at thefightingnoodle.blogspot.com.

As I say each time I post, I hope to post more frequently.
Love to all!

Ending 2010

2010 was an Ok year. I can say it was fairly uneventful, which is good.

So, what's to come for 2011. Of course we have New Year's resolutions...


For me,
1) To continue to workout on a regular basis
2) To try to just slow down and enjoy things
3) To pay off some bills

For Ladd,
1) Spend more time with kids and family
2) Start running again
3) Take a family vacation

For Evan
1) To ride my bike a lot
2) Think more before I act

For Claire
1) Start learning her letters
2) to Dance


With only a few hours left in 2010, I am wondering how another year has already gone by. I hope that the new year brings lots of wonderful memories and blessings to my family and friends. Even though there are only a few hours left, we should make the most of them because....Every Moment Counts.

Happy New Year to All!

Holiday Summary

Just to sum up the holidays for the Heberts.

We were home for Thanksgiving this year. Aunt Jenny came and spent several days with us, which the kids loved! I cooked, and everything came out very tasty if I do say so myself. I also fought the Black Friday crowds for the first time. It was fun, and I got everything I set out to get, but I did not go to multiple sales. I woke up shortly before 3 AM, did some quick online shopping, and then headed to Target. I waited in line in the cold( it was literally around 30 degrees) for about an hour. The earliest people were there at 10 PM (that is crazy!) I got the very last TV, which is what Ladd wanted for Christmas to use as a computer monitor, and a few other great deals, which made it worthwhile. I was home, with everything put away by about 5AM, and then I slept until about 9:oo. I couldn't do the all night and all day thing...I must be getting old.

Christmas came with great anticipation of course. Uncle Matthew came and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with us. The kids of course loved that as well. Christmas Eve was largely uneventful. We just kind of hung out, getting ready for the next day. That evening we went to our neighbor's home for dinner. Her family and some of our other neighbor's were there. The kids all played together and we had a nice time visiting before we headed home to get ready for Santa. The kids actually went to bed without to much trouble because they really wanted Santa to come! The kids must have been pretty good this year because Santa was good to them. Evan got a new bike (he had been riding the one he got for Christmas when he was 2.5) and a Josh Hamilton Texas Rangers Jersey. He has worn the Jersey as much as he possibly can since then. Claire got collection of Disney Princess dolls, and a jeep (which she calls her Monster truck). She has already spent a lot of time playing with those dolls. We had a small dinner hear at home, and a nice video chat with all of the Aunts and Uncles, Grandma, and Grandpa in New Jersey.

The day after Christmas, we headed down to Houston to visit with family there. We went over to Tim's house (Ladd's brother). All of the family met there. We had a delicious Turkey that Tim prepared, and a nice visit. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins as well. Later, we headed over to Amie and Jimmy's house to spend the night. Claire had so much fun playing with her cousin Alex, and Ladd had fun playing Call of Duty with Jimmy. Amie and I hung out while she made a cute hair bow for Claire. The next day we just kind of relaxed in the morning. Then we had lunch at Lupe Tortillas (which is something we really liked when we lived in Houston). Then we headed over to visit with some old friends. We spent several ours hanging out while our kids had a blast together. We were sad when the evening came to an end. We headed out and drove home after that. The kids made good use of their new DVD player from Santa and the movies that Claire got for Christmas.

For most of the week we have just hung out. However, on Thursday, Ladd and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary. For our Anniversary, I thought it would be nice to have our family pictures done. Kind of to document where we were 10 years later. We liked the photos that my friend Angela did of the kids in the Spring, so we had her do these as well. I was very nervous. Planning the attire and getting everybody ready might have been almost as crazy as getting ready for the wedding. :-P However, other than a last minute change of venue due to mud, it went really well.

After the pictures, we headed to Maggianos with the kids. We had a great meal. Evan really loved it, especially the bread, giant meatball, and the cheesecake. Ladd and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as well. We headed home and kind of vegetated in a carbohydrate induced glaze for a while. We relaxed for the evening and found ourselves to be quite content.

Catching Up!

I can't believe I haven't posted since school started. I have thought so many times that I should make a new post to keep up with events, but somehow it never happened. Since I writing this blog partly to keep a record of events for my own sake, the first order of business is to catch up on things.

September was pretty uneventful, and October we got to do some fun things like the State Fair. The kids and I spent the day there, and had a fun time. It was pretty crowded though. We got to enjoy our Corney Dogs among other fun events like the pig races, and dog show. Also in October was Halloween. This year Evan was a jester (sometimes an Evil Jester) and Claire was a princess (which kind of seemed to be her theme for the year).

Claire has pretty much been doing the same old same old. She has been going to day care, and seems pretty happy. She has been taking gymnastics with a lady that comes to the daycare once a week. She enjoys it, but still tells me should would like to be a ballerina. We will probably try some lessons at the rec center this summer. She is growing up so quickly, and she really cracks us up with her since of humor and her attempts to imitate her brother. She is so proud of her knowledge, and she really wants to learn more. She will be moving up to Pre-K 2 after the New Year, and looks forward to learning her letters there.

Ladd has been working hard on the house. He has redone the floors in the living/dining room, and the media room upstairs. He has put a lot of work in, and they look great! As for me, I have pretty much been the same. Work, after school activities, etc. The one thing that has been a good change for me was the "Biggest Loser" competition at school. I actually worked really hard with the South Beach diet, and my workout minutes. I won both the weight loss and workout minute categories, which was a really good feeling for me. I hope that I can keep it up. That about sums up the majority of the fall for us.....next up, a holiday summary.

Back to School!

Well despite the fact that we are having record high temperatures, summer vacation has come to an end. I returned to work last week. Evan earned a free ticket to Six Flags last year, so Ladd and he went together. Evan is starting to get a taste for the thrill rides, but is working his way up to the more serious roller coasters. Evan also played a few games, and brought home a 5 foot tall Scooby Doo on his first attempt at a ring toss. Evan also got to spend some time with a friend, and made one last trip to Hawaiian Falls for the summer.

Evan and I went shopping during the back to school tax-free sale. We spent the day together and he got some new things for school. The funny thing was, he was most interested in 2 things....a pair of new shoes and a new hat. It is really intriguing to watch him develop his own little sense of style.

Monday, was the first day of school. It marked the start of my 12th year of teaching, and Evan's 2nd grade year. It seems like just yesterday, he was starting Kindergarten, and was small and unsure. Sometimes, he is still unsure, but he acts like he is confident. He is growing so tall, and is growing into such a cute little man (not that I'm biased or anything). I really hope that this is a happy and successful year for him.

Claire has returned to her Preschool, The Octopus Garden. This will be her 3rd year there, and I am so glad that she is happy there. She is also getting so big. When she wakes up in the morning, she gets up and gets dressed right away. She is big on picking her outfits out the night before. She is definitely a girly-girl. She loves wearing dresses and cute outfits most of the time. In fact, I have a hard time getting to wear an outfit with shorts. w

Ladd has been so busy this weekend. He wired the whole back porch for light, and installed a flood light to light the back yard. This will be so nice once the time change happens, and the weather cools. I have to say I am so impressed with the job that he did.

Flag football is starting this week. Evan is very excited, so we will be spending a lot of time in the next few weeks doing that. I am looking forward to things to get into full swing for the year. More to come as they do!

New Jersey Trip

The kids and I recently returned from a trip to see my parents in New Jersey. Here is a summary of our trip.

Friday--We loaded up my sister Jennifer's car. She had arrived in the wee hours of the morning after taking finals at LSU the day before. We drove for about 14 hours and stopped in Tennessee only to realize we had lost an hour so it was even later than we thought. However, we made sure to wake up early so we could get our free breakfast.

Saturday--Drove for another 10 hours, and about half of it was in the rain. The kids started getting really restless because we couldn't let them out to run--not the most fun day. We finally arrived about 9:30 that night.

Sunday--Church and resting up. The kids played with their cousin. That afternoon Grandpa took them to the park, while Jennifer, my Mom, and I went to TJ Maxx.

Monday--My brother, Stephen, drove in and spent some time with us. He lives about 2 1/2 hours north of my parents. Grandpa took Isaac (my 9-year-old cousin that lives with my parents) and Evan to see Karate Kid. That afternoon Evan participated in Isaac's MMA class with him.

Tuesday--Grandpa, Evan, Claire, Jennifer, and I drove to New York. We had lots of fun. We saw the Statue of Liberty from the shore, saw Battery Park, rode the subway, and went to FAO Schwarz (where we played on the Big piano and Grandpa got the kids a toy). Then we went to visit my sister Emily's new apartment. She lives on Wall Street, so we walked past the New York Stock Exchange, and Trump Tower to get there. Her apartment is beautiful, but she has to pay quite a bit for that little bit of real estate and 2 roommates. We had some delicious New York pizza for dinner, and then took the subway to Time Square. In Time Square we walked and saw the sights, but the highlights for the kids were M&M World (where we got M&M's), taking a picture with SpongeBob, and getting their I heart NY t-shirts. Finally, we took the subway back to the car, and drove home. The kids passed out as soon as they hit their seats. It was a great day!

Wednesday--We needed to recover a bit from the big day before, so we took it easy in the morning. Then Jennifer decided to take the boys to the batting cages. Unfortunately, they were inexplicably closed. Instead they settled for McDonald's ice cream and playground. They boys went to the MMA class again, and then Jennifer took them to play Putt Putt golf.

Thursday--Grandpa, Jennifer, Isaac, the kids and I went to an indoor water park called Sahara Sam's. With the exception of a lunch break, the kids played in the water and went on slides non-stop for a 5 hours. The boys then went a MMA class. That evening, I held down the fort by staying with my Grandmother and all the kids, and my parents went to dinner to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary. Claire was beyond exhausted and quite a mess this evening.

Friday--Grandpa, the kids, and I went to see the Statue of Liberty. You can actually go their from the New Jersey side of the shore, and since many people do not know about this, or have a way to get there, the lines are considerably shorter. We were able to get on the first Ferry after we got there. I would have liked to spend a little more time at Ellis Island, but the kids did not find it as interesting as I did. Evan was being kind of miserable because he was "Starving." We got back on to the ferry and headed over to the Statue of Liberty. We ate lunch, and Evan had a "New York" hot dog, which improved his mood considerably. Then we saw "The Lady" She was pretty amazing, and I was surprised that she made me feel a little emotional. Evan had lots of questions, so we stopped at the gift shop and bought a book that told her story (we also got Statue of Liberty suckers). We said Goodbye and headed back on the Ferry.
We got home, and had time for the Grandma, Jennifer, Claire, and I to go shopping. Jeffrey and Stephen, drove down after work, and got there around 9:30, so the kids stayed up late to play with their uncles.

Saturday--We got up, packed up, and headed to the airport for our ride home. The flight was uneventful, and the kids did pretty well (as long as you don't talk to the guy that was sitting in front of Claire and kept getting his seat pushed on). Ladd picked us up and I came home to a wonderful surprise. Seriously, one of the most awesome things that my husband has ever done for me...he redid our bedroom while I was gone--painted, put down wood floors, and put up a new ceiling fan. It is beautiful.

Well, we are now down to the last week of summer vacation. I hope to get lots done. Will let you know soon!

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to other bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!
4. Contact the bloggers you picked and let them know about the award.

1. - Thanks Lindsey!

2. 1)Evan and Claire are our beautiful children that keep us hopping. 2)Ladd and I have been married for almost 10 years. 3)We have an American Bulldog named Nox. 4) We would like to take a trip to Disney World, and I would love to stay on the resort, and we would like to go to Hawaii. 5)Ladd and I had only dated for 8 months when we got married. 6)We are a technology oriented family....we all love gadgets! 7)Once a week we have Family Dinner Night when we all go to dinner together. The kids (and Ladd and I) really look forward to this every week.

3. I would like to pass this award on to

Happiness is Homemade

More Summer Fun

First for the baseball update...unfortunately, due to rain and delays, the playoff games go canceled. We were very disappointed, but will be ready for next year.

For the last two weeks, we have just been having a laid back summer time. We have been going to the water park on a regular basis. The kids love it, but a couple of times, the kids have actually played so hard that Claire has decided she is tired and ready to go home.

We also made a trip to the zoo to see the new exhibits for the giraffes, lions, and elephants. We took the DART train to get there, which the kids enjoy. Since we purchased a zoo membership a couple of months ago, I didn't feel like we had to run all over the zoo and see EVERYTHING. We saw the things that the kids were most interested in, which made it a fun, but HOT day.

Claire has been doing a lot of art. She likes to draw, paint, glue, and cut. I love the fact that she enjoys being creative, but man can she make a mess! Evan has still been practicing his sports. He likes to go out and play, but it is so hot, that the only thing I like to do outdoors, is go to the waterpark. I do however, have to be careful that he doesn't spend too much time playing video games.

In the next couple of weeks we will be going to visit Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey, and we will finish shopping for school supplies. More summer updates soon to come.

Summer Fun!

It has been a crazy busy two weeks with different activities. I did my summer camp, which went fairly well. The city project got finished and the people who hired me were pleased.

During these two weeks Evan attended camp. The first camp he went to was the City of Richardson playground camp. He absolutely loved it. They played outside in the morning at the park. They played games like Red Rover, and kickball. He didn't complain about the heat once. After lunch, they swam for two hours. Every day he would ask me to pick him up later. He wants me to bring him back for another week next month....great deal for me and Evan! The second week he went to Premier Football camp. I believe this is through the Dallas Cowboys organization. He got to meet, hear a talk from, and have his picture taken with 3 of the Cowboys players. He learned some new skills, and it seemed to be a great experience for him overall.

Claire finished her swim lessons, and it seems we have a little mermaid on our hands. The girl absolutely loves to swim! She knows how to turn on her back to float when she needs to breathe. She jumps in and yells cannonball...although she actually does a belly flop! She saw some little girls taking dance lessons when we picked Evan up from camp and has been frequently reminding me that she wants to be a ballerina ever since!

We have also continued with baseball. Evan has been hitting very well. He has had about 4 homeruns this season. The team started the season off with 3 losses, and came back with a 5-game winning streak. We have playoffs this weekend and have high hopes since we have been improving so much! More details to come on the results.

We have much fun planned in the coming weeks! Will update soon.

Summer Is Here!

We are officially off for the summer--let the fun commence. Friday, after finishing with work, and picking Claire up from school, we headed to the waterpark to break in our season passes. What was supposed to be a short time turned into a 4-hour trip. Evan found some friends and he was having so much fun I didn't have the heart to make him leave. Boy did the kids sleep well that night. We had a good weekend. Evan played 2 baseball games. He is doing so well...he hit a homerun during each game. It is so exciting to watch him play.

The kids have also started a week of swimming lessons to refresh their floating and swimming skills. They take lessons with a lady that teaches them a technique to allow them to be able to float and make their way to the side of the pool before she works on their swimming. Claire has been floating and swimming since she was 1. Evan has progressed and is working on his swim strokes. Claire is stubborn and likes to try to swim...it freaks Mommy out a bit because she can hold her breathe for a long time.

Evan also got to go over to his friends' (twins) that he plays baseball with for a visit. The boys had a fantastic time and he is ready for them to come over to our house. We hope to set up something soon.

Today, Evan has gone to work with Ladd for Take Your Child To Work Day. TI has several activities set up for the day, and Evan was really excited to go this morning. Claire won't be old enough for several more years, but last night she was quite insistent that she was "big enough."

I am teaching at a summer camp for the next two weeks. I am going to be guiding students grades K-8 through the building of a lego city. I am very excited because this is a new experience for me, but nervous because I haven't done anything of this scope before. Evan will be attending two separate camps during this time, and Claire will be attending a "camp" at my location. I hope to post more information about this experience as it comes.

I hope everybody is having a great summer so far!

Slide show of Kids Pics, click to start, sorry the resolution is bad.

Camping

We have just returned from a family weekend at Camp Grady Spruce on Possum Kingdom Lake. We left Friday and returned home Sunday. We shared the trip with our neighbors, The Thompsons, who have 2 children close to Evan and Claire's ages-they also have a boat for fishing. Evan and Claire had a blast. Evan is a budding fisherman. He spent the majority of time fishing off the boat dock, checking his line off the shore, or out on the boat fishing. Unfortunately, he didn't catch anything. He also got to shoot some targets with "rifles" and bow and arrows. He was very excited that he hit the target. Both Evan and Claire got to go horseback riding. Evan rode a horse named Cinnamon and Claire rode Candy Paint. Claire spent a lot of time wading in the water at the edge of the lake..even though it was pretty cold, she kept going back. She left in the very last clean and dry thing she had. She also had a pink fishing pole that she kept "fishing" with (its hard to catch anything without a hook or bait). In reality, we spent most of the time untangling the line. Of course we finished off the evening with some cooking out and Smores! What more could a kid want?

We got home, and Ladd and I both needed a nap. Evan was ready to do more though. Although, I do have to say that he slept well that night.

Baseball season is gearing up and there are lots of happenings during the last week of school. More to come soon.

April Happenings

Well, the school year is moving right along...the end is in sight. We are starting to make plans for the summer. Evan is starting to think about 2nd grade. Claire talks about how she will be in PK1 next year at preschool. For now though, we are enjoying the beautiful weather. We have been grilling, working in the yard, and trying to do lots of things outdoors.

Evan recently finished his first season of Destination Imagination. This is a group problem solving activity. I was the team coach for 6 first grade boys. They are given a scenario and must create a solution. The solution must be created entirely by the coach. Man, it was hard. However, after their showcase, they all came out thrilled. They got great feedback, and are ready to do it again. I am still up in the air about that :-) Evan has started baseball. This year is coach pitch and I think it will be very exciting. In practice he has gotten some great hits. He is also doing pretty well in school. We had a rough patch, but now he seems to have it figured out and is ON FIRE! His reading is coming along so well. He has lots of interests, but right now he is very interested in marine biology. We went to the aquarium over spring break, and he really enjoyed it (after he got to eat that is).

Claire is fully potty trained. We are so happy and proud! She is such a little girly-girl...I am not sure where that comes from. Not that I don't like it, but just not like me. She wants everything to be "Beautiful and Pink." She also loves hearts and flowers. She loves her books too, and I have no doubt that I will find her reading with a flashlight under her covers when she gets older.

More spring time fun updates to come soon.

Better Late Than Never

Ok, so I said I would do better with the blog posts....I guess I lied. I am keeping up with twitter and Facebook, but not so good about this. Hmmm the latest.

Well back in December, the snowstorm of the century canceled our plans to visit Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey. That was a real bummer since the whole family was there, but us. We had a good Christmas at home. Winter is quickly turning into spring, and events keep time passing by before we know it.

Evan played basketball this winter, which he really enjoyed. I think it was a good sport for him since it kept him engaged and moving the whole time. He was really serious about it too! He is more than half-way done with first grade now. I can't believe some of the stuff they are learning. He had a great science fair project, which sparked an interest in doing "science experiments" in our kitchen. His most recent interest is in marine life. He has decided that he would like to be a scientist that studies ocean animals (aka marine biologist). He makes me laugh when he sleeps with the things that really interest him at the time. He recently participated in Destination Imagination, for which I was the coach. Destination Imagination is a student-centered team-problem-solving activity. The students are given a challenge. They must devise an answer to this challenge all on their own. This year, they had to build a structure made out of newspaper and tape, and then create a newscast about this structure, complete with a commercial break. The kids had a lot of fun with it, though it was often quite frustrating for me.
Evan will start baseball soon, and can't wait for practices to start.

Claire is getting so big. At some point, over the last couple months, she has become completely conversational, and has gotten really tall. She is in a pink princess phase. She wants to dress like a princess, wear princess shoes, have everything in pink. Her latest request is for a pink bed. She has repeatedly asked for this item....recently saying that Santa should bring it to her. She also is already very interested in make-up and nail polish. I have to watch it because she will go find stuff and try to put it on herself. She loves school. She counts, knows her colors and shapes, and sings songs all the time. That little girl loves to sing. I say she is my little Miss America because she is constantly waving and making friends with strangers, but only if Mommy is close by. We are going to do a potty training boot camp during Spring Break, so wish us luck.

All is well....with Ladd and I. I have been very busy at work, and will be glad for Spring Break. Ladd is pretty much the same as always...except for a broken toe from Super Bowl Sunday. Well, hopefully, I really will do better at keeping up with the blog. More to come soon!

October is here!

I can't believe October is here already. Time is just flying by.

The last couple of weeks were a bit of a mess.

Evan, Claire, and I were all brought down by the flu. After that, I managed to pick up a case of bronchitis as well. Claire and Ladd now seem to have a cold.

Not all has been bad though.

Evan is just moving along in Kindergarten. He actually told me that he LOVES school the other day. I think some of that may have to do with his cute young teacher. He is growing like a weed, and is playing flag football right now. He loves football, and he gets as excited about it as if he were playing Friday nights. He is also very excited about planning for Halloween.

Claire is growing fast. She loves her preschool. She is singing a lot. Her favorite song involves singing someone's name and then "Jump up and down." She also loves the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, and Where is Thumbkin. She is very excited about anything related to Halloween as well.

This month will also bring a visit to the fair, more football, fall festivals, and Halloween. Hopefully I will be better about updating in the weeks to come.

Its Been a While

I didn't do a very good job of keeping up with this blog over the summer. I am hoping to return to posting.

We had a good summer. Evan, Claire, and I spent a lot of time doing things like Hawaiian Falls Water Park, the Library, the park, and naps. We also went to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Seymour in Louisiana, and spent a few days in a beach house in Galveston. Overall it was a good summer--lots of fun lazy days, but no major events.

We are now back in school. Evan is completing his first week of 1st grade. He seems so big now. He seems happy with his teacher so far this year, and he seems committed to having a good year. He has a good time teasing me by telling me he has gotten in trouble when he hasn't.

Claire is also getting so big. She is back and daycare and very happy in the tots room. I am very glad that she is very happy to be there in the morning, but she is also happy to be picked up in the afternoon. She is very attached when we get home, so we end up spending a lot of time watching Spongebob and reading once we get home. Sometimes she lets me escape for a few minutes when Daddy gets home. I love that she loves me and needs me, but do find it stressful that I cannot just hold her all the time.

All in all live is just moving along. Hope to post more soon.

First Week of Summer

Well, we are already down our first week of summer. The kids have been loving it of course, as have I!

The week started off on a bum note with both Evan and I having a stomach virus, but fortunately that passed quickly and we were able to go on. For the rest of the week Evan went to baseball camp at a local high school from 9-12 every day. He enjoyed it and we wished it would last another week.

We also went to Hawaiian Falls, a nearby water park that we have season passes for, twice. The kids really enjoy it! Thursday, was a very rainy and wet day, so we took advantage of it by going to Amazing Jakes. Amazing Jakes is kind of like Chuck-E cheese on steroids. Evan got a pass to play unlimited laser tag, which he loved! Claire rode the merry-go-round, train, and flying jets. She also tried to play lots of games. Evan can't wait to go back.

Over the weekend, Ladd was largely out of commission from the stomach bug. Evan had a baseball game, and was tickled that our neighbor across the street could come watch him. Sunday, we had church, and then after rest, we went to the local pool with our neighbors. After an hour of swimming, we came back and had some more fun (AND FOOD) in the backyard. The kids went to bed happy, but exhausted--and the grown-ups enjoyed their time as well.

Hopefully, this week will bring lots of new adventures!

Busy Busy Busy

I am happy to announce that all the hard work with the Robotics team paid off.  We brought home 1st place.  Evan was just as happy and proud if he had won it himself.  I am glad about that since he had to attend every practice and stay late after school all year.

We are winding down the school year, but there is still lots of excitement going on.  Evan has all sorts of fun next week.  Claire will be very glad to get to stay home as well. 

We are making lots of plans for the summer that include the nearby water park, baseball camp, possible vacation, and Mommy tutoring.  

10 More Days

We are down to our last 10 days of school.  I can't believe that Evan is almost finished with Kindergarten!  We are very busy with year-end activities.  

I have been very busy with the school Robotics team that I sponsor.  We are participating in a competition this weekend, and the team has been working hard.  Ladd and the kids have been very supportive of all of the time it has taken.  Evan has been hanging out with the team every day.  He will probably be sick of it by the time he is old enough to actually join the team.  

Claire is a sweet child with the TERRIBLE TWO's.  Frequently, she grins at us like she is saying, "I know I'm cute, you can't help but give in to me."  When she is sweet, she is oh so sweet.  I am looking forward to being able to have her at home with me most of the summer.