Easter 2011

Today we woke up to snow!!! Can you believe it? We had such a beautiful winter and now we are getting snow. Luckily, it didn't stick on the ground and didn't cover the eggs that the Easter Bunny left us outside.

When Emma was first placed with us, my friend, Mare gave her a beautiful purple dress. She wore it on her first Easter. I, of course, bought Braxton a matching shirt and tie that year. They looked so cute. Last year, her dress was white with little pink flowers, I bought Braxton a pink tie to match. Again, so cute. I bought Emma's dress first again this year, knowing that I would buy the dress and then buy a matching shirt or tie for Braxton (it's all about the dress, afterall). Well, this year, Braxton informed me that he didn't want to match his sister because wearing the pink tie last year was too embarrassing. He was a good sport and let me buy him a nice Easter-y green tie. There is a little flower on Emma's dress that has a green left that matched Braxton's tie. See, we all win.

I tried to take a nice picture of the kids in their Easter outfits, but it didn't work out so well. Emma was a little too hopped up on sugar and wouldn't cooperate. They did look very cute today and ate way too much candy.

Oh and here's a special shout out to the Easter Bunny for not bringing any of my favorite candies this year so that I can stay on the wagon. Thanks Easter Bunny!!! (I miss you Cadbury Mini Eggs and Starburst Jelly Beans xoxoxo)

Happy Easter

Blue and Gold Banquet

We had our Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet on February 24th. Braxton received his Bear Badge that evening. It's been fun being his Bear Leader this year.

The boys had a Cake Bake-off. They had to bake a cake with their Dads. Moms were not allowed to help. They decided to make a Pac-Man cake. There were few problems in the kitchen, but the cake turned out fine. The cupcakes, well, I wouldn't have recommended eating those, but Cub Scouts will eat just about anything. :)

Science Fair 2011

Braxton had his Science Fair at school last week. His class did 2 group projects and he did an individual one. The group ones were the M&M Lab, does an M&M dissolve faster in water or another liquid and the Tennis Ball Lab, where they bounced different brands of tennis balls to see if more expensive ones bounced higher. Very fun.

His individual one was "Does Jell-O Preserve Fruit?" He took three different glass bowl, he added an apple slice, an orange slice, a grape and a slice of banana in each bowl. In one bowl, he added water, in another Jell-O, the third, he just left the fruit alone. Over 7 days, he took notes and pictures of the changes in the fruit. The answer to the question is Yes, Jell-O does indeed preserve fruit. All the fruit turned brown, but the Jell-O fruit did stay fresher longer. Only 7 kids in the whole school got interviews with the judges, meaning that the kids who got interviews were in the running to be the winner. Braxton was one of the students who had an interview. We were so excited for him. The neat thing is that 3 out of the 7 students who had interviews were in Braxton's class, including the boy that won the science fair. His teacher does a great job with teaching science and doing labs with them.

Braxton and his display board

Pig dissection (that science in the country)

Making marshmallow domes

Emma ate most of the marshmallows

The fruit on the first day

Bowl 1

Bowl 2

Bowl 3

The Fruit on Day 7

Bowl 1

Bowl 2

Bowl 3

Disneyland 2011

We spent 3 wonderful days at Disneyland back in January. If you ask me, 3 days is not enough time. I wish we had just one more day. We went to Disneyland with Kevin, Jonathan, Gus, Kevin's friend, Julie, and her children. It rained the first day we were there. POURED!!! But we are die-hards and we stayed and enjoyed the short lines. We also saw "World of Color" which is the new water and lights show at California Adventure. We saw it twice. It was probably my favorite thing that we did this trip. The Happiest Place on Earth once again lived up to it's name.

Our Hero, Uncle Kevin

The main reason we went to California was for my brother-in-law, Kevin's, retirement ceremony. He retired from the Marine Corps. after 20 years and 10 months of service. We are so proud of him and grateful for his service.

Texas Surprise!!!

On Christmas, while Shelley and I were sitting in the kitchen, she mentioned to me that she was planning to go to Texas to spend New Years with Ryan's sister, Bobbi and her children. We talked about how we hadn't seen Bobbi or her kids for about 5 years and how fun it would be to go surprise them. Well we kept talking and we all decided to do it. We left for Texas on December 29th and drove 16 hours to surprise them. They knew that Shelley was coming, but they didn't know that she was bringing the rest of us. We got there at 9:00 am and they were all very surprised and happy to see us. We ate breakfast and then went to Six Flags over Texas. We had such a great day. It's sad some times to live far away from family, especially when your nieces and nephews grow up so fast.

The Happy Meal McDonald's (as seen on The Travel Channel)

Ryan and Kira

Kira, Kathryn and Emma

Austin, Shelley and Braxton

Ryan and the girls on the teacups. Emma is on there too.

Me, Emma and Kathryn

Shelley

Me and Emma

Braxton and Austin

Getting on the teacups

One of the best roller coasters ever!!!

My tired and very cute kids

The whole gang

We had a great time with family. We were there for four days. Poor Braxton came down with the flu the first night and wanted to spend most of the time sleeping at the hotel. We didn't get much sleep, but we still loved being there. He misses his cousin Austin all the time, so it was so nice to see them together.

Christmas 2010

We had a very quiet and laid back Christmas. It was perfect. We didn't travel or have any huge party, we just spent the day as a family. Shelley came over on Christmas Eve and spent the night. Usually, we get to sleep in on Christmas morning, but this year, Braxton got up at 6:30 and was ready to go. We had a great dinner and it was fun to stay in our pjs all day and just be together.

Grandma and Braxton. Braxton just read the note that said that we were going to Disneyland in January.

Emma in the wonderful Christmas mess

Checking out our stockings

Braxton really wanted a Kinect. We didn't think Santa would be able to make that wish come true this year. Well, we won one at Ryan's work party this year!!! So, we gave it to Santa and let him take the credit for making Christmas dreams come true. The Kinect is really fun.

A very excited girl. Who wouldn't love a Dora ball and Sock Monkey?

Braxton has been asking Santa for Mario Kart for Wii for years. He FINALLY got it!!

Ryan, Emma, Grandma Shelley and Braxton.

Merry Christmas

Believe

"You always come around this time of year with your big ole bag that's full of Christmas cheer

And when it starts to snow the little boys and girls all know soon they'll hear the sound of your reindeer.

Now sometimes grownups grow up to believe that you don't really come on Christmas Eve,

But I don't think that's true 'cause I know I see you in sparking little eyes around the tree."

"Oh Santa Claus, I still believe in you.

And there's still a kid inside of me that still believes you're true.

Oh Santa Claus, the kids are tucked in tight.

And I'll be waiting up for you tonight."

-Santa Claus (I Still Believe in You), Alabama