I came across this scene yesterday morning as we were trying to get the kids ready for church. It's pretty cool and funny how they find such amazement in the little things like a night light. Josh was just dumbfounded how by merely moving his little body back and forth it was somehow mysteriously connected with the light turning on and off.
Emily continues to grow fonder and fonder of music. Lately she has been singing her heart out to her songs from the "King of the Jungle" musical that our church children's choir will be performing in the next several weeks. She also loves writing her own songs every once in a while as is demonstrated above. I have called this particular song the na na na na na na na song. Also, if you're looking for a cheap toy it's hard to beat latex glove baloons!
We treated the kids to a little Johnny Rockets tonight (Free Kids Meals on Tuesday nights!). Of course Joshua got chicken and Emily got a hamburger.

Poppaw and Grammy's Visit

Here's a few pictures and video highlighting our last few days with Poppaw and Grammy's visit. This video was taken at Emily's Preschool as Grammy got to come and read some stories to the class. In this shot she has magically turned the classroom into a majestic forest where they are all on a bear hunt together.

On Friday we all loaded up in the car (Brian driving (yes!), Poppaw Copilot, Whitney (the sandwich meat in between the kids) and Bunny crammed in the back with all the strollers, snacks and umbrellas) and we headed to Brenham for the Bluebell Icecream Factory tour. The kids are sporting their official hats above. We all agreed that our official new favorite is Old Fashioned Vanilla with Stawberries...mmmmm good.

On Saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn (for us at least) and raced off to Emily's 8:30 soccer game only to discover that there was no soccer game and it had been cancelled. The sad thing is I'm the coach and I had no idea my own game was cancelled....oops. It was a little chilly. But Emily did score three goals in our pretend game. It wasn't a complete loss for us as we did get to swing by and get some kolaches and doughnuts from Sundales.

Josh wasn't overly thrilled about being outside in the early hours of the morning in the cold for a 'pretend' soccer game.

We all went over to Burroughs Park later in the afternoon on Saturday. It was a beautiful day. Emily had a blast sitting on these cement animals, playing hide and seek on the playground equpment.

Emily also had a blast on the swingset as Poppaw pushed her higher and higher. I think that she even had a chance to push Poppaw for a little bit too.

One of the highlights of the park experience was a little game we made up. The kids would crawl through this tunnel above and I would be the big monster and stick my hands through the holes at the precise moment they would be racing through the tunnel. If my hand happened to make contact with their body it would spontaneously erupt into a feverish tickling spree which would provoke Emily and Joshua into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

And of course the only way to top off the end of a day full of activities is to pile on a couch or bed and read some great books together. Grammy read "No more jumping on the bed", "An Orange for a Belly Button" and topped it off with "Three Armadillos Tuff". The last book's intense and complicated plot scheme proved too much for our valiant little son Joshua and as you can see by the picture above he admitted defeat and plopped over and was out for the count.

The Shopaholic and the Dancin' Queen

Joshua and his sister have been getting much enjoyment out of their new little plastic shopping cart that Whitney picked up at our church consignment sale. Joshua explains his shopping list to me and we have a little chat about finances and his various sources of income.
Emily continues to grow more and more in her love for music and dance. Here she is once again in her pink tutu sportin' her stuff. Grammy and Poppaw were able to come and see this little number at her studio on Wednesday. They had a big time as they also got to go the the Children's museum, play in the playground at the mall with the big tree in the middle (that Mommy and Daddy never let them play in because it is the germ distribution center hub of the known universe), go to Chik-Fil-A, and ride the Carrousel. The night was then topped off with about a 9 hour power outage and apparently a tornado that was lurking somewhere around our neck of the woods. The kids just saw it as a fun party in the dark where they got to play with flashlights.

Sitting on a giant couch at the Children's Museum at the Woodlands Mall.

Emily and Grammy experiencing the Caroussel at the Mall.

Bravery and Growth Spurts

Emily is expanding her bravery and courage on the playground. On Saturday we stopped at this playground in the Woodlands and she demonstrated her balance as she walked upon these little black steps. Also tonight at the softball game she attempted for the first time the old fireman's pole (with a little bit of help from Daddy). Way to go Emily!

We think that Josh may be hitting a growth spurt as he is finally starting to get a man-sized appetite (especially breakfast). The other morning I believe that he ate the following combination: oatmeal, yogurt, apples and multiple pieces of cinnamon toast which still is lingering on his face above.

Spring Break Week

It's always nice to retreat to the hill country when we get the chance. Bunny and Ronnie had never been to my parents place so we stole a way for a couple of days. This picture captures one of my kids favorite things to do in Wimberley (besides throwing rocks in the river) playing in the little rock fountain. It starts off gradually with a little feel of the water with their hands and then the inevitable destination is full on soakage. Josh was priceless as he would splash some water on himself and it would take his breath away and then he would giggle in delight at the sensation. They discovered how cool it is to put rocks on the water fountain and make it squirt out in random directions. Emily was a fan of straight up sitting on the fountain as well.

Josh is enjoying a moment with Poppaw on the couch.

Once again Whitney's mom declared war on our backyard weeds and briars (we saved up some good ones for her since her last visit). The kids have discovered the joy of digging holes in our backyard as they apparently dug up our termite catcher thingy and then covered up the hole that it was in and have been redistributed the mulch at random places in our yard. I think with a little leadership and coaching they will make a fine landscaping team one day. Also, Emily has been racking in a good profit over the last several days as she has stumbled across a cash reward system with Poppaw and Grammy. When she does certain chores they give her a quarter so she has been expanding her piggy bank collection (Daddy even got desperate in Wimberley and bribed her with a quarter if she would smile for a picture).

Weekend Recap

As usual we had a pretty full weekend. Friday started off with some fun as we discovered the contents of our glove compartment scattered over our front seat and soon realized a neighborhood bandit had whisked through our neighborhood that night. We were happy to discover that Whitney's wallet was not stolen but on the stolen list was our digital camera (so we'll be a little absent on the pictures for a little bit), Emily's pink Disney princess laptop (I'm sure that will really get a ton of money at the pawn shop), and about $15 or so in cash. The kind of funny part about our little neighborhood crime was that on the same night we got hit, Ted and Shelly across the street got hit, and our other neighbors Tommye and David got hit (we call ourselves the 'triad' as our houses form a triangle and we are kind of like adopted family here in our neighborhood). The further irony was that it wasn't a forced entry but we all made it incredibly easy as we somehow all managed to accidentally leave our car unlocked in our driveway overnight. Also, the night before that our Nintendo Wii died so apparently we're going through a forced fast of some of our favorite electronic gadgets. Ted and I were talking about it that maybe sometimes God allows these types of things to help us remember to hold tightly to Him and loosely to the things of this world. Well, Poppaw and Grammy are in now and already we have majorly leaned on them as free babysitters as we had a wedding Saturday night and a church get together last night. Today we'll be heading out to Wimberley for a couple of days to visit my parents.

Conversations

It's cool to pause and just spend some time talking and asking questions to our children. Last night we had one of those moments with Emily as we were tucking her into bed. I asked her what she was going to be when she grows up and she looked at me with this cute little smile which meant 'Daddy, you already know the answer to that question' and she replied 'A Barney live teacher' (which has been her consistent answer for sometime now). I asked her why and she said because she gets to talk with Barney and also hold Barney's hand. I then had to ask her who she was going to marry when she grew up and she said once again as she's been saying, "Blake" (a boy a little older than Emily who goes to our church). And then I said something else later or asked something and I just remember Emily replying 'Daddy you're not right' (which of course it was too good a setup for Whitney to chime in with 'You're just now figuring that out' (well played Whitney)).

This morning Emily and Joshua were once again having a heated discussion on whether or not one of their friends was handsome or beautiful. Then Joshua announced to us that he was a Murmaid named 'silly boy'.

Here's a couple of snapshots of the kiddos. At the top is them experiencing one of their favorite past times, blowing bubbles. Above is another activitiy they are quite fond of. Basically they alternate taking turns placing themselves in a large canvas storage bin and the other one buries them with stuffed animals. Below is a little video of Josh completely buried and out of sight.

Helpful hints to coaching 4 year olds

So I'm 4 weeks in to my 4 year old soccer coaching debut at the YMCA. Our team name is the bears and I've already been asked if I went to Baylor and no I did not. Here's a few things I've learned so far:

1. Coaching 4 year olds has nothing to do with knowing anything about soccer

2. Turn everything into a game (The big hit was getting all the kids in the goal. I then told them that they were no longer sitting in a goal but it was a bear cave. I could see the suspense and excitment rising. I then had them throw all of their soccer balls out in the field. I asked them what those round things were called and they said 'balls!'. I then told them that those things were no longer balls but they were bear cubs that were lost and separated from their bear cave. I then told them that it was up to them to work together as a team to rescue all the little bear cubs and get them all back in their cave. I blew the whistle and with a passion and hustle and conviction I saw all these little humans running like wild banshees to try and rescue these poor helpless baby bears. It was amazing how motivated they instantly became when their furry little friends lives were at stake)


3. Most of these kids have never experienced the effects of continuous exercise (we took some time to listen to our heartbeats (they thought that was pretty cool although one kid told me he couldn't feel a heartbeat which was a little scary at first but we confirmed it was there), one of our players said that 'her skin was starting to melt' which I interpreted as her experiencing the 'sweating' sensation for the first time in her life.


4. A.D.D. has a whole new meaning (our practices and games are a series of noticing sunsets, swatting imaginary bees, sharing about their day at school, etc)


5. Never underestimate the power of candy (So yesterday I told all the kids at the beginning of practice that if they tried hard, worked together and listened to their coaches that I would reward them with some candy and I'd say it worked pretty well).


But seriously these kids are really growing on me and I am enjoying the privilege of getting to know them and their parents more ane more each week!


And now for our picture of the day (God bless these poor little boys with big sisters):

A Musical Week

Our musical tour begins with MDO (Mothers day out) which is on Mondays. Of course our children's favorite time is going into the adventure church room and jamming out to their music. In this little clip it seems that our daughter is taking a particular interest in air guitar as seen by the circling and gyrating arms and hips. She has quite a passion for jamming out when she gets the chance.

Our next stop is Josh's little group. This is a clip of Joshua singing one of his favorite songs 'Amazing Grace' (with a little new twist to it).


Our last stop is out in the parking lot of Emily's Ballet studio. I was taking a minute to shave (I know it's kind of weird, I don't think I ever shave in a normal place) and Josh and I were visiting for a minute and he started talking to me about what his favorite songs are: Jesus loves me and Jesus loves the little children. He also took the opportunity to give me his little rendition of them too. Here's some other snapshots of our week:

Emily and Josh love Krogering on Sunday nights as they get to ride in their little two-seater hot rod attached to the grocery cart. We snagged this shot at the end of our shopping experience.

Emily's preschool had a Dr. Seuss party on Tuesday and they got to make their own Dr Seuss hats and one of the dads came in and made balloon dogs for them as well (which Daddy has already had to repair a couple of times...I'm on my way to becoming a baloon artist).

Our parting shot was taken this morning as our little ballerina took a quick power nap on the couch.