Space Center Houston

Space Center Houston ROCKS!!! After letting the kids swim at the hotel pool on Friday, we decided to head down to Space Center Houston.

Olivia & McIver humored me by posing for a picture while Will bought tickets.

Will & Olivia on the tram tour - we went behind-the-scenes at NASA's Johnson Space Center and saw the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility where the astronauts actually train in true-to-size mock-ups of the space shuttles before each mission.

In front of one of 5 'blast off engines' (as McIver called it) on the Saturn V. We were all pretty impressed with the size of the space ship.
The current exhibit is Circus: Science Under the Big Top. They had everything from how a human cannonball works to how performers can swallow swords. McIver was excited about lifting the dumbbells in the clown tent.
Olivia waited not-so-patiently to walk the tightrope. I wasn't sure that she would end up doing it, even after the long wait, but she got all buckled into the harness and zipped right across that wire. She was at least 8 feet off the ground. I was so proud of her!

A few more Thanksgiving pictures

After several phone calls, Will was able to get the recipe for his GranGran's biscuits. (Turns out that I had written it in one of my cookbooks after he tracked it down last year.) It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without them!
Will, Pop & McIver manned the turkey fryer (with a little help from Murphy!).

We managed to get a family picture at the hotel just before they left for the airport. We promised the kids that they could swim in the hotel pool one last time if they would just cooperate and smile for the picture. Turned out pretty well, I think.

McIver will be a lawyer one day!

Exhibit A:
We came home from Target today to discover the left-over apple pie totally DESTROYED on the kitchen counter. It had only been loosely covered with saran wrap so I assumed that Murphy had managed to get to it while we were away. As I stood in the middle of the kitchen shaking my finger at Murphy and telling him he's 'not supposed to eat people food-it will make your throw up-how did you even get to it,' Olivia interrupted to tell me that McIver had climbed up on the counter earlier that morning because he wanted some pie.

So, I turned to McIver and started shaking my finger at him reminding him that he's 'not supposed to get food without asking mommy or daddy first-applie pie is not a healthy thing to eat for breakfast, etc.'

McIver said: I wanted to ask, but you were in the shower and I didn't want to bother you.

Exhibit B:
We went to a friend's house tonight for a 'left-over dinner.' I was a little nervous to go without Will (he's on call) but she assured me there would be plenty of big kids (her daughter is 14) who would help watch out for and entertain Olivia and McIver.

About half-way through the grown-ups' dinner, McIver came downstairs asking whose house we were in. I pointed out Margaret to him and he walked over to talk with her. She pulled him up into her lap and asked what was going on. He told her that the big kids had put him into time-out. She asked why and he said he had thrown something down the steps. Margaret, trying to reason with him, very gently asked what would happen if he threw something down the steps at home.

McIver said: Well, we don't even have steps at home.

Thanksgiving 07

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving - and had even more to be thankful for than we knew. Will had a car accident on Wednesday morning which could have been really bad. No one was hurt, but his car is in pretty bad shape. God was watching over him!



Nanoo, Pop, Cacoo and Grandma Janet arrived in Houston and we met them at the hotel. After a tasty TexMex lunch, we shopped til we dropped (which doesn't take long with a 6 & 4 year old in tow) at the Galleria. The kids visited Santa and told them their Christmas wish list (including a Shark Boy & Lava Girl outfit which I can't find anywhere online so I'm not sure such a thing even exists!). We made our way to Build A Bear where Pop was kind enough to indulge Olivia, McIver AND Cacoo. Once O & Mac had enough, we walked back to the hotel with Grandma Janet so they could swim in the hotel pool - GREAT FUN! The best part of the whole day was that Olivia and McIver spent the night at the hotel!! They thought they were something else!

Olivia & McIver were SO glad to see Cacoo!

Pop & McIver enjoyed the cool weather while Will fried the turkey.

McIver writes his name for the 1st time

So I had some Christmas gifts all packaged up and ready to mail. Olivia and McIver love to decorate the boxes so they had gone to town with some Sharpies. When I came back around to check on their progress, I discovered that McIver had written his name on one of the boxes - ALL BY HIMSELF!! I'm sure that many kids his age are capable of doing that, but it was news to me that HE could. I have not encouraged him/pushed him in any way b/c he gets so frustrated when he can't do something exactly right the first time that he won't try again - ever. So, I'm super proud of my little guy!

This is what he wrote on the package.

This is his next attempt - with some help from Olivia to 'remember the E.'

Atlanta with the YaYas

The YaYa weekend in Atlanta was absolutely WONDERFUL!!! We celebrated Sadie's announcment that Baby Steffner #2 is on the way (due in early June). It was so great to see everyone and catch up in person rather than too-brief phone calls or not-so-personal emails. We ate, talked, drank good wine, luxuriated in comfy hotel beds, shopped, saw Dan in Real Life ("it was better than Cats!"), ate, drank and talked some more. Everyone should be so lucky! I love you girls - let's start planning the next get-away!

When Two or Three Are Gathered...

... together in my name, I am there among them. (Matthew 18:20)

We couldn't make it to church this morning b/c of McIver's fever yesterday (although he seems to be fine this morning). So, Olivia decided that we could have church at home. She set up chairs in the living room, turned on a Bible song CD, found bread and a bowl, water and a cup and she and Mac took turns giving each other communion. Hearing my children offer communion to each other, "This is the body of Christ, the bread of Heaven. This is the blood of Christ, the cup of salvation," was awe-inspiring. After too many days of being cooped up with a tired, sick child, this was definitely a much-needed God Moment!

This time next week...

I'll be on a plane headed to ATL to see the YaYas for the weekend . . . and I'm SO excited! But first, we have to get through a sick-visit to the doctor today at 1pm since Mac has been home with a cough and fever for 2 days. Will being on call tomorrow. Marathon ECW day at church on Sunday - pecan-making begins at 11am and then we have a potluck dinner meeting at 6:30. Three days of school next week for me (manners and Thanksgiving units to cover). 5 days of school for O & Mac, as long as they stay/get well. And, researching our family's 'country of origin,' helping Olivia make a headband with that country's flag and coming up with some sort of food dish to share with her entire class next Friday for the Multicultural Food Feast (which I will miss b/c, as I mentioned earlier, I will be on a plane, by myself!, headed to east to Atlanta!).
Here is who I'm so excited to see:

Clayton's 4th birthday party

Clayton is the son of my tennis partner (although we've only played together twice this season, so I guess I should really just call her our friend and realtor). We were invited to his 4th birthday party last Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and a good time was had by all.

Do you see that!? They're both smiling AND cooperating!

Mac gives the balance beam a try.
Olivia prepares to dismount.
Even Dad gave it a shot.

Golf enthusiasts

Will is trying his best to get Olivia and McIver interested in golf. (I think they'd be interested in most anything he suggests if it means spending time with Dad these days!) We went to Academy the other day and got 2 putters and an iron for the kids to share. Then, after a bit of practice in the backyard, Will took them to Hermann Park's golf course. Olivia was assigned camera-duty which only resulted in pictures of her feet, the back of the headrest in the car, and many self-portraits. Will did manage to take a few though...

How Old Does She Think I Am!?

So, Cacoo called on Halloween afternoon to see if she could borrow one of my old dance dresses from high school. I'm not sure which dress she chose, but the one she asked about is the one I wore to Junior-Senior (and, for the record, I LOVED that dress!). Anyway, she asked me, "So, what kind of dancing did y'all do BACK THEN ... the waltz?" (Emphasis mine!)

Since I don't have a picture of Cacoo in the dress, I'm posting this one from Disney last spring.

Happy Halloween!!

We had a great night of trick-or-treating. Olivia and McIver had a BLAST deciding which houses to go to, who would knock on the door and reminding each other to say "thank you" after getting candy. Both kids were done by the time their bags were too heavy to carry. So, we headed home, picked through the loot and decided what to keep and what to give to the Halloween Fairy, a cousin of the Tooth Fairy. Apparently, you can leave your candy at the front door, the Halloween Fairy will come and take it away and leave a surprise in its place. We'll keep you posted.

Posing for a quick picture with one of our pumpkins before hitting the streets.

Olivia picked out her favorites.

Kind of looks like Mac has already had more than enough!

Oh, to be 4!

McIver got a Bible song CD for his birthday. Our favorite song is This is My Commandment. The lyric actually says: This is my commandment, that you love one another and your joy may be full.

This is McIver's version: This is my commandment, that you love one another and your joy made me four! And he sings it with such gusto that you almost believe he's got the right words.

Happy Halloween!

GranGran & GranDaddy Visit

Ginny and Jimmy came to Houston for a long, long weekend. They took care of Olivia and McIver while I was busy at church with the ECW Annual Meeting. Unfortunately, GranGran was under the weather so we didn't get as many pictures as we would have if she had been feeling 100%. At any rate, here are a few...

Will and Ginny took the kids to the Fire Fest. They climbed in firetrucks, enjoyed moonwalks and slides and watched old junk cars being set on fire and then put out. McIver said the fire made his "brain hurt."
There's nothing like a snow cone on a beautiful fall day!
Apparently, McIver is a future rodeo star. I think he'd have to come up with a stage name, though. "McIver" just doesn't sound tough enough, if you ask me.
Olivia all decked out in her ballerina/Sleeping Beauty ensemble

for Sam Stricklin's 3rd birthday party.

Covenant Sunday at Palmer

Yesterday was Covenant Sunday - and Olivia's debut singing with the St. Nicholas Choir and McIver's Cherub Choir debut in the big church. Despite saying that she didn't like choir b/c "all we do is sing," Olivia did a great job. McIver was fine until he overheard another Cherub say she was scared. He balked a putting on the white collar briefly, but then all was well.

Pumpkin Patch

Every year, our realtor's company holds a great Pumpkin Patch. It's quite a party with costumes, cookies and pumpkins galore!

Spiderman trying to scale the fence!

BounceU Birthday Party

McIver was SO excited to be able to invite his entire class, plus a few other friends, to his birthday party at BounceU. This was his first real bash and he enjoyed every minute of it.

In the BounceU Birthday Chair waiting for his Spiderman cake.

Going down the big slide with Dad.

In the tunnel with Michael.

Still celebrating

Olivia just couldn't stand McIver not being able to open more of his birthday presents. We've been trying to hold off because Will has been working late and it didn't seem right to be opening gifts without him here. But, Olivia's persistence wore me down...

She picked out a Black & Decker took kit for him. He loves that the battery pack moves from sander to flashlight, just like Daddy's.

Celebrating with cupcakes in the Ladybug Class.

Let the Celebration(s) Begin...

Today is McIver's 4th birthday. Of course, because he's my child, he was able to open some presents early! (Really, we had a good reason - my Open House is tonight at school from 6:30 until after 8 so he NEEDED to be able to start celebrating last night!) He loves the baseball bat, glove and balls from Nanoo, Pop & Cacoo. We will open more presents later and are having the party on Saturday at BounceU with his whole class from school.

He actually made contact quite a few times and was so excited. This was last Thursday, so I can't really remember anymore why the children are wearing pajamas to play in the backyard.

Olivia picked out a Spiderman costume for him - a HUGE hit! (Until yesterday, he thought he had to be a pirate every year for Halloween - he's jazzed at the thought of being Spiderman!)
That would be SHEER DELIGHT on his face!

Firetruck visit at school

Last month at school, we practiced our first fire drill and invited a firetruck to visit our 3 year old classes. It was really, REALLY cool. They let the kids climb all around, in and out of the truck, try on the helmet, boots and jacket and even let them turn on the hoses. (This was new to all of us, they didn't even unroll the hoses last year, much less turn them on!) Since McIver is also in a 3 year old class, I was able to watch his reactions to the whole scene. Needless to say, he JUMPED at the chance to be first in line to hold the hose!

Olivia's Sunday School drawing

Olivia comments on the picture she drew at Sunday School yesterday: This picture is in the dark and the sun is setting. And it's raining. And Mommy's having a meeting at Palmer Church. And there's food there and we're staying home with Daddy and maybe we can get some supper on the way home.

Blessing of the Animals

Olivia and McIver were excited to sing for the Blessing of the Animals this morning at Palmer. We chose to leave our animals at home since Dad couldn't go with us to keep up with Murphy. There were LOTS of animals - live and stuffed - dogs, cats (some in carriers and, amazingly, some not), rabbits, hermit crabs, fish, guinea pigs and a parrot. Mac took his blue bunny and O (surprisingly!) took the ballerina pig that she received as a birthday gift. (Froggie was blessed last year, she reminded me.)

McIver's first public performance with Cherub Choir. He loved it!

Olivia follows Mrs. Courtney's cues closely.

Fr. Sam was the officiant and we were even joined by St. Francis of Assisi himself!

Home Sick with McIver

McIver woke up with a 102 temp early Monday morning - and an upset tummy. The upset tummy really freaked him out - I don't think he remembers the last time he was sick like that. After taking Olivia to school, we just spent the morning hanging around the house.

McIver: Mommy, I need you. I just don't feel good.
Me: What do you feel like, bud?
McIver: I feel like surgery.

Poor guy! He fell asleep yesterday afternoon (which is usually the kiss of death as far as bedtime goes), but ended up going to sleep just fine (maybe a tad late) which goes to show how sick he was. Anyway, he began to perk up once we got Olivia home from school and seems to be his old self today.