We made a water slide for the boys, which proved to be much fun! David had to stop & splash in the mud each time he got out of the pool!
David got lots of Legos!
Lots of family & friends came by.
It was a good day! (that's Mason, David's cousin)
Seriously, have you ever seen an earthworm that long???!!?!? Found it today while digging for a new flower bed under the front windows.
Sissy made meatloaf. Then Lauren made meatloaf. Dad doesn't eat meatloaf. So I made stuffed peppers. ; )
Doesn't it look pretty on the plate? I used my own tweaked version of Momma's meatloaf recipe baked inside a bell pepper. I put the extra meat mixture in the bottom of the pan so that the peppers stand up (kinda like sticking them into play-doh), and it also gives me some extra meatloaf to have as leftovers. I love this recipe because it's so moist.
I woke this morning to the usual sounds of little feet running up & down the hall and little voices calling, "Mama! Where are you?" As I was helping Elizabeth out of her bed, I saw cows out the window. Cows in the front yard. Cows in the garden.
For those who might be wondering, the cows ate: an entire bag of goat feed that was in the barn, one skyscraper sunflower, the tops off all Grandpa's onions, 1 yellow squash plant, 1 horseradish plant, the tops off about 10 of my onions and pulled the bulbs out of the ground but did not eat the bulbs.
Then they moved to the back yard (or vice versa) and pulled up another onion and ate half of my cannas, the Mexican petunias, and all the wild sunflowers we hadn't chopped down yet.
They also bent in the side of 1 potato cage, broke the passenger side view mirror off the Saturn, and pooped all over the place!
I find it hard to believe that you turned 5 today. The time has flown by. I remember quite vividly when you were born and how proud the whole family was of the new little baby boy. So many of your milestones have been documented here, now to document the amazing little boy you've become.
You are an awesome big brother and a wonderful helper to Mom. Those that knew Dad when he was your age say you're a lot like him. You're funny and smart. You've been enjoying homeschool PreK this year and have soaked up more than I ever thought. I'm having trouble keeping up! You love science. You've enjoyed learning about the solar system, animals, simple machines, and the Earth, just to name a few. You've started to add and subtract. You don't like to write or color much, but you know your letters & the sounds they make and are starting to read words, even though you don't think you can.
You like to play. You amaze me with your Lego creations! You can follow the Lego instruction books to build things, but even more outstanding are the things you think of to build on your own. You are an engineer! And I didn't even know that the hands & arms would come off the little Lego people! You're always up for a good light saber fight. You love to run with Elizabeth, jump on the trampoline and swim. You help with the garden and have taken a liking to the goats. There's some of Mom in there, too.
I am so proud of you and I can't wait to see what amazing things you'll do between now & your next birthday!
At Sonic, after deciding to get a red slush Elizabeth screamed: I want a blue one! I gonna cry now! Ahhh-haaah... I like a baby.
Mom: Is crying nice?
Elizabeth: No... (pause) I funny now! hahaha...
Mom: Is funny nice?
Elizabeth: Uh-huh!
Look! We got a dog. Her name is Dixie. She came with the name. We got her on Freecycle. We hope she keeps raccoons away.
I am updating my blog with photos from our trip last week. You may need to actually go to my blog (if you're on a reader) and scroll down to see all the posts because I'm editing one that was already on there, too. It will probably take me a few days to get it all done...
Wednesday of our trip was a relaxing day at home. Sarina had PreK in the morning.
That afternoon Dad went back to Oyster Lake & caught one fish, but it wasn't large enough to keep. Sarina had an end-of-year party at PreK where they celebrated all the summer birthdays. She's in August. So after supper, we also celebrated David's birthday a little early.
After supper, which was a delicious smorgasbord of shrimp & rice, we all went fishing at Palacios. Look, there's even Matt!
Still didn't catch anything, but it was a great day. At bedtime, Dad told David we'd be going home in the morning. There was much crying. Kalaya & I stayed up as late as we possibly could to make the most of our last night together. It was a sweet time.
Elizabeth, on the way to the jetty with the fishing net that Dad bought for her: I catch a fish! I catch a fish! Here, fishy fishy! Here, fishy fishy!
Click on the photo to see her holding the net!
David's words at bedtime every night: Is tomorrow another beach day?
Yes, David, it is! Tuesday was pretty cool when we got up, so we decided to wait until it warmed up some before hitting the beach. We rested, the kids enjoyed playing around the house, and we visited.
After lunch, we drove slowly (so the kids could nap) to Matagorda for Beach Day 2!
It was still pretty chilly out there and very windy!
David has been looking forward to this moment for over a year... Beach Day!
This first beach day was actually Oyster Lake, but you'd have thought we'd landed on the most beautiful beach in the world based on the kids' reactions.
Kalaya, Lavery and Brigid went with us. Sarina was at PreK. The beach was actually made of crushed oyster shells. Dad even broke an oyster open while we were there.
No, he didn't actually eat it... he didn't have the horseradish! Dad also caught a number of hermit crabs and showed them to the kids. One of them was HUGE!
They walked on the sand bar, threw shells into the water, dug in the sand/shells, David caught his own hermit crab at the shoreline, and we saw lots of wildlife.
I forgot to apply sunscreen to the kids & Elizabeth got pretty red even though we were only there for the morning hours.
Perhaps the most exciting part, for me, was seeing a dolphin! It swam pretty close to where we were and looped around, flopping & thrashing as it caught fish. You can just barely see it as it headed off into the distance here:
We picnicked in the car & headed back to the house to rest. After supper, Dad wanted to try out the fishing on the piers & jetties in Palacios.
Something was pulling on his line, but it broke before we saw what it was!
Kalaya & I try to get together at least twice a year. Usually at my house in the winter and her house in the summer. I think we've been faithful to get together every year since college. Our gathering has now grown to 10 when we include husbands & kids!
And David's last words at bed time, "Is tomorrow another beach day?"
