Watch The Count Down - Allison's Birthday

12 Years Is Fast Approaching......

A New Friend

The fun of living in the country brings a new friend just about everyday. If it's not the deer running across the front yard or the bunnies and squirrels trying to escape the furious dogs, then it would be a little reptile who has made his home on our front porch. A baby lizard has joined the family. If it were up to Alex the lizard would be in his room sleeping with him, but since a lizard is a creature from God, his home is outside in nature (that's what we have to tell Alex when he finds a living creature we do not want in the house). We discovered him on Sunday morning sandwiched between two pillows I have on the porch swing out front. Allison was able to catch him and return him to the Crepe Myrtle by the porch, she thought this would be a nice home since it's covered in flowers right now. Later in the day, Bill and I were working on a flower bed and our little friend returned on the opposite side of the porch, so we now convinced the lizard is here to stay.

U-Paint It - A Friday Afternoon

The week has been quite boring around here. It's been hot and it rained one day, so we just stayed home. Since the kids have been so good playing and helping around the house, I rewarded them with a trip to U-Paint It. U-Paint It is a pottery painting store you paint the piece or in our case, pieces, and then they fire them for you.

Last night I told the kids I had a surprise for them today, I gave them a few clues but never told them where I was taking them. This morning they both wanted to know where we were going, all I said was get dressed, make your beds and we will go. Surprisingly they got dressed and made their beds, the surprise was on me now!! AHHHH...The dream came true, the kids are self sufficient. :-) We had a few errands to run and get lunch before the surprise would be revealed. There was a constant guessing game going on in the back seat but I kept quiet. After the fun of guessing wore off, the frustration set in, I told them I would drive by the place on our way to eat lunch. As we are driving down the street U-Paint It is located on, I was watching them look out the windows, Allison never looked at the store, but spotted another store she recognized on the other sided of the street, putting two and two together, she said, "I figured it out, we are going to U-Paint It!"

Alex's patience and concentration with painting is getting a lot better. Allison just loves anything art, so she was happy and content the entire time, meticulously picking out color and making sure the pieces looked exactly like she had envisioned. I always have to paint something, usually I pick something the kids can leave their mark on, but today I picked a pumpkin that said Gig'Em, it's cute, but forgot to take a picture of it, that will be a follow-up blog.

Allison starting to work on her Kitty Keepsake Box

Alex concentrating very hard on his Cowboy Boot, check out his tongue.

The finished products.
Allison painted a mouse and a keepsake box. Alex painted a cowboy boot and an alligator.

What to do on a Sunday night?

The kids are starting to get antsy about school starting, so to break up the evening, the kids helped me in the kitchen bake a cake (yellow our favorite) and make vanilla pudding with homemade whipped cream, yummy! Whatever Allison will eat, I will fix, even if it's fattening for the rest of us. Allison is getting really good at reading recipes, using measuring spoons and measuring cups. She has learned a lot about fractions and measurement just by helping in the kitchen. I use pasturized eggs, so the kids love licking everything that has batter on it. It was hilarious, Allison stuck her entire head in the bowl.

Check out the kids aprons, they are wearing their artwork. They are so proud of them. Allison's picture is of a drawing of her room. Alex's picture is one of the monsters from the story "Where the Wild Things Are". Too cute!MixingGreasing the pan.

Enjoying the batter.

NASA

Today, we headed back to Houston. We took the kids to NASA for the second time this summer. We have family passes, so we don't have to do everything in one day and it has gives us the opportunity to come back whenever we want. Bill has a job 10 minutes from NASA so it works out perfectly, he checks on his job then we head over to Houston Space Center(the visitor center to NASA). It's a fun educational place to take the kids. We love Rocket Park, it is our absolute favorite place to visit at NASA. Rocket Park is where one of the Saturn 5 Rockets is on display. It is an amazing site to see something so big lying on it's side. On this trip we saw a movie How to be an Astronaut and then went to Rocket Park. We also spent more time learning about the rockets that are going to take us back to the moon: Aries I and Aries V. At Rocket Park they have a time line hanging on the wall depicting the Apollo progrm and I was able to read the events that took place in chronological order, very interesting. We enjoyed this trip because we didn't rush to see everything and we took more time to teach the kids, it was fun. At the entrance to the Space Center

We are waiting for the movie to start and Allison was practicing taking pictures with her camera. Not bad.

Bill, Alex and Allison standing by the Saturn 5 Rocket

Sitting by the Saturn 5

Family Wii Night

Thursday night, after going to the pool, it was time to play a little Wii Sports. Well, let's just say Allison is pretty good at Wii and there was full on competition between Bill and Allison. Usually, you let your child win, oh no, not Allison, she's good. They played golf, bowling, tennis, baseball, boxing and then they played Wii Play. Allison is very competitive, but a good loser. When she loses she figures out how to win, she doesn't give up until she's got a strategy figured out. She killed Bill in tennis, which as hilarious. She has figured out how to move the controller a special way and serve the ball so fast, you don't even have time to swing your controller. She's so proud of her tennis moves, a little evil laugh comes along with the the I beat you dance. Since I was to tired too play and had to get up early Friday morning, I watched them play and mediated the arguments between the kids. Alex hasn't really gotten into video games yet....he likes Wii Play and is really good at the Fishing game, it's easy and a lot of fun for him, good for his age level. Allison and her bowling moves. She had 3 strikes in a row with her "special" swing.

Bill and Allison getting ready to Box.