officially a big boy!

Dave has been telling William for some time that as soon as he turns 5 he is going to have to learn to ride his bike with no training wheels. William has been on board with this for awhile. It was super cold here for the first few weeks of February after he turned 5, but last weekend it was beautiful. We took the opportunity to go over to the elementary school and start the training.

He was a little wobbly, but he did a pretty good job. We didn't want to push things, so we decided to wait a day or 2 to try again.

2 days later, Dave called me while he was out practicing with him, telling me that it just wasn't working. I gave him a few tips on ways to deal with William when he gets scared/nervous/uncooperative. About 30 minutes later, they arrived home. And what do you know? William was riding with NO training wheels...all the way down the street! (don't be alarmed by the cry at the end. Hudson had fallen over in the driveway...)

Playing in the snow, Oklahoma style

When we were in Oklahoma a few weeks ago for my uncles funeral, my hometown had just had the snowstorm of the decade. Thankfully, it had warmed up from the previous days' -30F! We had a blast in the snow.

Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but there were 3ft snow drifts on the deck!

The great thing about playing in the snow in Oklahoma: getting pulled around by the tractor! The kids thought it was the best ever.

Calling all Superheroes!

William requested a Superhero birthday party this year for his birthday.

We started off by all the kids coloring Spiderman pages...

Once all the kids got there, I explained to them the the SuperVillain was trying to destroy the party, and I was going to equip them to defeat him. Their first avenue of defense was their capes. I hate custom capes made for all the kiddos with their initial on the back.

As soon as they got their capes, the Villain arrived and dumped a bunch of "birthday bombs" (black balloons). Their mission was to defuse the bombs by stomping on them.

Their next avenue of defense was their superhero bracelets (Iron Man silly bandz). I had them do some warm ups to get ready to fight, if the time should come that the villain attacked again. Below is musical "chairs" complete with Superhero music.

About the time they finished musical chairs, the Villain arrived again, this time to drop kryptonite all over the floor! The kids had to use special thongs to pick them up and put them in a Hazardous Material bin:

Their final defense was Web Slinger (Silly string). We headed outside, in case the Villain were to try to get us there.

As they all gathered in the backyard, awaiting the Villain, they saw this:

 and then the Villain jumped down from the roof, and the kids attacked:

After they defeated the Villain, we headed inside for Cake and ice cream.

 and of course, presents!

It was such a fun party, and William said it was exactly what he was hoping for!

Cousins and other family...

While funerals are not really fun for anyone, it is very nice to see family that I don't get to see very often.

The below picture if of all of us first cousins, minus 1 (my sister couldn't make it from London).

my cousin Dylan and me

Dylan and Garrett

Sarah, Dylan, Garrett, and me

My grandma (in the chair) and her kids (with a couple of spouses)

from left to right:

Phyllis (with husband RJ), Ruth, Joyce (with husband Gene), Frank (with wife Myrt), Trish, and my dad, Rick. There were 11 kids originally (5 full-blood, and 6 half siblings). Some of the 1/2 brothers and sisters couldn't make it to the funeral, and my dad's sister, Gail, passed away nearly 20 years ago.

It was a sad day, saying goodbye to my Uncle Tom, but it was great to see everyone and remember the great times we had with him.

Uncle Tom

Early this morning, my Uncle Tom (my dad's brother) lost his battle with cancer.  My uncle was an amazing man who I loved very much. Here are a few more recent memories of him.

Uncle Tom and Aunt Gloria a few weeks before our wedding (May 2003):

My Grandma's 80th birthday 2004 (Uncle Tom is in the yellow shirt):

Meeting William (May 2006):

Hanging out at my Grandma's house 2006 (in the green shirt):

My Grandma's 85th birthday party 2009:

This past Christmas 2010:

 As you can see, his health has been a slow decline over the last few years. We will miss him very much!

Channeling the warm day

The weekend before our Arctic Blast we had an unusually warm day. It was 75 degrees on Saturday! We took advantage of the warmth and headed down to the Fort Worth mini train. We got off at the half way stop, and had a picnic for lunch and walked along the "rock bridge" on the river. It was a PERFECT day. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

I'm ready for Spring.

Snow Day(s)

Last week was crazy weather around here....for you Northerners, I'm sure this sounds ridiculous. But remember that our city just isn't equipped to handle an Arctic Blast! Monday night, we got lots and lots of snow and ice. Tuesday-Thursday was just solid snow/ice on the ground. It wasn't playable...but Thursday night, it snowed about 4-6 inches, so Friday was perfect snow-playing weather.

5 Years

I simply cannot believe that my child is 5 years old. Where have the years gone? Yes, I realize this is a very cliche thing to say....but it's the truth. We had grand plans for William's birthday (it was Tuesday, Feb 1). It was a school day, so he was going to take his classmates cupcakes. He requested homemade spaghetti for dinner, which I was going to slave away all day making. We were going to have a yummy chocolate cake for dinner, and open gifts. I was getting him a fish from a friend who no longer wanted theirs. It was to be a great birthday day.

It all started on Monday when I started feeling under the weather...sore throat (never a good sign). Then the weather forecasters were calling for an Arctic Blast to hit during the night. It was so much of a threat that they called off school the next day (there goes the cupcakes for his classmates). I decided I better head to the doctor since the arctic blast would probably keep us trapped inside for a least a day. Good thing I did because it turned out I had strep throat (there goes me making him homemade spaghetti).

My hero dad braved the roads on Tuesday morning to come pick up the boys so that I could lay in bed all day, and so that William had at least a little bit of excitement for his birthday. Playing at Mimi and Papa's is always exciting. I promised William a special birthday dinner the next day, and he was as happy as a lark about it. Papa brought the boys home around dinner time, and we let William open the other gifts that had been collected from other family members. Phew!

I still didn't feel great on Wednesday, but I mustered up the energy to make him his requested dinner. By dinner time, I was feeling about 80%, so I considered it a good day. The dinner was everything he wished for, and he even ate 2 servings! I had planned to make the classmate cupcakes for him that night so that he could take them to school the next day, but alas, school was cancelled again.

We still haven't ventured out to get said fish, but he knows that there's one more gift coming. It's like the birthday that keeps on giving! And we'll manage to get his classmates some cupcakes next Tuesday, assuming we don't get more ice and snow.

I think he's about 1 week old here:

1st birthday (cake in the face!):

2nd birthday:

3rd birthday (in Houston):

4th birthday:

5th birthday (way excited about money!):

I love you so much, William!!!

The Michael Jackson Experience

The newest adult game in our house is the Michael Jackson Experience.  "Dave" got it for his birthday from my sister, but I'm definitely having the most fun with it (probably because I'm so awesome at it!). It's a Wii game, and basically, the way it works is this: you follow Michael Jackson's dance moves to the songs of your choice. You hold 1 Wii remote, so basically it is just judging that one hand. But trust me when I tell you that it is way easier to do the whole dance, with your whole body. It's a BLAST to do, and HILARIOUS to watch.

I'm pretty sure this is "Dirty Diana":

 Let's just say Dave isn't a "natural":

 Trent, Garrett, Tasha, and my mom:

Tasha and Lauren:

Trent, Dave, and Trent's BFF Aaron (far left):

 This was definitely "Black or White":

If you ever come visit, it's highly likely that I will challenge you to a dance-off. So, be ready to get your dance on!

Fort Worth Stock Show

Nearly every year we go to the Stock Show. This year was especially cool because we found out that our Science Museum membership gave us free admission to the stock show! As always, it did not disappoint. And like 2 years ago, Trent and Paige went with us, so that was super fun!

Checking out the cows:

Waiting for the cow-milking demonstration with Mimi:

Hudson showing off his muscles, and Uncle Trent showing off his beard:

For some reason, this scene really made us all laugh. As you can imagine, folks at the Stock Show REALLY get into it. So, below you can see these Cow owners really thought something of their 2 cows. It was like "Welcome to the Cow Show"

A lovely little 4-H girl showed Hudson how to scratch the underbelly of a cow:

Since we were right across the street from the science museum, we decided to go in there for a few minutes. Trent and Paige had some fun:

It was a fun afternoon adventure! It's funny because when I'm around all those 4-H/Cowboy type people, I almost feel like I'm in another country! But, we are in Texas, so I guess after nearly 8 years, I should start to get used to it!