St. Patrick's Day, NOLA, and Easter

It's been a busy week! Monday was the St. Patrick's Day parade at Natalie & Owen's school. It was hard to convince Natalie to wear green, but she had a new outfit she got for her birthday that included green pants with pink ladybugs and she wore pink shoes, so she gave in. Poor Owen did not get to participate in the parade (the teachers may be hesitant about crossing the busy street with a group of 2 & 3 year olds). So he was a spectator from his playground until Mom came to get him to watch with her from the esplanade. That was a nice treat mid-morning on Monday; they had bag pipes and all at the parade! On Monday evening, Natalie's friend Jack and his mom came over to stuff easter eggs for the school egg hunt on Thursday. Natalie & Owen really enjoyed that project. Tuesday morning before school Mom let everybody open their Easter goodies from Grandma Laura and Grandpa Roger. They were pretty excited about their new stuff. Tuesday afternoon Mom & Dad (& Henry) had an orientation meeting for Henry at school. We were planning on starting him at 8 months like Natalie & Owen, but there is a waiting list at Esperanza, and an opening came up for April, so we took it. It's only a month early. So we really like his teacher and we think he'll do great when he starts next week. Thursday was the Easter egg hunt at school. Moms & Dads were not invited to Owen's hunt, but Mom was able to go watch Natalie hunt for eggs. She did very well, and filled her basket in no time. Thursday evening Mom, Natalie, and Owen had fun opening all the eggs they found and checking out the goodies.








Friday Dad was off work and school was closed. We headed to New Orleans - Mom was not off and had to conduct a quality and safety audit of the field investigation crew. We had a nice dinner with Paul & Mimi Friday night, then went to bed early so Dad could rest for the 10K he ran on Saturday. Sat morning he ran the Crescent City Classic 10K, and ran a respectable time. Mom & the kids hung at the room and enjoyed room service while we waited for him to get back. We headed back to Houston on Sat afternoon so the Easter bunny could find us on Sunday.







Sunday turned out to be a really nice day. The weather was nice and Natalie and Owen had a good egg hunt in the front yard. We worried that Nat would find all the eggs like last year, but this year Owen actually came out with more eggs. The kids all got some cool stuff from the Easter bunny, and we enjoyed the afternoon outside playing & relaxing from all of our travels (and other stress - what with Dad's work situation being an employee of Bear Stearns!!). We're looking forward to some low key weekends coming up.

Mom's Birthday and New York Trip

Thursday was Mom's birthday, and we left on our trip to New York City. It was a long day (with three kids), but Natalie, Owen, and Henry were all really good on the airplane. Henry fussed a little when settling down for a nap, but Natalie and Owen were really great about sitting in their seats and playing with the stuff in their backpacks. They must have been good since several neighboring passengers commented on their good behavior when we landed. It was great to get to Karen's and we all had a nap before she got home from work. We had a great visit with Karen and we all really enjoyed being in New York. The weather was really nice, and the rain and cold held off until we left. While we were there, we visited Build-a-Bear where Natalie and Owen got NY animals, and we went to one of our favorite restaurants. We also went to the Central Park Zoo and had fun hanging out at Karen's. We were all tired for the trip home and were glad to finally get home. This week we have the St. Patrick's Day parade at school, a quick trip to New Orleans, and maybe a visit from the Easter Bunny if everybody is good!

Big Girl Ballet and Family Visit

We've had a busy week! Of course Tuesday was the Texas primary, so that was all very exciting to watch how it turned out. We got out to vote, but didn't make it to the caucus at night (not a good idea with three little kids) and we were glad we stayed home since people were still in lines early into Wed morning! Thursday night Mom and Natalie went to see the Houston Ballet perform Cinderella. It was very exciting and we had a great time. Natalie was so good and she stayed awake for the entire performance (it was a late night - we left the theatre around 10:20 pm - good thing we don't live far!!). During the intermissions(there were three!!!), Natalie went through the program and asked each performer's name. She then referred to them by name at later times in the evening. At one point she looked around and commented that there were a lot of Mommies and little girls there. The next ballet trip will have to be Dad's turn. We had more excitement on Friday when Grandma Phyllis, (Great!)Aunt Anne, and (Great!)Gram arrived for a visit. Natalie and Owen were very excited when we picked them up from school. We stayed in and relaxed on Friday night, and on Saturday, Grandma, Gram, and Anne stayed home with Henry while we carted Natalie and Owen off to ballet and Gymboree. Natalie and Owen (and Henry too) got their Easter baskets from Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Tom, and they were very excited about their chirping chicks and especially their light-up egg spinners (which are a lot of fun to take in the dark bathroom!!). We had dinner out on Saturday night, then we took it easy on Sunday. The ladies left on Monday morning. It was a great visit and we all enjoyed it. Now we are getting ready for a trip to New York this weekend. It will be interesting flying with three kids....