The Latest

There has been a lot going on the last couple of weeks. Last weekend we took Henry for his first haircut. It was way overdue! He was good - he wasn't sure about sitting in the chair with the apron on at first, but once he had a toy phone, my sunglasses, and another water game toy, he was okay. His haircut is adorable too. Natalie & Owen went to Rainbow Kids that Sat night and we got some Christmas shopping done. Sunday was nice and Ike, Owen, and Natalie had fun throwing the football around outside. Stella got in the game too! Henry showed off his walking progress inside. I had to go to New Orleans the following week (last week), and while I was gone, Henry transitioned to walking all the time. He even ran a few steps the other day - then he stopped and had a look that said, "Whoa - what was that???" My NOLA trip went well and I even spent some time in the field doing some soil sampling. It was nice to get home though. On Thursday night last week we went to the final outdoor concert for the season at the park downtown. It was reggae night, and we went with Karien, Kevin, Allison, and Natalie. It was fun and the weather was perfect. Friday was the Annual Pow Wow at Esperanza. With three kids all having their party at the same time, it was interesting. I went to Natalie's party and Ike went to the boys'. He ended up taking Henry to Owen's party and stayed there the majority of the time. Henry had a blast playing on Owen's playground! Owen was also feeding Henry from his plate. It was convenient since Henry's school (house) is right behind Owen's. Now that Henry is walking, he was trying to figure out the tricycle - it was pretty cute. Natalie also had fun. She had a big homework assignment due that day about Native Americans (not Indians, I have been corrected several times!). She had to pick a SW tribe and tell all about them to her class. I was helping her and felt like I was back in school. She picked the Havasupais, the indians (Native Americans!!) that live at the Grand Canyon. It went well. I saw a lot of parents at her pow wow that I haven't seen in a while and it was nice to catch up. The rest of the weekend we did stuff around here. We finished painting the dining room. On Sunday Karien, Kevin, & company came for dinner. It was fun, and the kids were good until Natalie decided to get some red lipstick on to go with her dress up outfit. She looked like Bozo and had it smeared all over her face, not to mention on her clothes, desk, dresser, toilet, etc. I was not amused. So, now we are excited for a nice quiet Thanksgiving break.

Just Hanging Around

Things have been pretty low-key around here. We had a great Halloween weekend. On Thursday night, we went to the park downtown with Karien, Kevin, Allison, and baby Natalie for the Thursday night family concert. It was 70's & 80's music and we really enjoyed it. Natalie, Owen, and Allison wore each other out. I think Allison may end up in the WWF (or whatever it's called these days) - she was really good at body slamming Nat and Owen. Friday afternoon I picked the kids up early to come home and eat and then get costumed up. Our neighbors were having a little party, so we went there first and had a margarita (Nat, Owen, and Henry only got candy!!!), then we dropped Ike off at home to pass out candy and I took the kids trick or treating. We hit about 30 or so houses. There were a couple spooky houses that Nat and Owen were a little leery of - one even had fake smoke/fog, spooky sounds, and the guy was dressed like some kind of skeletal monster in a black robe. Natalie and Owen were terrified! Owen was hiding behind me and he kept saying, "I love you, Mommy," The guy saw they were scared and set the candy container out while he hid inside. I still had to go up to the steps to get the treats for them! Saturday was parent observation day at Natalie's ballet class. She's such a ham. The rest of the weekend we ran errands and did stuff around the house as usual. Owen ended up getting a virus and an ear infection last week, so he was home from school for a few days. Last weekend we had our friends Paul & Anita over to grill out. Their son, Ethan, had a great time playing with Nat and Owen, and their 2-month old twins were precious. On Sunday we started some interior painting projects and we went for Mexican with Karien, Kevin, Allison, and baby Natalie. We sat outside and it was very pleasant until the wind picked up. On the way home we stopped for coffee (Starbucks Christmas drinks - yay!) and hot chocolate for Natalie and Owen. A nice way to end the weekend. We don't have much planned for this weekend. Henry is getting his first haircut - the mullet has to go. We'll probably be around here finishing up our painting. We should be getting our new trees in our front yard soon - we're ready! You can see some of our bare patches in some of the pictures. The trees and landscaping are last bit of post-Ike recovery.