Happy Happenings from the Hurricane

I was going through my pictures deciding what to blog next and realized I'd missed a few more of our fun hurricane happenings. While I wouldn't wish the hurricane and power outages on anyone, we really enjoyed having a little extra time off and an excuse to take some adventures. Thank you Hurricane Ike for enabling me to see some people and do some things I otherwise would not have done.

When we spent some time in Dallas during Matt's business trip, Danny and I got to explore and play. We ventured to the Dallas Temple - which is beautifully unique.
On another afternoon, after we'd been kicked out of our hotel, but before I was able to get in touch with friends to stay with, Danny and I went and took a nap in our car at the temple. I figured it would be a quiet, safe, peaceful place to take a rest. It certainly was!

We spent one day with my good friend Shawnee and her adorable kids - Adelaide and Clayton. Shawnee and I were buddies in high school and hadn't seen each other in YEARS! Definitely not since either of us had kids. It's so fun to reunite with old friends because it's like you've never been away.

Me and Shawnee

Adelaide, Danny, and their new puppy - Clayton was napping
Dance time!

Unrelated to the visit, I noticed Danny has a pacifier in this picture. I kept planning to get rid of his "paci" in some grand fashion, but in the end, he just lost his last pacifier after returning home from the trip. He had a few hard weeks of staying asleep - he'd wake up too early, but couldn't sooth himself back to sleep. He's doing a lot better now though, for which we're all grateful.

When we were in Georgia, we also got to see my cousins Brian, Jessica, and Jennifer, who I hadn't seen in a long time. We got to take Jennifer out for her birthday. She was kind enough to share her birthday cake with Danny. Thanks!
Hooray for happy happenings during Hurricane evacuations. :)

Danny + Sticks = True Love

Sorry for the sideways video . . . trust me, the stick dance is worth turning your head for.

Trampolines are Terrific

My family never owned a trampoline growing up, but I had a few friends who did. Matt and I have not discussed if we will ever be trampoline owners - I know there are high safety risks. But hey, a lot of people die in car wrecks and we still drive. How many of you own trampolines or want to someday?

What a treat to arrive in Georgia and discover a trampoline in Aunt Lisa's backyard. It had been a while since I'd visited and I wasn't sure if was still there or not. The kids spent hours jumping every day (great way to wear them out before the long drive home). And I too had some fun - I forgot what a great workout it is, and how much fun it is. Two highlights were trampoline trick contests - Eli was the judge - and jumping with cool cousin Brian.

Jumpin' with Brian - I love Leah's hair!

Brenna couldn't stop laughing!

The competitors rest in preparation for a fierce match.
Judge Eli gets a little support from commentator Aunt Lisa.The competition is close, but judge Eli has a keen eye for detail.
And the winner is . . . .
Anne! Excellent frog jump!

2 Moms, 5 Kids, 16 Hours, 1 Minivan

Anne and I have often talked about making the drive over to visit our Aunt Lisa and cousins in Peachtree City, GA. When Leah was about 2, before Matt and I were married, Anne and I made the drive from our grandparents house in Venice, FL back to Houston. It was a fun sister adventure.

When Ike hit and the power situation was grim, we decided it was time to make our Georgia road trip a reality. It was a very spontaneous decision - we decided at about 2 and by 4 Anne was ready to leave. She and her gang picked Danny and I up in Dallas and then we took 20 East through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and finally Georgia, making sure to honk at every state line (my sister insisted this is something EVERYONE does, but I never heard another car honk. IS this something your family does?).

Now, having one 2-year old on our previous sister road trip was a breeze. However, this road trip was quite a different adventure since we now had five children ranging from 7 years to 2 months. We also neglected to do the appropriate mileage/time calculation. Google maps informed us the drive would take about 12 hours from Dallas. Doing it in one day would be a piece of cake, we thought. Our oversight was potty stops, nursing stops, playland stops, eating stops, more potty stops (sometimes 20 minutes after the previous one), diaper change stops, fussy stops, fueling stops, and more potty stops. The kids were quite good, but there were moments when the powerless house in Houston seemed quite appealing. We tried to remind ourselves - we have screaming children, but we also have A/C right now. So, how does one survive a 16 hour car ride with 5 children . . . .

School House Rock, Finding Nemo, Dora, and The Incredibles

Hide and Seek (or are they just lounging in the shade?)
Interesting Rest Stops with bridges . . .
Ducks . . .
And even alligators!
Collect rocks from every state/Get as dirty as possible/Play with sticks

Ice Cream for Dinner (since our bellies were so full of car snacks)
Toss rocks in a pond/Try not to get wet
McDonalds, McDonalds, McDonalds

On the way back, we decided to take it in two days, which was much easier. I have new admiration for those of you who are die hard road trippers and frequently make 12+ hour drives. Though overall we had a fantastic trip, we may wait until Leah can drive before making the next one. :)

Raw Eggs

I've read several other people's posts about letting their kids eat the batter and concerns about raw eggs. If Danny dies young of salmonella, at least he will have had the joy of raw batter.
Yummy.

"Airpane" Party

About a month ago, Danny had two obsessions - airplanes and baseball. When I asked him which he wanted for his birthday party theme, he chose, "Airpane." Though I promised myself I'd keep it low key this year, I couldn't help scouring the internet for fun ideas. It was still a lot more low key this year and I decided I just have fun planning parties. Most importantly, Danny had a great time with friends, food, cake, ICE CREAM, and lots of "airpanes."

Since October is one of the pleasant months in Houston, we decided to party in our backyard. We borrowed a few folding tables and chairs from friends. The evening was perfect - couldn't have been over 80 degrees - and clear blue skies. We just decorated with blue and white tablecloths, wooden airplanes (thanks Target) and some blue and white balloons.















There was airplane food for dinner - small sandwiches on Kaiser rolls (thank you Target), bags of chips and pretzels, canned soda and juice, airplane shaped PBJ sandwiches, and some fruit and veggies. There were not roasted peanuts, but I did find some airplane-like styrofoam trays to eat on (sorry environment). Also, you will be happy to know I did not charge the guests $5.00 (exact change please) for their meal service.


I only had a couple games. The kids all participated in finding toy airplanes in the clouds (rice).









Some people colored and folded paper airplanes (which ended after Rex's got stuck on the roof) while others played with gliders and the wooden airplanes I found at Target.















Of course Danny's favorite game was watching the real airplanes fly overhead. Perhaps being under the flight path to the airport helps a kid get a healthy obsession with airplanes.




Pilot Danny had fun opening all his presents (thanks for so many nice gifts!)
And not surprisingly he had plenty of helpers to unwrap the presents . . .
After Danny opened presents he gave out goodie bags to all his guests.


The "barf bags" included gliders, paratroopers, and candy airplanes that cousin Alex helped make - super easy and super cute!






The cake was really fun to make. I found the idea in a cookbook I have. My only frustration was forgetting how difficult it is to frost cut edges - you get lots of crumbs. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the challenge and Danny was pretty excited about a plane cake when he saw it.
He was not the only one excited about the plane cake . . . .
Allison was the culprit . . . but don't worry. . .
We still gave her cake later.
My one major oversight was birthday candles. We had only one, and well, it was Danny's second birthday. I did manage to find two tea lights though. He did a fine job of blowing out the candles.

We had a great time with friends and family and it is always humbling to remember how many people love and care about our son besides us. Thanks! And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANNY!

Thanks Mindy and Cara for doing an awesome job on photos!

Happy Birthday Danny!

My big 2-year-old is all tucked away in bed and I'm sure feeling nostalgic. I don't remember feeling so nostalgic when Danny turned 1. Perhaps because he was still such a baby, but now he's really getting to be a big boy! We had a fun airplane themed birthday celebration with a few friends tonight - I'll post pictures of that soon. I wanted to do a quick post tonight as I was reminiscing about how much our baby has grown. He can do so much that he couldn't do a year ago like:

• Walk, run, jump, and climb at home, parks, stores, and even church.
• Communicate what he does and does not want using words, not just crying.
  
• Say please . . . we're still working on thank you since all he says is, "Ko."
• Push chairs over to the counter to be my helper chef.
• Eat whatever mom and dad eat using a spoon and fork (and sometimes still fingers).
• Put his dirty clothes in the clothes basket.
• Brush his hair and his teeth . . . sometimes mixing the utensils and tasks for a joke.
• Tackle and tickle daddy.
• Understand the concept of finances - "Where Daddy go?" "Work." "Money." "Yep."
• Play hide and seek (still working on hiding longer than 1 millisecond).
• Color and paint and draw with purpose - "Airpane mama!"
  
• Make connections - like looking up into trees for monkeys after our trip to Costa Rica and using twigs on a walk to guide the airplanes flying overhead.
• Remember FHE lessons - like the one where we practiced SHARING cookies
• Choose his own favorite books - currently Five Trucks and Train
• Request movies . . . often - current favorites are "Nemo home" (Finding Nemo) & "Yee-Haw Buzz" (Toy Story)
• Feed the dogs without spilling food (at least not too much) and give them their treats
• Obey and follow directions like picking up toys and holding hands in the parking lot
• Cheer for mom when she plays basketball -"Go mommy, go mommy, go!"
  
• Fold his arms (the correct way) for prayers
• Put puzzles together
• Tell when he has a "poo-poo" and on occasion get the potty in the potty
  
• Build tall towers (and knock them over quickly)
• Tell people how old he is - "Two"
  

It is so fun to watch our Danny boy growing up and learning. How lucky we are to be his mom and dad. Thanks to so many friends and family who have given him so much love and support the past two years! The Longhorns are playing another key game tonight, so in support of them, here's a little Danny tribute on his birthday.

Brand New

One Year Old
Two (minus one week)

Hook 'em

What an exciting football weekend - BYU Cougars and Texas Longhorns both in the top 10 AND Longhorns taking over the #1 spot on all polls. Since we are living in TX, we've really gotten into being Longhorns fans. Matt did get his MBA through UT, but we've never lived in Austin or anywhere close to UT Campus. Nonetheless, it's a great time to be a Longhorns fan!





Danny training to be the next Colt McCoy.




































Watching the game. I love in this picture that Matt couldn't look up at the camera - he had to keep his eyes on the game.


















Even Dozer got in on the fun. Well, he didn't think it was that fun. Daisy is fortunate to have a natural coat of burnt orange, so she doesn't have to wear dumb dog hats.