Ignore the Missing Savety Net

If you're an ER doc or a skiddish parent, please look away. 

The net on our trampoline ripped pretty much all the way around. So we ordered a new one and took it off, but in the meantime the weather has been so great the kids (and Kyle!) have actually really enjoyed jumping.

Maggie with our sweet neighbor Wiley.

Safety update. We got the new net up :)

Happy Birthday Nana

Little family birthday dinner for Nana!

I made BB's cake this year (trickiest cake ever - this one was weird) and Mel made dinner. Nana's sister Nancy and her son Eric came over too since Nancy was in town. Fun evening celebrating Nana - we love you Nana!

Fancy Pants for a Good Cause

Kyle's group buys tables at a lot of fundraisers throughout the year - and definitely all of the medical ones. There is sort of an unspoken rule that partners do their fair-share in filling up those tables. In 5 years we have been to one - and it was one where the dress code was "Austin Chic" or something like that which basically meant I could wear a dress and cowboy boots. I don't love doing fancy. But our friends Sidhya and Maneesh have enjoyed going to the Gala for the Dell Children's Hospital the past couple of years so we decided to go (two birds with one stone - time with them, plus job-duty) which happens to be the fanciest one. Eeeeeek!

Sidhya and I

Not sure where I'm looking...

The best part of the evening was that we know the family that spoke from personal experience from having their kiddo cared for at Dell. You can see them on the giant screen - Scott and Chelsea Frazier and their little girl Davy. Scott is the Students pastor at our campus of our churh. They are an awesome family and have endured a lot with Davy (who has a great story and is expected to live a long, healthy, normal life at this point). Our friend Jimmy who is the worship leader at our church also did an opening musical number for the evening - so fun! I'm pretty sure a lot of money was raised.

It was like a little West Campus reunion - The Mannings, us, Scott/Chelsea, Jimmy and Staci, AJ and Jill.

All in all it was a fun evening. Some neighbor friends are the big-name hosts next year so we'll probably go back. I can handle the fancy if its only once a year, but boy was I ready to get out of those cloths. 

(Our anniversary - 11 years - was the next week - and we went to my favorite handburger place and to a movie because I couldn't handle the thought of anything remotely fancy that close to this event.) Know thyself.

Houston, Here we Come

Sometime in January I found a lens I had been wanting for a long time on craigslist...in Houston. So, my sweet friend Sally (and her two girls Sadie - between O & R, and Eloise - between R and M) drove with me and O/R/M to Houston in a day. We picked up the lens and our plan was to hit the Houston zoo, but a big rainstorm blew so we had to find indoor fun. We ended up at the Museum of Natural History. As the kids said - to see dead animals instead of alive ones.

The kids handled the drive and change of plans really well. And when we left the museum the rain had let up so they ran off some energy on the big hill in the middle of big park (where the medical center and all the museums are). 

Me and Sally

Groupie

Playing around with the crazy shallow depth of field on my new (very heavy) lens.

Such a fun trip. Thankful for friends that would be crazy enough to join us - and still be friends afterwards!

Queen Minion

The girls have a new game they've been playing outside the past few weeks given our crazy-mild January/February and now March. they call it Queen Minion. They use the PVC pipe kid-car wash frame thing Luke built a while back that has been living at our house for a while, drape it in beach towels, put a blanket and chairs underneath - one for Queen Minion, one for her servant, with a stool in between for royal snacks. I'm not exactly sure all of what goes on but it has kept the two of them occupied together with very little fighting for very long periods of time so its a good thing. They take turns being Queen Minion and the Servant.

Servant snacking

Every once in a while an actual minion and/or Owen jumps in as well.

The Queen doing a little Egyptian dancing.

The Other Queen.

Introduced with trumpet-sounds...doot doo doo doooooooo!

Even the puppy gets a chance to be the Queen.

 And I get to just sit back and watch.

 

Another day Rebecca wanted to make a banner for a party she was planning for Maggie -  Minion Party. The sign says "Papoys only" - the P, A, and O are all Minions, the 2nd P is a banana (Minion's love bananas), the Y is a gun (because they're villains) and the S is a lazer beam (from the Y lazer gun).

No one else could come to the party (you know, 15 minutes notice and all) but we had a great time with a few animal guests, ice cream and banans for a snack, and a bag of regifted treasures from Rebecca to Maggie.

Queen Minion forever!

Hunting With Daddy

Owen and Rebecca had both gotten their chance to go hunting with Daddy this year during actual deer season. Maggie got her turn - first year! - just after the season officially ended. But since Year 1 only includes watching deer from the blind and practicing sitting still and quiet it didn't matter. Maggie was beyond excited. Before they left she kept repeating over and over again - I'm going deer hunting with Daddy!!! I'm going deer hunting with Daddy!!! 

In the blind.

Watching the deer.

Driving the RZR at the Ranch. (I'll try to post a video clip of when Kyle let her drive - he keeps asking her Maggie are you a good drive? and she responds Yes! while staring at him and not the road.)

And of course a dipped cone treat on the way home.

Happy eyes.

She still talks about this day with as much excitement as if she had gone to Disneyland or the Moon or something. I go deer hunting with Daddy yesterday! :)

Great Way to Start A New Year

So, it's March and I'm thinking if I don't do some blogging for 2016, like now, it might not happen. And that isn't an option, so here we are. 

Big theme for 2016 - Star Wars "The Force Awakens" - we'd been watching the preview on YouTube since they came out months and months ago. But given the PG13 rating we weren't sure about taking O & R. Owen in particular doesn't like scary/dark things. Kyle and I went on our own to see it (so selfless) and there were definitely a couple of scenes that would fit that dark/scary category so we initially told them they could watch it at home w/ us when it came out on video - so we could control volume and fast forward if needed - they actually took the news really well even though they both had LOTS of friends that were going to see it. Then we completely changed our minds and talked ourselves into taking them because it was so much fun and we decided we were overthinking it. Basically we caved to our own peer pressure. ;)

So....on Christmas Day evening we told the kids we were going to go run some errands, we all loaded up in the car, made up an excuse for dropping Maggie up at our babysitter Marisela's apartment, and headed to the mall "to return some things" but when we walked in we b-lined it for the fandango ticket thingie...

At first he was clueless, then he read the ticket.

They were so excited. And so were we. And nobody cried during or had nightmares afterwards - total success. It helped a lot that we had seen it so could warn them about upcoming scenes or whether something would turn out okay (Owen in particular wants to know that sort of stuff - and then he's fine). So, yay for Star Wars and the beginning to a wonderful 2016.