Ezra's 1st day of preschool

So I know that the 1st day of preschool in not nearly as momentous as the first day of kindergarten, but it was pretty exciting for us. We went to meet his teacher last week and since then Ezra had been really excited about starting school.

This is Ezra's 1st day of school Pop Tart. I know. Just call me mother of the year. He actually had never had one before so I thought it might be a special treat. He wasn't all that impressed. He didn't sleep well because he was so excited, so he woke up a little late and we had to rush through breakfast anyway. Oh well.

My camera lens fogged up going from inside the house to outside in the Texas heat (even at 8:45 in the morning). This is a sweet picture, but he looks a little crazy too. :) I think it was a combination of excitement and having just gotten up only to be rushed out the door.

By this picture, I figured out I needed to wipe of the lens. Jonas, the ever helpful kid brother, carrying Ezra's nap mat.

Mommy says goodbye at school. No tears from either of us. Happy, happy, happy. So proud of my big boy.

Ezra's classroom.

A super short video. Wish I had gotten more, but I had already said "goodbye" when it occurred to me I should do a video, so I thought I ought not linger too much longer. At the end he's saying, "I'll play with you?"--hoping I guess that I would hang out for a while like I did when we met the teacher and explored the classroom.

Judith-4 months

The boys love to watch Shrek. This is our Shrek-inspired castle. Fiona is in the highest room of the tallest tower. :) Cookie Monster was our acting 'Shrek' and the little dog in front of Jonas served as our 'Donkey'.

Judith was 4 months old today (the 22nd). She's trying to get some teeth as you may be able to tell from the little bit of slobber on her mouth. She's rolling from back to tummy. She still gets frustrated by the process though and hasn't figured out how to go from tummy to back.

This is a poker cake I made for Jennifer back in July--just wanted to display my ever evolving cake making skills. Ha, ha.

Jennifer invited me to come along with her and her book club to Painting with a Twist. It was super fun. We got to bring our own food and adult beverages and they gave us a canvas, paint, and step-by-step instructions on how to create our very own masterpiece. This is Mary, me, and Jennifer with our individual works.

Jennifer and I in the midst of our creativity.

I didn't actually know I was in this shot, but I'm glad I happened to be stuffing my face with a cupcake.

If you don't like it, you Lubbock!

The title is a "North Texas joke" from one of my dear friends Debra. This past weekend we took a 2-car caravan up to Lubbock, Texas for my cousin Adam's wedding. Here's some north Texas cotton and windmills. We have a lot of windmills in Germany along with solar farms etc, but this may have been the largest cluster of mills I've ever seen (not all are shown).In Abilene, we were able to hook up with my good friend Elizabeth from Italy. It's always such a treat to visit with old friends!The boys enjoyed the fish pond at Embassy Suites.

On Saturday morning we went to the cool place called Science Spectrum. There was lots of stuff for the kids to play with and we all had a blast. Here's Ezra and Aunt Laura playing with the electricity ball. Here's Ezra pushing his hand up into the pins underneath the table.Jonas riding in a car. Ezra playing at the huge water table.Jonas playing construction dude. More water table.

Garrett and I at the wedding. This little girl fell down and Jonas was right there. I told Jonas to help her up, and he did. Throughout the rest of the evening, she continued to plop herself down on the floor so that Jonas would come help her. So cute!


A few Science Spectrum and wedding videos. The dancing boys are too funny.

Go Astros!

Monday night we acquired some free Astros tickets. What's better than free tickets?! My friend Jennifer and I took the boys to the game. The Astros haven't been doing so great the last few games, and I was a little skeptical of a positive turn out as we faced the Braves, but it turned out to be a really exciting game--mostly due to lots of errors by Atlanta. We'll take it!

We had cheap (well, free actually. Did I mention that?) seats way up top, but Jennifer scoped out some great seats about six rows behind the dugout where no one had been sitting all game. During the 5th inning we pulled off a sneak down and enjoyed the rest of the game in style.



The big picture is of the boys and me right behind the dugout. We weren't allowed to sit on top, so I had to hold them both up. Since they both had hot dogs in their hands it was quite a feat.


This is Ezra clapping for the Astros at our first seats way up high.


I'm not sure what was up with the Astros Mickey Mouse, but of course we had to have a picture of MM for Nana.

Everything is bigger in Texas. This giant boot was for the All Star game I guess.

Jennifer bought the boys their first cotton candy. Unbeknownst to us, Jonas was dripping cotton candy drool all over the guy sitting in front of us. Good thing it was just Andrew. :) (And we're really hoping it comes out.)

Ezra and Jonas really did a good job. There was very little whining and they lasted the whole game. We had a lot of fun.

Beach Day

We braved the triple digits and headed to the beach on Monday.

We stopped at Sonic (and I know you're sick with jealousy, Mike) on the way down and this guy was cracking us up so we had to get a picture with him.

We were preparing our hearts to see evidence from the wake of destruction that Ike left, but were pleasantly surprised to see that Galveston has cleaned up, rebuilt, and moved on.

We spent about 4 fun filled hours floating in the water, chasing seagulls, and throwing sand. Nana even made it out in the water once. Most of the time she and Judith just lounged in the shade and comfort of our $25 chairs and umbrella.

Today, we went to Chick-Fil-A to see Dora and Diego. It was a cute little program (free), with the added benefits of a yummy lunch with our friend Jennifer and some play time for the kids. Jonas--in the tunnel, Ezra--on top of the tunnel. By the way, every one is asking about the dude in the middle of the boys. Since you couldn't really hear the people in the costumes, he's the guy that talked during the show. They kind of did a short little skit like the actual show. They had to save a baby duck and had to go to 3 places on their map, etc. So the guy did all the talking. It was actually a good thing he was posing with them because while the boys loved to watch them, they weren't too sure about being right up close. The guy really put them at ease and we got a cute picture out of it!

This is a little table and chairs Mom set up in the back yard next to the kiddie pool. They are having a "supper" on water frisbees as plates, a watering can as a cup, and a ducky, octopus, snail, and crab to eat. Having a blast.

Only the first part of this video is kind of cute. I tried to clip it, but I don't really know how to do that...