Picnic at the Park

Derek has been asking to go back to the "red plane park" recently and we thought it would be fun to have a family picnic! So off to Aviator Park we went and invited the cousins to come hang out too. I made hot dog and cheese kabobs for dinner with strawberry-blueberry-marshmallow kabobs for dessert, Austin and Liz brought pizza and Jon and Jenna brought broccoli and cookies. Yum! The kids had a blast playing on the playground and going down the hill into a wooded swampy area to play. We brought Andi with us to stretch her legs and play with Liz's kids since we've been watching her for a few weeks while Liz's family was in town. Isaac was happy to cuddle her and walk her around the playground for a bit before the mini forest began calling his name, haha! The kids climbed on fallen trees and played with stick swords to their hearts content. As we were all packing up to go, Austin suggested that they should probably take Andi home, since their family had been gone for over a week, and I suggested that we could keep her (then ducked my head in the car to buckle kids in, haha). Liz chimed in supportively and Austin, rather taken aback I think, agreed. We are thrilled to be able to keep Andi and are very grateful that Austin and Liz are happy with the arrangement. Today is our official "Gotcha" day and we're so excited!

Bryce and Clara got to ride the historic red airplane, haha

Isaac loved walking Andi around

Derek and Clara loved the hotdog and cheese kabobs

 We didn't know it yet, but this was Gotcha Day! 

Bama tried to coax Oakley to sit with her using a creme stack (buttercream-sugar cookie sandwich) as a bribe, haha! It worked for a little bit.

Oakley loves Bama's creme stacks!

Liz and Andrew!

Isaac and Derek are great friends!

I think Isaac missed Andi

Pirate Katelyn!

We;re following the leader, the leader, the leader - we're following the leader wherever he may go!

Derek is so silly

Nathan grabbed the first stick

Emeri hadn't even finished her dessert kabob before she was down playing in the dirt with everyone - she doesn't like being left behind, haha!

Gracie brought her stuffed wolf puppy for protection

Bryce was just happy to have a stick :)

Randoms from February

03 Feb: It's rare for Clara to cuddle, so I had to preserve the memory... even if she's cuddling with Jabba the Hut, lol.

 05 Feb: The 100th Day of School! Derek chose to put 100 stickers on his Groovy Day shirt

12 Feb: Sweet little pigtails! This girl loves her cheesesticks!

12 Feb: I sure do love this short haircut

 18 Feb: We get to watch Andi for a couple weeks while Austin and Liz have family in town. :D

 20 Apr: We've had a crazy run with strep throat lately. Clara and Bryce liked playing games on my ipad while we waited at the primacare.

 22 Apr: Ugh. My turn at the doc.

 23 Apr: Derek started this after watching Kung Fu Panda, but I only got a picture of Bryce - he's bowing and presenting his plate to request a brownie for dessert, lol!

24 Apr: Peek-a-Bryce!

24 Apr: Our little pack rat - she was stuffing used wipes into a jewelry container, lol.

29 Feb: Happy Leap Day! We're so excited to have our first foster dog. :)

Playing "Statues"

We've discovered a fun game to play - "Statues!" It's basically musical chairs without chairs. The kids play and giggle and wiggle til I say, "Statue!" and then they freeze into their pose of choice. I usually suggest poses like Angel Moroni, airplane, or opera singer, but their favorites by far are their dinosaur poses. After they started on those, there was no other option, lol. 

 Derek and Bryce insisted on tasting the Milkbones that I give to the dogs. Yuck!

 First time to "strike a pose." He's trained pretty well for photo ops, haha!

 The opera singer

 Angel Moroni

 They figured out they could do dinosaur poses, haha!

 Bryce's more common dinosaur pose

 Derek's flying pterodactyl

 My dino-boys! They are something fierce!

 Dachshunds or creepy mermaids?

 Bryce for President 2016!

 I have NO idea where he got this pose, but it's funny!

This is actually a pretty common scene - if the boys are wrestling and Bryce decides he's had enough, this is what he does. Derek can't shift him, lol!

Very First Foster Dog!!

I've been looking in to fostering for dog rescues and settled on DFW Collie Rescue. After filling out paperwork and having a home visit, we were approved to foster!! Collies aren't very common though and Carolyn Edgmon, the director of the rescue, said the rescue is usually "feast or famine" and she couldn't know when I would get a foster that would be compatible with us, since the dogs mostly stay outside and she prefers her fosters to keep the dogs inside. After a couple months of waiting, I got the call from Carolyn yesterday that she had a dog for me to foster. He had been adopted in December, but that home wasn't working out because he was left at home while the adopter went to work and had developed a barking problem. He was being boarded while the adopter was on a business trip and she decided she wanted to return him to the rescue, so off to Denton I went to pick up Ace. He's 9 years old, as far as the vet could determine when he was rescued last August as a stray. He's still pretty skinny, but we can work on that. He and Andi have been getting along just fine. She has turned out to be more dominant than I expected, but Ace seems to be fine letting her feel like the head honcho, lol. He's still pretty spry for a senior but seems like he's got a few good years left in him. :)

 Riding home in the car from Denton

 He was a little stressed, but settled down after a bit

 Look at that handsome face! Mitchell came home from work, took one look at him and said, "Hello, nose. Want some face with that nose?" Colton and Tammy had the same reaction. I think his nose is very elegant. ;)

 Andi and Ace get along pretty well. They're a little boisterous at times, but no real fights have broken out

Both dogs do great on a leash! I call them my sled dogs, lol. They pull in a concerted effort and I walk faster because of it. ;)

Valentine's Day Surprises

We don't usually make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, but my dad sent a package for the kids and we let them open it this morning. They were excited to find the funky heart glasses, but Bama really fired up their creativity by helping them draw pictures around the stickers they received. Clara was just thrilled to put stickers on paper - it's one of her favorite activities, haha.

Val came by later that evening with gifts for the kids that Rob sent over from Kuwait, where he is currently deployed. I was touched that he would go to that trouble and the boys certainly loved the Army drawstring bags and matching Army t-shirts. Clara got a cute little teddy bear with a pink Army shirt and they all loved the bonus candy from Aunt Val. That's always sure to be a hit. ;)

Derek took on the role of MC and doled out parcels for his siblings to unwrap

The excitement was palpable!

I love Bryce's thrilled faces. He's so cute. :)

Rocking the heart-shaped glasses!

Clara is still waking up a little

Derek tried to sound out the card on his own. He's doing better with reading!

Bama helped Bryce draw background objects like trees, grass and flowers to show off his stickers

Derek loves to draw

After a while, Bryce really started to take off and fill his page with color

The finished masterpieces! Definitely going on the fridge!

Opening the presents from Rob and Val

Derek tried to sneak Clara's heart candy. Swiper, no swiping!

Modeling their new Army shirts while Clara holds her cute teddy bear. Thanks Rob and Val!!!