Happy New Years...we hope!

Christmas is over, but we had a great time. All of my family was in town and we spent a lot of time at mom's house. All 4 of the grandchildren were there, along with the six parents, my Mom, Aunts and Uncles from both sides of my family and also my grandparents. Things got a little crazy sometimes, as it always does, but I am glad we were able to spend so much time together.

13 Stockings Hung by the Chimney with Care

Brian, Jackson, Aaron and Brycen

This year both the boys really "got" Christmas, both the Santa Clause side and the celebration of the birth of our Savior. All month the boys would randomly begin singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus", which was unprompted from us and we don't know where they learned it, but it was cute nonetheless. We were very lucky to have Santa Clause stop and visit on Christmas Eve and we got some cute pictures of all the boys with Santa. Too bad Uncle Marc wasn't able to see that ;)

Aaron and Brian with Santa

Christmas Day was the normal hectic busy enjoyable day. Santa brought Aaron a camera and he loves taking pictures then promptly deleting them. We have yet to get any pictures saved, they get deleted immediately. Santa brought Brian an easel which might look familiar to the Huff family. They "used to" have one just like it! Paul and I framed some art we purchased on our cruise last January and that was our big present to each other. My mom and siblings gave us games. One card game and a Wii, Wii Fit, and Wii Tony Hawk. We all love it and have been playing everyday!

Christmas dinner at Mom's house consisted of Mom, her sister Aunt Lou, Grandma and Grandpa Fuller, my Dad's sister Aunt Nancy and husband Uncle Tom and cousin Lindsay, then of course the 3 Fuller kids with spouses and children. It was a full table and lots of fun! Grandma and Grandpa Fuller (92 and 93 respectively) stayed with Mom for 2 days and we really enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them. The following Monday we drove down to Kemah and played with Nancy, Tom, Lindsay, Marc, Kayleen, Jackson and Grandma and Grandpa Fuller. We are so glad we took the opportunity to spend time with them.

Christmas Dinner

Marcia with Brycen
Marc and Aunt Nancy with Aaron, Jackson, and Brian
Lindsay, Marc, Jackson and Kayleen on the Kemah Boardwalk Train

On the Kemah Boardwalk

Gandma and Grandpa flew home to California right after lunch in Kemah, got home safely, but had some medical complications and didn't survive the night.  It seems very sudden.  But, as much as we will miss her, we are glad her last days were spent with her family. We saw how happy she was just being with us. I know that she is now surrounded by other loved ones who have already passed on, including my father. I can only imagine how joyous of a reunion that was! The funeral service is on Monday and I will fly out while Paul stays home with the boys. I am very grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace it gives me.

Aunt Nancy and Grandma

On another note, Brian probably has Streep Throat. He started feeling feverish on the 30th, and it just progressively got worse. On New Years Day we took him to Katy Urgent Care clinic for some antibiotics. I hate having my baby be sick and I really hope he feels better soon. We spent New Years Eve taking turns cuddling with him and trying to help him sleep. Not the best way to ring in the new year, but we do what we have to!

As for New Years Resolutions, we have lots. We are very resolute. Let's just say that we really hope this year brings us lots of joy. We are grateful for all our family and friends and hope we can spend time with them all in 2009.

Christmas Cards

Every year since we've been married we've sent out Christmas Cards. This year we did too, but on a much smaller level. Since blogging has gotten to be our creative outlet for sharing what we do, we decided we didn't need to send Christmas Cards to those we know read our blog regularly. After all, you already know what we've been up to this year. But we'll post our Christmas letter here anyway for those who want to read it.

Also, if you got a Christmas card from us, but do read our blog regularly, let us know so we can put you on that list for next year. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Letter 2008

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family,

The year 2008 is almost behind us, but we wanted to say hi to those we love and share what we've been doing this year.

In January we were able to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary by taking a week long cruise just the two of us to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, then back to Cozumel, Mexico where we spent our honeymoon. We had a great time and it was very relaxing as there was no worrying about food, entertainment, travel, taxis, schedules, phone calls, work, not to mention kids. We definitely recommend cruising to others. In fact, next time we cruise, we'd like to go with some friends, so if you are interested, let us know!

In October we flew to Utah for a week. We were able to enjoy some gorgeous Autumn weather and see beautiful scenery as we hiked in several of the canyons. We also were able to attend the temple with other friends from Houston and attend one session of General Conference. We planned the trip to coincide with Paul's birthday and really enjoyed celebrating with his family and participating in the Thomas Family Invitational where we made a good showing!

We were pleased to have almost all of Paul's family come visit us at some point this year. We were also able to spend time with Jen's siblings and their families this spring, though under trying circumstances to be explained later. We treasure our time with our extended families and were excited to show them all our new house. Speaking of which, we both still love our house and can't believe we've been here a full year. We're all moved in now, but the projects will begin this winter.

During the middle of the summer, the air-conditioning in Jen's car died. We weren't quite ready for a new car, but necessity prevailed. We were able to find a good deal on a 2005 Honda Odyssey with low miles. It's fully loaded with lots of extras like a navigation system and a DVD player which the boys still don't know about. We never thought we would be mini-van people, but we really do love it!

An unwelcome visitor this summer was Hurricane Ike. At one point it was headed straight for us and we were all a little frightened. It landed east of us though in the middle of the night, and all we got were heavy rains and very heavy winds. The boys slept in our room (and tossed and turned) but missed most of the storm so they weren't too scared. We lost power for a day, and lost several dozen shingles from our roof, but had no real damage to speak of. We were glad we were prepared and spared more damage.

Now some info on us individually. Aaron (4.5 yrs - don't forget that extra half!) is in his second year of preschool and loves it. He loves circle time where he recently read a story to his classmates, and always talks about stretch-n-grow time. Show-and-tell is also a weekly highlight. He still loves learning and reads lots of books and plays with his calculator constantly. This fall, Paul coached Aaron's first soccer team. Aaron and 7 other kids made up the Silver Streak soccer team. Aaron loved going to practice and participating in the drills and games. Game time was another story. While a 3-on-3 format ensures that every kid gets a lot of opportunities to play and score goals, Aaron was un-motiviated to score goals. But he loved being a part of the team, doing the team cheer, and most importantly, the refreshments. He wishes Paul can "be his coach always!"

Brian is 2 and continues to grow like a weed. He talks so well, still signs some, and has even started to read. Brian loves to play with, as well as antagonize his brother. For the most part they get along great, and they certainly love each other. He has picked up on Jen's pet names for them, and calls Aaron "Air-Bear" and often refers to himself as "Bri-Bri." Brian loves to sing. We often hear him singing his "talent" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes, and many of the Signing Time songs. As Brian explores his world he continually comes back to us and asks for 'a cuddle.' He amazes us so much.

Jen still works teaching baby sign language and her business is slowly growing. Her classes are in high demand and balancing teaching classes with spending time with family is a challenge. She loves teaching, and can truly attest to the benefits of teaching sign language to children. She also continues to work part-time for URS, her engineering company. They correctly think she is indispensable. At church she works with the Young Women age 12-13 and loves it. The girls have such energy and watching them grow and helping them develop into young leaders is just one of the many benefits.

Paul is still at ExxonMobil and is enjoying the challenges it presents to him. He has moved through several different assignments and projects this year and is happy with what he is working on now. As our ward mission leader he works with the missionaries in our church often and still find time to help out with the Boy Scouts in our area. He has done numerous home improvement projects this year and loved being able to use his chain-saw to help Huricaine Ike victims in our area.

Most of you know, but for those that don't, Jen's Dad, Richard Fuller, passed away this past March after battling cancer. Up until the end we were hopeful that he would pull through. His passing came suddenly and as quite a surprise to us. This event consumed our lives before and after his passing, and has caused us to stretch and grow with new emotions and responsibilities and has deepened our understanding of our Heavenly Father's plan. We miss him every day.

This time of year reminds us of the blessings we enjoy and how much we can learn and grow through giving, and thinking of others. As we drive around neighborhoods this season and look at the lights, we think of our Savior, the light of our lives. We pray you are all well and able to enjoy this Christmas Season. Know that we love you and hope to get visits from you all this next year.

Paul, Jen, Aaron and Brian Thomas

Another terrible smile from Jen

We've been slacking!

We just haven't gotten around to blogging much lately(it's been over a month!), and with the holidays here we probably won't for a week or so, but I'm making the time today to do it!

For Thanksgiving we had some friends and family over to our house for dinner and we had a great time. There were enough adults for good conversations and some kids to keep our kids out of the way and happy. There was lots of good food and everyone brought something for dinner and a pie. We ended up with LOTS of pie to eat for several days after! It was a lot of fun and we are glad everyone was able to come over. We hope to do it again next year and take pictures, which we failed to do this year.

The beginning of December came and went fairly uneventfully. We got our Christmas tree at IKEA for only $20 and love it. They had stacks of them all wrapped up, so you don't know exactly what you are getting until you get it home and cut the strings on it. It's beautiful though and worth a lot more than we paid for it. We got one at IKEA last year too and hope they continue the tradition for years to come. Here's a picture of our tree!


Aaron got to have his pictures taken at school and they took 3 different images. He didn't smile very well in any of them, but we think they are cute regardless.






Paul's sister Sara came to visit us for a weekend and while we didn't really do much that was exciting, we enjoyed just hanging out and playing games with her. Again, I forgot to get the camera out, but luckily she took pictures for us and shared them with us. Here's just a few from her trip.

Hideous smile!

Lastly, here's some pics of our Family Home Evening last night. We talked about the Christmas story from Luke 2 (Aaron was very attentive to reading the scriptures with me) and I got down our nativity scene for the boys to look at. I still wouldn't let them play with it, but they were excited to have it down none the less.








We're excited to have all of Jen's family in town for Christmas starting today. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Aaron's soccer party

First of all, I want to let everyone be proud of me for learning how to scan in pics using our printer! I was even able to use it for work today. I'm proud of myself.

Anyway, Here are some pics from Aaron's soccer party. We met at Chuck E Cheese and played games, ate pizza, gave out trophies and medals, ate cake, and played some more. Aaron's game, by far, was the Deal or No Deal Game. He was VERY into it and must have played it 6 times or so. I think everyone had a good time! We are glad Paul had the opportunity to coach and I see more coaching in his future someday! Here's some pics of the evening (the official looking ones are scanned in!)

Aaron Playing Deal or No Deal

Aaron played it very intently

Aaron receiving his trophy

Aaron loved his trophy and medal and play with them at home

My 2 boys chillin at Chuck E Cheese

Aaron's official soccer picture

Aaron's soccer team - The Silver Streaks!

Primary Talent Show

This past Friday night was the Westlake Ward Primary Talent Show. There were many varied talents, from a back bend and cartwheel, to reading a poem, to some very talented pianists! The Bishop even rode his unicycle for the finale.   Aaron picked his talent by himself and both played the piano and sang "I am like a Star." He did a very good job, but later told me that he made some mistakes.  I made sure he knew we were proud of him.  

Incidentally, Brian was prepared to play and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." We let him do it at home instead. We thought he was just a little too little for the talent show!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We are excited about the friends coming over and are starting to get ready.  Here's what I'm planning on doing for decorations/name cards/party favors.  (if I get around to it!) I found the cutest article about Thanksgiving etiquette and while I don't necessarily agree with every nuance in it, I thought I'd share with others! Hope you are getting ready for all the turkey and gratitude!

New Blog Link

My Friend Kim loves giveaways. She posts on her blog about different giveaways all the time. She's gotten me hooked! A lot of these giveaways ask you to blog about their websites, but Paul wants to keep this blog primarily about our family and the boys in particular. So, with no further ado, I present my new blog for all the giveaways out there! There is a link in the link menu on the right so you can check over there whenever you want. Then again, if more of you enter the giveaways, the less chance I have of winning! Oh well, hope we all win!

Latest Antics

I played around with my blog background for the first time EVER and am really excited about it, and am glad Paul wasn't mad! Hope you like it too!

I'm going to share 2 stories today, one about each kid. We'll start with Brian. I actually got a picture of it too. This kid loves anything to do with balls, but I found it hilarious this week when I found him playing golf with a baseball and raquetball racket. We've played "putt putt" a few times this past month and I guess he knows what to do! Even more funny, or disappointing, depending on your point of view, was that he was chanting "BYU, BYU" as he played! I think it's time for me to buy more USU paraphernalia!

Aaron's story was not quite so funny. Today he told me he wanted to ride his "bike" to our friends the Torbit's house who live 4 houses down and then come back. I helped him strap on his helmet and off he went. Although I've never let him go by himself before, I decided I could quickly go back in the house to print out my recipe for dinner. When 5 minutes passed and he hadn't returned home, I walked down to their house expecting to see his bike outside (I assumed he had gone in to play with the girls), but when it wasn't there I came back home and looked for him. I then called the Torbits who informed me Aaron wasn't there.

By now I'm freaking out a little. Paul was off running an errand so I put Brian in the car and began driving around our neighborhood. When I still couldn't find him after making the rounds, I called the Torbits again to have them check again, then called Paul who immediately headed for home. Now in panic mode I started driving the subdivision again, and saw a police cruiser so I stopped him and told him my situation. The officer took down Aaron's description and said he and his fellow officers would immediately start looking for him. Luckily Paul found Aaron just minutes later, a block or two from home.

Evidently, according to Aaron, he rode to the Torbit's, then came back and rode all the way to the neighborhood playground which is several blocks away. He had to cross several streets, and part of the way doesn't have a sidewalk. Once he arrived at the park, he tried to chat with some teenagers, then got back on his bike and rode home. He was probably only gone 20 minutes, but it felt like forever and I was scared to death.

Once I knew he was safe, I just began sobbing! I held him and didn't let go. He didn't know what the big deal was, but was very empathetic to me and told me "I'll stay by your side always" and "I'll take care of you Mommy." As I explained how worried and scared I had been he tried to reassure me several times that "But I was very safe." He's such a sweetheart. I'm SO GLAD he's safe and that Heavenly Father watched over him as he had his adventure.

Halloween

I hope it's not too late to post our Halloween pictures. I've been kinda slow lately at blogging. There's just so many other things to occupy my time! Anyway, we had a great Halloween thanks to our Ward Activities Committee.

I'm going to start our Halloween entry with our Jack O Lantern which we did on Thursday. The boys and I looked online at different faces to carve and voted on each element and came up with the picture you see below. I took the top off and pulled everything out while Paul was at work, then we worked together to carve it after our traditional dinner of Sloppy Joes. We think it turned out pretty good, but I was surprised that it was moldy by Monday so I couldn't turn it into pumpkin pulp for cookies. I'll have to buy another one if I can find them!

Friday, Aaron got to wear his costume to pre-school and to the grocery store with me and was dressed up all day. That evening, after getting myself and the kids ready, packing the car with all needed items for the ward party, returning to the house for Aaron's shoes (I was not happy with him!) we finally met Paul at the church, where I provided him with his costume. We were a pretty cute family if I do say so myself. Paul made a great Conehead, I wore a poodle skirt, Aaron was a police officer, and Brian was a horse and cowboy.

The church party started off with a Chili Cook Off and there was lots of good food! Once the food was eaten, I took off with Aaron to the carnival. He loved all the activities, including the duck pond, face painting, spook alley, basketball toss, cupcake walk, lollipop pull, bean bag toss, and making a bag to put all his loot in. (I wish I had done the bag first though, instead of carrying all his stuff that first 45 min!) Paul took Brian around too and both kids had a great time. Brian loved the basketball toss, and I think Aaron liked the cupcake walk and the face painting the best. Brian got tired of the cupcake walk and just stole one when he didn't get picked!

Once all the carnival activities were concluded, there was the Trunk or Treat in the parking lot. I stayed at the car handing out candy while Paul took the boys around. Aaron got right into it and loved it. It took Brian about halfway before he really figured it out, but by the time he got back to me he was ADORABLE saying "Trick or Treat" I loved it. The kids got lots of candy which we have all been eating, and enjoying.

Although Paul is a self proclaimed Halloween Grinch, I think even he had a good time! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went. Happy Halloween!

Now for Thanksgiving....

End of October update.

I have to say I'm a little annoyed that Blogger posted our latest entry "Autumn Vacation" below our previous entry "TFI 2008" so those of you who actually look at our blog (not via reader) might not know we put a new entry up (something about which one we created in draft form first...whatever!) Thanks for being patient while we finally got around to posting about our vacation in early October. Here's a summary of other things we did this month!

We drove to Fort Worth for the BYU v. TCU game. It was our first road trip in the minivan and we had a good time. The kids napped the first hour of the drive, then listened to kids music the rest of the way. They only drove us a little crazy, but all in all it was ok. We are proud that they still don't know about the entertainment system in the car! We got to TCU and attended the BYU tailgate party where Paul and the boys got their picture taken with Ty Detmer (former BYU quarterback for those of us not huge BYU fans!) The game was less then desirable. Having been undefeated, we thought BYU would do well, but they got squashed and it was sad to watch. The kids weren't that interested in watching the football game anyway, so we left early in the 4th quarter to begin our drive back home. The boys slept easily in the car and Paul and I talked and laughed and had fun the 4.5hr drive. We arrived home sometime after 3am, exhausted, but happy.

The boys with Ty Detmer

beautiful sleeping boys

We've still been having soccer games and practice and I took some pictures of the practice this week. All the kids love the practice (more than the games I think) and Paul lets whatever kids are at the park join in too. They all seem to have a good time.

stretching

red light - green light

I can...hop on one foot

freeze tag

Other things we've done this month? Hmmm...we've been busy with our church callings, got to see some of our best friends get sealed to their new adopted twins in the temple, have had friends over for dinner, and have tried several new recipes. We've had fun and played together and are looking forward to carving pumpkins tonight. Hopefully a Halloween post won't be too far behind.

TTFN

TFI 2008

The annual Thomas Family Invitational was held while we were in Utah. All the events were fun, here are the highlights.



Abe chose to play Mini-golf. And he should be congratulated for winning his own event.

Kate chose to play hide & seek. Jen may not have had the greatest hiding place, but won nontheless.

Grandpa chose to play Trivial Pursuit. And after leveling the playing field, Aaron proved his superior mental skills and won.

Aaron chose Chutes & Ladders. Thanks to Lis's new condo on the third floor she must be very skilled at climbing. She won this event.

Jen chose to play Yahtzee. Always a classic, this event was won by Tiffani.

Matt, as always, chose poker for his event. However Andrew came through with the victory in this Texas Hold-em nail-biter.

Tiffani brought back Shut-the-box. And as the person who introduced this game to the family, Paul came out on top.

Paul introduced to the TFI a silly game called Killer Bunnies. A riot of a game that anyone can play and anyone can win. But, Aaron won.

Grammy inflicted an 800M speedwalk on the TFI this year. And again, after the playing field was leveled... Abe came out as the speediest walker.

Lis, the avid outdoorsman, chose Go Fish. Tiffani was the best fisherman in the family this year.

A spontaneous event, the RUN, was an all out sprint where the fastest Thomas captured an extra bonus point. Andrew squeeked out as the fastest Thomas.

Sara wanted an event where strategy came fully into play; 'battle' (aka Rock/Paper/Scissors) The victor of the massive Thomas family 'battle'... Grammy!

The Signature TFI event, UNO was Andrews choice event. And like Abe before him, Andrew won his chosen event.

Without winning any events, but a competitor in all of them was the TFI 2008 Grand Champion... Kate Congratulations.

Autumn Vacation

Time to document our trip to Utah. We were gone Oct 2 - 12. Luckily, The boys fly well.

This time we flew up late at night and the boys, in their pajamas, fell asleep just after take-off. I imagine that the passengers sitting next to the boys were a little annoyed by stray feet as they slept, but likely preferred sleeping boys to crying, fussy, awake little boys.

We went up the canyons and saw the pretty leaves. One of the things I truly miss about living in SLC is the proximity to the mountains. We intentionally came to Utah in the fall this year. I love the fall colors, and Aaron and Brian really took to hiking. They wanted to keep climbing up further and further. I look forward until they are older and we can have some real adventures.

We spent lots of time with cousins and playing on the trampoline. Between getting 'bounced,' and duck-duck-goose there was a LOT of laughter on the trampoline:

Duck-Duck-Goose!

Crack-the-Egg

"I can jump so high"

We participated in the TFI 2008. (Thomas Family Invitational)

We went to the temple with others from our ward in Houston, went to the Saturday PM session of General Conference and had some truly great spiritual experiences.

I drove up to Idaho with my Dad and brother to visit my grandparents. My Grandpa had a special message for all his family.

He was in good spirits, and just wanted to know that we loved him.

Jen made a fantastic birthday cake, my mom made a delicious birthday dinner, and I had a very enjoyable birthday.

Sadly, there wasn't enough time to visit all the old friends that we have in Utah, let alone some of our extended family whom we miss greatly.

100th post

We started this blog in July of 2006, before Brian was born.  We didn't know then how much "blogging" would catch on, but we love being able to share our thoughts and pictures with our friends and family around the world.  Here's a not so quick family recap to celebrate post number 100!

Go Us!

Due to the aftermath and cleanup of Hurricane Ike, school has been out this past week and Paul has been working at home all week. We've had the opportunity to hang out at home quite a bit and have gotten a lot accomplished. Here's some of what we have done.

BOTH:
We went to my moms house and helped her clean out all the food from her freezers (the power was out for too long there) and checked out her lake house. Luckily neither home sustained any major damage, she just lost some food and her 30 year old freezer never came back on. Thursday night we went out on a date and tried a new Latin restaurant we had coupons for and rented some movies, Lars and the Real Girl and Juno. Both shows were....thought provoking. We enjoyed them, but thought they were "interesting."

JEN:
My mom is a great cook and she taught me well. I cook a lot and enjoy it (dishes are something else though!) After this storm I helped mom make 30+ jars of strawberry jam since the berries had been in her freezer and were now defrosted. YUMMM!!!
One thing my mom doesn't cook though, and therefore never taught me how to make, is bread. I checked out a book from the library called The Best Make Ahead Recipe which talks about foods you can make ahead of time and put in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a month and I decided to be brave and make some bread. The rolls never really rose, I don't think it got warm enough in my kitchen, but I kept trying and decided to make cinnamon rolls and they turned out pretty good. I was proud of myself for being brave and trying bread!

Paul:
Granted Katy TX wasn't hit as hard as east Houston, but there were still some trees down, fences blown over, and roof damage. Paul went out on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and helped folks clean up. He got to put his new chain saw to use. (purchased 3 years ago after hurrican Rita, just in case) One of the neighbors captured some pictures of him cutting down an uprooted oak tree in their backyard. There will be many weekends filled with 'work parties' going to east Houston to help clean out homes, and clean up debris.

Once we got the minivan we cleaned out one side of the garage to put it in, but we hadn't bought a garage door opener until last week. The garage was pre-wired for it (we are pretty sure the previous owners took the garage door openers with them when they left!) so we thought it would be easy to install. Paul got to use his circular saw, his dremmel tool and lots of other tools so he was pretty happy. We actually had a difficult time with the wiring because it wasn't labeled, but we finally got it done and we are SO happy! Now we just have to clean out the other half of the garage and HOPE we can fit Paul's car in. The garage is really quite small though, so with the workbench and bicycles and tools and such we aren't sure if it will fit or not.



Also, my computer which I purchased in 2000 finally went the way of all the earth. (Anyone know of any good electronic recycling programs?) We purchased a very inexpensive pc, and continue to use our old 17" monintor. Paul set it up and configured it with all the software we use and cleaned off all the garbage software that we don't. It's much faster and has much more capacity than my old computer. I hope it lasts me another 8 years.

Sexy Huh!

We blogged too soon?

We thought our adventure was over yesterday afternoon when the power came back on, but not quite. Early this morning, like 3:30am or so, a huge thunderstorm came through our part of town. The power went out again and when we woke up this morning our rain gauge had overflowed, meaning we had received OVER 5 inches overnight. Parts of the city are flooding again, but our street is nice and clear. We are very pleased with how our neighborhood has fared with the storm. Power and water were restored about 10:30am so we were only inconvenienced for about 7 more hours.

We drove around Katy today and saw TONS of fences down, tree branches down, whole trees snapped in half or uprooted, traffic signs and lights down...Katy wasn't hit very bad at all, but there still was a lot of damage and we got off pretty easy. Paul is out with our church group helping clean up now. I bet he'll have even more stories to tell when he gets home. My mom is still without power in her house, and while there is no damage to her home, there is tons of debris in her yard. If her power doesn't come back soon she'll loose the food in her 4 fridges and freezers.

Let's hope this is the end of our adventure, but again, we can't complain, we feel pretty blessed.

We survived IKE!

For those who read our blog who live near us, you can probably skip this entry, it's similar to several of the entries you have posted already. But for our friends and family who don't live in Houston, here's our summary of what we experienced with Hurricane Ike.

The good thing about hurricanes is that you know they are coming, you can track them, and you can be prepared. The bad thing about hurricanes (other than the obvious) is that you wait and wait and get nervous and nervous. That's where I sat with Ike. Thursday at 1pm the tracking models showed the eye of the storm would pass directly over our home, go to my moms house, then continue to her place at Lake Conroe. Great! But tracking models change a lot and by later that evening the experts had it on the track it would stay on and actually take, going through East Houston, not West.

Paul had the day off on Friday as the entire city was essentially shut down for preparations. The coast began seeing huge waves pretty early and we sat and waited for the rain. We made sure all our preparations were in place, including packing a bag for each of us in the car just in case we had to leave at a moment's notice. We nervously sat around all day, all afternoon and all evening...nothing happened.

At 11pm the electricity flickered and we decided it was time to get down to business and bring the sleeping kids down to our room for the night, Aaron on a bed on the floor and Brian in bed with us. The power did finally go out at 11:30pm and we saw our first drops of rain about midnight. Brian tossed and turned all night, so between that and the storm Paul and I didn't sleep well. The wind and the rain was pretty intense, kinda scary at times, but wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

In surveying the damage after the fact, we've lost a few dozen shingles, received 4 3/4 inches rain, were without power for 15.5 hours and didn't have running water for probably 12 hours. That's it! Our fence is fine, our windows are fine, we are fine, we really can't complain. Several others in our ward had tree or fence damage, some evacuated, but everyone we know of is fine. There are parts of town that have major damage, especially those nearer the water and those directly in the path of the storm, but we feel very blessed.

Here's some pics we took of our "damage" such as it was.

Silver Streak

Today was Aaron's very first soccer game. 3-on-3 soccer with 4 year olds is a lot of fun. Let the pictures speak for themselves. One thing I might not have mentioned. I (Paul) am the coach. I haven't played soccer since I was 10. My understanding of the game is just above that of my players. But... we have fun!

Falling down the stairs

The first time I heard Brian flying down the stairs I jumped up and ran to see the crying mangled boy at the bottom of the stairs. Instead I see a laughing, smiling, "I love you daddy!" Still the sound of him going down the stairs like this can make me jump.

First Day Part 2

Not much news to report now...but no news is good news right!

He came home happy as a clam, told me some of the songs they sang, didn't know any of his classmates names, but is excited to go again tomorrow.

I told him I'd take him anywhere he wanted for lunch today to celebrate his first day of school. He choose Bennigans...we showed up to find out it closed. Sadness! But he was happy with Wendy's too.

He's pretty cranky though, so I've told him to take a nap, but I hear noise from upstairs, so I'm not sure it's working. Time to put on my stern Mommy face and go back upstairs. Wish me luck!

First Day of School

I had been told by the school district there had been a mistake with Aaron's paperwork and that the school bus would not be picking him up the first week, that I'd have to drive him to his preschool (He's going to K-T Private Preschool). Imagine my surprise when the bus showed up at 7:35am! Luckily we were ready, but since I had been planning on taking him, as he drove away I was filled with sadness seeing my little 4yr old leave on the school bus.

I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he said blueberry muffins, so I got up early to make muffins before Paul went to work. I helped him get dressed in some of his new school clothes, and as you can see he looks adorable, of course! I told him it was ok to be a little scared or nervous your first day, but he said he was just excited so more power to him!

I have some errands to run, so maybe I'll drop by the school just to make sure he got there ok! It's ok for me to be a little nervous the first day too...right?





About an hour after he left I was composing this blog when I got another surprise. Aaron's school called to tell me he threw up! I guess he was more nervous than he thought! I quickly drove down there, and he was doing just fine so I left him there for the rest of the morning. I've got another 2 hours or so before he gets home, and I've got tons to do, but I'm just worrying about him.

The other thing that surprised me, was Brian's reaction to Aaron going to school. I guess I had prepared Aaron for his first day, but hadn't really talked to Brian about it. He cried when Aaron's bus drove away and threw a tantrum as I tried to get him to come back in the house. When we went to the school he immediately ran over to Aaron repeating his name numerous times and joined them in circle time. He was sad again when we left. I'll have to spend some really good one-on-one time with him this week as he gets used to Aaron being gone.

Well, it's back to the laundry and dirty house, I'll post again when Aaron gets home!

The next summer update

It's only been two weeks since posting, but I already feel like there's been a ton going on. The big ones though, were me going to Girls Camp with the Young Women in our church and Brian turning 2 years old! Unfortunately, right now the computer we put our pictures on is not connecting to the internet which makes it difficult to post lots of pictures. I can load a few onto my flash drive and do it here on my laptop, but it's MUCH slower than I'm used to doing, so it's kinda annoying. Sorry to all my friends who want to see all the Girls Camp pictures...I took over 100! Instead I'm going to write a bunch and just add a few pics.

Have I ever told you guys I have the best mom? Well I do! She watched my two boys the whole week I was gone, and my fabulous husband moved into my Mom's house so that he could take charge of them in the evenings. I knew the boys were well taken care of, so I left and didn't look back. I was gone Tuesday through Saturday.

Now I'm not the best camper, in fact I never really went to Girls Camp when I was a youth, but since I'm in the Young Women's presidency I felt it was a great opportunity to get to know the girls and have fun with them. And that I did! I got all girly with them and stayed up late at night chatting about boys and books and the Young Women's program (but mostly boys). It was a lot of fun and while I'm exhausted, I'm really glad I went. I'm glad I wasn't in charge, we had a fabulous camp director and assistant camp director, but I'm glad I took the opportunity to participate.


We got back Saturday afternoon (Brian's birthday), and after showering and relaxing a little, took the boys to Chuck E Cheese so I wouldn't have to cook. We were negligent in getting good photos there, but the kids had a blast, and to be honest, so did Paul and I! The pizza is marginal, but who doesn't like Skee-ball or Whack-a-Mole?


Although Brian's birthday was Saturday, we celebrated it Sunday with Grandma. I made him a racetrack cake, and it looked like this,

although it was supposed to look like this.
Not too bad for a beginner I guess. At least it tasted ok! Brian got lots of great presents and I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite.

He went to the doctor today for his 2yr old check up and was in the 90% for height and 75% for weight. He's a happy healthy little boy though and we couldn't be happier that he's part of our family. He still just loves to laugh and is totally into kissing everyone. He requests tickle time often and likes to try to tickle us as well. He and his brother get along most of the time, and I'm sure he'll miss Aaron when school starts next week.

Brian is a joy: He loves his ABC's, singing (singing his ABC's), being read stories, & playing catch with his dad - or anything involving a ball. He's addicted to TV and movies, but loves playing any games and just playing with us. He is easy to laugh. Even in the middle of throwing a tantum, if we start laughing, he'll start laughing, then he'll go back to throwing his tantrum.



It doesn't have to be said, but we'll say it anyway. We love Brian.

My new car!

Ok, so technically it's not new, it's a 2005, but it's new to me and I love it. And it only had 21,000 miles on it when we first looked at it. We are very excited and the kids love it too so far. It has leather seats, a navigation system and DVD player, can seat 8...it's totally awesome! Yea us!

More from this summer

We had a great July with lots of fun activities, but not nearly enough pictures to show for it. Here's some highlights though.

Fourth of July we went to Lake Conroe with Mom Fuller, Gary and Rene Wojnowski (friends from when the Fuller's lived in Oklahoma) and Chandler and Heather Knies (friends from our ward). We went fishing and boating, relaxed in the house, ate some great food, and watched the fireworks across the lake from the comfort of our home. It was a great weekend and we were glad we were able to spend time with friends.

Aunt Lis (Paul's sister) came for a week and we went to Moody Gardens, shopped, watched movies, went to the library, hung out, played games...we had a great time. Thanks for coming Lis! Paul took one day off and we went to Moody Gardens and saw the Aquarium Pyramid and the Palm Beach. The kids did well and everyone had a great time!



The air conditioning went out on my car :( so we've spent the past month looking online for the right car for our family. (Thanks mom for loaning us your car for the past few weeks!) We sold my car to CarMax and bought a 2005 Honda Odyssey. It is fully loaded, lots of bells and whistles for us to play with and get used to and we are VERY EXCITED! I'll post pictures later this week after we get it detailed and looking perfect.

Tropical Storm Edouard hit just East of Houston on Tuesday. We made sure we were prepared, and it was good practice, but not necessary for this storm. We got less than 2 inches of rain, no strong wind and no power outages. Paul got to work from home though and the boys had a great time playing in the rain! I'll take storms like this any day!




Brian has turned into one kissy boy! He kisses us constantly. We love it and encourage it! He went from being a very non-cuddly baby to quite a cuddly and kissy toddler. Here's some pics of him kissing everything in sight!



Here's one last slide show of some of the cute pictures we've taken in the past month of the boys in the shower, at the Astros game, and with their dad..