Clayton's first tball game

Clayton had his first tball game on March 23rd. He was more than ready to play his game since he has been watching Brinley play her games for the last month! He did really well at paying attention, fielding the ball and hitting the ball.  I guess watching big sis has taught him what he should be doing (while others are playing in the dirt).  He didn't understand why the person he beat to the base wasn't out (they bat the entire line up, so no outs) so we had to explain that he won't be playing outs this year.....he was disappointed. He is loving tball and he looks so darn cute in a baseball uniform!

 

he is "baseball" ready 

 fielding the ball that was hit to him

 running to second base

 waiting on third by daddy

 first hit of the game!

Bayou Wildlife Park

To end our spring break, we headed to Bayou Wildlife park in Dickinson.  It is an 84 acre wildlife farm with tons of exotic animals that you can drive and feed the animals that come right up to the car and then there is a tram ride that takes you all over the farm to feed the animals as well.

 

Clayton REALLY enjoyed the day and absolutely loved feeding all the animals.  Brinley liked it but was more than willing to share her food with Clayton so he could feed the animals after she had fed a few.  He would have stayed all day if we would have let him!

 

This ostrich was right at the beginning of the drive waiting to be fed

 Jason and the llama checking each other out

 Getting ready to ride the tram to feed the animals

 Brinley feeding the llama

 Clayton feeding the buffalo

 Both kids feeding the Chloe the camel

 I forgot this guys actual name, but his horns were HUGE!!!!

We had a great day and plan to go back soon!

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

We took Brinley out of school early one Friday and headed out to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  We go every year and each year, the kids love it more and more.  The rides seemed to be the biggest hit this year.  Since we were there in the afternoon, we didn't have to wait in line for any of them!

 

My little cowboy and cowgirl ready to rodeo 

There was a kangaroo in the petting zoo area this year!

Sitting on a bale of hay

Brinley riding a pony

Brinley, Clayton and daddy going down the big slide

They loved sitting on the longhorn

Clayton was chosen to be the cheerleader for our section during the pig races.  Our pig didn't win, but little man was proud to stand out front and represent!

 

My sweet little girl with two sweet animals :-)

The swings turned out to be Brinley's favorite ride at the rodeo.  They went so high and it made me nervous to watch, but she went back 3 times to ride them!

This llama was absolutely hilarious in the petting zoo.  He kept following us around and trying to steal our food.  He was all shaved except for his head, which made him look really silly!

 

A smaller version of the swings that Clayton could ride

They really can be so sweet with each other!

Riding a roller coaster together and loving it

Clayton loved this goat.  He kept hugging him and the goat was letting him!

Clayton riding the pony

After spending the entire afternoon at the rodeo riding rides, seeing animals, and eating lots of yummy food, we headed home completely exhausted! We are already for next year! Especially Clayton because he badly wants to compete in the mutton bustin competition, which you have to be 5 years old to do.

Strawberry Picking

We took advantage of the first beautiful day of spring break and met up with friends at Froberg Farms for strawberry picking! We came home with 2 bucketful of strawberries and I have already made strawberry bread and strawberry smoothies.  On the list to be made is strawberry pancakes and strawberry Popsicles.  It is a good thing my kids LOVE strawberries!

 

Brinley, Maddy, Clayton, Austin and Addison ready to pick

 

 Brinley is very particular when it comes to the strawberries she picks

 

 Clayton and Austin busy picking their strawberries

Softball Opening Day

We had softball opening day on February 23.  We have 6 girls who returned to our team from last year and 6 more girls (all of whom are friends with Brinley!) So needless to say, we have a great group of girls who are having fun!

 

On opening day, we had a spirit contest and took pictures.

We then played a tournament 2 of the 3 teams in our age division.  We beat both teams and won first place!

Brinley hitting the ball in the first game

 

The fab four in their 2nd season of softball (they have been BFF's since they were one!)

 

 The team getting ready to scream for the spirit contest

 

 My sassy little softball player

We are 5 games into our season and are still undefeated! It is amazing the difference a year makes with the girls skill level.  We are having fun!!!!

Space Center Houston

On President's Day, the kids had off school and Jason had off work, so we decided to mark the rare occasion with our first visit to Space Center Houston.  Yes it is very sad that we live less than 10 miles away from Space Center Houston and have never taken the kids :-(

 

We had a great time checking out all the space shuttles, artifacts and playing with all the interactive exhibits. Brinley really loved learning about the living conditions on the space shuttle (especially how they go to the bathroom...ha ha!) Clayton was really excited about the whole visit and fell in love with a space shuttle and astronauts toy in the gift shop.  We got it for him and he has been playing with it ever since!

 

 

I can't wait for nicer weather so we can go back and take the tram tour around NASA grounds!

Valentines Day

Valentines day was on a Thursday, so the kids woke up that morning for school and found their goodies!

 

 Brinley had a party at her school that day (clayton did too, but it was only for his class, no parents)

 

On the bulletin board at Clayton's school, they asked kids

"What is love?"

Ouch...getting old stinks!

While walking back to my car after picking Brinley up from school on February 4th, I stepped off a curb wrong and my heard my ankle go POP! The pain was excruciating!!! I did my best to get the car and drive Brinley to dance (thank goodness it wasn't my driving foot).  I left with kids with my friend so I could go to Urgent care.  The pain was getting worse and I was sweating badly due to the pain.  Once I got there, I took off my tennis shoe to find this....

X-rays showed I had a small chip fracture below my ankle.  The gave me a walking boot (after I told them I did not have time for a cast and crutches) to wear for the next month.  The first week was pretty painful and I could only do minimal walking on it.  I stopped wearing the boot last week (beginning of March) and it gets better daily.  I wear a brace for softball practice/games or anytime I will be doing a lot of walking, but mostly I can walk without anything on it.

 

Healing in your 30's is not fun at all! What would have been a sprain in my 20's is now a fracture in my 30's.  Getting old stinks!!!!!

Pleasure Pier

We met my family down in Galveston the MLK Jr. holiday weekend. It had been raining all week, so we took advantage of the first sunshine we had seen all week to visit the Pleasure Pier.  It had opened during the summer, but the heat and crowds kept us away.  We had the place to ourselves this time.  The kids had a great time riding all the rides.  Brinley even rode some rides with her big cousin, Reese, that made me very nervous to watch! But she is my little daredevil and kept going back for more!

 

Clayton with the pirate by one of the rides

 

 

 Brinley and Reese loved this ride!!

 

 My kiddos at the entrance of the Pleasure Pier

 

 The cousins ready to ride

 

 Daddy and Clayton riding the teacups

 

We took a break in the midst of riding rides to eat an early dinner at Bubba Gumps Seafood.  It was yummy!!! After filling up our bellies, we went back to ride more rides! We were there for over 6 hours!! The kids had a blast and we will definitely be going back!