Bluebonnets

I am sad to say that I have never taken my kids picture with our beloved state flower.  Unless, you drive two hours away to Brenham, most of the bluebonnets you find are on the side of the highway, which is too dangerous! Last year, I heard of a field of bluebonnets about 10 minutes from our house.  By the time our hectic schedule allowed us to go down there, they were all gone (thanks to lack of rain).  This year, with plenty of rain, the bluebonnets have come out in full force and have stayed a long time.  Yesterday, we loaded up and headed down to take pictures.  Brinley first gave Clayton a quick lesson, "You can't pick these flowers or you will get in trouble"...she learned that at school :-) The sun was bright and in our eyes most of the time, but we got some great pictures!

Strawberry Picking

Thanks to a very mild winter, the strawberries grew a lot earlier than normal.  We normally pick strawberries in May, but the fields opened up the last weekend in February this year! I feared if we waited any longer, there would be no more left to pick! We met up with Jason's parents and sister for strawberry picking fun to conclude our spring break activities! It was really busy (which seemed to be the theme of our spring break) but with so many fields, it didn't bother us much!

As usual, Brinley took forever to fill her bucket becuase only the perfectly red, sized, no mushy spots strawberries made it into her bucket! And as usual, Clayton spent most of his time eating the strawberries, rather than picking them!

the perfect strawberry mom!

 My sweet little strawberries!

 Picking fun with Grandma, Papa and Mimi

After filling two buckets with strawberries and buying a dozen homemade fried pies (YUM), we ate some BBQ sandwhiches before heading home for naps! For the record, Clayton can eat his weight in chopped beef sandwhiches! He will eat an entire sandwhich before even touching his chips, he is a BBQ man for sure!!!!

American Girl and Dallas Arboretum

****for some reason, my post of our trip to the Fort Worth zoo didn't save, so I will redo it****

On the second day of our spring break trip to Dallas, we spent the morning at the American girl store. Brinley had gotten a doll from my mom for her birthday and she has fallen in love! I told her we would get her another doll for her near perfect behavior at school all year. She was in awe when she walked in the store and I think we walked the two-story store at least 3 or 4 times looking at everything before she selected her doll, clothes, and accessory.  Once she picked her doll, which she named Kaya, she wanted to get her hair braided and ears pierced at the salon.  It was funny to see them put the doll in the salon chair, cape on and do her hair.  Brinley thought it was wonderful!!

Brinley watching her doll get her hair braided

 Clayton was not so impressed with the store and played with his cars while the doll got her salon services (daddy was proud)

Brinley in front of the store with her new doll

We are excited that an American Girl store is going to be built here in Houston, so we won't have to drive all the way to Dallas in the future!!

After grabbing a quick lunch at the mall, we headed out to the Dallas Arboretum for the rest of the afternoon.  The main exhibit was the Dallas blooms and they were gorgeous!  The kids had a great time running through the flower mazes and playing in the large grass areas on the beautiful day! Brinley also liked seeing all the brides and girls in their quinceanera dresses having their pictures taken.

 pretty girl and pretty flowers

I LOVE this picture with the Texas flag

 Clayton had fun using the gardening tools from old times

We left the Arboretum and ate dinner.  I then bathed two exhausted kids who passed out quickly! We woke up the next morning and drove home. It was a great getaway and made our spring break wonderful!

Razorback Baseball

A few Sunday's ago, the Hogs came to Houston for the Houston Baseball Classic tournament.  My dad and brother decided to get a suite at Minute Maid field to celebrate the fact we could watch the Hogs without driving 10 hours! We all got dressed up in our Hogs gear and watched them beat Texas 7-3! We enjoyed lots of ballpark food, family, and fun!

Reese and Brinley ready to Call those Hogs!

Reese, Brinley and Clayton before the game

That weekend was also my mom's birthday, so we surprised her with a birthday cake.  The grandgirls helped her blow out the candles

Clayton really enjoyed watching the baseball game.  He sat and watched the majority of game! He also liked sitting in Pops lap eating pretzels!

Houston Rodeo 2012

We made our annual trip to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo this past Thursday. It was a warm, sunny day and we had a blast! This year was much more fun since Brinley was tall enough to ride the bigger carnival rides and Clayton was tall enough to ride the kid carnival rides by himself.  Both of my kids are fearless and will get on any ride and get off screaming "MORE!" In fact, they were both in tears when we told them they weren't tall enough for the big roller coasters.

We started by checking out the animals.  Since it is the first week, only the cows were being shown and judged.  The kids did get to pet rabbits, dig for worms, see piglets being born in the birthing center, and chicks hatching from eggs.  I love how educational the rodeo is and geared for kids to learn so much about farm life!

                  Yee Haw! My lil cowboy and cowgirl on a longhorn

         Clayton feeding a goat that followed him around the entire feeding area begging for food!

     The slides were the biggest hit with my kids! They would spend all their tickets there if we let them

 Mommy and Clayton (with Brinley behind us) riding the paragliding ride.  He kept saying "I'm flying like a bird"!!!!

                                Roller Coaster fun with Reese and her friend

 We met up with my brother, sister in law, and niece for some rides and BBQ dinner.  Brinley, Reese and Clayton smiling for the camera.

 My munchkins hamming it up for the camera after a very long day!!

 One last ride before we headed home, the ferris wheel with Daddy!

We love the rodeo and look forward to it every year! The kids came home exhausted and are still talking about it 2 days later.  Brinley will get another rodeo visit since we are going there with her kindergarten class for a field trip this week!

Softball Opening Day

This weekend were the opening ceremonies and first game for Brinley's first softball season. We have been practicing for a month (and I do mean we, I was talked into coaching the team!).  The day was cold and rainy, but the girls were very excited and won the spirit award for our age group by screaming the loudest.  They had moonwalks, sno-cones, popcorn, hot dogs and prizes for the kids. 

My little softball player

My team, the Pink Panthers

Our first game was pretty miserable! It started to rain 5 minutes in and continued throughout the entire game! The girls were cold, wet and having a hard time hitting the ball.  We lost the game 4-1

 :-(

Brinley getting the first hit of the game (she was also the first and only run scored!)

Listening to me on third base (I wish she was this attentive at home!)

Clayton and Austin enjoying free treats at the ballpark

We had a good day and look forward to our next game (tonight), where hopefully we will hit like we have been hitting in practice!!!

Family outing to the zoo

In honor of President's day, the kids were out of school and Jason had the day off work! The weather was going to be sunny (it has rained everyday the last 7 days) so we headed to the zoo.  Clayton and I have been to the zoo several times this year, but Brinley and Jason have not made it due to school and work, so both were excited to join in on the fun!While, we didn't have the zoo to ourselves like we do on non-holidays, it wasn't too crowded and we had a fantastic time!!!
Brinley with her favorite animals at the zoo

this monkey was having a nap

Brinley has been very jealous that Clayton has been able to feed the giraffes. She was more than excited that she was able to FINALLY do it herself

We took a quick break for a family picture

My two little monkeys with a monkey

We jumped on the train for a ride around Hermann Park

My two favorite men on the carousel