Eli's 2nd Birthday

Elaiden (Eli's buddy and co-guest of honor) got wings and a wand and she flitted around the house like a fairy princess for the day. As you can see she was just too tickled! Eli isn't too sure about this photo is he?
I don't know who this is but isn't she just adorable! I didn't realize until now that I actually capture some of her spit-up on film...




Eli had Dump-Truck Cake. The gluten-free chocolate cake had TWO dump trucks loaded with cake crumbs on top with lots of yummy little candy bites. In the second photo you can see Eli almost not able to wait till the Duck cake candles were lit so we could sing to both him and Elaiden. He did a great job blowing out his candles.


I got to meet Darby's cousin Jaime, her little girl Payton and her baby Miles. The photo with Eli in the middle cracked me up because that would be Payton if she had three little ones! I got to hold Miles while Payton played on the play scape in Elaiden's backyard.

By the end of the party the clear favorite toy was a little firetruck that Eli got. He did such a great job of sharing with Elaiden. I had total camera envy at the birthday celebration as everyone there had fabulous cameras and were just snapping away. 8+ mega pixel cameras are getting more reasonable...hmmm

Inks Lake 04/08

Oh we had fun at Inks Lake and here are some photos that we want to share. Aren't our boys cute! We hiked, we swam, we lounged. What a wonderful weekend! We've got to book more weekends before they fill up!






We stopped at a BBQ place on our way into Burnet to pick up dinner. We stopped there because last year when we camped Inks Lake the BBQ place was OUT of food by the time we pulled out of town on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately the BBQ place had changed hands since then and well, the BBQ wasn't all that...






Our first night was really chilly so we drove to Marble Falls the next day to pick up some blankets and some other items we discovered we needed on night one...like starter logs to get the damp firewood started. I just loved this jumble of rocks topped with the gnarled tree. My picture just cannot do this view justice.




Check out this sleepy boy! The neighboring campsite couldn't get over how good Reese & AJ were because they didn't bark the entire weekend. They wanted to know our secret...exhaustion!




When I was broadcasting the dishwater I noticed this small herd of deer behind our campsite. Aren't they delicate? They weren't too sure of me and sprung away into the thick once I tried to get closer.







John, Darby & Eli were camping at Inks Lake the same weekend with their small prayer group from their church. Eli visited our campsite several times and liked visiting with the boys.







Eli took this photo of me. Isn't he a burgeoning little shutterbug!

Night two rocked out with bratwurst & sauerkraut with potato salad and Shiner Blond. One of the brats jumped into the coals but we rescued, rinsed and replaced on the grill top. It was a close one but all ended well.





Breakfast both days included scrambled eggs, hash, toast, OJ and coffee. Yum :) I don't know why I find the challenge of putting together a meal in the great outdoors such fun!

Connor's First Tri

Well, not actually...! Dan had a triathlon in Galveston and we drove down to Houston to visit Becca, Grant & Connor before the triathlon. Dan drove down to Galveston on Saturday to meet up with his friend Mace. Becca and I packed Connor up and drove to Galveston on Sunday morning to catch a glimpse of Dan running in the Tri. Well, we didn't see him running the Tri but we did see him walking up to the conference center after he walked six miles back from a double flat tire and had to drop out of the race.

It was a very nice weekend and we look forward to visiting Pearland again and again and again :)

Happy Birthday Danno!

On Sunday the 16th Dan celebrated his (drum roll please...) 38th Birthday! It was an unusual birthday celebration that started the night before at Sherlock's for fish & chips. Then the party continued over at Alamo Draft House to see Pulp Fiction on the big screen. The movie started at midnight (happy birthday!!!) and we didn't get home till after 3am! Talk about tired!
The next morning, after much sleeping in, I made brunch and Dan opened his basket-o-bike-gear and as you can see from the photo he got a new jersey and some new socks. The socks have a little tricycle like a hot wheel on them.

After brunch we moved outside so Dan could detail his bikes and I sanded the coffee table. I only got about 60% finished but I'm well on my way to having a coffee table that matches the end tables.

My sister Wendy celebrated her birthday on St. Paddy's. Oh, and Dan's twin Steve had his birthday on Sunday as well!

A Visit to Nana Perkins'

On Saturday the 29th Dan and I traveled to Decatur with his parents (Max & Caroline) to see Nana (Dan's Grandmother - Max's Mom). What a pretty day! Not only did I get to meet Dan's Nana but I also got to meet his cousins and their families. Everyone was so nice :)















On top of having a nice day with family we also got to play with the dogs.











Reese and AJ LOVED playing with "Uncle" Orvis in the fields, between the hay bales, and just about anywhere else there little legs would carry them.






You can tell from all of the lolling tongues that all three boys were having a blast!

Update on school

I completed my finals last Friday and grades will be posted by the 17th of December. Dr. Kinard let me know via email that I got an A for the semester in ECE 5318 Advanced Early Childhood Development! Woo-Hoo! I'm just waiting to see if I maintained my A in CI 5330 Multicultural Teaching & Learning. When I turned in my last two assignments I already had a strong A going in the class so I'm pretty sure that I'll have a 4.0 for this semester.


I've registered for my final semester of coursework for Spring 2008. I have one class to take and then I'll be student teaching in the Fall of 2008. Technically speaking I will have completed the graduate program in May but I won't actually complete my Certification until after my semester of student teaching.


It has been such a long journey and I am so grateful to have such supportative family and friends. Thanks you guys.

Christmas is Upon Us!

Dan and I attended a retirement party for a co-worker of his last week. We were having such a good time that we didn't make it back up to Round Rock in time for my school holiday party.

In the photo above we have the 'flash ON' photo - harsh lighting to say the least and next we have the 'flash OFF' photo - nice and fuzzy.

The photos have that fun Christmas light haze. This morning on 'Good Morning America' I learned that changing the ISO setting on my digital camera will help crisp up the photos without losing the soft light from the Christmas lights. I haven't had a chance to try this new technique out yet but I'm going to see if it really works.