Sonny (aka Bubby and Bunky Boy) Starts Swim Lessons

After months of not-so-patiently watching his big sisters take swim lessons at the Houston Swim Club, and after months of kicking like crazy in the bathtub while diving his head under the water and saying, "I swimming," Harrison finally reached the necessary age (2 and 1/2) to start taking lessons. His teacher is Ms. Chelsea (who happens to be Sophie's current teacher as well). Sonny is adamant, though, that "Muss Chulssy ehs mah teeechah, not Sophie's teeechah!" He is very proud to be official now.

Bubby insisted on wearing the swim cap like his big sisters do (see pictures), and he was the only one brave enough in his class to go down the big bear slide on the first day. Somewhat like his Grandpa Ken, Harrison insists on doing everything on his own, in his own way, and on his own terms, no matter how daunting the challenge seems. We just wish that would translate to sleeping at night, which is the one thing he refuses to do on his own, or really at all for that matter. I don't know how the kid functions during the day with the amount of sleep he gets (or really doesn't get), let alone have the energy to run around like a monkey all day as he typically does.

Still, what is perhaps most remarkable about milestones like these is the unavoidable realization that time is sliding by so swiftly that it seems to literally leap from month to month and season to season (except during our chaotic nights, of course, when the precious commodity of sleep is measured in minutes, not hours). Our baby boy is fast becoming a big boy.

Bye Bye Grandpa Bud

For the second year in a row, Grandpa Bud Taylor spent fall and winter in Houston with his daughter (my mom, aka Granny V). Uncle Kent came down to pick him up and head back to Battle Mountain, Nevada where they will spend spring and summer together again. Kent works in the gold mine in Battle Mountain. The way the economy is going, gold is not a bad business to be in these days. This year we had Hurricane Ike while Grandpa was living with Granny V. Next year we will try and have a snow flurry (a very rare event in Houston).

These pictures are from the Rice University Easter Egg Hunt (Granny V works in the Physics Department at Rice). We all met at Rice for the hunt on April 4 and then went to lunch at Pappasitos before Kent and Grandpa headed west. Bye Grandpa Bud. We will see you next fall.

Em's First Solids

About a month ago, we started introducing solid foods into Emme's diet. She isn't particularly interested in them and much prefers ninny. These pictures capture her first few tastes of rice cereal and applesauce.

Staycation's All We Ever Needed

Sophie and Bella kept asking where we were going to go for Spring Break. All of their friends, it seemed, were heading to far flung places for the week break. Because we had no plans to travel anywhere, we decided to do a Staycation. We went up to the Woodlands Conference Center and Resort for a 24 hour getaway with the Nikos. We had a fun and relaxing time swimming (though the water was cold), ordering food and drinks poolside, listening to live music, and shopping. We plan to go back again now that we know the facilities better. Like Pointe West in Galveston, another good location for a quick getaway, it is only about an hour away from our house but feels worlds away from the daily grind.

Here is a picture of Stephen and the kids (except Em) playing in one of the pools.

Are We Human (Or Are We Dancer)?

Two highlights during our weeks of illnesses:

1. The Killers concert with Jen and Mike Bronson. The show was great. Bother Flowers was in fine form, and we sang along heartily to all the songs. It was fun to see the Miners there too.
   
2. Celeste getting an iPhone for her birthday. It is one gift that lives up to the hype. Truly amazing, especially with all the cool apps.

Here are some pics from the Killer's concert (we did not take them as you can tell from the cell phone pic of us and the Bronsons at the bottom of this post; our pics did not turn out very well, but we had great seats and a great view).

Six Sick Weeks

The absence of blogging over the last several weeks is mainly the result of a wave of multiple illnesses that crashed into our family over a six week period in January and February. No fun. Stephen was the only one spared. The illnesses included (in no particular order):

• 2 kids with the flu
• 4 kids with stomach viruses
• 1 mom with a stomach virus
• 1 kid with a kidney infection
• 2 kids with staph infections
• 1 kid with a sinus infection
• 1 kid with a scratched cornea
  
• And one trip to the ER (Harrison got into a can of Spray Starch, and poison control told us we had to go to the ER; he was fine but his parents were rattled).

Needless to say, we gladly shut the door on January and February of 2009. Good riddance!

Birthday & Brownies

Sophie turned 7 on January 4th. I can't believe 7 years ago we brought our little Soph home from the hospital. Every night, for the first 2 years of her life here on earth, she would scream non-stop for hours until she would finally collapse into an exhausted sleep. Stephen would hold a blow dryer up until his arms were about to fall off (why weren't we smart enough to just rest the blow dryer on the dresser?) just so she would fall asleep. We used that blow dryer to get her to sleep until she was 2 years old!!

She's turned from a screaming baby into a wonderful little girl and we are so glad she is our oldest, biggest girl. She is such a helper and a big part of what makes our family tick.

We had her birthday party at a ceramic shop. It was a blast (except for the part when Harrison vomited all over - we have had the stomach flu pass through the members of our family for about 10 days now..., which is why I am just now posting about the birthday). Here are some fun pics (we had Pearland friends, Sugar Land friends, and cousins galore)!

On another very random note, we made brownies the other night for our FHE treat. Harrison just loves brownies. He can't get enough of them when I make them. And I just love the way his little face looks when he's eating something he really likes. He always closes his eyes and makes an MMmmm sound while he chews. His last expression below, with his pouting lips, is when we told him he wasn't going to be able to have any more brownies after he finished the one he was eating. He had already had way too many, and needless to say, he didn't go to bed until very late that night due to his chocolate/sugar high.