Go Texans!

This Fall Jaxson decided to try football instead of soccer. He has been practicing about 3 weeks, and had his first game today! Although he doesn't have much of that "football aggression," he has really enjoyed playing, and practicing at home with Sam. The name of his team is the Texans, and today he played defensive back. Poppa, Grandpa, and GG joined the rest of us to watch him, and they won their game. But it sure was hot out there! We need some nice fall football weather to blow in!

Yum Yum!

My little baby is already on to solid foods. Today was her first meal. She had oatmeal and she ate it surprisingly well. Soon we'll start fruits and vegetables and she'll be drinking juice. That makes her seem so old! Slow down!

Back to School

Monday, August 23rd, was the first day of school. Jaxson is in kindergarten and has Ms. Bojko at Griffin Elementary. She seems really nice and fun. He was excited about her at the end of the first day. Shaye doesn't have an assigned teacher yet. There were more 3rd graders than they had teachers for, so she currently has a sub until they get somebody hired. It's kind of a bummer, but hopefully it won't take long. They were both a little apprehensive on the first day. I think Jaxson teared up a little, but didn't cry. And when I came back by his class to check on him 15 minutes later he was coloring and happy at his table. Shaye was also a little unsure this year. She has adapted well to the move, but was nervous to start school. The good thing about living in the energy corridor, as they call this part of Houston, is so many people come and go all the time, and most of the kids in her class are new to Griffin this year too. Katy has some of the best schools in the nation, and their elementary is ranked as "exemplary" so we are excited to see what this school year will bring. I'm sure it will be challenging, but hopefully great as well!

Paige at 4 Months!

We love this beautiful, happy, sweet little girl! She is so good and has everyone competing to be around her!

Houston's Children Museum

Sam and I promised ourselves we would take advantage of all there is to do here in the Houston area when we moved. We didn't have any plans Saturday during the day, so we decided to head over to the Children's Museum. It was very cool! They had tons to do. There was a whole kids' town called Kidtopia where the kids could work at the grocery store, go to the bank, cook at a restaurant, sort the mail,.... anything you can think of. There were also many more exhibits with their own themes such as matter, motion, experiments and so forth. Here are some of my favorite pictures of their little bodies, and brains, at work!












This is an accurate description of the end of the day. Everyone was pretty wore out, and poor Sydnee needed her nap. But she did great most of the time!

Smith's First Visit

One of the reasons I was most excited to move back to Texas was because my cousin Shannon was moving to Austin with her family at the same time. Her husband is doing graduate school at UT, so they will be here the next two years. Hooray! Although we have always lived half way across the country from each other, she is one of my best friends. So now that they are just a little over 2 hours from us, we hope to see them a lot! They just moved in this month, and came for their first visit this weekend. We went swimming, took a few bikes rides, watched some movies, and mainly just visited.
The kids were in heaven to have them here. Kaitlyn is only a year older than Shaye and they have always had fun when they have seen in other in the past. Maycee is exactly one year older than Sydnee and those little girls were too cute! They played Barbies and baby dolls. And when we put them to bed Sydnee got off her bed to sleep on Maycee's to be with her. I loved seeing them play!


Here's Matt and Sam showing their skills on the diving board at the Cinco Ranch Water Park!


I love this picture! I don't even know what happened to Sydnee, but Maycee was trying to console her.
Jaxson also enjoyed playing with his cousins, but he mainly wanted to be with Matt. He loves his guy time! And Matt was a good sport to let him hang with him.

Camping Fun

Since we are going to be close for a few years, my parents bought a camping trailer to take some trips with the kids. Sam and I rented a small cabin for us and Paige, and we all went to a campground just 2 hours from here. We had a great time doing all the fun camping stuff like:
Roasting yummy, warm smores




Watching movies in the camper

Going for bike rides


Building a fire



And lighting left over fireworks.



It was a nice break for me to get away from the house, and of course the kids could have stayed all week. We look forward to going some more.