• Each student is ONLY allowed to find four eggs.
• Each student MUST hop like a bunny while finding eggs.

On your marks; get set; GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I believe everybody had a smile on their face or was laughing except Morgan. She was mad because she could not hop like a bunny and find eggs. Don’t worry. She was fine a few minutes later. Sadee came over and let Morgan open two of her eggs and share the prizes inside.

What a great start to my early weekend. I get home from work Thursday afternoon and Michelle greets me in the kitchen. “Guess what your son did today? Lemme show you.” Me being a creature of routine, I asked her to wait while I change clothes, put away my things, and “freshen up.” After I’m done, Michelle leads me to a window at the back of the house. I raise the shade and there is a piece of newspaper covering one of the panes of glass in the window.

The Story: Joshua is playing in the back yard. He is throwing a tennis ball on the roof of the house. When it comes rolling down Maggie, our dog, will retrieve it. Joshua needs to come inside the house. He goes back outside to play, but forgets the tennis ball inside. So, what’s the next best thing to throw on a roof? A ROUND ROCK! (see exhibit A below) Michelle is in the kitchen and hears glass shatter. She runs over to the window and hears Josh shouting at her through the closed blinds. “Don’t worry, Mommy.” Michelle yells back, “Didn’t you hear the glass break?!” He replies, “Yes, but it didn’t make a hole!” Technically, from his height, he didn’t see the hole…. we’re guessing. Josh comes inside and Michelle walks him over to the window. Before they get to there Joshua repeats himself, “Mommy, there’s no hole.” They walk up to the window and Michelle points to the hole, “What’s this?” He response, “oooooh.” He is sent to his room for punishment.

Michelle and I had a difficult time keeping a straight face while trying to discipline Joshua so she left the room. First of all, he gives you a blank stare like he has no idea what just happened. Combine that with the sad puppy dog eyes and Joshua already has the advantage. He’s too cute. While I’m trying to explain what he did wrong all I could hear in my head was, “Mommy, there’s no hole.” ROFL! The talk was brief. I told him not to get out of bed and think about what he did. About 30 minutes later we went to check on him and the boy fell asleep. UGH! What kinda of punishment is that?

On Friday, my father-in-law found a hardware store that still cuts glass. Lowes and Home Depot will not cut it for you. All this on one of the coldest days of the year. It was below freezing for several nights in a row. Saturday afternoon, we installed the glass and afterward everybody was treated to some good eatin’ at Rudy’s BBQ. Needless to say, the only thing Joshua is allowed to throw towards the house are leaves. My father-in-law came up with that one. Thanks Earl for the idea and thanks for the help with new glass installation…. not for the laughing at us when Michelle first told you what Josh did to the window. LOL! Oh, the memories. (Told you Josh is just like his Uncle Brian!)

This is the actual rock Joshua tossed through the window.

It started in our area around 8:30am. It was really coming down by 10am. Sonny took the day off and by lunch I was ready to pick up the twins from school. We stopped by at noon and I caught up with both of their classes heading out for recess. After seeing both of them playing in the snow, I was satisfied that our kids got to share the experience and waited for 3pm to pick them up.

It continued to snow through lunch and about an hour after the twins came home. We all went back outside to play. (Mommy was as giddy as the kids!) Sonny caught some beautiful moments of my parents playing with Josh and Morgan in the front yard. Sadee had just gone back inside. Her pants and shoes were still wet from going outside several times at school and she was too cold. I’ll see if Sonny will let me post a few photos from my camera, even though we know they aren’t quite as sharp, but our pretty princess won’t mind. Although, photos or not, I’m sure none of us will forget this wonderful winter weather!

Faby set the bar high. This was the first birthday party she organized for one of her daughters. Disney Princess bouncing house in the front yard, pink and purple balloons tied to everything, pizza, punch, mermaid pinata, huge Ariel cake, DJ, and face painter that also made balloon animals.

A pinata at any birthday party is a winner! Lined up by size, Morgan was one of the first. She got the hang of things within two swings. Josh had fun and did most of the damage to the mermaid’s hair. Sadee was further down the line and thankfully so. She knows what she’s doing when you hand her a big stick and say hit it hard. Two fists and over the head swings will do some damage fast.

We all got in line for some “ink” and looked at a sheet of drawings. Check out the photos below to see what we picked. Totally fun day!

It’s hard to believe that just five years ago we began here, the NICU of Memorial Hermann The Woodlands. Fast forward to today and the twins are starting a new journey, Kindergarten at Greenwood Forest Elementary. They have waited for this day for 2 years. Michelle would drive past the school while going in and out of the neighborhood and the kids talked about that being “our school someday.” As new parents, we thought we had all the time in the world. We make a great effort to spend quality time with all 3 kids and record all of the milestones and fun activities. This is not just another milestone, limited time vacation, or bump in the road. This is the beginning of a multi-decade learning experience.

We know how smart and sweet Joshua and Sadee are with our family and close friends. Now it’s time for them to go out into the world and show everyone how wonderful and important they are to each other, new friends, teachers and everyone they meet!

This is one of those times we really want everyone to leave a comment. Please tell us your favorite memory of Josh and Sadee from the past five years.

So, the fun part of being a parent comes when your “fight” is not going to get anyone in trouble or cause tears, except the ones from laughter.  Josh and I had a computer volume war.  He loves his online games on sites like Sprouts and Disney.  Lots of these games have loud sound effects and singing.  After days of the noise filling my ears, I beg him to mute the volume.

This morning, he was at it again.  Straight from bed, bathroom break, then on the computer.  It was Imagination Movers this time.  I asked him to turn it down.  He says, “It’s OK.”  That’s not what I meant.  He thinks I was asking his opinion on the matter.  Kids seem to make this mistake a lot.  I request that they do something in the form of a question to teach politeness, but they think I’m only asking if they want to do it.

So, no arguments from me this time.  Our desks are in the same room and I’m on the computer, too.  I found some of my favorite music online (StephanieMeyer.com, Twilight Playlist), turned up the volume, and hit play.  It didn’t take Josh more than two seconds to gripe, “That’s too loud!  I can’t hear my game!”  Really?  So sad.  He turned his volume down… I didn’t!  Mommy wins this round.

We started the day with lunch and Sadee’s dance/gym class.  They all put on their costumes there.  Sadee forgoes the wings to make sure they are not “squooshed” when she tumbles.  Then we visit Great Grandma Virgie at Eden Brook, her retirement home.  That place is really nice.  They have a great selection of toys for visiting grandkids, all in working and clean condition, and holiday parties for the residences and their families.

Then, the highlight of the evening.  What all little kids, and big kids, can barely wait for all year… Trick or Treat?!  This is Josh and Sadee’s 2nd go round.  Morgan makes her maiden voyage of the neighborhood.  I can say with confidence that she will be back for more next year.  At first, Mommy carries her to the door with her Bubba and BeeBee.  She stares at our neighbors as they had out candy and is happy to get back in the wagon.  By the next block she is ready to walk up to the door on her own.  She sees what is going on with the other kids and catches on fast.  If you knock and say “Peeees”, then the candy will flow into your little hands.  She smiles and runs back to drop it in the wagon.  Josh and Sadee are a house ahead.  We are trying to convince Morgan that you can not go back to the same house for more.  Why not?  It worked the first time!  She gets upset again when we pass the dark houses.  We tell her they don’t have candy and she is OK to move on.

We have some of those neighbors that really get into the holiday spirit (pun intended) by adding great decorations, costumes and lights to their front yards.  I wish you could see the kids’ faces when they get close to the troll characters.  Shock and flee.  Josh is a little less intimidated, or really motivated by the sugar, so he is willing to walk back up to these houses with Mommy close by.

Of course Daddy is behind the camera all evening, so please enjoy the photos and add a comment to let us know what you did this year for Halloween.

He really loves to go to class.  He also listens to his teachers, which Mommy and Daddy are not sure why he doesn’t use this skill at home!  Check out his latest photos in the gallery.  I love photo 3 when he covers his mouth looking like the teacher just told him the next scary skill they will need to perform.  I also love photo 9 where it illistrates how Josh uses his head in class.

It all started a couple of months ago when Sadee began doing cartwheels and tumbling. Not sure where she learned it, but either way, she was having fun. This continued for weeks. She cartwheeled and tumbled in the living room, at the park, or anywhere there was enough room. Three weeks ago, Michelle and I discussed the possibility of signing Sadee up for a gymnastics class. We kind of made a little error in judgment by telling her early. From then on, she asked us at least 3 to 100 times a day when was she going to “tumbling class”. After a few days of looking into several classes, Michelle spoke with her cousin Jenny. Jenny has one of her daughters signed up in the same type of class with The Little Gym. Next thing I knew, Michelle signed up Sadee for a free one hour introductory class. I stayed home with Morgan and Joshua. A couple of hours later, Sadee and Michelle came back home. Sadee had a BLAST! After 15 minutes of telling me about her class Joshua decided he wanted to sign up too. The following week we had them both in “tumbling class.”

Below are the results of both Sadee and Josh at the The Little Gym this past Wednesday.

To view even more photos from their gymnastics, click the link.
Sadee & Josh at tumbling class