Goodbye Chelsea Girl

Today Brent and I said good-bye to our first "child" together. Chelsea Lynne Cook was a part of our lives for almost 12 years. She was my 30th birthday present and the puppy of Brent's parents' dog Sadie. When she was born, the white fur on the back of her neck formed the letter C and that combined with her beautiful red coloring made her the dog for us.
Chelsea put up with me adorning her in bandannas for every occasion. Here she is ready to help me give Brent his 30th birthday present - NASCAR driving lessons at Texas Motor Speedway.
She weathered 3 moves across the country and back and us bringing 2 small humans into her life, but through it all one thing remained constant - her passion for running and leaping to catch an airborne object.
So intense was this passion that for a while we couldn't say the word Frisbee or ball in her presence. We had to resort to "flying circle disk" or "b-a-l-l" to avoid sending her into a tizzy. It was almost impossible to ignore those laser beam eyes that practically willed you to pick up the ball and throw it for her.

Even in her last days with us, she still had the desire to retrieve. She was a bit slow at it, but she did it none-the-less. I always said she'd play ball until her dying day and, bless her heart, she did.
Chelsea was also a good companion. When Brent would go out of town, she'd curl up next to me in bed to make sure I wasn't lonely. Our house seems quite empty now that she's gone, and I'm a bit lonely without her shadowing my every move.
Even Jennie, our other Border Collie, is feeling the loss. And after we explained what was happening to Brenna, she said, "I don't want to have only one dog." We don't either, but now she is at peace and no longer hurting.

Good-bye old friend. I hope you find an angel to throw your ball for you. We love you and will miss you so.

All Smiles

Glad I captured this moment, because these days, they can be fleeting.

Future Lady Charmer - I'm just sayin'

Can I Get a "Yee-haw"?

Today is "Go Texan" day in the greater Houston area. It all has to do with the Rodeo Houston coming to town. The Trail Rides start today, so you have to watch out for horses and cows meandering down the streets of Houston and then watch where you step if you walk behind them. It also means Bar-B-Que, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest to be exact. Three days of smokin', saucin', finger lickin' fun. There's also concerts ranging from country music all the way to get this, KISS and Janet Jackson, though not together on one stage. That would be too much to handle even for the greater Houston area. Auntie Amie and I are taking the girls to see Selena Gomez. Who you say? What do you mean you've never heard of her? Don't you watch the Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place? Don't you listen to Radio Disney in your car every chance you get? Well, if you don't, clearly you're not living the high life like we are.

The local schools proclaimed this an official dress code release day which puts joy in the hearts of every child and fear in the minds of every parent. Suddenly there is pressure to come up with the right clothes to fit the occasion. I felt increased pressure, because I forgot the last dress code release day, Valentine's Day. Brenna went off to school in boring, regular old school clothes that day, so yesterday the hunt was on for "western" clothes. It couldn't be just any western clothes, no sir-ee. It had to be GIRL western clothes, because she didn't want to dress like a boy. Fortunately, the local merchants are all on board with this western wear thing, and I easily located a western dress and some western-ish boots. I got the last pair of brown western-ish boots in her size, YES!

"Do the hoe down (throw down)! Throw it all together that's how we roll."
The hat didn't make it to school. I think she was too embarrassed to be THAT western.

Ready for a rodeo. Delicious Chapstick and all.
He did go to school in his boots, but his tennies went with him for back up.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Turning Two

Austin,
It's hard to believe that you are turning 2 tomorrow. It seems like just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital. You were just a tiny bundle of sweetness.

Didn't you just have your first taste of cake a couple of weeks ago and not an entire year has gone by? You just took your first steps last month, right?


Now you're this little boy who is starting to talk and heaven help us, share your thoughts and opinions. You are adding new words to your vocabulary on a daily basis and it's sometimes hard to keep up. You are so proud when you master a new word and want to be sure that we know that you know how to say it... over and over and over. You like to add "ah" to the end of your favorite words for emphasis. Jeep is Jeep-ah. Milk is milk-ah. It's so incredibly adorable.

Now you want to do it yourself, because you are so big and "capable". You are trying to convince us that you don't need sippy cups anymore, but the dribbles on the carpet suggest otherwise. You know that if I put a waffle in the toaster for you that you will need a plate and you know exactly where the plates are in the kitchen. I know it's just a matter of time before you climb onto the counters to fetch one for yourself.


You have a fascination with ChapStick that you lovingly call "stick". Mostly you are content to simply take the lid off and put it on again. There are times, however, when I have to reign in the "application" of the "stick" to prevent a sheen of Cherry ChapStick from covering your entire face.

You've discovered music and like to hear the same song over and over again. It's a good thing we have already been desensitized to this by your sister. Now "Twinkle Twinkle" doesn't get stuck in my head for days at a time like it used to.

You still have the ability to turn people's heads with your cuteness. I've always thought you were cute, but sometimes a Mother tends to be biased. I hope your blond hair and blue eyes are here to stay, but if they're not, we'll remember them fondly .

Happy 2nd Birthday! I can't wait to see what the next year brings.
Love,
Mommy

Joe Cool

Ever since we moved to Texas, we've been saying to ourselves "We need to get Austin some sun glasses". Well, we found ourselves in Academy today and these awesomely cool shades made their way home with us. Yes, we paid for them. We don't have a budding felon on our hands.

I will tell you this, everyone in the parking lot was taking in his coolness and his cuteness. If you look closely, you'll see the racing flags in the lenses of his Lightning McQueen shades. He kind of reminds me of a race car driver looking off in the distance like he's too cool for the rest of the crowd... or maybe just his Mommy trying to take his picture.

Winterfest 2011

For the past couple of weeks, we've seen banners, posters and ads for "Winterfest" here in Pearland. Among the rides and attractions, they boasted having 250,000 lbs of snow for snowball fights and tubing hills. With temperatures forecast in the upper 60's and low 70's, we couldn't miss the opportunity to see man-made snow melt. We haven't seen snow since last winter in Utah, and I for one miss it. So we headed out in short sleeves and shorts (yes, of course, Brent was in shorts) to see what adventures awaited us at Winterfest.

First up was a ride on a mechanical bull. Brenna said she was going to "take that bull down". According to the video I shot, she stayed on a good 20 seconds. Not bad for a city girl.

Austin decided to stay in his stroller and work his way into the action.

Next up was a little rock wall climbing followed by a tube ride down a very challenging man-made hill.

Austin, meanwhile, still preferred to hang out in the stroller and feast on graham cracker Goldfish.

Brenna took a spin on the Wiggle Wurm. I can't believe she picked the pink bird. Can you?
(No, that was not a typo above. I can't help it if the Carnies can't spell.)

All that watching Brenna go around in circles only made Austin thirsty.

Brenna and Daddy had some fun in the fun house.

And, we FINALLY found a ride that Austin liked!

Thanks Pearland Winterfest! That was the best $17 dollars we've spent on entertainment in a long time. That's right folks, one admission fee and all the rides you can stand. None of this buy tickets and then tell your kids you're out of money after the 2nd or 3rd ride stuff. Local "small town" festivals rule!

Tying Up Loose Ends

Thanks to the invention of Velcro and slip-on tennis shoes, the urgency for Brenna to learn to tie shoes never became, well, urgent. Sure her kindergarten teacher tried to impress upon her how paramount it was that she learn to tie her own shoes, but it was to no avail. No matter how many shoe shaped cut-outs with yarn laces came home, Brenna had absolutely no interest. But one night last week, she just decided that it was time to learn this important life skill. That's how it is with most things that Brenna learns... always on her own terms.

I'm just so relieved she won't go off to college having to ask her roommate to tie her shoes.