Sophie Turns 3!

Our little girl is already turning 3! We sang "Happy Birthday" to her and dad made a big blueberry pancake breakfast for the family. We all had to brush really good so we didn't have blue teeth for church.

When we got home from church, Sophie opened her cards and presents. She was particularly happy with the bank she got which came with a little ziploc of loose change to put in it (brilliant!). She was so happy. Thanks to all who acknowledged her birthday.Then after naps and dinner, we invited a few friends over to enjoy birthday cupcakes. She has been telling me she wants candles on her cake for weeks. She got a whole 3 of them. Happy Birthday, Sophie! We love you SO MUCH!

Acts of Kindness

Keri got an unexpected package in the mail yesterday--several cards and a blanket! Neal's mom, Susan, sends get well cards often and has random people write in them. Susan works at an elementary school and when she found out a 6th grader, Ruby, also a Latter-Day Saint (LDS), she handed her a card.

Ruby took the card and apparently shared the circumstances to someone from church because the girls from the Activity Days program went to work and made this blanket and beautiful cards for Keri, and handed that to Susan, who sent it on its way.

Also, today, the boy scouts came over and soon we had 3 flats of zinnias planted in our front yard. It looks great. Thanks to everyone who blesses our family and home. We appreciate your kindness!

Sophie Visits the Salon

Sophie got her first "real" haircut this past weekend. She was excited about going to the "sawong." She got to watch Dora and got a sucker for good behavior. It took less than 10 minutes and her vision was completely restored.

Quiet Time Equals Severe Tornado Damage

When I haven't noticed that Sophie has become quiet, it's going to be bad. I gave her once neat room an F3 on the tornando level today.

The Cockroach Hall of Fame

Oh yes we did. Need a nice, little summer outing for the kids? The Cockroach Hall of Fame. Michael Bohdan, a pest control specialist, started up this little gem years ago in his Plano, TX retail store, The Pest Shop. Years ago, Michael didn't have sufficient money for a good advertising campaign for his new pest control business so he paid $1000 for a cockroach mounted on a drawing of the state of Texas. He figured doing something as ridiculous as that would get him on the news or something. It did. He got on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Business took off.

He breeds Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and will show them off to you. Keri actually held one for 2 seconds! Sophie and Rhys were content just to look on. He says he feeds them dog food, beer, and bananas.

There is, in addition to the "live" roaches, several "roach art" displays of "dead" cockroaches dressed in costumes to portray a variety of themes.

"Roaches at the Beach"

"Santa Roach"

There was also Liberoachi, Elvis, and Brittney Spears roach displays.

Michael does not make roach art as a pass time but people send them to him. Isn't that lovely. Michael was a great guy, informative, and obviously takes pride in his Hall of Fame and business.
Oh, and yesterday we kept cool at a local sprayground. Talk about an abrupt transition!"Strike a pose. There's nothing to it...."

Welcome Clara June

Our friends, John and Carly, had their third child, Clara June, on Friday morning. We stopped by after church today to pay them a visit. She is a very good looking baby and Carly is getting around well after the planned C-section. Good job, John and Carly!Neal getting a kick with one of his camera phone applications. Who's a Reagan fan?

Summer Concert in the Park

We love going to the concerts in the park even though it's getting warmer quick. It's good, clean family fun! This particular night they had a Blues Brothers tribute band--Briefcase Blues. Thanks to Dave for these pictures.

New Do

Keri has lost approximately 2/3 to 3/4 of her hair on the chemo. It was looking pretty sad so today she finally went for short. Hopefully, this will be kinder on the shower drain too.

Before:After:

Getting Out

Kari invited us along on a day of fun last week. We enjoyed Story time with Miss Genie at the Interurban Railway Museum. She did a great job. Then we were off to the Las Colinas Mustang Sculpture to have lunch with Carter, Kari's husband. Kari had just told her daughter, Kenzie that she could not get in the water when she looked up to see this...Yep, that's me schlepping my Sophie through the fountain! At that point she knew she would not win that argument with Kenzie, so Carter took her in.

What a Chunk!

The pediatrician actually said "What a chunk!" after looking at Rhys' stats. She quickly followed up that he was healthy and proportional and fine where he was at. He weighed in at a whopping 27 lbs., 8 oz. placing him in the 94th percentile. His length/height was 32.25 inches placing him in the 96th percentile. And his head is just bursting with brain matter and is in the 98th percentile.

He is wearing 24 month clothes and is only a year old. Rhys is about to pop out some molars because they are all swollen but he hasn't gotten too cranky about those yet.

Today, for the first time, we are noticing that he is waving bye-bye. Way to grow, Rhys!

Sophie and Rhys Quirks

Rhys has become quite the biter. He pulls himself to standing using mom's pant leg and then bites the back of her thigh. Both Neal and Keri have had their toes bitten while they were sitting on the bed with their feet hanging off. And today in church, Rhys bit the heck out of Neal's finger and all Keri could see is her husband with the most awful expression of pain on his face--but he didn't yell and interrupt the service so good job, Neal!

Rhys can make the best face. He puckers up those lips and sucks them up to his nose. Very bizarre but talented.

Sophie HATES wearing dresses. Unfortunately for her, her parents LOVE her in dresses. Usually we only fight the fight on Sunday for church. It really puts us all in a good mood for the meeting.

Sophie pulled a thread out of Neal's shirt pocket and told him she found a Wocket.

She looked in the toilet bowl after finishing her job and told me it looked like an Easter bunny. Believe it or not, she was right.

She has also found another use for her shoes when not wearing them. We came upon this in the kitchen...Yes, those are avocados. No, we do not understand her thinking.