WORMS!!!!!

An interesting afternoon of fun courtesy of Aunt Jody. The girls do love worms and have rescued several on the block after a quick rain.

Elizabeth in particular enjoyed the "wormies". Here she is telling the worm "is okay worm. I am your friend." We're not sure if the worm believed her or not.

Catherine was not as sure as her sister was when it came to trusting the worms motives. However, Elizabeth was kind enough to demonstrate that the worms really were nice and would not harm her.

Catherine seems to be convinced here and "holds" a worm.

The twins say goodbye to the worms as they hurry to dig their way into the ground....

SNOW?

IN HOUSTON?

Yes, it seems too good to be true, but there is snow on the ground here!! Parker and Noel show off some of the white stuff we scooped up from the backyard!

A snowball from Texas - it doesn't last long, so capture the moment while you can.

Parker told us this was the happiest day of his life. Snow! Does it get any better?

Noel: "I don't need a jacket OR gloves"

Mom: "Uh.....it's snowing outside AND it's cold!"

Noel: "No. I will be okay."

Noel (5 minutes after being outside): " Mom, you were right. I need a jacket. It's cold."

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A

LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...

Finally! A picture of all four kiddos with Santa! Okay, okay, so not EVERYONE is smiling, but it's a good start. We enjoyed the evening at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston Christmas Party. Santa was there along with Frosty and Rudolf. We had a great time...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GGMA!

Happy 90th Birthday Grandmom Ada!! We love you!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2008!

"Testing, testing, 1 2 3.... is this thing on? If it is, I want to wish everyone out there a very Happy Thanksgiving and start of the holiday season."

"Hello everyone! Let me play you a little song I like to call 'Happy Thanksgiving'! I hope everyone enjoyed time with their families and ate lots of good food."

Cousins unite. Kristi, Kim, Susann, Jennifer and Jody - don't we look great? We are all color coordinated. We enjoyed time spending together.

Susann and Jennifer.

Ron with Parker and Noel. Everyone was a little giddy after eating a little too much pie.

PRINCESSES

Elizabeth and Catherine discovered the princess costumes in Noel's closet. The dress-up fun began tonight!

Elizabeth is shown above in a "boooootiful dress"!

Here's Miss Catherine smiling sweetly as a "Pincess". She didn't take this dress off until she absolutely had to.

The lovely ladies together. The floated around in these dresses for the entire evening. Many more days and nights of dresses to come.

RUNNING SISTERS!

Jennifer had a great idea - let's all run a race together! Here we are - sisters - Susann, Jennifer and Jody - about to take off on our 5k adventure that was the Monster Mash. We had a blast. The twins and Joshua rode along with us and Parker and Noel cheered us from the playground nearby. Two important people you don't see here; Ron and John. They also ran! John beat a personal time record, and Ron was kind enough to run with his wife.

This amazing picture is of Jennifer (a.k.a. Gigi) just about to cross the finish line with Joshua. Okay, this is why this picture is amazing; Jennifer just began running about 4 weeks ago and she finished this race in about 32 minutes! AND she was pushing a jogging stroller!!! Way to go Gigi!! She is already looking forward to the next race.

Here's Jody just about to cross the finish line too. Jody was amazing. She took 4 minutes off of her race time from the last race she did just 3 weeks ago! We are so proud of her!!!

Post race shot! Yes! We did it. It was so much fun to run together.

And, as if running together wasn't fun enough, Jody and Susann placed 3rd in their respective age groups. It was nice to have a trophy to take home.

We're looking forward to our next race together: Sugar Land Turkey Trot

FUN ON HORSES....

We went to a small fall festival at a feed store close to the house this weekend. There was face painting, pony rides, hot dogs and a costume contest for dogs!

The girls could hardly wait to get on the horses. As usual, Noel is shown looking very sophisticated and poised...

I think she thought it was going to me more exciting than it proved to be.

Here's sweet Catherine and that precious smile! She didn't stop smiling or laughing the entire time she was on that horse!

Elizabeth was the first one on the horse. She was a natural in the saddle. As she rode the horse around the small pumpkin patch she shouted "yee-haw!"

We had lots of fun.

GRANDPARENT'S DAY SERENADE

Noel and Parker decided to serenade Grandma at Grandparent's Day this last Thursday as Grandparents were honored with breakfast and music.

Noel was wonderful! She played and smiled!

Here's Parker taking things very seriously, but playing excellently! A good time was had by all.

IT'S ALMOST HALLOWEEN

Noel, Catherine, Elizabeth and Parker went to the pumpkin patch down the street to pick out pumpkins - or "pounkins" as the twins say.

Elizabeth found her favorite pumpkin right away.

Parker and Noel sit for a picture - so grown up!

The girls trying to get their pumpkins to the car..

Catherine picks the one for her.

NEW PAJAMAS....

New pajamas courtesy of Aunt Jody!

Little Miss Catherine looking pretty in pink. And, what is even prettier, is that she stayed still long enough to take a picture!

Here is Elizabeth so happy to be wearing Dora on her tummy. She will certainly stay nice and cozy in these pj's!

AN AFTERNOON TOGETHER - ALONE!

Ron and I were lucky enough to have the afternoon to spend together at the Rice vs. North Texas game. We had a great time. We saw Rice beat North Texas 77 - 20. And, we were actually able to complete a complete sentence as we spoke to each other. We had lunch at the HOOTS tent and then had fabulous BBQ in Tailgate "Owl-ley".

It was nice to have an afternoon together; mostly because we really do love each other.

R.I.P. AVA

Ava Glenn

October 11, 2003 - September 26, 2008

We are so sad to lose our sweet little kitty. She was independent and carefree. Her sweet meow will always be in our hearts. We will miss you Ava.

IKE SHOWED UP....

Ike decided to make himself known to Houston and surrounding areas. It was a long night of howling wind, driving rain and tense moments. We made it through, so we are counting our blessings and are thankful.

Backyard....and the neighbor's back yard....

Front of the street. This beautiful tree did not make it.

Grandpa cleaning up.

Ron clearing branches.

The day Ike hit was our 5th wedding anniversary. The traditional material for this anniversary is wood. I don't think this was the kind of wood gift that Ron had in mind!

WAITING FOR IKE...

Because we are the shining example of excellent parenting, we thought the kids might enjoy playing outside in the wind before Ike really arrives. The kids got their scooters and zoomed around the circle as only tropical storm force winds were present. Does anyone think we'll win the 'parent of the year' award?

Catherine scribbles Ike in sidewalk chalk.

Elizabeth with the quote of the day; "Oh my goodness! Isa WINDEEEEE Momma!"

If you want to thank anyone for this terrific storm visiting us, please feel free to thank Parker! He's been wishing and hoping that a storm like this would head our way so he can experience what it's like to ride out a storm.

Noel stopped just for a second to pose for this great picture. She's been a great help in keeping the twins occupied as we've been getting houses ready etc...

OH IKE!!!

NOW IS NOT THE TIME...

Hurricane Ike does not care that Saturday is an anniversary. Hurricane Ike does not care that we have four children. Hurricane Ike doesn't care that Home Depot ran out of plywood. Hurricane Ike doesn't care that he messed up football games and birthday parties.

No...

Hurricane Ike will do as he pleases. He is a media hog! And we will watch him. Mainly because we do not have a choice, but mostly because we are staying put! We'll update the blog as the storm progresses. Stay tuned.