September - October

I'm so behind for the past couple of months, as we are still getting settled in and the kids' activities have started.  I have joined a Bible study and a homeschool book club with some of the ladies from the church we've been attending.  Jes has joined a motorcycle group that takes rides frequently, so he tries to go at least 1-2 times per month.  Add in the frequent trips to Dallas in September, I've just been busy, so this post will be picture heavy to get us all up to date.  

We went to Dallas at the end of August/beginning of September and came back with a bug.  Side note: you'll see this is a theme as we go on. Caleb managed to avoid the bug, but I had it baaaaaaad and P got a touch of it.  This is her "I don't feel good, so why are you taking my photo" face.

We have done a lot of school in the past few months.  I think we are on week 8 or 9 now and everyone is doing well!

We were out house hunting one Sunday and stopped at this Houston based Mexican food restaurant.  Since Piper's diagnosis, we find it very difficult to eat out, so we were a little hesitant, but this place was so helpful and made her a special meal so that she could eat.  We were so thankful and will (and have) go back again and again!

P started dance at a local dance school that is just about a quarter mile from our house.  I can get from our front door to the dance school in less than 3 minutes, which, in Houston, is a huge deal!  Have I mentioned the traffic here?  Holy cow!  Example: we live 2 miles from our church and it takes me 20-30 minutes to get there on Wednesday nights for Bible study.  It's cah-razy!

We made another trip to Dallas and, as always, stopped at Buc-ees, a HUGE and CLEAN gas station/rest stop/truck stop/grocery in Madisonville.

While we were in Dallas, my parents and the kids and I took a trip to the Perot science museum, a place we spent a lot of time going to when we were local.

The kids love this place but have never been able to try out the weather girl/guy station due to crowds.  This day, it wasn't too packed, so they got to do it and it was hysterical!  Caleb sort of got it and P was just too short to reach.  My parents and I were crying, we were laughing so hard!

Here's P all stretched out, but most of the time all you could see was the top of her tiny head!

My mom always wanted to be a weather girl, so she got her chance and took a spin in the weather area.  She was great at it, as I knew she would be!

Before we left, we took in a 3-D movie about oceans.

P rode a frog.  Well, not a real one.  You get it...

Caleb patiently waited for his sister and his grandmother to get off the frogs.  Poor kid...

We got to spend some time with my sister, Michelle, and Dixie, my niece and the kids' cousin!

After we got back from Dallas, Jes and I were able to get away and go use a gift card that our fabulous realtor from Dallas sent us.  It was to a steak house nearby in Katy called Taste of Texas.  Sweet heavenly days, this place was amazing!  We LOVED it!

I lamented my coffee addiction.  Seriously people, it's bad.

Piper insisted one night that she was a color changing spy.  She was slinking along the walls and ducking behind furniture.  It was so funny and so like her!

Lest you think I forgot our other baby, Gus.  This cat has finally made himself at home and is definitely enjoying the fact that I'm home all day long.  He follows me everywhere, sits next to me, stays in the same room, and is my furry little shadow.  I don't mind.  He's my sweet baby.

I rearranged the kids' desks and this actually works better than the original arrangement.  This is how they have been for the past month and it seems to work best for all of us.  There are still times when Caleb gets distracted by his sister's shenanigans, but he's learning how to deal with that.

We made another trip to Dallas at the end of September for Sweet Repeats.

This time, we brought back a stomach/intestinal bug.  Caleb had it first and was actually spiraling down the sick spiral on the way back to Houston from Dallas.  He was so sick until about Tuesday evening and then got better.  By Wednesday, I thought that maybe Piper and I had avoided it, until Thursday morning.  Piper woke up in the very early hours of Thursday sick and I got it too.  We were so sick, people.  But, we made it through.  Jes, like normal, seemed to avoid it somehow...

Once everyone was well, I took Piper for her very first pedicure.  She spent quite a bit of the last year saying she was scared to get a pedicure (yeah, who knows!?!), but I finally convinced her it wasn't a big deal.  So, I needed one and decided to have her come with me and get her toes painted.  

Here she is getting her toes painted and shortly after this had her fingernails done too.  She's so girly and loved it so much and is asking when we can go back!

I finally found a Cub Scout pack for Caleb to join.  This pack is affiliated with a fairly large homeschool group in a neighboring town.  Unbeknownst to me, this group also has a Girl Scout troop too.  I never planning on Piper becoming a Girl Scout, but we walked in and I was talking to the Cub Scout people about Caleb's stuff.  They took one look at P and asked if she wanted to join.  She just walked in the room, introduced herself and sat down and started coloring.  I just picked up the paperwork and filled it out.  She loves it and is having the time of her life and her leaders are super sweet and the girls all have so much fun.

When we moved to Houston, we had decided to go ahead and get Piper a new bed, as she's been in a toddler bed from Ikea for the past couple of years.  It was just time for her to move up in the world and get a new bed.  I had been looking for a daybed for her so that we have a place for guests, but they are all just so expensive.  On a whim, I logged into facebook and at the top of my news feed popped up a post by a friend of mine whose friend was selling furniture to prepare for their upcoming move out of state.  One of the items they were selling was this amazing Bombay Furniture Company (goooood quality) bed for an amazing price, so I jumped on it and bought it!  My parents stored it for us for about 2 months and brought it down to us when they came to visit a couple of weeks ago.  We finally got to get her bedding out that she received for her birthday and put it on the new bed and she was and still is over the moon about it all!

A certain favorite team fiiiiiinally beat the you-know-what out of another certain team and we were all SO excited!

One of the malls near us has a carousel, and the kids LOVE to ride it every time we go.  They have so much fun!

Caleb wasn't feeling 100% last Sunday, just coughing a little bit, so we decided to just hop in the car and take a little jaunt down the road.  We ended up at a Bass Pro Shop and saw Willie and Phil (not really) from Duck Dynasty.  We, like the rest of the country, are fans of theirs, so the kids HAD to have their picture made with them.

I love watching her cut stuff.  Sometimes I just draw lines on paper and have her cut them just so I can see her face.  She concentrates so hard and it just is so cute!

P had lots and lots of tea parties.  She loves doing this and brings in her choice of animals each time.

Caleb has been obsessively reading these books lately.  I bought these 3 for him at a consignment sale about 6 months ago and they have just sat on his book shelf.  He read these 3 in three days.  So, off to Half Price Books we went and bought 3 more.  In our house, I rarely buy toys, but if my kids want a book or books, they get them.  That's one thing that I don't believe you can have enough of, so he wants them, he gets them.  P also came home with a technical book on veterinarians and The Little Mermaid.  Her tastes and interests are varied.

Caleb had his first pack meeting and P and I were trying to entertain ourselves.

He did great and even got a little compass/camp whistle thing for being new to the pack.

I don't know what this is.  She just poses now and asks me to take her picture.  I don't mind...

The kids played cards at Chick-fil-a while I finished up eating lunch one day.  Sometimes, I just love this age and that they are a bit more independent.

My birthday was this past week and this came for me from my mom and dad.  I've never had an Edible Arrangement, so this was a surprise and treat!  I love it and we are still eating on it, so everyone benefits!

Jes also went and got me one of my favorite flowers, peach roses.  This was so sweet and so appreciated!

So, all in all the past couple of months have been going well and we are getting used to being Houston residents.  I still miss my friends and job and McKinney terribly, but we feel that we are right where we are supposed to be for right now and are trying to make the best of it!