Emily and I went out in the rain to play on the slip-n-slide.

We took Emily and Matthew to get some pictures taken, and here are the results. Click on either thumbnail to get to the full album of pictures.

We took Emily and Matthew to the Renaissance Festival on Oct 28. Also here are some pics from Halloween. Finally, EMily and Matthew had a combined birthday party at BounceU.

We packed up Emily, Matthew, 4 suitcases, 4 carry-ons, 2 carseats, and 2 stuffed animals, and schlepped it all to the airport. Matthew couldn’t believe the amount of airplanes that he saw, as he screamed “Dada, AIRPLANE!” at each new one he saw. After being delayed 2 hours, we “blasted off” (according to Emily) and flew 4.5 hours to Seattle. We were told that the kids were VERY well behaved on the flight, but we were still ready to pull our hair out. But we made it, and started our first out-of-state vacation in Washington State.

We then went to Jennifer and Clayton’s beautiful house in Northern Seattle, and visited with them. We went to Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, and basically all around downtown. We got live crab at the market and Clayton cooked it up for us, and it was DELICIOUS!

As they were still working, getting ready for their wedding, and I’m sure needed a break from having four new people in their house (two of which being under five years old) we took off and drove to Mt. Rainier. This was a great trip, and we stayed overnight on the mountain at the National Park Inn, which we highly recommend.

Once we got back, we did some other shopping around town, getting ready for the wedding. Then we took off and stayed near the castle.
The next day was the wedding, which was a blast! The castle was really nice, the ceremony was really nice, the slideshow Jennifer and Clayton put together was incredible, and the dancing afterward was awesome. We stayed with Jennifer’s parents, Larry and Kathryn, that night, at their beautiful place in the woods.

Overall, it was a great vacation, and all of us had a great time. Emily loved meeting all of Jennifer’s and Clayton’s family, and talks about them a lot. Thanks to everyone for their hospitality! It was so nice meeting all of you.

Click here for more pictures from our vacation.

Click here for more pictures from the wedding.

And last, but not least, here is a video of Emily dancing:

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We had a blast this weekend!  Thanks everyone for making this our best Vegas trip ever!  It was great meeting all of you Canucks, and we can’t wait to meet up again in Seattle.  Stella and I may have to get re-married next year just so we can invite all of you back out to Vegas!

Rebecca, Amy, Nedra, and everyone else: It was great meeting you.  Thanks for making Clayton’s Cabana party a blast.

Click the thumbnail to the right for more pictures.

We (The Smith’s, Eddie, Martha, Jackie and Thomas) went over to Rebecca and Adam’s house Saturday night, and we got some cute pictures I wanted to share.

It was getting late, and we were getting ready to go home, when Madeline comes in and asks if Emily can spend the night. It must have been Madeline’s idea, because Emily has never even thought to ask before. This was freaky for me, because Emily has never spent the night anywhere except her grandparent’s house. She had a great time, and Rebecca said they were fine - once she got them to sleep. Ouch, she’s growing up quick. Click the image for some cute pics….

Matthew did something cute this weekend that got me thinking. He was playing in this big cardboard box in the dining room (insert joke about how you buy your kids lots of toys, but they just play with the box). He had a tiny baseball bat, and a rubber footbal in there with him. He figured out that he could wedge the baseball bat between the two walls of the box, and it would stay there. He immediately started taking the football and throwing it over the baseball bat repeatedly. He thought it was the most fun anyone could have, with a baseball bat, a football, and a cardboard box.

It just got me thinking that it was the first time he has come up with a “game” by himself. Partly because he was by himself, in the dining room. We weren’t hawking over him and Emily was playing in the play room. I guess everyone needs time by themselves sometimes. ANyway, check out the movie on the right…

Here are some pictures from the first few days of school. Thomas started at Sugar Grove this year, and has Emily’s teacher from last year. Jackie started Kindergarten, and Emily is in the same class as Madeline. So far, so good! Click the image for more…

Here are a couple of new picture albums to view. The first one is from the SalvageSale summer party at the Astros game. We rented the top of Union Station which looks down into the ball park. Emily had a great time. The other album is some pictures of the kids taking a bath. The water came out crystal clear, it almost looks like plastic. Sorry future Matthew, for showing you naked on our website.

We took Emily shopiing for a flower girl dress for Jennifer and Clayton’s wedding.  Needless to say, we had to practically drag her out of the store.  She LOVED trying on dresses.  Click the thumbnail for more pictures.

We went to Cheddar’s for Grandma’s birthday, and then took the kid’s to the Museum of Natural History.  Click the thumbnails to go to the gallery.

Literally last minute, we got with Rick to plan a surprise party for Becky.  It came off well, with about 50 people showing up.  Click the thumbnail for some pictures.

I have started slipping on my 43Things, so today I have posted a bunch of pictures. Click on the pictures to go to the associated albums.

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The first album is from June 19th, when we visited Stella’s grandparents. Matthew played outside with his lawnmower and Eddie cut Wellito’s hair. He is doing much better with his walking around (he broke his leg). I thought he would be layed up for wuite a while, but he is a STRONG man.

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Next are some pictures of Emily and her neighbor friend Jonathan. There are some pics from when Emily went to Jonathan’s 5th Birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Emily will never pass up a chance to take pictures and gets hugs from Chuck E. The kids also love to play in the yard when the dads are working outside.

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There are also some hilarious pictures of Emily and Matthew playing with the hose in the front yard.

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Emily said she had a great time at Madelines birthday party. It was hosted at a dance school and they had lots of fun wearing tutus and dancing.

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Last are the pictures from the July 4th Parade and Party. We finally got to meet Hailey (Travis and Melissa’s new baby girl) in person, and she is adorable! She smiled and laughed the whole time. The weather held out for the parade, then washed away the afternoon festivities. It was still a good time, and I finished cooking the hotdogs and chicken before the rain rolled in.

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Here are some Misc drawings and pictures of the kids.

We were playing in the back yard on Sunday, and here are some pictures I took of the kids.

Click on the pictures for more.

Here is Emily’s School picture and some other recent pics:

Stella went to Seattle to visit Jennifer and help plan the wedding.  Here are some pictures from their weekend.

Here are some pics from the Garza’s trip to Brenham and Jackie’s Baseball game. Click the images for more…

Thomas had a great party in the park.  The weather was great.  Click the image for more…