Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Animal Planet

As usual, I came home from Texas with a few animal pictures...both pets and farm animals.
But who are we kidding, the farm animals are pets too.
 




And presenting...the only kid in the family brave enough to get a picture with Foxy.
Look how good her eye looks, it just looks like she's permanently winking. 
(If you need a refresher on how Foxy became a one-eyed dog that's here.)
 

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Look Who Came to See Me!

My parents' house is "conveniently" located about an hour and a half from the north suburbs of Houston, about 2 1/2 hours from downtown Dallas, and 3 hours from Austin.
 
 
Which, in a nut shell, means it's either super close or super far to everywhere depending on your perspective.
 
 
I decided I wouldn't be making any trips to the "big cities" this year, so I was super excited when I actually had visitors!
 
 
First, Cassidy (my Durango BFF) and her boys came and spent the night with us.
 
 
And as the pictures show, the boys had a blast being, well, boys.




 A wagon full of boys...with JR as the driver. (Only in the country!)


And here they are lined up by age (10, 7, 5, 5, 4)
 
 
 
Caroline (who just got married in March) also came to see me!
But we were so busy talking and talking and talking (as we usually do) that we didn't get any pictures together.
So, I'm just using this one of us from last year since we had just had our hair done...and you can never over use a picture of yourself on a good hair day!
 

Monday, July 29, 2013

Amazing Grace

Recently, my dad, JR, and Reed were the 'special music' at my parents' church.
Originally it was supposed to just be my dad and JR, but Reed decided that he would "sing" too.
 
 
 
I asked Reed if he wanted me to teach him the song and he said, "No, that's okay, I just sing the words after Paw-Paw sings them."
 
 

And if you're worried that Kyle was sad he was left out of the Reynolds-Ingersoll Family Singers, not to fear.
When they all went up to perform he turned to Jason and said, "I don't want to go up there!"
 
 
 
(During practice time, he had been too busy running around under the barn with his cat and chasing chickens. He wasn't even aware they had a 'routine' worked up.)
 
 
 
And here they are
(As usual, JR gives his tongue a serious workout.)

Friday, July 26, 2013

Fashion Fabulous Friday



Cat as a Hat.

 
Don't think this look is going to catch on?
Oh, how wrong you are...
 
 
Just check out what head-ware accessory Knox sported when he came to visit us this week!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

He Got It!

I'm too excited to do a build up to the big reveal.
I'm just gonna spill it here: JR got it. 
He'll be playing Charlie in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory the Musical!
 
 
This is such huge news, and you know I love a good back story, so here ya go:
 
 
We found out the big fall play this year would be Willy Wonka at the end of May. 
In the back of my mind I immediately thought, "Wouldn't it be awesome if he got Charlie."
But I quickly tried to dismiss it, and talk to him about how great it would be to just get in the play and be an Oompa Loompa.
 
And then JR said it out loud one day in the car, "Mom, I think I would make a good Charlie."
 
 
At that point it was out there, and we both knew he wouldn't be happy "just getting in the play".
 I also knew we were probably setting ourselves up for a huge disappointment.
 
 
85 kids (3rd-12th grade) auditioned.
(JR did his You're a Good Man Charlie Brown monologue and sang Gary, Indiana from The Music Man.)
 
39 kids were cut after the audition.
 
Of the 46 that went to call backs, 10 were cut. 
And you don't know if you got cut from call backs until you open the cast list and don't see your name.
 
 
The cast list came in yesterday morning and my hands were literally shaking.
My reaction to seeing JR's name under Charlie Bucket probably wasn't the most professional.
(When I called Jason he thought someone had died from my screams.)
 
 
Practices start in September and the show is November 15, 16, and 17th. 
We couldn't be more proud or excited.
 
Hugs from one of his biggest fans.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

I Don't Like Snakes

I thought things were supposed to be slower paced in the country, but to me, it seems there's never a dull moment.
 
It was just about dark on Saturday night when JR and Reed came racing out of the barn at lightning speed screaming "SNAKE! SNAKE!"
 
The next thing I knew Kyle was flying out the barn with his kitten under his arm.
(He wasn't about to let that snake get near his kitten!)
 
Luckily Jason was in town, so Kyle and Reed took off with him for some snake hunting.  JR was in tears with fear and going nowhere near the snake area.
 
They found it crawling up the wall to the chicken house, ready for a chicken egg feast.
 
And here it is (thanks to Jason it's headless for the photo op) a 3-4 ft chicken snake.
 
Ewwwww!

I, of course, was telling the boys: get back, don't touch that snake, get away...
You can see how well they listen to me.
 

Monday, July 22, 2013

The New Roommate

A little over a week ago I was down by my parents' gate and heard screaming.
I thought it was one of the kids, but it was actually a little kitten meowing.
Kyle was with me, and he ran out into the pasture and scooped her up.
 
 
I told him to put her down, but she followed us up to the house anyway
(even after being continually picked up and "loved" by Kyle).
 
 
"Good news" of a kitten spreads quickly and soon Reed was there too.
 
 
Jason is severely, severely allergic to cats (I thought he was exaggerating until I saw his eyes swell shut after just being near one) so I thought it would be funny to send him this text:
 
Kyle found a kitten. He's in love.


When I didn't get an answer I sent:
So is Reed.
(I think this picture is hilarious. Just look at that poor cat's face!)
 
 
 
He finally answered with: I hope you are not keeping that cat???
 
 
 
To which I replied:
Hummmm...
 
Because how do you not feed a little crying kitten?
And then as soon as she had a full belly she started purring.
To which Reed said, "Listen, she's purling!"
 
 
And then once you have one 5 year old talking about a 'purling' kitten and another one packing her around like a purse, all bets are off.
She has to stay, right?
 
 
 
Kyle named her "Mittens", but we still just call her "Kitty", and she seems to have definitely moved in (moved into the barn that is...when she's not acting as Kyle's purse, of course).




Sunday, July 21, 2013

Sunday School

Reed's take on the in depth study of Acts at Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's church.
 
 

Friday, July 19, 2013

Fashion Fabulous Friday

 
 
 
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask has been making public appearances.
 

 
 


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Mr. Outdoorsman


Not to be outdone, Reed's trying to make up for his lack of fish-touching in other outdoorsy ways.
 
Just look at that face.
(And that watermelon. Yum.)



And if your brother (the fish holder) is target shooting (Coke cans in the tree) better than you, well, there's nothing like getting (literally) on top of your target.
 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

Thank goodness for Freddie. Not only does he take the kids fishing, he takes pictures of them!
My assistance is not needed.
(Not that I could assist in the fishing, I meant the picture taking, of course.)
 
I did sneak down there for a second to make sure I wasn't missing out on any fun (I wasn't) and snapped this one of Freddie in action.
 

I might not find fishing much fun, but this bunch sure does.
 






Though I'm not sure you can call them actual 'fishermen', they won't touch the bait or the fish.
All except Kyle.  Who'd have thought it would be Kyle that turned out to be the great outdoorsman?!


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Now That's Some Press

We were all super excited for the paper to come out after the 4th. 
We all just knew our 1st place float would have to be pictured.
 
Right?
 
 
I immediately turned to the 4th of July section and scanned the paper.  We were nowhere to be seen.
Are you kidding me?!
1st place and we don't even get a mention?
 
 
I decided to go ahead and flip through the rest of it (honestly, and I'm not even kidding, to see if any of the kids I taught had gotten arrested lately).
 
 
And what did I find on the back page?
A half page devoted to our float!
 
 
It's so big I had to scan it in two sections.
Woohoo!


Make sure you read the last paragraph.  Kyle and Reed are actually referred to as "live children".

Monday, July 15, 2013

It Was a 'Rocky Road'

Poor Jason.
He's been everywhere in the world, yet he'd never gone on the Blue Bell ice cream factory tour.
(Jan 2: Jason 0)

You'd think something like this wouldn't be an issue but, alas, it's been a sore spot in Jason's travel catalog.
 
 
The Blue Bell tour is closed on weekends, so the Friday after 4th of July was our only chance to go.
Ours, and everyone else in the state of Texas.
 
 
We arrived in Brenham around lunch time, and Blue Bell was so crowded the police were out directing traffic. Luckily, we were able to sign up for the 2:35 tour (yep, tours go every 5 minutes) and we later learned they sold out of tours for the day 15 minutes after we reserved ours.
(Clearly, we Texans really love our Blue Bell.)
 
 
After a fried chicken lunch in Brenham (yum!), Jason was able to say he's been on the Blue Bell tour.
 
 
Look at Jason. He's finally made it!


JR pointing out where our Denver stash of Blue Bell comes from.
 

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Schlitterbahn Savvy

After the exotic ranch, we loaded up and headed for Schlitterbahn.
Since it was 4th of July week, I prepared the kids for long lines.
 
 
To our surprise, Schlitterbahn was the least crowded we've ever seen it.
(And I've been going since I was a little girl!)
We're guessing the crowds were coming for the 4th and after, which was fine by us.
 
 
The last time we were there Kyle and Reed were only three.
Little enough for Reed to announce after one of the waterslides, " that freaked me out".
Luckily, they were able to enjoy everything this time.  No freaking out.
 
 

And here we all are in our absolutely necessary sun-protective swimwear. 
Everyone but Jason that is. (He's the only one that doesn't have to listen to me.)

Thursday, July 11, 2013

More Fishin' Than Huntin'

So, yes, Kyle and Reed did lots of swimming while JR was hunting, but they certainly were able to squeeze in some fishing too.
 
 
 

Reed's catches of the day(s)
 
 
 
Kyle's catfish

 
 
Even JR was able to add some fishing to his agenda.