Happy Birthday Payton!

Payton turned 6 last Friday! I haven't blogged about it because....we were at Legoland Ca. So before I get to Legoland, I have to say a few words about Payton.

Payton is a very sweet girl. She likes to sidle up next to you and tell you how she feels, especially if she's in a lovey mood. There have been many occasions whe she'll grab my hand and rub her head against my arm and say, 'I love you, Mommy' and my heart just sighs.




She is also very articulate. She usually has commentary on everything and comprehends a great deal for a 6 year old.

She is still my little baby girl, and I love her so much!

We spent her birthday at Legoland and the Legoland water park. For her birthday she wanted to get a caricature drawn of herself. She chose to be drawn as Princess Leia. She wasn't so sure about the final product because she was hoping that Leia would be holding a gun....I don't know what to say about that.

Dallas Arboretum Bloom Festival

We really enjoyed the Dallas Arboretum today. We didn't go until the afternoon because Ian had a soccer game this morning, so it was warm. But beautiful!

The stroller was for our stuff...not for the kids. 

Ian stole my sunglasses and wanted to be in charge of pushing the stroller.

After about an hour and a half of running around and seeing everything, we took a rest under some red maples and flowering dogwoods.

I really enjoyed the late-blooming tulips and daffodils. But there's something so wonderfully whimsical about poppies. And the azaleas were gorgeous. Ahh, spring.

ps - Ian had a good game this morning. He scored 2 goals and took the ball away from his opponent several times. He does pretty well when he actually goes for it :)

Remembering Gizmo

Gizmo passed away Saturday night. He was almost 12 years old.

I noticed last week that he wasn't eating very well and then on Friday, he was breathing funny. The vet gave him subcutaneous fluid and antibiotics and told us that he had an upper respiratory infection. Saturday I gave him some bronchial dilator medicine and antibiotics. He ate a little in the morning, but then went downhill the rest of the day. At about 10 pm I called a friend to come sit with the kids while I took Gizmo to the Emergency Pet Hospital. He died almost as soon as we got there. The vet said that Gizmo probably had some undiagnosed heart condition or cancer :(

I'm going to miss Giz. He was quite the cat. When we lived in Friendswood, TX our neighbor found him in a ditch when he was about 6 weeks old. He was a stray and pretty sickly. Our neighbor had a dog and couldn't keep him, so Scott thought it would be a great idea if we adopted him. I wasn't quite so sure, but agreed. We named him Gizmo because he reminded us of a gremlin. He had mange, ringworm and ear mites. The vet thought he would be okay if he was taken care of. Well, he did just fine and we were amazed at how his appearance changed.

Gizmo had beautiful fur. It was soft and so nice to touch. But it was also a pain to keep brushed and un-matted under his legs. Thus, he received several hair cuts. He didn't always like the process of getting there but he mostly liked the end results.

He loved the outdoors. When we lived at apartments, his favorite place to be was sitting out on the balcony watching the world go by, or just sleeping. Of course, when we didn't have a balcony, if he saw an open door, he was out into the world like a shot. They're have been several times when I've had to go searching for him....

Gizmonster was always good with the kids, too. They would chase him around the house. The kids were pester him and pat him and Gizmo would take it all in stride - never once even scratching them.

Of course, I wasn't always so sweet. When he was between the ages of about 0 and 5, he would come scratch on our bed at about 3 'o' clock in the morning. If he didn't do that, then he would be meowing, rather loudly at 5 am! There was also the matter of his water dish. He never wanted to drink from it. He always chose a water glass that was left on the table or counter. I know we lost at least half a dozen drinking glasses that way - especially in Phoenix.

Gizmo has lived in 5 different houses and 3 states. He has traveled across the country and back. He was quite the trooper.

The last several years, after the kids were in bed, Gizmo would come curl up next to me. If I didn't start petting him, he would paw at me until I did. Giz and I had an appointment every night for a ear and neck scratch. When he was done, he would get move to the other side of the couch or go curl up by himself to sleep for the night.

The house seems a bit emptier now that he's gone. And now our Christmas cards will have one less variable.

The kids seem to be taking it pretty well. There haven't been any tears yet, except for mine. Ian, on Sunday, randomly said, 'Mommy, I miss Gizmo.' about 5 times. And my reply, 'I miss him, too.'

Gizmo, if there is a kitty-heaven you should be there. We miss you and love you.

The Texas State Aquarium

One morning we visited the Texas State Aquarium. We've been before, but it's been about 3 years and, of course, Ian didn't remember it. This is the kids looking at a seahorse tank from the inside out.

Before we went, Daddy  joked that we would get to see porcupines. The kids called his bluff, but guess what we found in the Amazon exhibit....

Seriously!?!

The kids' favorite part was the dolphin show.

The jellyfish are always my favorite.

One of the newer exhibit was actually a hawk show. 

Good times...

Nothing quite like dandelions

In the field across from my parents home lies a maze that Grandpa built. In this maze, were thousands of wildflowers. Most of them were pretty small, but beautiful all the same. The first two days that we were there, the kids were enthralled with picking the dandelions. I know that most people consider them weeds, but really, they are quite pretty. I tried taking the kids' picture with their bouquets. For some reason, this was quite the challenge....but make a funny series of pictures.

There was one particular flower that Payton named 'flamingo beaks' because during the day they were pink and curvy. What was special about these flamingo beaks was that they opened up about the time the sun went down into a little white flower with five petals in a similar shape to an orchid.  (They are all behind Payton  and also next to the daises in the other pic.)

Then there were my favorite - bluebonnets. 

And there was also the yucca.

But there's really nothing quite like a dandelion.

Spring Break Fun

We got back from our Spring Break on Sunday, and ever since, I've been cleaning and catching up. The break is always nice, but doesn't it always feel like you have at least twice as many things to do once you get back from a vacation as there were before you left?

Our break was spent with Grandma and Grandpa. They live in the rural part of Odem ;) The kids loved playing outside, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the beautiful weather. We had several excursions: the ranch, the beach, and the aquarium. This post will be devoted to the ranch.

This is the old camp house that we don't really sleep in much anymore. When I was in high school, we used to camp out here.

We used to even use the, ahem, port-a-potty....

The kids have never been to the ranch. So before we got out of the pickup truck, we had to have a talk about rattlesnakes. Payton, of course, was a little leery about the whole thing once we started to tell her to watch out for sticks that moved. Ian thought it was pretty cool that Grandpa gave each kid a walking stick in which he decided to draw 'snake tracks'. We actually tried to discourage this because Grandpa wanted to see if we could see any real snake tracks - you know, to see if they were on the move. Well, we were lucky and saw no snakes this trip. After a little while, Payton got over clinging to the nearest person, lest a snake slither up and greet her.


We got to ride in the back of the truck, safari style.

 The cows decided to follow the truck, hoping for something to eat. The kids thought this was pretty cool. Ian yelled out, 'Stampede!'

It was a little warm the day we went to the ranch. By the end of about two hours, the kids were tired and ready to go. But it was nice to see some of the sites I haven't seen in a long time.