A sick 2011

So far our 2011 has been a sick one. We've each had the stomach bug at least twice and Isabelle has had fever on and off again for pretty much the whole year. We sure hope this is all we'll see of tylenol and advil for a long time and we all stay healthy

This is what my kitchen counter has looked like for pretty much all of 2011. The meds have all been put away now - I hope I don't have to get them back out.


Josie and Evelyn made themselves a bed in the living room so they could watch their movies while they were sick and recovering.

Despicable Me

While we were in West Texas, Josie got exposed to three new movies, "Despicable Me," "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," and "Mega Mind." I wanted to see Despicable Me so this weekend, Kevin redboxed it on Saturday. We told the girls we were gonna watch it on Sunday afternoon and sure enough, Josie ran in the house this afternoon and told me, "Mom, I'm ready to watch Despicable Meatballs."

Dexter Love

While we were in West Texas (again), Evelyn fell in love with my brother's family dog, Dexter. Poor Dexter - I am sure he was glad to see us leave. He was such a good sport and just took all of the love Evelyn gave him.

Spring Break 2011

Over spring break, we headed to West Texas to join the rest of the family for our annual sausage making. Of course, mixed in with the sausage is lots of great laughs, memories and cousin time.

Matthew, Lance, Tye and Lane (the last of the boys before the girl era hit)


Popo enjoying a cold one with Isabelle.


Evelyn loves her Nikki.


Uncle Marcus gave Isabelle a ride on this contraption that Dad bought at the Fall Festival Auction.


And as he was riding, he found a follower.


Grandma's freezer always has ice cream treats.


Emily even gave Josie a ride on the contraption.


Allie and Nikki blowing bubbles with Evelyn.

Oh the story behind this. Well, we lost Josie and Lane one morning. We lose them a lot on the farm. I start looking and see two little blonde heads at the pig pen and I see Uncle Marcus has stopped to check on them. These two kids had dumped almost an entire 50 lb bag of baby pig pellets in the troughs of the older pigs. Uncle Marcus was not happy. First, the pellets are expensive. Second, they have ingredients which can be very bad if they were fed to a show pig. Thank goodness that didn't happen. And finally, these older pigs did not come and eat for like a whole day...they were stuffed. To help drive home the lesson, we made these two clean out the trough and carry all of the pellets back to the baby pig room. Oh....Josie and Lane. They have so much fun on the farm together. These two were just filthy every day and loved it. I'm so glad they are such good friends.

The Trinity

During Familia today, Josie learned about St. Patrick and how he used the 3-leaf clover to teach the Trinity. When we got in the car, she said, "Mom, today, we learned about the Father, the Son and the Bird." And then she showed me her shamrock, which clearly had a heart sticker indicating the Father, a cross symbolizing the Son and a bird for the Holy Spirit.

Cousin Matthew

While we were in San Antonio, my sweet nephew, Matthew, offered to read to the girls one evening. Thank you to Bonnie for capturing this precious moment on film.

.

San Antonio Zoo & Witte Museum

As part of our help Daddy finish his PhD plan - the girls and I have been leaving town...a lot. We took a short trip to San Antonio to see my sister and her family. It was a rough start as we were all sick the first night. In fact, that night is going down as one of my most horrible nights of motherhood thus far. If I could have blinked and been home or blinked and had Kevin there with me - I would have done it in a heartbeat. But by the next morning, we all felt better and the week ended up being quite fun. My sweet sister took us to the San Antonio Zoo and the Witte Museum.

Evelyn loved playing with the air machine and the ball.


The water area was super fun. The kids enjoyed this part the most.


hmmm, why are we sick all the time? Maybe because we drink the water from the water exhibit at the Witte Museum. Yuck Evelyn!


Mommy and her girls


Aunt Bonnie and the girls


As we were leaving the Museum, we had the pleasure of meeting Pepper. He could say his name and a few other phrases. The girls liked him, but only from a distance.


Right when we walked in, this lady was holding a snake. Evelyn was not brave enough to touch it and Josie - well, she is hiding behind me as I take this picture.


Watching the monkeys at the zoo.


The Butterfly exhibit was awesome. Evelyn enjoyed it. Although, I was certain she was going to step on one of the poor fellows sitting on the ground. The girl loves to squash bugs, spiders, really anything on the ground.


Josie was not to happy about the butterfly exhibit. She really just wanted to get out of there.


Has this lady had twins or what?


Isabelle was such a trooper.


Enjoying the cool room watching the fish swim and yes, staring at the hippo's rears.