Summer Highlights

Wow! It has been a whirlwind of a summer so far.  I consider April through July our summer months and August and September our "ultra- summer". And since it has been forever since I have updated my blog, I'll try to share our best highlights!

Tanner turned 6 in April (see it has been a loong time since I updated) He wanted a "cars" themed birthday. I was pretty proud of his cake. 

His birthday was a hard day for us as we "lost" Tanner. We walked his friend home after the birthday party a few blocks away, when Tanner suddenly dissapeared.  After a frantic search we discovered he had ran all the way home by himself because he thought we had already left when he didn't see us. (I was inside chatting with his friends mom). He had passed three neighbors who had seen him crying and running down the street but no one stopped to help him. What kind of world do we live in!? People are so afraid to stop and help anybody, and at the same time I was terrified he could have so easily been snatched up.  I had a very clear thought come to my mind that he had angels helping him home. I am so thankful for his safety. We sure love this little guy! He has lost his front tooth since this picture and looks adorable!

My Garden blossomed and grew llike crazy! We had tons of yellow squash, zuchini, and jalapeno's. I never did use my jalapenos though except for a few. I had no idea they would thrive so well here in this heat! 2 plants was way too many. We put out aluminum foil balls on the tomatoes to keep the birds away. and everything was hunk dory until ..... it rained and rained and rained and rained some more.

The garden soaked up ALL the rain and had no way to drain it out. my ruler here went in 5 inches without having to push. It killed all my plants :( But the good news is, since we live in Houston I can wait for things to cool off and start again around the end of August. After, I fix my drainage problem of course.  

After Girls camp we went on an adventure to Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio.  It was cool to see a cave that isn't in a mountain, but rather goes underground the flat surface on top. It was HUGE! We even saw a bat or two.  Brooklyn loved all the formations and couldn't get enough information, Tanner kept wanting to touch everything but I kept thwarting his plans and Cristine would rather have stayed outside in the sunshine and fresh air.  WE did find a fun new creature that enjoys adventures as much as we do. He already got to visit Grandma and Grandpa Earl, maybe you will see him soon too!

After experiencing all the rain this year we decided to pour a cement pad for our generator.   Didn't Ty do a good job?! It was a lot of work for something so small. 

I had my birthday and the kids suprised me (as much as kids can keep a secret) with a pet parakeet! Meet Sky and Bumble. Ty calls them Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo.  WE got bumble first (the green and yellow one) but he was very lonely and sad so we got sky and the two are best buddies.  I love to listen to them chirp and click and chatter.  They are a species of parrot and as such can make a multitide of sounds and will even learn to say a few things. Only in America are they called "parakeets", the rest of the world calls them Budgeriers or Budgies for short. I couldn't find much info for them until I typed "budgie" into google. :)

The fireworks we set off in our front yard! one of the best parts of living in Texas are our own Texas sized fireworks.

More rain and flooding! The Spring Creek that runs behind our house normally is anywhere from 3 feet to 4 at the deepest, but after a week of straight rain it rose to 29 feet high and caused quite a bit of flooding. This is the grass in our front yard 3 inches deep with rain. The creek never got to our yard, but you could easily see it from behind the house and normaly you have to walk through the woods to see it.  Ty's cement pad stayed high and dry! Thankfully is has lowered again and I am also thankful that our rivers and lakes are getting filled up from last years severe drought.  Houston is Not supplied by ground water, but instead it is piped directly from the lakes into the water plants. and last year they were draining other lakes into Lake Houston in an attempt to keep everyone supplied.

Brooklyn and I have been experimenting with more food ideas. I made her some safe donuts with a safe muffin recipe (rice flour, and pureed pears) and cooked them in a donut shaped pan! coat them with sugar and whalaa! Donuts!

I also got out my dehydrator and made some fruit roll ups made from just pears and sugar. they are now her favorite food. Her she is holding her "tomato chip" I sliced them very very thin with the slicer, dehydrate them until crisp and sprinkle them with sea salt.

She calls these "tom-aisins" They look just like craisins but they are dried grape tomatoes. I sprinkled a little sugar on them before I dried them and they are super yummy!

After our birds got used to us, we got them out of their cage and learned their favorite spot in the whole house is our kitchen, especially under the table.  We usually bring the kitchen chairs into the front room for them to play on, but they still run to the kitchen whenever they get a chance. Do they poop? of course! but only a drop or two and it is easily cleaned. We trained them to perch and a dowel when we say "step up" and they will run to the dowels when they want to get somewhere higher they can't jump to. Their wings are clipped right now. and Bumble will be happy to perch on my finger for about 30 seconds before he jumps off. 

Here is Sky singing songs to Brooklyn. If you listen carefully you can hear bumble also chirping from the background :)

They bob their heads when they are happy or excited.

Cristine turns 10 this week and I will post all about that soon as she needs her special day of feeling all grownup.

And The biggest change happening this summer? Tyson is leaving Halliburton to work for a small start up company called Navigate Energy Services (NES). We are not moving. It is only a mile or two away from Halliburton. But after much prayer, we feel this is a good choice. He will be the Program Manager over their MWD tools or "Measurement While Drilling" It will be a new adventure for sure! His last day at Halliburton is on Thursday and He starts his new job on Friday. Wish us luck!

Love to you all!