Fort Worth Stockyards

We have had a special out-of-town visitor this week: my college roommate, Emilie, who lives in Connecticut. The boys and I have really enjoyed showing her around and today we decided to give her a true Texan experience, complete with cowboys and BBQ. We headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards and arrived just in time for the 4:00 pm cattle drive.

The boys picked an excellent vantage point on top of a brick wall, although they did rush up to curb once the Longhorns actually started coming down the street so they could see them up close.


Later, both Jacks and Cody showed off their cowboy duds. Cody needs just a couple of extra inches of lift in his boots, I think. ;)


Jacks and Cody posed all cute-like near the Pig-Sheep Subway (former holding pens for sheep and hogs).

Then Jacks seemed to come down with a case of Mad Cow disease and went just a bit berserk.


His outburst caused a stampede, so the little man ended up in jail.


Luckily we broke him out in time to hit Billy Bob's for some BBQ (say that 3 times fast). :)

And a quick few shots of our morning at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve. We played on the playground and walked on the trails a bit, just enjoying the first sunny day since Em arrived. It was beautiful!

You can see Cody waded in the creek, and despite the boots, managed to soak his pants. :)


The boys and their Auntie Em.


It has been so wonderful having Emilie here! She fits right in with the crazy zoo that is our family (which is not to say that SHE is crazy, but that she goes with the flow LOL), and the boys just adore her. It's hard to believe that we have been friends for 14 years!

Jackson's First Grade Show

Last night, Jackson and his fellow First Graders put on a little performance where they sang 10 different songs that somehow tied in to the works of M.C. Escher. Please don't ask for clarification on that, because I myself just can't quite wrap my head around how "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" connects with Escher. But the kiddos sang some songs and did a great job.

Shockingly, Jackson actually moved his mouth and looked like he was singing! Whether there was truly sound coming out, we can only guess...


He also did most of the hand motions that went along with a few of the songs, and he even smiled here and there, too!


This next picture makes me proud and teary at the same time. He looks so mature and serious. I swear I can see the man he will be in that little face. Sniff!


Daddy and Jacks have matching buzz cuts!


That's my baby! I mean, young man (baby).


Cody was very proud of his outfit yesterday. I did insist that he wear tennis shoes to school, but for the rest of the afternoon and evening, he rocked the boots. Camo pants (his favorite) and boots...doesn't get better than that!

We enjoyed your performance, Jacks! Way to go!

Luke's First Haircut

Luke's hair has been getting a little unruly lately but he doesn't have enough of it to warrant taking him all the way into Cool Cuts. So since we were giving the older boys haircuts yesterday, I decided to give Luke a little trim, too.

There are no pictures of the actual process because Anthony was too preoccupied with hiding his eyes lest I accidentally chop off Luke's ear to hold a camera. :P But above, you can see the final look from the front, and below is a side view.


"Do these bangs make me look fat?"


"Oh never mind, these baby blues o' mine will distract anyone from any uneven spots Mama left behind."

Monsters vs Aliens

Gramma and I took Jacks and Cody to see an preview screening of Monsters vs Aliens on Saturday morning. We got there about an hour early, waited for just about 30 minutes, and then got in and found great seats. The boys looked fab in their 3D glasses and as always, enjoyed the candy just as much as (if not more than) the movie itself. But it was a really cute and funny movie (even Mom and I liked it), and we all had a great time.

Here's our little group outside the theater before the movie, along with a friend's daughter (her mom actually runs the online moms group through which I won the tickets...thanks Jamie!).


Terrible iPhone pics, but everyone looked so cool in the 3D shades!


I took a couple more shots once we got home, because the boys were still enjoying the glasses. LOL

Zoo Fun

Today we were lucky enough to have Daddy home with us for the last day of Spring Break, and we decided to visit the zoo! It was a gorgeous morning, if a little chilly, and we got there bright and early.

First, we had to say hello to the penguins. We were a little disappointed not to see them swimming, but apparently their water hadn't warmed up to their liking yet. Several came over to pose right in front of us, though.


The zoo is filled with lots of rocks throughout, and the boys didn't play favorites...they climbed on every one!


This butterfly bench by the BugU exhibit is one of our favorite stops.


Next we visited the giraffes and elephants. I have told Cody that he has the memory of an elephant, so he was excited to hear me read from the sign that elephants have great memories. "I have the remember-y of an elephant!!" he was very proud to tell anyone who would listen. :)


We checked out the tigers and otters before we were done, too. (and gorillas and okapi and crocodiles and lemurs and flamingos...we saw a lot in our short visit!) Jacks put his head inside the little frame, and then of course, the younger boys had to give it a try, too.


What a great day! Thanks to Grandad for the membership...I know we'll be using it a lot this year. :)

Spring Break at the Arboretum

This morning, the boys and I met Grandad at the Arboretum for Dallas Blooms. It was an absolutely beautiful, sunny day (which meant many of my pictures were overexposed...oops) and we got there right when it opened so we had it mostly to ourselves for the first hour or so. The only other people we saw were brides having their portraits done, and Laura Bush. Wait, did I say Laura Bush? Why yes, I did. We saw her riding in a golf cart, being given a tour, while her secret service agents (hard to miss in their dark suits) were stuffed into a different cart behind her.

One of the things the boys were most excited about was the big display of playhouses. When similar structures appear at Northpark mall, they are closed up and blocked off so that the kids can't play on them. We were concerned that might be the case today, but happily, these playhouses were open and ready to be played on. Each was built to go along with a particular children's story, such as "The Owl and The Pussycat" and "Peter Pan."

Here are the boys with Dr. Seuss' "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."

This window was part of a house whose connected story we didn't recognize (and of course, whose name I now forget), but it was fun nonetheless.


Jacks did a great job looking out for Lucas and leading him along.


Occasionally, we did actually see some flowers, too!


But, as expected, the things the boys got the biggest kick out of had little or nothing to do with the Arboretum itself. Such as the great fun they had drenching each other with this water fountain.
Grandad managed to catch me with Jackson.



The boys were big fans of anything that allowed them to climb or play with water.


It is a near impossible feat to get a good picture of a 6, 4 and 1 year-old together, and I didn't accomplish it today. But here are the outtakes...


Getting a shot of TWO of the boys at a time, instead of 3, does sometimes work, though. :)


And all of my boys, hams that they are, were willing to pose on their own quite a bit. (First 3 photos by Grandad here...he's a master of his craft!)


We had a fantastic time but before too long the crowds began flooding in and I started getting photos like this:

I call this one, "So Over It." LOL When I see faces like that, I know we're done. So we called it a day, but I'm sure we'll be going back again before too long. :)