Priceless

Random assortment of Lego pieces: $5.99

Verizon FIOS allowing access to YouTube instructional video: $47.95 per month

Completed Lego Potty masterpiece: PRICELESS

New Shoes

Well, it's been a while since my last blog post because we were enjoying our family vacation in Colorado. Overwhelmed as I am by the prospect of organizing and uploading all our pictures from the trip, I'm cheating by jumping back into the blog world with a Back to School post.

We braved the first day of tax-free shopping this morning to hit Stride Rite for some new shoes. Yes, we still shop at Stride Rite for my guys because Jacks and Cody both have extra-wide feet. Not sure whose fault that is, exactly (*cough* Anthony *cough*), but only 2 brands make extra-wide widths: Stride Rite and New Balance. So off to Stride Rite we went.

After an official measurement, we learned that Cody has gone up half a size, while Jacks has gone up a full size. So once again, Jacks, at age 7, has bigger feet than his 4 year-old brother. For now.

Jacks chose tie-laces and pretty simple blue and whites. Cody went for the garish (read: hideous) Slimers again, complete with neon green splotches. I love how their personalities shine through in their shoe selection. And shine they do, as both pairs share bright silver accents. I recommend putting on sunglasses before attempting to stare directly at the shoes. :)

And with their shiny new footwear, they are now officially ready for school to start. Bring it on!

Road Trip

We left last Wednesday for our Vail vacation, which began with a 3 (ok, 4)-day drive. The boys have been looking forward to this all summer, so they couldn't wait to get started.

**caveat about photos in this post: all were taken with my iPhone, so forgive the less than stellar quality**

Luke drove with Gramma and me, while Grandad took the older 2 boys in the Suburban.


On our 2nd day, we got out of the cars for lunch and had to quickly unpack some sweatshirts and jackets, because it was only 61 degrees! It was hard to believe it was that chilly in Texas in late July. Luke borrowed a jacket from his big brother.


And Cody whipped out his trusty wink for the occasion.


Later on the drive, we visited Dairy Queen for an afternoon pit-stop. Nothing better on a road trip than a dipped cone! (or Dilly bar, or red Arctic Blast...or whatever tasty treat you choose)


We found some space to wander around outside one of our hotels, and the boys had fun climbing the hill and digging for rocks.


The boys were running pretty ragged by the end of the last day, but they really did a great job spending so much time in the car. And we'll do the same trip in reverse in just a few weeks.

Fun at the Pool

The boys and I went to a neighborhood pool with a couple of friends this morning. Much fun was had by all!

Luke's First (Official) Haircut

Luke has been desperate for a haircut for quite a while now. Just take a look at that beer picture in my last post and you'll see what I mean.

I trimmed his hair a few months ago, just a little bit around the ear and forehead, but he needed much more help this time. So we headed over to Cool Cuts.

Despite the fact that he has been there several times before with his brothers and has actually enjoyed sitting in the little firetruck seat as well, today was a different story. We even put on SpongeBob for him to watch, but he was not impressed. As soon as the lady put the smock on him, he began wailing.

So I have no "during " pictures of this haircut because I was trying to keep him from impaling himself on the scissors as he tried to climb out of his firetruck. But above you see the "before."

And here is "after":
Tears dried, hair trimmed just enough to clean it up but still leaving some of the surfer dude behind....so handsome!

Time for a Tasty Beverage

Luke thought Daddy's beer looked yummy and wanted to try for himself. Luckily for us, the bottle was empty.

But he clearly comes by his interest honestly: here's Jackson at about the same age doing about the same thing.

Dulce

Meet our newest family member, Miss Dulce. That's dul-see, not dul-chay or dul-say. Thank you very much.

A fellow mom found a stray a couple of weeks ago and has been trying to find her a home. We met her at PetSmart on Sunday to visit with the dog and see if she might be a good fit for our family. Well, she wasn't.

But while we were there, we saw that a Dallas shelter was doing adoptions at PetSmart that day. And we saw that little face. And then she climbed right in to Anthony's lap, licked all 3 boys, and was just a calm, mellow little love-bug.

So though my friend's stray didn't find a home on Sunday, Dulce (nee Sunshine heehee) did. She's 15 pounds and 5 months old. She's a mutt; the vet said she was a Heinz 57. :) The shelter said shepherd mix, but she looks like she's got some whippet in her (long legs, spindly body) and the vet guessed a bit of lab or retriever because of her snout. With the way her feet look they said they didn't think she'd get much bigger, but who knows?

She's very sweet and pretty calm, although she's been running around chewing on everything. We're very familiar with teething around here, so we've got her a bunch of good toys to work on instead of the wooden legs of our kitchen chairs or the knobs of my bedside table drawers.

Isn't she sweet? I mean, Dulce? :)