Kid's rooms

At long last, I think I can say the kid's rooms are "done". Daniel's room:





And a reminder from august of what the details look like:

A huge thanks to sister-in-law Jeanette for the dresser!

Camille's room:








And a close-up of of that last one:)

A Very Sad Day

A few weeks ago, we had a very hard week, culminating in one very sad event. Daniel and I were watching a movie inth e guest bedroom (aka "grandma's room") just after waking up, and I had let Patches out of her "cubicle" where she sleeps, thinking she'd come chill with us. Well, Daniel closed the door on her so she was stuck in the hallway with free access to Daniel's room. She hasn't chewed anything for a while so I've been less vigilant, but usually we would never let her near that room without supervision, and here is why:


For those who don't recognize that animal, that is my most beloved Pengwy:


I got him in 3rd grade and he was my very best friend for probably 5 years, I became obsessed with penguins (I knew all 18 species latin names at one point, and planned on being a penguinologist for years), and I held on to that penguin (and my obsession) far longer than a "cool" teenager would have. There are few things in our house that had more sentimental value to me than that penguin did. It was hard enough to let D play with him.

I was not on speaking terms with patches for a few days. We love her to pieces, she's a VERY sweet dog (this is "rodeo month" at school so she's had to put up with Daniel sitting on her, "riding" her while shouting "weehaw!", and she hasn't complained once), but this.... this took the cake. We've made sure she once again ALWAYS has a bone at her disposal so she has an OK outlet for her chewing urges.


(PS I cannot believe my mom let me go out of the house with my hair like that! That pic is from my first plane ride, down to Utah to see my brother Chris)

Silly Faces, pt II

I've had a request for more pics of the baby, so here goes:
Every morning we watch a movie as I wake up and prepare myself for the day (D is awake at 6:30, so the movie usually buys me an extra hour or so of rest). Lately, he's been requesting to cuddle with Camille:



(D really likes me to take pictures of his feet. No idea why)
He also loves to make her smile by poking her nose:


Here are the two of them just before church this morning:


Chubby legs:



We don't have a lot of good winter gear so when he had a few freezing weeks this was our one option:


And many silly faces from both children:

















Lastly, fun with daddy's Nerd Bazooka and gun:

Bayou Wildlife Park

We had an absolute blast today at the Bayou Wildlife Park about 90 minutes drive south from here. We went with a group of friends from church and I think I can say it's my favorite such activity we've done in Houston- and it was cheaper than the zoo.
They had petting zoos and pony rides then we all hopped and a tram to hand out feed to the animals of the park- ostriches, emus, camels, buffaloes, exotic cows and deer... it was incredible. This video sums it up wonderfully:

Oh look, a gigantic exotic long-horned cow! Watch out, an ostrich behind you! But don't let that distract you from the bison you can feed and touch!

We were greeted by two emus at the front gates, tapping on our windows.

Kenny has decided if he's ever going to be a supervillian or dark lord, he's going to have emus and ostriches as his minions. They're creepy.

This was the "cookie monster" emu. (correction, this is an ostrich, not emu)

We got to feed a LOT of exotic cool animals:



Daniel got a ride a pony:

Camille got to "ride" a deer.

And meet her goat counterpart:


I quite enjoyed the peacock display:


And we ended up with one tired boy:


Honestly, we had so many great pics and videos but I don't want to post them all here. Check out our online album for a lot more plus other pictures from this month.

Happy Noises

Camille is now smiling and has these cute little gurgly giggles:

And yes, Daniel is always that whiney. It's.... wonderful.

Exciting big plans

We might be looking at some really big changes in our life soon. It started with Kenny having some time home over the holidays and us realizing not only how much we love having him around but also how much HE loves being somewhere where he is appreciated. His job satisfaction is a bit low right now (don't get me started on his district's passing rate on the most recent finals). So anyways, that got us thinking- maybe now would be a good time for him to take time off to get his masters. In Texas, having a masters would up his salary a whopping 500 bucks a year (*eyeroll*) but if we ever want to move to the NW (which we very much do) then he practically can't teach without one. So we thought maybe he'd take two years off, get his masters online, and I'd work full time (remotely) for a short while while Kenny was home to help with the kids. And since we won't be geographically tied anywhere, it would also be a great time to move.
So I put a few feelers out into my industry (For those who don't know, I'm a web analytics consultant- kind of a cross between javascript programmer and online marketer) and was very pleasantly surprised that not only is there a good job market for me, but I've got a lot more earning potential than we ever thought. So for now it may just be kenny is a stay-at-home dad (though still getting his masters- you never know what will happen in today's market) and I may be the breadwinner for a long while.
So it's pretty much official, Kenny won't be returning to his school next year (hallelujah) nor does he need to apply at other local schools. We'll probably put our house on the market in June and as soon as it sells, we'll most likely move to somewhere in the northwest... no idea where, yet, though one of the jobs I would love to have is located in redmond (I swear I don't MEAN to follow my sister Lori around, it just happens).

And since every post needs a pic, here's Daniel the helper- we went to the store just for strawberries we were supposed to bring to a playgroup activity, and we got one of the mini-karts that Daniel loves to push. I figured I'd just carry Camille the whole time, but Daniel was adamant about her belonging in the cart, just like when we go real shopping, even if her carrier is about the same size as the mini-kart. Daniel was thrilled to be so grown-up and did a good job of driving gently.