Over the River........

And through the woods! Last Friday we made a trip to Brazos Bend State Park. Although it wasn't the kind of woods we are used to it was still very pretty and we all had a great time. And I must say, at nearly 6 months pregnant I didn't mind the flat terrain "hiking". Okay, sorry this is still on it's side. I forgot to turn it and if I take the time to change it I won't finish this blog before I need to leave. Look at the size of that tree trunk! All three of the kids thought this was very cool and had fun playing on it and resting part way through our walk.
Yes, this is still the State Park and yes that is an alligator. And as far as alligators go, a small one. A foot or two of its tail is sticking out onto the trail while it just sits there in the sun getting warm. To get around it we had to go back behind it and were probably withing 5-6 feet of the tip of its tail. The kids weren't even scared!!!! I kept trying to shush them and I they couldn't figure out why I was trying to get them to stay as far away as possible.
Here we are about 15 feet from the alligator. I didn't want to get any closer to pose for a picture since all I had running through my mind at this point was how hard I could fight if it attacked! But, it was a well mannered beast and just laid there. Thank goodness!!
We all had a great time Brazos Bend. We saw several alligators on our "hike" , a turtle, and even a cardinal (red bird). At the nature center the kids, expecially Carly couldn't get enough of petting the live snake and the 8 mos old baby alligators. Come visit us and we'll take you for your very own gator trip! See you later alligator!

Can he build it?

YES, HE CAN!

K'nex are a huge favorite at our house. The boys love to make the things in the instructions and make all kinds of things of their own design--their favorite being fighter ships from Star Wars. You would be surprised how much some of their designs really do look like the ones in the movies. Up until a couple of weeks ago Carter was definately his own design kind of guy. Then, I guess he just looked at the directions to something and thought, "Hey, I can do that!". This boat is about the second thing he did pretty much all by himself. As you can see, he is very proud of it.

Happy Birthday to the Princess!

I can't believe my baby girl is 3 years old. Time has gon by so quickly and she is such a joy to have around, well most of the time anyway. This is a picture of her watching me decorate her cake. She was so thrilled when Genevieve was "looking" at her as I would turn the cake around to do the ruffles on the dress.

As mentioned above this cake is supposed to be Genevieve from the Barbie movie "12 Dancing Princesses." Those of you who are cake experts, you 3 know who you are, please don't look closely at my ruffles as it was my first time ever to attempt ruffles. And it will be my last attempt with the rose tip #104. That thing is just too small to do that many ruffles. But Carly was very happy and that is all that mattered.
Opening presents was fun to watch. Carly was so excited to get some new flip flops, I think she actually hugged them. Here she is opening a tea set. She has been wanting this for about 3 months now (and when you are 2 that seems like a year) and this picture does not even come close to showing how excited she was. It has been less than 24 hours since she got it and it has already gotten a lot of use.
We all love Carly and are so glad she is in our family. None of us can resist the cute way she talks and her hugs and kisses are the best. Spoiled, girlie, and princess are the 3 best words to describe our new 3 year old.

Say Cheese

After how many months I am finally putting on a few of the family pictures we had done back in November. A lady from church just came up and asked me if she could take our pictures to add to her portfolio! Um..........free family pictures!!! Are you kidding me? She did a great job and we got some cute shots of the kids.

Here is Taylor. At just over 6 he is still on the serious side until you get him going (I can't imagine where he got that from). He didn't want to smile much for the camera, but I still like this shot of him. Can you say Grandpa Ridge? As soon as I saw this I was reminded of my dad. People have said in the past that my boys look like my dad but I always thought Scott. This picture could have come right out of 1952!
The princess as always. Carlyn had a blast getting her pictures taken. She stayed and got her pictures done long after the boys had run off to play. She was more than willing to wear hats, hold props, have the fan blowing in her hair, and was very patient while the photographer dealt with some technical difficulties.
Look at these cheesy cowboys! It just wouldn't be a Texas photoshoot without a cowboy hat or two!
I hope you have enjoyed looking at our fabulous family even if the pictures are now 5 months old!