The "Comfortable" Floor

The past few nights Daphne has been sleeping on the floor because she says it is really comfortable. The striped blanket is the "comfy" spot she made for me to snuggle with her. I love that she lined up a bunch of her animals so that they are sleeping alongside her.

Cub Scouts

Tyler's cub scout den has been busy earning badges. Next month they will earn their Tiger badge and move up to Wolf.

Just in Case

The kids recently decided they both really like HEB's peanut butter dots cereal. I did not realize how much they both liked it until we ran out and they kept asking for it. I was at the grocery store with Daphne and I asked her to get 2 boxes and put them in our cart because she likes to help me out. Daphne said, "Mommy, I think we should get 3 boxes so we don't run out." I laughed and told her to go ahead and get a third box.

"Big" Sister

This evening Daphne told me that she wants to be a big sister. I told her she would always be a little sister to Tyler. I explained to her that she would have to have a baby sister or brother to be considered a big sister and that we weren't planning on any more babies. Daphne proceeded to tell me that Michael and I should have a total of 4 boys and 4 girls. Ha!

New Orleans and KY/OH/WV Tri-State

My Granny Protzman passed away last week at age 91. The funeral was in Barboursville, West Virginia on Friday. Since my Dad had already planned to drive up to the Kentucky/Ohio/West Virginia tri-state area with a stop in New Orleans to pick up Brad, I decided to fly in and out of New Orleans and ride along with them. It was good to see the extended family and reflect on how Granny made us all laugh over the years.

July 2009: PawPaw, Granny, Mom, Tyler, Renee, & Michael

Renee, Jeff, and Brad

We stayed at my Aunt Helen Louise's house in rural Kentucky

115 Queens Court: The cemetery where my grandma was
buried was near my mom's childhood home so we drove by.

Cousins: Sean, Chris, Brad, Renee, Michelle, and David
(Matt left early; Amy and Bryce couldn't make it)

Hazel swings with her Daddy in New Orleans

Hanging out with Megan and sweet little Penny

Junior Rangers

The weekend before this last one we were supposed to go camping in Fredericksburg with Tyler's cub scout pack but it was cancelled due to thunderstorms in the forecast. The Texas Rangers had already planned to put on a Junior Rangers talk for the cub scouts so we still headed out to Fredericksburg on Saturday afternoon for that. The Rangers put on a good talk about how the Indians settled the area and how the Rangers kept the peace between the cowboys and Indians.

The main speaker did a great job of keeping the kids' attention.
Even Daphne sat pretty still through most of it.

One cowboy sang us songs.

Checking out the well

The only original building still standing at Fort Martin Scott:
The kids really enjoyed checking out the jail cells inside.

If old trees could talk...

 

Field Trip

The first graders at Tyler's school visited the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm today for a fun Friday field trip. The kids learned about the life cycle of trees, did a crazy maze, did a hay bale maze, played on the playground, did duck races, petted animals, took a train ride, and took a tractor ride.

Crazy maze



The duck races were a hit with the kids cheering each
other on. Here is Tyler racing on the right side.

Petting Jenny the Donkey



Tractor ride

Learning about the tree life cycle

Playground

Daphne loves this low-to-the-ground balance beam.

Daphne is finally tall enough to make the
step from the spiral to the platform. It seems
like not that long ago she would climb up
and then be stranded.

Movie Night at the Park

Last night a few local businesses hosted a move night at our neighborhood park and showed The Peanuts movie. The kids loved the whole experience and the nice weather also made it really pleasant

Snow cones!

Ryan and Tyler

My lap blanket wasn't so sure about getting her photo taken!

Deli Samples

These days Tyler moans when he has to go grocery shopping
with me. But he lights up when we get to the deli because he
loves getting turkey samples.

Soccer Team England

Tyler's soccer team has been doing really well this season, which is starting to wind down. This is the fourth season (over the past 2 years) that five of the eight team members and our coach have played together. They all get along really well and have tons of fun.

Team England clockwise from top: Coach Shawn,
Aiden, Angel, Jakob, Alex, Tyler, Esteban,
Gavin, and Jaiden

Gymnastics Party

Last weekend Daphne went to a gymnastics birthday party at a big gym that has a lot more apparatus than the gym Daphne goes to and she enjoyed checking it all out. Not pictured was a super long trampoline that you can bounce off of into a pit of foam blocks.

Daphne played hard and was flushed and sweaty!

 

Crash and burn after the party

Daphne Loves Dogs

Our animal lover insisted I take a photo of her
petting the fake Target dog. Only Daphne!

April Fool's Day

On Friday (April 1), Tyler's teacher told his class that she brought them brownies. Then she handed out brown pieces of paper cut out in the shape of the letter E. Then she told them, "April Fool's Day!" And after that she handed out actual brownies. Tyler thought this prank was hilarious.