Busy Month!

March was a crazy busy month, and we've had a ton of fun!  We've already had our spring break and had several visitors, so there's a lot to catch up on.

 We finally visited the Thinkery.....the brand new children's museum here in Austin.....and it did not disappoint.  We will definitely be going back (many thanks to Mark and Nicole for the awesome family membership)!

This is the very cool outdoor playground at the Thinkery.

Owen is having a fantastic school year!  He has come so far in his reading and writing.  This was one of his recent writing assignments and I just have to share.  He certainly loves his daddy!

His class invited parents to come in and listen to their original poetry and this is Owen reading his poem to everyone.  He actually wrote about one of our evening neighborhood walks.

This is Owen and a few of his classmates reading a short theater script.

Adler is still taking dance class one day a week and preparing for her recital in May!  It's still her favorite day of the week.

Look at those curls!

Meet Hamlet, a pig we met at a very cool vintage store called Revival.

Owen showing off his strength!

Basketball

Owen has just finished his first season of basketball!  He struggled learning the game most of the season, but by the end he had made so much progress!  He was definitely disappointed when his last game ended.

Owen had two great coaches who called him "most improved" on the team!

It was really difficult taking pictures in the gym.  Most were blurry, but this is a good one of him shooting a free throw.

He had devoted grandparents cheering him on at many of the games!  He definitely has a lot of support here in Texas!

Now he's already playing soccer......his favorite sport so far!  Our Saturday mornings stay real busy, but we all enjoy it.

Nevada Visitors!

About two weeks ago our dear friends, Brenda, JP and Ryder, came to Texas for a visit!  It was so nice to have some familiar faces here in Austin and we had a great time showing them around the city.

We took them to the top of Mt. Bonnell so they could see views of Lake Austin.  It was so warm that day it felt like summer!

The kids just picked up right where they left off!  They certainly have a special friendship.

On Valentines evening my sister Madison and her boyfriend Blake kept the kids for us so we could have a night out.  They were so great to help us out and were able to celebrate their Vday a day late here in Austin.  And what did we do????  We went to maybe the best live concert I've ever been to at the Moody Theater, where Austin City Limits is filmed.  We saw Bob Schneider and the Moonlight Orchestra (local favs) and had an amazing time!  I loved every second of it!  I guess he puts on this show every Valentines Day, so this might have to become an annual event for us.

Owen had a cheering section the next morning at his soccer game!

The kiddos with Madison and Blake

Our crew....just like old times!  :o)

We took them to the Texas State Capitol one afternoon and had a picnic on the capitol grounds.

We also shopped on South Congress, ate BBQ at Salt Lick and  ice cream at Amy's, and played disc golf.  We tried to give them the full Austin experience and I think we did pretty good for the amount of time we had.

Owen has mastered his disc throw....he's way better than me for sure!

Owen and Ryder climbing a tree!

We are so grateful for their visit and miss them every single day.  Hope to catch up again this summer in Tahoe!

2014 so far.....

Of course I'm behind on the blog, by almost 2 months!  This year is already flying by.  Here's what we've been up to so far in the year 2014.

 

We've been spending quite a bit of time at the ranch, helping my mom and Fred build a cabin.  We can't wait for the cabin to be built, so we will have a more comfortable place to stay when we're there.  I'll post pictures of the cabin progress in a separate post.

 I'm happy that my kiddos seem to appreciate and enjoy our ranch just as much as I do!  They love going out there!

Adler and Owen both like to help us drive as soon as we're off the main highway and onto the dirt road (or "dirty" road as Adler calls it)!

We've also been seeing a lot of my grandmother, which is good for all of us!

 I have been making an effort to spend quality time with Owen lately.  I spend so much time with Adler, but my time with Owen is always limited.  So these 2 pictures are from a little hike we went on together, exploring the greenbelt .

We've had 3 snow/ice days in the past month.  THREE.  And this is what that looks like.  Seems like a joke to us.  But this snow/ice shut down the entire city!

Micah and his mom

My boys

 We spent a weekend in College Station recently, so Micah could attend his college reunion.  These are the other members of his Landscape Architecture class!

I have to give a shout out to my sister, Madison, who has just been accepted into Texas A&M University!!!  WHOOP!  I am so proud of her and know she's going to be an excellent Elementary School Teacher! 

Adler & Jordynn

Owen spending some good quality time with his Uncle B

Winter Break

It's been a few weeks, but we had a wonderful Christmas holiday!  I took off work for two and a half weeks and Micah had off work for over a week (which has never happened before)!  It was so nice to have a break from routine and spend time with family.  

Our break started off shaky, with Owen getting strep throat.  He was sick for about 4 days, but thankfully better by Christmas!  He had a long wait to see the doctor on the weekend before Christmas, so he sat in the car and built legos and played with his dancing robot.  We lucked out and nobody else caught the strep!

 My mom, Fred and Brian joined us for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, although we didn't take any pictures.  It was nice to have Christmas morning in our own house though!

Santa left Adler this dollhouse and she was ecstatic!

Santa left Owen this basketball goal for our driveway.  He shoots hoops every single day after school!

My dad and Mary gave the kids new rides for Christmas.  Adler is really getting around on her new bike and Owen loves his strange scooter.  I don't even know what it's called, but he can go pretty fast on it and do some cool tricks.

We spent some quality time with Brian over the holidays!

 

And it's always fun having the three brothers together (with Noah)!

 We went to the ranch and Micah started building a treehouse for the kids.  This is just the beginning!

We surprised the kids on New Years Day with a trip to Sea World.  I know Sea World is really controversial right now, BUT my mom gave us a family pass for 2014 AND my kids LOVE it there.  We have talked to them about where the animals came from and how they're cared for.  I think it's really peaked an interested in Owen, especially, and been very educational. 

Entering the Shark Reef

Feeding the sea lions

Adler having pure fun playing on the playground and riding roller coasters!

After Sea World we capped off the day with dinner at the Magic Time Machine.....such a hit with the kids!  Our server was an Indiana Jones with potty humor.  Owen is still talking about him.