Money

"Let's combine our money and buy a toy. Do you like Transformers, Renée?"
- Gavin

My Baby is Three

Carter is three years old. He had our traditional number pancake for breakfast. True to his nature he wouldn't let me take a picture of the pancake with the three going the right way. I made Carter a chocolate tool cake. I piped chocolate into tool shapes, which tasted much better than brown frosting. Carter was so excited to blow out his candles. After Nick, Trey, Blake, and Sydney's birthdays all in the past couple months, Carter knew exactly what to do.
It was a family party that included cousins. When there are six kids, it feels like a party, so I didn't feel the need to invite anymore kids. Carter got a lot of tools for his birthday. We also got him a scooter but instead of riding it, he grabbed a tool and began fixing it.
A little something about Carter:

• He loves tools
• Can swim without floaties
• Is potty trained but prefers to pee in the grass.
• Is almost 25 lbs., which puts him in the first percentile for weight.
• Loves to read about trucks, trains, and machines.
• Growls a lot!
• Drinks chocolate milk all the time.
• Likes to play with Gavin, Renée, and Jinx.
• Loves when Daddy comes home.
• Sleeps in almost every day.
• He still sleeps in a crib and sleeps in almost every day until at least 8am.
• Loves his blanket, Night-Night. He won't even let us put other blankets in his crib with him.
• Still takes a nap most days if we aren't running errands.
• Can be as sweet as can be when he wants to.
• 
  
  

Weekend in Houston

Erika and I traveled to Houston without our kids for the whole weekend! It was so much fun and we got to see a ton of art. We left on Friday and didn't return until Sunday afternoon. I talked Erika into seeing the Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibit that was at the Natural Science Museum. I loved the exhibit. Seeing something that was created almost 3000 years ago was incredible. What I love about ancient art is that we learn so much about a culture through their art. Sometimes their art is all we have. There were 15 terra cotta figures and 120 artifacts.
We also visited the Menil Collection, which was all free:
The Rothko Chapel - Franc Rothko was commissioned by the Menils to paint large scale paintings to fill the non denominational chapel. It was very interesting to see.
Byzantine Fresco Chapel - An original fresco from a chapel in Crete, dsiplayed in a unique way. I loved this because I have never been able to see Byzantine art in its' intended environment.
Cy Twombly Gallery - Some of the work was very powerful but it wasn't my favorite.
Menil Gallery - This little museum was a gem. Not only was it free but it held some real treasures. There was a great deal of surrealism which isn't my favorite but was still a powerful art movement. There were so many ancient artifacts that it had Erika saying, "I can't look at any more artifacts!"
Dan Flavin Enstillation - The neon light picture pretty much sums this up. Huge empty room with neon lights on the walls. It would make a great night club.
After all this art we ate Greek food and then caught the Relief Society Broadcast. We stayed with Erika's grandparents who were very nice to us and fed us the biggest breakfast I have had in a long time.
The only stressful thing about the trip was that on Thursday Sam called me and said that he had to work late on Friday and that he also had to work on Saturday and Sunday. Jeff, Erika's husband volunteered to watch the kids until Kid's Club starte at 5pm on Friday night. On Saturday I hired a babysitter who was there almost 12 hours. I included a picture of the instructions that I left her. Alycia let the kids sleep over on Saturday night and took them to church. It all worked out but it was crazy getting ready.

Return of the Bumblebees

Renée is playing her second season of soccer. She sure looks cute out there. Unfortunately, she forgets to play soccer.

Too Tired

Gavin was sleeping on the floor in our room for reasons that would embarrass him in future years if I posted them. Anyway, I turned on the light and said, "Time to get up."
"I am too tired." - Gavin
"I am tired too but we still have to get up." - Tiffany
"Okay, we will get through this together." - Gavin

Swimming in September

We have had a lot of rain in the past two weeks, which isn't typical Texas. I saw that we were going to have one sunny hot day, so we took advantage of the pool. Carter is back in his life jacket because I had no desire to get into the cold water, but the kids sure had a good time playing with their cousins and the Sullivan girls.

Gardening and Potty Training

I have been potty training Carter so he spends a lot of time like this. Here he is doing yard work in just his underwear. Carter is by far my most difficult to potty train. It was a huge power struggle but he is doing okay now. I always sang my kids a potty song as a reward but Carter doesn’t like it. He just likes me to say, “You did it!” After each time Carter says, “again.”

Toyota Tour des Fleurs 10K 20K

I ran a 20K race in Dallas today with my friends Carrie, Mandy, and Jen. I haven’t raced since February, so it was fun to get back into it. I did the 12.52 miles in 1 hour 58 minutes and 47 seconds. That put me at 9.29 minutes per mile. The humidity was high for Dallas and I was soaked by the end of the race. I am happy with my results and I am looking forward to doing the Cowtown Half in February if anyone want to join me.