Trail riders

We had so much fun today watching the trail riders make there way into town for the Houston Livestock show and rodeo! We went with our friends, Erin, Blakely and Ainsley. We were going to watch them as they went by Jack's school, but we missed them! Erin and I manovered our way around town to try and get in front of them, getting lost a few times but having fun in the process! We found a police officer who helped lead us in the right direction, and we had a perfect view of them riding by. Jack and Blakely loved waving at them and were fascinated! Jack told me in the car that he wanted to ride on a white horse. We may have to do that next time we head to the ranch to see Grandma & Grandpa Texas!

Jan/Feb!

Here is a catch up of the last 2 months! Sorry I have been a terrible blogger!




This morning Jack helped me take out the trash in his PJs. I just had to capture this photo of him in his PJs, cowboy boots and carhart. I thought it was too precious!

Here is my little cowboy! This past week at school was rodeo week! They talked all about the rodeo and sang songs and read books about the rodeo in preparation for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo kicking off this weekend. Jack loved singing the "Texas Star" song...it was too cute to hear him sing, "I'm a Texas star. I eat my beans from an old tin jar."

Fun playing outside in February.

Being silly and playing with stickers!

Jack and Daddy

Jack and mommy

In January, Jack had Pancakes and Pajama day at school. He loved dressing in his PJs!

Grandma and Aunt Debbie came to visit in January. We had lots of fun shopping, especially in an area of Houston called Harwin. We found all sorts of great deals there!

Jack enjoyed all of the Valentine's day treats, especially the lollipops!

Christmas Fun!

We had a wonderful Christmas and had a busy few weeks traveling around. We spent the week prior to Christmas in Indiana; celebrating with the Kenley's. We then traveled home on the 26th; spent a few days in Houston and celebrated our family Christmas. On the 29th we left for the Ranch and celebrated Christmas/New Years with the Malone's. It was so good to see everyone, so fun to share the Christmas joy with Jack now that he is at an age that he understands, and it was especially amazing celebrating our Savior's birth and sharing that special gift with Jack! Any time we would talk about baby Jesus he would say, "there was no room in the inn" and refer to the "inn keeper" as the "zoo keeper." =) It was so precious!

Here are some pictures of the Christmas fun:


Celebrating at the Malone Ranch.....

Jack loved his presents from Uncle Michael!

Barbara (who is now Michael's fiance!) made this portrait of Jack using one of his 2 year photos. She did such an amazing job! She is very talented!

Jack loves his train table!



Christmas at our house......

Ryan and I found this windmill and just had to get it for Jack. He loves windmills!

Jack loves his gearations!



Christmas in Indiana with the Kenley's.....

Fun at the Children's Museum!

Jack loved the snow!

He LOVED sitting on Santa's lap! We thought he would be too scared but he insisted on it when he saw Santa at the zoo.

Christmas at the zoo watching the dolphin show on Grandpa's lap.

Ryan and I in early December getting ready to attend some Christmas parties for the evening!

Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year!

In Loving Memory...

Last week Ryan's grandmother went to be with her Lord and Savior. She was a picture perfect woman of strength, dignity and beauty and will be greatly missed. I feel so blessed to have been touched by her life, and she will always be special to me.

I love this picture!

Ryan with his Grandma Rainbowbrite

Michael and Barbara with Abuelita

She was known to Jack as "grandma Agnes." She called Jack "mi hijo." I can still hear her precious voice saying it.

SNOW!

We had snow in Houston on December 4th! It was so much fun and Jack loved it! He still talks about it. He really liked making snowballs and throwing them. The kids here all got out of school early, and it was so neat watching them play in the park making snowmen. They were so excited! My mom was in town for the weekend and got to enjoy it too; although, I think she was hoping to have some warmer weather while in Houston. =) We had a lot of fun with her, and she was so helpful in helping me get ready for Christmas. She made coffee cakes for me and helped me shop. She even watched Jack for a night so that Ryan and I could have a getaway. It was so nice having her here.

Thanksgiving

Well, it has been about a month since I was last able to blog! My computer died, and I was finally able to get a new one. Fortunately, I had most of my pictures backed up on my external hard drive. However, the last time I did a back up was early September, so I lost some! Thank goodness for blogs and for the fact that I had uploaded most of those pictures onto shutterfly!

We had a great Thanksgiving in Sonora! Jack loved going around the ranch checking out all of the windmills and water troughs and playing with his grandparents. He even visited the local bank where his Grandpa is now the president. He enjoyed all of the treats he was given there! We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal! Ryan's mom and I decided to brine the turkey, and it tasted so yummy! It is amazing how tender and moist it was. I highly recommend that method! We were able to see Michael and Barbara; although, our time with them was too short. We are looking forward to spending more time with them over New Years. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Jack loves his Uncle Michael!

Halloween Weekend

We had a great Halloween! Ryan's parents came into town to visit, and we had a wonderful time with them. Jack especially enjoyed spending time with them! Jack surprised us on Halloween night with his determination and stamina. We thought we would just take him around one or two small streets but he ended up going all around the neighborhood. He loved saying "trick or treat" and he insisted on carrying his own pumpkin despite the fact that it was getting quite heavy! He held onto the kitkat bar that is in his hands in the pictures the whole night. I finally asked him if he wanted to eat it, and he said "yes" and he enjoyed every bit of it!