Bath Time

We have a little fishy on our hands.

Who me? Yes you.

This fishy loves his bath time, and I know is going to love swimming this summer.

Egg-citing Stuff!

Sooo Egg-citing! Gavin and I got to spend some time Saturday with our friend Summer who flew in from Kansas City. We like to think she came to see us, but she was one busy lady making the rounds to all of her Texas friends. By the way, I welcomed her back to the Great State of Texas and she thought that was funny. That's a common term to Texans isn't it?

Gavin was also so Egg-cited about helping gather the eggs. If he thinks I'm stuffing those giant eggs with candy, he's rather mistaken.

Oh, but who could resist this face?

Gardening with Gavin 101

Hi. My name is Gavin and I'm here to help Mommy and Daddy plant our first garden. See, I'm pretty good at supervising, so I'm just going to sit back and give orders, I mean make suggestions.

First, you have to pick high quality seeds. I decided to go with the carrots. They used to be my favorite vegetable, but now I don't think any vegetable is my favorite. Mommy says they will give me x-ray vision, so we'll give them a whirl again.

Here's Daddy tilling up the dirt and pulling weeds. What's wrong Pops?

Aww, that's better. He's a regular ol' Farmer Brown.

From here, I just watched them plant the carrots, jalapenos, and strawberries. That's going to make for a very strange salad if you ask me. (Which they didn't.)

Mommy let me help her water the seeds in.

Then we finished our hard work with a big gulp of water right from the hose.
Check back in a month or so for the fruits and vegetables of our labor.

So Much Sand

We crammed a lot into this beautiful weekend, but for now, here's a few pics of the little one playing in his sand box.
I did what any mom would do when their kid gets sand in their mouth....grab the camera.

Gavin didn't seem to mind. He kept right on playing with his green self.

Family Pictures

Our very talented friend Leo Longoria took some family pictures for us a few months back. We didn't know how the day was going to go because the most dense form of fog rolled in that morning. But to attest to the talent that is Leo Longoria, he snapped some pretty pleasing pictures. And now that we've about used them for everything from Christmas cards to birthday presents, I wanted to post them and tell you to head on over to his website, please.....Leo Longoria.

A Rabbit Tail

This is the tail of a rabbit.

It's no ordinary tail. This tail has been with the Moore family for almost two years now. And the wimpy tail is attached to an even wimpier body of this blue friend.
This tail's tale began when a little boy was so very little. He didn't know this moon shaped rabbit would be his pal one day.
The tail is not recognized by many except for the grandparents and parents because it is kept hidden for those quite moments of nap time and night time.

However, this tail has been lovingly snuggled and tossed around so much that it began to shrink in stature.

One day, the owner's mother stepped in to give the long ears some TLC.

With a little pull of the old stuffing here,

Stitch of the fur there,

And a protective eye to oversee,

The tail and the rest of its body were as good as new.

A happy little boy could now hug his buddy, Mr. Rabbit aka Mr. Wigglesworth or Ol' Long Ears.

This is the end of that tail.

Back to Work

Oh the realities of life set in today. After being on Spring Break all week, I am plum tuckered out at the end of my first day back at work. It may have to do with getting up at the crack of dawn and wrangling five-year olds all day or more than likely it's the Zumba class I went to tonight. Either way, it's lights out for me.

Blue Bonnets, Blue Bell and Brenham

We took advantage of another beautiful spring day (that is before the Northern blew in) and took a day trip to Brenham on Friday. This little town is known for its bluebonnets which weren't quite ready to bloom fully and of course the best ice cream anywhere- Blue Bell.D and I have in years past taken the Blue Bell factory tour, so we weren't completely disappointed when all of the tours were sold out hours in advance. Gavin's still a little too young to completely enjoy the tour and besides, all the kid wanted was the ice cream. For a $1, we each got a generous portion of our favorite cold treat.Usually we just buy the light or sugar free version, but nope not today. We scarfed down rich, creamy blackberry cobbler, cake and ice cream and turtle fudge. Now doesn't that just sound delicious?After ice cream, we took a stroll through Brenham's historical district. There were large wooden Easter eggs everywhere (sorry no pictures) decorated by local groups. We picked up a few unique buys including some half off toys at a resell shop and Gavin was given these cute shades by one of the store owners. It was about an hour and a half one way drive, but for traveling with an antsy toddler, that was just the right amount of time for a family outing. Besides, you can stop 3/4 of the way there and have a sausage on a bun lunch at Chappell Hill. Did I mention they have the best sausage around?

Too Busy to Blog

We've had a fun-filled couple of days. As I mentioned before, Gavin and I made a visit to a dear friend who celebrates her birthday on St. Patrick's Day. Of course the two of us were too busy catching up that I didn't pull out the camera, but I did get a sweet shot of Gavin playing with his grown-up look-a-like friend Will.
Will was gracious to let Gavin play (mess up) his incredibly cool town complete with every John Deer tractor imaginable and masking tape roads.

Later we had our friends Pris and Kris come over to enjoy Shepherd's pie and Irish Potatoes.

Gavin showed Pris how to play with blocks.

He later commandeered Kris' hat.

We have pics of the grown-ups (Am I one of those now?!) playing the Wii, but the pics are not too pretty. Lots of action shots though.

On Thursday, we took a family trip to the Rodeo. I'm not sure what was going on with Gavin- if he was tired or overwhelmed by the people, but he wasn't his usual happy-go-lucky self. We tried to make the best of it.

He should be a pro at farming by now as this was his third go-around. After milking a cow, planting peppers and picking oranges, he reaped the fruits of his labor by purchasing a snack and orange juice with his farm wages.
Then it was on to the petting zoo. Boy- did we meet a crowd! At least we didn't have a goat try to eat our clothes this time.
We finally got a smile out of Gavin when D put him on his shoulders as we were leaving.
And we were off to the doctor for a special appointment to check out Gavin's growth and see if his ear infection cleared up. Thankfully the ears looked fine and after 21 months, I think the doctor is convinced that Gavin is just genetically going to be on the small size- the way God perfectly created him.After all of the excitement of the day, Gavin finally tuckered out on the ride home. I know most kids take of their socks and shoes in the car, but for Gavin he usually only takes off his left sock and shoe.

If that's not enough, D and I dropped Gavin off with his MeMe and Granddaddy and met our friends Pris and Kris at the Rodeo. We're either a glutton for punishment or we love those two. It's definitely the latter.

We were brave and tried the fried Oreos and fried Twinkie. Neither were as bad as we imagined.

After prying Kris away from the baby chickens, we set our sights on the Rodeo. Every year, I enjoy the Rodeo, but this year, I was taken back by thinking about how much goes into this three week production. My favorite events have to be the calf scramble (high school kids try to rope a calf bare handed) and the bull riding. However, D and I are convinced that when Gavin's five we're going to enter him in the mutton bustin' contest (the kids try to ride a sheep for as long as possible). For now, we'll just practice seeing how far he can ride his daddy around the house.

Happy St. Patty's Day

One year, D and I found these delicious mini desserts called Irish Potatoes in a little bakery in Philadelphia. We have scoured the Internet trying to see if we could find anyone around here who made them. Without any luck, we turned to making our own. Let me warn you- they are sweet, very sweet. But that just makes them all the more special to have once a year on St. Patty's Day. Here's the recipe we use courtesy of our little leprechaun.

Irish Potatoes

4 oz. cream cheese
2 T butter
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup coconut
1/4 cup cinnamon


Beat cream cheese and butter together until it's creamy. Add the powdered sugar and coconut and mix with a spoon. Usually we are making these the day of and don't have time to freeze them overnight, but it's the best method for forming the little potatoes or else they are all squishy. After freezing, pinch off tablespoon size pieces and form in the shape of a potatoes. Lightly roll in cinnamon and place them on wax paper. I usually freeze them right until it's time to serve.

We had a sweet day visiting one of our dear friends on her birthday and we're having dinner with a couple of crazy leprechauns tonight. More on that tomorrow.

I've Been Bit

Little known fact: about four years ago, I got the photography bug. Maybe it had to do with getting a new camera or maybe it was being surrounded by the incredible scenery of a wintery New York City. Either way- the bug bit me.

Since then, I've toyed with the camera, changed angles when photographing and desperately longed for some of the Photoshop knowledge D has to jump into my head. It takes time- a lot of time, but little by little, I'm gaining more knowledge and mostly figuring out what style suits me.

Sunday's beautiful weather gave the Moore family a good excuse to get outside. Of course it's always fun photographing when you have your two favorite subjects nearby.

Gavin's new pose is called the pretzel. He does it quite often now.

The camera and I have been through so much that I'm considering a new camera strap. D, you wouldn't mind a new strap in teal and tiger print would you? ........Silence, and then he just walked away.