The winters here...

I've recently resigned myself to the fact that Houston weather...sucks...for lack of a better word. I've already mentioned how miserably devilish the summer is and without hardly any 60's and 70's in which to frolic in the fields, it turned to 30s and 20s. And 30s with humidity is COLD. Like sweater wearing, coat wearing, hat wearing, mittens wearing cold. But I think it feels colder mentally because I was expecting this wonderfully 60 degree winter and I'm bitter that I endured triple digit heat because "the winters are so nice."  But, I've accepted it. I'm pretty good at making the best of a situation when I really don't have a choice in it anyway. (Not that I don't have a choice in living in Houston. I just don't have a choice in how the weather's gonna be).  I can officially say, "I like it here but the weather sucks." But then, one December day, I go outside to get in my car and think, wow. It feels warm. I get out my phone and look up the weather. It is 69 degrees. 69 degrees in the middle of December. That's "nice." That's better than "nice." So. I did a little frolicking in the field and I've now decided that the jury is still out on the weather in Houston.

Everyone told me how much I'd miss the season changes and when I went back to Utah in October for a visit and saw the beautiful leaves, I realized I would miss that more than I thought. And then this morning, I look outside from our dining table and here is what I discoveedr in my own backyard.

Pretty, huh? And those trees in the back will stay green all year long. And as far as season changes, going from the 20's to the 70's in one week is all the change I need. And I thought Utah weather was unpredictable...

And the stockings were hung...

For the first time in my 11 years of marriage,
I have a fireplace from which to hang our stockings!



Somehow looking at stockings hanging from my fireplace

has put me in the Christmas mood a lot earlier this year.

Hope you're having a merry holiday so far!

There's one in every family.

A booger eater.

And ours is Ty

Disclaimer: This post is gross.


He'll look me square in the eye, stick half his finger up his nose, dig for his treasure and, with no shame, stick it right in his mouth.

I had high hopes that we escaped this disgusting habit. Boogers never appealed to Colby or Kara.  I figured just really gross kids did that. Colby and Kara were booger pickers, that's for sure. And I found boogers just about everywhere you can think of. Kara's booger destination of choice was her bedroom wall and Colby's was the carpet. But everytime I found a dried up booger, I tried to remember that I'd rather it be there, than in the mouth of my child.

I don't find boogers on the wall or carpet anymore. They are in Ty's tummy instead.

Perhaps I should blame myself. No- I don't eat my boogers. Really, that's gross. Nor did I as a child. Atleast I'm pretty sure I didn't. However, I have a mild obsession with my kids' boogers (to pick, not eat. That's even grosser). If I see one, I can't let it alone. I really can't. I'll lose sleep over it. At any cost, it shall be gone. Even if my fingernails are freshly cut and my poor baby's nostils are tiny- it must be done. It's mean and probably borderline child abuse.

And now Ty prefers his own finger over mine and unfortunately, boogers over many edible delicacies.

Here's to hoping the habit disappears by the time he's...I don't know, 16? No. Let's go with 13.

Halloween 2011 and visit from Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa Jackson were really ambitious and made the drive from Utah to Houston with lots of stops along the way. We had a lot of fun with them.

We hit the Johnson Space Center which was very very cool.

For Halloween this year, Colby was Harry Potter, and Kara was a witch. Ty left us no choice but to dress him as grumpy the dwarf in which he fantastically portrayed all night long. In fact, he hasn't broken character since.

With our neighbors, the fellow Hogwarts clan

There are just some years when I have to dress the kids in costumes of characters they have been magnificently mirroring for a while. Remember this year?

Unfortunately, all the pictures I snapped were done with my camera with no SD card in it. It's not the first time I've done that and I'm sure it won't be the last. So these pictures are a few that Cam's parents took. The real bummer is that Cameron dressed up as Justin Beiber. Complete with jeggings so tight he could barely walk and there is no picture to be found. There's gotta be one lurking out there somewhere...

Fall Soccer 2011

Saturday was Kara's last soccer game of the season. This will definitely be an unforgetable season that may or may not have contained some mild drama involving some parents and the coach.

Kara discovered her inner athlete and she turned into a pretty decent little player. She's competative, she's determined and she's quick. Not bad for a five-year-old.

Here's a really long video of part of Kara's last game and a goal she scored.

And some actions shots

Gecko Inn and Suites

Looking at this scene put me in a good mood this morning. I've been giggling about it ever since.

This is our current "pet" gecko, Burp. We've had many since they love to frequent our yard, garage and house. Burp, Rango and Beans are just a few that have graced our presence. It's original home made out of leaves, tree branches and grass just wasn't...fresh and hip enough. Clearly it needed a soft, warm barbie bed and a lamp for when it gets scared of the dark. After seeing it sprawled out on the bed like this in the morning, I thought maybe it had died of comfort or at the very least, was on it's death bed. But when the kids got home from school and checked on it, it was as alive and energized as ever, most likely because of it's good night of rest. We hope to have a few more occupants tonight and if they too survive the night, we might just have ourselves and little gecko bed and breakfast. Minus the breakfast.



Reason #67 it's great being married to a pilot

Just because we live in Texas, doesn't mean we can't still enjoy Utah peaches.