Madalyn learned to ride her bike!!

Super huge news, after just a week and half of practicing Madalyn learned to ride her bike with no training wheels. I have pictures and will post them when I finish the roll. I miss technology, this whole deferred gratification thing is way overrated. :)

Watch out at Texas Roadhouse

When Jeff and I were out on a date a couple of weeks ago my car got broken into and my purse stolen. Unfortunately, my digital camera was in my purse, so we're back to using an actual film camera. Oh, wonderous days - but pictures will be a little slower coming for awhile. And probably in clusters like these!

New Bikes & a Scooter!

The Easter Bunny must have had a great year because Madalyn and Beck got new bikes and Bristol got a toddler scooter. Beck took off on his and has not looked back. He often likes to take it up on two wheels- meaning the front wheel and one of the training wheels. I constantly cringe watching him. Bristol likes the scooter and is getting the hang of it. Madalyn got a cool pink Huffy that she is trying to ride without training wheels. Awesome! I loved the picture of Bristol- did I mention how sweet he is? :) Also the one of Jeff and Daddy teaching them how to ride down the driveway was greatness.

Easter Hunt at the Raymond Ranch

We had a super laid back Easter- Mom, Dad, Cody and Julie came over to the house for lunch and we just hung out. Until the Easter bunny came to visit of course. Then the yard was full of action and excitement. Madalyn insisted on putting her dress to hunt again, the boys could have cared less. :) Beck just wanted to hunt with his Spiderman bucket from Halloween. I loved the action shot of Madalyn too, sheer joy.

Steeplechase Easter Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter we went to huge hunt at the Steeplechase park in Kyle. There were thousands of eggs and it as a lot of fun- even if they didn't drop them out of a helicopter (much to Beck's dismay). We had a whole crew of kids as you can see, and two of them (Addison and Mason) didn't make the picture. Kim was in town vacationing at home from New Mexico, so we all gathered to enjoy the entertainment which included a wheel of fortune, moonwalks and this crazy bungee game that Madalyn is playing. You're strapped to the thing and see how far you can get- hopefully further than the person you're up against.
Kids are Dylan and Beau in the back, then Brenah, Makayla and Madalyn and the little ones- Beck, Bristol, Eric and Ella. I just have to say, is Bristol not the sweetest little boy ever?!

Parenting can be so much fun!

We are currently waiting for the Caldwell County Sheriff's department, no not for anything big except that Bristol is thinking of being a jail bird early in life. He decided to play with the phone in mine and Jeff's room and call 911. And apparently the more you try to assure them everything is okay, the more concerned they become and insist on sending someone out. D'oh!

And while on the lovely note of parenting, Beck tried to burn the house down a couple of weeks ago with Madalyn's Easy Bake Oven. Of course it's all kinda funny in hindsight, but when Madalyn and I came home (Jeff and Bristol were taking a nap) and the house smelled like burning it wasn't so funny. Beck decided to take advantage of the others napping and get the Easy Bake out of Maddy's closet, mix up some powder (minus the water) plug in the oven and wait. Thank goodness we came home when we did, but Maddy was pretty ticked we had to throw away her Easy Bake because of Beck. Melted plastic and smoke- I'm sure it will be the next new scent for Glade. =)

Parenting is not for the faint of heart!

Juanita Claire Watts

As many of you know by now, Jeff's grandmother passed away last Thursday. It was a tough weekend, but the vistation and funeral services were very nice. I included this picture of Ma Ma and Bristol, taken last Spring when we visited her for her birthday. It is one of my favorites and I'm so glad that we named him Bristol Watts, so that he can be a reminder of everything that Ma Ma and Pa Pa were to us.

I included a link to her obituary in the Fort Worth paper, and there is an online guestbook if anyone would like to sign.

http://www.legacy.com/dfw/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=105247997

Valeria is here!

One of my favorite people in the whole world had a beautiful baby girl last week. Valeria Judith Guzman came into the world on March 5, 2008. This is a picture of proud parents Aimee and Gerardo at the hospital the day after she was born. The little boy is Ryan Tang, Rachel's little boy who was also there during the visit. Welcome sweet princess! Both Ryan and Valeria have links to their blog just to the right if you want to find out more!

Cody's Endurance Race

Cody and my cousin Bryon participated in the Endurance Race at Thunderhill Raceway on March 2, which consisted of 200 laps in the Grandstock division cars. They worked super hard to get the car ready, and unfortunatley took a hard hit into the wall between turns 1 and 2. Even worse than that was that it was only the third lap. D'oh! Regardless, we had fun and even though the car was wrecked the kids still loved playing in it.

Basketball Season Over

And as quickly as it started, a mere 9 practices and 6 games later the season is over. On March 1, we had our last games for the season at the SMAC. The boys did a great job, and I'm very proud to say that my girl's team went undefeated. I'm sure that it's just a matter of time before UT calls me up to be an assistant. Since I was coaching and Jeff was kid wrangling we don't have many pictures from the game, but here is one I took of Madalyn and Beck at the house before Madalyn's big win. You would have though that they won the state championship- I haven't heard that many girls sreaming that loud since the Hannah Montana concert.