Can I Lick the Spoon?

The Downtown Aquarium Houston!

Our family decided to take a much needed "mini" break.  Jacob took the day off last Friday and we made it a three-day weekend.   We went to the Downtown Aquarium Friday morning to enjoy the cooler weather and have some fun.  Here's a few shots from the day.

The Last Summer Swim!

We closed out Summer, literally!  We met some friends at the pool on the last day it was open for the year and stayed until they pulled the plug on us and turned off the water works.  Just to make sure we squeezed every last bit of Summer out that we could, we left the pool with wet heads and headed over to the park where we stretched out the beach towels and had a picnic in the grass, fed the ducks by the lake, and played on the playground.  It's been a fun summer with lots of friends and even though I hate to see it end, we're already looking forward to the fair, hayrides, pumpkin patches, halloween, and all the fun that fall brings with it!

Kicking off Fall Fun!

We've already kicked off fall with some outdoor play. The recent weather has been cooler (not specifically cool, because it was still 90 here yesterday) and we've been able to get outdoors more in the mornings, instead of having to wait until late afternoon. Me and my friend Shellie have started back walking in the mornings, and while our intentions were originally for our benefit, we've found that Brenna and John get more play time than we get exercise. That's ok, we may not get points for fitness, but at least we get points for effort and motherhood!

Brenna Ballet Progress!

Well, we've been in ballet for just over a month now, and even I have to admit that Brenna has come leap and bounds! Literally! Before ballet I would have said she was as graceful as an elephant. Now, with alittle experience under her belt, its more like a monkey (with legs and arms swinging everywhere)!

I took my camera for the first time last week. You'll have to bear with the photos, as they were all taken through the viewing window, and most off the reflection of the mirror. But she's just too stinking cute!

Let's Make a Hat!

Curious George Live!

We took Brenna to see Curious George Live at Reliant Arena last week.  She loved it like always.  I'm so glad she enjoys live shows.  I can't wait until she old enough (i.e. has the attention span) to sit through a broadway style show.  Shrek the Musical is coming to the Hobby Center later this year, but I think we may give it another year before we try something like that.

Anyway, all the shots are up close and personal.  I only took my zoom lense thinking that it would be the one I need and I didn't want to haul around multiple lense.  Only when we got there I discovered our seats were practically on the stage!

We Won Yard of the Month for September!

Fun at the Splash Pad and Park!

Big thank you to Shellie and John who invited us to tag along to one of their MOPS playdates at the park.  Brenna wasn't into the splash pad so much, but the surrounding playground was wonderful.  Nice and shadey with lots of funs stuff, included a very large sandy box, which is always a big hit with Brenna.  Here's a few shots from the day.

"Come on John, let's go play over here!" I'm sure she was leading him into some kind of trouble!

Chuck-E-Cheese!

We've visited Chuck-E-Cheese once before with Brenna.  Mawmaw and Pawpaw took her during a visit, but it was a weekend afternoon and it was jammed packed.  Barely any room to walk.  Brenna did enjoy the games, but not the craziness it took to move through the crowds to get to the games.

While Jacob was away, we met some friends for a playdate at Chuck-E-Cheese one weekday morning shortly after it opened at 9 AM.  For all you moms with preschoolers, this is the time to go!  We had the entire place all to our selves.  Jamie and I both had coupons, and we ended up with a ton of tokens.  The girls freely hooped from one game to the next.  The biggest fun was a little four horse carrousel.  I'm certain they made at least 100 laps on that thing.  As soon as the music would stop you would hear one of them say "Let's go again!"

Chick-Fil-A with Abby Cadabby!

One of our local Chick-Fil-A's is really good about sponsoring children's activities.  Not just Family Nights, like most, but also a Children's Playtime during the mid-morning for all us stay-at-moms.  They have Gymboree come out and put on crafts, singing, and storytime for the kids.  Earlier in the year, we met Elmo there and this time Abby Cadabby was visiting.  So we met some friends there for fun with Abby Cadaddy.  It's always hit or miss on whether kids get into these life-sized animated friends that they love so much on TV.  We went with my friend Shellie and her little boy John and met our friend Kristi with her kids, Grace and Elijah.

Well, Abby was a hit with Brenna and John.  John seemed alittle fascinated.  He would walk over and just stare up into her big pink face.

Big hug!  "Oh Abby!  I'm so excited to see you!"

A Few Comments on Our Time While Jacob was Away......

Well it was a long, hard week.  I don't know how singles moms do it, especially if they have more than one child.  After I spend all morning, afternoon, and night running around behind Brenna I'm exhausted.  There's really no such thing as effort free entertainment anymore.  She's at an age where everything is hands-on, which means constant supervision.  We managed some fun playdates and good shopping and overall stayed very busy to make the time pass faster.

A Few More Hobby Shots!

Just a few more hobby shots, because I thought they were cute.  Now that Jacob's home, things are settling back into the normal routine, so not as much time for camera play.

Love those lashes!

We Miss You Daddy!

Well, I've already mentioned that the only good thing that comes from Jacob's overseas trips is no cooking.  Brenna missed her daddy and wanted to do something special for him.  So, in an effort to stay active, I decided there was no point in baking a cake or making his favorite dessert (that would just negate the "no cooking" advantages).  Not to mention this would be work for me, not so much for Brenna.  So we settled on a crafts project.  We try to incorporate craft time into everyday, this one spanned 3 days and Brenna had a blast.  We started day-1 with the letters.  First she would pick the letter she liked, then she would pick the color she wanted to paint it, and finally she would choose the paint brush she wanted to use (thanks to Aunt Jodi we have alot to choose from.)  On day-2 we glued.  Oh how she loves her glue sticks!  I can't tell you the number of times I've been hunched over my kitchen table with a tooth pick digging dried glue out of the cracks, despite the layers of protective paper that was provided for the project.  Day-3 we decorated with markers and stickers.  I thought she did a very impressive job.  After we were all done, I snapped a picture (with my new lens, of course!) and we emailed it to Daddy, so he would know Brenna was missing him!

The Rest of the McAlister Clan

Well, I want to start this post by saying that I bought a new lens!  Yay!  I know what your thinking "Jacob's flight was barely over international waters and Kawanda runs outs and buys a new ($$$) lens!"  It's true he wasn't enthusiastic when I told him I was considering adding a new lens to my collection, especially when he saw the price tag.  But, shame on you for thinking I'm the type of wife who would live by the old tale "While the cats away, the mice will play!" I am a frugal woman (I know some of you call me cheap!) and I came across a really great lens for sale on Craigs List.  When I say great thats code for cheap, but the lens actually was pretty good and it was a whopping cost of 10 BUCKS!  It's manual, of course, not automatic, but that just means I get to continue to improve my skills.  I didn't pray for a lens, naturally there's lots more pressing and significant issues that make the list, but God is Good and he threw this old girl a bone.  A $10 lens that generally matches what I was looking for can't be anything else but a gift from Heaven.

So, I've put it to use the last couple of days.  Especially with Jacob being away, I traded cooking dinner for camera practice (the only benefit to Jacob overseas trips, is I get 7 straight days of no cooking, Brenna and I live off McDonalds and frozen pizzas!)

I decided that this post will be dedicated to the rest of the McAlister Clan, the kitties!  I used them for practice, because Brenna had fun playing camera assistant and trying to make them "Smile!"

Of course we have Pickles and Moose, but some of you may not know that we've acquired a 3rd cat which Brenna named Abraham.  He's a stray that showed up on the front porch one days and decided to adopt us.  He's a tomcat that lives outside and roams the neighborhood and comes home when he's hungry.  With Jacob away I depend on the cats to guard and protect.  That's being said, its a good thing I know how to shoot Jacob's pistol.