Kite Flying!

I know I've mention this many times before, but I love our neighborhood.  I love the quiet street that we live on;  I love all the wildlife that comes with the beautiful trees, creek, and lakes;  I love the bridges and the trails.  But most of all, I love all my wonderful neighborhoods.  I love waving as everyone passes by, standing out in the street chatting, and having no pitty to borrow an egg from my next door neighbor, because she just borrowed milk!  I love cooking extra and passing along left overs to my friends, and I love all the yummy treats that find their way to my door!  I also love that on any given summer day, when the temperature is between 70 - 95 degrees our street it littered with bikes, toys, and kids!

Last week we spent every afternoon outside with bike races, water gun wars, mud pies, and kites.  The kite flying was new for Brenna and all the kids enjoyed it.  The Dads managed to get the kite in the air and the kids took turns.  Elmo never looked so beautiful waving down from the big blue sky!

Preschool Splash Day

Our church sponsored a Preschool Splash Day for all our little kids ages 2 - 4. We set out slip-n-slides, blow-up pools, sprinklers, and more. The kids enjoyed popsicles, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, and water balloon games. The kids had a great time just running around with all the endless fun. Here's some shots from the day.

Grandmaw's Chicken Pie

Some people include their kids in kitchen creations like baking a cake, or rolling pizza dough, but not us.  We're from the south (and I don't bake!) so we make dumplings!

Every Sunday for as long as I lived in Dexter, we had dinner after church at my Grandmaw's house.  And every Sunday we had the same thing, Grandmaw's Chicken Pie.  You'd think after 20 years that would start to get old, but it didn't and this week I had a taste for Grandmaw's chicken pie.

I tried to minimize the mesh that would be created by mixing the batter and flouring the counter before Brenna came to help.  I later found out there would be no containing the flour cloud that Hurricane Brenna would stir up.

Just Stuff We Do

So far summer has been HOT!  We do what we can to stay cool and still stay active.  Staying indoors all day isn't an option for me or Brenna, so we head out first thing in the mornings for some backyard playtime.  Then we're indoors until late in the afternoon, just before sun down.

I'm always taking pictures, so here's a collection of all the stuff we do just to have fun while still staying cool.

We help daddy check the sprinklers

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed!

You wouldn't know it from these pictures, but Brenna has her first case of strep.  It hasn't been the usually symptoms, but she tested positive so we're on antibiotics.  Aside from some yuckiness (you know what I mean) that randomly comes and goes, she's been fine.  We've tried to stay in, rest, and let the medicine do its magic, but you can only keep a 3-year old contained for so long.  Also, when she's sick, things like clothes seem to get in way (according to her) so that why she's not wearing any pants.  So, here's how we unleash the built-up energy of a house bound preschooler.

Meet Our New Friend!

A very good friend of mine recently had her third child.  Bless her heart, she's a trooper.  You've seen her other two children on here repeatedly.  Well, now its time to meet Baby Gholston! He was born Tuesday, June 24th at 2:05 AM weighing in at 7 lbs and 10 oz. Welcome to the world little guy!

Just For Fun!

Since its was such a beautiful Memorial Day morning, we decided to take a walk down the creek trail and snap a few pictures.  It's been a long time since I purposely took the time to dress Brenna in something nice, fix her hair, and just take some pictures.  I know that sounds ridiculous since 98% of the pictures on this blog are of Brenna, but they're usually what I call "life" shots that just happen; things I want to remember like playing in the playhouse and playdates with friends.  Just life as we know it now.  This time I set out on mission to get some pretty shots of Brenna, just for fun!  At first, I wasn't sure I got exactly what I wanted, since posing a 3-year old is impossible, her pretty linen dress was dirty almost immediately, and wind was blowing so hard I couldn't keep her bow in the hair.  But, Daddy came along so Brenna was all smiles and giggles.  Now looking back on the pictures all I see is her personality, or life as we know it now!  So that made me happy!

Brenna's 1st Dance Recital

Just Because....

Just because I think this may be one of my all time favorite photos that I've taken so far.

Soon I will be adding a watermark.  After a case of photo theft (it was some art photos, nothing of Brenna) I took the advice of some photog friends and created my own watermark.  I have submitted pics to several photo contests along the way and plan to send in some pics to a few local magazines, so it was about time I started marking them.  I designed several adaptions of my initials, and I still haven't committed to just one yet.

Trying Something New

I was inspired by some beautiful pictures that Jamie took of her little boy last week.  So, I decided to stretch the boundaries of my comfort zone and try something new.  Some very close-up, indoor, black and white photos.  Here's my first attempt!  Brenna thought it was a game.  She makes a face, I take a picture, then she laughs at herself while I take more pictures of the smiles.  

Houston Children's Museum

The Houston Children's Museum is a fantastic place for kids!  They have such interesting exhibits that span everything from math, science, engineering, nature, creativity, and invention.  Of course our kids are really still too young to "get it", but they had fun none the less.  To them, the Children's Museum is a big colorful playground made of magic!

The Pioneer Woman

Some of you may know her, most probably don't.  You may have noticed that I have a link on my blog to the Pioneer Woman.  Her name is Ree Drummond and she's an Oklahoma housewife who started a blog about cooking, her self-taught photography, homeschooling her 4 children, and her general life living on a working cattle ranch.  She started out publishing cooking books, then a biography, and recently a children's book.  She's a frequent step-in for the Today Show, she's done a Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and it was recently announced that she's getting her own TV show on Food Network.  As if that wasn't enough, Columbia pictures is currently developing "The Pioneer Woman" movie that's going to be a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon.

Anyway, a friend turned me onto Pioneer Woman because of her photography, but I quickly gained an appreciation for the woman.  She's obviously a very enterprising lady that's managed to make a career out of just living her life, and to think it all started with a blog.  So, when I found out that The Pioneer Woman was coming to Houston for a book signing of her new children's book, a friend and I decided to drop in.

The book signing was at a very, very small local book store called the Blue Willow that was no more than 20 miles from our house.  I wouldn't say there was a massive crowd, but I would estimate there were a couple hundred people who showed up to have books signed, maybe 300.  We called in early and got line tickets, so we showed up, grabbed our line tickets, and then leisurely browsed through some of the neighboring shops while we waited for our group to be called.  The store was so small, that they could only allow about 20 people in at a time.  The actually signing started at 5 pm.  We showed up around 6:15 pm, shopped awhile, chatted awhile, and were in the store by 7:15 pm.  So it was really enjoyable and not the miserable waiting in line that I was expecting.  Several moms were there with their children.  Shellie and I opted to leave the kids behind and make it a girls outing.  This was one reason it was enjoyable, because I'm certain the moms that were there with children weren't as relaxed as we were!

We had seven books to sign, so we had a few minutes to chat.  She's seemed very personable and we chatted about her photography and cooking.  She asked about where in Houston we were from.  It was what I expected of 3 minutes conversation with a total celebrity stranger.  But, I'm glad we went.  This is my only celebrity encounter, except for meeting Mike Tyson while waiting for my vallet at the Four Season in Downtown Houston.

You Can Never have Too Many Playdates!

At least that's Brenna motto!  With Brenna being an only child and not in school yet, we very seldom turn down a playdate unless there's a major conflict.  I've even been know to rearrange the schedule to fit one in. I think they help her learn.  It helps her learn social and sharing skills in a way that Jacob and I can't necessarily teach.

Since we got back from vacation, Brenna has been busy with friends and enjoying our beautiful Texas Spring weather.  Here's a few shots from last week.

Peckham Park with John

Dance Recital Preview

Brenna's Dance Recital is May 21st.  We've been working on the dance routines since January and the costumes came in last week.  So, this past Saturday we had our professional recital pictures taken.  We only have 4 girls in our class (down from 6 at the start of the term).  Brenna is the only one with short hair.  Needless to say it took alot of hair gel, bobby pins, and a hair net to pull off her ballet bun.  Here's a preview of the costumes for her recital.

Our Very Own Dancing with the Stars Champion!

This post showcases a different McAlister girl!  This past Thursday night Keli McAlister (my sister-in-law) took the night off from her daily news anchor gig and strutted out in style for "Dancing with the Stars: Jackson Style".   She was one of several Jackson, TN area celebrities that paired with "learned" dance partners to raise money for the Jackson Theatre Guild. She performed the Foxtrot to a sold-out crowd.  At the end of the night, she was able to add another feather to her cap when she walked away as the winner of the competition!

We're proud of you Keli!  And, you can take comfort in knowing that you didn't just help the Jackson Theatre Guild.  The timing of this event couldn't have been better, since we're in training mode for Brenna's upcoming Dance Recital.  Brenna looked at the pictures of Aunt Keli and we talked about how brave she was to dance in front of all those people and how Brenna could be brave like Aunt Keli.  Hopefully, she'll take all this heart and not be a "deer in the headlights" or worse, just bolt right off the stage when her big day comes.

Pictures courtesy of Facebook!