Back to the Basics

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I'm not sure if I know how to simplify my life... but I'm sure going to try. As a consequence of my busyness, I haven't been blogging or facebooking very often, but I did want to post a few pictures of my baby who... is now 18 months!

I finally made myself go out and take some pictures of her around our neighborhood a few weeks ago because I knew I was never going to get around to doing a "photo shoot" with her.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, I never made it to getting Christmas cards out this year. I had high hopes, but, like a lot of my high hopes, it didn't happen. I've decided that is what my resolution will be this year... do more of the things I make a goal of doing. I'm reading a book by Stephen Covey called "The Speed of Trust". There is a part of it that talks about learning to trust yourself by following through on the things you tell yourself you are going to do. Anyway, here is a recap of Christmas:
New Years Eve Day: Leaf Piles (only in Texas (and a few other states) can you do this sort of thing in December!
Sugar Cookies with Grandma:
Note to Santa: "I think that cookies are sugary. Thanks for the presents."
Fried Chicken for Breakfast: A Petty Tradition
Grandma made all the kids matching dresses and vests. Eric got a vest and tie too and I got a matching hair clip. They were adorable!
Stockings:
Kara's new backpack:
Ethan's magnifying glass:
... and tool bench...
Elia's horse arena:
Helping open a chocolate orange:
All she really cared about:
Ethan's "Toy Story Camera"... his only request besides a watch.
I included this video because I want to remember how fun it is that Ethan got as excited about toothpaste and an electronic toothbrush as he did about all the toys and candy.

Eric carrying the crew up the stairs... on to a new year!

Ready... Set... JUMP!

Here is our family update in a nutshell:
Ethan... just played his last soccer game Saturday. Loved his teammates, coaches and playing and is ready to sign up for the next season. Of course, not much strategy at this point... In fact if Ethan got the ball he usually dribbled it in whatever direction he was facing. Still we were proud of him for being pretty tough when he got knocked down (which happened a lot) and we saw glimmers of hope from the whole team that they were beginning to "get" the game. He came up with their team name: "The Jets" and wanted to be a jet plane for Halloween so we made an A-10 Warthog for his costume (Thanks Bre for help with cutting and taping cardboard together!). I was very happy with it and it even won first place (out of probably 100 other kid costumes) at our Halloween Festival!
Stage one... after paper mache
Stage 2 painting grayStage 3: detail paint and winning! Oh and it was his idea to be a "chinese fighter pilot". He found this outfit that Eric brought back from China and wanted to put that on "underneath" his plane... maybe it was that part of the costume that won. :)
Elia... loves kindergarten and we love watching her learn to read and be creative. She spends a ton of time at our craft table drawing or coloring pictures and making them into books. She is also so good with Kara. She wanted to be a witch for Halloween... such a change from the last few years... princess, fairy princess, ballerina:
Kara:
Into fake laughing... (we are trying to get it on video)... screaming at the things (or people) she doesn't like. Loves climbing
And dogs...she'll give any one of them a hug (if we let her). She's 15 months old now. I can't even believe how fast the time goes. She smiles so much... every time you look at her she busts a smile out. Kara was a leopard for Halloween... the same thing that I think all the kids have worn when they were her age.
All three kids with their costumes...
Eric and Jen... we were rock climbers for Halloween (hey we have to make use of our gear somehow...
We just had our birthdays (Jen- 30), (Eric - 31)... and decided to go all out and do something
we've always wanted to... SKY DIVING!!!! I wanted to go first just in case something happened I would at least get to go... it was primarily my birthday treat you know. In any case, it wasn't at all scary and there are so many precautions that we felt very safe.

Unmotivated

I am really not motivated to do a blog right now. By now, I am sure no one is reading my blog since it has been three months since I posted. Nevertheless, I have been hounded by Eric's sister, who is begging for updated pictures of her cute nieces and nephew, so here's one for you Karen (and anyone else who might still check on me to see if I am alive).

There are big changes brewing at the Petty's Place... where to begin... in no particular order but certainly not chronologically or based on importance.
1) Elia started Kindergarten and turns 6 tomorrow (the sixth). Where has all the time gone! For her birthday we are doing six days of fun. We went for ice cream yesterday, tomorrow, we are taking her to get her ears pierced (she's been asking for them since she was four). On Thursday and Friday we are doing two mini parties instead of one big one. We figure we will spread out the fun and make it last longer, plus she will be able to play more with each of her friends instead of having one big party.
First day of school...

With her friend and walking buddy Samantha. 2) We are moving... Eric got a new job about a month and a half ago. It is on the other side of town. If it rains (and he can't ride his motorcycle), there isn't bus service, so I would have to take him the 50-60 minutes to work, come back home, then drive up to get him and come back home. (The joys of having one car). On Wednesday, we close on our new house (which is just five glorious minutes from Eric's new office building). Of course, this job change and our move has other implications, but probably the biggest is that I will not be continuing as editor of Sugar Land Magazine. I've had a great time doing it, but I was ready to move on... so really this timing is perfect as far as that goes. I am kind of looking forward to the break, but knowing that I am not very good at long breaks, so I'll have to find something else fun to do. Additionally, we will now be renting out the Sugar Land house and joining the ranks of landlords (SCARY!!!).

3) We went to NH for our family vacation for two weeks. We had a great time escaping the Houston heat, playing on rope swings and relaxing...
Ethan eventually did it by himself and actually was bolder than Elia at first.

Our trickster...

Ahhh, nothing like breakfast overlooking Waconda Pond. Kara turned 1 while we were in NH. Now she's walking all over the place and signs more, please and drink.

Summer's coming!

So, what have the Pettys been up to? Well, we can start with Mother's Day. Eric and the kids made me a wonderful blueberry pancake breakfast. Then while I got some extra sleep, they made me cards and said what they loved about me. Later that day they made chocolate covered strawberries (YUM!). Then, we all got to go on a bike ride. It was a perfect day!


Elia started her swim team practices. Everyday we head to the pool for practice. They will have five meets this summer. I don't really care about the meets, but I think it is just a great way for Elia to become a strong swimmer and get exercise, plus a few of her friends are doing it, so that makes it fun:

A side note... Elia is the same age as the other girl in the middle, one year younger than the girl on the right and a year older than the girl on the far left... it looks like Elia didn't get my height genes. :)

Eric and Ethan went on a "father-son" camp-out. Ethan was super excited about the whole thing. I told Eric to get a picture for the blog... so here it is:

Our other new activity is... *drum roll please* ... Magformers. We love these little magnets and probably play with them three times a week...at least!

This bridge is for Grampy...95% made by Elia Aren't these cool?

So, I know Elia's birthday isn't until September, but when opportunity knocks you have to open the door right? I stopped by an estate sale and saw this beautiful tea set all for $20! I told Elia that we could get it, but it would have to be for her birthday. She is playing with most of it, but keeping the large tea pot and two cups that go in the basket. She has played with it every day since we bought it.

And finally, I've been promising my mom some updated pictures. So here they are mom!Actually, I have one more... here's a bluebonnet flower.... the Texas state flower. Just a little memory of Texas.

Even though the heat is already here, I'm pretty excited about the summer. We are having Eric's niece come for a little bit, then will have my mom in July and then we'll be heading to New Hampshire in August. Have a great week everyone!