Our New Pet

Most people who want a pet will buy a dog or a cat or a goldfish, but we didn't have to buy our new backyard pet. Take a look at who jumped over our fence and just settled in right outside our family room window...

Working Mom

Is this the ultimate picture of a working mom or what?

A Visit with My Brother's Family

On my last day of Spring Break before I flew back home on Saturday, Meaghan, Michael, the boys and I got together with my brother's family at a Cajun fish restaurant. Afterwards they went over to Meaghan's house so we could visit a little better. Here is a picture of Meaghan and her "mud bugs" that I took to show her Dad that she has become a Cajun.This is my brother Vince, sister-in-law Jan (who has just lost 97 lbs!), and nephew Grant.

Jan has always loved the babies. In this picture at the restaurant she said Grayson was covering his face because he didn't want anyone to know that he was actually related to all the crazy people! She may be right.

Grant is so good with the little ones--they just flock to him, and babies who are fussy quiet down immediately when he has them. Jackson showed Grant all his toys and then played with him, at first with a little space between them, but before long, Jackson was right up in Grant's lap. He also played Mickey Mouse Bingo with Aunt Jan.

I Miss My Little Girl

I've spent the week of Spring Break with my two cute little grandsons, but I've missed getting to spend more time with Emily. I know I will get to have her for a whole week to myself (and share with Grampa, of course) in June, but in the meantime, being around 2 grandbabies makes me miss the 3rd and vice versa. Here are a couple more cute pictures I took of her last weekend in Midland.

She really thought she was special, wearing cousin Jackson's sunglasses, even though they were upside down.

We walked over to Great-Great Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jim's house, so on the way home what could be better than walking in the water?

Random Pictures

Here are just some assorted pictures from the last couple of days in Dallas with Meaghan, Michael, Jackson, and Grayson.Seems like I take a lot of pictures of Grayson in his bouncy chair, but if he's not in that chair it's because I am holding him which means I can't be taking a picture. Here he seems to be saying, "Oy! What a day I've had today!"Here Grayson seems to have latched on to his big brother's blankie. I have a feeling there are going to be numerous scuffles over such things as this in the very near future. While Jackson was in preschool today Meaghan & I went to the mall in Frisco and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Grayson really wasn't unhappy even though that's how he looks here. Actually this was one of the very few times he was awake all morning. It was cloudy and rainy outside which just kept him sleeping.Bathtime for Grayson. He's about to get used to this and doesn't cry anymore.Of course, Jackson always loves his bathtime, but I seemed to have caught him in the one moment when he wasn't laughing his head off.We've been working on potty training this week, and Jackson is doing very well. Here he has his big boy underwear on (over his nighttime pullups, of course).Two brothers in their PJs ready for bed. Jackson says he is going to teach Grayson how to jump so they can play together a few minutes before bedtime.This picture is for Mamaw since these are the Spurs PJs that she gave to Jackson for Christmas before he was born in April. Grayson looks proud to be carrying on the tradition.

Color Me Mine Ceramics

Today while Jackson was in Preschool Pals at church (9:00-2:00) Meaghan and I went to a do-it-yourself almost ceramics studio. It was two-for-one Tuesday so we split the processing fee of $10 and each bought one item to paint and have fired. She did a "You Are Special" plate that will fire bright red with white and black, and I did a lime green mug with two other colors of flowers. They won't be fired and totally ready until the 31st, so I will have to wait and see how mine turns out after Meaghan has it shipped to me. I'm optimistic anyway that it will be cute. Here are a couple of pictures of our big ceramics adventure.

Children's Museum of Dallas

Today Mommy, Jackson, Grayson, and Nana Jo went to a "very, very, very fun place"--the Children's Museum in downtown Dallas. Actually, it is the Science and Nature Museum but there was a children's exhibit upstairs that featured all the places in a child's world--his home, playground, the farm, etc. Here is Grayson just looking calm and cute in his PJs before we got him dressed and in the car. He slept through most of the museum.

Jackson got to push the earthquake button and feel what happens. There was also a tornado machine that swirled balls in a funnel cloud. This was all in the science and nature portion before we got to the children's part.

This is Meaghan, Grayson and Jackson's heat profile on the thermal readout TV.

The farm section was really cute with lots of animals (not real, of course). Meaghan and Jackson had a horse race, but I don't think anyone actually won .

This was a life-size cow that could be milked. Jackson didn't hesitate one bit, just sat on the stool, reached for the udders and started squirting milk (water) in the bucket.

The next area had lots of chickens sitting on nests, so we had Jackson check for eggs. As soon as he reached into the hay and pulled out an egg, the hen started clucking. It startled him and he quickly put the egg right back!

There were lots of other cute things that we did at the Museum, but my camera told me the battery was "exhausted" (like the rest of us), so the other pictures are on Meaghan's camera. I am recharging my batteries and will be ready to capture those Kodak moments tomorrow.

Three Cousins in Midland

Meaghan, Jackson and Grayson met up with us as well as Stephanie, Ken, and Emily at Mamaw's house in Midland this past weekend as Nana Jo's spring break was beginning. We had fun with all three grandkids in one place, although it did get very hectic really often. Since Jackson and Emily are only 9 months apart, sometimes the sharing was a little difficult. Here are a few pictures.

The two Wall brothers were good travellers since they drove all the way from Dallas to Midland.
Grayson got to meet Mamaw for the first time.

Jackson helped Grampa sweep off the patio before Emily got there on Friday afternoon.

Emily loves babies, so Jackson let her pat his baby brother.Jackson shared his Aqua Doodle painting pages with Emily, and they played together very well most of the time.Jackson had his portable DVD player for the car, so he and Emily watched "Elmo's World" before bedtime.

The next day all three cousins walked over to Great-Great Aunt Ruby (Vinson) and Uncle Jim's house to show them the new baby brother.

One Week Until Spring Break!

No pictures today...just a heads up that this time next week we will be in Midland with all our kids and grandkids. Meaghan is bringing Grayson to meet his great-Mamaw, so Steph, Ken & Emily will drive over from Lubbock for the weekend so they can also meet him. Emily thinks she is going to see Gracie, one of the kids in her Boz storybooks, so she will be excited when she sees Jackson and a baby. Ed will come back home on Saturday afternoon, but I--lucky Nana Jo--will drive back home to Dallas with Meaghan and family and spend my week of spring break with them. So, new pictures of all 3 cute grandkids coming soon to a computer near you!

We Have a New Baby at our House!

Have you ever just seen something so cute and adorable that you absolutely had to have it? I did yesterday, and believe it or not, it didn't even take me long to convince Ed that he wanted it too! We brought it home this morning and are having so much fun playing with it. I know we really didn't need it, but we will enjoy having it. It is so small that it can even fit in a lot of my purses if I decide to take it with me whenever I go somewhere. Even when we travel, it won't be a problem since it is so easy to just take it with us.







Are you ready to see a picture of our new "baby"? I know you're going to want one too, so here it is.

Keep looking...it's coming...

Here it is!

It's the cutest little mini-laptop computer. I know you can't tell a lot from the picture except its size, but it's an Acer Mini and is blue and is about 10". It has all the capacity of our big laptop as well as our desktop computer. It has built-in wireless internet, 3 USB ports, built-in speakers and camera and all kinds of other nifty gadgets, and it cost less than my KitchenAide mixer. Cool, huh?

Beat This Freebie, Meaghan!

Meaghan is so good at accumulating freebies, but we had a really cool deal this past week. We were given 4 tickets to the Spenser Theatre to see "Bye Bye, Birdie." Since these tickets costs $60 each, we felt very special to be able to go and to take our friends Jack and Linda Greene with us. Our dinner at Casa Blanca and the funny musical theatre made a very enjoyable evening. Here we are in front of a giant blown-glass red chile tree in the theatre's lobby. After the play was over the actors came out for chit-chat and pictures. The first one is the Conrad Birdie actor. The story was based on Elvis Presley when he was drafted into the Army, so you can see the resemblance between Birdie and Elvis. The other picture are two of the other main characters, Arthur (Conrad Birdie's manager) and his girlfriend Rose.