More New Friends

Yesterday morning Mommy took the kids to play with Joshua, a little boy from church. Joseph and Joshua are the same age. Joshua has a big backyard with a swing, hammock, sandbox, and playhouse. After coming indoors from playing outside, Joshua's mommy made the kids macaroni and cheese for lunch. Joseph didn't want to go home so we stayed until almost 2:00pm. Then mommy insisted that we go back to the house for our daily "quiet" time (naptime). Mommy invited Joshua and his mommy to come to our house on thursday for a playdate. Everyone has been so friendly here in Oklahoma. The kids have made so many new friends.

Neighbors

Tonight Joseph and Audrey got to meet Braden, the little boy across the street. Actually, Braden is a very big boy. He's only a few months older than Joseph, but he is at least a half a head taller and much heavier. Mommy and Daddy got to hang out with Braden's parents and the kids had a great time playing. Braden gave Joseph a ride on his little 4-wheeler. He also let Joseph drive it a little. Poor Audrey kept trying to keep up with the big boys but was not very successful. Braden's parents have a really beautiful yard with lots of plants and great landscaping. They also have a large Koi pond in the backyard that Daddy envies. Joseph and Audrey got to feed the fish. We all had a fun evening at the neighbor's house this evening.

Earlier in the day, Joseph and Audrey decorated candles for Halloween. It was alot of fun. Joseph loves to do crafts. Daddy says he will pull out our Halloween decorations so that we can start decorating for Halloween. Joseph is looking forward to carving a scary pumpkin to put out on the porch.

New Friends

Mommy and Joseph and Audrey went over to Tracy's house so Mommy could learn how to decorate candles. Joseph and Audrey had a great time playing with some new friends. It was a really fun morning. Plus, we got to eat lots of treats. Tracy had lots of food from cinnamon rolls to chocolate chip cookies. Mommy didn't even end up decorating a candle. Mommy just had to try all the delicious snacks that were set out. Yummy!

MOMs Club

Mommy took the kids to a park yesterday to meet up with the local MOMs club. Mommy and Joseph and Audrey made some new friends. We also ran into our neighbor and her little boy at the park. It was a fun morning. Audrey is old enough now that she plays with Joseph. They have a lot of fun together.

New Home

Mommy finally got internet access today so she can update what's been happening with Joseph and Audrey. Well, we left Texas the last friday at the end of August. Mommy and Daddy dropped Joseph and Audrey off with Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye in Arlington for a week so that Mommy and Daddy could get everything unpacked. Joseph and Audrey had a good time in Arlington. Ye-Ye took them to the splash pad at the nearby park almost every day. Joseph liked playing ball with Nai-Nai. Both kiddos liked jumping on the trampoline at the house and playing in the backyard. Mommy and Daddy worked really hard to get everything ready before the kids arrived. Mommy and Daddy repainted one of the bathrooms a neutral color because it was an awful shade of blue. The moving van also arrived later than expected because the truck broke down in Dallas. Daddy had to go to work right after all the boxes arrived. Mommy worked to unpack boxes during the day and Daddy helped after he got home from work. On saturday (1 week later), Mommy and Daddy met Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye and the kids in Gainsville, TX at the outlet mall. After some shopping and some lunch at the Cracker Barrel, we all headed to the new house.

Joseph and Audrey took to the new house right away. They enjoy playing in the big backyard. Sushi also likes her new surroundings. She has a big porch to lounge under and lots of space to run in the backyard. Because the new baby is coming soon, Mommy and Daddy decided to put Joseph and Audrey in the same room. Audrey is getting used to sleeping in a room with Joseph. Most nights she crawls into bed with Joseph and falls asleep. Daddy moves her to her own bed after she falls asleeep. Audrey does stay in her own bed sometimes. A couple of nights, Mommy and Daddy caught Joseph and Audrey playing instead of in their beds. Mommy and Daddy put all the toys in Joseph's and Audrey's room so that the upstairs room could be a guest room/library instead of a toy room like at the previous house. Sometimes the temptation to play instead of sleep is too great.

The weather here in Oklahoma has been great! Mommy and the kids spend lots of time outdoors. Daddy also spends lots of time outdoors after coming home from work. It is so peaceful in the country. The yard has lots of big oak trees. Joseph and Audrey like walking around the "woods" and exploring. Joseph and Audrey also enjoy riding their scooters off a small hill in the backyard. They push their scooters up the hill and ride down. One of Joseph's newest activities is to roll large rocks off the storm shelter in the backyard. Mommy told him not to "throw" big rocks so he decided to "roll" what he terms "little big rocks" down the front of the storm shelter instead.

Audrey hasn't sprouted any new teeth recently but she is starting to talk a lot more. She says lots of words. Her favorites are probably "no", "mine", "milk", and "shoes". She definitely loves shoes. Audrey is always putting on other people's shoes. Audrey also has quite a little temper. She has a loud, screechy, kind of gutteral cry when she gets mad and throws quite the little tantrums. Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye says that Audrey acts alot like Mommy did when she was little. Mommy threw lots of nice tantrums as a child. Mommy also liked to torment her Ge-Ge (older brother) just like Audrey enjoys tormenting Joseph. One night Mommy and Daddy heard Joseph crying for help. Daddy went in the room and found Audrey next to Joseph in his bed. She was sucking her thumb with one hand and whacking him on the head over and over again with her free hand. Joseph is actually a very sweet older brother and doesn't ever hurt Audrey even if she is hurting him. Audrey has slapped other children and tries to hit Mommy when she is mad. She is a little firecracker sometimes.

Joseph has discovered the world of cartoons on the new channels that come with having Direct TV. He also decided that he loves video games. Mommy and Daddy have had to deal with a lot of tantrums when we limit the time he can spend watching cartoons or playing games. Joseph does like to do other things that are not so mind-numbing. He loves to draw and color and do crafts. He also likes to explore the house with his flashlight. Joseph plays well with other children and always tells Mommy that he "shared" with his friends. Joseph's new nursery teacher said that he has been very good in nursery and has been a good helper. Mommy and Daddy were happy to hear that he does well in nursery. Audrey has been doing pretty well in nursery since this last sunday was only her second time to go. She was a little emotional on sunday. Church happens to be during afternoon nap time so it is a hard time for Audrey.

Joseph seems to understand somewhat that we don't live in Texas anymore. He says Oklahoma is "far, far, away." Although, at times he does ask to go to places in Texas and doesn't seem to realize that we are far from the old places we liked to visit. Mommy and Daddy will have to find lots of new places for the kids to visit. We are thinking about going to the Oklahoma State Fair sometime this week. We also have plans to check out the zoo, bricktown, and other fun places that we have heard about. So far, we all seem to like Oklahoma.

Summer Update

Mommy has been very bad about blogging. Audrey now has two more teeth on the sides of her two top teeth for a total of 8. Two molars (one on each side) on the top and on the bottom have also broken through the gums in the last month. Audrey is getting a mouthful of teeth. One of her favorite things to do is to brush her teeth.

Mommy and Daddy took another trip to Oklahoma at the end of July/early August to find a rental home. Joseph and Audrey spent a couple of days at Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye's house and did really well although Joseph said that he missed Mommy and Daddy. Mommy and Daddy were stressed out looking for rental homes. Finally Mommy and Daddy were able to find a house. It is in the country and sits on a little less than 2 acres. Hopefully Joseph and Audrey will like the new house. It is a rental since Mommy and Daddy are not eager to buy another house after only living in the house in Katy for a year and a half and enduring the nightmare that it has been to have the house on the market.

Joseph is eating much better now and says that he wants to grow big and strong like Daddy. He loves to do puzzles and read books. Mommy took Audrey and Joseph to the drive-in theater in July to watch Wall-E and Kung-Fu panda. Joseph stayed awake for both movies and loved the experience. Joseph is also fully potty-trained...finally. He has done very well since May and has had very few potty accidents. Joseph is reading a little on his own. He recognizes many words. He also enjoys doing workbook pages and practicing writing. Joseph wrote his name on the back of a coloring sheet at Denny's the other day during lunch. Mommy and Daddy were surprised because he has never written his name on his own. Joseph still loves to play games on the computer. He also discovered the world of Pokemon. The "cousins" as he calls Uncle Andrew's kids got Joseph interested in Pokemon. He likes to watch the cartoons and engages in pretend play involving Pokemon characters.

Both kids are growing so quickly. Mommy should be better about posting. Things have definitely been busy this summer with Daddy gone to Brazil for a month and having the house up for sale and getting ready to move. Joseph is excited about moving to Oklahoma. Audrey does not know what is going on, but hopefully she will enjoy the change in scenery.

Trip to Oklahoma

So Mommy has been very bad about posting lately. On thursday, Mommy and Daddy packed up the kids and one additional child (Zoe) for a trip to Oklahoma to look around. Mommy and Daddy wanted to look for places to live in Edmond in anticipation of the upcoming move. Zoe was a little angel a nd cried very little the whole way there and back. Audrey started losing her voice at Nai Nai and Ye Ye's house and was looking rather miserable by the time we started the trip back to Katy. Poor Audrey cried alot on the way home. Joseph was pretty good on the trip up but had lost his patience by the end. He was crying and kicking the back of Daddy's seat on the ride home. Daddy got sick on the trip too and had a fever and chills friday night. All in all, it was an interesting trip. Mommy made a mental note to herself not to travel 1100 miles with 3 kids in 3 days, especially if one or more persons are not feeling well.

On a happier note, Oklahoma seems nice. Also, the traffic is minimal compared to Houston. Mommy and Daddy took the kids to a lake on saturday morning so they could play on the playground and in the lake before the long trip back to Houston. All the kiddos were covered in red clay/dirt and soaking wet but had a great time. Mommy found it impossible to wash out the red from the clothes so the clothes will have to be retired.

As far as developments in the last little while, Audrey got in the two teeth on the side of the bottom two, but no other teeth have been spotted. She has been rather fussy and teething tablets seem to calm her so more teeth will probably be appearing soon. Joseph seems to have gained a lot of attitude as of late. He started saying, "I'm mad at you Mommy!" and "I'm going to spank you!" He also adds an emphatic "NOW!" to all his demands such as "I want fish NOW!" He has also been throwing a lot of tantrums. Mommy and Daddy heard rumors that three may be worse than two and so far, it seems to be true.