bob the builder

September 30, 2009- We're working on a couple of projects around the house, namely a carport and a backyard patio area. Both involve concrete and a crew of no less than 8 to frame it up and finish the job. Pecos was watching all this go on and decided he needed to participate- he is such the little helper. So off to the shop to collect his tools so he could copycat everything the workers were doing. Well, that lasted all of 5 minutes before he decided he'd rather be supervisor than worker. He grabbed his chair and did some supervising. And here's the funny part- Pecos is at the moment obsessed with cowboys & indians. He is convinced the man in this picture is an indian.
And while we're in to fixing things Pecos thought he'd help Casey repair my washing machine. Monkey see, monkey do!

school (project) daze

September 14, 2009- Pecos had his first homework assignment. The class was preparing for a lesson on self and family. The school sent home a poster segmented into 4 areas and wanted us to fill in info for "All About Me", "My Favorites", "My Family", and "This is Me". So I opened up my picture folder on my computer and started sending off photos to print. You know we have a picture of everything so it wasn't that hard. Then we opened up magazines and started cutting out favorites. Pecos got really into it and started bringing me his toys saying "put this on my poster!" Even after we turned in the project Pecos still finds pictures he likes or photos and says "we need to put this on my poster!" I guess the concept of 'finished' still hasn't hit him yet. Anyhow, here he is- so proud- with his project.

power to the pre-school people

September 1, 2009- Another milestone reached: Pecos started pre-school today. It was a big day and we have been preparing for it for a quite some time now. For the past week we've been reading books about going to school- Berenstain Bears, Little Monster, Diego, Backyardigans- if the character has a book about going to school we read it! And we've talked about it constantly. But when the big day came I still was not emotionally ready for it to happen! It's not that I want him home with me all the time, it is just that he is growing up so fast and I can't stop it! Such a cliché, I know, but it is just too much!

Pecos handled it fine. He was a little uneasy at first but thankfully we arrived before the big rush so it was a little quiet, he put his things in his cubby, put his apple on the bulletin board and started coloring. At that point I realized this may be the calm before the storm so Casey and I made a quick exit before Pecos changed his mind about being there. I did fine and didn't cry until I got to the bank....and in this small town they know us really well there. They are so used to Pecos being with me in the car that they automatically reached to the candy bowl for a sucker. Then they looked in the backseat to wave to him and said "WHERE'S PECOS?" And that's when I lost it. I'm sure they had to mute the sound coming from the drive-thru window so as not to disturb the entire bank!

How did the day go for Pecos? Great! His best buddy Jace is in his class, so is another good friend, Demi. I didn't get a chance to talk to the teacher when I picked him up so I'm wondering if there will have to be some distance put between them all at nap time!

Here we are with our grown up pre-schooler on his big day:

let them eat cake

August 27, 2009- Pecos is really into this birthday thing. Of course, his birthday was only a week ago so it was still fresh in his mind. When my birthday rolled around a week later Casey told Pecos that he could make my birthday cake. So that's just what he did! He helped mix it, crack the eggs and put on the icing and sprinkles. He also thought it needed M&Ms. And and entire box of birthday candles. It was really funny watching him make my cake and especially decorate it. It is quite possibly the best birthday cake I've ever had.

fair is fair

August 20, 2009- The Gillespie County fair came around and I just couldn't resist the urge to enter something. The county fair back at home was always one of my favorite times of year and our family always had lots of things to enter- from livestock to baked goods, vegetables to arts and crafts. If there was something we made or grew then we found a category to enter it in the fair. So I guess I was re-living my childhood and got excited about the possibility of ribbons (and bragging rights!!). Plus, there is always the chance of winning a trophy and who can resist that? Pecos even got in on the fun; for the past several weeks he's been helping me in the garden and I told him he could enter his vegetables in the fair. He was excited about that! Here's the bounty we brought to the fair (the photo was taken with the camera on my cell phone so the quality is not that great):

The day entries were due I played Betty Crocker and made 4 different cookies and some cupcakes to enter in the baking category. The chocolate cookies were a recipe from a bakery in town...they are my all time favorite cookie but they did not turn out very good at all when I made them. They tasted fine but looked horrible. No more of those in my oven....I'll just stick to buying and enjoying them from Peach Tree. The snickerdoodles were another favorite of mine, but not a favorite of the judges. But the judges did like the macaroons, chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes so it wasn't a total loss.

A week or so before the fair I made a jar of pickled okra the way I had always made it growing up with my grandmother and mother. I was so proud of my efforts but the judges obviously don't know a good pickled okra when they taste one because it didn't get a ribbon. But they sure looked good in the jar! I also had a jar of hot salsa and hot pepper jelly to enter. The jelly got 1st place and the salsa was 3rd. I gave Pecos the best vegetables and eggs to enter and he did pretty good- 1st place butternut squash and cantaloupe and 2nd place snap beans and eggs. My snap beans were 3rd so I guess I need to work a little harder next year in the garden!

And if you know me, you know I take lots of pictures. I'm no professional, I just like to have good pictures. Besides, professionals can't enter photos in the fair anyway! So I decided at the last minute to enter some photos and it was so hard to choose because they only allow two entries per person. This was my animal life photo that got 2nd place. As I was searching through photos taken in the past year I came across this one. It wasn't the one I was looking for but for some reason it struck me as a good entry for the portrait category. And turns out it was- it got 1st place.So another year of the fair has gone by and some of our entries were great and others were not so great. Still no trophy, but the quest will continue next year. I guess you can say the Fair was fair.

birthday boy- the big 3

August 18, 2009- Well the big day finally arrived. Pecos had been anticipating his birthday for weeks and he celebrated all day long. The day started with an offer to make him pancakes for breakfast. Those are usually his favorite but instead he requested Apple Jacks- go figure! Then it was on to presents from us and a few sent by family. A fishing game from Auntie Em & Uncle Kris and Lincoln Logs from Uncle Eric sure kept him busy. But the big gift of the day was a JakeSteer roping dummy. Just what our little cowboy needed- another target for roping practice. I'm thinking this may give Denis the rooster a much needed break. So he did a little roping with it and then decided it was just the right size to practice steer wrestling.

The party at the bounce house was a big hit. Pecos had lots of friends come to bounce and play and celebrate the big day. Pecos and his best buddy Jace taking a break from the bouncing.The bounce house cake:Eating some yummy cake:

After the typical activities of singing Happy Birthday, eating cake and opening presents it was time to leave. We asked Pecos if he wanted to go eat supper and he said "no, I just want to go home and play with my presents!" Glad he has his priorities in order!

The weekend prior to his birthday Mimi & Paw Paw came to visit so he actually got to have two celebrations and practiced the whole excitement for presents thing. He mastered it in time for his actual birthday.

Cupcake to celebrate his birthday with MiMi & Paw Paw.

A new bike!!! Thanks MiMi & Paw Paw!

This is how Pecos ended his birthday:

The next day I asked him if he had a good birthday and he said "Yes! I want to do it again!" All in all Pecos had a great birthday and we had fun watching him enjoy it but we still can't believe how fast the past 3 years have flown by.

just a swingin'

August 9, 2009- Construction on the swingset play system is finally complete. It is a birthday gift for Pecos' fast approaching 3rd birthday. Good thing we had Opa to help with most of it. Thanks to he and Casey's meticulous attention to detail and superb construction skills the system is completely level and square. It quite possibly could survive an earthquake. Here's some stats:

5 days of construction (strung out over 2 weeks)
12 pitchers of tea
1 twisted ankle
1 fall from the tree while cutting limbs
18 bags of mulch (more on the way!!)
1 happy boy!!!

Make it level beginning with step one. A sure sign your kid is a redneck when his swingset is up on blocks!

Pecos pitched in on the construction.

Pecos enjoying the partially finished fort in his new cowboy boots.

On the lookout for Indians!

Oma & Opa posing with Pecos after installation of the super-slick, super-fast slide.

Ta-da!!! The finished product, minus a load of mulch (to cover the blocks).

lake rat

July 25, 2009- We spent a weekend at the lake with our best friends, the Hillert's. Pecos is a little lake rat in training. He loves the boat and likes to swim, but occasionally he would rather just rope- big surprise! That kid sees an idle rope and has to give it a swing...on this particular boating trip he grabbed hold of the ski rope so he could rope the boat, nearby swimmers and anyone daring enough to leave the water and get back on the boat.

Casey showed off his skills on the water skis...there may be a future for him in the Sea World ski show. Pecos had fun tubing with Casey.
Lane, Lauren and Pecos had fun out of the water too- glow sticks, s'mores and running around enjoying their time together. No doubt they've made some memories to cherish for a lifetime. Everyday Pecos says "can we go to the lake today?"

fun on the 4th

July 4, 2009- It was a marathon day full of fun. First up was the kid's parade around Marketplatz in Fredericksburg. Casey should win Father of the Year for the amazing rocket he built for Pecos' parade entry. Pecos was so proud of his rocket horse...just call him Space Cowboy. Pecos won the award for Most Humorous entry and he was by far the crowd favorite but there wasn't an award for that. Of course our opinion of his entry is just a little biased. I provided the pull power during the parade. Next up was stick horse races in Doss. Pecos has been practicing for several weeks now. Sometimes he practices with his buddy Jace but other times he practices alone. Like the day before the race when he was practicing in the house with his jockey goggles. We told him all race horse jockeys need to wear goggles in a race; he thought they should also be worn for this particular practice session.

At some point Casey decided to get in on the racing action. But he didn't have jockey goggles so his old chem lab turned power tool safety goggles had to do. Notice these two jockeys ready to run and gritting their teeth for the starting bell.

Once we got to the derby he realized the other jockeys would not be donning the eye gear so he let me hold them while he raced sans goggles. There were no other 2 year-olds at the races so Pecos went up against the big kids- 4, 5 and 6 year-olds- and had fun. I don't think he minded coming in third but he was a little upset that the big race we'd been talking about for days and practicing for was only one short sprint down the track. So we let him take a few solo sprints when the race track was cleared.Finally we made it home to grill some burgers and light a few fireworks. Pecos loved the roman candles and was so excited about his "firework chickens." But it was all over when we lit our final one and it made an awful shrieking and whistling sound. It hurt my ears too! So we called it quits for the day. Happy Birthday America!!

What else J-you-ne been up to lately?

more June 2009- And the fun just keeps on coming, this time in the form of Uncle Eric and Miss Shellie. They came to visit us for a few days...which meant fun and excitement for Pecos (us too!). They brought Pecos a bubble machine which according to Pecos is "a whole bunch of fun!" And it was Shellie's birthday the day prior to their arrival so we made cupcakes. Pecos had no trouble helping to blow out candles or taste. So worn out from blowing out candles! And of course, another trip to Sea World!!Another thing Pecos has been up to is plowing, planting and harvesting. And of course he has this tendency to line things up, especially his tractors and farm equipment. I find various farm implements in a row scattered around the house...sometimes in the middle of the floor, sometimes lined up as Pecos says "at the edge of the dirt." I hope he means an imaginary field (the rug) and not actual dirt on the rug. Just what I need, a 2 year old telling me I need to vacuum!