Nesting Doves

Here are the only pictures we took for the entire month of April.  We had a dove nesting on the shelf on our back patio.  We got pictures of the Dove, her eggs. and the baby birds (about a week after they hatched).  They have both flown away now so it's just and empty nest but it was a very cool thing and Eli loved seeing the birds every day.  I tried to get a picture of the mama on her babies but every time we'd go out after the babies hatched she'd fly away and act injured.  Quite an interesting that the birds do that to draw the predator to them and away from their nest.

Fredericksburg Mini Reunion

A few months ago David's dad decided he wanted to get the families together in Fredericksburg for a weekend mini reunion.  He put us up and a nice hotel and we had a lot of fun getting the kids together.  Here's some pictures.

The three boys that are the same age.

All of the Figgins cousins.

Checking out the firetrucks at the Fredricksburg fire station

We put Elijah in the cab and he said "Daddy, Come on!"  so David climbed in.

With 5 boys we definitely had to visit the local park and get their energy out.

LBJ park just outside of town had a cool old Ranch with lots of animals that the kids could get right up next to (although not touch)

Doug and Remington.

Elijah refusing to look at the camera.

Showing of his owie that eventually had to get antibiotics for.

I love that the two pigs are doing exactly the same thing in the foreground and the background.

Eli felt like such a big boy holding his older cousin's hands.

Riding a horsey in front of a shop.

We had a really fun time.  I hope Dave and I are able to go back again sans-kids.  :)

Rodeo

Dave and I were fortunate to attend the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo twice this year.  The first time we decided to buy some cheap $10 tickets to see Kid Rock.  It was a few weeks after Valentine's Day but we decided to celebrate then.  The day after the rodeo one of David's coworkers gave him some tickets to see ZZTop.  They were much better seats and we really enjoyed being twice as close as the last time.  Here are a few pictures of my favorite events at the rodeo.

 This is the wagon races.  I was quite impressed with the wagon drivers abilities to keep the wagons upright as the skidded around corners.

 This is the Calf Scramble.  High School FFA students chase down some calves and then wrestle them down, put a rope around the calf's head (bridle style) and bring it back the middle and they get a scholarship.

 Mutton Bustin.  Kids 5-6 are put on top of a sheep.  The sheep is let go and they see how well the kids can hang on.

Here's the best picture I got of ZZTop.  We were to far from Kid Rock to get any kind of decent picture.

Other February pictures

Elijah loves to "dress up" in my chunky boots, a hat, and carry my old purse around.  What a silly boy!

We were listening to camptown races on a kids cd and Elijah wanted to ride a horse so I showed him how to mime like he was riding one.  Instead he went and set up his duplo horse and tried to ride it.

Did I mention he loves my boots?

I left him at the table to color like this.

and I found him there 2 minutes later like this.

This is my Christmas present to my oldest brother.  We had a difficult holiday with the car troubles so Dave finally finished it 2 weeks ago and he should be getting it today.  I hope he likes it.

The Incident

So a few weeks ago we went out to dinner with Dave's dad.  When we got home Elijah was running around like a maniac (as usual) and fell and hit his forehead on the windowsill.  He was such a good boy when it happened.  He cried for a few minutes and within 30 minutes he was back to his old self despite the horrible looking head.  The progression of the injury went like this.  

This is the day after, a Sunday.  You can see the nice blue line which appeared instantly after he hit.

This is the following Wednesday, the day after Valentine's Day.  The bleeding into the eye sockets had started the day before.

These two are the same day but I can't decide which shows the bruising better.  I think I took these the day after the toothbrush picture.

The above picture shows the eyes at what I think was their worst.  It may have gotten a little worse but not by much.  It's now two and a half weeks later and he is pretty much back to normal.  He still looks a little black eyed and there's a bit of bruising on his forehead that is visible but it's nice to be able to look at my son and not wince at the sight of him.

January Pictures

Elijah loves the potato head he got from Grandma Figgins.  He is always asking to play with it by say "Pay-toe!  Pay-toe!"

Elijah has been trying to get up early these days but I can usually get a little more shut eye by putting him in bed with me until he falls back to sleep.

Elijah brought in the laundry from the garage (where our laundry area is).

After I put away groceries 2 weeks ago I found Elijah like this.  He had the Zune player on and was holding up the earbuds to listen.  He's so smart.

Since he eats crackers so well I've been trying to smear them with peanut butter and such to get some more nutrition into him and he tends to scrape off whatever I put on and eat it before he eats the cracker.  What a silly boy.