Homeschool - 30 points #4

And the forth and final 30 points of the school year earned them a trip to Pump It Up Bounce place.

Homeschool - 30 Points Prize #3

The third time the kids got 30 homeschool points, we took a day off school and went to Chuck E Cheeses.







Squeals of delight! He hit the jackpot!!

Lost Sammy and found him again... after 1 month!

We were a pretty sad household for a bit. Sammy got out of the gate in the middle of the night. When we discovered it in the morning, I drove around slowly for about 4 hours with 2 crying kids through all the neighborhoods with the windows down. The kids would call and call him out the window, but no success. I called the humane society every 3 or 4 days, put posters up, called all the 'found dog' phone numbers that we could find around the area and on craigslist, for about 3 weeks, still no success. We had pretty much given up, and were talking about getting another dog, and what kind we would get.
One night I was searching online for a new puppy, and on a whim, decided to google search found beagle in the city we lived in. To my amazement an add came up on a website something like lostandfoundpets.com The description was just like sammy, and he was found about a mile from our house. I couldn't believe it! So I emailed them pictures of Sammy and called them the next morning.
After a month and a few days, we had found him!! The lady had found him in the middle of a 5 lane busy road in the middle of the night 2 weeks prior. She said he had a collar on him, which he didn't have his on when he left us, so we think someone else had found him for that first 2 weeks, but he must have gotten away from them too, or they let him go. The lady that found him also told us that he had cried most nights and she thought he was going to die from depression. Crazy thing is that she was calling the humane society every few days for 2 weeks looking for the owners! They didn't put 2 and 2 together for us :(
He sure isn't depressed now! That day sure was a happy day in our house, for both the dog and the family :) Sure glad I decided to do that google search!!


The kids wanted their notes attached to the poster. Kylees says Dear Sammy, I really like you. We are missing you. Devons is pretty readable if you click on the picture.


The happy reunion!!


Sammy making himself to home shortly after the chaos calmed down.

Pool Party

More fun times! Pools here are around 90 degrees with no heater! Believe it or not, it still feels cool on hot days.

A fun Tea Party

When the workers were at our place, Lydia saw Kylees tea party set, and decided that they would have a tea party with the kids. So cute!

Almost a necessity in Texas

Many hours of entertainment!!

Our "friends" that lived in our yard

Yes, not so happy to say it, but we did have trantulas living in the yard we lived in when we first came to Texas... scary!! But so far, none have ventured into the house, and none at our new house so thats the good news. Some of you may hear my screams if one ever does :) I did get a geico in my bath with me once, and that caused some screaming for a bit too :) Sure not used to these southern creatures yet.

But for some entertainment (I am sure we can find something better for entertainment I know!) Scott and the kids have been tying a June bug or cricket or whatever they could find onto a piece of thread and dangling it above the trantulas home (a dime sized hole in the ground, which is dug out bigger underneath) The trantula will quickly come out and grab the bug and take it in his home. Once, Scott yanked the spider right out with the thread and put him in a bucket and brought him in the house for a bit to watch him.










This is a walking stick that Devon found in our back yard

Puzzle of Canada

I hardly know where to start to get this blog updated, but it is on my "to do" list to get caught up when the kids start school, which is coming way too soon!

But will start with this one, just cuz we are in Canada right now :) The kids wanted me to take a picture of this (about 3 months ago!) and put it on the blog "because we know Grandma Baxter would want to see it" so here it is :)

South Padre Island

Scott had a week off between academy and first day of work, so the first part of that week, we moved from NM to TX, and the second half of that week, we spent a few days on South Padre Island. Its about 1 1/2 hours drive from McAllen. They were very cold, windy days, but was still fun to explore and finally have some family time together!


View from our hotel room


We spent couple of hours in the hottub warming up from beach time, and all 4 of us got a very bad sunburn. Cloudy and cold, but still intense sun!


This is what one of the beaches looked like! No one was swimming here, but we watched the kiteboarders for a while.




We were wearing our sweatshirts to stay warm while taking a walk along the beach, but the kids still couldn't resist the waves :) Plus, had to catch the moment of them holding hands :) Those times are getting rarer, but glad the haven't grown out of it yet!!


A huge turtle! Went through a building where they help the turtles who are deformed or injured.


Went through a nature walk - watched 2 alligators for a while.




This was the entry to a souvinear store. The kids had a little fun pretending!


Devon at a restaurant we ate at

Our "Temporary House" in Texas

We were lucky to find some friends that had just bought a house, and were leaving to go back to MN for the summer months and offered to let us rent their house while we were looking for our own home. It worked out perfect! Here are some pictures of where we are now, just for another week or so.




Back of house


Back Yard


Back Yard

Our Welcome to Texas

We spent about a week in a hotel when we first arrived in Texas until our first house was ready for us. For breakfast in the hotel, we were treated to Texas-shaped waffles!


A couple of pictures of the kids in the pool at the hotel. They spent hours in it while we were there.