Grand Baby #6 Is On The Way

We went to Abilene recently to celebrate Jordan's 29th birthday.  Twenty nine years?  Where did the time go?  We all know what that means...we are getting older, too.  It was on a Sunday so we got to attend a wonderful church service at Southern Hills, participate in some great singing and hear a good lesson which we needed and enjoyed.  After services we enjoyed lunch at Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant, even if we did have to get out in the rain.

When we got to their house, we noticed that they went to change Leighton's clothes pretty quickly and when she came back into the room she was wearing an important announcement.  Her shirt said "Big Sis Leighton" and of course, we knew that we were going to be grandparents again!!  It didn't come as a huge surprise that they were expecting, just the timing of it was a little off.  Due date:  December 4.....same birthday as Jennifer and it will be one of 8 birthdays for us within about a 2 month span!!  But, you know what?  It will be great and we will be thrilled to have him or her here at Christmas time.

It was a rainy afternoon and the kids, Leighton and Jordan got to play in the rain.  It was a great visit and we will keep you informed.

Leighton asked Bebe to take her picture.  Quite a pose!  Don't think it was her first time.  

After all, her mom is a photographer!

Random Thoughts and Things

Here are a few random pictures and thoughts from the past couple of months.  There's been a lot of things going on in the Phillips family with the end of school, birthdays and other activities.

Beverly and her dear friend Miz Helm in Austin.  Nice lunch at Saltgrass!

Jane and Jack celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Denver!

Danny helped out by spraying the trees at the pecan orchard this spring.

Jack celebrated his second birthday with a shark theme!

Taylor was the Top Dog for the 4th grade in the Kahn Academy program this year.

Tired little girl after a hard day of kindergarten.

Small but deadly, Jen and Toby discovered this little rattlesnake soon after moving in.

Fresh onions and taters from the garden.  Not as good as last year's crop, but yummy!

Presley enjoying the Nichol's pool.  She said "this is the life!

Presley, Eliza and Ava.  Former classmates Jennifer and Clifford's kiddo's.

A Visit To The State Capitol Building

One of the things we have always tried to do with our own children is to take educational trips.  Even on vacations we always managed to get in something that was educational in nature.  So, when we found out that Taylor's 4th grade class was taking an end of the year trip to Austin to see the capitol building and the Bob Bullock Museum, we just had to go along.

Their first stop was at the Bullock Museum where we went to the Imax Theater to see a wonderful film on Texas.  If you know about the Imax experience, you know that it's like you are flying along with the camera as it soars over mountains and sea or whatever else it's filming.  Sitting too close to the screen is not a good idea if you have motion sickness problems.  We both had to admit that there was a couple of times that we had to look away for a second.  But, the film made you feel proud to be from Texas.

During the afternoon, the class toured all of the monuments located on the capitol grounds.  Each student had been assigned a particular one on which to do extensive study.  There are so many to see and if you're from Texas you should go and see them.  A tour of the capitol ended the day and it was impressive to say the least.  If you have not had an opportunity to go there, do yourself a favor and plan a trip to Austin and take in our history through a free tour.

Taylor's assigned monument for his study.

Hoppy Easter 2014

Easter started off with an Easter egg hunt for the kindergarten class at the local park.  We were on our way out of town that morning but were able to stop by and see Presley hunt eggs.  It was an amazing sight as we watched about sixty kids move down the field like lawn mowers picking up the hundreds of eggs.  It looked like it only took about a minute to do it, too.

2014 was Jordan, Ashley, and Leighton's turn to be in Hamilton for Easter.  Jennifer, Toby, Taylor and Presley joined us for Easter lunch as well as our good friends Bubba and Shirley.  After lunch the kids had another Easter egg hunt in the back yard but with all the things going on we didn't do a very good job of capturing it with pictures.

This was Nana's.  Grand kids learn quickly it has jellybeans in it!

Anxiously awaiting the start!

Easter tree with egg garlands from Annie's Noonday Collection.

The girls watching The Wizard of Oz!  Looks like they were scared of the wicked witch!

Our Denver family after church in Littleton, Colorado.

Annie, Jane, Jack and Jeremy

Leighton Turns Three

We didn't have any good ideas this year for Leighton's birthday.  Jordan and Ashley thought she might want a swing added to her fort so we decided that was a great idea.  So, we went up one Saturday to get a swing built before her birthday.

She's excited!  A trampoline from her Mom and Dad.

Leighton is making friends with her neighbor.

She likes to go feed this goat some grass through the fence!

Helping Dad find some swing parts at Lowes.

Oops!  Looks like rain coming! 

Finished product!  Yea, she likes it.

Leighton had a pony birthday party with many friends and family at the end of March (a day after they moved into their house).  It was a fun day of riding ponies and a hay ride.  Later, Jordan got all of us to put the trampoline together while we were there.  We think it was planned!

Jordan and Ashley finally were able to move into their new house.  And here is one of the most important rooms in the house, Leighton's play room.