Brook's Birthday at Chuck E Cheese

While in Birmingham, AL, we got to celebrate Brooks' 4th birthday with him. We were so glad to be there on this special day, and enjoyed going to the Zoo and Chuck E Cheese, both of which were new FIRSTS for Daniel. He loved being with his cousins--boy, we wish we lived closer to family!

Anyway...enjoy the pictures of the "kids" at Chuck E Cheese enjoying the games:

Excuse me, I'm wearing a hat!

Daniel actually kept a hat on his head long enough to snap some pictures. He's very expressive; can you tell?!?

He's started saying the following (in his baby dialect of course, but it's often understood by more than just me):
"What's that?"
"No, Stay" (this is to Pfluger and Zoe, our dogs). He also says that every animal says "ruff ruff"
"Uh oh!" (especially when he drops food from his highchair.)

He loves playing outside, and is getting good at throwing the ball to Zoe who retrieves it back to him.
He is such a joy; we are glad to have him in our family!

Zoe joins C&C Jones' famiy

Please help us welcome our new arrival--Zoe, who joined our family on Saturday, July 11, 2009. We celebrated with a trip down to San Antonio to visit Grandpa Simmons and Aunts Vada and Nan. We had a great time and all enjoyed swimming--all except Pfluger, that is.

Zoe is a 10 month old purebred Labrador Retriever and lives up to her name. She loves to play ball, and focus on little else if there is a tennis ball in her vicinity. She even plays with Daniel, and is very patient with his short throws, although his throws are slowly increasing in distance. She is a beautiful dog, especially when her coat shimmers in the sun.


She weighed in 69.5 lbs., mostly due to her muscle tone, which is more than Pfluger who weighs 65.5 lbs. They are getting along great, both indoors and outside.
When we first brought both dogs inside, Daniel looked at them each and put his hand out like we do and said, "No, stay!" It was the cutest!

Many thanks to Candace for finding her! She's a fun addition to the family.

Please...Fireworks!

It always starts with a please...

Here's a picture of Daniel signing "Please"-- he's gotten very good at using it in context; however, the 4th of July please started with Candace! :) "Please, let's go get some Fireworks!

...well, it worked. We made a last-minute dash to the Fireworks stand by our house, and felt good about supporting Round Rock High School's Theatre Department! Nothing like fire and sparks to show your support for the arts.

We all got to pick our favorites--Daniel really liked the Smoke Bombs! We even got a 12 shot Artillery. (Of course, we only used 3, so we're ready for more if anybody's game :)

I can't remember the names of any others, but I know that Candace loved the Flowers! I had a great time!

We got home and went to the park by our house with the Harwards and Kunzs. We all, including Pfluger, watched the Fireworks, then walked home to enjoy our spoils until way too early in the morning. (It was not pretty getting up for 8:30 am church then next day!) But, we had a good time. Daniel only got scared when the loud sounds were right in front of us on the street. Otherwise, he and Pfluger both enjoyed the show.

And, as a special treat, we get to close the holiday weekend with a homemade apple pie!

Wish you were here to join us.

Happy Fourth of July!

Branson, MO

We had a great family reunion in Branson, MO--definitely the heart of the country! We stayed on a lake house on Table Rock Lake, which is where I first learned to waterski when I was 9 years old! It was fun to be back in the Ozarks, so many green hills and forests. It really is beautiful country, and I didn't even mind the humidity!
Daniel LOVED playing with his cousins and being outside so much. It took a few tries for him to get used to lake water instead of pool water. But by the middle of the trip, he would want to walk right off the dock into the water.
Clinton loved the water too, especially since he got up on one waterski and had two nice tours around the lake. WHAT A MILESTONE! ...that is, until he broke Dad's boat! Way to go out with a BANG, honey! Ok, it wasn't really Clint's fault! While we were turning on his second lake tour, the propeller hit a submerged rock or tree or something.
We spent the rest of the time in Silver Dollar City and downtown Branson. Daniel had a GREAT time playing in the sprinklers the park put out a various places. He also enjoyed playing in the sand and went on his first water roller coaster (American Plunge) and ride (the butterflies--he got to press the button and the butterfly went up as the ride went around in a circle). We saw several shows at the amusement park as well as several in Branson, including, "The Duttons," "The Twelve Irish Tenors," "Broadway Spectacular" and Dolly Parton's "Dixie Stampede"--that one came with dinner and lighted-up dresses.
It was pretty amazing that we had four generations present since my grandfather and his brothers and many of their descendants from each line were able to come. I don't know how often that experience will be repeated!
Our fish fry went well--many thanks to Bart who sought out the catfish supplier, and Doug who slaved over hot oil cooking the fish. It was great to be with family and have a chance to relax.
I'll post our pictures on our SmugMug site, including all the ones with extended family. Here are the picutres from the second part of the reunion. You can download, save, send to print, etc. for any pictures you want. They will be high resolution, so enjoy! We'll get the other pictures off of Clinton's computer and upload those next. We'd love to hear what you think, so let us know. Link: here. We think it's a great way to share your pictures--let us know your feedback.

Wicked!

Clinton and I got a date to San Antonio yesterday to see Wicked! Many thanks to all of the people who made this possible: Dan and Dee, Cassandra and Candace, Grandpa Simmons and Aunt Chris! We had a wonderful evening, and it was great to see such a great production.

We left Austin around 3:00 pm and went down to Grandpa's house in San Antonio (by Lackland and Kelly bases.) We enjoyed the dinner Chris prepared, including home-grown garden tomatoes! DELICIOUS! It was great to talk with Grandpa--we love hearing his stories and experiences. We even got some ideas for girl names from his family line--I enjoyed Hannah, Preal and Ina.
Then, Clint, Aunt Chris and I headed downtown for the production.

Chris and I got dropped off close to the theatre while Clinton found a parking spot and ran up to meet us. Our timing worked out perfectly as we got to our seats ~5 minutes before the start of the production--just enough time to get settled, read the playbill, peruse the set and theatre and enjoy the show.

It was opening night, and there was a lot of energy from the cast. The audience was responsive, which always helped me when I was performing; I'm sure this made a difference for the performers as well. It was a night to remember.

After the show, we all walked back to the car and headed to Sonic. They were giving away free 10 oz. root beer floats! Blessings come when you're living right :) It was a great way to end the evening!

We dropped Chris off at home and Clinton was a trooper driving back to Austin in the wee hours of the morning. We arrived home to everyone sleeping, and quickly joined the club. Morning came early, but we both got enough sleep to make it through the day--so far, at least.
Thank you all who helped make this excursion possible--it was a wonderful early celebration for our two years of marriage!

Escaping!!!

I caught Pfluger on camera being innovative in the back yard! The picture is taken through the screen and window, so the quality isn't great, but its enough to get the idea. Enjoy!