Happy Birthday Reed!

Reed turns the BIG 8 years old today! What a great kid! Of course, I am a totally biased source! Here are some photos of Reed from the past few months for your viewing pleasure!

Playing ball (March)
His South Texas Trout (April)
In the bluebonnets (March)

Off Egmont Key (May)

Yum!

I grew bell peppers and jalapenos in my earthbox this spring for

just such a day as this! I'm making jalapeno jelly!

The fruits of my "labor!"
I actually had to pick the bell peppers last week and we've been eating them.
There were 15 bell peppers and are more still growing.


Ready! Set! Puree!

Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!

Bring on the ham!

Our sweet Cass!

Here are few pictures from the last few weeks of sweetie Cassidy. May is proving to be VERY busy, but fun. Cassidy enjoys soccer and we enjoy cheering for her. See her cutie smile? In her soccer gear.

We went out with Paul, Lori and Andrew on Paul's new boat. And what a boat it is! Of course, everyone with iron stomachs enjoyed it much more than I. But Paul was nice enough to drop me off on the island and my life was MUCH better.

What beautiful sand and water...oh, and a beautiful little girl!

See her cutie smile?


SEE HER CUTIE SMILE?!?

Cassidy lost her 3rd tooth last night! And this one was a doozy! I am still getting used to her new smile! I'm calling her my gappy girl! What a cutie!

The view from our kitchen table

The American Alligator - not so rare or endangered in Florida!

The picture isn't very good (You can click on it to enlarge it some). There ARE, though, some good reasons for that:

1. We don't have a camera with any kind of zoom. (I think this may instantly label us as "bad" parents because I've noticed that all the "good" parents have really fabulous cameras and editing software. I'm guessing Reed and Cass will survive.)

2. I refuse to creep any closer or go to the other side of the pond...It is an alligator after all.

I do, though, enjoy seeing him each morning as he suns himself (It could be a female...I'm using the universal him.) and then he spends the rest of the day in the water at the edge of the pond.

No, the kids don't play in the backyard much - mostly because there is NO shade back there so they prefer the front yard.

He really isn't very big in terms of an alligator - maybe 5 feet. That never really makes my mom feel any better.

Spring Break - Harlingen

After we spent a great weekend in San Antonio, we headed south to my parent's house in Harlingen. We were celebrating my Dad's retirement and ending the week with Easter. Needless-to-say, we had a wonderful visit!!!

The happiest kid in the world.
The happiest kid in the world and his very happy Dad!

Laura, Cassidy and Vivian on the pipe.

(My siblings, friends and I spent MANY happy hours playing on this very

pipe!)

Reed and Colten in the pipe, Hallie and Vivian on the pipe and Cass
observing the pipe.

Dad's Retirement Brunch in Mom's backyard gardens.

The ceremonial "cutting of the tie" to symbolize the end of Dad's

supervisor years.

Dad

Ready to hunt eggs.

Please note that we slowed down the 3 oldest kids by giving them little tiny baskets they had to fill, run back, dump into their big baskets and then run back for more eggs.

Happy kids in their jammies

Happy kids all ready for church!

Spring Break - San Antonio

We had quite a whirlwind Spring Break and we LOVED every minute of it! We had a great time visiting with our WHOLE family over the week and a half we were in Texas. The hardest part was getting home and jumping immediately back into "real" life!

Aunt Becky with the kids on the grounds of the Alamo.

In case you can't tell, Reed is brandishing a knife...surprising, I know!

The beautiful Texas bluebonnets!

Cassidy and Uncle Mark at Casa Rio on the Riverwalk.

Oh yes, we did! Team Blankinship taking a family

picture in front of the Alamo.

A nice,but windy, Blankinship family picture.

As you can see, the newest Blankinship had not quite made her appearance yet.

She waited until Aunt Arwen returned to Florida. We are

already counting the months until we can see little Marin face to face!

Our next stop...aka - the next post - Harlingen!

I've got a bone to pick...

...with the Gu*ness Book of W*orld Rec*rds. Why, you ask? Well, let me relate a conversation Reed and I had a few days ago.

The Scene: Reed just arrived home from school and is rapidly shedding all accouterments of civilized life (shoes, socks, shirt, etc...).

Reed: Mom, how can a man have a baby in his stomach?

Me: He can't Reed. Only women can have babies.

Reed: Uh-uh Mom, I saw a picture today in the GBofWR and it was a man and he was pregnant!

Me: (in my head) Well, great.
(Out loud): Well Reed, that wasn't really a man. On the inside it was still a woman or she
couldn't have a baby in there.

Reed: Why only women?

Me: Because only women have a special part inside called a uterus and that is where the baby
grows. (in my head) Please let this be enough.

Reed: But Mom, he looked like a man with a beard and all. How could a woman look like a man?

Me: Well, she wanted to look like a man so she had special shots and stuff to help her grow hair.

Reed: What kind of shots?

Me: (in my head) For goodness sakes...can't we just let this go?
(Out loud) It is called testosterone and it can make hair grow and muscles get bigger.

Reed: Mom,...

Me: (interrupting)Reed, let's just move on. What did you eat for lunch today at school?

So, there you have it. Some things don't need to be world records!

And here are some completely unrelated photos from the last couple of weeks:

Astronaut Cassidy at her school's Space Day
At the ball field

Coach Randy and Reed.