Keeping up with kids

Our last few weeks in Conroe will be spent working, packing, and spending time with Jake and Claire.

We have been in the apartment about 4 months, and although it is a quiet complex, whenever I walk outside and see all the cars, I know that there are hundreds of people all around us. Can't wait to be in the quiet solitude of Burnet.

 So Minnie is finally sitting on my lap, rarely, but it has happened.

She has also finally started going outside on the patio 

(or catio, since we have it screened so she can't get out.

 

 Took the twins to the mall, I had to pick up some stuff.

Claire jumped into a car, Jake did too, but no pic.

But Jake really enjoyed his Chick Fila meal.

The highlight was the really high-speed hand dryers in the restroom!

Twins had their 5th BDay party.

They were at the apartment one afternoon and Jake found Bill's

Trade-a-Plane magazine. He enjoyed looking at the pictures.

We made a trip to Cedar Park to check on the house and spend some time

at Apache Pass, where Jeff was holding a fly-in for his RC airplane club.

William, of course, was the entertainment for us.

Sometimes they fly these planes very slowly, almost hanging motionless in the air.

Here Jeff and another flyer sort of dance their planes closely around each other. 

 

 

Tricky and awesome.

Jake is in TaeKwanDo (?).  After a lesson, the instructor wanted to take a group picture of kids 

with trophies from a weekend event.  She told the kids to get their trophies and medals and come back for the picture.  I heard Jake say, "I don't have a trophy." Then he ran off into the other room, and came back a minute later with a long sword in a scabbard.  He got his own trophy! And he was in the picture on the front row holding his trophy!

 

Meanwhile, in McKinney, the Robin family is now 5 and adjusting.

John and Taylor like playing with Elizabeth, and she sure seems to enjoy watching them.

A walk with Taylor, John and the stroller (with Elizabeth inside).

 John, Taylor, and Elizabeth (under cover) head out for one of several daily trips to school.

 

Elizabeth.

More Construction

Bill and I were so excited to see the progress on the house last weekend in Burnet. And the completion date should be in January, so even more excited!

Front porch

 Back porch

 Back windows in master bedroom

breakfast room to sunroom, 

kitchen island in lower front right corner

House from front

Construction Progress

Things seem to be going fast on the new house construction. Framing up, windows in, roof decking next and a weather cover.  We will see it again in October.  Thanks to sister Diane for sending lots of pics.

 House site after cactus scraped off

Forms set, sand dumped in held in place by sandbags. Concrete will be poured on top and in trough between sandbags and forms. Forms about 4' high in some places, overall foundation height will be about 4 ft above ground in some places, like on the front porch.

Sand filled inside forms, various pipes/conduit sticking up.

 Foundation tension cables run straight both length and width of foundation in trenches, loose cables are for water, other conduits are for electrical and drainage. Black moisture barrier in place over entire slab.

Watching the concrete poured. Very exciting.

Back to house site that evening, walking around on top of our foundation, this is REAL now!

Framing started!

Lots of framing! We saw it at this stage a few weeks ago. Starting to look like our house!

Trip to McKinney

I made a quick trip to McKinney to see Elizabeth, now 4 weeks old, and Taylor and John, and of course Jason and Ashley.
These are for the great-grands.

JanMa and Elizabeth

 

 Picking up John from school.

 John doing homework

 Ashley wearing Elizabeth on her front.  Ashley can cook, read mags, do laundry, clean up the house and more with this rig, and Elizabeth loves it.  She is a quiet baby and even her cries are soft and muted.

Taylor doesn't know the word muted, even as a baby her cries were lusty and shrieking, especially wen JanMa tried to pick her up or hold her.  But finally I won her over, and she wants me to come spend 100 nights at their house.

 

Here are Jake and Claire in their latest activities, Jake in TaeKwonDo and Claire in gymnastics.