Cornelius Chronicles

Owen got his beautiful cross-stitch baby pillow from Aunt Jenny this week.  He was so excited when he saw it that he giggled.  :)  Yea for loving family and the talents they share with us to enrich and beautify our lives! 

 I think Owen loves eating blueberries.  Don't you?

Apparently someone forgot to tell my kids they were suppose to be happy about the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. :)  This year Rebekah starts 5th Grade (her last year of elementary school), Loyd starts 3rd Grade, and Xavier starts 1st Grade.  They are all in prime numbers this year.  Maeve, Owen and I are doing some fun preschool lessons at home together every day too this year.  It will be a fun and busy year!  First Day of School fashion show photo shoot. :)  Xavier - 1st Grade  Loyd - 3rd Grade  Rebekah - 5th Grade   Some of us were more sad than others about seeing the big kids head off to school again.    Walking to the bus stop early in the morning. 

Maeve got her first hair cut this Wednesday!  She was a little nervous to get it done, but after watching Rebekah get her hair cut and seeing that it didn't hurt at all Maeve was more than ready to jump in the chair and look pretty.  :)  Well, she was a little short to stay in the chair for long and the nice beautician had her move to the floor and stand up so she could cut he pretty, long, bond hair.  Maeve did a great job of standing still and being patient and now she has a fabulous haircut!  We were sad Aunt Lizzy couldn't be there to do it, but we are thankful for the friendly beautician here who did such a good job.  :)

Loyd has been a big help this week.  He's spent lots of time playing with Owen and keeping him happy and engage and he helped me make about 1 million cookies (ok, maybe more like 19 dozen) this week for ward parties, baptisms of friends, Soft Heart family movie night, and for the missionaries.  He's one good kid.  Love this boy!  

Yes, this boat is made out of duct tape and yes, we had to take this picture in front of it in honor of Uncle Royal and Red Green.  :)  Dustin and Owen posing in front of my favorite work of art, Botticelli's Nativity Due to busy work and grad school schedules Dustin and I discovered that we had a whopping 4 days of summer vacation this year, two of those days being Saturday and Sunday.  So, to celebrate our half week of summer time fun we went to the Houston LDS Temple on Saturday, enjoyed a good day at Church on Sunday, explored the cool "Myth Busters" exhibit at the Johnson Space Center Houston on Monday, and capped off our stay-cation with an awesome trip to the Houston Museum of Art. At the Houston Museum of Art we saw so many beautiful masterworks of art, spanning from the ancient Egyptians all the way to the present.  It was so fun and everyone found at least 1 work of art they could label as their favorite. After a great morning at the Art Museum we

Xavier and Owen Loyd and Owen Perhaps we should have opted for the bigger crib option? 

It was a fun craft week for us this week.  We tried our hand unsuccessfully at some paper plate dream catchers, decorated delicious sugar cookie fruit pizzas, and made psychedelic tie-dye t-shirts.  It was fun to unleash our creative side and have fun creating together this week.  We're squeezing out every last drop of fun that we can out of this summer.  :)   Maeve is bringing new meaning to "fresh squeezed" when it comes to her orange juice.  Rebekah's fruit pizza cookie masterpieces.  Yum!

Rebekah was selected to participate in a week long Art Camp hosted by the Houston Museum of Art.  She had a lot of fun attending a 2 hour long Art lesson every day for 4 days and then on Friday she and I got to go with her class to the Museum of Art in downtown Houston to view the awe inspiring works of art there and to enjoy doing a fun art project together with clay.  After our fun field trip Rebekah and I stopped for a yummy lunch before heading back home.  It was a really fun chance for her and I to spend some priceless mother/daughter time together.  I'm so very blessed to have such a great young lady as my daughter and to have the chance to spend such a great day together.  :)

Magna Tiles are our favorite toy around here.  The kids play together with them for hours and hours almost every day.  I like to think of them as "Magic Tiles" since they all get along so well when they play with them.  :)  Here's a couple of fun pictures of a tall tower they built with some fun friends.  :)