Cornelius Chronicles

Well, it's official.  Owen has gone to the dark side, or what is more conmanly referred to as the Terrible Twos. Last week Owen figured out how to swing his legs all the way over the railing of his crib and climb out onto his brothers' dresser to escape his bed.  He is the first of our kids to figure out such a feat.  Not even Loyd figured out how to climb out of the crib.  But, to be fair, none of the other kids have been in the crib as long as Owen at age 2 years and 2 months.  I don't think anyone besides Xavier made it to their 2nd birthday before giving up the crib to a new baby sibling (Xavier was month shy of his third birthday when Maeve was born, but he moved out of the crib before he was two so he could move in with Loyd into the boys' bedroom and there would be room in Bekah's bedroom for the new baby to come).  So, Owen got a toddler bed last week.  Today, over one week later, was the first day he actually took a nap in it....

Look at those cuties with the skinny bums!  They had so much fun swinging together.  I love to hear the peals of giggles that always come with swings.  Check out that tiny turtle!  We saw a TON of turtles at the little pond and many of them were just tiny baby turtles.  I love this picture because you can see just how tiny that little baby is all stretched out next to the bigger turtle right next to it.  We had a lot of fun watching all of those lazy, sunning turtles.  Check out the arm strength on this little guy!  He's going to be a future Olympic gymnast for sure.  ;) 

Loyd has been carefully tending these 2 pepper plants since they were seeds.  Last week he finally realized the fruit of his labor and picked this beatiful, ripe yellow pepper.  He was kind enough to share this yummy veggie with everyone in the family so we could all enjoy its sweet taste.  He's still tending these cute little peppers, but now he has added a grapefruit seed to his plant collection.  He's already scouting out good spots to plant it in the backyard next Spring when it outgrows its little pot.  He's looking forward to having his very own Texas Grapefruit tree.  Who knew Loyd had such a green thumb!  I love SE Texas in January.  :) ***** Thanks Santa Fe, Texas "Rocks" for making this little girl's day! We found this beautiful rock sitting outside of the Helen Hall Library last week on our way to Wacky Wednesdays where preschoolers get to do fun activities at the library. The rock says, "You are Amazing. You are worth it! ...

In honor of Dustin's graduation we decided it would be totally awesome to go to Medieval Times in Dallas, Texas over Christmas break.  So, we loaded up the car and drove to Dallas for the most excellent of Medieval feasts.  We had so much fun watching all of the great horsemanship exhibitions, we enjoyed the yummy food and the silly names for each of the courses - like dragon scales and dragon's blood for tomato bisque and grilled herb bread.  We all especially enjoyed the story line of feasting with the King and his talented knights.  The boys flipped over the jousting tournament, and Maeve could hardly handle how exciting the battle between the bad guy and our Champion Knight.  Our Champion won of course, good thing because the kids were worried for a minute.  Everyone had such a fun time that Xavier unconsciously turned his cheering banner into a sword during the knight fight, Owen threw a huge tantrum when it was over and time to leave (he did not wan...

 It must be Christmas because our calendar is booked with lots of fun for the next few weeks.  :) Here's Owen supervising Dustin.  Someone has to make sure Dustin puts the Christmas lights up the right way.  Besides, out of the three boys I think Owen has the best chance of being actually helpful.  ;) Having some fun paper cup tower building fun with Dad while he's home on Christmas vacation.  Wasn't it nice of everyone to work so hard to building something so fun for Owen to crash down in mere seconds? :) This year the kids couldn't wait for Mom and Dad to get around to setting up Christmas so they took matters in to their own hands.  The day after Thanksgiving they got out the box with the tree, the strings of lights, and all the ornaments.  Bekah directed the tree assembly, Loyd strung all the sparking lights, and Xavier instigated the decorating of the tree.  I think they pulled it all off quite beautifully.  We will be ...

After two and a half years of hard work, lots of studying, lots of tuition, lots of time on campus, and lots of time pounding away on his laptop Dustin graduated with his Master's degree in Software Engineering this December!  Yea!!!!!!!  Now you may address the recent graduate as Master Daddy, Master Dustin, Master Cornelius, or Master Mr. C.  He'll respond to any or all.  He's not picky.  ;)  Congrats Dustin!  We're all so proud of you and looking forward to a tuition free Dustin full January.  ;)  Love you!

We survived a full morning of school holiday parties on the last day of school before winter break. It was fun to celebrate with friends and teachers with fun games, cute crafts, and lots and lots of yummy food.  To cap the day off we went to a super fun birthday party for a friend at Jumping Jungle.  We got to run and jump and climb and slide on all sorts of giant inflatable bounce houses, slides, and obstacle courses.  Now we're ready for 2 weeks of Christmas fun!

Can you find all three children?  There is a sleeping Maeve, a sleeping Loyd, and a sleeping Xavier.