Cornelius Chronicles

( Bekah's class and most of her great teachers from Trooper School) This week Rebekah went on her first all day field trip and school bus ride. She went went with her preschool to visit the Moody Aquarium pyramid on Galveston Island. Her teacher was kind enough to invite any family members who wanted to tag a lot to join them. So, we all went with her! It was such a fun day looking at the flying sting rays flap through the water, being startled by the giant male seal as he swam past our observation window, touching prickly sea urchins with our bare hands, and looking for sharks among the colorful fish. We even got to see dozens of sea horses in their various stages of life. I had no idea how small a baby sea horse can be! We also discovered a really cool looking relative of the sea horse called a sea dragon. (Sea Dragon) The aquarium also had a large penguin habitat. We probably watched the penguins for the longest amount of time. It was neat to see them speed through th...

Grandpa P went back home to Morgan this week. The little boys were especially sad to see him go. While Grandpa was here they got to eat way more junk food and candy then they usually get to do in a whole year, played dozens of games of Candy Land every day, practiced their "Duck, Duck, Goose" skills (Except Grandpa could only be a Duck. He doesn't literally run in circle anymore. Figuratively, however, is a whole different ball game.), and refined their tackling techniques with an experience pro. They loved wrestling with Grandpa until he cried for mercy. (It's just pay backs, Dad, for all of those years making me, Jenny, and Lizzy squeal!) Loyd is counting down the days before we can go and visit Grandma and Grandpa P and Aunt Jenny at their house! Xavier resorted to using our calculator to attempt to contact the outside world. Shh, don't tell him it isn't really a cell phone. I don't know who he talks to, but he certainly gives them an ear full...

This little man visits a special spot in our home several times a day. This special little corner is known as "Time Out." It is a portion of wall between the front room and the computer corner. It's pretty boring and only decorated with a child's sized wooden chair. When one of the kids is in need of some time to think about a poor choice they made they get to come and sit in this corner for a few minutes. Loyd has to think about his actions a lot. He generally takes correction quite well, but I'm thinking it is because he gets so much practice at it every day. Noticing all the trips to this special chair his big brother gets to take each day, Xavier has decided to institute his own time outs. He has taken to knee walking over to our time out chair, climbing in and sitting quite happily for a few minutes. After all, with all the time Loyd spends there, it must be a cool place to hang out. Let's hope he keeps such a positive attitude about being correc...

We've had a wonderfully fun two weeks. We have been lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa P and Aunt Jenny come and visit us. We took it slow the week of Christmas, but after the presents were opened and the candy was eaten we went adventuring! Aunt Jenny helped keep the kids busy by using her amazing teacher skills and doing art projects with the kids. They LOVED it and will treasure their hand-reindeer forever. We then picked the coldest and windiest day to visit the Gulf of Mexico. Loyd wasn't so sure he liked all the wind, but Bekah couldn't have cared less. It was all we could do to convince her not to go for a swim. We took advantage of the free day at the Houston Museum of Natural History on Tuesday and saw many wonderful things. The kids were able to play with a smoke machine in the weather center, see hundreds of mineral formations and beautiful gem stones, look at a real mummy and mummified cat, and top the day off with Bekah getting to hold real dinosaur poop! ...

We have spent the last month learning about different aspects of the Christmas story using a wonderful advent calendar from this year's December issue of the Friend. We finished the calendar on Christmas morning. It has been a great experience to spend a few minutes each night reconnecting through the scriptures with the Savior's birth story and the reason why we as a family celebrate Christmas. I recommend it to anyone looking for a new family tradition. Now, don't get me wrong, we still very much enjoy the presents and Santa Clause and Christmas candy at this time of year. I love to watch the excitement of the children on Christmas morning as they open their presents and fall in love with their new toys and dream about the mystery of Santa Clause. This year the kids woke up early to discover candy in their shoes, stockings on the couch, and wonderful presents under the tree. The twinkle of Santa Clause gleamed in their eyes as they beheld the magic of Christmas m...

I think Loyd has finally answered the age old question, "What do you do when you have more sticks than pockets?" The kids have been enjoying their new Christmas PJs from Grandma C. They loved them so much they couldn't wait to get their pictures taken in them. Bekah felt very pretty in her pink Mini Mouse nightgown. She would wear it every night if she could. Loyd was excited to have Mickey Mouse PJs that matched Bekah's . He looks up to his big sister with such love and excitement. He wants to do everything she does. He takes such handsome photos when I can get him to stop wiggling. Xavier must have been channelling Elmo from his new pajama set. He giggled and smiled all night long as we took pictures. Every time I said, "Cheese!" he would grin and squint his eyes and wait for the flash to hit. Don't let the previous pictures fool you. This was by no means a simple or easy photo shoot. Most of the time was spent corralling wiggling, giggling...