Cousin Camp Part 2

Cousin Camp is almost done but the kids have had a great time so far. Owen is TIRED but I'm sure as soon as it's over he'll be wishing that it would have never ended. The kids are all here tonight and we are headed to Lake Conroe in the morning. Here are some pics that I got from Mimi's camera.

The kids in a space ship at NASA

Owen riding a horse at Mimi and Popi's friend's ranch

Swim time where all you can see of Owen is the back of his head

The kids and two Stormtroopers. Owen says this was his favorite part!

Cousin Camp Part 1

The kids have been having a great time so far at Mimi and Popi's house. Once I get all of the pictures, I'll post to show all the fun they've been having. The kids came over to our house today so that the grandparents could have a break. Kayla LOVES the new kitten and they all played together really nicely. I think Cameron may be as obssessed with the Wii as Owen is :)

Cool website

http://www.wordle.net/

You put in your blog address and it takes a bunch of the words to make a collage. Now if I could just get it to blow up big enough to make something to put on the wall!

The Pear revisted

This weekend we spent the night at the Ogburns to hang out at the pool and see some of our favorite friends. Greg and April and their kids were in for the weekend from San Antonio and despite all the craziness it was great to see them :) Owen loved the madness of 5 kids under the age of 4 and spent most of the day in the pool. Bryan re-named James Doug and Owen is still referring tohim as such. And somehow baby Jake is now Baby Doug :) Tonight, Owen went to Mimi and Popi's house for a week for Cousin Camp. He asked the ENTIRE day if it was time to go because he loves getting any time to spend with the cousins. Bryan's out of town so I decided to paint the master bathroom with all of my free time. I got about half way through tonight until I realized how much I really do hate to paint and so I'll put it off until tomorrow!

Thanks Patty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Owen was thrilled when I picked him up from school today and said that there was a package waiting for him. When he opened it, he found the Cheeky Monkey Webkinz that he keeps telling me he wants for Christmas. He LOVES to get packages and was feeling a bit left out with the cards, flowers and meals people have been dropping off in honor of Bree. Patty, you totally made his day :)

And after we adopted cheeky monkey online, he decided we needed to have a photoshoot and here are the results!

Owen and Cheeky Monkey taking a nap
Cheeky Monkey working it out on the Wii Fit
Cheeky Monkey sharpening his monkey claws on the cat's scratching thing Cheeky Monkey using the restroom

Cheeky Monkey swinging from the bunk beds
Cheeky Monkey getting his sit and spin on
Cheeky Monkey meeting the new kitten :)

Our latest addiction

Popi found us a Wii fit which I had been stalking for weeks when I was pregnant. Owen mainly likes to pick what exercises he makes us do but he likes the running one where he tries to beat the trainer. We've let our membership at the gym go so I'm hoping this will get me motivated to exercise while it's so hot outside.

Owen in action

Yes, the TV is GIGANTIC

Owen showing how big his muscles are after he's exercised

Introducing.......

Brownie, also known as Amidala (for all of you Star Wars fans) whom Owen and I picked out today from the Humane Society. The logic behind it was that Namey was lonely after we lost Spotty and would like to have a cat to play with. Originally we were doing to get an older cat but Owen saw this one and couldn't resist. So like all great plans, this one didn't go QUITE the way we thought it would as demonstrated by Namey's reaction below. She doesn't seem as excited about the kitten as Owen does.

Owen the fish

Bree Anne

As most of you guys already know, Bree Anne Hulshof was born on July 14th at 4:16 am weighing 2 lbs 15 oz and was 15 inches long. Sadly, we knew that she had already gone to heaven before her birth but Bryan and I were able to spend time with her after. Owen has taken the news fairly well. Lots of tears at first and he said that he really wanted a baby sister to play with the cats with him. Today seems better for him as he's talked about her alot today and even says that he now has a baby sister but that she's in heaven :)

We have the best friends and family who have been SO supportive over the last few days and have made sure that we couldn't need a thing.

The Grisswold Family Vacation

Several months ago, we were talking with the Flemings about how fun it would be to rent an RV and take a trip to Amy's parents' house in Ruidoso, NM. Flash forward a few months and I'm pregnant and we couldn't get an RV but we decided to go anyways. So we loaded up Lita's Armada and headed up to Dallas to pick up the Flemings and then made the 10+ hour drive up there. The drive up was fine but the drive home was BRUTAL. We left at 7:00 pm on Sunday night and rolled into the Woodlands at around 10 the next morning after a quick stop in Dallas to drop them off. Being 30 weeks pregnant and trying to sleep in a car is not a good mix but other than that, the trip was great!!! It was absolutely beautiful, the weather was great, we did a ton of fun stuff with the kids and as always it was great to hang out with the Flemings. Below are the highlights from the trip.

There are more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephhulshof/NewMexico02

All 3 kids at the 4th of July parade in the hometown of Smokey the Bear. They had a great time, especially when they figured out that people threw candy from the floats. It was like taking a step back into the past with the small town and all the locals but a really nice parade where the kids could sit right up front.


Owen and Emma after the parade. They hadn't seen in each other in a few months and really had fun together. By the end of the trip, they were back to being like brother and sister, lots of playing and LOTS of fighting :)


The kids put out peanuts for the blue jays on the balcony and feed for the deer down by the creek. We got to see SO many animals up close. We saw deer, wild turkeys, chipmunks, tons of different birds, and Bryan and Jeff allegedly saw a bear late one night on the way home from the casino.

Owen and his peanuts.


The kids hanging out on the front porch in the morning where it was cold!! The weather was gorgeous and in the 70s all day and cooled off at night. And the absence of humidity is a beautiful thing!!!

Flemings vs. Flemings on the go kart track.

Owen and Bryan on the go kart track.

My future Tiger Woods. Owen has played miniature golf a few times and loves it. The only problem is that he doesn't let the ball stop before hitting it again.

Luckily the bumper boats were saved for last because they were soaked by the end of it. The whole time Jeff kept yelling "Duck Owen!!!" so that he would stop getting beamed in the face. They had a great time but in the end, they were freezing cold and ready to go home.

Bryan and Owen before they were completely soaked.

We went fishing at a trout pond and ended up catching 10 fish between us all in less than an hour. Little did we know that all of those fish would end up being EXPENSIVE!!! Bryan and Jeff spent a LONG time grilling the fish which only they were brave enough to eat and reportedly ended up tasting not so good.

This is right before we left at the horse races. By this time the kids were fighting pretty much constantly :) I think everyone had a great time but was just ready to be back at home.