Peter Journal

Suzuki Recital

2023-03-29T21:46:00.001-05:00

Proud of Peter for completing his Suzuki Book 2 Recital! His teacher, Dr. Kate Jones, provided beautiful accompaniment. Peter is most excited about Goblin’s Dance which he switched to a swinging Jazz form.

Recital Link

Peter Turns 11 and Other Happenings

2023-03-11T13:45:00.002-06:00

For Peter’s 11th Birthday, he chose to invite his friends Ryan and Ford over for a sleepover. There was pizza. There was WWE. There was fun.

For his birthday, Uncle Brad happened to be in town for business. Gramma and Grampa came to visit for this dual celebration.

Also going on, Peter and Ryan presented a ventriloquist act in the school talent show. It was a kids joke act with a presentational flair and was delightful.

Peter did a fabulous job in the Suzuki Strings sólo recital at Wilshire Elementary.

Oh yeah

2023-02-25T15:58:00.000-06:00

Oh yeah… we have a blog for Peter. This young man will soon be eleven. He’s a fifth grader at Wilshire Elementary. He’s funny, smart and devilishly handsome. Peter plays double bass in the elementary honors orchestra and is starting baseball next week. He loves to read novels, watch YouTube, and pester his sister. He also enjoys playing with his friends Josiah, Ford, Hendrix, and Crosby. Peter gets himself back and forth to school and is very responsible.

Rodeo Day

2017-03-25T08:43:00.001-05:00

Peter's school had a super-fun Rodeo Day! They do a great job with lots of activities set up in the gym for all the little buckaroos and gals to do. They even have ponies come to school that week.

Christmas program

2016-12-13T15:29:00.001-06:00

Peter was Joseph in his preschool play. It was his first lead role, even if it was a non-speaking one, and he put a lot of work into practicing all the songs and motions. He has been super excited about it for the past couple of weeks.

Hope this wasn't awkward, the Lead Sheep has a thing for Peter.

In his classroom, post-show.

With the leading lady (Katherine).

Talking to Santa at the reception afterwards.

The Circus came to town

2016-03-11T16:42:00.001-06:00

The Preschool circus, that is. Just like Sophie, Peter was one of Mrs. F's tightrope walkers. There was no safety net, but everyone made it across the not-so-high, not-so-wire safely.

Peter's 4th birthday

2016-03-06T20:53:00.002-06:00

Peter is 4 today and he is getting to be such a big boy. He loves preschool and playing with his friends and anything Sophie is doing. He can talk like nobody's business.

Today we had some neighbors and classmates over for his birthday. We didn't plan too many activities because the weather was nice and the whole gang of them spent an hour running around, screeching, going from his room to the backyard over and over again. We did play duck duck goose and do the hokey pokey, and that's what it's all about.

Favorite present? the green light saber

Things you don't want to fight with your batman sword...

2015-06-27T11:12:00.001-05:00

Giant hornet nests!

Peter found wasps on the play fort and decided he would fight them off with his sword. He quickly & decisively lost the battle and ended up with 10-12 stings.

We gave him some Benadryl & took him to the ER. They said he'd be fine, that it's actually better to be stung by wasps than bees because wasp stings are localized irritations and don't overwhelm your system. Not that it made Peter feel any better. But the Benadryl really helped & he's watching a movie, which helped more.

Peter's 3rd Birthday

2015-05-28T17:31:00.002-05:00

Another super-fun birthday party at Paradise Pond!

"I don't want to!"

2014-10-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

"I don't want to," is by far and away Peter's favorite thing to say right now. I'd hazard that the last few days, 9 out of 10 times you tell/ask him to do something, that's the reply you're gonna get. I don't want to:

get in the car
put on my clothes
eat supper
put something away
go to daycare
say goodbye to my friend
give Sophie her book
ride in the stroller

Being two is hard.

Boston/CT Days 6 and 7

2014-09-11T21:06:00.001-05:00

Monday we headed back to Boston. But first we went with Brad and Noah to a bouncy house place in a nearby town. I'd tell you what it was called, but it was closing the next week. Anyway, it was lots of fun. Then we went next door to the oldest barbecue place in CT, for whatever that's worth. Our server seemed to be excited that we were Texans. Tuesday we had one more free day to spend in Boston before heading home, so we went to Boston Commons and then found an awesome seafood place to have supper.

It was a great trip. We had fun seeing Aunt Shelly, Uncle Bradley and the boys and especially at the birthday party. And the touristy stuff on our own was good, too. Boston is pretty easy to get around in by public transit, which is good since parking is even more outrageously expensive than the hotel rooms. It was also cheaper for us to fly there on JetBlue. We'd never flown them before, but they were great. Unlimited free snacks, plenty of legroom, and directTV at every seat. That kept Sophie occupied pretty much the entire flight both ways.

At the Frog Pond.

Boston/CT Day 5

2014-09-10T21:12:00.002-05:00

Sunday was cousin Noah's 2nd Birthday Party. The theme was a baseball party and everyone got Team Noah hats and jerseys. I don't have pics from the actual party. However, in the morning Brad & I took all the kids to the nearby playground to get them out of the way during party prep.

Peter & Troy having a good time together.

Post playground snack.

1st week back in the petri dish

2014-08-31T15:41:00.000-05:00

After only 1 week back at daycare, Peter is sick. :( This morning we noticed he was stuffy and had a runny nose, then after nap, he had a 100.4 fever.

Boston/CT Day 4

2014-08-30T13:16:00.001-05:00

On Saturday we went with Brad & Shelly's family & Gramma & Grampa to Dinosaur State Park outside of Hartford, CT. The kids thought it was pretty neat. Its a building over a spot where they unearthed hundreds of dino tracks. We also hiked in the nearby woods. That night we went to nearby Glastonbury for their Strawberry Moon Festival. We saw neither strawberries nor the moon, but it was a cool street festival with local restaurants having A Taste of Glastonbury.

Stamping dino tracks on bookmarks.

Frumpiest snack ever.

Staked out a great spot at the street festival.

Grampa, Gramma, Peter & Sophie

Boston/CT Day 3

2014-08-27T21:00:00.002-05:00

We left Boston for Connecticut on Friday, about a 2 hour drive. Located conveniently halfway is Old Sturbridge Village, which is set up as a historical New England Village from the 1800s. Sophie enjoyed this a lot, since she could compare some of the stuff to Mary & Laura's lives in the Little House books. Peter enjoyed it because there were lots of animals around.

The Small House

Meeting House

Fancier Meeting House

Heritage garden

Millstones

Tin smith

At the cobblers

Boston/CT Day 2

2014-08-26T21:26:00.000-05:00

Slight hiatus since the First Day, but I'm back.

Day 2 we walked to the airport bus terminal to catch the (free, when you pick it up at the airport) Silver Line, which is actually a bus, though it's on the metro route and goes underground via electric power at some points.

Then we visited the fantastic Boston Children's museum, which is multiple levels of fun, literally.

An encore ride on the escalator.

Construction zone playplace.

Sophie, Arthur & friends.

This climbing structure went from the 1st floor to the roof above the 4th.

The big & little area.

Sophie's favorite exhibit: Ready for Kindergarten

Checking out turtles in the science area.

Tea Party ship in the harbah.

Lobstahs by the watah.

Boston/CT Day 1

2014-07-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

In the middle of June we took a week-long trip to New England to do some sightseeing and visit Uncle Bradley & Aunt Shelly and cousins Troy & Noah. We flew into Boston and stayed there for two nights, rented a car and drove to Connecticut on Friday, hung out with the relatives and got to be there for Noah's 2nd Birthday, then drove back to Boston on Monday for another night (or two). Phew!

"We're on an airplane!"

Pretty cheery, considering the 6:45am departure time.

If you're into planes, buses, trains, etc. this trip had it all.

Even a toddler accessible microwave. Thanks, Embassy Suites!

After settling in, we headed out on a Duck Boat!

"Captain Tugboat" takes us from land to sea (or river).

Captain Sophie!

She was having a blast.

Peter would have if Captain Tugboat would quit talking to him.

Ft. Worth Nature Center

2014-07-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

This is from Mother's Day. We went hiking at the Ft. Worth Nature Center. I'd never heard of it, but it's 3000 acres of wilderness with 20 miles of trails, just 20 mins from downtown, and it has a bison herd (which we didn't see) and a prairie dog town.

The Touching Table--I think this was the kids' favorite thing.

Easter Pics

2014-07-05T21:20:00.004-05:00

Catching up here. A few from the Easter gathering in SA.

quick April photos

2014-04-28T17:24:00.001-05:00

Car Wash

Mr. Cool in his new sunglasses

March Pics and out to eat story

2014-03-22T13:34:00.001-05:00

Thursday night we went out to eat. Peter and Sophie both ordered the corn dog kids meals, but before they came the waiter brought my side salad. I gave Peter my cherry tomato, which he loves. There were also a couple slices of purple onion. I asked if he wanted any onions and he said no. Then after a minute, he said, "I want more tomato," but I told him I didn't have any more, so he said, "I want onion."

I gave him the small slice of onion and we watched and waited. He popped the whole thing in his mouth and chewed it. He gave a funny grimace and said, "Spicy." But he kept chewing it and finished it. Then he said with a frown, "I no like it." But we were impressed that he didn't just spit it out all over his shirt.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Peter!

2014-03-06T22:58:00.001-06:00

More February Pics

2014-02-27T22:31:00.002-06:00

Big fun with beans.

Not as messy as rice!

The Grover Remote.

After a slight trim.

New jammies!

Add caption

Favorite place to sit? Sophie's chair, of course!

Reading with Big Sister.

Snow day

2014-02-13T20:56:00.002-06:00

Finally last week we had a snow day that wasn't ice, just big fluffy snow. It didn't impact school or the roads that much, but gave the kids got an opportunity to go out and play in it one more time. Well, actually there wasn't much playing. It was just an excuse to go out and eat snow.

Sophie loves cold things. She always wants "ice cold water" to drink--never just water. And she is all about eating snow and ice. Of course, Peter has to do whatever she's doing, so he wants his share, even if it seems to pain him sometimes!

Time outs

2014-02-04T10:00:00.000-06:00

Last week I introduced Peter to the concept of time-outs for blatantly climbing on top of the kitchen table after I told him to get down off the chairs.

And one other time for hitting his sister.

That reminds me, another favorite thing he says a lot is, "Funny," or "that's funny," or "that's silly". He says it often when appropriate. But he also says it whenever Sophie hits us (which just gives her an audience and eggs her on) or whenever he hits her.