Special Events: Our Horses • House Addition • Mustangs 2008/09 • Mustangs 2007/08 • Mustangs 2006/07 • Summer Vacation 2011 • Family Traditions

Rick, Kelly, and Violet made a trip up to Kansas City and took in a Royals game vs. the LA Dodgers (Rick's favorite team). I'm envious, I really want to see the fountains at Kaufman stadium in person myself. From the pictures, it looks like they had a good time - and the hot dog in Kansas City don't look bad either...

Darrell decided to retire from Dell this month. I've worked with him for several years on different projects and have really enjoyed his spirit and personality - he's a good guy. Hoping he and his wife can now do all the things they want to for traveling, etc. Happy Retirement Darrell!

Jalen was a busy boy in June. We got to spend time with him around Kalyn's baby shower and Haley and he spent some time in the pool at home, and other fun stuff. He's getting so big, every time we see him he's changed so much.

This week the repairs/upgrades on the kids bedroom were completed. It turned out really nice, much brighter than before which is what Melody was looking for. Emma felt that the bed needed to be tested so she took a nap up there to break in the new remodeling. Mia has tried to claim this as her bedroom now - we'll see how that works out down the road :-).

To help keep cool this summer, Mia has a splash pad in her backyard now. It looks like a fun way to cool down and keep busy - plus it waters the lawn! Can't beat that!

Now that the deck is finished, we can get back to gardening again on the back porch. Things are blooming like crazy and we have a bunch of color all around. Since transplanting the Texas hibiscus, its started re-growing and is blooming which is good to see. I'm trying some other plants in pots and we'll see if they make it through the summer. The Black Eyed Susans are going crazy which is neat the flowers are so big.

So the rebuild of the deck began this week - the entire deck foundation is being rebuilt due to wood rot and water damage over the years. They are also installing some air vents for the deck foundation to allow for air flow to help things dry out better going forward. The connections to the house foundation will be re-enforced and flashing installed to help direct water away from the beams. New updated decking will be installed that don't require screws - they snap into tracks so its seamless surface. It should be nice once its all finished.

All the Father's in the family checked in (one way or another) on Father's Day - we kept it low key at our house. Welcome to the Fatherhood club Tank - this is your first one!

Haley and Charlie have recently started doing these crazy forehead selfie shots where you try to capture an image from over your head and it blows your head up in size. Not sure what the point of all this is but I had to participate. We even got Jalen into the act as well. Hoping its just fad...

This weekend we hosted a baby shower for Kalyn and Mia to celebrate the coming arrival of the newest Maloney. This was a really big deal for Mia, given this is going to be Mia's baby :-). They got quite a hall from the event and had a really good turnout. It was a lot of fun with everyone here - nice way to prepare for the coming arrival - only a couple months away! After the event we went to Jerry's Pizza for dinner which was a good way to close out the day. Congratulations Kalyn and Mia!

So this week Charlie adopted a little gray tabby kitten and named him Oliver. He's a cute little booger. Their other cat doesn't know what to make of him so far so I hope they will get along. Time will tell...

So we're at a point where we need to decide on colors for the paint and carpeting in the kid's bedroom where we had the ceiling damage. We went to Lowes and Home Deport and checked out the color patterns, Melody wants to go with a yellow tone this time. Things are moving forward...

The pair of Purple Martins continues to use the nest in the car porch and I believe there's now little ones hatched. They are in and out of the next continuously so they must be feeding now. Late in the month I expect to see them as they grow. Its always fun to watch this process the birds go through each year. Wonder if this pair is the same ones from last year?

So when it rains it pours - literally. We've already has issues with the ceiling leak in the bedroom, and now the patio deck had become detached from the foundation and is sinking. Most likely this is due to water damage and the beam holders have likely rusted or water rotted away. We're going to work with the Contractor who is doing the bedroom repair work and get this fixed as well. The deck is over 15 years old so not surprised its time for an upgrade.

On Sunday Bubba came over and we celebrated his birthday with cake and presents. He's an outdoors man so his gifts were targeted more in that direction. Happy Birthday Bubba!

So this weekend we switched it up and we went to Kalyns house overnight. We were helping out with some preparations for the arrival of Jack in August. In the morning, I worked with Mia on a Home Depot kids project and we built a putting game for her dad for Father's Day. Mia got all decked out in her tool belt and safety glasses for the task - safety first ya know. in the afternoon we met up with Ken, Hadie and Colt over in Weatherford for Hibachi which was fun. We then went and had some yogurt at the shop across the freeway. Colt and Mia had fun goofing off together as always.

Mia came over for the weekend and we spent some time on patio gardening and planting. Mia had no problem picking the black berry bush clean of fruit they have recently been ripening so her timing was perfect. We planted some flowers, and she picked one of my apples from the new apple tree I got last month - a tree growing on a trellis. We then played with the toy space shuttle I got at Easter - its RC and runs all over the backroom floor. Its pretty fast if you try and outrun it! Just ask Mia!

Allison graduated from 8th grade this year and Maddie graduated from High School. Quite the achievements for each of them - definite milestones to remember. Congratulations to both of you!

Tex also graduated from Kindergarten this year - we went over to the Van Elementary school to attend the ceremony. They also had caps and gowns and got little advancement diplomas as part of the ceremony. Congratulations Tex!

At Mia's school, they had a little graduation ceremony for the kids who will be moving on to Kindergarten next year. They had little caps and gowns and I believe they got a certificate or something for advancement. A nice milestone for the kids. Congratulations Mia!

Violet made it through a first year of Kindergarten and had a blast. She's grown so much and she's one sharp cookie. She reads really well and does really well with all her activities. I think its been a good year for her in school - can't wait to see what next year will bring.

I caught some pictures tonight of the fountain/waterfall all lit up at dusk. The sound this things makes is very relaxing - I really like it. Nice addition to the patio.

So Mia's class had a little performance called "Around the World" and they sang and acted out a song created by their teacher (I believe?). Kalyn was able to attend and captured a short video. Very cute kids

The dogs love to snooze under my desk during the day a lot of the time. I usually have 1-3 foot warmers under there most days. As always, they are a big part of our daily routine, we have to attend to their snack needs, playtime, and of course bed time where they are the ultimate bed hogs. Not sure what we'd do without them.

We traveled up to Highland Village for Violet's Spring Dance Recital which was really good. The whole program had a Disney theme to it and all the routines were danced to Disney music. Violet's dance was to "Under the Sea" from the Little Mermaid. She (and the group) did a really good job - quite the toe tapper she is!

Jalen continues to grow and is 4 months old now. He keeps changing week by week. Haley and Tank are now in their routine so that helps. Looking forward to seeing them again soon, I think we'll be making a trip down to Sulfur in the near future.

We had an afternoon storm roll through our area and afterwards, there was a really nice sunset with the trailing clouds on the front that came through. Caught it at just the right time I think.

We have several bouquets in the house for Mother's Day - several persons sent some for the ladies in the house. Brightens up the place, don't you think? Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!

Things are really starting to bloom around the yard and the patio so we're getting some really good color this year. I've planted some additional things in pots so we'll see how they do. the day lilies looked really good this year, and the other plants are taking off. I really enjoy all the colors - and I hope it brings in the humming birds and bees for the summer.

Its Spring and the Purple Martins have returned. A pair have taken up residence in the nest that was built some years ago in our car port. She looks to be getting ready to lay some eggs so we'll see what happens. Its always fun to watch the little ones develop and leave the nest.

Its taken almost 20 years but we have a plumbing issue in our bathroom tub. Started finding water around the bottom of the tub outside and it was coming from underneath the facade. I had that removed and we found that the faucet valve is leaking - calling a plumber to replace the part. Finding this is going to be fun, not sure they make these anymore, may need to switch out the whole faucet. We'll see...

We took another trip up to Fort Worth to take in another T-Ball game with Mia. Watching these little tikes try and play is interesting with a bunch of parents in the field trying to guide them around, and get them to pay attention and play their positions. Its organized chaos for sure. But, I wouldn't miss it for the world - good experience for these kids. they'll get it...

This is the first time in my life time that there's been a change to the Monarchy in Britain. With the passing of Queen Elizabeth earlier this year, her son Charles has assumed the throne as the next in line. Charles's son Prince William, who is now the Prince of Whales is the next in line behind Charles. I do have respect for the pageantry around the monarchy, they've been rocked by scandals and such during my life time which is sad, but I guess every family has its issues, its just theirs is made so public.

Its that time of year again where the school year is coming to a close and we have to recognize the different accomplishments for the year - this time its the sports aspect. Charlie played in only 1 sport this year; Basketball. This was the first year the team made it back to the playoffs in some time so it was special. Coach Brown did a good job pulling the group together and getting them to play as a team - Hoping this will carry over to next year and be just as competitive...

We traveled south down to Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley to help celebrate Danny's birthday at their house. Danny and Nellie are now engaged and will be married next March. The party was held at the park that Nellie and Danny live in and family came in for the event as well as local family and friends from the park. It was a very nice party that Nellie put on for Danny, they even has a Mariachi Band show up and play music - they were really good. We continued to socialize until the sun went down and then a smaller group met up for dinner at a local Italian restaurant - Cortino's which is always good. Next morning we met with Nellie and Danny and the immediate family for breakfast in Weslaco before heading for home. It was a good weekend trip. Happy Birthday Danny!

Seems like its become a tradition now that kids when they become seniors will have some personal photo shoots to outline their personality and important things they want to celebrate or recognize before ending their high school days. I think its a cool way to sum up this point in their life given this is an important milestone to remember. Maddie's going to be going to A&M Commerce up in Greenville, TX so she's showing off that aspect of her next ambitions. Looks like a good set of photos to remember this point in time. Good luck Maddie!

Charlie and his friends all met up for pre-Prom pictures in Athens at the Arboretum. Charlie was going to the Prom with Kiley and Mack and his date, and another friend and his date. Not sure where they got the car for the background but I like the color. Everyone looked pretty spiffy in their duds and from all reports, they had a good time. Time marches on...

So we planned to have some of the kids over for Easter after events at their house in the morning. Everyone showed up around lunch time and we started the festivities. the Easter Bunny had baskets for the little ones and we BBQ'd some pulled pork and hot dogs for lunch. We also snuck in a late family recognition of my birthday (ie. the NASA cake). Things got set up for the backyard egg hunt and the competition was on. Tex, Mia, Remi all looking for eggs furiously. Autumn brought a friend with her who had a son so we had a new member to the troupe today. Once all the eggs were found, we got out the confetti eggs and the kids got to smash them on each other and the parents - its messy but they sure do like to do this. Even the dogs got some eggs on them. It was a good Easter celebration with everyone.

This month Rick has been working with Violet to learn to ride her bike. The training wheels came off and things got serious :-). She picked it up pretty quick from what I've been told and we got to see her actually ride it while on Face Time - Congratulations Violet on this important milestone! Just remember, when you fall off the bike you just need to get back on and keep peddling!

Rick's work requires him to travel to clients sometimes and this month he made a trip to Chicago to meet up with a co-worker and visit a client. As part of the trip, he and his co-worker took in a Chicago White Sox game on the South Side. I believe its still known as Cominsky Park and has pin wheels on the top of the scoreboard. Its cool to be able to see things like this when on a business trip. I hope to go there one day - its on my bucket list to visit and see a game at each of the MLB stadiums.

Mia decided to play T-Ball this year and she is going to play on the Yankees. We made a trip over to watch one of her games. She's one of the younger kids and is still learning the basics. She can throw and hit, and knows how to field for the most part. Its interesting to notice the difference between boys and girls at this age. You can tell by how they handle themselves in the field. She seems to enjoy playing and does pretty well - I think she has enough coordination that she could hit from someone pitching to her but they make them use a T - wish they didn't, starts bad habits I think.

So, we unexpectedly found that our AC drain got plugged up and caused a water leak which destroyed part of the ceiling in the spare bedroom. Nice. insulation and wet dry wall was everywhere and soaked ans stained the carpeting as well. We called out a AC guy and they fixed/converted the drain to a safety switch that will kill the AC if the water level reaches a specific point. this should help going forward. We got an estimate on the repair work and worked with a local contractor for the repair work. Hoping to get it done by next month - Melody wants some upgrades so this is now a project more than just a repair job.

Jalen continues to grow and is continuously changing. He's going through the thinning hair process this month it seems. Haley made it down for Easter so he got to spend time with Papi and Memaw which is nice, and we went over and stopped in to say hi one evening. Jalen and Charlie have an interesting relationship - they seem to like to stare at each other. I hope they converse at some point :-)

We made our way up to another soccer game for Violet. The Dolphins continue to play well and be competitive. Violet really seems to like soccer and is pretty good at it. She occasionally scores and gets along with her team mates well. Rick continues to coach which he seems to like and he does well with the kids.

April is really the start of spring and things start growing. We got off to a good start in April with many blooms and planting additional things to get some color going. As usual, we made our annual spring visit to Hand Nursery and Lowes and Home Depot to pick out new flowers. Miracle Grow is your friend and I use it religiously. I've found that i get more blooms and foliage on the plants when I do use it, usually once a week. Enjoy the color, hoping the humming birds and butterflies do! We also ended up getting a new waterfall fountain at Calloway's and put it on the back porch. Our other fountain finally gave out and was leaking so it went bye bye. This new waterfall fountain has a really nice sound to it.

This is Maddie's senior year so of course, she's going to the Prom. She and her escort (I will need to get his name) took some good photos together, I'm assuming they had a good time at the event as well.

Today we traveled over to Fort Worth and picked up Mia and headed for the zoo. Wanted to see the new Elephant enclosure that has opened since we were here last time - Elephant Springs. They have a new baby elephant on display now too (Brazos I think?). We made our way around and saw many animals - unfortunately the Giraffes weren't eating so we couldn't feed them but we got to see them. There was a new baby giraffe as well - very young. And some sort of large vulture bird in the giraffe area - hadn't seen these birds before that I recall. We rode the train, the merry-go-round, and spent time in the Texas Farm animal area which was fun for Mia. We then got some tattoos, and then finished things up with the gorillas and the flamingos. We then went back to Kalyn's house just in time to get some hail. Crazy weather this time of year in Texas. It was a fun day all around.

There was an Art Show being put on in Athens at the Arboretum and Charlie entered one of his paintings from the sessions that we did with Mr. Vic at Hobby Lobby. There were several different art types on display, which reminded me of the State Fair and all the different art projects they show there. Charlie's paining ended up getting a blue ribbon which was nice. I really liked some of the quilt work that was on display there - really nice patterns.

Jalen is now 2 months old and so much has happened to him so far. He was born, his parents got married, and he got to meet most of his extended family over the past week or so. He's a real cutie and it was fun to get to spend some time with him at the recent wedding. Looking forward to watching him grow!

Ken was asked to be the photographer for Haley and Tank's wedding and as usual, he did a fabulous job. These are the official photos from the event that were given to Haley and Tank.

Well the day has arrived. We got up early and headed over to the venue to finish off setting up the wedding ceremony area with chairs and decorations, finish off any last prep needed in the reception hall, and then everyone hustled to get ready for ceremony. We went back to the hotel and got cleaned up and dressed, and then headed back again. Ken spent the day around the venue taking pictures of everything, he was the official photographer. Festivities got started on time and Haley looked beautiful. All the flower girls were in their glory with sun glasses and such. The ceremony was simple and straight forward - George was the officiator and did a great job.

Once the ceremony was complete, guests headed for the reception hall and the wedding party took additional pictures. The we all gathered in the reception hall for food and fun. There was a DJ playing all kinds of music, and all the families got out there and had a good time. All in all, it was a very special day - Best wishes for a long life together Haley and Tank!

On Sunday Charlie and I went into Dallas to visit the Perot Museum and in particular, to the the Pixar animation exhibit that's been on display. Charlie may have an interest in computer animation or something after High School so we thought this may be a good thing to check out. The Pixar exhibit was really good, and this being our first time to the museum, I found the other sections to be pretty interesting as well. A Good Dinosaur display and the science sections was pretty cool as well. The also have a Hunt family display which had some KC Chiefs and Dallas FC memorabilia on display. All in all, it was a good adventure.