Kip and Friends

This week was Fiesta in San Antonio, and J and I had to opportunity to participate fully for the first time with J's sister Greta, who was a Duchess. I have been told that this SA tradition is second only to Marti Gras ... and based on the traffic this week I believe it. I will write more about the events of the week later, but for now wanted to share this cute picture that my friend sent me. Trip spent Saturday evening with his friends Daniel and David while J and I were at an event. This is a picture of the three of them watching TV. Daniel (the oldest) refers to Trip as "Kip", which I think is hilarious. I wonder if the nickname will stick between these two friends??? I can't wait to see how their little friendships grow.

The Giggles

Isn't it funny how little boys think sound effects are so cool? Here is Trip laughing at J making dog sounds, and then a video of Trip making dog sounds of his own!

Growing Boy

Trip has really been on the move lately, so I thought I'd document some of the fun things he is up to ...

Throwing food (fun for Trip, fun for Jack (our dog), not so fun for me)

Playing with his new "baw" from Wal-Mart

Still loves "Ahh Eee" as he calls his Lamby

J calls this half of our living room "Trip's Play Land" ... his toys have gotten out of control!

Loves to read. Favorite books are "Baby Einstein's Touch and Feel Neighborhood Animals" and his favorite page of that book is the "Daw" page (that's dog in Trip language). Other favorite book is "Fly High" with pop up airplane, helicopter, hot air balloon and jet fighter. He loves the "Boon" page the most and points at the different color balloons so that I can say the color. I can already tell that he is going to wear me out with reading the same books over and over. But he is just so cute when he crawls up to me holding a book, I can't resist!

I have had to take all of the batteries out of our remote controls because he loves playing with (AKA throwing) them!

Words: Baw (ball), Ahh Eee (used interchangeably for Lamby, Jack or Mia), Daw (dog), Dat (while pointing, saying "that"), Dadda (everything else, including his Dad)
Signs: All done, Food/Water


My new favorite thing that Trip has learned is to give me kisses. This is the most precious thing and I make him give me kisses all of the time because I know it won't last long!

GO CLARA!

J's little sister Clara had her Juniors vs. Seniors Powderpuff Football game last night and she was the star quarterback! Clara's team, the Juniors, lost unfortunately, but it was a lot of fun to see Clara dominate! Trip was in quite the mood (as you can see from his face in this picture). He finally cheered up when people in the stands started cheering and clapping ... I think he thought it was for him. He picked up on the yelling and clapping routine and has been "entertaining" me with it all day! He was also pretty funny when the drum line walked by. He gripped J's neck in terror, but had a huge grin on his face. I wonder if Trip will be a football player or band member one day?

(By the way - the face Trip is giving in this picture is the one he gives to strangers who approach us in the grocery store. Pretty intimidating for a 1-year-old.)

Neighborhood BBQ & Visit from Friends

A couple of weekends ago, we hosted a neighborhood barbecue at our house to spread the word about J's candidacy for City Council. Our good friends, the Triggers, made the journey to help out and to hang out! On Saturday morning we took the kids down to the "duck pond" (as 2-year-old John Reid called it) to feed the ducks. The Cibolo Creek runs right past our neighborhood and is full with water, ducks and geese, and the weather was perfect for the outing. Then, we headed home to prepare for the party. We had a decent showing and truly enjoyed getting to meet some new neighbors and make new friends.

The boys relaxing and watching basketball.

Thank you Triggers for all of your help, we had such a blast and can't wait for the next time you come to visit!

Kuper for Council

As some of you might know, J is running for City Council in our little town. Navigating our way through small-town politics has brought some blessings and some challenges for our family of three, but at the end of the day we are excited that the Lord has given us the opportunity to impact our community for His glory. J has had the chance to meet most of our neighbors while he walks the streets campaigning, and I have gotten to exercise my creative side by designing his yard signs and fliers. While campaigning has made for many late nights and busy weekends, it is an experience we are both trying to appreciate as once-in-a-lifetime.

He is Risen!

Easter is my favorite holiday and a significant one for many reasons. THE significance - Christ's death on the cross, defeat of sin, and resurrection - is why we celebrate this weekend and every day as Christians. Because He rose to life, we have life!

Growing up, my parents always made a big deal about Easter. We would wake up just before dawn every Easter morning. My mom would have hot chocolate and cozy blankets ready for all of the kids (in Missouri it is still pretty cold in April), and my dad would make a fire in the backyard and then read the story of Easter from the Bible while we watched the sun rise through the trees. After my dad passed away, my mom made a point of continuing this tradition with me and my brothers and sister ... even if that meant lighting a candle or a Dura-flame log! Our family was so blessed when my mom remarried and two new siblings and my step-dad joined in this family tradition.

Throughout my teenage years, Kent would try and come up with new illustrations to share the Gospel of Christ each Easter. One year, in an effort to explain how even a small sin makes us complete sinners, he baked a batch of brownies and told all of us kids that he had put "just a little bit" of our dog's poop in the mix, which ruined the entire batch. I tried to call his bluff by eating one of the brownies, and I am sorry to say that Kent was not lying. Another year, Kent wrote all of his sins down on a note card and covered the entire thing with ketchup, which was supposed to represent Christ's blood covering our sins. Of course, my little brothers both tried wiping the ketchup off of the note card to read what Kent had written.

All that to explain that J and I are continuing this Easter tradition of having a family sunrise service. This year we celebrated Easter with my sister and J's brother and mom. It was overcast and sprinkling out, so we had to improvise and have our sunrise service on the front porch. We read the Easter story from Trip's "Jesus Storybook Bible", and Trip decided to talk and yell throughout the entire story - I'm sure waking the neighbors! Anna and I made breakfast, we all took naps, Trip dug through his Easter basket, and then we headed to church.

A few pictures from the weekend.

On a side note ... As the mom of a 1-year-old, I was struck this year by the amount of propaganda about the Easter bunny geared toward kids. I'm not opposed to a fun Easter egg hunt, or having an Easter basket, but I was a little caught off guard at the way our society has removed Christ from Easter almost entirely. I'm not sure why this has happened to the most important Christian holiday, and it doesn't seem to affect other religions' important holidays. We don't have a made up Ramadan Rabbit, or a Kwanzaa Bear. This has all made me so thankful that my parents have placed the emphasis of Easter rightly on Christ, and I am challenged to continue that legacy with my own children.