Southlake Art in the Square

Josh was an artist in the Southlake Art in the Square last weekend. We were so excited! We were thrilled that he sold all of his biggest works, as well as many smaller pieces. Several people also approached him for local photography club workshops and offered gallery exposure. He is very passionate about his work and our question is, when could we make this a full time thing?
Ashley helped out for a couple of hours on Saturday morning with setup and then she got paid. She was very excited about that and can't wait to help with the next show!
Here's my new favorite work of Josh's. Thanks to friends who came by! It was fun to chat with you :)

Cute conversations

A conversation between Natalie and I last night:
"Oh no, your baby's crying! Can you help her?"
(Nat) "Where's baby's mommy?"
"Are you baby's mommy? You could be the mommy and help her feel better."
(Nat) "No, I not her mommy. I little Natalie."
So, she found a bigger baby and said, "Here's baby's mommy!"

Later, I told Josh about what she had said and he asked her, "Are you the baby's mommy?" She said, "No, I the baby sister."


Conversations with Zack:
"Here you go babe" (as I was helping him get into his carseat)
(Zack) "I'm not babe."
"Sorry, buddy."
(Zack) "No"
"Well, what can I call you then?"
(Zack) "Speedboy."

Zack was reflecting on his future career choices...
"Mom, what can I be when I grow up?"
We talked about tons and tons of different career choices: taking pictures or working on the computer like daddy, being a doctor like granddaddy, working with animals, helping people with their money (he is big into earning money lately), teacher, etc.
(Zack) "I could be a worker."
"What kind of worker?"
(Zack) "Working to build houses or sidewalks."
"Yea, you could do that."
(Zack) "But I don't have any bricks...I could be spiderman"
"Oh yea?"
(Zack) "But I don't have any clothes that fly."
"Hmmmm"
(Zack) "What about superman?"
"You know there are jobs that are like superheroes because they help people. Jobs like doctors, firemen, policemen. Remember the ambulance guys that came when Ashley was hurt? (side note: she hit the corner of a door on her forehead and was bleeding quite a lot!) You could do that and help people."
(Zack) "Hmmm. I don't know what I should do!"
"Well, it is a good thing you have a long time to think about it while you grow up."


Conversations with Ashley...
Ashley has also been contemplating her future. She is sure she wants to be a ballerina in the Nutcracker, a mom, and a .....rock-painter. She really loved painting the rocks over spring break and said she would love to do more of that. At school, they had to draw what they wanted to be when they grew up and she said she wanted to be a rock-painter. I bet her teacher has never had that answer before! Maybe we'll have to paint a family rock or something.

After thinking about Bindi the Jungle Girl, she decided she wanted to be a jungle girl and a rock-painter. She said they would work well together because she "could walk through the jungle while finding rocks to paint." This coming from a girl who FREAKS out seeing any kind of spider, bug, even a fly.

Easter

Easter was very nice this year. Josh's parents and brother Parker came up to visit and we enjoyed a little boating, some yummy food, movie watching, and Easter decorating and egg hunting. The kids really liked spending time with their grandparents, especially since we hadn't seen Grandpa for a while (he was on a research vessel for Texas A&M for several months.)

For one of the movies, we watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," a WWII film about a Nazi concentration camp. It was very interesting, but the ending completely caught me off guard. I recommend the movie for those who enjoy movies of that terrible time period.

On a more upbeat note, we LOVED decorating Easter eggs with dye, food-safe markers, and stickers.
Don't they look so cute? Ashley and Natalie loved being twins and Natalie said she loved her "dancing dress."
Everyone loved looking for the eggs. The Easter bunny hid them inside since outside was all wet and soggy.
While opening all the eggs, I noticed Natalie would open and eat, open and eat, etc. I asked Grandpa how much she had eaten and he said "Alot!" Needless to say, we put the candy away after that. I didn't want any tummy aches!

New Braunfels

Last on our trip was New Braunfels, we stayed in a time share there and loved Barbecue (Natalie loved the pickles. She ate a whole bowl of them)--
a local art show--
and the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. The kids loved throwing food out the window at the animals.
Their favorite was the ostrich which was right next to our car!
The petting zoo was also a lot of fun. Natalie kept trying to hug the goats, but they weren't very cooperative. Ashley and Zack loved to try to get the goats to eat hay.

Fredericksburg

On our spring break trip, we also went to Fredericksburg for a picnic lunch and (German dinner the previous night). We picnicked at a park in the middle of town and of course the kids loved playing on the playground. Jenny and Brandi helped Natalie walk on a balance beam and then flip off for a dismount.
Of course, Zack and Ashley then had to do it too!
Everyone loved playing together.
All the kids were very worried when Josh got on too ("Daddy, you're too big!") because they tipped quite a lot. Too bad...I know Josh was really looking forward to the swinging.
We then went to the Wildflower Seed Farms. Sadly, it was a little too early to see any flowers, but we loved the homemade ice cream, and I bought a cute TX birdhouse and wildflower seeds for our yard!

Enchanted Rock

On our spring break trip, we went to Enchanted Rock State Park. The kids LOVED hiking up the huge rock and did really well.
We all had buddies: Natalie rode on Granddaddy's shoulders all the way up.
Ashley was my buddy and Zack was Josh's. They both enjoying charging up that rock!

My sister Jenny brought a friend on our trip, Brandi.
Zack was quite taken with her. After we got to the top, everyone rested a bit. I love this picture because Zack was really excited to lay down next to Brandi.
We made it!
We then went to an area where there were tons of rocks to climb over and explore under.
Jenny and Brandi explored in the really dark crevices that go all the way to the bottom, but even with the aid of a cute boy who stayed behind from his group to "help" them, they got scared and went back.

My mom was worried about how her knees would do, but she was proud that she had no problems! Everyone commented on the smart idea of using ski poles as walking sticks.
On the way down, Natalie started on Josh's shoulders, but he felt her really drooping. She had fallen asleep and he held her sleeping on the rest of the way down. Zack was my buddy (we were hurrying our tails off to get to the restroom) and Ashley and Granddaddy were buddies who went "exploring" down a different path they thought would be shorter, but wasn't. They had a great time figuring out how they should get down.

Spring Break Cabin

Over spring break, we stayed at cabin that belonged to my great Uncle Waggoner Carr, and now his son, David. We met my parents, my sister Jenny, and her friend Brandi there. The cabin is located on the Llano river, near Llano, TX. We loved having yummy breakfasts cooked by dad, watching late night movies when the kids were asleep (like the original The Day the Earth Stood Still so we could be cultured), and playing games together. We really enjoyed hiking down to the river and dipping our feet in.
It was quite cold! I was really glad I put Natalie in her swimsuit, as I was sure she would fall in (which she did). However, Zack and Ashley also slipped and got really wet. Should have put everyone in swimsuits!
The stars were also amazing there, away from all the big city lights. There were also lots of cactus everywhere. Ashley and Zack had an unfortunate trip onto one and poor Ashley had cactus thorns all over.

My great uncle was an amazing man. He was the Attorney General for the state of TX and participated in the investigation of Kennedy's assasination. His life was fascinating...which you can read about here on Wikipedia. He always had lots of interesting stories to tell. Another activity he enjoyed was painting rocks. His cabin was filled with rocks he had painted with different designs and his trademark signature. Ashley, Zack, and Natalie LOVED looking at them and organizing them. Ashley and Zack enjoyed decorating their own rock to add to the collection. I wish I would have taken a picture of their rocks! Ashley has decided she would like to be a rock artist when she grows up.

What have we been up to?

Where have those Trefethens been?

Well, if you have missed seeing our smiling faces, it's because we've done lots of sharing in our family. We've shared strep and viral sore throats, pink eye, and earaches! For the past 3 weeks, we've all taken turns seeing doctors and filling prescriptions. It has been quite the picnic over here. We've missed lots of fun things around though, like the ward picnic and egg hunt. We look forward to rejoining the world...A positive thing about all this, Zack was the only one who didn't get earaches. Yeah! A big improvement for him.