Showered with Love

Jonah is to be my third son. He already has everything any boy could ever want. And yet my dear, sweet friends wanted to celebrate his arrival just as we did the other two. And so , despite my many objections, they threw me such a lovely shower. We gathered for brunch at a table decorated with my very favorite flowers to commemorate the imminent arrival of Jonah Cody Halpin.

Jonah and I were so very honored and celebrated, and I felt so loved. What a wonderful way to prepare for Baby Jonah!

Attack of the Ducks

It was hot, and we had a very long afternoon spreading out in front of us with no plans. And I was very, very pregnant. And tired. And hot. But I had some extra hamburger buns and bread crusts in the pantry, waiting for a day just like this one. So I loaded up the troops and we headed out to the duck pond for some fun.

The pond was very heavily populated on this summer afternoon. We were so excited to see so many hungry ducks. Little did we know about the killer instincts of these ducks!

Never in my life have I met such aggressive, fearless, mean ducks. As soon as we got out of the car, they we were attacked by the waddling, hissing creatures. Some of them were as tall as Nosy when they stretched their necks out to full height. Even I was a bit scared as they pecked at our shoes and tried to snatch our bread bags right out of our hands. Noah was absolutely terrified as they surrounded us on all sides, so we ran to get a little distance between us and the crazy ducks. Have you ever seen a duck run? They can be pretty speedy when they know bread is at stake. I am sure we were quite a sight: big preggo mama carrying a huge toddler, running from the mean, mean ducks. The ducks all chased us in a row, hissing and quacking and pecking...until Owen, the Hero, devised a plan.

Smart O took his bag of bread and started laying a trail of bread chunks along the sidewalk, luring them in the opposite direction away from Noah and me. It did not take long for the ducks to notice the yummy snack all laid out for them. And so they started to follow Fearless O, all lined up like a duck parade with Owen marching along in front. We were saved!

The Monarch Experiment

So the weeks have passed by since we collected milkweed and hatched our tiny monarch eggs. We have watched, fascinated yet again, as teeny tiny caterpillars (named Biggy, Medium-y and Tiny by my uber-creative sons) emerged and munched and munched and munched their way through zillions of milkweed leaves, growing right before our eyes. We mourned as Biggy shriveled up and died for no apparent reason. And then one day, the gorgeous chrysalises were discovered at the top of their habitat, stunning green decorated with sparkly gold dots. (Our God is so creative!) How impatient these Boys of mine were as we bided our time waiting for the butterflies to spread their wings.

Finally, one evening, we noticed that Medium-y's chrysalis was turning blackish, a tell-tale sign that the time was near. We monitored its progress all night, hoping to be able to watch the miracle happen. But alas, by bedtime, no action.

As soon as we woke up the next morning, we rushed to check on Medium-y, sure to find a beautiful butterfly. But we had not missed it! By now, the chrysalis was dark black and the time was sure to be any second. Gramps came over to play bright and early, so we enjoyed a picnic breakfast outside while we waited for Medium-y

We watched her emerge right before our eyes! I am always amazed at how fast it happens. It is such a miracle every time! Gramps was especially excited as he had never witnessed such a thing.

We gave her wings a little bit to dry and plump up before we handled her.

The Boys shied away from touching her, but they were fascinated all the same.

After awhile, we picked out our most beautiful flower to put her on. She remained there for a few hours, and then she was gone.

Tiny made the transformation a few days later. We had thought she was a different type of butterfly since her caterpillar looked slightly different from the others. Sure enough! She was not a monarch at all! So lovely! (I think she was a painted lady.)

This was as close as the Boys would come to touching her. (O was playing doctor at the time, thus the mask.)

Thank You, Lord, for once again allowing us to witness this miracle happen before our very eyes!

Out and About with Gigi

Realizing we had a completely free day with nothing scheduled, we called up Gigi and planned an urban adventure. We rode the DART rail to Mockingbird station, shopped around a bit and then met Daddy for lunch. We had a great time!

Drummer Boy

Owen has definite rhythm. I don't know who he got it from as neither Jeremy nor I are musical, but this Boy has music in his soul. He is always singing, banging out a tune on the piano, drumming on anything in reach. Lately, he has been spending a lot of quality time pounding out rhythms on our Wii Rock Band drums. He is actually a very good drummer, creating repetitive patterns that he plays super fast over and over again. And scraps of paper like this one can be found throughout our house. It may not look like much to you, but this is a piece of carefully composed sheet music for the drums. The colors coordinate with the colors of our drum set and the blue triangles represent the cymbals, better known as my blue exercise ball that he props up beside the drums. This kid never cease to amaze me! I am beginning to realize I've got to get him some real music lessons. I have been looking into finding a guitar teacher...

Season Opener

With soccer season ending and a new baby soon to arrive, Jeremy and I thought it would be fun for O to have another big boy activity to kick off the summer. When one of my fellow soccer moms mentioned that her son's T-ball team was looking for a great coach as well as a few more players, we signed Owie right up. He was so excited, and as the coach's son, he got to help name the team and select the uniforms! (I am still working on the appropriate t-ball lingo. They wear uniforms, not outfits. And the points are called runs, not goals. I will get this all figured out eventually!)

O's greatest fans arrived bright and early to cheer him on!

Notice Nosy's face in the above photo. He was just beginning to figure out that although he sported the shirt and hat like the team, warmed up with the team and practiced with the team (We wanted him to feel included, but that may have been a big parenting error!), that he was not going to get to actually participate in the game with the team. We had one mad little boy on our hands for a bit!

O's first hit!

And he made it safely to first base.

Way to go, O!!

Coach couldn't be prouder of his Boys!


O's favorite part of the game?
"Playing catch before the game to get ready. I liked to catch it best. No...maybe I liked to throw it best. I liked all of the warm-up! And the snacks!"

We got some terrific news after the game. Stay tuned...

Armed and Dangerous

We invited the other Halpins over one lazy Sunday afternoon for a B-B-Q and a good ol' fashioned water balloon fight. After spending what seemed like hours filling water balloons, it took less than 5 minutes to demolish all the balloons. But everyone had a great time, especially the big boys! I love it that these guys never fully grow up. Add in all the little guys we have between us and there is never a dull moment!

Wild Boys

We met up with our great friends to enjoy the Arbo again before the Texas heat set in for the summer. After spending considerable time shirtless and shoeless (aren't we classy?!) splashing in the frog fountains, we let the boys run wild to drip dry. Watching them soak in the sun, faces lit up with laughter and joy was, by far, my favorite part of the day. I just love having Boys!!

God knew exactly what He was doing when He blessed me with Boys...and I am so thankful for a best friend who is raising Boys right alongside me. I couldn't be happier!

Milkweed Time Again

Evidently there has been a nation-wide shortage of monarchs this year. We have had scouts checking our normal monarch breeding ground for eggs with absolutely no success. We were so sad to think that we may not get to witness metamorphosis this year.

And then we had great news! The season was just getting a really late start. We headed to Harry Moss Park to scout out some monarch eggs to adopt, and we were hoping to find enough to share with Clayton and Oliver too.

Inspecting the milkweed for eggs. O took his job extremely seriously. I think Noah was just excited to get to hold the "big cissors."

Eureka! After much hunting, we had what we thought was six eggs and enough juicy milkweed for them to nosh on for a bit.

Heading back to the van with our new babies.


I must have been delusional because when we got home, I could only find 3 of the six eggs I thought we had. I was so bummed! We gave two to our cousins and kept one guy for ourselves. However, the next day, Dad called to report that he was growing several stalks of milkweed in his flower bed and that he thought there might be eggs on a few leaves. Hooray!! We rushed right over, and sure enough: three more eggs to watch develop.


This is one of our favorite projects all year. Not only are we witnessing a miracle right before our eyes, but it is such a tangible representation of the transformation God does in our lives when we accept Him. What good talks the Boys and I have during monarch season!

Rare Occurance

Due to such busy schedules, it has become rare that all nine Halpin/Amezcua cousins are together at one time. On Mother's Day, Gigi was so happy to be surrounded by all nine little people. It's not a great picture by any means, but at least everyone is included!

First Tuesdays

We love First Tuesdays at the Dallas Museum of Art. Due to scheduling conflicts, the Boys and I had not been in awhile, so when May rolled around, Owen had been asking to go for awhile. Thankfully, we were free...and so was Yaya!

In the craft room they handed out really cool black paper and sharp wooden sticks. What should we do with these? When the Boys scraped the paper with their sticks, the black rubbed off to reveal vibrant colors underneath. What fun!

The theme was Cinco de Mayo. We thoroughly enjoyed the authentic Mexican dancers' performance!

We hung out at O's favorite spot for quite awhile. He could create treasures at this craft table all day!

Reading books with Yaya. Don't you just love Nosy's newest camera pose? Silly Guy!

Our travels would not be complete without a stop at Pacuigo! My only pregnancy craving has been their salty caramel gelato. I get it as often as I can!

The only black spot on our day? I convinced Yaya that we would do perfectly well parking on the street at a meter and saving the outrageous parking garage fee at the DMA. I diligently kept up with the time and re-fed the meter half way through our stay. However, when we left, we were three minutes late getting back to the van, and there, on my windshield, was the dreaded parking ticket. Ugh!! I ended up spending three times the amount the garage would have cost just to pay the ticket! I learned my lesson the hard way...

Cousin Oliver

Erica and I have been switching off some babysitting lately, giving the cousins some play time and the mommies a little errand-running time. It's been great! These guys enjoy each other so much!

Yay for popsicles on a hot afternoon!

"Race you to the top!"

We are so very blessed to have all of our family living so close to us! We can be involved in each other's day to day lives and watch our kids grow up together. May I never take such a precious thing for granted.