Tuesday, July 31, 2007

This is so cool!

So I was messing around googling some things- and Trav's Law popped up!
Pretty cool!
But I did notice that not many of you looked at the petition for PA and TNA Suffers! I won't name any names- but not one grandparent stepped up- NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Moody Gardens

My mom's bank had family day at Moody Gardens. It was such a great day- Travis never broke out in hives! I think this might have been our first outing like this one- that he did not break out on. Now if we saw peanuts, we would just run the other way. But usually from just touching things he breaks out.
It was so wonderful to spend a whole day with Travis feeling perfect.

Travis is turning into a regular little boy. He is IN LOVE with Sharks. So we took pics in the shark cage. He could not pay attention to Daddy, because they had huge sharks swimming around the tank. You have to ask him what sharks say. Too cute.

Did I mention he loves Dinosaurs? He was a little tired by this point, but still could not get over them. Audrey (Miss Priss) was scared of them. But Travis just looked in amazement. Moody Gardens has a great Dinosaur set up, we were pretty impressed.






Travis kept calling the quartz ICE.

We walked around for hours, and then went to Palm Beach. It was great.

Mam Maw got in the pool with the kids. Travis would not stop splashing her, but Mam Maw didn't care (Travis gets away with MURDER with Mam Maw).

Audrey of course was the best behaved child at the entire event- nothing surprising.

I would say the kids have had a great, fun-filled weekend.

Tomorrow we go see Granny and PawPaw. The kids will be exhausted come Monday. We have not stopped since Friday.

Bath Time Buddies

Well this time they were bed time buddies!


He is the CUTEST!



Last time the kids were with Karsen (the little girl in the middle), they all took a bath in Karsen's huge tub. When her daddy picked her up from school Friday, she had told everyone she was going to see her bath tub buddies.

The kids stayed up way too late.








Summer pics

Travis is really big about "fixing his hair" now.
He wants us to spray hair spray in it. After you do that, he takes his hands and messes it up. His mam maw taught him that.



Could you hold me any tighter Sissy??

Travis and his RoRo. This is a very common site in our house. Zero may not like Gilley, but he loves his TravTrav, or maybe he just likes laying on the couch!?

Daddy's Home!

We waited so long for Daddy to come home. We were all so exhausted, especially Derik. Audrey woke up not long before Daddy got home, but Trav was still asleep.
When we openned the door to let Daddy in, Trav heard his voice and came runny in the room so sleepy, but so excited. 2 weeks is a long time to be gone!






The Bavarian necklace Derik bought me.






Audrey's traditional Bavarian girls dress.
Derik searched for days for her dress. He said when he walked by it in the window, he knew it was perfect for her!
He actually bought it in the town he believes his family is from. A girl at Burgmann Germany did research for him, and they went to the town in Bavaria.
Derik said there were only 53 people with the last name Westinghouse in the Germany phone book- for entire Germany!
He was not able to get Trav a traditional outfit- they are real leather- Laderhosen- very expensive.

She was so proud, and thrilled to have her daddy home!



It took us forever to get the dress off of her.

Daddy bought Trav a shirt, and a bunch of other neat gifts. Travis was just happy to have his Daddy home. All he cared about was sitting in Daddy's lap.


Tuesday, July 24, 2007

More Christmas 2006 pics

Searching through pics I found more from Granny and Paw Paw's.
I just love that you can see how much Trav adores his Sissy in this pic.


Trav attacking me with kisses.
Boy do I miss those curls!
Uncle Charlie and Daddy are the reason they got cut off.
She is too much! She loved the hats Paw Paw and Granny got them. They know just what to get them.

How can you not think he is the most adorable boy on earth!- Granny I am talking about Trav here.


4th of July 2007

Well we had an excellent 4th.
Audrey got to go with Mam Maw and Pap Paw to her 1st baseball game. They went with my uncle, aunt and the cousins.
Trav had a great day with Mommy and Brittany. Then when Sissy came home we started celebrating.
We now have a new family tradition. Mam Maw, Pap Paw, Brittany, and Uncle Charlie joined us for fireworks.
It was so awesome. The fire works are right in our front yard. We had so much fun.

Mrs. Shaunda left us some sparklers (she and Mr. Sean were going to join the fun, but we were all exhausted from the move!)
The kids had a blast.


We have the nicest neighbors. They BBQ and invited us over. Then they gave Audrey more sparklers.
She was scared at 1st, but got over it really quick.



Our day at the Capitol

Here are a few pics from our day at the Capitol.
Audrey is holding up the pen the Governor gave her.


Where Travis changed Texas allergy history!

He wanted to chase after the squirrel.
The sun was in there faces, but they actually sat still! (poor Trav- you can see him scratching. He could not stop.)
My dad always has to have a sentimental pic- this is for you dad.

Heroes of the Alamo- Travis' name sake honored.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Family Portraits

Today we were set for our News interview, but had to cancel. We decided to go have family portraits made, since we had never done one with Travis!
Of course poor Travis started itching and having a reactions from sitting in the waiting room. They turned out ok. He was a little rough towards the end.






I was totally shocked at Derik. He is the one that wanted to do the fishing props. How cute do they look!
Me and my angel! She is just so perfect!


There is a story behind this one. Travis was very frustrated by the time it came for me and him. He did not feel good. He was very interested in the bear being in our picture- so I was snuggling and tickling the bear.

The lady made us get 2, one for each kid. But as you can see above, he finaly felt like taking the picture again.

We had such a fun day today! We are so glad to have our daddy home. I will post pics of D's adventures in Germany. He had so much fun.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Travis' Law

Travis was invited to watch Governor Perry sign his law!
It was such an awesome day, but our daddy could not come. We did not know when the signing ceremony would be, and Derik was on a business trip in Germany at the time.
So off to Austin we went with my parents. Aunt Davi was not able to be there either.
I prayed and prayed that this day would not totally be about Travis. I wanted Audrey to get most of the attention (since the law is named after Trav- he already got most of it).
Travis was not himself. We had been up since 5:00 am, so he was not his usual busy bee self.
Audrey on the other hand...... COMPLETELY came out of her shell!


Governor Perry and his staff were so inviting.
Here's Audrey with Representative Taylor. She is telling him she is 3. She also told everyone how she is an excellent horse rider, rides by herself, how she is a great ballet dancer, and lots of other stories!
(Not like Aud at all!)


My dad taught Travis how to shake, he was so cute when he would do it. Unfortunately he would not do it during the ceremony. I was attempting to convince him to do it, but as you know- he has a mind of his own.

Waiting for the Governor.

Our first introduction, but not our last.


Governor Perry was great with the kids. Audrey is telling him all about her animals. He could not get over that we have 2 animals named after candy bars with peanuts in them (Snickers- who I had before the kids and Zero. Now Zero is named because Aud said that is what we paid for him- everyone got a big kick out of that!)

What you can't see is the man of the hour trying to tear down the curtains and flags.

I love how the Governor has his arm around Audrey. You all know how shy she is. She was cracking everyone up. She stood right up there with Governor Perry without being asked. Some say she will be an Aggie (don't tell her brother- he's a Longhorn! Maybe that's why he wouldn't talk to the governor?)
The Governor had 2 pens. He signed one with Rick and one with Perry.

He gave each of the kids a pen.


From Left to right...
Representative Taylor, Me, Trav, my dad, my mom, Carrie Simmons (the girl that worked so hard to make this possible!)
Governor Perry, and my beautiful Audrey




You can read the article that was published about Travis at:



Go to the July 17, 2007 posts.
Scroll down to Representative Taylor's post.
Trav did end up with a pretty good rash, and later a mild reaction.
All in all we had a wonderful day. We really missed our Daddy and Davi, but they will be there next time- Travis and I are not done!
Thank you for all of the prayers and support.
We love you all.