Our temporary pets

We have had some new pets in the Knott household in the last month or two. I got the idea for this from a friend's blog (thanks Jana!). For Christmas, my parents gave Addison a Butterfly growing kit. In the kit, you have coupons that you send in to the company when you are ready to start the process. We received about 10 caterpillars in jars in the mail with instructions on what to do and what to expect. Over the first week, the caterpillars started to turn into cocoons one by one and attach themselves to the lids at the top of the jar.

We had to leave them alone until we started seeing signs of them coming out of their cocoons.

And when we did, they had to be transferred to their new home which was a mesh container. The piece of material that was on the lid where they attached themselves had to be removed from the jar and pinned in their new home.

Then we waited for them to all emerge from their cocoons one by one.

We had to "feed and water" them like any pet. The instructions suggested watermelon or fresh flowers with sugar water on them... and they seemed to like it. Addison took this job very seriously and even reminded us on some days! Before long, they had all grown into beautiful butterflies (all but one or two - 8/10 is not bad!).

We enjoyed them for several days inside. They sat on the counter and many times we would hear a strange noise that would make us look around the house a bit scared. Come to find out, it was usually the butterflies fluttering around inside the net.

We told Addison that we had to let them go and she came very close to crying. We explained to her that we would probably see them again flying around in our yard and to remember that she helped them to grow from caterpillars into beautiful butterflies!

This was actually a fun family project and we all enjoyed the process! Kevin mentioned to Addison that if she showed us how she could take good care of these butterflies, that maybe someday she could have a pet fish. Oh good, just what I have always wanted! :)

Visit to the park

Another fun afternoon with our friends, The Simmons and The Rentfros. I have said it before, and I will probably say it again 100 more times - but we have such a great time any day we get to hang out. The 6 kids are all between 4 1/2 and 9 months so there is never a dull moment! Parker, the baby of the group, didn't come to the outing at the park that day...but I am sure we will have many more times to go! We are looking forward to our beach trip in June with these families!




Here are the 5 little ducklings making there way to the park!

The only girls out of the bunch - Rylee and Addison.

Cooper and Reid

Cole wasn't interested in pictures - he was very busy playing!

Miss Rylee

Cooperman

Addison working hard to pick up the mulch.

Few words, lots of pictures!

It was a day to celebrate this little friend of ours...Reid turned two!

Reid, Cole, Rylee, Cooper, and Addison relaxing in the bouncy house...


Time for dinner...

Who knew that this was going to be a bucket of fun and laughs for all of us!

Will, Rylee and Cooper waiting for their turns... Addison, Cole, and Matt wondering how this is going to work.
Aw, Matt just missed the water balloon...

Concentrate, Cole!

You have to open your eyes to catch it, Addison! You too Cole! :)
Rylee's turn to throw one!

Addison is trying to hide from the water balloon fight now!

Cooper wore this Astros batting helmet all afternoon - I guess it could serve as protection from the water balloon fight that was going on around him!

Even the dads had fun playing!

Tara, me, Ursula and Tiffany

All kinds of fun!

The Knott household seems to be back to normal (whatever that is!) after weeks of crazy schedules and sick people! We had a successful garage sale a few weeks ago and here are the kids advertising that the Papasan seat is not for 4 year olds and the Infant car seat is not for 29 pound babies!

The school had it’s annual Trike-a-thon and the kids loved participating in it.

We had to bring bikes and helmets to school and each class had a designated time when they got to ride. Luckily, Addi and Cooper’s classes were back to back so I got to watch!

Last week was difficult when it started out with Cooper having a stomach bug for 24 – 36 hours. When I was at home with him, we got a call from the school that Addison was throwing up too! On Tuesday, Cooper went back to school while Addi stayed home with Kevin. On Wednesday, I was ready for work and started to get the kids ready and Addi was still complaining of feeling sick. Since we didn’t have the time to bring Cooper into school before Kevin had to be at a meeting, I stayed home with both of them. Addi just wasn’t feeling good still so she was home on Thursday too. But Friday, everyone was finally back to normal.

On Saturday, we had a fun day at Rylee’s 4th birthday party in Montgomery. Addison was so excited about the Hannah Montana theme – it was a hit! They had a ball jumping in the Bouncy house, playing in the pink sand box, jamming to Hannah Montana music, eating HM cake - here is Addi with one of her best buddies, Cole. They paused for second for me to get a picture and then they were off again!

Sunday was the March for Babies that we have been preparing for over the last 2 months. The weather was perfect and we had a great turn out for Team Coop – 43 people walked with us! We raised over $2000 for the organization on our team alone – I would call that a huge success! I cannot thank everyone enough – you know that this cause means so much to our family and we are so glad that you decided to join in the fight against premature births! It’s hard to believe my original due date with Cooper is only 2 days away – I don’t know if I will ever go a year without recognizing that day. We were so proud to see Cooper literally run down the street on the home stretch of the walk to cross the finish line!

Easter and "Nastics!"

I know it’s a little late, but we had a wonderful Easter this year. The Easter bunny was awfully generous to the kids and they loved hunting for eggs. We went to church and then headed to The Woodlands to my parent’s house. We had another egg hunt, ate a great dinner and had our first swim of the season. The kids loved the pool! Addison took a bit of time to warm up to swimming again and remember how to do it, but Cooper just jumped right in (LITERALLY!). Last summer, he had no concept of the water and would probably just walk right into the pool if we let him, but this year , he just has no fear! Addison jumped off the big diving rocks by herself and Cooper followed right behind her with just a little help from us!

We finally started both kids in gymnastics classes. Addison gets to go on Mondays and Cooper goes on Tuesday. Both of the kids are LOVING it! Addison has been participating very well and is so into the class compared to the dance/gym class that we did about a year ago. She is taking it seriously, listening to the teachers instructions, and doing all the activities that the teachers ask her to do.

Cooper is having so much fun in the parent/child class too! He talks all the time about “nastics, nastics”…he tells his teachers at school about it, tells us about it, and anyone who will listen. He is a little wild and energetic in the class, but enjoys every second of it. I have to say, we are enjoying it with him. This is the first scheduled activity that we have enrolled him in – it’s about time! Last week, all four of us went to both classes to check it out. But, the plan is for Kevin and I to take turns each week. This week, I took Addison to her class and she had a cheering section there too - Grandad and Grandma Hursey came to watch also. Kevin took Cooper this week and he said Coop did great. This boy is not scared of anything!

We are very busy preparing for the neighborhood garage sale this coming weekend. It is crazy how many girls’ clothes that we will be selling! We have been so blessed to have great hand-me-downs from my nieces, but now it’s time to get it out of my house / attic!

I am almost embarrassed to show this picture, but this gives you an idea of what needs to GO! Whatever does not sell is going to Goodwill after this weekend! I promise our dining room does not usually look like this - it is usually spotless! I have gone through every box of clothing and sorted it by size (hence why there are stacks).

We are also trying to sell lots of baby toys and other items (high chair, Bumbo seat, Exersaucer, etc) since our kids have outgrown all of that! Trying to make our house more clutter-free! That makes me happy just to think about getting rid of all this stuff!

Come March with us!

Who would have ever thought that our son would be born at 28 weeks weighing 3 lbs, 6 oz?

I know I didn't believe it could happen to us.

I am sure most families believe that it won't be them.

But it was us.

We want to make a difference in the lives of babies that are born too soon.

Won't you join us at the March for Babies on April 25th in Houston?

These babies and their families need all the help they can get...

so they can go home with their moms, dads, sisters, brothers, grandparents...

and become a healthy, energetic, sweet two year old some day!

Click on the March for Babies banner at the top left of the blog to find out more.

Deadline to order Team Coop shirts is Wednesday, April 7th!

Thank you for your support!

The Knott Family

Our March madness!

I never meant to go this long without blogging, but sometimes life is just like that...we have been crazy busy over the last several weeks, I just haven't had a chance until now.


Several weekends ago, we wanted to do an outdoor activity that we hadn’t tried before and decided to try out Bear Creek Park. We heard there was a mini-zoo, several playgrounds, and lots of open areas for playing.




We brought a picnic lunch up there for ourselves too.

March got off to a great start – we were invited to the Butler’s beach house in Galveston for a few days along with another family, the Bromley’s. It was a great weekend, except for one of the Bromley boys getting sick. L But overall, the kids loved it, the adults loved it, and the house was just perfect for all 6 adults and 6 kids! The beach was just down the street – and even though it was cold, we spent lots of time out there in jackets and pants! Too bad I didn't take one picture that weekend!

Last weekend, Kevin and I brought the kids to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Cooper had never been and Addison has been once in the past. We had a great time seeing the animals, going to the petting zoo, riding some carnival rides, playing carnival games, and enjoying beautiful weather.

Addison really surprised us with how brave she was being…she wanted to ride the Ferris wheel and the really tall swings. I was a little nervous myself, but I rode the Ferris wheel with her and Kevin rode on the swings. She didn’t seem scared AT ALL!We even let Addison and Cooper ride a little airplane ride together and he loved every minute of it!

KK & G-pa came down for a few days from Dallas to visit the kids. Addison stayed home from school on Monday with them and had a chance to go to the Aquarium downtown, see Alvin & the Chipmunks at the movie theatre, and get a mani/pedi with KK! Both Addi and Cooper stayed home on Tuesday with them and they got to go to the Houston Zoo. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate so they didn’t stay as long as planned. I think they had a great time anyway and always enjoy their time with their grandparents. Thanks for making them always feel special, Karen & Gordon!

We've spent lots of time outside lately because the weather has gotten a little warmer and we have had some beautiful, sunny days. It's amazing how much the kids love being outside and they could stay out there all day. So we will be doing a lot more of that until it's gets too hot!