Aunt Amy went all out

When we came home from work earlier this week we found a big surprise on the doorstep. There was a box from Amy and John. Aunt Amy and cousin Grace went all out!!! The box was filled with beautiful baby clothes! Raquel couldn't stop cooing and ahhing for quite a while as she looked at each piece.
Thanks Amy for the thoughtful gift. Thanks Grace for sharing. Our little girl is getting so spoiled already and she isn't even here yet. God is so good and we are so thankful for our loving family. Thanks again Amy and John!!

Look What I found

This is the scene that presented itself to me when I came in from cutting the grass this morning. Raquel had laid out all of the baby cloths that Amy sent and even dressed up her stuffed elephant like he'd just taken his bath. She was so excited about it she called her sister long distance to talk all about it.

We Love Spring

Spring is a nice time in Houston. At least in the mornings before the sun gets high in the sky.

Another Clematis bloomed today!The Star Jasmin is at its peak.An the Rangoon Creeper it is showing signs of having endured the winter!

Garden Update

Wanted to update everyone on the flowers in our garden. Its a nice time of year here in Houston, and the flowers respond well to the warm weather, sun and occasional huge rain storm.

Here is the bougainvillea (two different colors actually) that grow on the trellis right behind the house. Without any fertilizer or trimming they have flowered beautifully this year (although the leaves are a little lacking - not sure if that is still from beating they took during the hurricane last year). They're beautiful to look at out the back doors because the colors are so bright.

The clematis also came out this year. Last year they only produced one flower between the 6 vines. The vines themselves look a little weak, but the flowers are beautiful this year. You can see 3 on this plant, and Raquel puts her hand next to one to give you an idea how large they are. Here's Raquel checking out the jasmine. They are easy to grow, we had them in Austin and they grew everywhere. If you look down the side of the house you can see the rose vines are way overgrown and in need of a good trimming. We've been so busy we just haven't gotten to it.

HOS Show Loot

Of course in addition to checking out the show, we had to check out the supplier tables where Raquel made sure to support the show with some of the leftover cash she brought back from Brazil. We got some beautiful plants that are currently flowering. Hopefully we can keep them healthy and they will flower again next year.

HOS Show

HOS? That's right! The Houston Orchid Society hosted one of the annual American Orchid Society shows here in Houston this weekend. Raquel had planned to help with the show, but because of her trip home and the baby slowing her down, she didn't get to help much.

That didn't keep us from attending though, we went yesterday for a while to check out the cool displays of orchids. Below are some pictures of the different orchids we saw. Raquel says that this is the time of year for Phalaenopsis (or "falopsis" in Neil's vocabulary) to bloom so there are a lot of them there.

More Family Pics

A couple of more good pics of Raquel's family.