2/17/11

Ok, so I am not very good at keeping up with this blog.  It seems that my brain by the end of the day is almost always to tired to think, let alone write a recap.  I will try and be better though.  :)

This month has been a crazy one!  We have had some most unusual weather for Texas, which included almost a week of from school due to ice and snow, then the next week another day off!  Cabin fever definitely set in or our household.  The first week, I though "No big deal, it will sleet and we will be in the house for a couple days" so I went to the grocery store just to stock up for dinner for the next couple nights.  Little did I know that we would be housebound for the next 5 days!  Micah ended up venturing out to go to work after the first day, so he made some stops at the nearby Kroger a couple  times that week on his way home. 

I think the worst part of it was that it was just ice, no snow until the last day.  It wasn't even possible to go outside and have fun b/c there was nothing but a sheet of ice on the ground that was about and inch thick.  Since my kids are not accustomed to ice skating yet, we decided that indoors was the best place to be.  I have to say, for being stuck in the house all week, the kids did great!  I think it was more my own cabin fever that drove me more crazy!  We stayed entertained with books, art projects, computer games, leapster, homemade obstacle courses, and toys.  I was proud b/c we didn't use the Wii all week, although I would have been open to it!  Aiden was just never really interested.  We watched a couple movies (Baylie has discovered a new love of the Barbie movies), drank a lot of hot chocolate, and even made some snow ice cream on Friday! :)

The house stayed somewhat comfortable despite the temperatures in the single digits and teens outside, with fire logs burning pretty much all day and the heater, which I waited to go out the entire time, but it stayed running!  Aiden and I preferred to stay in sweats and "comfy clothes," while Baylie felt that is was 100% appropriate to wear this:



That girls amazed me with her lack of sensitivity to cold at times.  She was also quite happy to be in her Rapunzel dress most of the time as well.

At last on Friday the snow came!  We were so excited!!!  We got about 6-8 inches of snow.  We spent most of the day outside in between hot chocolate breaks.  We started out just making snow angels and throwing snow (it was too powdery to pack into anything), then ended up sledding down the front yard in the empty box from our fire logs. :)  Our neighbor was then kind enough to let us borrow this hard plastic sheet to use as a sled.  We walked up to Aiden's school to try it out on the hills, but there were a bunch of older kids on the hill, so we decided to try the smaller hills a couple times then the kiddos were ready to go back home.  I have not ever seen this much snow in Texas.  I was joking that our kids will grow up thinking that this is a typical winter in Texas, as this happened 3 times this year!

We were glad to get defrosted and have some nicer temps this past weekend!  We had a busy weekend!  On Saturday, I helped out with our Sunday School class to serve lunch for members of the Kairos ministry who are doing trainings at our church.  It was very neat to be able to serve those who are willing to serve and minister to people whom most wouldn't spend their time with.  Kairos is a ministry that goes into the prisons and helps those who have fallen off the path and trying to find their way back.  After serving lunch, a few of the girls and I went to get lunch for ourselves then to shop for some sequins, feathers, and garter belts, otherwise known as...flapper wear!  We had a murder mystery dinner to attend that night to benefit the youth mission trip.  The setting was at the Juice Joint back in the 1920s.  I was a flapper and Micah was a gangster, so we had to dress the part!  It was a lot of fun, and Micah and I both made it out without killing or being killed. :)

 

Sunday brought the Imagination Movers concert after church.  The kids were totally surprised and super excited to get there!  Aiden wore his Imagination Movers outfit made by one of our friends, and Baylie opted out of her outfit and instead wore pink and red, as she wanted to be like Nina (IM fans, you will know who I am talking about).  We headed out to the concert to be entertained first by Choo-Choo Soul ( I think Micah was very excited to see Genevieve in person ;) ), and they did not disappoint.  They got the kids (and parents) up and moving before the show started.  The Imagination Movers were great as always.  We saw them in concert a couple years ago with Aiden, and they were just as good as the last time.  They do a great job of keeping the kids happy without it being a beating for the parents.  The music is catchy, and you find yourself singing it when the kids aren't even around.  The kids had a blast and were worn out by the time the show was over. 

First day of school

August 23rd brought brought Aiden's first day of kindergarten and Baylie's first day as a Ladybug in her preschool.  We had been prepping for kindergarten all summer, talking about "big" school, trying out the playground, taking walks up to the school so Aiden could practice riding his bike up there., etc. :)  I did all the pre-school traditions, school supply shopping (not nearly as much of a nightmare as I thought), buying new backpacks ("Old school transformers" for Aiden and Disney princess for Baylie), and new clothes shopping.  We bought alarm clocks (Aiden was particularly excited about this - just wait a couple years and that excitement will wear off) and started setting them a couple days in advance to get used to using them, although Aiden has yet to sleep until the alarm goes off. :)
The big day came and we all got ready, made Aiden's first lunch in the lunch box, and set off to go.  Aiden opted to ride his scooter instead of the bike bc we had not bought a bike lock yet (completely sold out at Target).  We took the obligatory first day pictures.

We got to walk Aiden into his classroom on the first day, so this was fun for Baylie to see everything.  Aiden did great walked in and was a littl thrown by the fact that his seat had moved since Meet the Teacher night, but found it quickly and did great!  Micah and I did pretty well too!  We went and had donuts with the other kinder parents in the library then went to drop off Miss Baylie.  She wanted some pics with her backpack like Aiden got.  Of course we agreed. :)

We went to drop off Baylie at school, and apparently she thought when she moved up to be a Ladybug (formerly a Wiggle Worm), she too would get to go to a new school.  Needless to day, she was a little disappointed when we drove up the same school and voiced this quite clearly.  Once we got her inside to see her "Auntie" (school director) for hugs and kisses, then went to her "new" classroom, she was excited again, especially when she saw her friends.

Micah and I took the day off to be able to drop off and pick up Aiden together, so we decided to take soem time that morning to run errands then work from home the rest of the day.  When we went to go get Aiden, we told him that we had planned to take him to go get ice cream just the 3 of us to celebrate his first day, we said he would prefer to go get Baylie first b/c he thought she would really want some ice cream too.  Such a good big brother! :)  We enjoyed some Marble Slab ice cream to end a good first day.

Birthday/Pre-K graduation weekend!!!

What a crazy whirlwind weekend!  We had stuff going every night starting Wednesday until Saturday.  Needless to say by Sunday we were exhausted!!  It was fun though. :)

Wednesday started with a Roughriders game with the Carltons (a late father's day gift for my FIL).  We sat in the seats for the first time since having the both kids.  Usually we prefer the grass seats with the free hat and hot dog, but my MIL was having trouble with her back, so seats with backs were best for this game.  The kids did suprisingly well despite my worries that they would be all over the place!  The stadium wasn't crowded which was good b/c it gave us a little wiggle room.  Into the 3rd inning, it was decided to be time for Dippin Dots.  Thanks to the disposable sippy cups I had brought along, we were able to split one between the kids b/c one is definitely enough for the both of them.  About the 5th inning, Baylie decided that she needed to see Daisy, so off we went in search of her.  We found her by the field, so we had to wait about 10 minutes for her to come back up, and Baylie was pumped and ready until Daisy reached out to give her a high five, and I swear that child went into a convulsion of fear!  She was fine a second later when Daisy was walking away and wanted to get another high five.  I told her that Daisy was hot and needed to go back to cool down, and she seemed ok with that.  We decided to check out the gift store where she was thrilled with all the smaller, stuffed Dueces and Daisys that she could hug and hold.  The kids left the game happy and tired, so well done for their first game in the seats.

Thursday evening we met up and the local splash park after dinner with some friends from Aiden's pre-K class.  We wanted to have one last hurrah before the graduation.  The kids had a blast, and I think Baylie enjoyed the splash park more than she ever has!  Having some friends there really helped.  Aiden loved seeing his friends out of school, including some that left earlier this summer.

Friday was Aiden's 6th birthday and his pre-K graduation.  He really wanted to go to school for his splash party with the class.  I though how ironic.  Every other birthday I have been working and took off work and took him out of school to spend time with him, and this is the first birthday I have not been working, and he wants to go to school!  He was very excited though, so off he went after a birthday donut left by Daddy before he went to work. 

It was nice to have him off at school though, so I could take Baylie shopping for her present for him since we hadn't had a chance up to that point.  My mom came over so we could work on our traditional homemade cake for the birthday.  Aiden wanted a spaceship this year b/c he is very into space right now.  Luckily my mom has a Wilton's cake pan for a space ship that was actually passed down from my grandmother.  Pretty neat!  So we ended up starting on the cake after I went to go get Aiden from school.  The spaceship cake turned out to his liking, so it was considered a success!

After we finished with the cake, we started getting ready for the big graduation.  Upon getting everyone dressed, I realized that I had donated Aiden's only pair of black pants about a month ago.  Last minute change to have Micah take Aiden to Walmart first for pants and meeting them up at the school, got us in just in time.  Aiden and his classmates performed all kids of songs and a dance.  They did the solar system song in which Aiden got to be the sun.  He had been telling me for a couple days that he was always the sun in the song, and he would continue to be even after pre-K.  Now I understood.  He stood quite proudly holding up the sun balloon as the other kiddos holding planets and stars revolved around him.  He is not usually the kind of kid to demand the center of attention, so it was pretty neat to see him as the sun. :) 

After the songs, the school showed a really sweet slideshow with pics of the kids throughout the years and then some baby pics.  Then came the actual graduation with the handing out of diplomas.  I thought I was all set, but then as soon as Aiden's name was called, I was blocked by my own father, brother, and uncle, as they stood to cheer for him!  I totally missed it, so I am hoping they at least got it on video. ;)

Afterwards, we went out to Chili's for the dual celebration.  Not exactly the quickest service that time of the evening for a group our size, but Aiden enjoyed it, so it was worth it.  Baylie fell asleep after eating one fry.  She tried to stay awake and wait but it was just too late. :)

The party on Saturday was a hit!  The kids had a blast splashing and swimming at the party.  Aiden has been such a fish since learning how to swim, so he didn't get out of the water except to switch pools.  Once home after a quick shower, he was chomping at the bit to open his presents.  He ripped through them in no time.  Once again we ended up with no duplicates!  We have been lucky with that for most if not all of his birthdays. 

We had one surprise ourselves that evening.  We went to put in Aiden's new Wii Wipeout game, and the disc already in was having a hard time coming out.  When it finally did, two photo memory cards popped out.  It was at that point that I remembered having 3 memory cards sitting on the table by the Wii.  I also remembered Baylie earlier that day trying to put the cards into the port for the SD card, and I asked her to leave it alone.  Apparently, she had not given up and the disc drive was much easier to stick all three in rather than tyring to put one in the correct slot.  So the one of three is still in the Wii, and I will be checking out repair costs this weekend.  That girl is always keeping us on our toes! 

Sea World/San Antonio

We visited San Antonio with a surprise visit for the kids to Sea World at the end of June. The weekend went really well and was probably one of our best vacations yet! :)

We stopped off at Baylor on the way to San Antonio, so I could get a new Baylor shirt. The kids had gotten shirts and Micah got a hat our last visit, so it was my turn! After much searching I was able to decide on the right shirt, then the kids were ready to go see the bears. I wish I had some good pictures of the kids with the bears, but we had left the memory card at home, so pictures were not taken until we purchased a new card in San Antonio. The kids loved looking at the bears in their new living space. Baylor in the past couple years renovated the bear pit from a sad concrete slab with a pool and waterfall, to a beautiful grassy area with pool and large rocks, shaded den, and second grassy area with more rocks and some toys for them to keep themselves entertained. The bears were just sitting around for the most part, so the kids were easily bored and ready to move on soon after.

Thanks to our movie players, we had an uneventful road trip with few "How much longer?" inquiries. Once there, we settled into our hotel. I have never stayed in a Drury Inn before, but I definitely will again. This one was really new, so everything was still nice, and they had the free happy hours every night with food and drinks, so dinner was free on Friday night! :) Aiden was so excited about sleeping in (and jumping on) the queen bed, he said he could stay there the whole weekend! We went out that night to see the Alamo and take in the Riverwalk. We made our first stop the Alamo since it would be getting dark out soon, and we didn't want to miss out on it. The kids were bribed into taking some pictures.

Afterwards, we walked down to the Riverwalk to enjoy some of the sights. I love San Antonio, and I am pretty sure that's the only other place in TX I would consider moving to if we had to move out of the Dallas area. It just so gorgeous with the trees, the hills, the surrounding hill country is amazing, and the history behind the city itself. We did a Riverboat ride and learned even more about the area, and it was really neat. Baylie and Aiden were very excited to go on the boat, but Baylie was just as excited to see the ducks swimming along the river.

They both waited very patiently for the boat to come and pick us up, although Aiden was a little worried when the boat we were going to load started up before we got on, so I had to explain that he was just pulling closer to the side to tie up the boat.

Everyone enjoyed the boat ride, and we got a longer one that usual because they had opened up one of the gates that is usually closed.

The next day, Aiden was ready to find out what the mystery destination was. We lasted until we drove into the entry to Sea World, and Aiden saw the sign with Shamu. He was excited to say the least and began filling Baylie in on what to expect. Upon walking in, we decided to try look at the schedule to get as much done as possible without getting too hot. We tried to start off at the dolphin-beluga show, but one of the beluga's had recently had a baby (3 days before), so the show was canceled to allow mom and baby to bond. We were able to go in and see the new family. There was another bigger baby beluga that was swimming along with them. It was very neat, but the kids were ready to move onto the pirate movie pretty quickly.

The glasses were a big hit with the 3-D movie. Baylie was preparing herself to be scared, and Aiden was reassuring her that all she had to do was take off her glasses if she got too scared. It was fun, but by the end I was ready to take of my glasses b/c they were giving me a headache. I guess my eyes are a little more sensitive than when I was younger.

After the movie was over, Micah and Aiden went to do one of the rides in the kiddie section, while Baylie decided it was the perfect time for a fruit snack break.

The rest of the day was great, and we were able to catch every show, and even had time to take a break and cool down at the water park. Aiden particularly enjoyed the water ski show (he was saying "whoo-hoo" after every trick), and he even got a picture with the crew after the show. Baylie seemed to take it all in staying pretty quiet at the shows and then chattering about it after the fact. The kids enjoyed feeding the sea lions, even though Baylie was a little intimidated at first by one large, loud, hungry sea lion. He looked very well-fed, but still hungry. We finished the day exhausted but happy.