Thursday, September 11, 2008

Labor Day Weekend!

During the Labor Day weekend, Steve's family from Los Angeles came to visit us. We had such a fun time seeing , Nana, Auntie Dawn, Cousins' Parker and Spencer. Every day was an adventure.
* They arrived on Wed, August 27 around 6pm. We came home, relaxed and ate dinner.
* The next day, we headed to North Dallas and had lunch at this really cool McDonald's off of Monfort and IH635E. It's in the shape of a huge happy meal and inside is the one of the funnest play areas for the kiddos. Plus when you walk in it is so "elegant". I'm being totally serious. I should have taken photos of this one cuz I'd not been to a McDonald's like this before. Ok, that's probably enough about McD. I'm getting hungry. Oh, and yes, their french fries are still the best and probably the least healthiest ever but hey family was visiting and how often do ya get to splurge...lol! After McDonald's we headed down the street to Crate & Barrel to show Dawn the furniture at that store. She's interviewing with Crate & Barrel and may be employed with them soon and working in their furniture department. She liked what she saw and is excited! Finally, we ended our day at the Container Store buying, well, a few containers!

* On Saturday, we all piled in to our minivan and headed to Austin for our good friend, Caleb Little's 4th Birthday party. It was at Chuck E Cheese. Need I say more...the kids had fun while Dawn and I enjoyed the Pizza and salad bar, oh, and cake. Yum... Yes, I was sitting there thinking, "man, how many more miles on the treadmill is this going to cost me?" But, hey, we had family in town and how often do ya get to splurge...(wink)!

* Sunday was a slow day. Poor Spencer had a rough night and woke up with a high fever and made a few trips to the potty during the night. He spent the next 2 days in bed fighting the flu bug. It was a miserable time for him but he handled it like a champ and ended up taking Tamaflu and was better by Monday afternoon. Amazing. His fever broke and he was doing great.

* Monday afternoon we all piled into our minivan and headed over to Chick-fil-a in Grand Prairie to enjoy free chicken strips. They had a promo on Labor Day. If you wore you're favorite sports team clothing item, you received free chicken strips. The strips were great and we saved so much money. Then, we headed to the Parks Mall to visit Build-A-Bear and Roman was blessed for his birthday with a new stuffed dog, named Puppy. All the boys got bears and had so much fun. We quickly came home and they dropped Ethan and I off, and the rest of the gang went to a Texas Ranger game. What a night for all. Parker was featured on the jumbotron for hitting a home run in the kiddie area. They even set the fireworks off. So cool!!

* Tuesday was packing day since they were going to be leaving on Wednesday. But, we didn't let the day go by without doing something, so, we went to the Boy Scouts Museum, and spent the afternoon there. The boys had a great time and when I say boys, that also includes Steve. He's such a kid at heart. Then we headed back to the unique McDonald's off of Montfort & 635 and enjoyed a yummy, unhealthy, fattening, mouthwatering Quarter Pounders & french fries ... yikes! Ok now, how many miles is that going to cost me on the treadmill? I'm definitely not looking to my annual physical next week. We ended our day with haircuts at Cool Cuts 4 Kids. This was Ethan's 1st haircut so it was special. Probably not so for me cuz I wasn't ready to let go of our little boy's baby look. The moment his hair was cut he had become our little man. He looked so handsome.




Their trip had finally come to an end. It was so sad to see them leave the next morning but we all had such a wonderful time. Spencer and Parker even missed their first few days from school to spend time with us in Texas. We will miss them so much and can't wait to see them again soon.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Mommy, You Passed the Piggy Bank!

Isn't it amazing the words that come out of our little ones. The boys and I started our day with a few errands to run. Roman loves it when we run errands. I think he loves just saying the word "errands". It's so adorable when he says it. He'll ask me, "Mommy, are we going to run errands today?" Usually it's not but, today was the day, and he was so excited!

Before we left the house, I explained to him the different stops we'd be making. As I left CVS pharmacy, I was making my way to Chase bank and realized I had missed our turn. Instantly, the following words came out of Roman saying, "Mommy, mommy, you missed the Piggy Bank!" I sat there for a moment and thought piggy bank....and fell out laughing. It was one of those moments I had to cherish. From Roman's perspective he probably sees the bank as just one big piggy bank. Well, I guess it really is! So, we proceeded to the piggy bank to make our deposit. Roman was so happy.

Happy Birthday, Roman!

This past weekend, we celebrated Roman turning 3. It's amazing all the things he can do now. Here are a few that I was just thinking about the other day! I am so proud of our little guy.

- he can pitch a baseball to daddy and can hit the ball with flying colors; we love watching him run from base to base.
- can say all his ABC's
- can count to 10 and working on getting to 20
- knows all his primary colors
- loves to draw on his chalkboard especially pics of mommy, daddy and ethan
- potty training, finally!!!
- says thank you, you are welcome, and please almost always
- loves story time every night and before naptime
- likes to step in and discipline his little brother Ethan when mommy steps away, of course!
- attends Wycliffe International childcare (bible translators) twice a week and loves it; he just moved up to the 3 yr old class with Ms. Sherry;
- loves to play in the backyard with his toys and of course with brother Ethan
- helps mommy around the house
- will clear his plate from dinner table, place in kitchen and scoot his chair in
- learning quiet time and self-control time through GKGW (Growing Kids)
- his favorite movies are Toy Story, Monsters, and Curious George...
Roman, you are growing up so fast right before our eyes. We love you so much and we are so proud of you!!! Thank you for making our world so complete!
Here are a few pics from his special day:

I'm 3, yay!!

Happy Birthday, Roman...

Roman looks pooped, huh?


Opening gifts...such fun!

The Disney bounce house...

At the Ballpark, the next day...

A view from the stadium...

In the batting gage with Benjamin and Mr. Mark...


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Visit to Waco Zoo

Last Tuesday, the boys and I headed to Waco, Texas to meet up with our close friends, The Little's (Aunt Sylvia, Alexis and Caleb), who live just north of Austin. We made a day of it by spending the morning at the Waco Zoo! Of course, the "wait to last minute to prepare" person that I am on most days, forgot my camera. I didn't get any of my own pics but Alexis was busy snapping away with her new little camera. I was able to pack most of our lunch and snacks. This was the first trek I had made with the boys without Steve.

We arrived around 10:45am. I think it took us about 1.5 hrs from Cedar Hill. Not bad! It was a nice zoo; quiet with very little traffic. It was extremely hot and HUMID. OK, I'm not talking 90% humidity; it's was way over 100% and then sum. We were drenched by the time we walked up to the gate. We were able to use our Dallas Zoo membership and we didn't have to pay any admission fees. Plus parking was free too! I thought the landscaping was very pretty and definitely a well kept. The zoo is small which is perfect for toddler age kiddos. In my opinion, the best part of the zoo was the Brazos River County exhibit area. We enjoyed the spanish and indian exhibits throughout. But, the kids loved the otters. This exhibit has a clear slide that is built within the water container so when the kids slide through, the otters are swimming right by them. Too cool!! I think it took us about 2 hrs to tour the entire zoo. Not bad especially when you've got toddler age kids.

After the zoo, we headed to Subway and had lunch. It was great to spend time with the Littles and just catch up with each other. After lunch, we parted ways and headed back to Cedar Hill and they back to Hutto. Of course, on the way back, I had to stop in Hillsboro and visit the Carter and Gymboree outlets. Yay!! I was able to get some great bargains for the boys. The boys did great, we were all safe and home by 5pm.

I can't wait to do something like this again. It really was an enjoyable time and well worth the trip. It's not very often we get to do something like this with great friends so I treasure these moments.