Family trip

Our visit to LA

 

We went to LA the 2nd week in February to visit Uncle Joseph, Aunt Lorianne, Cousin Maeva and baby cousin Austin. My mom, Auntie Cheryl, Lisa, Jenna and Ryan all went too! It was a fun family trip, and especially fun to meet baby cousin Austin for the 1st time

 A little make shift dinner table with an excellent view of airplanes!

The kids did so much better than expected on the plane. They have both flown several times before, but at their ages you just never know what kind of "moods" they might be in. We took an evening flight and stayed in a hotel near LAX. This worked out good, so we did not have to stress about driving in LA traffic with 2 sleepy kiddos. The next morning we rented a car and drove to my brother's house.

 We took all the kids (except baby Austin) to Griffith park ( we love going there each time we visit). They got to ride the ponies, which Nathan and Amber love to do, Amber was not a fan!

 Amber cried the whole time she was on the pony. She has really been having separation anxiety when she is not around me or Dan (especially me) for the past few weeks. So I am not sure if she just didn't like riding a pony or if it was because some strange man took her away from me and put her on a pony. Poor baby, not such a great idea.

 After the pony ride, Amber was super clingy! But that worked out, because we went to ride the trains! Maeva sat with Gram-E, Nathan with Dan and Amber with me. During the train ride AMeva turned around to Nathan and said "Nathan, are you having a fun time" to which he replied "Oh yes I am"!  Listening to the 2 of them over the course of the trip was my favorite thing! The way they interact with each other is precious, especially since they don't see each other very often. I think they have a sense that they are family.

 The above picture was another adorable interaction. Maeva was pointing her finger and telling Nathan the plan at the park. Nathan the responds "That sounds like a great idea Maeva!". Melt my heart.

 My mom and I took the kids to ride the ponies 1 more time while Dan and Amber rode the train. I love the picture of the 2 of them!

 After nap time we went to another park to play. It was a fabulous park. It had a giant sand area, tons of playground equipment. The kids really enjoyed the teeter totter, with a little help from Gram-E.

 After the teeter-totter, Maeva and Gram-E went to swing. Maeva kept begging Nathan to swing with her, but he just wanted to play in the sand.

 That boy would live in the sand if I let him. He got a smidgen sandy, but had a blast.

On Saturday, we went to a birthday party for cousin Maeva and her friend, Ana, who were both turning 3. The party was at Ana's house and was complete with face painter's and a balloon artist! The balloon artist made the adorable hair balloon flowers for Amber and they matched her outfit exactly!

Side note about the party. My sister-in-law informed me that the new "in" thing in LA is to give your children no processed, refined foods or sugars. So, they had to order a cake that was gluten free, nut free, dairy free, and processed sugar free. I was kinda making fun of this quite a bit! Lorianne went on to say that there would be some kids at the party that had never had sugar before.....EVER. Wow. (don't worry my daughter ate enough of the sugary cake to make up for all those poor children who have to eat agave sweetened foods!!!!!) All of that to say, the cake was actually pretty good. I am not sure what it was made out of, but it was tasty. They also had a normal cake too!

 

My mom is always taking pictures of the kids and never gets any of her with them. This was the best I could do. Some one (hint: the boy not looking at the camera) was NOT very cooperative!



 Oh the balloon artist: Nathan has had a phobia about balloons popping for a while. Several months ago I gave him a balloon and it popped. He wailed like someone had died and every time we went outside to the scene of the accident he would cry and talk about how the balloon popped. We have had several other incidents too, so we try and keep balloons away from him. Then, on the day we were to fly out to LA he got a balloon at school (for valentines day) and it accidentally blew out of the car and way up into the clouds. IT was very traumatic for him and he sobbed for a long time and kept talking about how the balloon was gone. I even stopped at CVS and bought him another one (it was kinda my fault his blew away...oops) but he said it wasn't the same balloon and kept crying. He is a sensitive child I appreciate that characteristic of his personality, however when I heard there was going to be a balloon artist at the party I was nervous. When we first got to Cousin Maeva's house on Friday she had a big balloon in her room my brother had given her and we had to hide it in the closet because it upset Nathan so much. It was a huge helium balloon and it was up by her fan he was upset that the fan was going to pop the balloon (and the party was going to be all about balloons...yikes)

 

 



The minute we walked into the party and he saw the balloons he started crying so I took him outside and talked to him and he calmed down. He stayed outside for most of the party. However he did ask for a balloon from the "balloon man". I took him inside and he was very excited b/c the man was going to make him an airplane. He was smiling and all was going well until one of the balloons popped while the man was blowing it up. Bring on the tears. However,he did recover and got his balloon plane!

I am sure it is more the loud noise with balloons that bothers him so much. He has always been sensitive to loud noises (but i am too).

 



Auntie Cheryl holding baby Austin! Baby Austin got passed around by all of us and spoiled rotten with holding!

 



My daughter liked the birthday cake (the 1 with all the processed sugar!) ALOT. She definitely has her daddy's sweet tooth! The thing with her at the party was she would pick up random peoples cups and plates and just drink or eat whatever was on them...it's a no wonder she is sick all the time.

 



Cousin Maeva took her face painting very seriously!

 



In the backyard of the party, there were some stairs in the corner. Nathan found a toy truck and played on the stairs for the longest time. He is so much like me...not as social, likes the quiet and calmness, gets stressed in chaos. I am glad he found a place to play that made him happy.

 

 



Baby Austin and Gram-E

 



The next day we drove out to the ocean and took whale watching tour. Being out on the ocean in the cool breeze felt heavenly! Amber fell asleep with the wind in her hair, up against my chest, with the smooth rocking of the boat....it's a good thing I stayed awake!

We got to see more dolphins than whales, but we had such a fun time. I enjoy boats and being on the water. It was pretty choppy going out and there were lots of people on the boat that had weak stomachs!

My siblings and mom

 



That evening we went out to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant. MAeva and Nathan sat next to each other and entertained each other. The above picture is Nathan feeding Maeva a chip!

Love this picture! Oh how I wish they lived closer (notice I said they lived closer, not us living closer to them! I have zero interest in living in California!)

Nathan was giving Uncle Joseph a hug for his dinner. I am very proud of Nathan for doing so well with his manners.

They were looking and talking about something under the table, but I didn't quite understand what they were saying.

 

Baby Austin says don't forget about me

The girls riding home in the wagon

 

We had such a fun trip and the kids did great on the flight home. Amber and I took a nap (big surprise) but Nathan never fell asleep. He and Dan watched a few Veggie tales and read some books.

It was nice just ot get away for a few days and see my brother and sister again.

Still playing catch-up on posts

Christmas card pictures and Ice storm 2013

 For the last few years I have gotten Christmas cards done at Target. However, last year was an awful experience and I have not been back since. My good friend was going to take some for us, however we had Iceagedon (as it was called) on that weekend. I was going to try and get some pictures in Houston over Thanksgiving but the kids were less than cooperative.

Dan attempted to snap some keepers on a day I was at work and he did a great job!

The above picture is the 1  Iput on our Christmas card.

Below are some of the out-takes to get just 1 good picture!

Trying to get both of them to look at the camera and smile (at the same time..gasp..what a concept), is like herding cats!

 Both are looking, just not smiling...scratch.

 

  Nathan was trying to give sister a hug and they were both smiling, but no lookie!

 

 

 Umm..."daddy, why can't we just play in the leaves instead having our picture taken?

 

 

 ON the 1st weekend in December we had an Ice storm blow through and it shut the city down (I know, us Texans!). IT was actually kinda nuts. I had gone grocery shopping on Thursday (not in preparation fo storm, just normal shopping) and the stores were packed with people. There was literally NO milk,meat and limited bread!! I mean, come on people, it's not like you are going to be trapped for a month.

The storm blew threw on Friday and the roads were pretty dicey. I had to drive into work on Saturday and nothing was sanded which stunk and other drivers were slamming on their brakes and either driving way too slow or fast! My normal 20ish minute commute took 45!

We went to church on Sunday but it had been canceled. They were just going to live-stream the service. It actually was a wonderful experience. There were less than 100 people (as opposes to thousands) and we talked to the pastor for several minutes (hey, big deal in a large church!) The service was very personable as was the music. Oh how I wish we could find something like that for every Sunday. It was the music minster with his guitar and 4 other singers, it was beautiful. Of course there was no Nursery, so the kids sat with us. They both were motionless during the music, then sister got fidgety and had to be removed, but Nathan sat in Dan's lap for the whole service!

We ventured to the grocery store that evening and they stores were wiped out. I am not exaggerating, there was NO meat products, milk, cheese, eggs, produce, veggies or bread. It looked like people were preparing for the end of the world!

Needless to say we enjoyed some fun outdoor time playing in the ice. Nathan loved to "ice-skate" in the backyard while sister fell every other step she took. And of course we had to eat some icicles! Never mind that they were from the dirty gutter!

 Since we don't have more than a day or 2 of ice/snow a year in Texas it is pointless to have a bunch of snow toys, so we made do with a laundry basket!

 Nathan's favorite part of winter is getting to help daddy start a fire in the fireplace. When he wakes up in the morning, and you have told him the night before about helping, the first thing he says is "help daddy build fire in fireplace?"! He gets to carry the wood in like a big boy. Fire, trucks, planes, mickey and helicopters..that's what my boy loves!

 Of course, since brother was carrying a log, sister had to as well! She loves her brother and just wants ot be doing whatever he is doing!

 

Don't worry the ice melted over the next few days and the stores were re-stocked with essentials!

Again, a little behind on blogging!

Thanksgiving 2013

 

I feel like Amber had grown by leaps and bounds! She is so different from at her birthday, what a difference 2 months makes. She has been walking for a while and has cut out crawling all together.

Her hair is so long and pretty but I can't just spit in my hand and pat it down like I can with Nathan's! I hope it stays the red color that it is!

She loves to clap right now and copying her brother!

 

Dan had to work this Thanksgiving so I took the kids and went to my grandparents house. My mom and I drove down after I got off of work at 7:30pm, thinking the kids would sleep the whole way down...ummm..not so much! Amber fell asleep just fine but Nathan was so resistant which really surprised me because he is my little sleeper boy! I mean this kid sleep 11 hours at night every night and then takes a 3 hour nap in the afternoon! The boy LOVES to sleep! Anyways, he finally fell asleep at 11ish but we arrived at their house an hour later. Then he saw my grandparents, who he LOVES, and he was wired for another hour! At least it was a good plan in theory.

Nathan loves his G-gram and G-pop so much. HE talks about them all the time. " We can feed the ducks when we go to G-gram and g-pop's house" " my big mickey is at G-gram's house!"

It was funny, he would get kinda upset if he didn't know where my grandpa was at times. "oh no, G-pop is gone"!

 



We took the kids to the small airport right by Gram and Pop's house. IT is a wonderful airport, you can sit on a little patio and watch the planes taxi, take off and land. Funny story, while we were there 2 guys were driving a large (fits 8 people) golf cart on the tarmac and were smiling and waving at the kids, so they drove over and asked us if we wanted to take a ride and look at the planes!!! So what does my plane loving boy say "No, Thank you". None of us could believe it, he had no idea what he had just said no to! (He is in a phase where everything is No, thank you, and it is hard to get too mad since he is so polite about saying no!)

 



They were both glued to the rail watching each plane take off and land. I don't think sister truly understood what she was looking at but since brother was doing it, so was she!

 



Here is Nathan trying coffee creamer for the 1st ime. When my siblings and I were little our favorite thing at a restaurant was to drink the cream from my grandparents coffee, so Nathan got introduced to it and he was a fan!

 



Such a big girl!

 



I always love going to visit my grandparents and I am so thankful for them! It warms my heart that Nathan takes to them so well! He and papa played a gamed were Nathan would run down the long hallway and Papa would be holding his giant Mickey mouse (literally its the ame size as nathan) and Nathan would crash into it. It was so fun to watch!

A little behind on blogging!

September-Halloween


Some days I think "what am I going to do with the kids today" and then I blink and the week is over! We have been staying busy and sometimes I have to remind myself to just slow down and spend a day at home playing in the playroom with kids and not worry about having something to do or some where to go!

I can not complain though, I enjoy being busy and I feel like I have a good balance of working and staying at home.

Anyways, we have been up to some fun the past 2 months and I wanted to capture some of it before I forget!

The kids, my mom and myself went to Grapevine's street fair! It was in the historic downtown main street and they had a wonderful play area for the kids. They had giant soft Lego's and a huge amount of small normal Lego's (compliments of LEGOLAND) for the kids to play with and to build. Amber loved jumping in the pit with the giant soft legos and Nathan built a "car" (well, it had 4 wheels and rolled) that he rolled down the big ramp they provided (over and over again)

 

 We visited a firehouse museum in a not so great part of Dallas, but the museum was fun! I had been there before but not since I was a teenager. We had the place to ourselves. Amber thoroughly enjoyed playing with the wheels of all the firetrucks and they were not clean firetrucks either! The 2 of them were covered in dust and dirt by the end!

 Nathan had to climb up into every firetruck and pretend to drive it. There was a few trucks that he wasn't supposed ot be in, but of course my mom would sneak him in anyways. I know this is shocking news for those of you who know her! HaHa

 The 1st week of October we made our yearly visit to the State fair of Texas. We went ot the dog show and that was the kids favorite part. I didn't get any good pictures but they were both dancing to the music and smiling as the dogs jumped.

 They also got to pet some goats and other animals. Nathan needed some behavior modification when we were in there so he was placed in timeout in a corner. Well, our heads were turned for a minute and he had managed to unlock and open the gate to the pig pen (which was a part of the corner he was sitting in)! Luckily we were able to close the gate before they got out, but it was kinda funny!

 Now that sister is wanting to walk all the time, we spend a good majority of our time outside letting her walk with her push carts. Nathan always has to push his lawn mower and he loves to have her "push him" with her cart.

 

 We went to a pumpkin patch

I can't believe I have both of them looking at the camera at the same time and smiling!!

 



My new favorite of sister!

 



We went to the zoo and Nathan's favorite thing is to play in the little river they have and feed the fish! He gets such a thrill out of watching the Koi swim over and eat the food.

 



Such a good picture of Gram-E and sister

 



They had a baby cheetah, which apparently is rare to see, on display. We could have touched him if we wanted! He was so cute and he is being raised with a Labrador puppy!



 

We did several activities for Halloween. First we went to a Fall festival the week before Halloween. Nathan and Amber got to hear music and bounce in some bounce houses! He liked getting candy in his bucket but he doesn't like eating any candy unless it is M&M's!



 

 

Directing music agian

 

We also went to another church festival and it was so fun because it reminded me of the type of Fall festivals we had at our church when I was growing up. Each classroom had different games for the kids to play for a piece of candy!



Amber got an apple from bobbing for apples and proceeded to eat the entire apple!

 

Then on Halloween night we went trick-or-treating just in our 10 house culd-a-sac and then went to a friends house for a cook-out.

 



1 year old party....long overdue!

5 weeks ago my last baby turned 1! I am long overdue on blogging about it, I blame life for being too busy!!

I bought a groupon for JCP portrait studio and used it for some 1 year old pictures of her. They turned out OK, but I have not been impressed with portrait studio's in general and will not use them again. I just couldn't pass up the groupon!! A few pictures turned out cute. Nathan was acting very "2" that day and they took no good pictures of him or the 2 of them together...bummer.



 Looking at these pictures makes me realize how much she has changed and grown in just 5 weeks since they were taken. Her hair is much longer and her face is thinner (from walking). She is growing and changing so fast!

She started cruising and walking with her push toys around 11 months and really started walking on her own at 13 months.

Her appetite has tripled in the last few weeks, I think since she is moving around more? She prefers squeezies (fruit/vegetable pouches) and I can not get her to eat any kind of chicken/pork/or beef.

She continues to get a rash around her mouth most days after she eats. I have not been able to narrow it down to a particular food. It is worse with strawberries, so I am avoiding those for now.

She had her 1 year old checkup and was in the 85% for height and 75% for weight. She got sick after her vaccinations with a high fever but it went away after a few days. It was her first time to have a true fever and she was so pitiful. She just wanted to cuddled, so I soaked up that time, but I still hated to see her sick.

We threw a little birthday party for her at a splash pad/park near our house. I know it was the end of  September but living in Texas with the hot weather allowed us to have her party outdoors with water!  It did rain, but it really worked out in our favor. IT started to rain after the kids had been playing in the water for an hour and I was ready to let everyone munch on chick-fil-a nuggets, serve her cake and open presents. We had a big pavilions so we could stay out of the rain!

 

Her cousin was so sweet to play with her in the water! Nathan had fun too! It was mostly family but we had 4 other kids there, besides her cousins, and it worked out good.

 She started to shiver right before the rain started so she got to snuggle wrapped in a towel for a while.

 

 Nathan was much more into the cake and candles than she was! I did let him help her blow them out!

 I did not think about keeping a onesie on her and feel kinda weird that she is half undressed in her cake pictures. I was just thinking about the mess she was going to make....oh well, to late to retake pictures with a shirt on now.

 She enjoyed sticking her feet into the cake more than she enjoyed eating it! Word to the wise, shortening from the frosting does not wash off easily without a degreaser!!

After cake she opened some presents.  I am very grateful and thankful for all the clothes and toys she received!

A parting shot with the birthday girl and her daddy!