What a week!

So I haven't blogged in a week because I have been so extremely busy. First and foremost, last Wednesday we had some special guests arrive at our casa: Nanaw, Papa and Nanaw Phew Phew! They got in right around suppertime and stayed through breakfast today. Man, oh man did we do a ton of stuff while they were here! Thursday we did the Riverwalk, ate lunch (and some of us napped) at Joes Crab Shack.

 

Then on Friday we went to lunch at a little Pizzeria/Italian restaurant and had planned on doing more downtown but the weather was on and off sprinkles, over 100 degrees and humid as heck. We opted to hit up Central Market, you know parked the ol' Swaggerwagon next to a Maserati:

Told the kids ''don't touch!" a million times, both in the parking lot and in the store. Then headed home. Saturday we did the Japanese Tea Gardens & the Farmer's market, then went shopping and had lunch.

B and Papa then headed to see Captain America and us girls and kids, headed back home for a nap. Once the guys were home we switched places and we females went shopping. Sunday we took the morning super slow and relaxing then went out for lunch. Came home, napped and had a nice grilled dinner at home complete with cupcakes in honor of Nanaw's birthday (which is this Sunday). Monday B had to work so we headed up to Gruene. It was nice on a Monday; still somewhat busy but not near as crowded as our last visit. This time we actually went into the old Gruene Hall where the boys posed and played on the stage.We crossed the street and enjoyed an old 'dublin dr. pepper' with Nanaw Phew Phew at the soda fountain then headed over to the old saw mill for lunch. By this time it was mid afternoon and hotter than hell, we came back into town, got dinner prepped then headed to Walmart.

Now you may think Why is she blogging about going to Wal-Mart? Well, I'll tell you why this is significant in a moment.

Tuesday morning we went to Lulu's Bakery and Cafe. Papa had been there once before and since then it had been featured on Travel Channel and Man v. Food. If you watch the show, it's the episode where Adam orders the 3lb cinnamon roll. (I would link up but I'm now holding an almost 10 month old and trying to wrap this up). We enjoyed their ''famous'' chicken fried steaks and took a cinnamon roll to-go. The boys were ecstatic that it was bigger than their heads. Seriously.

We then decided to work off all of the calories by walking around the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are SO pretty but man was it hot, lol.

We were there for a few hours before heading home and digging into that cinnamon roll. All 8 1/2 of each us tried some and we barely made a dent in it. Seriously, we ate maybe a 1/4 of it. It was good but probably would have tasted even better fresh.

So, back to why we went to Walmart: we went there to buy Bubba his school supplies...for kindergarten. My baby starts school in less than one month. So with school supply list in hand, we got everything on his list. He is, at least in the materialistic sense, ready for school. In fact, this morning I had to go up to the elementary school and register him for class. I can barely believe it. I'll admit it, I cried. Though I will blame it on the fact that I was going on about 5 hours of sleep, my parents and grandma left town the same time I left for school and I think my emotions were all.over.the.place. Add to that I found out that Pooks doesn't meet the super freaking ridiculous qualifications for preschool you know, because we make ''too much money'' and speak english and I was pretty bummed out this morning.

It all ends well. Bubba is excited, Pooks understands that he can't go until he is five years old. In addition to all of that, Peanut is 1/2 potty trained, Sissy started waving and saying ''Hi" and it just seems like a ton of stuff is all happening at once. It's exhausting! Enjoyable but exhausting!

My little architect

Lately Bubba's favorite activity is building with blocks. He takes it very seriously; will only use blocks of a certain size and/or color depending on what he is building that day. Earlier this week, he was building ''skyscwapers".

 When you factor in that he is building on textured tiles with 3 other siblings running around (and a dog) and he's getting them taller than he is...that's pretty good! He takes his time, assuring that every.single.block is perfectly stacked on the one below. So I asked him ''Bubba when you grow up do you want to be an architect? Architects are people who draw and design up the plans for buildings and skyscrapers." his response:

"Nah mom, I just want to be a pizza delivery guy. Dat's all."

In just 3 months

My youngest baby will be a year old.

That is insane.

Seriously. Like beyond hard to believe.

Want to know the craziest part?! Well, two things. I'm kinda, sorta ready for her to be one year old. To be more of a little person and less a baby. And I'm not pregnant with a subsequent sibling, ha! Guess that's how we know for sure that our family truly is {finally} complete. After each of our boys, even in the hospital snuggling my newborn, people would jokingly say ''so you want to have another?" and I was quick to say ''Yep" in a serious tone. I just knew that we weren't done. I love my boys to the moon and back a million trillion times but I always felt like someone was missing. Like we weren't done.

Then Sissy joined us.

Now we are done. I no longer feel like we are missing someone...It is a wonderful feeling!

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love everything about having a baby {except spit-up, ha!}. I love the snuggling (even in the middle of the night) I love the sighs and coos. The big stretches and yawns. Their smell. Nursing a newborn. Their peach-fuzz hair. Teeny tiny nails. Itty bitty diapers. Pretty much everything.

BUT (you knew it was coming), I feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that it's behind us. I am ready for the next chapter. Will their be tears? Sure. (Bubba starts kindergarten on Aug 22...No joke folks). But I am ready to see my kids gain confidence and independence. I love seeing how Bubba and Pooks are already sounding out words and excited about reading and school. I have to stifle a giggle every time Peanut yells "Me do!" while attempting to put his shoes on the wrong feet or trying to undress himself. Even seeing Sissy pull herself up to stand and go completely hands free for that split second, is thrilling. Their smiles, the grin and satisfaction of them realizing that they are capable of doing things, it's amazing. I can't even explain it.

So yes, in 3 short months my baby will be one. She will offiically be a ''toddler'' for all intents and purposes. So, like the crazy type A mom that I am, I started mentally planning and putting together ideas for her birthday party. It's going to be full of firsts! First girl birthday party and first party that I've planned from 750 miles away for the main two. Yep, we've decided that since B's work is taking him back "home" in October, we'll take some extra leave and have Sissy's party with our family and friends up there. I am thrilled because this means that all FOUR of my babies will have had their first birthday party in the same building, the same room.

Bubba...

Pooks:

Peanut...

Considering that since Bubba's birth we have lived in my hometown, then a bigger city 2 hours away, then back in said hometown and now in Texas...it's quite a feat that they were all born in the same hospital and will have had their first birthday at the same place.

So in an effort to make this the longest post in history what theme might Sissy be having? Well Bubba had Elmo, Pooks had ''Barnyard Dance", Peanut had Robots and in true girly fashion Sissy will have a girly rainbow theme. Not traditional ROY G BIV rainbow but more of a "Pixie Stick" rainbow of: pink, light orange, butter yellow, bright green, soft blue, light purple. I intend on going girly! Lots of ruffled streamers, balloons, tissue paper pom-poms, she'll be wearing a tutu...agh, I could go on but I'll stop. Okay well I lied, there is one more thing. The final deciding factor that pushed me to these ''rainbow'' theme....

Yeah, that's vintage 1983 Care Bear cake pan. My mom made me that exact.same.cake on my 1st birthday and I thought it would be fitting to make the same cake (or have her make, I should say) the same cake for her grand-daughter. I stumbled across the pan almost over 5 years ago and have held on to it ever since. I didn't want to do a full on Care Bear theme but thought the rainbow was a fun twist :)

The nice thing about having it in the same room, albeit 750 miles away, is that I know how many tablecloths I'll need, I know where streamers will go, etc. I think Auntie Michelle and I have to down to a science. Actually we had our wedding reception, 2 baby showers and 3 birthday parties in this room. It is definitely our go-to local for parties.  Watch out October 15th, we're coming for ya! So as emotional as a 1st birthday can be, I'm pretty excited! At least for now...

I'm game...

My gal pal Lindsay was doing this survey over on her blog, Coffee & Wine and I decided, I'm up for it. Lately every post is about the kids so why not something about/for me?

Using only one word, answer the following questions. Interpret freely.

1) Your cell phone? necessity
2) Your hair? crazy
3) Your mother? funny
4) Your father? technical
5) Your favorite thing? laughter
6) Your dream last night? boring
7) Your favorite drink? dr. pepper
8) Your dream/goal? done :)
9) What room are you in? kitchen
10) Your hobby? crafting
11) Your biggest fear? clowns
12) Where were you last night? home
13) Something that you're not? single, ha!
14) Muffins? banana
15) Wish list item? debt-free
16) Last thing you did? diaper change
17) What are you wearing? sweats
18) Friends? need
19)Love? Family
20) Drinking? yep
21Your mood? tired
22) Your car? HATE
23) Your style? frugal
24) Something you're not wearing? shoes
25) Your favorite store? target
26) Your Favorite Color? orange
27) Your favorite place to eat? Taco Cabana
28) Favorite place you would like to be right now? beach
29) Your pet peeve? abrasive people
30) Your favorite website? facebook



Thanks Lindsay, that was fun. Fellow bloggers...pass it on ;)

Why my kids ran outside in their pajamas/underwear...

It was raining of course! This past weekend it was 97 degrees...then a freak rainstorm rolled in. The wind picked up, the sky darkened, the temp dropped to 86 degrees and it rained. Really rained. For about...10 minutes. But the kids {who prior to moving to TX, did NOT like rain/getting wet} went running outside to see/touch/feel all those glorious drops!

 

It really is the little things in life : )

The 4th of July in South Texas...

is not like any previous 4th of July that I've celebrated. Because we're in a severe drought (I think it has rained less than 5 times since we moved here 7 months ago) they banned the sale of all fireworks, the firing of all fireworks and all public firework shows. SixFlags, Sea World, the Alamo....all cancelled. So, we did our best to have fun without them. It was different and I didn't like it very much but we prevailed and made up for our loss of pyrotechnics with food! Funnel cake, fried pickles, watermelon, s'mores, chocolate chip cookies, grilled hotdogs...mmm! We went to the Home Depot Kid's Workshop on Saturday, then on Sunday we went to the park and had a picnic. Monday we stayed home, played outside, made more food and just relaxed.

 

 

 

Next best thing to fireworks? Light up wands from the last years Fair

 

 

 The Wal-Mart was selling those poppers so we bought a few boxes...

 

 How was YOUR fourth of July??
 

4th of July means...

Today Sissy is 9 months old! (Oh yeah...and it's Independence Day but more on that later). Nine months. It hardly seems possible. In just 3 months Sissy will be a whole year old! So here she is in all her NINE month glory:

What? Like your baby doesn't like to hang upside down whenever possible? Oh...it's just my baby that does? Who would have thunk it? But tis true...Sissy loves to be upside down. At any given time when you are holding her, she may throw her entire body backward and let out a squeal as she looks at her upside down world. In fact, getting a ''good'' nine month pic was almost impossible:

 

When you take a mobile, teething, active, determined baby and  try to make her sit next to a stuffed bear and a sign...well it doesn't always go smoothly. But nonetheless, at the nine months old Sissy:

-is able to pull herself up using an object, stand, then sit back down again
-has one tooth!
-weighs in at 17lbs 7oz and is 27.5 inches in length (25th% for weight, 48th% for height)
-is still wearing size 9-12mos clothes, size 4 diapers and no shoes
-has hair that is finally growing! She doesn't tolerate the crocheted headbands very well but doesn't mind hairbows
-eats anything and everything except babyfood. Favorites are diced watermelon, mango, carrots, grilled chicken and mac & cheese. She eats everything though!
-loves playing with her brothers. She follows them all over the house, pushes their little cars, pulls herself up and plays with the toy kitchen, chews on books and generally pesters them :)
- goes absolutely crazy when placed in a Johnny-Jump Up!

- loves bathtime.
- is still nursing all.the.time. Wakes 2-3 times during the night to nurse but doesn't even fully wake up to do so. She's growing & teething and I'm handling it okay so for now, we'll carry on. (Plus she's our last baby so it's bittersweet and tolerable)
-loves to Skype with Nanaw and Papa!

I spy with my little eye....

Notice anything new about Sissy?