Memorial Day Weekend

As evil as it was to have a four day taste of summer, it was also quite fabulous at the same time.  Memorial Day weekend was a much needed respite before the final stretch of the school year marathon.  Our little stinker is doing some very cute things right now (and, at times, some very naughty things like yelling at Mommy, pushing, not napping...) and I honestly don't always think of getting the camera out.  In fact, it's been so long since I used our small camera with the video on it that I had a slight panic attack when I couldn't find it on Sunday evening.  On Monday morning, I realized I'd put it (along with a thumb drive of pictures and a few other very important things) in a Ziploc and stashed it in our tornado kit.  Yes, the kit has been out many times lately with this insane weather we've had.  I just sent a donation for the Granbury tornado, then donated stuff for the Moore, OK tornado (pretty sure some parents in the carpool line thought I was crazy as I hauled several loads of diapers, water, and food onto the sidewalk and eventually into the school building on Thursday!!).  I can't imagine how it must feel to attempt and rebuild a great part of your life, but how uplifting that EVERY person I heard on the news last week with the Moore tornado mentioned something about their faith, or God, or both.  Seems like so many faith-driven people right now are especially being persecuted.  My sweet student from last year, who is going through chemo, had surgery, and will endure more chemo soon...his grandfather just had a heart scare.  Please, please keep this wonderful family in your prayers!!  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jjbryant

But I digress...  So back to our not-so-little guy who continues to amaze us each day.  He has loved the Dollar Tree tongs I bought him (so that I could have my own cooking tongs back) and practices picking up random things around the house.  The teacher in me realizes this is great gross and fine motor skill practice, so I'm all about it!  And he just has to do it in Mommy's sequined leopard slippers, of course.

 "Good morning, fishies!"

"Eek!  She caught me!"  Don't you love the deer in the headlights look?  And the fan isn't there for decoration.  Long story short, the aquarium leaked (not sure for how long, but it was the mildewy smell that alerted me to it, so that can't be a good sign).  We can't move it because it weighs so much, so I heavily Lysoled it and put several fans on it for at least a week.  Of course, the first box fan we put out proceeded to tip over and break off a blade.  Murphy's Law.   Not too long after that, Jason was doing yard work and  the weed eater caught a rock and shattered a window.  Good news?  Our glass is double paned, so the house wasn't open to flies and other creepy crawlies.  Bad news?  Our glass is slightly tinted green, so it was upwards of $300 to have it replaced this afternoon. Oh, and that was all on Mother's Day weekend.  Already a sore weekend for a gal who's been trying to get a bun in the oven for 2 1/2 yrs again AND ended up with bronchitis.  Yep, bronchitis...as in, in bed, antibiotics/oral steroids/codeine cough syrup/FIRST inhaler of my life.  Not our month.

But on a much happier note, Aunt Lala and the boys got to come visit for the long weekend, and Uncle Matt got to see our house for the very first time!  I ended up with not so many pictures because we were soooo active the whole time, but we made lots of memories.  Reid loves his cousins and we got to see the Grapevine Aquarium, go swimming at the pool, play in the sandbox, play lots of crazy games, and Reid's favorite?  Bath time with cousins.  I got no good "clean" pictures of that one.  He also decided he wanted to begin peeing standing up after watching the big boys.  Not such a good idea.  Let's just say there's no longer a bath mat in his bathroom, but it sure made for a good blackmail pic!

He also loved storytime with his cousins.  Aunt Lala read to the boys, so I (attempted) a pic but couldn't ever get them all looking at the same time.  Reid later "read" them The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Ben thought it was hilarious that Reid mumbled half of it and only said some of the words.  I'll have to get it taped because it really is pretty funny.

Dinnertime was also entertaining. Couldn't ever get a good pic, but it was funny.  This was as good as it got. As luck would have it, all the boys liked different things, but we made it a contest to see who could eat the fastest.  No one really won, but it was funny to watch!

It was so good to see family, and it gave us a little glimpse of our beach trip coming up in June.  I do wish Reid was closer to age with all of his cousins, but God has His reasons ;)  I am just glad he's at the age he can interact more with them, now. 

Derby Time

The past few weeks have been total chaos.  That's about the nicest way I can phrase it.  And I guess it's caught up with me because I have bronchitis.  For the first time in 36 years, I now have an inhaler (hopefully short term!) and four other meds I'm on as of Saturday.  I missed school today (no, it's not as glamorous as just calling in sick...since I'm a teacher, I have to find a sub, go leave plans after the building is open, but before the kids arrive, etc. etc. etc.  Let's just say it's easier to be there than it is to be gone!!) and am just now feeling human again.  Sleep has been nonexistent between my random coughing fits and the inhaler and/or steroids keeping me awake.  And I can't work out this week (GREAT use of my new gym membership, right?), which makes me sad because I'd gotten in a pretty good schedule.  But the bronchitis also explains why my lungs felt like they were on fire during/after last Thursday's Zumba class...  Ouch!

Somewhere in the chaos, I found a night to make my Derby hat.  I miss making crafts, so this is one thing I look forward to each year.  I also realized I never got a very good picture of the hat on me, so glad I snapped this one before we left.

I was totally exhausted Friday because we'd had our zoo field trip.  I had my new kid (let's just say I'm thankful he hasn't been here all year--I know that sounds mean, but I can literally tell him something 19 times in a row and he still won't do it!!), a special friend, and then an injured friend in my group...all boys ;)  They wore me out!!  I raced over to Holli's to get Reid, raced to the house to finish loading our stuff, then attempted to race down to Jason's office.  Of course, there was traffic and it took us forever to get there.  I struggled to stay awake, but we made it and Jason drove us safely the rest of the way.  Reid was actually willing to try the headphones this time, but began yelling, "No more!!" about 20 minutes into the movie.  So Jason and I got a little music, but Reid was so happy to watch Cars 2 that we didn't mind.

The Frenches hosted us and took Reid to his first golf tournament on Saturday right after Jason and I left.  There are a few cute pics on Jason's phone that I'll have to download and share.  He had a blast and even got a ball from one of the players.  Jason and I headed down to the Heights for the Carlins' annual party.  So glad we were able to go this year, even though it was last minute, because they won't be in Houston much longer.  We finally got to meet their adorable twins, whom we have been praying for!  Their sweet family, all dolled up for the Derby:

Babies Ford and Lucy Cole even had drinks named after them in honor of Derby day!

This was a neat idea...one of our friends couldn't make the party, but had a bottle engraved in their honor.

Our annual Derby picture.  It's a golfer...it's a caddy...it's a very tall jockey?

Getting ready for the race...

"Who are you betting on?"

The Gents

The Ladies

Everyone

The Gents' After Party

We enjoyed seeing old friends and making some new ones.  It was a quick weekend with lots of driving, but so much fun!  The party gets tamer each year, and there are sweet new, little faces to meet.  So thankful for true friends :)

April

I know it's been a month since I've updated the blog, but holy moly has it been busy!!  This time of year is always nuts, but it seems like every year gets even crazier.  Our little guy comes up with the most hilarious things to do each day.  I am finally "allowed" to get on the treadmill to work out on occasion (but it's rare, so I just broke down and joined a nearby gym for the group fitness classes and Reid can play in the Kid Zone...way more fun than watching Mommy on the treadmill).  One day, Reid decided "Reid work out!" so he put on my shoes, hopped on the treadmill, and proceeded to "run, Mommy!" (we have it unplugged for just such events). 

So if the new gym membership wasn't keeping Reid and me busy enough, I also decided to enroll him in swim lessons.  Grammy and Grumpy are letting us, Laura, Matt, and the cousins all use their timeshare time at Galveston in mid June, so we are quite excited.  But I'm a little apprehensive about him being in the water (yes, we'll definitely have floaties) so I wanted to start lessons now.  Daddy happened to have a nearby walk-thru at work that was up this direction, so he was home early that day and got to join us.  This picture is pretty terrible of Reid, but I didn't want to be "that" mom who took a bazillion pics before the lesson even started.  Reid was very excited and kept asking to "go in big door" to the pool area. 

Lucky for us, we were the ONLY people signed up for the 5:00 time (so far)...so Reid's group lesson became a private lesson with Coach K.  He was soooo happy and had so much fun, which was a big relief.  He's not exactly the best listener in the world.  We couldn't hear what was going on through the big glass wall, but it looked like he was listening to pretty much everything and doing what she said!

 They had some really neat kid-oriented things at Aqua Tots, and one is a cute little canoe that comes out at the end. 

 With the big glass wall, we couldn't hear anything but splashing, but this at least gives you a general idea...

It also didn't hurt that Reid got to pick a lollipop out of the big treasure box at the end.  It doesn't seem to matter that he doesn't actually like lollipops because anywhere we go that normally has them (doctor, car wash, bank), he HAS to have one.  All he does is carry it around, so I can't complain!

Other cute things he's doing?  One is putting T (Teddy, his lovey) to sleep.  I finally found a "replacement" T online so I bought both of the ones they had (I've been looking for over a year).  Rather than being a replacement, Reid now has to have both T's, "old T" and "new T".  Thank goodness I didn't get out the third one!  The video won't load, but here's a picture where he just tucked them in and said his own version of, "Night, night.  Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

Grammy and Grumpy were so kind to drive up last Thursday to stay with Reid so Jason and I could go to our friends' wedding in Tyler.  We got to catch up with them on Thursday, they got to see me teach for a little while on Friday, then we hit the road.  I didn't think there was much to Tyler, but I definitely could live in the place where they had their rehearsal dinner.  Gorgeous!  The pic doesn't really do it justice...

 But then when we saw the venue on Saturday, it was even better!  I never got a picture of the inside, but it was gorgeous.  This was one of the beautiful pieces of artwork.  Basically, if I decorated some place myself, this place would be it.  Very Italian, beautiful flooring and outdoor landscaping...you name it.

 Jason was an usher, so we had to be there pretty early.  It had been years since we'd been to a wedding, so it was really fun.  Everything was beautiful!  And it was so nice to get away for the weekend.  We missed Reid, but I think it's important to have that couple time (and blissful sleep!!) to reconnect.  Thank you, Grammy and Grumpy!

Egg Hunts

I signed up to host this year's Easter egg hunt for Reid's playgroup at our house.  One of the other girls was going to help me (last year I stressed myself out hosting by myself--the other girls are all creative and go all out, which intimidated me until we've gotten to know each other better), which sounded good, but I ended up doing most everything.  Good thing, too, because her poor daughter came down with pink eye the day of, so she just dropped by to bring the bread bunny with spinach/artichoke dip, cookies, and cute banner.  I really enjoyed gearing up for it this time and ended up spending all the night before until midnight getting everything shopped for, prepared, and set up.  I think part of it is a little selfish...it's always so nice to hear people say you're creative (thanks, Pinterest!!  But the Peeps pops were all my own idea!), that your house and yard look great, and other nice compliments.  Everything turned out great!

We herded the kids inside for a minute to "hide" the eggs.  Then, it was all fair game!  Reid still didn't really get the whole concept of putting the eggs IN his basket, but it was fun nonetheless.

This was the best picture we've ever gotten of all the kids!  Even the two newest additions were quite happy to sit and be in the picture.  One of the twins was having too much fun indoors to come out, and I love how a couple were done by this stage (notice Reid checking out Hadley's eggs in her basket).  So funny!

Much to my surprise (and pleasure) Reid plopped right down and played with Tate, my friend Emily's son.  Hard to believe he'll already be a year old in July...seems like he was just born!

After the egg hunt, we had our traditional cookie decorating.  Reid heard someone say the magic word "cookie" and immediately sat down outside at his little table.  I was inside at the time and peeked out.  He was all by himself, sitting the nicest I'd ever seen saying, "Mommy, want cookie!  Cookie, Mommy!"  Everyone else quickly joined him.

This kiddo was in heaven with his egg-shaped, pink icing, and a TON of sprinkles.  Basically, he emptied the entire container of sprinkles onto his plate.  Lovely.

Once everyone headed home for dinner, Reid entertained himself with an extra long "tunnel" that the breeze had knocked off of our wine cabinet.  Who knew this could hold his attention for soooo long!  Should've tried it long, long ago...

Jason left early Thursday morning for his Pebble Beach trip.  What do you get when a bunch of men plan a trip??  No one bothers to see when Easter is :(  I was not a happy camper and it was a long, lonely weekend (but makes me thankful for all the other holidays we do have together...and makes me wonder how single, working parents do it solo!) so I'd planned a fun day for Reid and me on Saturday.  Much to my dismay, a huge line of thunderstorms woke me up in the wee hours of the morning.  The rain sounded like it'd pound through the roof, the thunder shook the entire house, and I'm pretty sure there was a little hail in there somewhere (I KNOW there was hail on Sunday morning when we were getting ready for church!).  But the Craig Ranch neighborhood egg hunt did happen.  We ran to Dollar Tree for a cheap basket since it would be muddy, and we pulled up at just the right time, but someone decided to start the egg hunt early.  We literally ran there and Reid was two inches away from a blue egg before some little brat swiped it.  SO I decided we'd hang around for the next hunt.  Reid bounced in the bounce house to his heart's content, but had a big boogie (and all my stuff was in the car since I had no pockets and didn't want anything muddy).  We ran to the car right quick, warranting me a slap on the arm for removing him from the bounce house.  So he was in time out for a minute before we headed back for the 10:30 egg hunt.  BUT someone decided to start it early once again...and we ran to make it there just in time for absolutely nothing.  At that point, it was cry in the car and go home, or be sure we joined the last hunt.  Reid was content to run around on the rock paths and look at the fountain, so I made SURE we were lined up and ready to go a good 10 minutes before I even thought they might start it.  He still didn't really understand the whole picking up the eggs and putting them in his basket until I did three for him, but it was still fun.  I think he enjoyed "Chikfiway" (Chick-fil-A) and his favorite yellow slide even more.  And I got a yummy, free meal thanks to their generous education program at school since my class won the last month :) 

Terrible Twos...Turning to Terrific Threes?

Well, we can dream, right??  I would love, love, love to think that the terrible twos were indeed turning into the terrific threes, but I hear otherwise from all kinds of parents lately.  "Oh, you think two is bad?  Just wait until three!!"  Eek.  But we will take what we can get for now...and it's slowly getting better, for the most part.  Unless you count potty training.  I'm pretty sure Reid is on the thirteen year plan.  But hopefully, we'll get there.

He is more open to certain things.  I've realized a lot of it is how you present it (yes, the teacher thing has definitely helped me out!) or just what mood he's in.  We've been trying to get him to wear these adorable dinosaur slippers for months.  But when we called them monster feet, he was on board!  Or, maybe it was just a good stall tactic before bath time.  He's gotten awfully good at stalling...for everying!  (Yes, Mom...I know...it's payback, right?)  Don't you love the outfit??

He enjoys helping us a lot lately.  It has to be HIS idea, of course, but he has definitely gotten more open to the idea when we ask, too.  Sometimes, I'd rather him not be helping (such as when I am getting breakables out of the dishwasher--it's like he's attracted to all the glass and plates!).  But other times, it's perfect--like when he was helping Jason do yard work.  He was pretty good at helping put the weeds into the bucket!

He is getting slightly better at eating fruits and vegetables.  I can now coerce him to eat strawberries, mandarin oranges, and broccoli (thank you, cousins!!).  Dessert is often used as a bribe.  It's funny, though, because he still doesn't like some of the things most kids would die for...such as this mini Drumstick.  Look at that face!  He does like plain ice cream, and has been talking about ice cream cones (then again, he is kind of obsessed with naming solid shapes recently) so I thought for sure he'd love this.  Wrong!

He loves Cars 2 and I finally found a cute Finn McMissile shirt for him on Amazon.  Not surprisingly, he wants to wear it every. single. day.  Maybe I should've ordered seven--one for each day of the week.  He just recently rediscovered his glowy seahorse that he absolutely loved as a baby.  It was really sweet because when he picked it up, he got this nostalgic look on his face and kind of hugged it.  

This video was too funny not to share.  Reid loves balls...soccer, baseball, basketball, football...you name it.  He has a decent throwing arm, but he really can't catch yet.  At all.

Our little guy is definitely growing up.  We are thankful that he seems to be turning the corner on some things, and looking forward to many more good things to come.  Parenting is most definitely a humbling experience, but we couldn't think of a more rewarding job. 

Spring Break

 Spring is officially here...or is it??  Today, it's very windy and was a whoppin' 38 degrees when we woke up!  It was a long walk to church since our "dirt lot" was closed due to yesterday's rain.  Fortunately, Spring Break had lovely weather.  We decided to start it off with a much-needed trip to the Asian market on Legacy...which of course means that we have to have lunch at Umeko.  Salmon sashimi and sushi roll, anyone?  On to the Asian market, where we stocked up on the goods to make bahn mi, our new favorite recipe for a Vietnamese sandwich, for when Laura came.  I also had to make laksa and send the goodies home with her so she could make it, too.

Aunt Lala and the cousins arrived on Monday afternoon.  I was so excited to see them!!  I had gotten Reid so pumped up that he almost couldn't take a nap ;)  They arrived and got settled, and once Reid was awake, we took off to go to the boys' favorite park from last summer.  But much to our dismay, the playground was completely taken apart as they'd begun renovations.  It was a bummer, but the good news is that it should be totally renovated, including covered areas by the splash pad, by this summer.  So instead, we headed down the tollway to another neat playground in Plano.  They boys ran around and played for about 15 minutes, Ben asking to explore down a sidewalk trail.  But it was Reid and Alex who took off into the woods for a spur of the moment hike.  Playground?  Who needs it??  Hiking? Yes, please!  So off we went, through the mud and all.  The boys had so much fun that we ended up hiking Tuesday and Wednesday, too, at their request! 

After a fun-filled afternoon of hiking and playing in the backyard, it was time for a traditional bath picture, or ten.  I never did get all of them looking and smiling, but the ones we snapped were priceless!

 No, that's not anything gross in the bath water.  I found bath fizzies at the store and thought it'd be fun for the boys.  We went from yellow water (yes, it totally looked like pee) to green water to purple water.  Great fun!

It was so cute the second morning when I went in Reid's room...usually he will say, "Hi Mommy!" or "See Daddy!", but this time he was jumping to get out of bed and yelling, "COUSINS!  COUSINS!!  SEE COUSINS!!"  I could barely convince him to go potty and wash his face before he was bolting down the stairs to see them.  We attempted to go to the Grapevine aquarium (and Legoland was just across the mall) to use the buy one get one free coupons I'd gotten at school.  "Madhouse" doesn't really begin to describe it, so we opted out after seeing the line to get in, which was at least a 2 1/2 hour wait.  No thanks!  We walked around some to see if there was anything else fun to do.  There was a very cute carousel, so we all paid and hopped on to take a ride.  I think Reid and Alex enjoyed the Disney-like teacup more than anyone! 

 Then it was on to Cici's Pizza for free kids' lunches (more coupons from school) and fun at the video games.  Reid loved the claw machine (maybe it reminded him of that scene in his new favorite movie, Toy Story) and carried his five "treasures" all around.  Home for nap time, then we went to Town Lake Park in McKinney to feed the ducks.  Of course, we ended up veering off the pavement onto an unpaved trail to hike before having to herd everyone home for dinner.

On Wednesday, when we asked the boys what they wanted to do, we weren't surprised at all when "hike!" was the answer once again.  We packed the boys some sandwiches and grabbed Subway for ourselves, then it was back to Arbor Hills park in Plano.  This time, we bypassed the playground and went straight for the hiking.  I was a little worried Reid would poop out pretty fast at the rate we were going, but he went strong for two hours.  The boys were so funny--they even took turns on picking the trails, yelling, "This way!!" Our little hikers in front of a pretty red bud tree:

 My little Energizer bunny ran out of steam quite suddenly and fell behind everyone.  It seemed like everyone was beginning to run out of steam, so it seemed to be time for lunch.  We were looking for a nice, big rock or something we could sit on, but nothing was quite right for us adults.  As we searched, everyone got a little more whiny.  I even had to pick Reid up and carry him for awhile, several times.  Then we stumbled upon the most perfect lunch spot...the beautiful lookout (complete with covered area and a bench) where you could see all around the entire park, and even way down into Plano.  It's still hard to believe this park, with its streams, hills, valleys, plains, and woods, is in the middle of a suburban city.

Everyone was pretty tired after all that hiking (even Laura and me!), so it was a pretty quiet ride home.  We were surprised that no one fell asleep in the car.  Laura was kind enough to stay an extra night so that Jason and I could go to the Muse concert.  A sub of his had gotten us tickets, so we met everyone at American Airlines Center, enjoyed a nice meal at Victory Tavern, and headed over to the concert.  I'd never been in a suite before, so that was neat, too.  We had a great view of the light show during the concert, as well!  The opening act, Screaming Sarah, was about as good as the name sounds (bad!).  But Muse put on a great concert!

In the meantime, Laura managed to coerce two of the three boys into the funny little mustaches I'd gotten for them (Reid was not on board)...which was perfect with Ben's Darth Vader mustache shirt. 

 

Aunt Lala (who is beginning to turn into "Aunt Lowa") and the boys had to leave on Thursday morning, all too soon.  I was so glad they could come up and we could enjoy our Spring Break together.  Laura and I had great sister time together, the boys had fun playing and hiking together, and we adults enjoyed some yummy food together.  Laura introduced us to truffle oil and made a wild mushroom pizza one night (it was so good that I already made it last night!)  Makes me want summer to come that much sooner so we can all visit each other and play again!  And, hopefully, Reid will be able to share a little bit better by then ;)