Sushi, S'mores, and More

I was born on Mother's Day, so my birthday always falls within a few days of it every year.  That makes the second weekend of May my favorite weekend out of the year! 

Originally we wanted to head out of town to Fredericksburg for a bed and breakfast getaway.  It was raining all over Texas, though, so we decided to stay local.  Sarah and Adam were brave enough to watch the kids so Brian and I could have time to ourselves.

Brian took off of work on Friday to spend the day with me.  We started out at the gym (I didn't want to feel guilty about having birthday dessert!) Friday morning.  We then had pedicures at a local nail salon.  Brian has had a pedicure before, but this was his first time at a typical Vietnamese owned salon.  He really enjoyed it.  He loved the massage chair, the foot jets, and the hot stone massage.  There were several other men there so Brian didn't feel too out of place.

Brian is pretending to not like the pedicure.  :)

poor lady had her work cut out

I sat next to him and texted him pictures

We then headed to Perry's for lunch for their porkchop special.  It was fabulous.  Later that evening we had dinner at Vintage Park and then went to a painting class at Vino Artino.  This was Brian's first painting class and he had a great time.  I've been several times and love it. 

painting a picture called "Wine Mixer"

We ended the night at Papa's on the lake with Nik and Crystal.  We listened to Josh Fuller and Dirt and Diesel play. 

Crystal and I at Papas on the Lake

The next day we watched Halle at her swim meet where she kicked butt!  She got first place on three of her five events.  The other two she came in a very close second.

Brian then took me to the mall for a shopping spree! I racked up some clothes, shoes, purses, and accessories. 

That night we had friends over for a get-together.  We rolled our own sushi and drank Skinny Margaritas.  Crystal Light makes a skinny margarita mix.  Just add tequila and some salt, and voila!  70 calories for a skinny rita is much better than the 300 plus calories in a traditional margarita.  We had a lot of fun rolling the sushi!  It makes for a fun adult party. 

Nik talking in his Japanese man voice as he's rolling.

The Sushi Spread.  Everything you need for a Shaggy Dog Roll or NYC roll or your own specialty roll!



the Bobbie Roll
 

We made kid sushi too!  They also had octopus.

PBJ sushi, Ham and cheese sushi, and string cheese and hotdog octopus
 

Since we had freakishly cool weather for May, we hung out around the fire pit and roasted marshmallows for s'mores!

Mother's Day was the next day.  My husband took care of the kids and let me sleep until noon!  Having uniterrupted sleep is the best Mother's Day present I could ask for.  He then brought me coffee and brunch in bed.  I'm lucky to have such a great hubby.

That evening I took a trip to see my mom, and then the girls and I enjoyed frozen yogurt at Berri Swirl. 

I got some great cards from Brian and the kids, along with some really awesome presents from my friends.  It was a fantastic weekend.  With the exception of getting older, I wish it was my birthday every weekend!


Paw Paw and Granny's house

My dad lives in New Waverly, TX, along with my grandmother (Granny.)  New Waverly is a small town close to Huntsville, and is where I used to spend my summers growing up as a kid.  The house is on two acres of land, has a small pond, and is surrounded by lots of nature.  Even now my dad has his own water well, there's no trash service, the cell phone towers are too far to get good reception, and you can't get cable TV/internet on his land.  It's funny to think how primitive it still is considering the town is only an hour from Houston.  I had to use my imagination to keep myself entertained all of those summers that I spent there.  I drew lots of pictures, made mudpies in the dirt, rode my bike, swung on a swingset that my Dad built, and played with my granny's numerous dogs and cats. 

Now my kids love going to PawPaw and Granny's house.  They get to swing on the same swingset, make mudpies in the dirt, and play with Maggie, their little dog. 

Jack, Brian, and Maggie

My dad has taken up several hobbies over the years.  He is excellent at woodworking, can build practically anything, and is very meticulous.  Besides his favorite pasttimes, hunting and fishing, he has made intricately detailed model airplanes, built wood furniture, made bottles and bottles of wine, brewed his own beers, and built a smokehouse for smoking meats and making sausages.  One of his current hobbies is gardening.  He has turned a large portion of the backyard into a garden full of many fruits and veggies.

We visited him not too long ago and helped him plant some fruits and vegetables. 

Country Boy

PawPaw and Jack talking to each other



Arden and Brian planting seeds

My dad always send us home with homemade sausage, newly brewed beer, and lots and lots of produce!

April Fools

Halle and Arden played a joke on me.  They got me.  My heart stopped when I saw this.  Naughty girls. 

pretending to have cut herself with a knife.  That's ketchup of course.

Where the Wild Things Are

My house is a disaster zone 90% of the time.  Seriously worried that the government will come condemn the place. Ok, maybe it's not that bad, but at times it's almost Hoarders material. 

These are the reasons why my house is a mess.


this



and this



and sometimes this

Once upon a time (a year ago actually) I had it in my head that my house would be perfect and spotless.  I mean, I would be home all the time so the laundry would be done, the dishes would always be put away, and my toilets would sparkle, right???    Then reality set in.  And reality is now crawling and has a mischievous sister.  My house constantly has Cheerios on the floor, spilled chocolate milk (spill-proof cups are NOT spill-proof, by the way) clean laundry mixed with dirty laundry, dirty diapers, dishes over-piling, and all the crap the kids have pulled out to play with (toy makers should be imprisoned for all the cluttering little pieces they make.) 

I clean my house inside and out.  Thirty minutes later there should be caution tape up.  Jack has pulled all of my clothes out of a drawer, DVDs out of a cabinet, and all of the wipies out of the box.  Arden has decided to play dress up with every pair of shoes I own and then use 39 markers to color one picture.  Their attention spans are 4 seconds tops so before you know it they are on to the next thing.  Arden will clean up when I tell her to, but ONLY if I'm constantly on her to do it.  I try to confine Jack to his playpen or walker, but then he just screams and screams because he wants to get out and explore.  At this point I go on strike because I decide I'm not going to spend my whole life cleaning; the little creatures that overrun it can figure it out on their own, lol.

He found the hairband bin



random brown PlayDoh I found in my shoe

one day's work in Arden's room



This is a toilet paper roll that Arden chunked in the toilet.  This is Charmin MEGA roll.  I was so mad!  Note there is no water in the toilet... because the paper soaked it all up.

 I'm really not complaining.  I LOVE my job as a stay at home mom and all the craziness it entails.  And thankfully I have a husband who understands there's wild animals living among us.  It's just that I need a cage.  A really big one the size of my house.  The end.  :)

Spring Break

We didn't have big plans for spring break, but that didn't keep us from staying busy.  It was a super gorgeous week.  No rain and the temperature was perfect.  If we weren't away from home, the kids were playing in the sandbox.

That sandbox has hands down been the best thing we have ever done for the kids.  They LOVE it and will play for hours.  All three of them.  This means freedom for me!  I was able to sit back and read a book in the backyard while they played.  Sure there's sand on my floors, in the bathtub, and in the washing machine.  I don't care, though.  It's nothing compared to the great time that they're having.  I think Halle has built a thousand tunnels and Arden has built a thousand and one castles.  Jack just eats the sand.  His poop now comes out gritty.  Seriously.

The first Saturday we went to Myleigh's Frosty the Snowman Party.

Arden dressed in toilet paper as Frosty

Myleigh has been begging Crystal for two years now to have a Frosty party.  Seeing that her birthday is in March, Crystal shot her down.  Crystal relented this year and Myleigh got her wish.  It was such a cute party! I forgot to pack diapers for Jack in his diaper bag, so poor kid had to wear Delaney's size 2 diapers!  (he's in a size 5)  They were Brazilian cut on him, ha!  We then all stayed the night as Crystal's house while I was on call.  I got called in around 10 pm so the party was over for me.  Brian and the kids stayed and hung out.  I didn't sleep at all that night, and went to retrieve my family from the Green's around 7 am.

On Sunday evening (after I slept all day)  Mike and Christy came over for a small birthday celebration for Jack.  Ryan, Christy's son, was in town and also came to visit.  He now lives in Georgia for work, so we don't get to see him very often.  It was nice to catch up with Ryan while we watched Jack open and play with his gifts.

 Halle was so cute on Monday.  She had mapped out an itenerary for the entire day:
9:00-12:00  arts and crafts - make puppets
12-12:15 puppet show
12:15-2:00 do something from Pinterest (I kid you not, that's what it said)
2:00-2:30 play outside
..... and so on...... She didn't exactly stick to the itenerary seeing how she rolled out of bed at noon, but she tried, lol.

After the puppet show we made an impromptu trip to the park with Crystal and the kids, so the schedule was soon forgotten.

Monday and Tuesday was filled with playing in the backyard and at the park with the Green kids.  Crystal and I also practiced making cake pops for Arden's party.  I usually do a trial run on my cakes a few weeks before the party to make sure it's not a total disaster.  I also do it because I enjoy making and baking.  Jessica also comes over and helps out with the cake decorating and we have a great time doing it.  My kitchen turns into one big powdered sugar/marshmallowy/chocolately mess.  And my family loves practice cakes...  because somebody has to eat it of course!

Wednesday Halle had her friend, Jenna, over.  We went to the park, had lunch, and then went to Chuck e Cheese.  The girls kept hitting the jackpots on the games, so they won lots and lots of tickets.

At Chuck e Cheese Jack kept sucking his toes.  Ewww!

Thursday was spent at the zoo with Jess and the kids.  Besides me getting lost on the way there, and Jess getting lost on the way back, it was pretty uneventful.  I swear they moved the zoo; it wasn't in that location the last time I visited ;) Trying to keep up with 5 kids was both fun and tiring.  This was Jack's first trip to the zoo, but he was too tired and still too young to enjoy it. 

On Friday we attempted to see a movie at the drive-in with the Greens.  The closest drive-in theatre is thirty minutes from our house.  We've been there several times and it has never been very busy.  With the perfect weather and spring break it was a different story, though.  We got there forty-five minutes before the movie started to get tickets and hopefully get a primo spot.  When we got there, though, the line was already a quarter-mile deep.  The cars were lined up down the shoulder of 2920.  After twenty minutes of inching forward we were able to see a sign that said the movie we wanted to watch was sold out.  With dejected and hungry kids (we had planned on eating at the drive-in) we made our way back home and came up with plan B.  We set up the tent in the backyard and let them watch a movie inside the tent on the laptop.  They had a blast doing that, and Gracie stayed the night.

Saturday the kids ran around in what Arden called "sprinkles"  Brian turned on the waterhose and let them play in the driveway.  They then constructed bows and arrow out of hula hoops pieces, stick, leaves, and thumbtacks.  They had a good time shooting the arrows.  Halle is a good shot; she may might be the next Katniss.



Sunday we went to a crawfish boil with our Sunday School group.  Halle perfected her crawfish peeling skills.  Our Sunday School teacher came up to me and told me that my daughter (Arden) had gotten into something and had white stuff all over her face.  She found someone else's sunscreen.  Needless to say she didn't get a sunburn that day.

Well that's all she wrote!  That sums up our Spring Break!

Straw Drinking Lesson

There's probably many ways to teach a baby how to drink from a straw.

But just in case you wanted to learn the Bobbie Hargrave method (tried and true 3 babies in a row), here it is......

Baby age: 12 months
Time this method takes: approx 30 seconds

1)with one hand hold drink of choice and stick straw in baby's mouth
2)with other hand pinch baby's nose completely shut
3)keep holding nose as baby flails around because he/she doesn't like the nose pinching
4)try not to poke baby in the eye with the straw while the flailing is occuring
5)keep holding until baby is forced to take a breath through mouth
6)baby will then involuntarily suck in the drink
7)baby gets surprised that the drink is coming through the straw and will either a)get scared or b)be pleasantly surprised.  do not be alarmed if the baby gets scared.  this is only temporary.
8)baby overcomes the initial reaction and enjoys drinking from the straw.

Congratulations on completely this lesson.

 Now go put those baby nose-pinchers to use.

Jack's First Birthday- Puppy Party

I had fun planning this party. I got the idea to do a puppy-themed party a long time ago when Halle attended one as a three year old. I decided Jack's first birthday would be a great opportunity to plan one!   

Invitation

I was a GORGEOUS day for an outdoor party!  I was thrilled.  The weather was perfect!

My kid has become the most laid back little guy.  Every time I pick him up from childcare at church or the gym, the staff ooohs and ahhhs over how happy and good he is.  Not at his party though.  He was in a foul mood, lol!  But I didn't mind.  There were plenty of adults to pass him off to.  ;)

Our birthday gift to Jack was a sandbox.  Brian spent the entire day before the party building it.  It's 4 ft by 8 ft and is awesome!  He did a great job building it.  Arden and Halle both helped with the project and were super excited to have a sandbox.

I originally asked him to build a sandbox by the party-date so kids could dig for "bones".  Funny how I completely forgot about that part by the time the day rolled around.  Awww crap.  Reminds me that I also forgot to do the Barking Contest.  Oh well.  This sandbox was the highlight of the party.  At one point I think 17 kids were packed in there having a great time.   

For lunch we had Pup-peroni pizza and the kiddos ate out of doggy bowls :)

Other items on the menu were Toilet Bowl Punch, Pupcorn, Fetch Sticks, Puppy Chow, Ruffage, and Pupcakes!

We had a doggie "photo booth" set up.  Honestly I didn't think the kids would care to dress up and take pictures, but they stood in line and begged for their turn.  Colton (on the left) especially liked pretending to be a dog!

The boy doggies

Princess Puppies

The kids played some doggie games too.
"Feed the Pup" was the favorite game among the kids and even some of the adults.  The kids took turns throwing dog biscuits into the pup's mouth.

This next game didn't quite go as planned.  It was a relay race and there were two teams.  Each player was to go on all fours down to the end, fetch a newspaper with his/her mouth and return.  Except the preschoolers didn't understand that they were to wait their turn! Or go only once!

There were watercolor pictures to paint as well.  Mostly the girls enjoyed this.

Bingo is a dog, so we played his game.  Almost everyone bingo'd at the same time!  Worked out great so we only played one round.   

And Blue from Blue's Clues left some scavenger hunt clues for the kids which led to what he wanted to do at Jack's party.  Some of the kids (the ones not playing in the sandbox) followed Crystal around to search for the hidden clues.  The bigger kids helped the younger ones figure out the clues.  I asked Crystal to be animated like the show.  The older girls cracked me up because they felt awkward playing along.  Blue led them to the birthday cake!

CAKE TIME!!!

I probably could have personally licked all of the Oreos to remove every bit of white frosting, but I don't think the guests would have appreciated that.  

Jack was being a toot because he was cranky.  At first he didn't want the smash-cake and kept trying to push it off of his high chair (middle picture.)  That's before he realized it was cake, though!

He was in a much better mood once he had his cake.

Arden and Cole helped Jack open his presents.  He got lots of toys, clothes, and sippy cups!

For goodie bags, the kids got "doggie bags."  They got a bone cookie, dry dog food (Reese's cereal), and a dog food can filled with plastic toys.  

I always give my sister, Ruby, a hard time for showing up when the party is over.  This time she was only an hour and 15 minutes late!  That's improvement!  Here is my god son, Austin, to prove that they made it, ha!  I love that sweet face.

I personally think the party was a success.  I am usually stressed out during parties, but at this one I was relaxed.  I enjoyed it.  The kids had a great time, which is really all that matters.  I love planning parties for them and giving them memories.

This is two hours AFTER the party ended.  The kids are playing the Feed the Pup game again!