Memorial Day 2011

Just a few pics from our Memorial Day Weekend at the lake.  I didn't take too many... wah-wahhhh.  And what's funny is that they are all of Sophie!  Lol.

showing the flowers some love

cheese

these plants need some love too

time for some fun in the sun

running through the sprinkler

didn't like getting sprayed in the eyes too much

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Another Graduation In The House

That's right!  Another graduation.  This time it was Zachary's turn!!  He graduated from Pre-School!!  Can't believe my baby will be starting grade school in the fall.  Wow.
The school put together a really cute ceremony.  The kids all filed in and sat in the front.  We watched a really cute slideshow/video of them all saying what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Talk about "melt my heart" material!  Then they were called up one by one to receive their "diploma."  Pretty cute stuff.  I mean, all they were missing were cap and gowns!  Ha!
Afterwards, we went to the cafeteria to have some punch and cookies.

Waiting for the program to start

The teachers decorated the bulletin boards with then & now pictures of all the kids, look at those cheeks!

How cute are they?

My big boy!

*Zachary,
     Mommy & Daddy are very proud of you.  Your are such a sweet, smart, loving boy!!  I thank God every day for gracing me with your precious self.  I can't believe that you are already big enough to be starting Kindergarten.  I hope your first year of grade school is great and that you enjoy every minute of it!  I love you.

The Krusty Krab

Grandma Sally left some presents for the kids so that when they got back from their weekend at the lake they would have a few surprises.
She gave Sophie a baby doll and Zach got his first Lego set.  A SpongeBob one!  He loved it!  He wanted to build it right away.  I left him on the living room floor, starting to build the Krusty Krab- if you don't watch SpongeBob then you probably don't know what that is.  It's where SpongeBob works and makes Krabby Patties, of course!  I was tired from our night out, so I dozed off for about 1 1/2 hours.  When I woke up, he was still working on it!  I couldn't believe it!!  I couldn't believe that he had that much patience to sit there and try to follow the directions and get this thing built correctly.  I was definitely impressed.
He did need a little help so Gabe got down there and helped him.  Too cute!

Graduation Weekend Continues

Saturday morning we took it pretty easy.  I was anxious to try out one of my Gabe's presents...

What??  You wouldn't have been excited too?

We enjoyed some Whataburger with Vince and after he left we took a nap to rest up for the night's festivities.  We had plans to go out to eat with our good friends, The Wittschen's and then check out
Club 8 on Washington.
The original plan was for several others to join us, but it didn't work out that way.  But in all honesty, I'm glad it wasn't a huge group of us.  I'm glad that it was just us and Jayne & Kevin.  We had an absolute BLAST!!  Probably too much fun.  It was great!  Of course, Jayne took some great pics to remember the evening...

 Check this pic out... homeboy is catching up on his zzzz's... in a bar!  Lol!

These are just a few of the pics.  There are a lot more.  Good times were had by all.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.
Thanks for celebrating with us Wittschen's!!  It never fails.  We always have a great time with y'all!  :)

It's Here! Graduation Time!!!!!

I think that I have expressed how excited that I am/was that Gabe is graduating this semester.  But now that it is finally here and all systems are a "go" we are ALL really excited and ready for the next chapter!

Of all days for a graduation to be on, it's on a Friday morning.  I guess there's just too many students to fit them all on a Saturday graduation.  So work had to be requested off, etc and a few of you were well, lets just say it... lucky to not have to sit through the graduation.  Lol!

Of course Gabe's parents, sister, and nephew came to town for the big day and that meant that we had to get the house in order for our guests.  Sheets and beds ready, bathroom clean, floors vacuumed, and of course we had to get the 'ol high chair out and cleaned up for Kaleb!  Sophie didn't mind helping out on this one!  ;)

Cleaning is always more fun in your princess shoes. :)

The family arrived Thursday evening, we visited, ate some dinner (I made chicken spaghetti), and called it a night since we all had to be up early to fight the traffic to the graduation in the morning.  It started at 9 and Houston traffic is not cool that early.  Plus, we had to make sure Gabe was there early to be prepared and get in line!

We woke up before the chickens to get a head start on getting dressed.  Everyone was on schedule and calm until after the donut stop and then we hit the traffic.  I have never seen my husband so anxious and nervous about being on time to something.  Lol!  I had to calm him down, or at least attempt to, a couple of times.  The zig-zagging through the traffic was scaring me a little.  Not to mention we had two other cars trying to follow us!  Lol!!!
Needless to say, we got there in plenty of time.  We parked, gave our graduate a "good luck" kiss and found our way to the... line.  Yep, there was a line to get in.  That's how early we were.  Lol!  Oh well.
We made our way to some good seats and again waited.  My mom and Becky made it just as the program started.

I would like to say that I got some awesome pics that will be cherished forever, but that didn't happen.  Not at all.  I was even prepared.  I had my short lens, long lens, and the batteries were all charged up.  But I could not take a good shot to save my life.  I obviously don't know all of the ins and outs of my camera (and I won't admit to just how long I have owned it), but something was not right.  A setting was wrong, or something.  Or maybe it was the lighting in there- which sucked.  I started to panic a little and texted Jayne (who was at work, by the way) asking her what she thought could be the problem.  I even had her in a bit of a panic!  Lol!!  I couldn't figure it out, so I gave up eventually so that I could cheer my hubby on.

Finally it was his turn to cross the stage, shake the University's President's hand, and grab that diploma!  And I couldn't have been more proud of him.  I cheered, I clapped, and I even cried.  Happy tears of course!  :)

After the ceremony we all met up outside and then left for the celebration lunch.  Let me add this as a sidenote real quick... the ceremony was 3 hours long!!!!!  Then when we get to the parking lot, we have to wait and wait and wait for the traffic just to get out of the parking lot!!!!!  OMG!  We were so ready to be there with our family and friends and eat!  Lol!

We had made reservations at the Yardhouse in the Memorial City area.  Its a new part called City Centre.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you should.  It's a really neat area!
I picked this restaurant because 1. Its new and we hadn't tried it yet and 2. they have 100+ beers on tap!  Lol!  We all know how big a fan Gabe is of the beers.  :)
The food was really good and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Silly boy

Baby Kaleb

Andy met us for lunch

We splurged and had a yummy dessert!

Just a few of the beers

After lunch, we took some pictures with the graduate outside...

Checking out the fountains

Gabe with his sister, Kelly, Kaleb, & Kevin

Gabe with his Dad & Esmi

Gabe with his Mom & John

Our little family :)

The plan was to go home and maybe squeeze in a nap, but that didn't really happen.  Lol!  We did get to relax a little, but then I had to pack up the kids- they were going to spend the weekend with my mom, and then we had more family come over.  Gabe's cousin, Vince came into town.  We hadn't seen him in FOR-EVER!!

That night we went and had a few drinks with friends at Cedar Creek Cafe in the Heights.  It was my first time there and it was a pretty cool place.  The weather was nice so it was perfect for the seating outside.  We had some good laughs and went home and crashed.  It had been a very long day.

*Gabe,
         I am so so proud of you!!!  Some struggle with graduating college as a young adult with not many responsibilities.  You, however, did it while working a full-time job and raising a family!!  Congratulations, Honey.  You deserve it.  You have worked so hard.  Thank you for taking care of us.  We love you.  Now on to the next exciting chapter! :)

Here We Go Again

I think this is round 3?  If my memory serves me correctly.  I'm talking about our front yard flower beds.  Heaven help them!!  We've tried and tried.  And tried again.  Hopefully, hopefully this will do it.  Hopefully this will be the last time that we have to replace our bushes!!!  It's so crazy.  We thought it was the soil, that it was bad.  But why did our Oleanders and front two bushes survive?  Why is it only the back bushes that seem to always die or not grow?  So my wonderful husband took a whole day, by himself I might add, and started fresh once again.  He did think to take some before pictures.  Here they are:

Please don't judge.  Lol!  We know that they look bad.  First it started with our Oleanders freezing this past year.  So we just yanked those out.  They were getting out of control anyway.  Then our regular bushes just didn't grow.  Then the weeds started taking over.  So that's how we got to this point. 
My hubby worked his tail off- ALL DAY!!!  And actually threw his back out in the process!  Poor thing.  But the flower beds look so pretty and clean now.  Thank you, my love!  Here are the after pictures:

 

It's so pretty now!!  Old plants and weeds pulled out, new plants (bushes, flowers, and crepe myrtles) planted, mulched, watered, and ready to go!  :)  My hubby is so awesome.

Mother's Day Tea

The kids' school hosted a Mother's Day Tea for all of us moms.  Zach and Sophie were very excited to show me my presents and have a little snack with me.  Sophie made me a cute little bouquet of paper flowers in a decorated "vase" and Zach made a cute little flower with his picture in the middle of it in a ceramic pot.  They are so cute and special that I keep them on the window sill by the kitchen sink so that I can see them everyday!  

We then enjoyed some cookies and tea and snapped a couple of photos.

And my little buddy wanted in the picture too!  :)

The Breakfast of Champs

Sophie what do you want for breakfast????

Spaghetti!!!

And so she did!  Lol!

Warmer Weather Means...

RASPAS!!!!!  Mmmm, they are so good on a warm/hot spring day!  A new little stand opened up not too far from the house.  And I have to say, their sno cones are pretty darn good!  I like mine with a lot of flavor and juice and this hit the spot!  Tiger's Blood... mmmmmmm!  :)



AND today is my parent's 49th Anniversary!!!  Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents!  I love you!
Couldn't forget to give them a quick shout out.  :)  Next year is the big one!

Happy 75, Dad

We had a weekend of togetherness.  Saturday, we took family photos and ate dinner afterwards and Sunday was my Dad's 75th birthday!  Hard to believe that it has been 5 years since we threw him a surprise 70th party!!  Becky & Dan hosted a steak dinner for Dad.  We went over around 4 to let the kids have the first swim of the season.  Sophie was really hesitant with the water.  I guess it had been too long for her to remember that it was okay (plus I wasn't in the water with her- and I wasn't planning on getting in).  Zach picked right up where he had left off last time.  Lol!  
The weather was pretty nice, not too hot yet, so we even ate outside.  After dinner, we opened presents and pigged out on some ice cream cake!
Happy Birthday, Dad!!  We love you this _______(spread arms wide open)_________ much!!! 

Check out who got a new bikini!  :)

Being silly.

She got tired of being in the water so decided to sit on the sidelines and watch.  But then got curious and ended up getting her shorts all wet.  Good thing her cover up shorts were dry!

Funny story about the candles... notice the big 50 in the middle.  Well, there's also 25 actual candles.  50 + 25... you get the idea!  Pretty funny!

Oops!  Don't know how my pictures got out of order.  Oh well!  :)