Happy Birthday America!

We went and visited Grandma & Papa at the lake for Fourth of July weekend! The kids were soo excited...it had been a while since we had been to their house to visit. Unfortunately, Gabe couldn't go with us. He had to work on that Saturday and had some school work to catch up on...remember...he's taking 9 hours of summer school right now.
We drove down on Friday evening. It had rained pretty much all day at home, but luckily it stopped once we got on the road. We made it just in time for dinner.

Saturday wasn't too sunny out, but the girls still made the most of it. Here they are 'hamming' it up for the camera!

Sunday was much better weather!! We spent all day outside...it was great!! We swam, we got some sun, the kids rode the wave runner with Uncle Stacy and Cole, Grandma grilled hamburgers & hot dogs for us, and we swam some more.


Then we had a late afternoon snack of watermelon. Yummo!!! It just isn't Fourth of July without watermelon! :)





That night we went over to Aunt Mary's house for the firework show. It's really neat because lots of people around the lake contribute to the show. And her neighbors really went all out!!! It was nuts how many fireworks they had! We would think that they were done, but then here would come another round. It was great! The kids still weren't too interested in the fireworks this year. They don't appreciate how loud they are. So they opted to play in Aunt Mary's house.
Another thing that we really enjoyed over the weekend was the shuffleboard table!!!! My Dad has always had this, but it was in Aunt Mary's garage for a while and now he finally got it moved into their garage. We would have daily games and for some reason this game never gets old. Its so much fun! My Dad took great pride in teaching Cole how to play and was impressed how quickly he picked it up. Even Zach showed a little bit of interest in learning how to play.

Thanks Mom & Dad for a great weekend!! We had lots of fun!!

He Loves His DS

Some serious concentration going on here! :)

Mommy's Little Helper

Sophie's version of folding socks... too cute!

My Baby Isn't So Baby Anymore

Well, the time finally came... bye bye baby bed. :(
While I was away in New Orleans, Sophie took a nap in her big bed. And she also slept in her bed at night. And stayed in her bed ALL night long! I couldn't believe it. I was soo proud of her and kind of sad that I missed it too.
We had been talking to her about her big bed, so I think the transition was really easy for her. I learned with Zachary not to rush it with Sophie. I was so anxious to get him in the big bed that he wasn't really ready for it. He ended up in my bed every night! And I didn't want to go down that road again. So Gabe and I decided that Sophie would be the one to decide when it was time to sleep in her big bed. And it seems to have worked out great!
At first, when she would wake up she would call out for us. But Zach quickly told her, "Soph...you can get out of bed!" Lol! So now she will get down and come downstairs by herself. Luckily she hasn't done this yet when she is supposed to be sleeping!
It's so funny to wake up to her putting a movie in the DVD player and then crawling in bed with me to watch the movie!! She seems so grown up!

So the baby bed is gone and we switched Zach's and Sophie's beds. Zach has the smaller of the two, but the plan is to give him our queen bed when we get a new one. And Sophie now has a double, but it is more fitting for her. As Zach would say, "It's more girlie." :)
So, here it is... Sophie's new bed...

Lol, just kidding!! She somehow managed to squeeze herself in here! Hilarious!!

Jumpin' Beans

Sophie finally learned how to jump. Well, she's known how to jump but now she knows how to jump off of something. In this case, a step. It's funny how much thought she puts into it before she can actually do it. This was the second video I took. The first one, she kind of chickened out a little and just took a step/hop off of the step. But here it is. Enjoy! Oh, and of course Zachary was right there with her...monkey see monkey do!!

Zach Jumpin' In

We Love Swimming!

I took the kids swimming over at my sister, Becky's house. I wasn't too sure what to expect from the kids because it had been a year since they had been in a swimming pool. They were very excited to go and definitely excited to get in the water.

Sophie was not scared at all. And Zach was ready "to swim." So I put a life jacket on him and tried to teach him what to do. But kind of hard being by myself and only having two arms. He soon realized that he really couldn't swim yet and wanted to start jumping off of the steps into the pool. At first, I had to be really close, but I started inching my way further and further away from him. And soon his confidence was gaining. And then he would jump so far that he started going under the water. Of course, he freaked out a little but then saw that the life jacket was helping him. Then to my amazement, he started kicking his legs and swimming back to the stairs!! All by himself!! I couldn't believe it! It took a whole 45 minutes for him to learn how to do this. I was so proud!

Sophie was the same way, gaining confidence more and more. She too had on a life jacket, but had trouble keeping herself upright. So that is going to take a little more practice. But she loves jumping off of the step (to me) and floating on her back (with my help of course).

Then little Miss Thing must have thought she was Michael Phelps... I was sitting on the side of the pool and she was playing on the stairs. I kept reminding her, "watch out for the edge," you're on a step you might fall." But all of a sudden she just kind of leapt off of the stair into the water! Talk about adrenaline shooting through my body!!! I jumped in and swam over to her, grabbed her and swam to the stairs!! My heart was just about beating out of my chest!! Luckily, I don't think she inhaled any of the water. She didn't cough or gag or anything. Thank God! But I don't think she will be doing that again. It did scare her enough. And if she is in the water, she must wear a life jacket at all times!!!! I don't want to experience that fear ever again.

Ok, so I took a video that day. And for some crazy reason, Blogger won't let me upload the darn thing, so I had to go go You Tube and upload it there.

The Movie Closet

I don't know why, but it is so cute to watch her pick out a movie...




:) See? :)

Kicking It Old School

Gabe did it. He busted out the 'ol Nintendo for Zach. :)


Playing Super Mario.

Too cute! My boys. :)

Home For The Weekend

This weekend was the first weekend that we were ALL home, Gabe didn't have to work, and we didn't have to travel anywhere for the first time since March!! Hard to believe. It was so nice to not HAVE to do anything...no agenda...no schedule. Nice!

So, what did we do? Honey do's! Lol!! I'm sure Gabe appreciated that! Our sprinkler system had been out of commission since we had the hard freeze and using the mobile sprinkler wasn't doing the trick for our poor grass. So this was a "must do." We made a trip to Home Depot and found some replacement parts and got to work. Well, Gabe got to work. :) But the kids and I were there for moral support.

It was a hot day!


Watching Daddy work.

You're 30??

My good friend, Jayne was turning 30 and what is a better way to celebrate....GIRL'S TRIP!
We headed to New Orleans. Me, Jayne, Tabitha, Dallas, and Becca. And we had a blast! I think we all really needed the time away. And also what was exciting was that this was my first time to ever go to 'Nawlins!
I got to experience the cajun/seafood cuisine (etouffe, jambalaya, red beans & rice, gumbo, boudain), the awesome beignets from Cafe Du Monde, live music on Bourbon Street, the nightlife, and partying like rock stars for my girl's big birthday!! It was awesome!

Starting out at Cat's Meow

MMMMM, beignets. To die for!

Sightseeing at Jackson Square & French Quarter.


Jayne's Birthday lunch.


Getting ready to head out for the night.

A Pat O's Hurricane!




Happy Birthday Jayne!! I had a great time with you in 'Nawlins! I look forward to celebrating many more with you!! xoxo

Oh, and to explain the title of this post...that was the infamous question of our trip. No one believed that Jayne was 30. Now that's a birthday present in itself! :)

Just Another Day At The Park

We went to the park with Zach and Sophie's cousins: Danni, Tyler, Cole and Emma. We ate some Subway sandwiches, let the kids play, and kicked the soccer ball around for a bit. Hello summertime!

Kaleb David

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALEB DAVID!!!! June 2, 2010 8lbs 12oz, 20in
Kelly and Kevin welcomed their baby boy into the world! Of course, I don't have a picture of him yet, so this will have to do for now. :)
We are very excited to meet the new addition to our family.

Congratulations Kelly and Kevin!!

Memorial Weekend

For Memorial Weekend we went to Matagorda. This was exciting for a few reasons...1. The house was complete in its renovations, 2. This was Gabe's first time to Matagorda- yes, after 9+ years of dating and marriage, he had never been, 3. We were finally going as a family, 4. As always... Mom's cooking, and 5. Time with the family!

We went to the beach on Saturday. This was my first time back to this beach in about 15 years!! I couldn't believe it when I actually had to stop and think about it. And we used to go to Matagorda all the time when I was younger. Well, it felt like all of the time when I was a child. It holds a lot of memories for me.
This time to the beach wasn't a very fun memory, unfortunately. There was lots of seaweed, TONS of mosquitos, some other kind of green bug that stung when it landed on you, and I was afraid my kids were going to get run over. Crazy! This one definitely won't go down in the record books as "FUN AT THE BEACH!" :) I think we stayed maybe a hour...oh well.

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging. If you ask my Mom, she would say that this is Sandra's and my favorite thing to do. :)
We did have a few good laughs, a poker tourney, and good food. And a trip to Matagorda will never be complete without an adventure with my Dad and his boat. Lucky for Gabe he was one of the victims to my Dad's boat breaking down in the middle of the river and then floating back home. Lol! I like to refer to this as his initiation. Lol!