Bad Mom...Big Events

I just not downloaded the pictures from our camera and realized that I haven't downloaded them in a LOOOOONG time. Sorry! The pictures above document Brady's monumental preschool graduation, during which he closed his eyes and pretended like he wasn't there. Apparently, Brady doesn't like the feeling of "all eyes on him" because as soon as the ceremony was over he was fine.

The next picture is of the boys enjoying a treat on the beach on Padre Island, where we spent our family vacation at the end of June. We had so much fun...these boys LOVE the beach. I have started to plan a beach house into our retirement plan.

And finally, the picture of Carson in his Phillies shirt shows him holding the first 2 cucumbers that he grew in our garden. He picked out the plant and watered it, and we got a lot of cucumbers this summer before it stopped raining completely and the plant died.

More Fun in Corpus

Also while on vacation, Carson learned the joy of having pockets (now he looks for them every day once he has pants on), Brady decided that visiting museums is much more fun when done at Mach 5 speed, and Jeremy and I (as parents of young children) managed to eat dinner at completely benign, "kid friendly", NOT new places.

The aquarium was especially fun, with Carson meandering so that his hands wouldn't come out of his pockets, Brady getting yelled at every 3 minutes for walking too far ahead, and we were finished observing interesting sea creatures in under 2 hours (with a soft pretzel in our hands). You just gotta learn how to do these things when you become parents!

Padre Island...Who Knew?!

We had an awesome time on our mini vacation in Corpus Christi and on the Padre Island National Beach. Honestly, I thought we'd have fun, but be done with it by the time we came home, but we really had a blast. The boys were SO much fun on the beach, where we swam, boogie boarded, and built sand castles every morning. Then, in the afternoons, there was always something fun to do. We got to visit an aircraft carrier full of fighter planes one day. If you know my kids at all, then you know they were beyond delighted...such boys! We definitely plan on going back sometime soon.

Summer Fun in PA

I can't imagine why the boys have returned from our visit home exhausted. In adddition to everything I already mentioned doing, we also took an amazing day trip to the beach, where we spent the day with Jenny's thoughtful and fun family. AND, we went to Dutch Wonderland where we had a great time helping Aunt Jenny overcome her fear of fast rides and log flumes. Factor in the days at friends' pools and visiting family, and we barely caught our breath on the whole trip! We had such a great time, and are still recovering with long naps every afternoon!

Let's Do Some Catching Up

Where have we been, you ask? The boys and I flew home to PA so that my parents could spend some quality time with them while Jeremy and I met to go to a wedding in Jamaica. The wedding was awesome, the time away was awesome, and the traveling sans kids was awesome, but I honestly think that they might have had more fun that we did. The visited Thomas the train, ate like they had no parents, and, in short, they got spoiled to pieces. Well, good for them, we all deserved it!

The day after I returned to PA, Regan came along with me and the boys to do a little tour of Virginia. We visited my teaching buddies, and Aunt Stephanie, who was bursting with baby. By the way, John Robert was born healthy a few days ago...Congrats Rasamny Family! Emelyn is such a lovely little girl, we really can't wait to meet JR.

Upon our return from VA we did a ton of other fun things that will be discussed in future blog posts.

Family, Friends, and Snow!

Our most recent trip home for Christmas was perfect and priceless. As noted before, it started with a HUGE amount of snow that provided hours of entertainment, plus a reason to drink lots of hot chocolate.

Then, we were able to spend time with family (Jenny and Blaise even purposely got snowed in with us!) and friends (Isn't Emmy getting big?!). Brady finally understands Santa, and was able to sit on his lap twice just to make sure Santa fully grasped his expectations for Christmas morning. When we weren't stuck in the snow, we spent time visiting family, watching movies, playing games, and having a great time. I know it sounds so cheesy, but we had so much fun...we didn't want it to end!

Over the next few days, I will do my best to post new pictures, and get everyone caught up on our holiday good times.

Amarillo Christmas Pics and Such

I am a pretty terrible photographer, but I did end up with a few adorable pictures of "the cousins" in their Christmas attire. It was hard to choose which pictures to post!

Over the weekend, we also managed to visit Paladuro Canyon. Brady's uncles helped him to be quite the adventurer.

Oh, and I also have to give a shout-out to my sisters-in-law (and, of course, Lovely Lyvia!)...we had an awesome time at the New Moon movie! I wish we could all get together more often!

Trip Number 2: Amarillo, Here We Come!

This past weekend, we visited family in Amarillo, Texas. Amanda coined the phrase "Fakesgiving" to explain our premature celebration, but that phrase isn't really all-encompassing because, not only did we celebrate Thanksgiving with a full meal on Friday evening...We also celebrated Carson's birthday on Saturday afternoon, THEN dressed the kids up for a few Christmas pictures immediately after the birthday fun.

Carson got to see his cousin, Grayson for the first time in a while, and spent most of the weekend trying to ride him (not in a gross way, you perverts...in a cute, funny, baby way). And Brady spent the weekend shadowing his cousin, Lyvia...he thinks that everything she does is AWESOME (which it pretty much is).

Our Travels Begin!

Before we began our holiday traveling, we took a weekend trip to San Antonio, where my mom was attending an exciting social work conference. Luckily, we managed to pull her away from all of the lecturers for a few hours, and she was able to join us at the children's museum, and a few other sights around town.

I also threw a picture of Brady's school feast in there...how cute! Of course, stoic Brady didn't bother to sing or do the hand motions to the songs, but he was happy to snack on the Rice Krispie treats...which leads me to ask the question: Did the pilgrims make marshmallows, or the Native Americans?

Dum Dum Da-Dum:Wedding #1

Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures of Blaise and Jenny's wedding because I was busy trying to be a good bridesmaid, and Jeremy was busy trying to make sure that Brady was a good little ring-bearer, BUT, it is obvious from these pictures just how beautiful Jenny looked, just how happy the "happy couple" were, and just how much fun everyone had. I didn't want it to end! When the photographer posts his pictures to his website, I will pass them along!

If You Can't Beat 'Em...

...then you better just resign yourself to visiting the local sights. Jeremy and I often make a sport out of discussing where we might be right now if we still lived in Belgium. Yes, we admit that we often complained about daily life while living there, but we never quite got through our list of places to see (I don't think we ever would have) and those places are a whole lot further now that we live in Houston. So, we decided to make the best of it, and venture out in the 101 degree weather to ride an old fashioned train with the boys. They definitely had a blast (for about the first 20 minutes). As you can see, however, Brady is still in the "say cheese while looking like you are in pain instead of smiling" phase. At any rate, it was nice to get away with the family. Happy Fourth, Everyone!