Remington's 7th Birthday

This year Remington had a Lego themed birthday party. His invitations had Lego Nexo Knights on them, his cake had Lego figures spelling out his name with a Lego cake topper that he built, and there were Legos and Dum-Dums in his pinata. He had the party at Landa Park after school on his birthday (4-8pm come and go). 

Since he did have school on his birthday, I tried to make the day as special as I could for Remington. He started the day off by coming downstairs to see a lit candle in his pancakes, and Dustin and I sang happy birthday to him before he blew it out. Then, I took cookies (ti-dye sugar cookies that he picked out for me to make) to his class during snacktime at 10am and lunch to him at school at lunchtime (a cheeseburger Happy Meal from McDonald's).

Remington's 7th Birthday Interview

1. What are some things you like to do?
play with my Magna Tiles, read, play in our pool, and play with our Lincoln Logs


2. What sports do you like?
soccer, baseball, golf, tennis, kickball


3. What things do you like to do around the house?
read and spend time with family


4. What are some of your favorite foods?
carrots with dip and apples


5. What do you like to wear?
pants and t-shirts (and bare feet around the house)


6. What's your favorite color?
red


7. Where are some of your favorite places to go?
Mamacita's


8. What makes you sad?
Daddy taking away my Magna Tiles


9. What do you do when you are sad?
whimper


10. What makes you happy?
playing with my Magna Tiles with my brothers


11. What do you do when you are happy?
smile


12. Who is your best friend?
Winston


13. What is your favorite movie and TV show?
Thor Ragnorak and Tom & Jerry


14. What are your favorite books?
comics and Marvel books

Southern's 9th Birthday

This year, Southern requested a football party at the park with some of his closest friends. We enjoyed the day - it was great weather! The kids played flag football, football toss, and played on the swings and playground. There was a football pinata and "tailgating food". Southern picked the menu which was hot dogs, chili, shredded cheese, cantaloupe and honeydew, cheetos, fritos, popcorn, tortilla chips, avocado, refried beans, and salsa. He also requested a big container of Gatorade like they have at football games. He asked if we could dump it over his head after his party was over like they do to the coaches on TV!

Southern's 9th Birthday Interview

1. What are some things you like to do?
read and play video games and play sports


2. What sports do you like?
soccer, basketball, tennis, football, baseball


3. What things do you like to do around the house?
read and play video games


4. What are some of your favorite foods?
chicken alfredo


5. What do you like to wear?
shorts, shirt, and crocs


6. What's your favorite color?
silver


7. Where are some of your favorite places to go?
Torrey Park, Jason's Deli, Mamacita's, Rainforest Cafe, to the Spurs game (AT&T Center), and the library


8. What makes you sad?
no video games or no reading


9. What do you do when you are sad?
read


10. What makes you happy?
playing video games and reading


11. What do you do when you are happy?
play video games and read


12. Who is your best friend?
Konner


13. What is your favorite movie and TV show?
The Secondhand Lions and Mario


14. What are your favorite books?
Percy Jackson and the Olympions, Rings of Fire, Big Nate, Weird But True

Everett 19 months

Our littlest Wyatt baby has grown so much! He has his own little personality and is such a sweetheart (most of the time!).

Everett loves bathtime and will want to hop in with any of us when we take a shower. Sometimes, he'll shower twice a night, one shower right after the other, just hanging out on the shower floor enjoying the water flowing over him. However, he is the only Wyatt baby who has not liked wearing hooded towels. He usually doesn't even like to be dried off with a towel!

His favorite toys are balls. He loves balls! He will walk around clutching a little ball all day, and he has a great throwing arm.

He loves to sit on the counter to get a better view and to get into the action. He helps out in the kitchen when I'm cooking. He helps Baylor unload the dishwasher. He helps unload and load the washer and dryer. He helps Daddy work on projects.

His favorite words are dada, mama, bubba, ball, and bye. He says bye with a little hick accent (baah). He loves to wave, and many mornings are spent standing on the porch waving to Daddy as he drives off to work. He also loves to give kisses.

He likes to do anything his older brothers are doing. He can run around in the backyard with them for hours some days, and other days he just wants to be held by Mommy.

He still isn't a fan of riding in the car seat, but most of the time he's much better about it.

His favorite foods are bananas, bars, waffles, yogurt, sandwiches, chips, popcorn, strawberries, blueberries, corn, crackers, and Mommy's chocolate Shakeology.

Everett wears size 18 month and 24 month clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 5 shoes.

He loves his kitty! Dracky meowing will catch his attention no matter what he is doing. He has learned to slow down and to wait for Dracky to come to him rather than chase him. He knows how to pet softly and enjoys cuddling up with Dracky. He likes to feed him his kitty treats.

He still hasn't had a haircut. We love his baby curls, and I can't bear to cut them off just yet. There is nothing cuter than him right before bathtime running around the house happily screaming with his naked behind showing and those little curls bouncing.

Everett is such a joy. We are so very blessed to have him!!

 

Remington's 6th Birthday

Remington's 6th Birthday Interview

1. What are some things you like to do?
I like to play soccer and I like to play water balloons and I like to play Legos and play Hot Wheel Legos.

2. What sports do you like?
Kickball, soccer, and swinging.

3. What things do you like to do around the house?
Play Batman with Baylor and play tag and play flag football. Play with Southern's fidget spinner. Playing with big Pokemon toys with Southern.

4. What are some of your favorite foods?
Cantaloupe

5. What do you like to wear?
I like to wear Pokemon pins and I like to wear school pins and I like to wear different pins and I like to wear Pokemon belts with PokeBalls on them and Pokemon toys in them.

6. What's your favorite color?
Yellow and red and black and blue and pink

7. Where are some of your favorite places to go?
Peter Piper Pizza (but I don't like the pizza), Jason's Deli, and Mamacita's and that Mexican place where we went with Grammy in Yoakum

8. What makes you sad?
Southern pinching me and Southern holds me upside down

9. What do you do when you are sad?
I cry and I go tell if I'm hurt

10. What makes you happy?
Mommy getting me a hug and a kiss and Mommy feeding me sometimes and Mommy helping me dress

11. What do you do when you are happy?
I'm like "Mommy look at that cool Lego set!"

12. Who is your best friend?
Henry and Ryder

13. What is your favorite movie and TV show?
Monster Trucks / Batman and Scooby Doo and all the super hero shows and Mario and Pokemon

14. What are your favorite books?
Flap books, flipping books and how to make paper airplanes book and science books and project books (like you can do things with them and it's in them) and shark books that come with tooths and crab books that come with crab shells and I Spy books and Lego books

And Remington wanted to add another question:

15. What's your favorite kind of instrument?
guitar

The Mommy Quiz

WITHOUT ANY prompting, ask your child these questions and write down EXACTLY what they say. It is a great way to find out what they really think. (R = Remington, age 6, B = Baylor, age 3, and S = Southern, age 8)

I asked each boy separately so they wouldn't copy each others' answers, and then I read them all out loud when they were done.

1. What is something mommy always says to you?
R - I love you
B - kiss meS - pick up your room now

2. What makes mommy happy?
R - me hugging you and kissing you
B - me kiss Mommy and hug MommyS - whenever I pick up my room

3. What makes mommy sad? 

R - whenever I don't clean up my room
B - not clean my roomS - whenever I don't clean up my room

4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
R - whenever she tickles me
B - tickle meS - when you tickle me in my armpits

5. What was your mommy like as a child?
R - you were like sweet to your dad
B - played Batman with D-dadS - nice and adorable and funny

6. How old is your mommy?
R - 22
B - 3S - 31

7. How tall is your mommy?
R - 6 feet
B - 2S - 5 feet

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
R - to sleep and play with Everett
B - play with BatmanS - play with Baylor, Remington, Everett and me

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? 

R - you clean up the house so it's a surprise for us
B - kiss meS - go on dates with Daddy

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
R - the greatest cleaner
B - kissing meS - how nice she is

11. What is your mommy really good at?
R - exercising
B - playing BatmanS - making me laugh

12. What is your mommy not very good at?
R - reading comics
B - playing BatmanS - talking me into getting rid of my Pokemon cards and fidget spinners

13. What does your mommy do for a job?
R - you don't even have a job
B - play Batman toysS - take care of us but before that she was a worker at Wells Fargo

14.What is your mommy's favorite food?
R - lettuce
B - pizzaS - chicken fried steak

15.What makes you proud of your mommy?
R - by giving us money for a gift
B - playing BatmanS - that I think she might become famous one day

16. If your mommy were a character, who would she be?
R - Bugs Bunny
B - BatmanS - Misty (on Pokemon) but you'd have to have orange hair and wear ponytails a lot

17. What do you and your mommy do together?
R - we sleep sometimes and we celebrate my birthday
B - play BatmanS - play

18. How are you and your mommy the same?
R - we both have the same kind of eyeballs
B - playing BatmanS - we both have longer hair

19. How are you and your mommy different?
R - we don't have the same type of shoes
B - playing BatmanS - we're not the same sex

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
R - because she shows it to me
B - playing BatmanS - she takes care of me with pride

21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy?
R - I don't know anything about that... Well, he's really careful and doesn't let you get hurt.
B - he's a big guyS - that you guys are friends

22. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go out to eat?
R - Jason's Deli
B - pizza placeS - Sea Island

23. How old was your Mommy when you were born?
R - 13
B - really bigS - 24

Everett 6 Months Old

Everett turned 6 month old this month.

At his well check last week, he weighed 18 lbs, 13 oz, was 27.6 inches long, and had a head circumference of 42.8. He wears size 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers. He has started baby food!

So far, he has had Gerber Oatmeal with breastmilk, carrots blended up with breastmilk, Gerber brand Stage 1 green beans, mashed sweet potatoes, and Baby Mum-Mums. He took a little while to get used to the mum-mums, but now he loves them. He did not like the oatmeal at first, but after about a week, he started opening his mouth when he saw the spoon coming his way. He thought the carrots were okay. He did not like the green beans at all and would refuse to open his mouth. He liked the sweet potatoes! He's not a big eater just yet and still loves to nurse around the clock.

Everett enjoys tummy time in short doses. He rolls over and can pivot himself so that he can cross the room if given enough time (and always moves off of the blanket I put on the ground for him). He is quick to smile at everyone and has a great laugh. He has two bottom teeth and loves to chew on everything. He is starting to outgrow his bouncer and swing. He can sit assisted. He loves his toes and takes off all socks and shoes. His hair is growing in blonde, and his eyes are still light in color (they look either blue or green depending on what he's wearing that day).

Everett has gone to basketball games, birthday parties, play dates, a field trip to the fire station with Remington's class, and he went on a date with Mommy and Daddy to Red Lobster for their 11th wedding anniversary. He spent part of his first Spring Break on a road trip to Glen Rose, TX to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park and went in a pool for the first time in our hotel (the indoor pool at Hampton Inn, Cleburne, TX). He held onto Mommy and watched brothers swim and play. He had his first dentist visit on March 16th.

Everett loves snuggles with Dracky

Everett's first tornado watch. We grabbed all of the kids out of their beds (Everett wasn't in bed yet) and holed up in the downstairs bathroom for half an hour until the danger had passed.

He is sitting up in his swing sometimes.

Everett's first Ash Wednesday

Everett's first time having baby food (oatmeal)

Everett has such a great smile

Enjoying mashed sweet potatoes

2016 Year In Review

2016 was a BIG year for us!! It changed our family. We are so blessed.

January - Southern started his second year with the Spurs youth basketball league, our niece Cora had her baptism, Southern participated in his first Pinewood Derby with the Cub Scouts (and won!), we went to see Wild Kratts LIVE in San Antonio, and (surprise!) the biggest event of this month was finding out that we were pregnant.

February - Remington attended nature classes at Fisher Park, Dustin and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time, Dustin's great aunt Charlene Ehlers passed away, and Baylor had his last home health speech therapy session at the end of the month.

March - I registered Remington for kindergarten, Dustin and I celebrated 10 years of marriage (sunset dinner cruise date night), we spent Spring Break driving to Andrews, North Carolina (our honeymoon spot) and back (12 states in 10 days!!), Crystal Martinez passed away (a mother of one of Southern's classmates), we celebrated Easter (our house on Saturday and in Yoakum on Sunday), we found out newest baby was a boy, and Southern turned 7 (he had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party at Tiger Rock Martial Arts).

April - The Cub Scout campout was cancelled due to rain, we attended Sts Peter and Paul Spring Festival, Remington attended his last Sunday morning Pre-K 4 CCD class, and Southern's class went on a field trip to Natural Bridge Caverns.

May - We spent Mother's Day in Austin, Dustin attended his last SHS Sports Banquet as head golf coach, we had our first sonogram of baby boy #4, we spent the night in Victoria and attended my cousin Keleigh's graduation from VCC, we attended Josh's 40th birthday party, Remington turned 5 (Wild Kratts birthday party at Torrey Park), and Dustin totaled my Honda CR-V.

June - We took maternity pictures, Remington took swim lessons, we spent a weekend in Wharton to attend a Mass for Grandpa, we attended cousin Matt's graduation in Austin, Southern and Remington attended SPP VBS, Southern and Dustin went on a bike ride with the scouts at the missions in San Antonio, and Baylor, Remington and I went to Yoakum for our family garage sale.

July - We spent a long weekend in Brenham for 4th of July, Baylor turned 3 (Diego party at the Landa Park Zero Depth Pool), Dustin and I had a bowling date night, we all went to Natural Bridge Caverns with the scouts, Dustin and I saw Garth Brooks in concert, my K16 friends threw me a baby shower, Dustin and I saw the movie Jason Bourne at the Alamo Drafthouse (three date nights in one month?!?!), and my K18 friends threw a surprise diaper shower for me.

August - Back to school for Southern (2nd grade) and Dustin, Remington started kindergarten, we spent the weekend at the Hyatt Resort for my birthday (I turned 31), I registered at the hospital, and the boys took a big brother class.

September - Father Tony blessed expectant parents and their babies at Mass, we had my 38 week appointment with Dr Geldernick (and Dustin chose Sept 8th as Everett's birth day), we attended the Book Fair and a Lucas Miller concert at SPP, we had baby Everett and spent 2 nights at the hospital, Dustin turned 34, we attended the Comal County Fair (Remington submitted a shoebox float), and Dustin, Everett and I went to The Monkees concert in Austin.

October - Everett's first visit to The River Place, Claire turned 4 (Chuck E Cheese in San Antonio), Everett's first pumpkin patch visit, Southern and Dustin went on the scout's fall campout, Dustin and I presented a cross to Southern for his First Confession/First Communion year, we attended the SPP Fall Festival, and we dressed up for Halloween to trick or treat in our neighborhood (Everett was Scooby Doo, Baylor was Superman, Remington was Squirtle pokemon, and Southern was Charzard pokemon).

November - Remington was St Francis of Assisi at school for All Saints Day, Southern's class went on a field trip to DoSeum in San Antonio, we spent the weekend in Port Aransas for Cassie Zinke's wedding in Corpus, Remington's class went on a field trip (his first time in a school bus!) to Circle N Maze in La Vernia, Everett was baptized at Sts Peter and Paul, we went to Yoakum for Thanksgiving, and we started putting up Christmas decorations at home.

December - We celebrated St Nick's Day at home by opening stockings together as a family that evening, Remington's class went on a field trip to a local nursing home to carol, the boys got to take pictures with Santa, Southern and Remington had their school Christmas concert, Dustin and I celebrated 17 years since he asked me to be his girlfriend by taking the family out to IHOP, Southern and Remington had their class Christmas parties, and we spent several days celebrating Christmas with various family members in Yoakum, Gonzales, and New Braunfels.