1,000 books and a hero cat

The boys finished 1,000 books in about 6 months. We were signed up for the 1,000 Books b4 Kindergarten program at our library, and we turned in our final reading logs last week. The boys each won a book to keep, a Whataburger hamburger voucher, and a small toy. They also got their picture posted on the wall in the library. How exciting!

On a very different note, many hours after our happy library visit, we were outside playing during the last moments of daylight. Dustin was in the front yard weed eating with earplugs in as I was with the boys in the backyard. There are two large dogs in the yard next door that bark at us any time we are outside. They are not only annoying but also very dangerous in my opinion as they attack the fence. I don't know if they are just super excited or mean trouble, but if don't think the barking and growling they do is good natured. Dustin has added extra screws to the fence and has replaced boards that have been broken, but there are constantly more weak spots being created as the dogs pounce the fence. 

Tonight we were swinging and the dogs were barking as usual. They started pouncing the fence a little, but when Dracky walked up beside us, they went crazy. I could see snouts and paws as the boards bended, and I just knew they were going to bust through this time. I was holding Baylor so I grabbed Remington and ran with both of them in my arms to the house. I yelled for Southern to run too and he passed us up and opened the door for us. Dracky stood his ground near our side of the fence howling and at one point even hissing at those dogs. I couldn't believe it. He was so brave! He was trying to protect the boys and me. What a great cat! 

Rockport trip part 2

Well our beach vacation was a success! We had so much fun. We spent two evenings out at the hotel pool. We spent one day exploring downtown Rockport. We visited some shops, the aquarium, a few piers, and drove around looking at houses and sights.

We also visited the beach in Rockport. It is Texas' first blue wave beach, and it was very clean (especially compared to Port A - more on that in a bit). The only downfall was that the sand had very small rocks in it, so it wasn't as nice to walk in as the sand we are used to in Port A. But they had little things set up for shade along the shore line, the waves were small and perfect for little ones. The shallows went on for a really long time, also good for little ones. And I loved watching the para sailers. There were so many of them. Baylor and I sat back and watched them for a good while after having our fun in the water. 

After check out (and a trip to Tackle Town), we did some more fishing in Rockport before heading off to the ferry and Port A. 

In Port Aransas, Dustin and the bigger boys went fishing again. But it was hot! So we soon headed over to the condo that the Parks were renting out. They happened to be on a beach vacation as well so we made sure to schedule some time to hang out. We spent cousin time at the pool which was super fun. But we lost Baylor's hat! :( It was a little dark blue shark swim hat that I had bought for Southern when he was a baby, and all three boys wore it. It got left behind as we made our way to the beach, and I remembered about it halfway there but figured I would just grab it on our way back. Sadly, it was no longer there when we retuned. We spent several hours on the beach and were there until sunset. The waves were nice and the sand felt great, but the seaweed was massive. I have never seen so much. There were mountains of it where they had cleared it. There was a big line of it that we had to walk in to get to the water. And the shallows were full of it (causing our bathing suits to be full of it as well)! We watched the sun go down. Remington and Baylor fell asleep on me. Then we packed up and headed for home. It was a long drive! But we made it, and we had fun. 

Rockport Trip - day 1

We are in Rockport on vacation! Dustin finished up the school year on Saturday, and he starts summer school this coming Monday. So when he was invited on a free fishing trip this week, he jumped on it. Someone at the golf course offered to take him and his two top golfers out on their boat today. We decided to turn it into a fishing/family trip combo, so Dustin rode in with the guys in the wee hours of the morning and spent the day fishing. The boys and I finished packing, and left New Braunfels after Southern's soccer camp. We made it down here with just enough time to unpack, eat supper (we tried out a little restaurant overlooking the bay), and hit the swimming pool before it was time to go to bed. 

Dustin didn't have any trouble falling asleep. The boys, on the other hand...

Luckily the two older ones are now asleep. Baylor and I are still bouncing (oh how I wish hotel rooms came with rocking chairs). I think the combination of the late nap they took in the car on the way here plus the added excitement of being somewhere new made for too much fun to sleep. 

Here's hoping we make it up in the morning for the free breakfast - that's my favorite part!

Remington's 3rd Birthday

Remington had a pretty good third birthday! 

It started off almost a week early with an outing with his Godmother, Melissa, who was unable to make the party. We had a celebratory dinner at Schobel's on Tuesday followed by a trip to Target so that Remington could pick out whatever he wanted as her gift to him. He had a blast looking around and changed his mind a few times, but he ended up choosing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toy - Donatello's purple mask and his bo staff. We ended the evening with ice cream from Orange Leaf. (Remington had banana frozen yogurt with strawberries and blackberries on top.)

A few days later, on Friday, we had a small party with Remington's friends. We all had lunch at Chick-fil-a (Remington's request), and were given the royal treatment. There were birthday balloons waiting on us as well as a plush birthday cow and crayon packet party favors. Remington's lunch was a chicken nugget kid's meal with apple sauce and milk. The boys helped decorate the cupcakes I had made the night before, and we had those for dessert. They were vanilla with blue raspberry frosting.

On Saturday, we got some cards and packages in the mail so Remington was able to open more presents. Allan even stopped by to deliver a big gift - a new car seat!

Finally, it was Sunday - Remington's third birthday! We traveled to Yoakum to have his party at the park, Rescue Bot style. Many family members attended, and we had a blast.

During the party, the kids participated in a Rescue Bot Training Camp to become certified members of the Rescue Bot Team. The first part was a relay race. Our large Optimus Prime toy was used as the "baton". 

The second part was a tug o'war to "save" a trapped dog. (Dustin was on the other end of this rope.)

And, the third part was a mission to save Optimus Prime. Put out that fire, crew!

Dustin was such a good sport, and I know the kids will look back on these memories fondly.

Then it was pinata time. Remington had the first turn. He knocked off a few streamers. Claire was up next. It was her first pinata! Then it was Caleb's turn. He knocked the pinata hard enough to cause a tear, and Southern finished it off by knocking it to the ground. Dustin re-tied the pinata, and Sutton, Stratton, and Kelly gave out the final blows. 

Then it was time for cake! Remington picked out the flavors. We had a vanilla cake with whipped butter cream frosting.

What a fun party! After cleaning up and loading the car, we were invited to Dustin's cousin Walt's house for some backyard swimming. The boys (and the big boy AKA Dustin) had a blast. Luckily we had extra clothes packed with us, so the boys just swam in their shorts. After all of that swimming, we were hungry! Meredith gave us water and Gatorade (which explains the red lips in the picture below) and some Goldfish to snack on. We drove out to Great Granny Ehlers' house to help her unload her truck, and then we headed for home. But as we drove through Shiner, we decided to have an impromptu picnic in the park. I'm so glad we did.

The boys were able to play with their new toys while I breastfed Baylor and Dustin drove back into town to pick up some chicken tenders. We enjoyed our supper along the creek bank, and then once again loaded up to head home. It was a jam-packed day!

Remington's 3rd Birthday Interview

1. What are some things you like to do?
Play with Claire, read with Mommy, eat candy, being Ninja Turtles, and I like to play with Rescue Bots and Autobots. I like to play with Ninja Turtles. I like to print with Mommy.

2. What sports do you like?
Basketball, soccer ball, and tennis

3. What things do you like to do around the house?
Play basketball

4. What are some of your favorite foods?
My favorite food is cake.

5. What do you like to wear?
I like to wear Ninja Turtle bandana

6. What's your favorite color?
Blue like Leonardo

7. Where are some of your favorite places to go?
To the park, to Target

8. What makes you sad?
Making Southern throw me things, and when Daddy spanks me and when Daddy spanks Southern

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

10. What makes you happy?
Riding that car - a baby car

11. What do you do when you are happy?
I play with that - the Optimus Prime Semi truck

12. Who is your best friend?
Elise and Natalie

13. What is your favorite movie and TV show?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

14. What are your favorite books?
Care Bears

Throwback Thursday: TMNT

I'm a day late but yesterday was so busy, I ran out of time. So I'm posting my Throwback Thursday picture today. 

I grew up surrounded by boy cousins. I had one girl cousin that I was around often when I was young, but she was a tomboy. So I can remember a time when a fun bath was when the dinosaurs and Hulk Hogan joined my cousin Erick and me in the bathtub. Or when Dayne and I played Baribies - and I wanted to dress them up, but all he wanted to do was wreck their convertibles together (with the  crashes being rated on a scale of how many Barbies fell out of the car upon impact). 

I am no stranger to boy things. But now that I have three boys of my own, I am immersed in BOY. So when one of my little guys shows an interest in something I'm interested in as well, we run with it. Right now we are going through a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle phase. I love it! I found some old books and figures on eBay for them. I also got DVDs of the original series. And they inherited my old VHS tapes of the Turtles. 

What's better than a classic TNMT movie and a frozen Kids Cuisine meal?

I know... I usually am so good about feeding them healthy stuff. But I just couldn't resist. I can't even count high enough to guess how many of these I had growing up ;) 

The Jumpy Place

We have so many fun things for the kids to do here in New Braunfels. We are very fortunate. Today we are spending time at The Jumpy Place. We met our K16 friends (the ones who are Remington's age and will be starting school in 2016) here this morning. We all brought lunches, and us moms were able to socialize while the kids played. Our friends have left for naps and/errands, but the boys and I are still here as Baylor fell asleep in the Ergo a while ago. We will stay until he wakes up so we don't interrupt his nap. It's also nice to have a moment to myself!

And just when I thought I had a moment to myself...

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a happy Easter. Ours was nice but busy. It was a whole weekend's worth of activities plus a couple play dates with our friends the week before. 

We had a party with our mom's group with a potluck lunch, egg hunting, crafts, and playing. We also had an egg hunt lunch with friends where each kid brought eggs filled with food items. The moms signed up for the food ahead of time to make sure we had a balanced lunch (we brought carrots). One mom hid the eggs, the kids got to find them, and then we sat down to open our eggs and eat lunch. 

The older boys and I dyed eggs Thursday evening. We made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle eggs.  Very cool!

We spent Good Friday with my dad, Joyce, and Kate. They came up to visit us. We went to lunch, visited the Easter bunny at 2tarts (our favorite bakery), and played and egg hunted at the house. 

We drove in to Yoakum on Saturday for Easter with the Wyatts. We made a quick detour to Gruene on the way as the Easter bunny was visiting our favorite bookstore and I had told the owner, an acquaintance of mine, that we would attend. At the time, it seemed a bit repetitive since we had just seen a bunny the previous day, but the boys were excited. And I am so glad that we did - Dustin was able to get a great picture of all three boys smiling on the bunny's lap. So it was well worth it. We then drove to DeDe's house. Dustin's parents, Terry and Andy, DeDe, and Granny Ehlers were there. We had lunch, the boys got to hunt a few eggs, and we also were able to visit my Granny Hahn that day. 

Then on Sunday, we drove into Yoakum again for our final Easter celebration. We spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house dying eggs, eating lunch, playing with cousins, and hunting eggs. It was fun and we had a good turnout. Our on way home that afternoon, we swung by The River Place. I had packed swimsuits for the kids so they changed into that and we all put our Crocs on. The boys splashed in the water while Baylor and I watched and Dustin fished. 

It was a really busy weekend, but it's nice to see and spend time with family. It's funny how the kids perceive it though, as Southern asked if the following day would still be Easter. In his eyes, Easter lasted longer than just one day. We spent a few days celebrating so it was tricky to try to explain the whys and how's and that "Easter Sunday" is really only that one Sunday. We are just very blessed to have so many people in our lives that we can't fit seeing them all into just one day.