A Weekend with Friends

We had a great time at the River House this weekend with Amy, Jason, and Hunter. It was great getting to spend some time with them and the boys all got along great!

On Friday, we spent some time outside letting the boys check everything out.

Checking out all the plugs and switches

Saturday was a really pretty day so the boys all decided to float in the river for a bit while Gim and I sat on the dock and caught up.

Hunter, Jason, my Jason, and Cooper

On Saturday night, we headed out to Gruene and ate at the yummy Gristmill restaurant.

After dinner, Amy and I got away for a couple of hours and headed to the outlet malls in San Marcos to do a little shopping.......without kids! Thanks guys!

What a wonderful weekend with friends. Thanks A family for spending it with us!!

Country Life?

By the looks of these pictures, one might think we live in the country. We don't. In fact, we live in a city that is growing too fast for our liking. When we built our house a little over 7 years ago, we picked this area because it was convenient to both of our jobs, was a small town but close to everything, and it had a great school system. We have watched this town completely grow and change over the years. Our subdivision is located next to a large area of land. The owner, the man that built our house and uses it to continue to build homes, keeps livestock on it so that he gets some kind of tax break. Our house used to back up to this land and it was common to see these large animals through our fence. In fact one day, Jason came home to find this longhorn in our yard. He had stepped on one of our water sprinkler heads and it obviously broke. We felt like we lived in the country........we could see the stars really good at night. It was peaceful and quiet. We were very spoiled because they had not started building behind us. In fact, they started on a new house right behind us the day I came home from the hospital with Cooper. There is still a lot of land left, although it's been pushed back a little to make room for a few new homes. We can still walk down the end of our street and visit our "friends." The boys love to feed them bread and yell so that they will come to the gate.

It's just a wagon ride home

Strawberry Pickin' Time

Today was the opening season at a local strawberry field so we decided to head over and pick some strawberries. The boys had a great time. Mimi and Poppy/CeCe and the girls joined us.

Picking with dad

Our little helper
With Hannah and Maya

What did you do on this beautiful day?

I've hit a little of a blog slump- not sure what to write about so this post will be pretty random.

I'm bummed that our much used and so very loved sleep machine is on the outs. The wire has a short in it and the last two days it has stopped working while Cooper has been asleep. He took a much shorter nap because of it and I'm thinking today will be the same. I can think of a ton of other things that I'd like to spend $70 on but for us it's a necessity. Cooper is a super light sleeper and probably would not be my best sleeper without it. So, looks like we will be traveling to Brookstone this weekend to get a new one.

A couple of days ago I took Hudson to school and Cooper and I ran some errands before heading home. I ran into Tom Thumb to grab a few things and that is when Cooper spotted the dreaded grocery cart that has the red coupe car in the front. I loathe these things because let's face it- you need a separate driver's license to maneuver it. I had a not so great experience a few weeks ago when I took both boys to the store and they insisted we use it. I'm sure the cashiers still remember us and our little "scene." So once again, I caved and gave into the coupe. Never again. I'd like to get ahold of the person that invented it. Did he/she take it for a test drive before mass producing? Seriously.

A few weeks ago I was cleaning up around the house before we had some friends over. I was almost finished and was running around doing some last minute touch-ups. I made the mistake of leaving the vacuum cleaner out in the hallway while I scooted off to load the dishwasher. Abandoned vacuum cleaner + Hudson + no supervision = Trouble.

No kidding, in 2 minutes flat this boy had taken it apart. This cleaner is fairly new so I'm still not sure how everything works. I spent 10 minutes trying to get this thing back together- all the while telling Hudson to steer clear so that I could "think"...... I finally gave in and allowed him to assist me. He had it back in .10 seconds. I mean, come on.

About a month ago, my mom bought us an ice cream maker. Hudson was so interested in it and kept begging me to take it out so that we could look at it. Big mistake. We take it out, examine all the pieces, and then it goes back into the box (and why won't they ever go back in the same? I had all sorts of pieces hanging out and the lid would not shut. Sheesh) Sure enough, Hudson got back into it a few days later and began tinkering with all the parts. He even asked his dad to write "Stop" on a piece of paper (Jason had no idea what it was for) The next day I took Hudson to school and he had taped his note on the ice cream maker so that his brother would not touch it. Seriously, none of our appliances are safe around here.

I'm sure we are breaking all sorts of fire codes here. What's a girl to do?

The last few days have been spent inside because of the rain. We always put out the teepee, or tee-tent as Hudson calls it.

Cooper is really enjoying play dough right now. (sigh) This manages to get just about everywhere but he has a ball so I can't refuse.

Hudson has been playing with his Light Kit that he got for his birthday. There are some pretty cool experiments in there.

His glasses that turns light into a beautiful kaleidoscope.

That's all for now........I hear a monkey jumping in his bed. Dang that noise machine.

Big Boys & Funny Conversations with H

Yep, I've got two big boys on my hands. On Wednesday, I took the boys to the doctor for their yearly check-ups. Both of them are at the top range for height.........guess that's why people almost always predict them to be a year older than they really are!

Hudson:

• 5 years old
• 46" tall
• 49 pounds
• 20/25 vision (bless him.....he didn't get my horrible eye sight!!)

Cooper:

• 2 years old
• 36" tall
• 31 pounds (no wonder my arm constantly hurts!!)

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A little before dinner time last night, Hudson was complaining of being hungry. He came over to see what I was making and apparently he didn't see anything that looked good to him. I was making lasagna, green beans, bread sticks and salad. (I always add some cheese, fruit, etc.....to their plates since I know the battle of the beans is one that I have not won yet!)

Hudson: "I don't want buzonia"

Me: "Remember the last time I made it? You ate it and liked it."

Hudson: "But I don't want buzonia."

Me: "Okay, no problem. Would you like buzonia or broccoli? You pick."

Hudson: (silence for a moment as he thought about his 'choices') "Okay, I'll take some buzonia."

......and he did and he survived. Crazy kid!

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I got about two-thirds through this post when Hudson woke up. The boys slept in until nearly 8:00. I love when that happens! The other day I went to register Hudson for kindergarten and I realized that our laid-back mornings are almost over. We won't have mornings where we sleep in, or hang out in our jammies until lunch time. That makes me so sad!! .....and while many of you have the old alarm clock to wake you each morning, I have my very own rooster!

I could not resist this morning. Don't you just hear the lyrics "it's a nice day for a, WHITE WEDDING!"

Once again, another food conversation with Hudson.

Me: "what would you like to eat this morning?"

Hudson: "I don't know, you pick."

Me: (I know better to than just pick because if I do, he'll want the other choice) "You can have oatmeal, cereal, waffles..........."

Hudson: "I'll have oakmill. It's better for my heart."

Where does he get this stuff? I remember as a kid, I was praying that my mom would let me have some sugary Lucky Charms or donuts! He said something similar a while back- we went to get donuts for him on the morning of his birthday. We were all gathered around the table, enjoying our breakfast. All of a sudden, Hudson says "these things are loaded with sugar." Jason and I about lost it. It was hilarious!