Just for Laughs

It is a bleak and rain day here, but this cheered me up.

Elizabeth must have gotten those moves from her father. The girls are getting more use out of their tap shoes at home then they ever did at dance class.

Counting Sheep?

Last night as the girls were laying in bed talking, Ava asked "Liz, can you help me count to 100." They made it to 39 before it disintegrated into calling each other "meanie" and I had to put the kibosh on all talking.

32nd Birthday

All of the family visits are over and Ryan is working in Ohio this month, so it was a pretty quiet birthday for me. Ryan sent some beautiful tulips and tasty chocolates to help me celebrate the day. Since the kids can't use the stove yet, and I didn't really want to settle for a plastic piece of cake from their play kitchen, we set out on a mission to find a yummy ice cream cake. Three places later, success!

The girls sang me happy birthday, and then we dug in.

The damage!

No cooking, no clean up...Happy Birthday to Me!

Oma and Opa

The next round of visitors were my grandparents, the kids' great grandparents, Oma and Opa. They came for a week and quite quickly adapted to our hectic lifestyle. The kids were more than happy to entertain Oma and Opa with songs, dances, books, toys, and games. The girls made Oma play Uno a million times. Opa gave me a hand fixing the "slide of death" in the backyard. Still there was plenty of down time for them to relax and enjoy their great grand children as they zoomed by on a bike in a blur. I was so happy that they could come down and just be a part of our lives, everyone was sad to see them head back to Pennsylvania.

Little Bit of Lovliness

A lot of hours of work but it looks awesome on the new owner, goddaughter and niece, Reina.

Ryan's brother, Bill was had to come to town for a medical conference and he brought the rest of the crew with him. It was great to spend time with Annie and the kids Reina and Liam. We took in a play at the children's theater, rode the train in the park, and went for a dip in Gram's hot tub, among many other things. Annie was in charge of picture taking, so pop over to her blog at The Wee Knights to read and see more.

End of (Another) Season

Gummy Bears Winter T-Ball Team These kids played so hard this season and I am very proud of them. Due to the shortage of players and teams for the winter season, we played the 5-6 year old age division as well as the 3-4 year olds. As soon as the little kids saw the big kids hitting without a Tee, they had to try it also. By the end of the season, the two Elizabeth's were consistently hitting coach pitches and even Ava (my youngest player) hit a pitch at the last game. The boys weren't bad either. They excelled at throwing with distance and accuracy. Best of all, the kids just really got along well and enjoyed playing together.

See ya next season!

Beautiful Day

Immediately following Elizabeth's Birthday party, a cold front blew in. I am not kidding. The temperture dropped 20 degrees in 20 minutes and we were stuck indoors for the next few days. Luckily before Grandpa had to head home to mountains of snow, we did get to go out and enjoy one day of beautiful San Antonio weather. A trip to our favorite (and closest park) was in order, so that the kids could stretch their legs and Elizabeth could try out her new birthday scooter. Next year, she wants a skate board! I am not sure how my dad managed to elude all pictures, but I promise he really did come for a visit and the great pictures above are compliments of him.

The Big Event

The nice thing about having your birthday on Valentine's Day is lots of parties and sweets. On Friday, Elizabeth had a big Valentine's Day party at school where the kids sang Happy Birthday to her and they dined on a Fruit Pizza that I made and numerous goodies that other kids brought into share. Sunday was her private party with her friends at the Little Gym. Lots of running, jumping, and just acting crazy. Since February is rodeo time here in San Antonio, her birthday cake request was a cowboy hat. After a couple of false starts, Ryan finally pulled it off but then had to depart for work, so I ended up doing the final decorating. Overall, I think it turned out pretty awesome and tasty too. P.S. Ryan did get off of work in time to make the end of Elizabeth's party. Despite Snowmagedon 2010 on the east coast, my dad (aka Grandpa) flew in for Elizabeth's special day as well. She was happy to spend time with him, playing card games, showing off every toy she owns and trick she could do. I was just happy to have an extra set of hands. This same weekend, my girlfriend went into the hospital for emergency surgery and I was watching her 9 month old and 4 year old boys in addition to my own kids. Grandpa volunteered to be the party photographer, while I wrangled kids.

5 Years Old!

Growing Up

February 14, 2005

February 14, 2006

February 14, 2007

February 14th, 2008 February 14, 2009

Backlog Blog

Wow, I can't believe that so much time has past. Life has really flown. Other than my kitchen and work calendars (which have about 10 things per day on them), I haven't taken the time to document it. I guess I will start where I left off and try and post a new update each night until I am back on track. However, I need to hurry because more big events and adventures are coming up. Where I left off was with Ryan and Houston and myself playing single mom to three. I don't recommend this to anyone for long periods of time because you will lose your mind. We had a such a fun weekend in Houston the first time, the kids and I decided to make another trip out there half way through Ryan's rotation. The weather wasn't as nice, but that didn't stop us from driving out to Galveston Island to visit the aquarium and catch a 3D sea movie. Casey was bored, Ava kept thinking the fish were going to eat her, and Elizabeth was captivated and kept reaching out to grab things. It was a great aquarium, but it was a bummer that it wasn't a good beach day. We also checked out Houston's Museum of Natural History. It was overpriced and boring. They were suppose to have a good dinosaur exhibit, but it paled in comparison to the one we saw just this past weekend here in San Antonio. At the tail end of the Houston trip, Ava came down with a virus and I got to spend the rest of the week staying home with one sick kid after another while it passed through the family. Ryan came home the following week having missed all the fun, but just in time for Elizabeth's 5th birthday. P.S. The kids want to know when the can go back to Houston, so that they can get some snacks. They now equate long car trips with gas station pit stops for potty breaks and special treats.

Week 2 of Me Against Three

Sunday: Fairly uneventful day, only two trips a piece to the corner for the kids. I did lots of cooking to make meals for some new moms and saved some food for ourselves during the week. Sunday school, naps, and a movie night rounded out the day.

Monday: An hour of trampoline time in the back yard while I was on a conference call. Followed up by dinner, baths, a phone call with dad, and bedtime. Every time Ava gets off the phone with Ryan, she asks me, "Is that our dad?" I guess she is still a bit confused by the telephone concept, but she is stuck with him as a father for better or worse.

Tuesday: Casey started speech therapy today. We will get him talking in no time. The girls had their first gymnastics class of the new semester. They loved the new class which has a sports and gymnastics theme much better than the dance/gymnastics class they took last semester. They were so hungry afterward they polished off a medium pizza from Pizza Hut.

Wednesday: Meet up with girlfriends and kids at Momack's for dinner. Momack's is my favorite family friendly restaurant. They have a giant playground and AstroTurf field. The kids played soccer and football, as well as spending plenty of time climbing around the playground like monkeys. Then we were invaded by a Tea Party that was convening for the State of the Union Address.

Thursday: T-ball practice canceled due to rain. I don't know why it always rains on Thursday. This is the third time this month that I have had to move/cancel practice. We are definetliy not in a drought anymore. Instead of running around, we just spent a quiet evening indoors. Well, maybe not quiet. First, there was the dinner battle of getting the kids to eat some nutrious and delicous food. Seriously, tell me what is wrong with poppyseed chicken, mashed potatotes and carrots. At least Casey ate his entire bowl and then some of the girls' food also. Then there was the noise of being "Super Gliders." This is where the kids ride their bikes and scooters all round the house. Lastly, there was the drama of the bedtime routine. Fights over who brushes their teeth first and which type of toothpaste to use. Seven o'clock couldn't come soon enough.

Friday: Cold dreary day, spent running around for work. The highlight was treating the kids to a play at the Children's Theater. They love seeing shows. While "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" wasn't there best production the kids still got a kick out of it with Elizabeth siding with the wolf's side of the story and Ava believing the pig. Saturday: T-Ball game in the morning. Elizabeth played exceptionally well, getting two of her runs off of balls thrown to her, and she made a great play in the our field. Ava played like a champ also. After the game, we drove to Houston to spend the next couple of days with Ryan.

Thought from a 4 (almost 5) year old

Elizabeth told me the other morning when we were driving to school in a veil of fog, "Mom, I wish you had magic and you could make it so that we could walk on the clouds."

Wouldn't that be awesome...

The 1st Week of Ryan Gone

Day 1: When I went to get Casey out of bed this morning, Casey greeted me by handing me his diaper, saying "HereYaGo" while standing in a puddle of pee.

Day 2: Cereal and chocolate chip cookies for dinner. Nutritious and delicious. Kids are bathed for the week and are in bed by 6:30pm because they are complaining of being tired. Day 3: Another note from school that Casey bumped his head. T-ball practice followed by dinner at McDonald's with friends. I still have not done dishes or grocery shopping this week. Supplies are running low. Day 4: Elizabeth is in tears because I forgot to reminder her about show-n-tell. Casey fell (or was pushed) off of the tree fort. Another bump added to Casey's head. I make a delicious dinner of kielbasa, noodles, and carrots. All the kids turn their noses up at it. Day 5: Finally went grocery shopping and did the dishes. First T-ball game of the winter season. Beautiful 70 degree weather and Ava was whining about being cold and wore a heavy wool coat the whole game. Elizabeth played coach pitch and got a hit. We then ran off to the girls Dance/gymnastic show. The girls performed their routines and got medals. Naps followed by bike riding, where Elizabeth took her first spill. Nothing a band-aid couldn't fix. Dinner, book reading, and bed time routine. Ah! I am done for the day.

Houston Pilgrimage

Ryan was starting a month long rotation at the Houston Children's Hospital and I had an extra day off work, so we took a trip to Houston over MLK weekend. The Army supplied a one bedroom apartment, and we provided the entertainment. First on the list was checking out the Houston Space Center. It was a huge hit for all the kids. Elizabeth has had an interest in astronauts for about a year so this was a real treat for her.

Then we then drove out to Galveston Beach for dinner.

The next day we hit up the Houston Children's Museum which was total chaos. Followed up by a 3 1/2 hour trip home. Thank you again, Annie and Billy for the portable DVD player. Overall, it was a great weekend of family fun. We may try to go again the last weekend in January to see a few more things, or Ryan might make the trip home. Either way, the kids really miss dad and will be ecstatic to see him next weekend.