Summer is Coming!

The past few weeks I have been planning fun things for our kids to do this summer. Colby chose to sign up for a sign language class at the community college, as well as gymnastics there with Abigail. They both are going to go to a week of soccer camp too. Another activity I look forward to is the Free Family Movies at the Regal Movie Theaters. They just posted this years dates and titles of the weekly free movies! Besides that, we will be swimming, swimming, and more swimming!

The Zebra Song

When I put Isaiah to bed I usually sing him a few songs while rocking him. This is something we've been doing for the past 6 months or so. Initially I would sing 3 or 4 songs in order and put him in bed, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Goodnight Isaiah (tune of Goodnight Ladies from Music Man). After he was used to that, he began requesting songs. At first, it was ones that he knew from me singing them to him. Then, he began making up titles to songs he wanted me to sing. He would look around his room, saying "ummm... which song?" Then, he would point at something in his room and say "window song" or "bear song." Kind of hard to make something up like that! Then, he began requesting the zebra song, looking at his Bounce and Spin Zebra.
Somehow, I figured there has to be zebras on a farm somewhere in the world. So, I sang "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" with a zebra. I think they make some noise, like "breh"... could be wrong... Now this is a nightly request - the "Zebra Song." He's going to have his teachers baffled when he calls "Old MacDonald" the Zebra Song sometime in the future!

Girls Weekend

One of my best friends and I decided to take a girls weekend to San Antonio a few weeks ago. It was amazing. Don't get me wrong - I love being a wife and mother to our precious children. But, it's nice to be able to get away for a few days and relax!

The hotel we stayed at had the pool and hot tub on the roof. We jumped in the first night!
Walking around the riverwalk:

Dixie sporting the cute cowboy hat I bought for Abigail! This is on the Riverboat cruise around the riverwalk.

Dixie convinced me to eat at this place. If you notice it's leaning inside and out. It took me a bit to get used to sitting in there. Nothing is level or square... It's quite an interesting story of the Liberty Bar. (OK... I've tried to link to their site about 10 times.. somethings not working right... here's their site: www.liberty-bar.com)

Of course we had to stop at the Alamo.

I'm looking forward to our next getaway!

Parties Everywhere

Isaiah is in love with the Cartoon Network show Ben 10. Weeks before he finally got his Ben 10 watch pictured below he would walk around saying "I turn my watch, I hit my watch. I turn into somebody." Some days he would say it 20 or 30 times! For those who aren't loyal watchers of the show, Ben is an alien who can turn into 10 different types of aliens to help fight the bad guys. His favorite is Echo Echo, except when Isaiah says it, it comes out "wecko, wecko." So cute. Here's Abigail sporting her new hat!

Abigail was invited to her first real girl friend birthday party a few weeks ago. It was a very fancy princess tea party.

Abigail and the birthday girl, Calee. Please excuse the very large piece of gum in Abigail's mouth! The birthday girl got a large gumball machine, in which all the girls got a piece.

Somedays Abigail and Isaiah can be so precious to each other. They came around the corner holding hands, each with their stuffed animal in tow.

Abigail got to have an Easter egg hunt at her preschool. Here's a few pictures from then.

They had the kids decorate their cookie with icing and sprinkles. It was a sugar fest with the kids loading up on sprinkles!

We attempted to get a class picture after the party!

Colby and Abigail were able to enjoy some egg dying with Gannie.

Easter weekend

After finishing at the country club, we had a friend's birthday party to attend at a gymnastics facility. It was at the same place that I took trampoline lessons when I was a kid, and I hadn't been there since then! The scary thing is that it hadn't changed much at all! Isaiah really had fun swinging on the rope -I love this picture!

Easter morning the children's choirs I direct at church sang at the 9am mass. Here's Abigail coming down the aisle during the processional.

Here's Colby and his friend, Will.

Here's our yearly Easter picture with Brigid! Somehow for the second year in the row we color-coordinated without planning it! Last year Abigail and Brigid wore similar looking dresses and the same style of hat! So funny.

After mass, we went to my mom's house for lunch. Then, she had a very large egg hunt for them - I think she put like 170 eggs out for them to find in her backyard!

I know this picture is too bright, but I had to include it because of Isaiah's stance and expression!

More Snowy Pictures & Easter Fun!

Here's my precious snow bunny ready to go out and explore!

Our sandbox toys came in handy too!

The Saturday before Easter I took my kids, along with my mom, Brigid and a few friends to the country club for some Easter festivities. Here's Isaiah waiting for the Easter egg hunt!

Surprisingly, Isaiah was happy to pose with the Easter bunny.

In each age group, the child who finds the most real eggs wins a prize. And Colby won! We now have this very large stuffed animal, which is very soft and is Colby's new sleeping buddy.

There is an amazing lady who does facepainting and has been a part of the Easter festivities for the past few years. Colby's face is a bit scary for Easter for me, but that's what he wanted!

The Past Two Months - Part 3

My precious Isaiah, obviously before his last haircut enjoying the swings on the montessori playground at Colby's school. On Tuesday and Thursdays we have an hour between the time I pick Abigail & Isaiah up until Colby gets out of school. So, it's wonderful to have a few nice parks to play at while we are waiting! Abigail is so funny - she likes to pose with her stuffed animals. Included in this picture is her trophy from going mutton busting at the fair this past September.

Our weather has sure been volatile this past few months! A few weeks ago our forecast said we were going to be hit with a blizzard of a snow storm. Crazily, it was in the 70's just hours before it blew in. So, we took the opportunity to go to the zoo. We have discovered the late afternoons are a better time to visit instead of the mornings because all of the animals are active waiting for their dinner. Usually mid-morning they're all taking a nap.

OK - somehow when uploading pictures they mixed up a bit - so the zoo pictures are continued below!

Sometimes the kids can be so amazingly sweet to each other. I came walking around the corner to Abigail & Isaiah hugging each other! With Colby being in Kindergarten all day now, the dynamics between my three kids has changed a bit. Abigail & Isaiah are so much closer.

Here's some more mixed up pictures - this was quite a while back when we had a spell of 80's in our weather. So, the kids went out to play in the sprinklers!

So, here's the picture of the snow & our dogs exploring it!

Fish Face from Isaiah!

This was during the snow storm - instant pajama day cuddling on the couch.

Back to the zoo & the moaning tiger.

Wow! That's all the pictures I have for now!!!

We are getting into quite a busy time of the year. Colby & Abigail are playing indoor soccer with Dan coaching. We've had 3 games & they're doing great! With this week being Holy Week we are going to be very busy with church for the next 5 days. But, it's really worth it - all of the liturgies are so beautiful and meaningful. Happy Easter.