WAFFL'n

We took these two crazy kids to the park a few days ago to let them run off their never-ending energy. We hadn't been to the park in quite awhile due to the stifling heat, and I think the kids had missed it because they ran all over that place. Swinging, sliding, climbing, jumping, pretending, and filling buckets with rocks to then place on the slide and slide through. They were pretty cute and played awesomely together.Saturday night was our WAFFL fantasy football draft, and mostly everyone from the league showed up at Tim & Pam's with their kids in tow. We had waffles, breakfast meats and other delightful breakfast items that we quickly consumed before our draft started. We must have looked like the biggest bunch of nerds all huddled around the dining table staring at 6 different laptops. I'm not sure if I exactly drafted a winning team, but only time will tell. Steven's choices drew the most "what?!? you picked him?!?" reactions from all of us, so that was entertaining.Matthew is obsessed with the winding of Tim & Pam's clock. He asks Tim to wind it everyday even though it only needs it every few days. Tim sweetly lets Matt assist him whenever the blessed day comes around. It's so funny to watch. The boy likes clocks. "That clock go tick-tock and ding-dong, Mommy."Today Joy & I had a lovely morning at the Lake Austin Spa & Resort. It was a Mother's Day gift courtesy of our sweet husbands and adorable children. We're sad we took so long to cash it in, but we thoroughly enjoyed our massages, hanging by the pool, and our 4 course lunch. The place was gorgeous, and I hope that I am lucky enough to go back some time soon! Next time though, I hope I get a massage therapist that isn't so chatty. Seriously, don't they know you just want to snooze and not make small talk? Still, it was a great way to start our vacation week. We leave on Wednesday for Port Aransas! Woo-hoo!

Matt's big day

Yesterday was Matthew's first day of preschool. I packed his lunch and labeled all his belongings and made sure he had diapers and his blankets for "naptime". Ever since we went to meet the teacher night last week he's been asking everyday if he can go to school. He's really, really been looking forward to it. We got there on time (yay!) and Matt made his way directly to his classroom; he totally remembered where it was. Matt was the first kid there. He walked into his class and headed toward to the little table where one of his teachers was sitting. She asked him if he wanted to do an art project with her and he said yes and quickly sat down at the table. She handed him a glue stick and he immediately set to work. The kid didn't even look back. I talked to his other teacher for a minute and dropped off his things in his cubby. I walked over and kissed him on the head and he said, "bye Mommy." And that was it. By then other kids were starting to arrive and were wailing at the mere thought of having to leave their mothers. Matthew was ready to be there for sure.

So I had from 9-2 all to myself! It was strange though not having my little talkative toddler man with me. I missed him. I got a lot done, and it was a great morning. I even treated myself to a decaf Starbucks in celebration of the big day! Yum.

I went to pick Matt up and walked in his classroom to find him playing at the window with another little girl. They were giggling and jumping around and having the best time. He was happy to see me and gave me a big hug. His teacher said he was the cutest thing and did really well all day. He didn't nap (I didn't expect that he would) but he did lay there quietly on his blanket like they asked him to. I kept trying to get stories out of him as to what he did all day, but he couldn't really tell me. His recall is terrible. But I know he had fun. We'll definitely call it a success! We got in the car and he said, "I want to go back to preschool again." He'll get to. On Friday.

Ava came over last night to play while Joy went to a meeting. Once Matt got over his grogginess from a late nap the kids had a great time. They circled around and around the table while singing and shouting in some foreign language. I like Ava's costume. What you don't see is her red sparkly Dorothy shoes she had on earlier.

His and hers:

We're excited around here because we leave for the beach in one week! YAY!!!

Phil's & Parties

I took my little man on a date to Phil's Icehouse on Friday night. It's directly next door to Amy's Ice Cream which has all manner of slides and fun playground things outside for the wee ones. We drive by this place all the time and Matthew is constantly asking to go play there, so when I told him where we were going to eat he about jumped out of his carseat with excitement. He played for a good hour until I was finally able to convince him that we should eat some dinner. He wolfed down a corn dog, fries, the onion from my burger, and downed his lemonade. He was a sweaty, hungry, mess. Since he ate so well I told him we could share some ice cream, and he started to dance his little happy jig. Once he discovered that I had gotten Jr. Mint crushin's that's what he kept picking out of the ice cream. Jr. Mints are probably my favorite candy, and it looks like Matt may be beginning to have a love affair with them as well. After we finished he asked if he could go slide some more and I obliged even though bedtime had arrived. He needed to run off that ice cream! He befriended several children and ran around and had a grand ol' time until I pried him away at last. We've got to get back to that place more often. He loved it.
Saturday we headed out to Mary Claire's 5th birthday party. I can't believe she's 5 and about to start kindergarten! It's wild. In Bryan & Sarah's backyard was this huge inflatable slide for the kids to enjoy. Matt was immediately thrilled and ran over to it before I could get his swimsuit on him. He quickly got changed and climbed in, and with the help of his cousins made it to the top of the slide and gleefully made his trip down. He wanted to do it again and again but was frustrated that he couldn't climb up the thing on his own. I crawled in there and hoisted him up every time until I rigged the hose inside there and there was water squirting at me. Matt then turned his attention to the baby pool and had a blast in there. Sarah had made a very elaborate and fantastic looking princess castle cake for Mary Claire. Sadly, I didn't get to partake in any since we had to leave early, but Matt got to taste some of the scraps and loved it.I left there with Zach & Joy and we drove over to her grandmother's house to drop our children off. The kids spent the night there while we drove to Houston to attend Erin Tooley's surprise birthday party. Joy & I did a wardrobe change in the McDonald's bathroom and then we walked over to the restaurant where the party was held. I'm talkin' fancy, y'all. That place was very nice and the food was delicious. I had been craving a steak and I was awarded with an awesome filet of beef. Erin was most definitely surprised and I think thoroughly enjoyed her evening. David had put together a slide show showcasing Erin through the ages and it was quite enlightening and entertaining. We had yummy cheesecake for dessert and then Tooley had also ordered a special birthday cake, so I was in cake heaven! Even though I was totally stuffed.

We spent the night with the Stirmans in their fabulous new house and enjoyed getting to visit with them. The best was their son running around in superhero costumes all morning, changing into a different one every few minutes. We drove back to Austin and rescued the kids. It sounded like they had had a great time. Poor Steven had to work this weekend so he missed out on all the fun. I gave him an earful when he got home on Sunday night which I'm sure he loved.

I think I'm going to go make some cookies now. Bye!

Shaving & Tots

Yesterday Matt & I went to the grocery store, and as usual he helped me put away all the groceries. He grabbed his new soap and my shave gel off the counter and said, "oh, I'll go put these away, Mommy. They go in the bafroom." Unconcerned, I watched him run off and I continued putting food away. There was silence for a long time and I assumed Matt was still in the bathroom when I heard, "uh-oh." I walked in there and this is what I found. The best part is that he'd put it on his face no doubt mimicking the way his father lathers up for a shave. Even though it's really on his nose and mouth. I was cracking up.

We went for a nice swim at the pool yesterday afternoon knowing that our time at the public pool would soon be coming to an end...so sad. Hungry, we went out for dinner to Waterloo. Matt wanted mac & cheese with tots and milk so that's what he got. He ate slowly and chatted it up a lot and looked around at all the other people. Steven & I devoured our dinner and sat there patiently waiting for Matt to finish. Our server came and took our finished plates. That's when Matt panicked. He grabbed tightly to his plate with a totally anxious expression on his face and said, "no, no take your plate!!" Steven & I tried to calmly explain to him that the server would not take his food away if he was still eating. Any time he saw the server even walk by he'd grab his plate and slide it to the side protecting it like it was his last meal on earth. I thought Steven was going to pee his pants he was giggling so hard. Matt kept slowly eating. And he kept looking behind him for the server all the while gripping his plate and growing more paranoid. Steven kept laughing. All he had left on his plate was a few tots, so we finally convinced him to pack up the remaining tots in a to-go container, leave the blessed plate on the table, and head back to the house where he could continue eating if he chose. I've never seen anything like it. SO funny. We got home and he ate some more tots before heading off to bed.

Today I got to have lunch at Carino's, my old place of employment. My last pregnancy I was still working there and ate their food nearly everyday for the first 4 months. I've been craving it but sadly don't conveniently work there anymore so as to satisfy my need for pasta and marinara sauce. Some may think it gross, but what I always ate was the eggplant parmigiana...and it was equally delicious today. Steven just looked at me and grinned as I dug in and as Matt shoveled pasta into his little mouth. Yum.

Tonight, Matthew and I get to meet his new teachers at Hyde Park Preschool. His first day of school starts next Tuesday. My baby is heading off to school!!! Unbelievable. He's totally excited.

Jacksonville

We made the trek to Jacksonville on Friday afternoon to pay a visit to Steven's folks. Matt did great on our 3.5 hour drive. I think the stop at Dairy Queen for a chicken basket kept him entertained in the car for well over an hour. We pulled up to the drive through window and Steven asked if we should get a 4 piece or a 6 piece basket, and before I could answer Matt chimed in from the backseat, "6!!!" Good thing he spoke up, because that kid polished off all that food and then had snacks that I had packed for him. Crazy.

Tim & Pam arrived in Jville on Saturday, and the boys spent hours cleaning out closets and attic space and clearing that house of 20+ years of collected stuff. I couldn't believe all of the things that had been kept all those years. And the best part is that Steven always claims that he never had much growing up as the third child....but after I saw the ridiculous, massive amount of toys that he had stashed in his closet I didn't feel so sorry for him. He claimed that they weren't necessarily HIS things and those that were his things he paid for with his own money as a kid. Wow, Steven.

Matt definitely benefited from the resurfacing of all those toys. The kid was in toy heaven all weekend. More cars and blocks and army men and plastic animals than he knew what to do with. Steven, Tim and Ken loaded up an entire trailer full of stuff to take to the dump on Monday morning. It was impressive.
Matt got to go over and play with Mason on Saturday afternoon and he was again aghast at all the cool toys. I think his favorite was Mason's Thomas the train table with all the cool trains. He also had this ball popper toy that Matt has always been fond of. It was funny though because Matt kept trying to collect the balls to put back in the machine and Mason kept trying to sequester the balls and labeled them as his "squash". They had a good time. Matt keeps talking about how he'll see Mason again at the beach. Just a few more weeks!

Joyce pulled out this crazy two-sided story book doll that Matt fell in love with. On side was little red riding hood, and then you flip her skirt over and there's the big, bad wolf--but then you flip the wolf's cap over and there's little red riding hood's sweet grandmother. And Joyce of course did a great job telling the story every time Matt asked to hear it. It was kinda creepy, but it engaged Matt for those 3 days.
We had a nice time and a productive time as well. We got back yesterday and Matt and Steven had some pool time in the backyard. Matt was enjoying being "juggled" by his daddy. Matt is definitely taking a liking to a little rougher type of play than I am used to. His poor little growing sibling has taken a few good jabs. Speaking of which, I've been feeling the baby move lately and it's the coolest, freakiest, most amazing feeling. I can't believe I'm getting to do this all over again! So fun.

Bubbles & Chuck

I think Matt enjoys bathtime with his daddy more than with me. Steven actually puts his feet in the tub and subjects himself to all manner of wetness, and his latest act is "bubble beard". I can't compete with that! Matt asks Steven to wear a bubble beard, and then Steven asks, "don't you want to be bubble brothers?" Matt then usually refuses the application of bubbles to his own face and instead attempts to swim away from his father. Water everywhere.

On Wednesday we went with Joy and Ava to Matt's all-time favorite place of entertainment, Chuck E. Cheese. CEC's has reached nearly cult status with Matt; he waves at it when we pass it by on our way to the gym, he recalls with fondness his visits there with Ava and with Poppi & Ann, he treasures the small, cheap toys he "won" there on prior visits, and he always asks me to draw Chuck E. Cheese on his magna-doodle. It's on his mind a lot, and he's been there twice.

Joy had some coupons to use up and so we thought well why the heck not just go? The kids were excited to say the least. Ava ran from one game to the other while Matt would find a game and nearly spend his whole stash of tokens playing it over and over. Our pizza came and it wasn't half bad--maybe we were just starving since we'd just left the gym! Once Matt polished off a piece & chased it down with copious amounts of pink lemonade he set his sights on the playscape. When we were there last November I had to help Matt climb his way up because he was too short to hike a leg up and pull his way up. This time he figured out how to use the netting on the sides to hitch himself up there. It was impressive; he looked like Spiderman! He quickly climbed his way to the top and shouted, "I did it!!!" and then crawled his way through the tunnels until he found the slide. He paired up with another little boy his age and they giggled and crawled up that thing until I lost count. Sweaty, Matt finally took a break and ran to the game that was positioned directly next to the playscape. He grabbed the gun and pretended to shoot at the screen and then backed up a couple steps. "I go poo-poo." Oh....now I see why you stopped your climbing! So that was fun.

We continued to play until all our tokens were spent, and Matt took a few more trips up into the playscape. That was by far his favorite part. Joy convinced Ava to climb up there with Matt, and once she finally made it up there they had a blast. They looked out this one little window in the tunnel and were watching the animatronic Chuck E. Cheese and just laughing it up. We cashed in all our tickets and Matt got to pick out more cool prizes which he now has lined up on his garage for some reason. It was a great time had by all, and an exhausting one; Matt took a lovely 3 hour nap that afternoon.

Today we are headed to Jacksonville for the weekend to visit Steven's folks. It's definitely been awhile so we're looking forward to it!

The Party

My dear friends and family and sweet husband threw me an awesome 30th birthday party on Sunday afternoon. Matt & I were fresh from our trip back from Houston that morning; the boy had no idea he'd get to have cake 2 days in a row. It was great getting to watch the kids horse around and splash each other in the pool.Even Brooke and little Ryan got in on the action.
We had some excellent fajitas courtesy of Maudie's. John was awarded the prize for taking the longest to eat. We cut him a break because he had to deal with a kid for awhile, but once he sat down he kept flappin' his jaw and it took him like an hour to polish off his plate. It was funny.
And what's wrong with these 3? Jealous it's not their birthday? Or are they just wearing their football mug shot faces to get in the mood for the upcoming fantasy football draft?
Caroline and Ava played momma and baby in her crib for a long time. Manufactured crying and whining is just as hard on the ears as real crying. Ugh.
Eventually it came time for cake and everyone circled up and serenaded me. I kept looking at Matt to see him singing but all he could do was grin and stare at everyone. At least I heard him sing me happy birthday on the ride in the car that morning.
The cake was divine. Just what I wanted: white cake with buttercream frosting and a yummy raspberry filling. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! Matt mostly wanted fork-fulls of frosting. That's my baby!

The kids ran some more and I finally opened my presents so then the little ones could go to bed. I had a wonderful birthday. It was so great to get to have everyone there. Steven always asks me what I want to do for my birthday, and I always tell him I just want to hang out with everyone it doesn't matter what we do. And having the kids around just adds to the hilarity. I'm sad to say though that I've already burned through all the leftover cake. (sniff) Good thing there's more birthday celebrations coming up!

Had me a blast

We've had a lot going on the past few days...where to start? Friday morning Joy hosted a delightful little playgroup at her house and Matt got to swim and play with his friends. And that may have been the most I've ever seen him splash and jump around with such enthusiasm and pure glee. It was awesome.

That afternoon he slept for 3 hours. Aaaahhhh.Saturday morning Matt & I loaded up and drove to Houston. The car ride was pretty good until Matt dropped his blanket and got mad that I couldn't reach it and wouldn't pull over. Is that mean? We were only like 20 minutes away and I didn't want to pull off the highway just so I could throw him his "silly ol' B" as he calls it. We got to my dad & Ann's house and after lunch Matt took a very uncharacteristically short nap because he was so excited about his day. That afternoon we went to our friends Bret & Sara's daughter's 3rd birthday party. Matthew loves Isa and has been talking about this party since we got the invite in the mail.

Matt of course had a great time at the party. Most of the kids there he didn't know, but he still enjoyed splashing around, swinging on the swing set and watching the big kids go down the water slide. Isa showed Matt her Elmo tattoo that she had chosen to place on her belly. That's a good place, right? Sara brought out some small, battery operated fans that had spray bottles full of icy water in them to keep us cool in the blazing heat. Matt immediately grabbed it from me and listened to my instruction to not poke his fingers in the fan blades for all of 1 minute. There was no stopping him. Apparently it didn't hurt because he kept poking his little finger in there. He played with that thing for a long time.

There was this ride on car that was sitting on a short roller coaster-esque type track that Matt just loved. He only took a couple bites of cake because he wanted to ride that thing over and over again. That cake was awesome I must say. Isa made a wise choice with the chocolate. I love her big Elton John happy birthday sunglasses that she wore for the duration of the party. I find it fascinating since my child can't stand glasses or hats of any kind.

Perhaps my favorite activity of the day was beating up on the princess pinata. Matt did a great job swinging at the thing. He'd take a swing and turn and giggle at everyone and then swing again.

So, I was at the gym today and I had to make a few adjustments on my elliptical trainer. Not only did I have to account for my slowly blossoming weight gain but I also had to bump up my age to 30. Thus far I haven't been upset by turning 30. To me it still seems really young. God willing, I still have a lot of life left to live and I feel that I'm really just starting to get to the good stuff. I think the privilege of getting older is really an awesome thing--with age comes wisdom and a different outlook on life. God is teaching me so much and I look forward to all that He has in store for me. The good and the bad.

I had a great birthday party on Sunday, but I think I'll save that run-down for another blog.