Memorial Day Beach Trip

I have gone to the beach on Memorial Day every year for the last 3 years. The first year I went, I was hugely pregnant with Kacy, and Adilyn was scared of the waves. The second year we went with the Hrobars. Kacy ate a lot of sand, and Adilyn was still a little nervous in the water. This year we went with the Hrobars and the Griffins. We had a great time! There was a lot of seaweed on the beach and in the water, but the kids didn't care one bit. Mason and Wyatt were all over the place in the water and on their boogie boards. Hudson loved playing around! Little Luke was a tiny crawling adventurer, and Isaac traded between the water and the sand. Adilyn had a great time trying to jump in the waves, and Kacy loved being out in the water. Of course, we had to hold Kacy the whole time, but she still had fun. She liked being with Cory more than me, I think because she was up higher. Adilyn also liked playing in the sand, and all the kids worked with the dads to build a little castle with a moat. The dads put the kids to work to bring them buckets and buckets of water. They all felt so proud to help out. I think the dads did it, so they could have control over the building. :) We stayed for about two hours or so, then decided it was time to head out. The worst part about going to the beach is cleaning up and all that! We finally got everyone rinsed and dressed, and went home. It was a fantastic day, and I am glad all the kids enjoyed themselves as much as they did. There is just something about the ocean that seems to make everyone happy! Hope we do it again next year. It's a fun tradition with amazing friends!

The little blonde baby crew! Isaac - 3, Wyatt - 6, Mason - 6, Adilyn - 4, Kacy - 2, Hudson -2, Luke - 1

Playtime with Daddy!

Crazy beach hair!

Snack time for Kacy

Kacy's First Sentence

Kacy has been putting two words together now for a while. Things like "more rice" or "juice please", but the other day she made her first sentence with more than two words. It was a very sweet and intelligent sentence. It was, "Dada pushed me." Now, the truth is I wasn't here to witness her fall, so maybe she is telling the truth. Cory's side of the story was that she just tripped, but who knows! :)
Looks like we might have a "truth stretcher" on our hands. Beware!

Osenglace! Osenglace!

No, I did not learn some sort of crazy new language...this is what Adilyn kept singing last night. Over and over, she would belt out this amazing song. I couldn't figure out what in the heck she was saying, but I figured it was some song they learned at school. Then, after a little while, she added a second verse. "Put your hands up, oh, oh, oh!" So, I put it together, finally! It was "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce. :)
When I told her that is was "All the single ladies" not "osenglace", she replied, "Mommy, that's the same. I was saying that."

Birthday Invitations

I never know how the girls are going to react to me wanting to take pictures of them. Normally, it is never really too successful, but I still try! The other day I really needed to get pictures of them dressed up like princesses and pirates for their birthday invitations. I knew the princess part would be a breeze, but I didn't know about the pirates! They ended up doing really great. I couldn't get a pirate picture of them together because they kept running around playing "pirate", but at least I got a couple of them separately. Cory even got into it! :)

Can't wait for the party; it's going to be fun! 2 and 4 years old...can hardly believe it!

Is It Airplane, Open, Help Me, or Happy???

Kacy has been talking a lot more these days, and she will copy almost anything we say. (that's always scary!) Of course, like most little ones, I can understand much more of what she says than most people. There are many times, though, that I still have no idea what she is trying to communicate to me. I realized just the other day that she was trying to say "happy", all the while, I thought she was trying to say "open." Another day I thought she was saying "help me", and it was really "airplane." After that I realized that she says all four of those things exactly the same! I asked her to repeat every one of those words, and as she did (with a big, proud smile) I noticed that every repetition sounded just like the other! :)



Another thing she loves to do is sound all dramatic and whiny. She was pushed down at school the other day by a boy in her class. When I picked her up, she showed me the scrape on her knees and said, "Boooooyyyyyy, booooyyyyy" in this pathetic whiny voice all night long. Such the drama queen...wonder who she learned that from?

Anytime she tries to say a long word like elephant or alligator, she just starts the word and then mumbles the rest. It comes out like "elephahaaa" or "alligaaadaa." She never says "yes" - it's always "yeah." She loves to find bugs, and she is learning that there are different names for bugs. She knows "ants" and "flies". Every little kid is a "baby", even if the kid is her age or a little younger. If we ever see a pond, a fountain, a river, or any body of water she screams out "Wawa!" We call her our little water detector.
This girl cracks me up, on a daily basis!

It's a Toe Meeting!

I love so many things about Adilyn, and one thing that I really love is that she is silly. She loves to pretend and have fun! The other day we were in the car, and she took her shoes off as she always does. Then, I heard her talking to herself. Then, I realized she was not talking to herself, but she was talking to her toes. I said, "Adilyn, what are you doing?" She responds with a sheepish grin on her face, "I am having a toe meeting." I asked her what they were meeting about, and her response was, "They were fighting, so now they are trying to be nice." So goofy!
The next day the "toe meeting" turned fancy...it changed into a "princess toe party"! Oh, that crazy little one...

The Wedding at the River

Floating on the river with the family!

We have been waiting for Nina and Tyler's wedding for a long time now! The wedding was going to be held on the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels. They rented out a little resort/cabin place where the wedding was going to be held. On Thursday after school, we headed over for our long weekend of fun! We couldn't really see the property when we got there because it was dark, but it seemed absolutely perfect. We had our one little one bedroom cabin, which worked out perfectly. After playing with Taylor and being silly for a while, we put the girls to sleep. Brandon got there later, and we hung out on the deck with him.

The girls slept in pretty well, and we couldn't believe how beautiful the place was when we woke up! The deck overlooked the river; it was one big deck all the way down the cabins, so you could see who was out and go bug them. :) There were really nice steps and a hill to get down to the river, and the river access was great. They had a huge landing down by the river for people to sit at. On Friday, a bunch of the people went for a short tube. We missed the drop off because we were exploring, but it was okay. We got in our suits and waited down by the river for the crew to get back. The water was freezing, but we still got in to play for a bit. Addy liked sitting in the tube. The river was moving so slow that we just sat in the tube and paddled around the area. We went on a couple turtle hunts, but never saw one up close. Cory had fun just sitting in his chair in the water!

We had the rehearsal dinner that night which was at a restaurant. Anne and I were a little nervous about the kids being crazy, and they were, but it wasn't too horrible! Luckily, we got our own little banquet room, so they were free to run around. Adilyn and Taylor are so cute these days. They play so well together!

The next day was the wedding. There were a few things to help with in the morning, but nothing too bad. Adilyn and Kacy loved dancing on the stage while we all worked in the pavilion. We played in the water again later in the afternoon, and just hung out with everyone. The river was a lot busier on Saturday, and we started to get a little worried that there might be some loud and obnoxious people on the river during the ceremony. There was one group with a radio turned up really loud and another group with a beer bong that kept screaming. The river was really slow, so if there was an annoying group, it would take them quite a while to pass. We all got ready on time and headed down to the river; the girls looked so cute!

It was pretty hot, but that was to be expected. Nina looked absolutely beautiful, and the people that ended up being in the river were really nice and respectful. Kacy kept yelling, "Mimi" and "Pops" during the ceremony, so I finally stood up to distract her. The ceremony was short and sweet which was perfect, and all of our river spectators cheered really loudly when they kissed. It was great!

After pictures, the band marched everyone up to the reception like a parade. Adilyn loved it! She said, "Mommy, we have never been in a parade before!" The reception was so much fun, great food, dancing, and lots of smiles! It was a great day.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful blended family! Our little family of two (Brandon and I) has been extended to a family of five, and I love them all! It's so great to be able to have a fun and loving family to share life with.

Where are we going today?

One of my least favorite things about being a working mom is the mornings...I have to wake my sleeping babies every morning, which is something that no mother ever wants to do! Then, we hurry to get everyone dressed and ready and out the door in 15 minutes or less. It is some stressful times! You never know who will freak out about the clothes I had picked out for them or the color of cup their milk is in.
The one thing that I can always count on is Adilyn asking me, "Where are we going today?" Every single morning when I pull her out of bed, she leans her head on my shoulder and asks the same question. It's so cute, but it's also a bit disappointing to say, "just school" every single day.
Oh well, only 20 more morning wake ups until summer! Then, when she asks, I can tell her all about our summer adventures for that day. Can't wait!

Looking Out for a Friend

It's "Fruit Tuesday" at the girls' school every Tuesday. I try to ask Adilyn what she wants to bring the night before. For dinner tonight, I cut a bunch of strawberries. Thinking that would be easy to send, I asked her, "Would you like to take strawberries tomorrow?" She said, "Ummm, no because Abby is allergic to strawberries. I want to take something that she can eat, too." Such a nice little friend!

A Sweet Moment

Monday evenings can be rough around here, especially when we get in late on Sunday night like we did last night. Tonight started off okay. The girls played in the backyard while I cooked a quick dinner. We ate outside because it was a beautiful night. Then trouble started when they both wanted to play with the same toy. Unfortunately, sharing is not their strong suit right now. They were both grumpy, and they got all worked up. I knew I had to create a diversion, quick!
I took them on a wagon ride, which is Kacy's favorite thing these days. As we walked, Adilyn started trying to teach Kacy her colors. She was pointing to all the cars, asking her the colors, and correcting her. The funny thing is, I remember doing exactly the same thing with her when she was Kacy's age. We would walk around the block and talk about the colors of cars and houses and point out all the animals we saw. As I pulled the wagon and listened to them, all those memories of Adilyn being young were so strong in my mind. I walked, pulling the wagon, with a smile on my face listening to their sweet little voices. I treasure moments like that!