Gimmee!

Brooke is surely making her way in our little family. One of her biggest defense mechanisms now is to scream, "Gimmee! Gimmee!" over and over when one of the bigger girls takes something from her. Unfortunately, she also does it when they are trying to get something back from her that she stole.
She has a lot to learn :)

Spontaneous January Beach Trip

Cory was going to his annual Outkast Car Club party on Saturday, and I was in a grumpy mood. I decided that instead of staying home and being grumpy all day, the girls and I should do something different. It was a beautiful warm day, so I thought we should head down to Galveston for a couple hours. The girls were surprised, but they were really excited. We got bathing suits, warm clothes, sand toys, and hopped in the car! Everything was going great, until we got on 45 and found the traffic. We continued on, found some back roads, and finally got to the beach! We went down to the State Park because it's free for us, and they have great showers! The girls were so excited. They played in the sand, actually got in the water a little bit, and explored the beach. We saw a ton of jellyfish and shells. We went on a little walk and saw a really big crab, stingray skeleton, and a live hermit crab. Once the sun started to go down, they starting freezing! They were fine, and then all of a sudden they started freaking out. We got all our stuff, took warm showers, and headed home. It was a great day. I love being spontaneous every now and then and doing things like that!

New Sister Wars

It's usually Adilyn and Kacy that are fighting, but now we have a new war beginning...Kacy and Brooke. It all started a couple weeks ago when Brooke was trying to play with Kacy, but she just kept ruining everything that Kacy was doing. Kacy packed up all her toys, and she went to hide in her room to play alone. Luckily, for her, Brooke can't open doors yet! Since then, it has been a lot of fighting between the two of them. It's interesting because Adilyn never fights with Brooke. I guess she lets her get away with more since she is the baby. Who knows? Brooke understands that Kacy is mad at her, but I don't think she really gets what it means to share and to play fair just yet. Maybe she does, and she is bugging her on purpose? Anyway, it's crazy to have more fighting going on in this house. Oh my!
Even though Brooke is bugging her, Kacy is always there to help her out. I was running with them in the stroller the other day, and Brooke threw her cup out of the stroller. It's always my rule that if they throw something out twice, I keep it. So, she threw it out again. I kept it and told her that she wasn't getting it back. Kacy said, "Come on, Mom. She wants her apple juice!" I told her that she doesn't get it because she wasn't following the rules. A little while later, she reached up and snatched Brooke's cup from the cup holder. She gave it to her and said, "Here you go, girl." So, like they say, "I can fight with my sister all day long, but the minute you mess with her, you're in trouble!"

Adilyn's New Activity

Adilyn is always changing things that she likes to do, but I don't mind so much because it is allowing her to experience different types of activities. Because I am working at the Y, we get a discount for all the Y programs, but unfortunately the programs there are not always the best. I was really disappointed in the gymnastics class last semester. I mean, she still couldn't do a cartwheel at the end of the class. She wanted to try cheer, so I was all for it! The dance program was amazing, but she didn't feel like doing that. The cheer class has been pretty good so far. At least the coach seems to know what she is talking about. She has liked it so far, and that's the most important thing. Hopefully, she will at least come away knowing how to do a cartwheel!

A Breakdown Disaster

Our trip to the Frio was fantastic, so we decided to stay on our last day until the late afternoon. I was so excited  because on the way home, the odometer was going to turn over 200,000 miles! I have been waiting for that milestone for a long time. When we started to leave, the car wouldn't start. Cory hooked it up the the mule, and we got it started. We figured things would go okay as long as we didn't turn the car off. We stopped to get something to eat and left the car running, so things were okay. Then, we continued driving, and all of a sudden things started to get weird. A battery light started flashing, and within minutes the entire car just shut down. Cory pretty much figured that it was the alternator, but that didn't really help us out in the middle of I-10. The worst part about it was that we were pretty much right in between Houston and San Antonio. It was about 8:30 at night. Hmmm...we were 135 miles from our house, and AAA will only take you 100 miles per tow. We called them anyway, and they said that a tow truck could be there in an hour. Ryan said that he would come get us or help in any way, but we figured by the time that he got out there the the truck would be there anyway. So, we waited. Then, we got a call from AAA that the only truck that could fit all of us was an hour away from San Antonio, but they would get there as soon as they could. So, we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the tow truck got there at 12:30. The girls were pretty good after we got all settled. We took the carseats out, and they snuggled in the back seat. Brooke was a crazy woman, but she finally fell asleep in my arms. I was so glad Cory was with us. I would have been so nervous about everything! Dark, cloud, in the middle of nowhere! Anyway, the tow truck got us. The dogs rode in the Tahoe, and we were smashed in the cab of the truck. It had a back seat, but it was tiny back there! The guy was nice enough to take us all the way home even though it was beyond the 100 mile limit. We were all so tired, but everyone did amazingly well throughout the whole situation. Adilyn sat in the middle in the front seat, and she stayed awake for the entire 1.5 hour drive home. Kacy and Brooke passed out for most of the ride, and they all crashed when we got home. We were really lucky that things went as well as the did! Cory fixed the alternator the next day, and all was well. Thank goodness for a car fixing husband!