Muddy Fun!

Click the pic for a few more!!!

Our yard is in seriously bad shape this year! We had a seven month severe drought and weren't allowed to use our sprinklers! It finally rained...for three straight days! What's a Mom with three stir crazy boys to do???? Send them out in the muddy backyard...that's what!!! Holy cow did my guys have fun! They discovered that under the trampoline was a gold mine for mud as grass has a hard time growing there in a good year ;) Enjoy some muddy day pics!!!

Jammie Fun!

Every year Gaga buys the kids (and herself) matching Christmas jammies! With all of my laundry FINALLY caught up three weeks after I started it (thanks to my elf this weekend!!!), I seized the moment for a few Christmas pics of the kids! Wait until you see how many pics I had to take in attempt to get one decent picture of my three goons! Click above...you'll get a good laugh! :)

A Dinnertime Surprise!

Click for a few more!So I discovered that Schlotzsky's was having Santa for dinner tonight and thought that would be such a FUN surprise for the boys! Like the single Mom I recently became...I packed up the kids and took them to dinner not letting in on the fact that there would be a surprise guest! We arrived about 15 minutes before Santa and were eating (actually Luke & I were eating...Brian and Matt were in the middle of a giant kicking match under the table) when we heard jingle bells and a loud HO-HO-HO! All of my kids stopped dead in their tracks...Matt actually dropped his sandwich and Brian ever so slowly made it look like he had been innocently eating ;) Luke could actually see Santa from his seat and busted out waving and screaming "Hi Santa!" OMG...what fun this turned out to be! Since there were only six people in the restaurant, my kids spent a good 10 minutes chatting with Santa. Luke was busy showing him his Mickey crocs, Brian was telling him about his sleepover party he went to and Matt was telling him how much he likes candy canes (subtly hinting for a second one!) Poor Daddy was definitely bummed to have missed this super fun surprise!!!

Luke's BIG Show! (click for more pics!)

Anyone who has talked to Luke in the past few weeks knows that he had "a really BIG show at preschool today!" He has been soooo excited for his Christmas performance and was downright giddy that Mommy, Gaga, Brian, Matt, Ms. Candice and Daddy all came to watch him! He proudly stood in front of the whole school wearing his Mickey hat, singing away! Five straight years of seeing the same show (with various children of mine in it every time!) and I still look forward to it each year ;)

The Christmas FUN begins!!!

Click for LOTS of fun pics!!!Thank goodness for my parents acting like elves and stepping in to help us function :) Even with Craig homebound...we are managing to make sure the kids get in all of their Christmas fun! Last weekend was Cookies with Santa at our neighborhood clubhouse. I played single Mom and took the boys to get our Santa pics out of the way and not have to fight the mall! We saw the Big Guy, got our pics, had our cookies and made it home all in under 45 minutes...not too shabby!!!

This past weekend was the annual sledding in our neighborhood! This is something that all of the kids in the neighborhood look forward to. They bring in a ton of snow, lay it on the hills of the golf course, bring in sleds and let the kids go at it! The boys had an absolute blast sledding and were joined by their good buddy Perry :) This year Gaga happened to be here playing elf and (helping me survive the day to day activities of being a single Mom with three kids and a handicapped hubbie) and we managed to even get her on a sled!
Such a FUN memory for the kids!!!!

Craig's BIG BANG!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family in Houston :) Everyone but Uncle Jeremy was there and I got to spend so much time loving on my two girls ;) The boys had an absolute blast with all of the attention they received and after four fun filled days, we headed home to spend Sunday decorating the outside of our house for Christmas.

What a HUGE mistake that turned out to be....Craig managed to take a 12 foot fall stuck in a ladder from our back patio to the ground! He had his kneecap stuck in between two steps of the ladder, with his leg fully hyperextended and his foot touching his chest! He ended up tearing his meniscus, breaking his fibula out of the knee joint, shattering his tibula, completely tearing his hamstring off of the bone and a few other fractures throughout his knee and shin!!! Poor guy ended up with 2 plates and about 20 screws, as well as a reattached hamstring :( After a few days in the hospital, we are home and he is on the LONG road to recovery! He is non-weight bearing for three months and will require a great deal of physical therapy to regain function of his leg. Fortunately he can work from home so he and I will be spending a whole lot of time together ;)

Matt's Big show :)

Matt has been so excited for his Thanksgiving play...he got to be a pilgrim! My parents and Emma came to join me & Luke for the show! Daddy had to be in D.C. but got to see the rehearsal on Wednesday :) The Kindergarten and first grade put on a 40 min. comedy act reenacting their version of the First Thanksgiving! It was priceless and the kids did a fantastic job! Kudos to the three teachers...this show was clearly a lot of time and energy on their part!!! The video is too long for my blog but enjoy a few pics by clicking the one above!

Ally...

Big Al went to Heaven today. Putting this old girl down was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Ally didn't get rapidly sick like Mia preparing us for a quick end. Big Al simply got tired and over the course of a few days gave us endless signs that she was ready to join her old pal Mia in a more restful, peaceful place. She made it to her 13'th Birthday which was a huge accomplishment and something we never would've dreamt would happen. She lasted 1 1/2 years longer than Mia...something we never saw coming. Anyone who knew her loved her for her curvaceous figure and enormous smile. Ally has seen us through five homes, three kids, two states and patiently a plethora of "foster dogs" that we tried to make a part of our family and ultimately found better suited homes for :) Ally has been with us longer than any of our children and will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Ally was the dog we got two weeks after marriage, sight unseen. The local Humane Society called to tell me they had an owner release golden retriever and did I want her? We were across the country at my cousin's wedding and they told me I had to make a decision over the phone as they couldn't hold her otherwise. They told me she had recently had a litter of 12 pups and that she still had some "baby fat" along with her "nips". I said yes... a little unsure as to what we were getting...and showed up a few days later to this obese, waddling, nips touching the ground golden retriever who looked so sad. She put her head on my lap, looked up at me with these giant eyes, smiled and I was sold.

Ten years later this old girl still has the waddle, the baby fat never really went away and the biggest smile I've ever seen on a dog. Ally's chub did give her the very best splash upon entry of the pool though...she could seriously win a splash contest!!! Over the years we did countless tests to check why she looked like she had been inflated with air and the end result was always the same...she's just a big-boned girl, no thyroid issues, just happily plump :) We will forever remember our big girl who could hold a ball in her mouth until she had lock-jaw, particularly anytime we walk into our closet :)

Another FUN Halloween!

Click for a few more pics!Halloween 2011 was another HUGE success! Luke was totally into this year...choosing his own costume ("Paging Dr. Luke!") and thinking trick-or-treating was just about the coolest thing next to Disneyland!!! We started the weekend with a Halloween carnival at the boys new school. They were super excited to be a part of this annual tradition and spend the night locked in jail :), on hayrides, playing games and just running around with their friends!!! Pumpkin carving was a little more interesting this year courtesy of Matt's broken arm but he was in good spirits and made the best of the situation! Halloween day was super crazy, plain and simple!!! I provided cupcakes for both of the boys classes, ran Matt back and forth from Dr. 's appointment for cast (hooray!!!) to school, had lunch at school with the boys, got them home and changed, made cookies in between all this for a neighbor's "Halloweenie" hotdog pre-trick-or-treating party, went to the party, came home and passed out candy while Craig took the boys around, and finished off my night with laundry and packing Craig for his trip (and mine later this week!)

Can I also add that Halloween should be a mandatory Friday or Saturday night, like Thanksgiving is a mandatory Thursday!?!?!?! Getting three kids up by myself at 6:30 after trick-or-treating and getting to bed almost two hours late is NOT my idea of fun!!!

Not the way we anticipated the season ending...

Poor Moose...he had an amazing baseball season this Fall, complete with his very first 'official' homerun! Not one of those fielding error homeruns, but an honest to God, ball hit the fence homerun! Today was the end of season tournament with single elimination games all day. We won the first game, leading to a second one immediately after. My sweet guy was "on-deck" swinging the bat and lost his footing, causing him to fall and managed to break his arm :( It was clearly broken and disfigured but "Moose of Steel" shone through...the kid barely cried!

Four hours later, Matt is home resting. He actually ended up breaking both bones :( The ulna was a clean break right in half and the radius was broken and displaced. He ended up having to have a reduction (manipulation) done to put the radius back in place as it was shaped like an "S". (Painful but Matt was a serious trooper!!!) It is now correctly in place and set in a splint for the rest of the weekend. We will follow up with an orthopedic surgeon on Monday to make sure it has stayed in place or he will need to have surgery to put a pin in it. Hopefully it stays put and he can just get a cast on Monday for 6-8 weeks ;)

Animals, Pumpkins, Mazes...Oh My!!!

Of course there's more...click on the pic!

So I set off in search of a really fun pumpkin patch since all of the ones nearby are completely lame! After a few hours on the Internet, holy cow did we hit jackpot!!! Jersey Farms is a working Dairy Farm in La Grange, Texas...a short 1 :15 hour from us. It is also home of the famous Bluebell Cows (as in Bluebell Ice Cream...a Texas staple and one of our favorite factory tours!) Bellerina, Annabelle and Jinglebelle are currently used in all marketing for Bluebell...tv commercials, movies, print media, etc, and are the friendliest cows ever! They walk right up to you and want you to pet them. The boys even milked Bellerina!!!

Back to the beginning, we paid a $7 admission fee and spent five hours meeting, playing with and feeding more animals than we could ever have dreamt of interacting with! We took a 45 minute hayride, stopping along the way to milk Bellerina (I am 32 and this was a first for me!), meet Ethel...the 700 lb. pig who loves to be pet, meet 1 week old calves (so precious and friendly!) and go into the milking room to learn the process of milking cows!!!

After the hayride, we continued our tour to meet and feed goats, miniature horses, bigger calves, JingleBelle and AnnaBelle, a smiling donkey, Tex...the fainting goat, chickens, pigs, sheep, bunnies, turkeys and ducks. We then got to bottle feed baby calves (so much fun!) and eat what else??? Bluebell Ice Cream of course, made with milk from the dairy!

We headed into the pumpkin barn to find this year's picks...Matt & Brian went for size while Luke decided he wanted a white pumpkin ;) Matt topped off the fun being dragged to the parking lot by Craig for an overtired tantrum (are you honestly surprised?!?!?!?!), calming down before our grand finale...the hay maze! What fun they had conquering the maze...they got lost too many times to count and giggled their way through the whole thing! Our day of fun ended in typical Rose fashion...Luke pulling down his pants and peeing in the middle of the farm!

What a SUPER FUN Sunday!!!

Happy 13'th Birthday Ally!!!

Craig and I got Ally while we were out of town two weeks after our wedding! The Humane Society called my cell phone and told me they had an 'owner release' golden retriever and did I want her? They informed me that they couldn't hold her unless I committed to her and that I had to make a decision over the phone...they also mentioned that she was "chubby" and had just had a litter of 12 puppies so she had "nips". On a whim I said yes, and it was one of the best decisions we ever made!!!

Ally has been with us in 6 different homes, moved across the country with us and happily greeted each of our boys when we brought them home from the hospital. (okay...to be fair...she kind of rolled her eyes at us when Luke came as if to say "You really thought another one was a good idea???") She managed to outlive Mia, who we got just two weeks after we brought home Ally but Mia was a puppy whereas Ally was 3. (We never saw that one coming!) She has been here for the various "mistakes" we have provided temporary homes for over the years and has been a part of our family long before our children were!

Poor Ally never managed to lose the baby weight, earning her the nickname Big Al by everyone who knows her, but she has the happiest face of any dog I have ever known. She has always been the dog we want the others to learn from as I can count on one hand the number of things she has done wrong! My whole family has thought "this might be her last Christmas" for the past few years but she proves us wrong with each passing one :) She may now waddle rather than walk, but throw a ball and she will still go after it. Throw it in the pool and step back as the splash that comes with her will soak you!

Ally tends to spend 90% of her time on her bed in my closet these days, but still comes out to join the family every night. We may be shocked that she has made it to her 13'th Birthday but are so happy that she has. We know Big Al won't be around forever but we sure are grateful she's still going, and going and going....

Little man is 4!!!!

Click on the two different pictures for Baseball and Birthday pics!

It is hard to say out loud...Luke is four! I still look at my currently 30 pound, 37 inch little man and remember those weeks in NICU where I spent day and night worrying about him. He is such a happy, fun, wonderful little guy! He lights up a room everywhere he goes, has a keen talent for making us laugh, has a smile that goes from ear to ear, has a heart the size of Texas and is this tiny little "big person wannabe" who we daily thank our lucky stars for!

Luke has been counting down the days to his Birthday. It is the first one in which he actually "gets it" and has been talking for months about turning four, and his BIG party at Chuck E. Cheese that he specifically requested :) He had a whole weekend of celebrating as Gaga & Papa and Aunt Christy & Uncle DJ came up Friday night and Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris & Emma came on Saturday. Luke had his first t-ball game of the season Saturday and LOVED having an audience :) Daddy had to leave early to take the big boys to their game and much to Luke's delight, Uncle DJ stepped in for him to help coach! After watching Luke actually play and do awesome (compared to last season where he sat in the field asking for a snack!), we all headed to the big boys game to watch and cheer them on in coach pitch! Both boys got awesome hits and did great in fielding :) It was a hot, hot day but super fun!

Saturday night Aunt Christy and Uncle DJ surprised Luke (and Brian, Matt & Emma) with his gift... a GIANT "4" pinata, field to the brim with candy and toys:) All four kids had a great time whacking at it in the family room and Uncle DJ only got hit once :) Aunt Kel & Uncle Chris need to sign up Emma for softball as soon as she's big enough as that girl can hit!

Sunday morning was the day we've been waiting for...Luke turned four!!!! He woke up in our bed, turns to Craig and screams "I'm four now!" at 7am! All I can say is Luke will sleep well tonight!!! That little boy was on "go mode" from sun-up to sun-down! He had cupcakes for breakfast, opened his gifts from the family, played with them all, headed to his big party, ran around Chuck E. Cheese like a Birthday crazed maniac, went in the ticket machine and collected 980 tickets!!!, played with all of his friends who came... Madi & Drew, Maddie, Michael & Matthew and Jackson (his buddy from preschool), ate more cake, came home and played with his newest round of toys and had more candy all before heading to bed :)

Special Thanks to The Pazak Family and The Licht Family for helping make Luke's day so special for him!

A BIG thanks to Gaga & Papa, Uncle DJ & Aunt Christy, and Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris & Emma for coming and spending the whole weekend with us to make Luke's fourth Birthday one he'll talk about for months (literally!!!)

Uncle DJ is Married!!!

Click for TONS of pics from this weekend!!!

This past weekend was spent in Houston for a big event...the wedding of Uncle DJ and Aunt Christy! It was a crazy, busy weekend jam-packed with events!!!

Thursday morning we headed to my parents for the rehersal dinner that evening. It was nice to get to meet the rest of Christy's family and we all enjoyed a yummy dinner ;) The boys were absolutely giddy with their ringbearer gifts...Bevo Pillow Pets!

Friday was spent with all the big boys going to lunch and movies with DJ, followed by an O'Brien family BBQ...complete with tons of yummy food and drinks, lots of chaos and great company! Pretty much everyone who was an out-of-town guest was there and we had a blast spending time with everyone!

Saturday was the big day!!! The big boys were sent to the wedding site to get ready while the girls were all at my parents house for hair and makeup. All of the kiddos stayed with us making for a crazy, loud, fun afternoon. The boys loved the limo ride and did a perfect job as ringbearers, while Emma and Molly were the most precious flower girls ever:) Christy was a glowing, beautiful bride and she and DJ looked truly happy from the second the wedding started. We are so thrilled for them and know they will have a lifetime of happiness and a houseful of babies for us to enjoy! The wedding was perfect with my boys LOVING the candy bar Gaga created and dancing like maniacs the entire evening! They didn't leave the dance floor for three straight hours, even 'breakdancing" in the middle of the circle by themselves at one point! It was a perfect evening with an ending created specifically for DJ...an airhorn salute! DJ made sure for each of our (even Craig's) graduations, he was armed with airhorns to salute us when our names were called! We outdid him tenfold with a 10 horn salute! He loved it and left his special day beaming with pride!!!

Sunday we woke up and changed the "wedding theme" to "1'st Birthday" mode! Since Molly lives so far away and we won't be able to spend her actual Birthday with her, we threw her a surprise 1'st Birthday Party! Kerry and Jeremy were thrilled to have Molly spend her "Brithday" celebrating with so many family members and friends present! It was another day of yummy food and fantastic company before we had to make the trip back to Austin. We arrived home Sunday night exhausted and literally went straight to bed!!!

We are delighted to officially be able to call Christy "Aunt Christy" and so thrilled that DJ is so happy! Christy is a wonderful addition to the family and we all love that she fits right in to the chaos!!! Congratulations Uncle DJ and Aunt Christy!!!

Off he goes to the 3's!!!!

Click for a few more;)

Little man went back to preschool today! He has been super all excited all Summer about his teacher Ms. Laura and was in tears when the boys went to school without him two weeks ago, begging to go to school also. Last night he had a change of plans and announced to us "I not goin' to preschool." When we informed him that he was in fact going to preschool he replied with "I don't think so...I stay home with Mommy." We decided to drop the subject and re approach this morning :) He happily got up, got dressed and sat down for breakfast with the big boys. When they turned to tell him goodbye and to have fun Luke's reply was "I'll have fun with Mommy, I not goin' to preschool today!" (You can imagine the fit of giggles this sent Brian and Matt into!) Once Daddy returned from dropping off the boys, we headed to preschool (a bit curious how he was going to act!) He was giddy to put on his new Mickey backpack that he insisted on having (even though it is literally as big as him!) So...HOORAY...he did great! He hung up his stuff, found his buddy Jackson and barely waved goodbye as he was so engrossed in play-doh! The kid never fails to break my heart...(but at least he went!)!!!

Brian the Soldier:)

Click to see a few more...Today at school, Brian's class was responsible for leading Chapel. The theme was "Stand Guard for the Lord" and his whole class marched (literally) into the church dressed as soldiers! It was too cute and Brian was beaming with pride. He had a one line speaking part that he said perfectly and then they all sang two songs about being soldiers. Craig and I loved seeing him so utterly excited about something and watched our soldier sing his little heart out wearing a milk jug on his head!!!

Another year has begun!

Click for a few more first day pics...some are foggy...it was sooo humid out that my camera kept fogging up!

Yet another school year has officially begun in our house! Brian started second grade today and Matt started first grade. Luke will not start preschool for another two weeks so he's my sidekick for the time being! In the past I have been a sobbing mess at the prospect of sending my kids off for seven hours each day but this year was different. I will admit I still had a few years (but only in the shower since Brian forbid me from crying!), but I feel so happy about the new school we are sending them to that I am truly not all that sad as I know my boys will be loved on all day by everyone at the school as much I as love on them! Craig & I found a place that pushes them academically (their textbooks are one grade level ahead in each grade) but still allows them to be 6 & 7. They recognize the fact that they can't sit all day and gives them P.E. five days/week, as well as two recesses/day. They both have show & tell each week (which I as a teacher admit that I hated doing but completely understand how important it is to little ones!) They have "messy" art twice/week, spanish, computers and music twice/week, are actually allowed to celebrate Christmas and be excited for Santa (no more of this "Holiday or Winter Fest" nonsense!) They will have no less than four field trips each year and they encourage and beg for parent help in the classrooms:) They have IPads to use for centers and Smartboards in their classrooms for virtual learning. They have "whole school" chapel each week where they are picked up by and sit with an older buddy (Matt's is an eighth grade cheerleader and he is deliriously happy!!!) and they recognize two students of the week in front of the whole school at the beginning of chapel. No worries though...we have found the one negative of this "too good to be true"place...the cost! But we know this is a place where our children will spend a good chunk of their lives and be happy, which is most important to us, and is worth every penny:)

In typical fashion, Brian was not overly excited to start school! Brian declared at the ripe age of preschool that he would rather be homeschooled:) He was of course excited once he got there but school does not hold the fun aspect for Brian like it does for Matt. Brian has his group of friends that he's had for awhile now and has no desire to be a social butterfly like Matt. He likes to sleep in and would rather lounge around and learn in his jammies than be worried about the social aspects of school, whose friends with who, whose wearing what, etc. :) He lives and breathes sports and would much rather watch SportsCenter all day than anything else! Brian thinks of school as his job whereas Matt can hardly contain himself thinking of all of the fun he will have! Brian did manage to crack a few smiles once the big day actually arrived and I know he will come with tons of stories about his day! His teacher gave him a giant hug when we walked in and has made him feel so welcome as the new student in their class. She went out of her way over the summer to send Brian a questionnaire asking him all about himself so she could talk about him to the other students at "meet the teacher" and have everyone already know a little about him! He is the only new student in a classroom of 16 (love the small class size!!!) and will be able to walk in feeling like he's been with these kids since preschool:)

My Moose was 100% the opposite...he has been giddy about the prospect of starting school! He has two teachers and will switch back and forth which he thinks is beyond cool!! He already knows one little boy that he went to preschool with so having a familiar face will be a great thing! Matt has 12 kids in his homeroom class and there are 14 in the other. Matt's class has 9 boys and 3 girls...god bless that poor teacher!!! Every year, on the night before starting school, Matt has a 20 minute sobfest when I tuck him into bed in regards to how much he's gonna miss me. I can honestly say that I secretly enjoy this tradition we share but know it is short lived. He always wakes up having forgotten about this "treasured moment" and can't wait to get to school, meet his friends, see his desk, etc. Today was no different...when he got up there was no more "I'm gonna miss you Mommy" and no more tears, just one 6 year old too excited to even finish his breakfast!

I love how different my two children are and how well they can adjust to any situation we hand to them. They both walked into this brand new school like they'd been going there forever, with no tears and no fear in their eyes, completely confident of themselves. I love how trusting they are...if Mommy and Daddy say they'll love it, it must be true. I can hardly wait for it to be 2:40 so Luke and I can head out to get them and hear all about their day!

The Dance Off!

You are missing out if you don't click to see the video!!!

Two of the things I love most about Craig are his ability to laugh at himself AND how much he LOVES his kids! Saturday night at Six Flags he combined the two by participating in a dance-off with Daffy Duck! As we were waiting for the show to begin, we were approached by a staff member as to if Craig would be willing to participate in the show. He was sitting there asking what he would need to do and she informed him "dance with Daffy." This was all the boys needed to hear and poor Craig looked less than enthused but willingly agreed:) We were moved to VIP seats...(front row-center!) and the boys and I couldn't wait for the show to begin!!! The closer we got to dancing time, the more nervous Craig got but when Daffy came over, he happily hopped up onstage! He danced to Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" with a bright red feather boa, receiving cheers from he whole crowd. (To give you a visual...Craig dances like the white boy he is and there was 300-400 people in the crowd!) It will go down as one of my favorite memories of Craig being an amazing Daddy unless he can do something to top this:)

Excuse my choppiness in the middle of the video...I was simultaneously taping with my cell phone and had to adjust it:)

A Fantastic Fourth of July Vacation!

Click for so many more pics! Our tradition has become to head to the beach for the Fourth of July and this year we had company! Kelly, Chris and Emma met us there, along with two sets of our family friends...Nicole, Steve and their kids Maddie, Michael and Matthew AND Jason, Amy and their kids Ross and Reagan! All together we had 8 adults and nine kids and the kids were beyond amazing! There was not one fight, squabble or disagreement...one was more amazing than the next and we all had an absolute blast! Plans are already underway for next year!!!

We love having the beaches of North Padre Island a short three hours from home and I really don't know how much more patriotic it can get than the fireworks being shot off of the back of the U.S.S. Lexington Aircraft Carrier into the ocean!! The kids LOVED sitting on the seawall with their various glosticks waiting for the fireworks along with a late night ice cream surprise on the way back to the hotel!

After three fun filled days at the beach, we headed to Houston for another three days of fun! First stop...the Houston Children's Museum...currently ranked #1 in the nation for Children's Museums! The kids had a ball painting their own faces, racing from one cool room to the next, racing handcrafted rockets, Lego's, parachutes and boats and conquering the obstacle course over and over and over!

Our final stop on this week long trip was my parents house! The biggest success came when ALL three boys successfully managed to get up on waterskiis! Brian was the only one until this week that could get up and Matt was determined to change that! He successfully got up three times, only skiing for about 30 seconds each time but nonetheless, he DID it!!!! He is counting down until we get out there again! Not to be told he can't do something, Luke was on a mission to waterski like his brothers!!! We have had a great number of instances lately at Six Flags, Disney and SeaWorld where Luke wants to do something and his literally too little, and he was determined to be big enough to ski! Who were we to tell him he can't so we let him hop in to try...and our mouths dropped when he actually got up on his second try! He skiied for about 20 seconds and was bursting with pride when he got back on the boat!!!! "No one tells Luke he's too small!" The only bummer is both Matt and Luke never got past the huge start splash so there are no good pics of them skiing...next time!

We are finally home and back to reality...unpacking, laundry, floors, grocery store, etc. The good news is summer is only half over and we still have LOTS of fun left to be had:)

OMG...I am sooooo tired!

Click to see why I am soooo tired! We have literally had an exhausting 10 days and I am so tired! We started with a marathon weekend and ended with a marathon weekend!!! Last Friday night the boys spent a great deal of the evening playing pirates with daddy in the backyard and getting to bed extremely late. We had to get up at 5:30 am for a swim meet Saturday morning, followed by a birthday party for the boys best friends...Madi & Drew. That evening was the swim team party and we finally got home for the day at 10:40pm! The next day (Sunday) was kids day at the baseball game and of course we had kids who wanted to go! They had a blast playing on the inflatables, wearing their new (free!!!) team jerseys, watching the game and even got chosen to go on the field and play one of the games between innings:) It was a long, hot afternoon but we all had a blast!

I spent Monday at the pool all day with the kids and Tuesday cleaning my house from top to bottom (though in hindsight it was a wasted effort as my kids destroyed it right in front of my eyes!). Wednesday I took the kids roller skating. All three boys have their own rollerblades and LOVE to go skating. I figured it was a good, indoor activity to avoid the 105 degree sun and we spent two hours skating, followed by a fun pizza dinner:) Thursday was our only "stay in our jammies" lazy day throughout the past ten days and my three goons had a blast seeing who could get their jammies the highest!!!

Friday began our marathon weekend (round 2) and it was a doozy! I started Friday taking the kids to the mall for pictures and actually got an adorable one of their precious faces! After lunch at the mall, we met up with some friends at a local pool for a few hours of fun! The pool was super fun and had something for everyone...the boys LOVED the jumping platform and dropping waterslide! After three hours, we headed to Baskin Robbins for a quick treat before heading to our final destination for the day...a brand new splash pad area right by our house/ The kids loved it and had an absolute blast running through the water, sprinklers and waterfalls. Unfortunately that's where the day of fun ended...poor Lukey tripped on his towel in the parking lot, face planted and put his glasses into his eyebrow...resulting in two stitches above his eye:( He was extremely brave for the whole process and Brian was an amazing big brother holding his hand through the whole process. This did result in a late night unfortunately making our Saturday morning 5:30 wake-up for the boys final swim meet even harder! The boys both finished off the season great and have become such strong swimmers! Brian is loving butterfly and Matt finally mastered backstroke! Craig and I are so proud of them and Luke is chomping at the bit to get on the team as well! (Next year little man!!!) After lunch with the team, we went to another friend's birthday party before finally getting home to wait for my parents and EMMA!!! They headed up so we could all head to Sea World Sunday and Emma got to come:) I LOVED having my sweet girl with us and she fit right into the family fighting with Luke for most of the trip!!! It's so fun to watch the two of them interact...they literally fight like brother and sister everytime they are together with one or the other constantly running and tattling on the other:) We had a ball at Sea World, got to see all the shows and had a great time in the new splash park with all of the kids. It was a super fun, super long day and we made it back home just shy of midnight! To say I am exhausted it literally the understatement of the century!!! (Oh...did I mention I got to spend today at the dentist with all three kids having appointments to top off my 10 days of fun?!?!?!?)

Click for some Sea World Fun!

School is out and sports are done....hooray!!!!

Click to see more sports pics:)

This is my favorite picture of the whole season...this was literally mid-game!!!

The end of school has also brought the end of three boys playing three different sports at the same time:) Thank goodness cause I think I was about to lose my mind!!! Luke finished his first season of soccer and kudos to him...really believes he was the STAR of the team:) He made one goal the whole season (in the wrong goal) and spent most of his time strolling the fields lifting up his shirt and asking when he gets his snack but in his precious, delusional mind...he is the star!!! He absolutely LOVED soccer and tells anyone who asks all about his team and that Mommy, yes Mommy was his coach! Matt finished up his last season of t-ball (he's moving on to coach pitch in the fall) and played for the psychotic Round Rock league, not the YMCA. I say psychotic as the people here really are! Anyone who truly thinks kids that are five years old need more than one practice and one game each week are crazy!!! Matt literally had weeks where he had two games (yes, even on school nights!) as well as practice! Let's not forget...this was t-ball:) For as much as I despised it, Matt LOVED it! He had a blast with his friends, is now a die-hard Giants fan and is ready to move up a league and loved having his Daddy as his coach again:) Brian finished up another successful football season on the Patriots again! He is actually getting pretty good and LOVES being the quarterback:) Lucky for him...he has quite the arm! Daddy co-coached his team and Brian enjoyed having moved up a league where they are now actually running plays and grasping the game:)

The Boys Dream Weekend!!!

So many neat pics and even a video of the teacup fools if you click! This past weekend Craig and I checked the boys out of school on Friday at 10 and headed to Dallas for a weekend catered to little boys...two days at Six Flags and VIP Tours of both the Texas Rangers Baseball Stadium AND the Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium! To say my guys had a fun weekend is a severe understatement!

We got up to Dallas and just our luck, it was pouring! The good news is that by the time we checked into our hotel the rain had stopped so we headed over to the park and hit the jackpot...it was dead! The storm scared everyone off so what was a crowded park in the afternoon became a ghost town for us to enjoy! Six Flags Over Texas is at least twice the size of the one we frequent in San Antonio, with so many more rides so we were grateful to have this extra time to ensure we rode everything we wanted to! Unfortunately the rain made a U-turn around 8:30 so we headed back to the hotel just in time to meet up with Gaga, Papa, Aunt Christy and Uncle DJ... who were flying out of Dallas to Las Vegas on Saturday at 11pm and decided to meet us and join us for Six Flags on Saturday.

Holy cow did I get the best surprise ever...the elevator doors opened and my precious Molly was with them!!! My Mom had been in Vegas all of last week as well and Kerry was gracious enough to let her bring Molly back with her to spend the day with us since my Mom was literally only back in Texas for 48 hours before returning to Vegas! Molly and I spent the whole night snuggling, playing and bugging Uncle Craig who was trying to sleep (for reasons unknown since she doesn't see him that often...Molly is obsessed with Craig, has been since she was a teeny, tiny peanut and apparently still is!)

Saturday was Day 2 at the park, this time with everyone! We had such a fun time taking Molly on her first rides, riding coasters with the boys and enjoying a perfectly overcast day!!! Luke was able to ride two different coasters much to his delight, as well as the two different log rides (complete with giant hills) and spent his day repeatedly riding them over and over and over again! Brian and Matt were tall enough to ride the two biggest coasters in the park...the Texas Giant and the Titan and happily jumped on! The Titan is actually the tallest coaster in Texas, topping out at over 25 stories tall, lasts for almost two and a half minutes and goes over 82 mph!!! I am so blown away by the level of fear my boys DO NOT seem to possess. Brian and Matt are climbing on rides that some adults are afraid of and Luke is literally sobbing that he is too small for them!!! They are always the littlest ones in the lines and come off with smiles on their faces! My goons not only have no fear of speed and height, they also don't mind getting dizzy to the point of almost vomiting! DJ and Craig took them not once but twice on the giant teacups, spinning to levels that impressed even the ride operator and had people in the park stopping to watch! (Let's put it this way...Craig's shoulders were sore the next day from the amount of use he was putting into them to spin like a lunatic!!!) The operator literally made them sit in the cup for a good minute after they stopped spinning for fear they would all hurt themselves! (Who in their right minds think this is fun?!?!?)

Sunday brought even more fun with tours of two really cool stadiums...The Rangers and The Cowboys! We managed to snag VIP tours of both and spent our day going into dugouts, media rooms, press rooms, bullpens, the most expensive club seating rooms, locker rooms, the famous "tunnels", owners suites, inside the indoor private batting cages, storage facilities and even saw the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders practicing! The best part was the boys getting to go down on the Cowboy field and play football with each other! They tried kicking field goals, running the full distance of the field and just playing with Daddy! This was truly a trip for the boys and I think we finally managed to exhaust them! If only we could do this every weekend...we might actually get some peace and quiet around here!!!

Field Day!

Click for a few more!

On Friday morning the boys got to participate in the school's annual field day! This year's theme was pirates (Luke was in heaven!!!) and my boys were downright giddy for this morning of fun. Field day is put on by the PE coaches, all "other" teachers and a whole lot of volunteers! The kids rotate as a class through 12 stations, some soaking them and others just plain silly. They earned pirate coins at each station for a job well done which they got to redeem at the end for treasure! It is the one day the kids in school look forward to as they are allowed to let loose and just be kids!!! Luke really got into...donning his Jake gear and even posing with a "real" pirate!!! (Note...my boys did not want one of the school shirts as they thought they were ugly, therefore they wore their own ideas of get wet pirate clothes!)

Mother's Day Weekend!

Click for LOTS of FUN!!!

What a SUPER FUN weekend we had!!! We pulled the boys out of school early on Thursday in order to head to my parents for our weekend at Jellystone...that's right...the home of Yogi Bear for Family Camp!!! But first there was a pitstop at my parents house for three reasons...to pick them up as they were heading to Jellystone with us, to leave Ally & Wilbur with Uncle DJ and to not only meet but actually PLAY BASKETBALL with "our friend Aaron Gray", the 7 foot tall NBA player for the New Orleans Hornets that lives right next door to my parents:) My boys are in love with idea of being friends with an NBA player as they eat, sleep and breathe anything sports and have literally been telling everyone they know they are friends with a real NBA player! Aaron couldn't have been nicer to the boys playing basketball on the driveway for an hour and a half with them and even telling them to knock on his door whenever they are around for "playdates".

Friday morning we woke up and headed to Jellystone, a beyond fun family campground in NW Houston (there are chains all over the US) where you have the option of tent camping, RV camping or cabin camping. We chose cabin and all moved into a one bedroom, one bath cabin with a giant loft and a screened-in porch right on the lake.It was heaven for my boys and livable for me and my Mom:) We spent the weekend completely exhausting ourselves as there was soooo much to do!!! We played mini-golf, really enjoyed the fabulous waterpark, went on a hayride with Yogi, went to an ice cream social, met at the flagpole for the morning pledge with Cindy, danced with Yogi, Boo-Boo and Cindy, fished and caught not only fish but a turtle too, played on the giant inflatable dragon, sang karaoke with Daddy (Old McDonald had a Farm!!!), went off-roading in the golf cart Papa rented, made Mother's Day cards in the arts & crafts cabin, served cookies and juice to Mommy and even had campfires complete with S'mores:) Mommy & Gaga bunked in the bedroom away from all of the smelly boys and they all (even Daddy & Papa) happily climbed up into the loft for a giant slumber party both nights!!! We take our boys on a lot of weekend trips...this was truly one of the best ones we have ever had and can't wait to go back again!!!

What a weekend!!!

Click for LOTS of weekend pics!

So this can go down as a weekend to remember:) Let's see...

1. Friday morning I had to do the awful job of dying Easter eggs with the kids! I hated this task as a kid and it is even more horrible as a Mom. Cleaning the blue dye off of my walls and floor made it even more fun!
2. Friday night, DJ got engaged!!!! Christy is our new sister-to-be and we are thrilled to have her joining our family!!! DJ created a beautiful ring for her and we are all looking forward to the BIG day!
3. Craig finally got home from being gone for yet another week and was sick...chest, ears, throat, sinuses...the full works!
4. Were were heading out the door to spend the day at Six Flags with the kids when two HUGE things happened...I lost our season passes and while searching for them, Brian walked in my room to check on me and saw all of my filled and ready to go Easter baskets! Needless to say I was horrified!!! With some quick thinking on our toes, Craig and I actually managed to come up with a believable lie that what he saw was a surprise gifts for each of them from Mommmy and Daddy. Thankfully my children are book geniuses but common sense retarded cause he bought it!!!
5. We got to wake up my Mom to have her relocate our passes confirmation in her email so we could actually get into the park.
6. I got to delay leaving even longer by heading to WalMart to make second Easter baskets for all three of my kids in order to keep Brian believing in the lies we just fed him!!!
7. We finally made it to Six Flags where both of our boys shocked the bejeezus out of us!!!! They reached the next magic height of 48 inches over the last few months meaning their ride choices open up a little more!!! Brian voluntarily hopped on the the Rattler, the biggest wooden coaster in the park with speeds of over 65+ mph!!! He loved it and we were really proud of him:) Matt was a little too intimidated which was fine and made a promise to try it by Christmas:) Next thing we know...he asks if he can go on the Boomerang...a two loop, two corkscrew coaster that does the whole thing forwards and then again backwards! I literally was speechless...Matt loves rides but has always needed a little prompting first:) The kid who turned down the wooden one earlier in the day because it was scary wanted to go on this insane ride instead:) (Where his logic is I am not really sure!) Matt ended up loving the coaster and Craig and I are so proud of both of our daredevils! (Poor Luke...the kid wanted on the rides soooo bad and was furious about it all day!
8. Luke was BIG enough for the family tubing ride and squealed with delight as he and daddy went straight unnder the waterfall!!!
9. After three water rides in an hour, ending with the boys standing on the bridge to allow the boats coming down the hill to soak them, Brian apparently swallowed so much "ever so sanitary" river water that he literally pooped his pants in line for the next ride. And to top that off...he had zero shame and proudly told his brothers and those around us that he pooped his pants:) Go figure...I only had a change of underwear for Luke (who really thinks my 7 year old would be the needer??) so much to Brian's delight...he spent the rest of the day "freeballing" it!!! (which my kids get quite the kick out of!!!)
10. We made it home by 11 and I spent the next three hours hiding eggs, recreating Easter baskets and making new tags, letters, etc. After a "great" night sleep with Luke being attracted to me like a magnet all night, I had the pleasure of climbing out of bed at 7 to start my day:) and managed to drop my ceramic, heavy as no other, pepper jar on my toe, breaking it and slashing my toe while preparing my turkey!
11. The dang bunny made a giant mess of grass and mulch all over my house...it was even on my couch ;)
12. My kids had an absolute blast opening not one, but two baskets and hunting for 102 eggs!!! It made it all worthwhile:)
13. We spent the afternoon enjoying the waterslide, lots of yummy food, dessert and the company of good friends!

We STILL Believe!!!

You know the drill...click for a few more:)

I am so grateful that all three of my guys are still firm believers of Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny:) It's one of those getting older things that I am so NOT ready for...it will actually mean they really are growing up! I know the day is getting closer and closer as Brian is now 7, but I just love that I can hold onto that piece of innocence a little longer:)

Craig headed to Tucson (again) this morning for another week of work :( It was one of those days where we had no agenda, no one to answer to and nowhere we had to be so the boys and I decided to have an eventful day...first we went and saw the Bunny (where all three of them requested a one-on-one photo...I LOVE it!!!), followed up with a trip to a mall downtown where they just opened a Lego store and ended with dinner at our favorite "true" Austin hangout...Freddie's Place! The best part was...all three of them behaved all day!!! These are the best kind of days and unfortunately happen far too infrequently in our psychotically crazy, busy life!

I think we're seeing a pattern:)

Since Craig and I started dating WAY back in 1995, I have had a cast on an ankle 5 different times! (There was another one prior to this...but I was in middle school!!) We were lying in bed the other night recapping how we've made full circle...we started with me in a cast and 16 years later...I'm sitting here in a cast:) Let's recap...I fractured my right ankle cheerleading after our 1'st date and went on our 2'nd date and the next two and a half months of dates with a hot pink and then bright purple cast:) In college I managed to break my left ankle and shin so bad that I had to have reconstructive surgery, leave college for six weeks and wear a cast for almost four months! While pregnant with Luke (April, 07) I fell on my parents step and fractured my right ankle. While playing outside with the boys (April, 09) I managed to trip on a one inch curb and fracture my right ankle. The latest happened walking into Brian's football game last weekend (April, 11)...I managed to not notice the six inch hole in the uneven ground and fell into it, fracturing my right ankle! All I have to say is based on my recent history of right ankle fractures in odd year April's...I will be avoiding walking in April 2013!!!!!

Here's a photo collection of my ankle fractures:)

Brian's Birthday & Party:)

Click for LOTS of Birthday and party pics!!!

My biggest "little man" is 7....I absolutely hate the fact that my boys are growing up!!! Brian had such a fun Birthday and party! We woke up and opened presents before school...with Brian's favorite gift being a "Roku" box! (You know your Dad is a geek when you ask for a techie gadget for your 7th Birthday!!!) Brian requested Sonic chili cheese fries and a cherry limeade for his lunch so Luke and I picked it up and met him in the cafeteria for lunchtime. We then returned back to his class for his Birthday celebration...complete with doughnuts and Gaga!!! She came up a few days before the party to help me out (since I managed to break my ankle again!!!) and surprised Brian! He was so shocked when she walked into his class carrying his doughnuts!!! The Birthday evening consisted of Matt's baseball game and Brian's football practice so we split up and all met at our favorite Mexican restaurant to finish off our celebrations where Brian ate himself sick with the unlimited ice cream machine:)

Brian's party was a repeat of Matt's this past Friday night! Lucky for me I had helpers since I am gimping it in my ever so fashionable boot:) Papa, Uncle DJ & Aunt Christy arrived late Thursday night and Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris & Emma arrived Friday. He had 22 kids show up for hot dogs, s'mores, cupcake kabobs and the GIANT movie...Yogi Bear:) I have to say...first graders are much crazier than Kindergartners. The kids all seemed to have a blast though and Brian claims he had the best party ever!!!

A BIG thanks to Gaga, Papa, Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris, Aunt Christy, Uncle DJ, Candice and Marty for all of your help and photo skills:) I really appreciated it!!!

Spring Break & Birthday Blowout!

Don't forget to Click! For Spring Break the boys headed out after Matt's party with Gaga & Papa for two days in Galveston, followed by two days in Dallas (to pick up Aunt Key & Molly!!!) and then met up with everyone at Gaga & Papa's house later in the week to celebrate Matt and my Birthday's on Friday, followed by a family party for all March/April Birthday's (there's 7 of us...Craig, Christy, Katie, Matt, Kelly, Brian & Kerry!!!) on Saturday:) The boys had a ball on their trip (minus Luke's battle with rotovirus along the way) and were full of stories when we saw them on Thursday night!!!

Friday morning Matt woke up beyond thrilled to finally be six like Brian (yes it is that time of year where we have two kids the same age for a few weeks!) and was spoiled by all of his family! Matt and I headed out for our annual Birthday lunch (just me and him!), leaving everyone at home:) Matt's Candyland cake was a HUGE hit so the 2.5 hour drive with it in my lap was worth every minute!!! I love celebrating my Birthday with my little man and wonder how long he will think it's cool to share a Birthday with Mom?!?!?!?

Saturday was spent with swimming, fishing, family tournaments of "Just Dance 2" (even Papa & Emma got into the dance mode!!!) and lots of presents for the seven Birthday people:) Molly had her first swim and the picture of her face says it all:) It was so nice to get to spend three full days snuggling with my two precious nieces and let my family entertain my 3 clowns:) We are all back home after an fun but exhausting weekend of little sleep and Luke has so kindly decided to share his hideous disease with poor Matt!!! Thankfully we are on the homestretch to Summer vacation!!!!

Getting tooooo BIG!!!

Miss Molly is getting too big, too fast! Luckily Aunt Key is great at capturing every detail of her life since they live so far away!!! (We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that they maybe they can move home soon!!!) Here are a few of my latest favorites:)

Click for a couple pics!!!

Matt's Party

Click for more;)

This year we agreed to let the boys "go BIG" for their Birthdays! Matt invited about 27 kids to his party (luckily only 19 showed up!!!) for his super fun, campout themed birthday party. We rented a GIANT inflatable movie screen, roasted hot dogs and s'mores, made popcorn in our movie popper and had cupcake kabobs in lieu of cake! The GIANT ball you literally get inside of and roll around from Aunt Gretchen and Uncle Mark was a HUGE hit at the party, as well as with my boys! (BIG thanks to you both for that!!!) The kids all ran around and played until it got dark and then we settled in on blankets to watch the movie:) Matt loved his party and all the kids really seemed to have fun! Look for round two of the exact same party in a few weeks for Brian's BIG day!!! Another BIG thanks to Gaga & Papa, Aunt Kel & Uncle Chris & Uncle Johnny & Aunt Christy for coming to help keep things under control:)

Matt's Surprise!!!

Click for a few more pics;)

We are so fortunate to be blessed with such amazing friends...the Licht Family! They will be out of town this week for Spring Break, causing them to miss Matt's party tonight :( Last night at the Daddy's softball game (a whole bunch of our friends Daddy's all play together on Friday nights) , they surprised Matt with a mini-surprise party. Matt was so excited to have cupcakes at the ball field, as well as a few awesome gifts...Mario Yahtzee, a giant bag of Reese's and 16 mini-Dr. Pepper's (do they know my Matt well or what?!?!?!) "Thank you Ms. Candice, Mr. Marty, Madi & Drew...you are my best friends! Love, Moose"

It's FINALLY Luke's turn!!!!

Enjoy all the pics by clicking this one:)

After attending Texas day at the preschool every year since he was born...today was finally Luke's turn to be a cowboy!!! He was SOOOOO excited to dress up in his outfit, complete with boots and hat:) We rode a pony named Cinnamon, sang cowboy songs...complete with dancing!!!, made a Texas craft and ended our day with a hot dog picnic:) I am so fortunate to be at home allowing me to spend days with my little man just having fun!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I think there is no question these are Craig's kids!!! Could they all look more alike???? The man of my world turned 33 today (and as of September I will have been with him for HALF OF MY LIFE!!!)! I can take pleasure in knowing that for the next 11 days he is two years older than me:) We celebrated low key...Matt had a baseball game (and Craig is one of the coaches) and dinner at Chili's. It's pretty lame to get old..right?!?!?! Happy Birthday to the best husband a girl could ever ask for and the best Daddy kids could ever have!!!

Bring it March!!!

So February can just be done...why you might ask?

-Craig managed to walk out the front door to take the kids to school, not realizing our porch was covered in ice and managed to crack open his head...resulting in six staples!

-Luke went to hang out with my parents for a few days and managed to accidentally break my Mom's nose...resulting in a very painful two weeks waiting for surgery and an even more painful recovery from that surgery!

-Craig went out of town for a week, leaving me home with the three boys (need I say more?!?!)

-We are currently trying to figure out how to juggle our weekday schedule between the following...basketball practice (Brian & Matt), soccer practice (Luke), baseball practice (Matt), football practice (Brian), CCD (Brian & Matt), Chess club (Brian & Matt) and the endless errands that seem to keep coming up! (Thank goodness basketball ends next week!!!)

-Matt has been soooo excited about his big birthday party (I let him invite the whole class). It is from 5-8 on March 12. Matt got an invitation for a party for a girl in his class (she also invited the whole class), her party is March 12 from 1-5...REALLY?!?!?! (and Matt's invitations are out, so no changing things!!!)

-We went to the Walmart Vision Center 7, yes 7 times this month!

I think I need a vacation from my life:)

Snow Two Years in a Row!!!

Up until last year, it had been over 10 years since Austin had inches of snow actually stick to the ground. Last year we had a fun time with a whopping six inches and this morning we had yet another surprise... we woke up to 2-3 inches covering our yard:) The boys are beginning to like the yearly tradition of one day of snow!!! School was cancelled and all the boys (Craig included) were outside by 7am playing in the snow!!! Turns out Tex LOVES the snow as well...he was running around the yard and rolling in it while Wilbur and Ally watched from inside:) By 8:30, we were cold, wet and tired so inside for hot chocolate we came. Aunt Key called us with a good idea a little later...make snow ice cream! I hadn't done it since student teaching in Flagstaff and the boys were thrilled with the idea! We headed out to collect a gallon of clean snow, mixed it up with some milk, vanilla and sugar...threw in some crushed up oreo cookies and there you have it...cookies and cream snowcream! What a FUN way to start our weekend!!!

Emma's Party

Click for some party pics:)

Our sweet Emma turns 1 today...holy cow...where did the time go?!?!?! Her party was this past weekend in Houston and we had plans to pull the boys out of school early on Friday to head down and spend time with Aunt Key & Molly who flew in from Vegas:) Well like usual...plans changed! Poor Matt came home sick from school on Thursday and on Friday morning...swabbed positive for the flu:( We were soooo bummed and not wanting to contaminate any poor babies so we decided to leave Matt and Daddy home while I took Brian and Luke to the party for the weekend. (I got the all clear from both sisters that the babies had been exposed to far nastier things than my kids in the past few days first!!)

Emma's party was so fun...I got my girlie fix with the pink and purple princess theme and spent time snuggling with both of my sweet nieces! Matt was bummed to miss the fun but sure enjoyed the "party in a box" I bought home for him...complete with the food, cake, decorations, party bag and more:) Thankfully Matt was the only one to get the flu and we have since moved on to runny noses and coughs...oh the joys of Winter!

Wilbur the Tetherball Playing Dog!!!

We are still dumbfounded as to why anyone would've gotten rid of this dog as he is pretty close to perfect! He is far better behaved than Tex (though in Tex's defense he is only 10 months old and Wilbur is around 3!!!) He is fully trained, fetches and retrieves as ball right back to your feet, walks well on a leash, rides great in the car, lets the kids jump and climb all over him, can swim, has learned how to "hug" on command, and pretty much does not much throughout the day except for eat and sleep:) Today the boys discovered a hidden talent...he plays tetherball! Yes, I said tetherball! Brian and Matt were out back playing when Wilbur joined right in, using his snout to volley the ball back and forth with the boys much to the delight of the boys! Notice in the video how much weight he's put on...he's not quite so scary skinny anymore:)

Luke's Surgery

Click for a few more pics of the poor guy :(

Poor Lukey...he has no idea what it feels like to be healthy so we decided to fix the problem. The Tuesday after Christmas, we left the boys with my parents and took Luke to the Children's Hospital in Austin for the insertion of a second round of ear tubes, as well as the removal of his tonsils and adenoids. He has had 12 rounds of antibiotics since May and I don't think I've ever seen him without a runny nose or picking his ears.

The Children's Hospital turned out to be a wonderful experience. Luke arrived and got to pick out a bike from the "garage". While I was busy answering questions with the nurses, Luke was busy driving all around the Pre-Op center with Daddy:) Our ENT (who has become more of a family friend seeing as how we've had six surgeries with him the the past three years) came to get Luke and they went off together, driving to the stop sign, turning right at the green light and eventually heading to the O.R. together. Poor guy...he happily drove off without a clue of what was to come!

Luke went through surgery with flying colors and was admitted to the floor for the night. Texas policy is they stay overnight if they are under five, and don't leave until they are "willing" to take pain meds. on their own. He was extremely upset and miserable when we got upstairs, especially seeing the IV in his hand, but became much happier once he was settled with Mickey on the DVD player and his own "people" pillow:) Later that day we took a walk to the playroom which was the highlight of the whole stay! Luckily for us, Luke was taking his medicine without too much of a battle so the next morning we were discharged by 9am!!!

It's been a little over a week and Luke is doing awesome! We kept him pretty drugged for the first five days which helped him to recover and he is almost back to himself (minus the runny nose and chronic ear pain...HOORAY!!!!). Each day he is taking less and less medicine and getting more and more active:) He was an amazing patient, especially for being 3 and not really understanding why he felt so horrible, and we are just looking forward to a new year with a finally healthy little man!!!