Big Tex!!!

So I didn't wake up this morning and think "Hmm...I should get a puppy today", but somehow that is exactly what I did!! Craig was at work, Brian was at school so Matt and I decided to amuse ourselves looking at puppies online. Craig and I knew the day we had to put Mia down that another dog was in our future...particularly a puppy since the boys have been bugging us before Mia even got sick for a puppy. I don't think either of us expected it to be so soon but when you find the right one you seize the moment;) "Tex" is a 10 week old, 18.7 lb. ginormous puppy!!! He is a mix of Great Pyrenees and we think either Newfoundland or Bernese Mountain Dog (all of which are giant dogs!!) He looks like a black and white Saint Bernard and is freakishly calm which was a HUGE selling point! We are expecting him to be well over 100 lbs. fully grown which should be a good match for our three active guys! His freckles on his nose sold me and we are all (even Craig!) in love with our new guy!!!

Matt Graduated Preschool!!!

Click on Matt to see more pics...FYI....Brian took 1/2 on his own!!!

It's official...Matt is no longer a preschooler!!! While this may make Mommy very, very sad, Matt is super excited to get to go to Brian's school, and have PE, and buy lunch at the "restaurant"! His preschool had a graduation where the kids sang, got certificates and had a little party afterwards. Gaga, Papa, Mommy, Daddy, Luke and Brian (we busted him out of school for the big event) all came to watch our little Moose sing so proudly. Hard to believe that in a few short months I will have two at school full time and Luke at preschool twice/week :(

Mia...

After an eight year run in the Rose family, Mia went to Heaven today. Who would think that you could be so attached to "the worst dog in the world"? I swear I should be the millionaire, not Marley's family:) Mia was like an ATM machine in reverse, she always had a problem but they were usually self-inflicted which made it that much more frustrating!!! Before we found out how sick she was, we were extremely frustrated one day with her peeing herself in her sleep and jokingly made a want ad for Mia. It went something like this:

Free to good home (or really any home that will be willing to take her), GIANT yellow lab, weighing in close to 100 lbs that was kicked out of obedience school not once, but twice. Has absolutely no common sense and will charge towards you knocking over anything in her path (including small children). Loves any and all candy or treats and will help herself to your pantry, cook top, counter or whatever else she may see. Loves to swim and will find any source of water to hop into (even the lake behind your house on the golf course with golfers playing on it and will not get out no matter how many times you call her, no matter how loud you scream!!). Absolutely LOVES car rides (but cannot go in truck beds as she has jumped out of a moving one resulting in ripping off all four pads of her feet). Loves glow sticks (not to look at, but to eat...this also causes massive vet bills!) Excellent watchdog...great at barking (if you have neighbors you don't like, Mia will bark at them until they decide to just move away!!!) Has excellent hearing, but also has chronic ear infections...again resulting in massive vet bills! Has some peeing issues...tends to flood herself in her sleep but helps you clean your floors daily:) Overall great dog!

It makes our hearts happy to know that we made the right decision and Mia didn't really suffer. She was diagnosed with rapid onset of diabetes on Monday resulting in loss of bladder control and failing kidneys, she went completely blind on Wednesday and peacefully went to sleep for the final time with Craig and I sitting there with her at the vet's office on Thursday morning. We know we will never be able to replace our "horrible dog" that we all loved with all of our hearts but will always have the memories of all of the bad things she did to keep us laughing forever.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

It was a long weekend in our household. Saturday consisted of the boys football game, the boys football party, Mommy's pedicure and a night at the Round Rock Express Baseball game! Super busy, super fun, super long day!!!

Mother's Day was great:) The boys woke me up with breakfast in bed which consisted of grilled cheese and tomato soup all around! I was showered with homemade presents, as well as a dozen roses and a card with the boys wishing me Happy Mommy Day so I can forever hear their precious little voices! This was followed up by fixing the trampoline net (my geniuses thought putting a hole in it to exit was a much smarter idea than getting out the exit!!!), some yard work and haircuts for the boys...all such glamorous things!!! I got a really cool shirt after I showered to wear on errands and out to dinner and the boys were so proud to have me wearing it:) After a peaceful dinner at Olive Garden (Luke fell asleep in my lap), we headed home with full tummies and smiles all around!

I hope everyone had as nice of a Happy Mommy day as I did!!!!

Moose's BIG news...

Matt had officially crossed the line from preschooler land into BIG BOY land by learning to ride a two wheeler!!! It has been a LONG process with a VERY argumentative, strong-willed child but this past weekend he did it! Craig and I have seen him do it on a few occasions but after one fall off the bike, Matt was convinced he couldn't do it. After three and a half long, hot hours in the cul-de-sac with some yelling, some sassing, some crying, some eye rolling and lots of reassurance, Matt proudly joined the two wheeler club! We are super excited to begin taking family bike rides now that Matt will actually get on his bike. (Luke proudly has a seat on the back of Mommy's bike and calls it "Wookey's bike"...Brian finds it hilarious that Luke has a pink and white bike!!!)

Click the picture for more fun pics!!

The End of Birthday Season...

Click on the picture to see LOTS more!!!

April 6 marked the end of an insane four weeks in the Rose household...Birthday Season!!! After patiently celebrating Daddy, Mommy and Matt's days multiple times, Brian got his turn:) He celebrated with a bang, having FOUR celebrations!!! His first celebration was on Easter and we had a family party with Gaga, Papa, Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris, Emma, Uncle DJ and his girlfriend Ashley. Brian was spoiled rotten and had such a fun day!

Party # 2 came on the big day at school. Brian's birthday fell on a state testing day so rather than have lunch with him at the school, I checked him out for a Mommy/Brian date and we headed to Chili's. One hour of one on one time with Brian made my day and has me anxiously looking forward to our next date:) We went back to school where he got to celebrate with his class and pass out his treats...Round Rock Doughnuts!!! He got home and spent some quality time with Daddy building his new bike that he picked out himself!!!

Party #3 was later that evening when Gaga and Papa arrived with Luke (yes...we left him there on Easter and he happily shouted "bye guys" to us!!!). We opened presents and headed out for a yummy Chinese food dinner.

The final party was party #4 celebrated on Saturday. Brian invited Madi & Drew (close family friends), as well as his best buddy Perry (from his class) and we all headed to Austin's Park (a huge family fun center). We spent six hours outside playing mini golf, riding go-karts, bumper boats, a train, climbing a rock-wall and a few other things:) Poor Luke and Drew were a little too short for all of the big kids rides but they had a great day together playing on the swings, riding the train endless times, and jumping in the jumping castle! The absolute best part of the day was for all of us parents at the very end. The four bigger kids went on the go-karts they drive themselves for another round and watching them had us in hysterics...there were crashes, no hands driving, waving so hard they crashed again:) It was a super fun day for all and everyone went home with full tummies, some sunburns and VERY tired kiddos!!!

The past four weeks have been a whirlwind of celebrating and none of us want to see cake again for a very long time!!!!

Are You Ready For Some Football?!?!?!

Click on the picture to see LOTS more Football Fun!!!

We live in Texas so "obviously" it was time for the boys (at the ripe ages of 5 & 6) to begin the BIGGEST sport in the state...football!!! This was completely their choice as they didn't want to play t-ball this Spring so I found them a Youth NFL Flag Football League (believe it or not, there is actually tackle for four year olds in this insane state!!!). They play five on five flag football and LOVE it!!! They are both on the Patriots and I am actually amazed at how quickly they are understanding the game:) I made their day when Uncle DJ provided me with one of his authentic jerseys (which we quickly "ghetto" altered) so I can now cheer for my guys in style!!!

Easter!!!

Click the picture to see LOTS more!!!

What a wonderful Easter weekend! We went to my parents for the weekend and the kids had a blast!!! They played basketball until 11pm on Friday night, woke up and went straight in the pool, followed by some egg dyeing fun! After another round in the pool, we headed to Aunt Kel's 30th surprise birthday party:) She was shocked and I thoroughly enjoyed myself holding Emma the whole night. Easter morning was spent reading the note from the bunny, hunting for the candy filled eggs and then the great basket (or should I say gift bag) search!!! The boys had a wonderful morning which was topped off by Uncle DJ's birthday gift to Brian...a giant inflatable waterslide to use in the pool, along with a DS from Gaga and Papa, a DS game from Aunt Kel and Uncle Chris and and monster maker from Aunt Key and Uncle Germs:) After some more pool time and basketball, we had a fabulous dinner of lobster tails and ham, plus all of the sides!!! We got home late Sunday night with a full car, full tummies and tons of great pics!!!

Birthday Season!!!!

We are working our was through Birthday season in our house...three down, one to go:) Poor Luke...he's going to start wondering why everyone he knows (including Aunt Kel and Aunt Key) get a birthday and he doesn't!

Craig was on March 7 and we had lots of fun celebrating for two weekends in a row. We went to dinner the weekend before with my parents and my Aunt Patty to Olive Garden and had good fun, great presents and a fantastic cake that turned our mouths really fun colors (as well as Luke's diapers for the next two days)!!! On his actual birthday weekend, we had dinner at the best BBQ restaurant in Texas(made famous on Food Network AND Travel Channel...The Salt Lick) on Saturday night with Kelly, Chris and Emma. Some of the people in our group made good use of the All you Can Eat BBQ:) Finally, on his actual birthday we had breakfast at Denny's (highly recommend on your birthday...FREE Grand Slam breakfast, FREE dessert AND they sing to you!!!) followed by dinner at Benihana with Craig's dad (and the boys LOVED it!!!).

Note...following Craig's multiple celebrations...we are in desperate need of some dieting!!!

Today was the dual celebration of me and my Moose:) We woke up nice and early (thanks Luke at 5:15) and Matt was super surprised to see the "biggest cupcake in the whole world" made just for him and served as his breakfast! The rest of us got to enjoy normal sized ones so we all had a yummy breakfast:) Breakfast was followed by presents and Matt got everything he dreamed of and then some! He was spoiled rotten by everyone he knows and is a very lucky boy! I also made out quite nicely...thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts:) We went to lunch at Chuck E. Cheese with our close friends, The Licht Family, as well as Matt's good friend Trent from Preschool:) Two hours, four pizzas, way too many tokens, more cake (a giant Oreo at Matt's request), more presents and lots of fun later we had successfully celebrated Matt's big day:) We finished off our night at Olive Garden as a family and the kids were actually pretty well behaved which was one of the best gifts I got!

We now officially have 2 five year olds in our house for the next three weeks which is very exciting in the minds of those that are five and are almost done with this crazy Birthday season!!!

Texas Day...Part 2!!!

Today we had Brian's Texas Day at Kindergarten:) He was as cute of a cowboy as his brothers were and had SOOOOO much fun on his big day. They had a parade, danced in the gym, had a barrel racing contest, made a trail mix, went for wagon rides (the fifth graders pulled them all over the school) and even tried out roping a calf! One of my favorite pictures is the very last one...only in Texas:)

Click the picture to see more pics:)

Texas Day!

It's Matt's week for parent helpers at preschool since his birthday week is over Spring Break. Daddy went with him on Tuesday and they had so much fun having Matt's "SuperMoose (not Superman!!!) party" at snack time and spending the day together:) Today was Texas day which is a HUGE celebration at preschool...Matt had Uncle DJ there for this one:) Matt, Luke and Uncle DJ all dressed up like cowboys for a day of fun, pony rides, Texas crafts, digging for gold, a hot dog BBQ and even a popsicle party at the end:) Matt was also Star of the Week and shared his favorite things with his class, as well as read them a story all by himself!!! I had the opportunity to get SOOOO many cute pictures as the weather was beautiful...the only problem today was that Brian was at real school and had to miss all of the fun:( The good news is he gets his own Texas day tomorrow:)

Click on the picture to open in a new window and see more pics :)

Our new cousin...Emma:)

Aunt Kel and Uncle Chris had Emma on Feb. 2 and the boys have been able to spend a few days with her. We went to Houston and saw her the day she got home from the hospital (since the boys weren't allowed at the hospital...flu season rules!!!) and spent two days with her. Last weekend Aunt Kel & Uncle Chris brought her to Austin to spend the weekend watching the boys basketball game and celebrating Craig's birthday. I had my own fun when I painted her toenails for the first time:) Kelly was nice enough to let me have my fun since I live in testosterone land:) Lukey is in love with Emma, very concerned when she cries and is very much liking having a person closer to his own size around;)

Click on the picture to open in a new window and see more pics :)

Real Snow in Austin!!!

If you are a kid like mine from Arizona or central Texas, snow is not something you see very often. Snow like we are seeing today is like a once in a lifetime event here in Texas...at noon we have 3 inches on the ground:) So what does a good Mom do...bust the kids out of school for a fun filled snow day!!!! I knew snow was in the forecast so I kept Matt home from preschool. It was my Tuesday to volunteer in Brian's class so I sent him to school knowing I would be there at nine and set him free when I was done! His teacher and i took his class outside to play in it and even had the class throw snowballs at the teacher:) By 10:30 we were home, changed into waterproof playclothes and headed outside for some fun! We threw snowballs, made a "Texas Snowman", made snow angels and even had a snowball fight with some of the neighbors! Luke was quick to drop and watched from the windows, (being a native Texan...he doesn't do cold well!!!) and once the rest of us were cold to the bone...we headed inside for some hot chocolate and to get dressed to meet Daddy for a Dr. appt.. you can bet once we get back there will be lots more fun to be had!!!!

Click the picture to see all of the fun that we had!!!

Where have we been?!?!?

Since my last lengthy post where have we been....sick! Craig had it last week, I got it this week and Brian completely fell apart! Poor guy, he was fine over the weekend and Sunday afternoon out of nowhere came a fever topping 106 degrees for four days and all of the fun associated with a fever that high!!! After ruling out a few possible causes, the best guess is he had viral meningitis, which has no treatment other than rest and stay hydrated which is exactly what he has been doing! Luckily Gaga came to my rescue and was here to help out since I was taken out as well :) We are all on the mend and Brian is FINALLY fever free today!!!! He is so excited to return to school tomorrow (I have a feeling this will change in a few years and he'll be milking his disease as long as he can) and I plan on spending the day with the windows open (I don't care how cold it is) and the Lysol free flowing!!!

On an exciting note...Luke is on his way to making my household FINALLY diaper free after 6 straight years of Huggies!!!! He "tries" all day long on the potty (he has caught on that sitting and trying gets rewarded with an M&M) and successfully goes about once a day:) He will NOT wear a diaper anymore without his Elmo undies over the top making him feel like a big boy! While we are not there yet...I finally see a light at the end of the $40/box diapers tunnel:)

A Lengthy Update

Click on the Individual Pics to see LOTS more!!!

So apparently someone has an issue (Kerry) with the fact that I have three small children, am back in school getting my Master's, spend two to three days each week at either preschool or kindergarten, have boys in sports two days/week, have a husband that has been at work by 5:30am and not returning until 8:30pm twice/week and have a house and family to upkeep and simply have not had the time to update my blog in the last 20 days!!! I do apologize so this will be a lengthy post since we have been SOOOOO stinkin busy for the last 20 days!!! (On a side note...right click the different pictures and click on "Open Link In New Tab" so you can easily return to my site to get to the next set of pics!!!)

We had a super fun time going bowling with the kids a few weeks ago:) Brian and Matt filled their charts for good behavior (FINALLY) and since it was raining we decided bowling was a good activity. All of them, including Luke, bowled an entire game and LOVED it! They had so much fun and all had a really great time watching Mommy try to bowl left-handed due to my shoulder. My total score bowling lefty was 38 so I gave them plenty to laugh about!!!

Brian's school had a fundraiser at the Roller Rink and we met Craig after work for some good old fashioned fun! Luke blew us away with his skills and put his brothers to shame!!! It was a total repeat of Ice Skating but he was even better:) We may have found Luke's calling!!!! He was by far the youngest and smallest one out on the rink...to see a two year old (the size of an 18 month old) on rollerblades going around completely on his own was awesome!!!

Basketball has been the reason our Saturday's no longer exist! Brian and Matt play on the same team named The Bulls this year and LOVE it!!! They are doing really well and having sooooo much fun! Daddy is their coach so I get to spend my time trying to keep Luke entertained on the bleachers:) They can both now regularly make baskets and their favorite thing to do is grab the rebounds! The pictures are from two different games...

Another activity the boys LOVE to do is go to the Lowe's workshops on Saturday mornings. These are totally FREE for the kids and they get to build something with real tools. The kids get aprons, goggles and a patch of completion every time they attend. This was Luke's first time getting to go. He really enjoyed playing with the hammer and tried his best to hit everything except for the wooden box he was making!!!

We're nearing the end...bear with me!!! The final and BIGGEST thing we have done in the last 20 days is have dinner with and watch The Globetrotters!!! Aunt Kel and Uncle Chris got us our tickets as a Christmas gift so we sent Luke to hang out with Gaga and Papa and Craig and I took the big boys off for an amazing evening!! We got to the UT basketball stadium at 5:00 and had dinner right off of the court. The menu was totally catered to kids...chicken tenders, pizza and tater tots:) During dinner the Globetrotters came in and talked to everyone. They signed autographs for everyone and then took pictures with everyone! It was so amazing to be one of the 100 people that were able to get to go to this once in a lifetime event and we had so much fun!!!! After dinner, we headed off to the game. We had great seats in the lower level and laughed the entire time! After the game, we headed down to the court to get the autographs of the players that didn't come into the dinner as well as Globie, the team mascot! Thanks Aunt Kel and Uncle Chris for an amazing night...we'd like a repeat next year!!!

So as you can see, I haven't been sitting around watching TV for the past three weeks!!! Hopefully this satisfies those of you who feel the need to complain:)

Brian's Awesome Day...

Part 1- So I'm writing this a little early, but will finish it up tomorrow:) Brian is going to have such a FUN Monday!!! It will start out with all of us in his class at 8am. He is Star of the Week this week and we all get to go to class with him in the morning to watch his movie that we made and watch him present his poster about himself:) He and I made the movie together...Brian chose the music and photos himself;) He also came up with all of the facts on his poster himself and then copied them onto a piece of poster board. He is SOOOO excited for Star of the Week as he gets to be the line leader all week as well as Mrs. Gunn's special helper. The next part of his super FUN Monday will be at 1:45 when my little smarty pants will receive an award the the second quarter awards assembly. He has no idea that he is getting one and will be SOOOO excited:) I'm not sure what award he is getting yet but I will update with pics and details later!!!

Part 2- We are so proud of our little man...he got the Tiger Pride Award:) One boy and one girl get it each quarter for good citizenship (overall great kid-nice friend, caring, kind, helpful, etc.). He is really excited as most of the other awards everyone will eventually get but this one is an extra special one!!! His star of the week presentation went really well:) He was so proud of his movie that he shared with the class and read all of his facts off of his poster to everyone:)

Such a fun break!!!

Well our two and a half weeks of lazy family time are coming to end and we have had SO much fun doing absolutely nothing!!! We stayed in our jammies for most of the days playing Wii and with the rest of our new toys. Uncle DJ came up for New Years to give the boys a lesson with their Heelys using his old ones (even Craig tried them out!!!), played outside a few times with our new trampoline basketball hoop and tether ball set, had a pizza party/movie night/sleepover in Mommy and Daddy's bed (an every few week tradition in our house!!!) and even managed to get showered and dressed to go out to dinner a few times:) I have to say though...my very favorite part of the whole two and a half weeks was having Craig home with us without having to be on the computer:) (okay...IBM did call one day but luckily that was it for the whole break!) I am putting a random assortment of pictures below ( I have had a great time playing with my new camera), most of which we are wearing the same jammies in even though they were taken on different days!!! (I am not joking when I say we didn't get out of our jammies for days...it was great!!!)

The following pictures are in honor of my sisters who I'm sure will get a huge laugh out of them...Craig and I were out front taking down the Christmas lights (for which our house won "best decorated" in our neighborhood...our hard work paid off!!!) and I looked over to see my boys playing Ice Cream Man with their big wheels!!! I have never told them of this "super fun" game that Kelly, Kerry and I used to play but obviously they are running with the same creative genes that we once had!!!! It brought back such fond memories to see my little guys having just as much fun as we once had (although my kids were outside on their own free will and not locked outside as I'm sure a few of us recall having been!!!)

Merry Christmas!!!

Click on the two different pics to see LOTS more!!!

What a wonderful Christmas week we have had! Craig has been off since the 19'th and won't go back until the 4'th so we are having some much deserved family fun time:) We spent Monday through Christmas Eve at my parents with the whole family. Aunt Key and Uncle Jeremy even drove out from Vegas with their dogs so the boys have had more playmates than usual:) Craig and I had so many free babysitters that we even managed to sneak out for a lunch and movie date one afternoon:) We took the boys ice skating one evening and Luke was the hit of the night...he LOVED ice skating!!! I have joked since he was born that he is so tiny he should be a figure skater...he is on his way to proving me right:) Let's just hope he goes the hockey route rather than the figure skating route:) He took about two laps to get the feel for it and then actually went around the rink on his own (holding an ice walker of course...but nonetheless without any adult touching him!!!) We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve as Jeremy had a flight back to Vegas to report to work that evening. We were all way too spoiled and headed back to Austin to get home for Santa with the van piled to the ceiling!!! We woke up Christmas morning to find that Santa had in fact come and left our boys some very exciting presents...the highlights being a basketball hoop for the trampoline, real guitars (for those of you who have seen the "rock video" on this blog you understand how exciting this was) and Heeley's (wheel shoes)! Knowing my family history...I see an ER visit or two in our near future!!! The rest of Christmas day was spent with according to Brian..."a true Christmas miracle" when he lost his second tooth! (Does it get any better...Santa followed by the Tooth Fairy?!?!?), followed by a trip to the movies to see the Chipmunks movie and we topped off our perfect day with the best Christmas dinner ever (according to the boys)...campfire hotdogs in the backyard:) The rest of our time off together will be spent having endless Wii tournaments (Gaga & Papa spoiled us with 14 new games!!!), assembling all of these new toys while finding spots to put them and just enjoying being together with nothing to do!!! We hope all of you are as fortunate and blessed as we are and wish you all a Happy New Year!!!

Breakfast with Santa & Sledding!!!

Click on the two picture to see more photos

What a FUN Saturday we have had!!! We woke up, got the kids dressed and told them we were going out to breakfast...only breakfast was at the fire station WITH Santa!!! They were so surprised and had such a FUN time!!! We got to spend a good five minutes with Santa which is long compared to mall time, ate a yummy pancake and sausage breakfast made by the fireman and even got to watch the firetruck leave on an emergency call!!! What could be a better morning for three little boys?
The day got even more fun when we got home. Our neighborhood has an annual sledding day every year where they bring in snow on a hill by the golf course. There is sledding, a snow hill for snowball fights and even a coffee bar and hot chocolate stand for everyone! The kids LOVED sledding, especially Luke! He wanted to go again and again!!! Since it was not very cold out, the snow only lasted a few hours but we sure had a fun time while it was here:)

Santa!!!

Click to see more pics:)

We went and saw Santa this week much to the boys delight:) Luke obviously needs to learn "Stranger Danger" as he was terrified of Santa at the beginning and sobbing! Santa simply said the magic words "Lukey, do you want some candy?" and the tears INSTANTLY stopped!!! The pictures all show that once he got some candy, Santa was his best friend!!! We headed up to the food court for dinner where Brian managed to lock himself in the family bathroom and security had to be called to get him out...never a dull moment in my life!