"I didn't know I was that GOOD of a boy!"

What an awesome night! We took the boys to the swimteam awards banquet knowing we had awesome kids and left the banquet with the whole team of 300 kids and their families knowing!!! Brian and Matt both proudly received the gold medals and their certificates with their best stroke times for the season listed on them along with all of the 6&under boys. They were beaming from ear to ear so proud of themselves!

Click the picture of Brian to see more!!!

After all of the age groups had been recognized, the biggest award of the night was announced...the Coaches Award. One boy and one girl from the whole team of 300 receive this award and Brian was that boy!!! We sat there as such proud parents listening to the head coach tell everyone that Brian was receiving this award for having the best attitude on the team, for always encouraging others, for having the best effort on the team, for having the best manners on the team, for improving in every stroke by at least 10 seconds, for the willingness to try whatever his coach asked him to do and to do it with a smile, for never saying "I can't", for his compassion to others and for just overall being the kid on the team that everyone should try and be like. To hear someone talk about your child that way is unexplainable...as parents we all know we have the most amazing kid on Earth but to have it told to a group of about 500 people with your precious six year old standing on a stage beaming from ear to ear holding an almost two foot tall trophy brings a sense of pride that we never knew was possible. Brian won this award 100% on his own...it wasn't handed out to the kid whose family donated the most money or the kid whose parents volunteered the most...it was handed out to a little guy that lives his life to please others and is the kindest, most caring six year old I've ever met!!! After he returned to his seat, Brian asked me what all of the things the coach said about him meant and when I told him his reply was "I didn't know I was that GOOD of a boy!"

An awesome first season!!!

Same as usual...click the pic for LOTS more fun!!!

Swimteam is officially over and I couldn't be prouder!!! We finished our last meet tonight and the boys had an AMAZING night:) We have missed the last three meets due to being in Houston, being at the beach and having strep throat so the boys were bound and determined to do well! That is an understatement as to how well they did...Matt knocked a whopping 22 seconds off of his freestyle time!!!! You read that right...22 seconds!!! It was the first time this season he looked like a true swimmer...perfect dive, perfect breathing and no stopping on the lane line:) Brian did equally as well...he was his heat winner in freestyle, knocking 9 seconds off of his time and placing 5th overall!!!

I had no expectations when I signed them up in April other than to become stronger swimmers and to be confident of their abilities in the pool. Three months later they can both do perfect freestyle and backstroke (Matt just finally got backstroke this week after a LONG struggle!!) and both have mastered the basics of breaststroke and butterfly! Matt's biggest accomplishment is that he can dive better than Brian and Brian's biggest accomplishment is that he got heat winner one time in both freestyle and backstroke! I am such a proud Mommy of these two little guys as well as Luke...the best and biggest fan of the boys!!!

Fourth of July on the Beach!

Like always...click the pic to see tons more!!!

Once again living in Texas has advantages...like the beach three short hours away!!! We decided to spend the long weekend on the beach in Corpus Christi and Hurricane Alex made it even better as it scared everyone away (although it did cause a giant seaweed mess but no one really seemed to mind)!!! Corpus Christi has multiple beaches to visit...Corpus Christi beaches, Port Aransas beaches, Mustang Island beaches and North Padre Island Beaches (all within a 20 mile radius of each other). We got down there on Saturday afternoon and spent the early evening beach hopping to see where we wanted to spend our time at the beach:) The kids loved it as every beach we stopped at they got to hop out and "test it out for fun" before we made our decision.

We decided we liked the beaches on North Padre the best (you get to park your car right on the beach next to you eliminating the whole schlepping everything to the beach) so the morning of the Fourth, that's where we headed. Luke has no recall of our week long trip to South Padre last year and had an absolute blast rolling in the sand, playing in the waves and collecting shells. The bigger boys (Daddy included) enjoyed boogie boarding, playing catch and outrunning the waves:) After a six hour day in the sun and sand, we headed to the hotel for showers, dinner and fireworks!!! We literally sat right on the steps of the beach seawall and watched the fireworks shot right off of the back of the U.S.S. Lexington, a retired aircraft carrier in the harbor.

Our last day we gave the kids a choice...go back to the beach or go on the U.S.S. Lexington and explore it. Being active boys, it was no surprise to us that they chose the giant ship! We spent four hours climbing all levels, seeing where all of the important things on the ship are...Dentist, Doctor, Post Office, beds, potties and mess hall:)

Emma's Baptism

Craig and I were blessed to become Godparents for the first time to our sweet Emma, the precious little girl of Aunt Kel & Uncle Chris! While we've done the Baptism thing three times, it was extra special to be on the other side of it:) We already LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Miss Emma like our own daughter so this just makes it a little more real!!!! And the best part is...we feel like she's part ours now so there is really no need for us to have our own little girl:)

He did it!!!

We are the proud parents of a six year old that waterski's!!! We bought Brian a starter ski last year and he decided that the most crowded weekend on the lake was the perfect time to try it out:) He was nervous getting started but Daddy and Uncle DJ had a master plan that worked! Daddy was in the water with Brian holding the ski and pushing him up while Uncle DJ was on the jetski next to him. Brian got up on his second try and was able to ski for five full minutes, even making two turns before letting go from exhaustion!!!

Please excuse my choppy video (it's two and a half min.)...I had tears of pride running down my face, the water was full of waves, I was bouncing up and down and my camera was in video mode that also allowed me to shoot pictures while taping:) On the plus side...you can see all of my pictures during the video:)

Super Swimmers!!!

Click the picture to see more!!!

It's official...my boys are following in Mommy's footsteps and are on the swimteam! Brian and Matt are super proud members of the Round Rock Dolphins. They absolutely LOVE swimteam which after coaching a team for seven years makes my heart proud! Tonight was their first meet, a practice meet against our own team and they rocked it! Brian got 1'st place in his heat in both freestyle and backstroke and went to bed grinning from ear to ear! Matt successfully made it across the pool in freestyle without stopping (a HUGE accomplishment) and even managed to NOT get last place!!

Backstroke was a different story...the poor guy had a meltdown as his heat was getting in the pool and refused to start from inside the pool. He was hysterically sobbing that he didn't know how to do the arms in backstroke and managed to hold up the entire meet for a good two minutes. After finally coaxing him into the water assuring him he would be fine, he pushed off the wall on his back, immediately rolled over and swam the whole lap freestyle (while everyone else was doing backstroke!). He got a standing ovation from the crowd for finishing well after everyone else as swimming while trying to stop crying takes a LONG time!!! Needless to say, Mommy and Matt will be having a backstroke clinic this weekend!!! Craig and I are super proud of our big swimmers and can't wait to see how awesome they will be by the end of the summer:)

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:)