Ice Cream Festival & Teddy Bear Hospital!

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How fun does this Saturday sound...we went to the Austin Ice Cream Festival with all you can eat ice cream, followed by the Austin Humane Society's Teddy Bear Hospital! We literally woke up with no plans...a rare thing for a Saturday in this sports crazy house and saw the ice cream festival advertised on the news. Thinking kids get in free, $10 for adults and all the ice cream you can eat sounded like a good idea to me so getting ready it was! A quick check of my email showed that the humane society was holding a teddy bear hospital right nearby so added that to our list as well :)

What fun our day turned out to be!!! The ice cream festival was exactly what it promised...except it was 100 degrees!!! We were turning into big sticky messes quickly so after about six rounds of ice cream we headed out :) On the plus side...I have officially tried "fried chicken & waffle" flavored ice cream!!!!

The teddy bear hospital was so much more fun than we could've imagined!!! The boys each checked in, got their Drs. badges and set to work coloring in detail where their special friend was "injured". For the record...we had good ol' "gray bear", "big dog" and "giant Jokey smurf" with us to be treated! Once we were called to the back, we scrubbed in and proceeded to the O.R. So much fun!!! The kids held the anesthesia, gave injections, monitored blood pressure and taped up the broken limbs of their friends. From the O.R. we proceeded to the pharmacy where they each received a bag of skittles to take with their friened whenever they were in pain....ummm....adorable!!!! (and totally FREE!!!)

Kelly & Girls visit!

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We had a lazy upcoming week as did Aunt Kel so she decided to come with the girls for a few day visit! We had so much fun!!! We went to a new all abilities park that is more like an outdoor childrens museum than park, went to a super fun pool, went to an indoor jumping castle place that both Emma and Abby LOVED and spent lots of quality cousin time together!! I so loved having my girls even for just a few days!!!

New York City

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New York City has always been one of my bucket list items and now I can cross it off! Craig had to be in upstate NY for work so I joined him and then we headed to Times Square for five days of child free fun! The boys happily spent the week with my parents while Criag and I got to explore the city and we had an absolute blast! In true Craig & Katie tradition...it poured on us the first three days (and I mean poured!) We rode a double decker bus in the rain...complete with ponchos and umbrellas!! We took a pedicab through Central Park, toured Radio City Music Hall and even ate GIANT sandwiches at Carnegie Deli! I think we had the most fun at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum posing with all of the characters...the boys literally believed these were all real as we kept texting them pics to my mom's phone!!! We literally saw everything there is to see, went everywhere there is to go and purchased way too many fun souviners for the boys! It truly was so much fun and I can't wait to go back!!!

Swimteam 2012



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This was a BIG year for swimteam in our house...Luke was finally BIG enough to join! What a great season my boys had...Brian got his freestyle time under 20 seconds, scored multiple heat winners and NEVER placed above the top 10!!! Matt decided this was the year and owned breaststroke!!! He swam in the 7-8 group as a 7 year old and consistently scored in the top 10! He also earned his first ever heat winner ribbon, swimming with his goggles around his mouth!!! Luke managed to swim the full lap during practice, earning himself a spot in the final meet. He is the youngest swimmer on a team of 300 kids and one of only two 4 year olds to attempt the meet! He changed his mind daily leading up to the big day as to if he would swim or not but when the time came....he did it!!! Mind you...he only swam 1/3 of the way but nonetheless he jumped in and swam freestyle like a champ for the 1/3!!! After two breaths he lost his feet and that was the end for Mr. Luke, but we were so proud of him for even attempting it! Mind you he was swimming against 5&6 year olds, all who had already finished, so the entire crowd was focused on and cheering for Luke which is quite intimidating when you are 4!!!  Uncle DJ, Aunt Christy, Gaga, Papa and all of us were cheering from the sides and Luke is in full belief that he did awesome :) The grand finale of our season came when Brian received the Coaches award for the second time in three years at the banquet! How proud we are of him to be chosen for this special award honoring his character, integrity, work ethic, manners, leadership and responsibility!!!

South Padre Island

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 In keeping with tradition...we celebrated 4'th of July at the beach! This time we changed it up and went a few more hours south to South Padre Island instead of North Padre. We stayed at the Hilton right on the beach and spent five days playing in the ocean, catching minnows and keeping them in our homemade sand pool, going on moonlit crab hunts on the beach and swimming in the beautiful pool! We spent the 4'th directly under the fireworks being shot from a barge in the bay covered in glowsticks, went a a super fun boat ride to catch and hold sea creatures (and we caught SO many!!!!) and gave Luke the thrill of his life when we went to the go-karts and little man was actually tall enough to drive!!!! His smile could've lit up the sky it was so bright :) Such a fun, relaxing beach trip...can't wait for the next one!!!!

Gaga, Uncle Johnny & Papa's Birthday Celebrations!

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Birthday season in still in full swing! Kelly and I took all the kids (the big boys ditched school) and surprised my Mom at Chili's 1/2 way between all of us on her actual day! We had a blast, enjoyed our lunch and I loved being with my girls!!! The following weekend, I took the boys solo (thanks again IBM!!!) to my parents and we spent the weekend swimming, playing with Mr. Aaron and celebrating Uncle Johnny's & Papa's upcoming Birthday's since we couldn't be there for the actual days! Daddy definitely missed a super fun weekend!!!

Meeting Big Mac!!!

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What a perfect Mother's Day weekend! Kerry and Jeremy had important business to attend in College Station (Kerry driving a Zamboni!) so they brought my precious girls out for a quickie weekend!!! This was my first time getting my hands on Mackenzie and I was downright giddy to get my hands on my crazy haired beautiful peanut!!! Molly was so happy to be a part of my gang and jumped right in with the boys quickly putting them in their place! The best part was they had an overnight flight so drove from Dallas to meet us Brian & Matt's football game...the girls showed up in cheerleading uniforms complete with the boys names on them!!!! After watching our boys dominate on the field...we headed home for some R&R before taking Jeremy to the restaurant of his dreams (literally) "Salt Lick"...the all you can eat BBQ restaurant featured multiple times on the travel channel and food network and just a few miles from our house! Craig, Jeremy and the boys !took "all you can eat" quite literally and we left stuffed and happy. Unfortunately our visit was quick as they had to get up bright and early the next morning to fulfill Kerry's lifelong dream but it made my whole weekend to get those 24 hours with my baby girls!!!

Could this dog LOVE kids any more????

Oh Wilbur....the dog is by far the laziest specimen of a dog ever known. He sleeps in our closet 20 hours each day and maybe finds the energy to stroll outside two or three times at most each day! But give him kids and he suddenly becomes a different dog!!! I took him to Matt's class for show and tell and he happily posed for pics with each and every kid :) Every single time the boys jump...the dog sits right outside the trampoline watching with a smile :) It just brings a smile to my face every time I see my three little boys and their faithful friend!!!

Brian's First Communion

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Our biggest boy is now official in the church as this weekend he made his First Communion. We are so proud of our handsome man.  He did the first reading like a pro, drank the wine without making a face and looked absolutely precious!!! We are so blessed to have parts of our family able to attend and those who couldn't were here in spirit!!!

Brian's biggest excitement was not the spiritual event that happened but the miracle that his Communion money brought his savings to his goal and he is now the super proud owner of a 42 inch flatscreen tv...that he paid for!!!! Gotta love a kid with a goal!

Happy Early Anniversary!!!

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Craig and I our celebrating 10 years this year!!! Our initial plan was to go to Europe this summer but unfortunately Craig's leg isn't up for that much walking yet...maybe for 15 years?!?!?! Instead we decided to go on a cruise with the kids and since my parents were celebrating their 35'th this year...they joined us! Thank goodness too...it took all four of us adults to keep up and keep of these three extremely "busy" boys!!!! All of us are wishing we could have the energy of them!!!!

What fun we had...we took a 7 day cruise to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cozumel on a brand new ship fully designed to entertain kids! The waterpark was awesome and the boys thought the skywalk was super cool! We played more mini golf in the last 7 days then we have played our whole lives and stuffed ourselves silly ;)

In Jamaica we went to a beautiful gated beach, "Doctor's Cave", where the kids jumped on a water trampoline and all of the boys got to snorkel. Matt has officially fallen in love with snorkeling, which isn't a big surprise considering his obsession with sharks and dolphins ;)  The "biggest boys" (aka...Papa and Craig) had an absolute blast and even convinced Gaga to do it! Better her than me!!! We had perfect weather and fully enjoyed our five ours on what is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Jamaica!!!

The Cayman Islands were so much fun! This is one of our favorite places to go and it didn't disappoint us this time ;) Luke is obsessed with pirates and can't miss an episode of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" so we took the pirate ship (2'nd and 3'rd time for all of us except our resident pirate...Luke!) and the boys were in heaven! The coolest part was when our pirate ship "shot a cannon at our cruise ship"!!! Brian and Matt were finally old enough to fully enjoy it and Luke was downright giddy that the ship was actually named the "JollyRoger".  The boys happily took their pirate oaths to completely disobey their parents, never bathe or brush their teeth and eat all of the junk they want! Next up...swabbing the decks or Mom's go overboard! Luckily my three got down and scrubbed ;) After all of their duties were done...the ship dropped anchor and we all got to either walk the plank or jump off the top deck of the ship into the gorgeous waters of the Caymans! Gaga stayed onboard as family photographer due to a headache from the diesel smell of the ship (we literally got the full pirate experience!) while the rest of us headed in! After returning to land, we shopped for our own pirate weapons and then headed to our very favorite restaurant in the world...Margaritaville! While you can find these all over and they are all usually fun, the one in Grand Cayman is extra fun as it has a pool and waterslide right smack in the middle of the restaurant!!!! The tables surround the fun and we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out there letting the kids enjoy the slide!

Cozumel was our last stop and while we have all (again except Luke) been there multiple times in the past and love it, this time was extra special as we swam with the dolphins! We went to this amazing facility called Dolphinaris where we all got to fully interact with and go for a ride on dolphins!!! It was truly the coolest thing we have ever done! Brian and Matt full on rode completely themselves while Luke rode on my back like we were Diego and Alicia!!! We all got to hold, kiss and shake hands with the dolphins and even made them talk! After our dolphin experience, we had lunch and played on the private beach (seriously private....we were the only ones there!!!) complete with a protected lagoon full of tropical fish and stingrays! All the boys enjoyed snorkeling and finding all 10 stingrays while me and Mom enjoyed the private beach! It was a perfect ending to our trip and we headed back to the ship making a few pitstops in the shops along the way for treasures ;)

All in all...we had an absolutely amazing seven days! After our last few months, it was a well deserved vacation that we have soooooooo many pictures to remember it with! Luke is already asking when we can go back!!!

Crazy, busy, super fun weekend!!!

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Holy cow...thank goodness we head out next week for 7 days of R&R...this Mama is exhausted (both physically and mentally)!!! Let's see....

Thursday I had lunch with the boys and celebrated Brian's Birthday with his class. They had a half day so I surprised them with a last minute trip to San Antonio immediately after school got out (solo!!). With a stop to see the Easter Bunny along the way, we checked into our hotel, swam, roasted s'mores, watched an outdoor movie, swam some more, woke up (it was Brian's official Birthday) and were back in the pool by 7:30AM (ugh, ugh, double ugh!), and then promptly headed to Six Flags with half of Mexico! Three hours in and we had been on one ride!!! We ended up only riding five things the whole day!!! To say I was jealous of Craig home working a 20 hour overseas call is an understatement!!! I topped off my "fun" by dropping my camera on the ground thanks to my hands being full and my kids trying to dart in front of me lens down and breaking it! We got home just in time to open Brian's gifts and head out to dinner with Daddy, Uncle DJ and Aunt Christy who were in town for Saturday's events ;)

My "free getaway" thanks to hotel points and Six Flags season passes became VERY expensive very quickly!!! Since we are leaving in 6 days for our cruise, a new camera is a necessity and should be here by Wednesday. The worst part isn't even the price (though Craig may disagree)...it's the simple fact that I was very attached to my camera...literally :) Since my parents surprised me with the fanciest camera I have ever owned two years ago... I have taken over 11,000 photos...and now my third arm is in the trash :(   Fortunately DJ and Christy let me borrow their camera all weekend so I could capture all of our fun!

Saturday we woke up bright and early to celebrate (again) Matt's Birthday! Matt had asked to go on a train ride as his big gift and of course the "family curse" had to change those plans. Our March 10 train ride was rescheduled for April 7 due to a downpour of 6 inches of rain :) Gaga and Papa had to now miss out on the ride they were supposed to join us on so Uncle DJ and Aunt Christy took their places. We had so much fun! We took a two hour ride through the Texas hill country, enjoying all of the wildflowers along the way. Matt even got to help the conductor by being "Vanna White"! We arrived in a hokey little town and spent our time at Dairy Queen enjoying ice cream for lunch! We finished up our stay with a cowboy gunfight...complete with Aunt Christy as a saloon girl! Thanks Aunt Christy for entertaining the boys!!! After a two hour ride back, we went home for dinner, dying Easter eggs and  lots of backyard fun! Uncle DJ was great at entertaining the boys so I could get my "jobs" done for Easter :)

Sunday was yet another early morning as the Easter Bunny had come! My guys were in full gear ready to run by 7:20. We searched for baskets, hunted for $$ filled eggs and had a delicious breakfast consisting of chocolate and soda! After a much more filling dinner of turkey and all the fixings...I was treated to my guys all ordering me to a chair with a glass of wine while they cleaned the kitchen! I'd say even with the craziness... I am one lucky girl ;)

Family Pictures...Finally!!!

Fam. Pics...click here to see how lucky I am!

So as I'm sure most of you know...we had our family pictures scheduled for every weekend in November and for various reasons...rain, gail winds, sickness and then Craig blowing his leg to smithereens...WE JUST FINALLY GOT THEM DONE LAST WEEK!!!  All I have to say is that it was worth the wait! My friend Ashely did an amazing job capturing just how lucky I am to be surrounded by my four guys! The question is...which ones do I print??? I LOVE THEM ALL!!!

Brian's party

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Brian had been deadset on having ALL the boys in his class spend the night for his Birthday...God help us! Last night we did just that! Matt and Brian received a 12 man tent for their Birthday's from Gaga & Papa so Brian had a campout...complete with hotdogs and s'mores! Papa joined us for the "fun" and we had 10 boys sleeping in our backyard. We took them to the big playground in our neighborhood to wear them out, ate our hotdogs picnic style, played a few fun games before returning home. Were they tired yet...nope!!!!! Next up...presents and s'mores over the firepit! Between that and these boys running around my yard with every weapon we could find we thought surely they'd be tired...nope!!!! It wasn't until about 11:30 that everyone was finally sleeping! No worries...3:30 AM arrived and they were all back up!!!! I went our there and promptly sat outside the tent listening to "Is she gone yet?" and "How much longer is she gonna be out there?" for a good 45 minutes before they gave up and realized that I can indeed outlast them :) By 6:15 the sun was up and so was the party...back in bandannas running around shooting each other! 8am brought us the whole lot of them trying to escape OVER our LOCKED fence and getting caught by Craig :) By 5:30pm...every single one of us were asleep on the couch from all of our "fun"!!!!

The good news is Brian had an absolute blast and it IS OVER...the bad news is I am already preparing myself for Matt's campout next year!

Mommy & Matt's Birthday!

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March 18 is the day I get to celebrate giving birth to my sweet Matt...oh and it's my Birthday too but I gave up celebrating it! (The beauty is I'll never get older!!!) Since we had literally just returned from and exhausting but super fun Spring Break, Matt & I had no big plans. We went to church (minus Brian & Daddy since Brian was in serious need of an attitude adjustment and was summoned to yard work!) and had a Birthday breakfast at Ihop afterwards. Matt told the waitress it was "mine and my Mommy's Birthday) so they came out singing "Happy Birthday to Matt and his Mommy" complete with chocolate cake :) We got home, changed and headed as a family to Lowe's (seriously the fun never ends around here) where we spent a small fortune on replacement grass and mulch...and then we got to come home and put it all out!!! Later that evening was spent at the movies watching Matt's choice "Big Miracle"...great movie! Being that it was a Birthday, we actually decided to not be cheapskates and let the kids have popcorn and candy...so go figure...no one was hungry enough to go out for a Birthday dinner! Matt had his heart set on BBQ so takeout for Matt it was :) The rest of us had ramen (seriously wasn't kidding about not celebrating my bday anymore!!!!) Tomorrow will be spent celebrating Matt's Birthday with his class and then finally having our Birthday dinner at Matt's choice....SaltLick BBQ!!!

Spring Break

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Spring break has come and gone and WE HAD A BLAST! The boys and I spent the first half hanging at home...destroying the place, going to Waco to see the zoo, the oldest suspension bridge in the state and the Dr. Pepper museum, playing at our local "dinosaur park" (think massive sandbox completely covered with huge dino bones buried under the sand waiting to be excavated...we dug so deep we hit water!), meeting Aunt Kel and the girls in Brenham for lunch and the Bluebell Ice Cream factory tour, hanging at gaga & papa's with LOTS of pool time, having a GIANT family Birthday party celebrating Daddy, Aunt Christie, Mommy, Matt, Brian, Aunt Kel and Aunt Key (and now Mackenzie too!!!), watching our precious Abby's Baptism with a fun lunch afterwards and ending with football in the yard before heading home to wake up and celebrate Mommy & Matt's real Birthday!!! Phew...I am exhausted just writing about it and I still have to decorate for Matt :)

Matt's Party



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So TV marketing clearly gets to Matt...he insisted on having a party at Chuck E. Cheese this year after seeing about a billion commercials advertising for the ticket machine a new ticket with worth 1000 tickets! Matt was determined to get in that machine and get that ticket...so a party with four friends at Chuck E. Cheese was tonight's agenda!!! Holy cow did Matt have fun...that little guy was literally beaming in every picture I took of him! He had an absolute blast running around the place with his friends, winning tickets and dancing with Chuck E.!!! When the big moment came...Matt was literally visibly nervous...his eyes were on the prize and then the wind started blowing. HOORAY...Matt caught the 1000 ticket coupon and the party was officially a HUGE success!!!! I still cannot believe my Moose is turning 7....I need a brick on his head!

Lots going on at school...



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Holy cow...BUSY few weeks! The boys competed in PSIA...a private school academic competition, Matt has been on two field trips, Brian has been on one field trip, (Mommy went on all the field trips) Luke had Texas Day at preschool which I co-chaired this year, Craig had a Birthday, Basketball finally ended and we went right into baseball for Luke and football for Brian/Matt, and Matt is having a Birthday party Friday night  .

So PSIA...They were chosen in their classes to go to the competition based on their grades and work ethic. Craig and I were so proud that they were chosen and both boys really enjoyed the day away from school with their friends, touchpads and DS's. The best part of the day came when Matt placed third overall in the the Central Texas region in creative writing!!!  

Field trips have been so fun! Matt and I went with his class to the dentist, and then I went with both boys to the Texas State Aquarena for a glass bottom boat tour. Going on one field trip with both boys was definitely the way to go...I love killing two birds with one stone!!!

Texas day was as fun as ever! Luke was an adorable cowboy and had a blast spending the day with Daddy, Gaga and Papa. After five years at the preschool, I took my turn as a co-chair and spent the day hosting the cookout. Matt also had a great time at their Texas Day which Brian unfortunately missed due to a stomach bug and then was greeted at school by Daddy, Luke, Gaga and Papa which both boys to go to the social studies fair which both boys had entered.

Craig had a very low-key Birthday which was exactly what the Doctor ordered! He worked a 1/2 day, went to the boys school and then we had a fun family dinner at Chili's with my parents...Happy 34'th Craig!

Raptors vs. Rockets!!!

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Last night we took the boys down to Houston to watch "Mr. Aaron" play against the Houston Rockets. The boys were downright giddy for their first NBA game...especially when they knew a player! Gaga, Papa, Uncle Chris, Uncle DJ and Aunt Christy met us there as well! The game was great, close the whole time and the boys had a blast cheering and holding up their signs for Mr. Aaron! After the game we all got VIP badges and got to go down to the court and hang out with Mr. Aaron for awhile before heading on our long, late journey home;) Such a super fun night for three little boys that are absolutely clueless to the fact that not many kids have a friend in the NBA that gives them VIP treatment ;)

Valentine's Day

We got crazy straw glasses from Mommy & Daddy...click here!!!

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone and I am more in love with my four guys with each passing day! How lucky am I to have four Valentine's each year??? Craig took the day off work AND drove the kids to school for the first time since his accident!!! BEST Valentine's gift ever...I got to stay home in my jammies and not leave the house before dawn!!!! On top of spending the day with Craig, he went all out out getting me a massage gift certificate, four roses from each boy and my favorite bottle of wine! We spent the day going to all three kids class parties, going to lunch with Luke, coaching basketball and having a super fun family dinner...complete with candles much to the kids delight! My boys were perfectly trained to tell me repeatedly throughout the day that "I was their Valentine and the best Mommy ever"....could a girl ask for any more?!?!?!

Me & My Guys!

So it's been a crazy, busy month  in our household! Life is officially back in full swing after the nice Christmas break. We have all three boys playing basketball with Craig coaching two days each week, Craig in PT three days each week, Luke in swimteam pre-conditioning lessons twice each week,  Brian in CCD once a week and Brian and Matt studying after school with their teachers once each week for the academic competition they are in at the end of the month! Baseball starts next week overlapping basketball for the next four weeks!!! You think that's bad...try keeping track of it all!!!  The good news is I still find time for snuggles and movies with my guys!