Raptors vs. Mavericks

 

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"Mr. Aaron" was back in Texas last night playing the Dallas Mavericks. Craig and I decided to make the roundtrip trek (thanks to teaching 3'rd grade!) to Dallas in order to take the boys to the game! Talk about boys dreams coming true...Aaron scored us floor level seats and was texting the boys from the locker room before the game. He was waving at them and giving "air fives" from the court, they made it on the jumbortron a few times, ate nachos, cotton candy and popcorn, and then the best part...had VIP passes to stay after the game and hang out with Aaron. Luke was so excited when he saw him that he literally went running and flung himself into his arms!!! It was seriously a good thing Aaron caught him, as Luke would've fallen on his head :) The boys so LOVE Aaron Gray and we are thankful for his friendship and the way he just loves on our boys! Seriously...what little kid can say they have a best friend in the NBA?!?!?!

Halloween!!!

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Another Halloween has come and gone! My guys all decided to be "hereos" of various forms of a ninja, a ninja turtle and a an army guy! This was the first year they all had independent thoughts on costumes and all picked out their own (Luke's was recycled but he still loved it!) Much to the delight of my boys, we had family friends join us for trick-or-treating! Craig and Russ took the kids begging for candy while Melissa and I sat with sangria and candy in the driveway! I'd say it was a pretty perfect night!

Fall Carnival

 

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So all of my time since school started has gone to the planning and executing of the school carnival! I took on the role of PTL Vice President and alongside five of my closest friends am having a blast! Even though we are crazy busy with all of the fun on our agenda, I wouldn't have it any other way!!! The fall carnival has always been a the "dud" side, with a few games and a jumping castle in the gym. We decided to "GO BIG"!!! We had a teacher auction, a costume contest, trick-or-treating, six HUGE inflatables including a sticky wall, a rockwall, four bungee trampolines, a haunted house, a hayride and food vendors! The catch...we weren't planning on the coldest day in October history to occur...complete with afternoon rain! All said in done...the kids had a blast, the school was amazed and we pulled it off without a hitch! We even managed to bring in $5000 on our teacher auction (our goal was only $500), all which we are giving back 100% to the teachers!!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

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We had so much fun last year at Jersey Farms that we decided to go back! Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris, Emma & Abby came along this year for the fun!!! Unfortunately Uncle Johnny & Aunt Christy couldn't make it due to Uncle Johnny's broken ankle and Gaga & Papa were out of town. Oh my goodness...what fun we had! My oldest friend Andrea happened to be in town so she got to come along for the fun as well :) She was so excited to meet the girls! We saw all the animals, took a hayride, learned how dairy farms work, fed newborn calves, picked our pumpkins and finished our day eating yummy Bluebell ice cream  Even though Abby hated the pumpkin patch and Emma spent the whole day plugging her nose from the yucky smells...we had such a fun day at the farm!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

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Aunt Key, Uncle Jerms and the girls live there, Craig & I have been multiple times, the boys have heard all about it and seen pictures and now....they have been to Las Vegas and done Las Vegas!!!! Craig and I took the kids to Vegas last week to see the sights, do the stuff and best of all...hang with Aunt Key, Uncle Jerms, Molly & Mackenzie! Molly is turning 2 next week so we even got to have an early party with her!!! Aunt Key played the hostess with the mostess and took the boys everywhere kids could have fun in Vegas!!! Uncle Jerms even came home form work for a day to spend time with us! We surprised them with a Ford mustang convertible, saw all the hotels, rode the monorail, played games at Circus Circus winning LOTS of prizes, saw the Bellagio water show, went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, went to M&M world and Coke World, rode spiral escalators, visited the world's largest golden nugget, went to the world's largest gift shop, went to Mandalay's aquarium, spent the might in a castle, watched a volcano erupt, went to the Hoover dam, took a tour of a candy factory, had an Elmo Birthday party complete with angry two year old and so much more!!! We had such a fun time in Vegas and can't wait to go back!!!

Luke's Family Party

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 Luke is on celebration #3! Since we are in Houston leaving for Vegas, we decided to celebrate Luke's Birthday with the family and save trips for everyone back and forth! Luke is still on his Birthday HIGH and acting like a present crazed maniac!!! He had dramatic reactions for every gift he got and took great delight in ripping open and playing with every present!!!  All I have to say is...Luke is one lucky little boy!!!!

Officially Five!!!!

 

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Little man is officially 5!!!! He woke up over the moon with excitement and I truly don't think his smile left his face all day! Brian and Matt made sure he got up early enough to open presents before school and funny enough...the biggest hit was the angry birds undies!!! He ripped them open and wanted to wear them immediately! After a breakfast a cupcakes and ice cream (does it get any better?!?!?!) we headed off to school. Luke requested a birthday lunch of Subway black olive pizza (not what you picture from Subway!!!) and an Icee so that's what he got ;) I spent the day with him at school, had lunch and then celebrated with his class treat of rainbow push-ups! Luke also got to pick his dinner so Chick-fil-A it was! Mind you...this was directly due to their being a playground and NOT the food! After a free ice cream sundae for the birthday boy from the manager, it was home to bed!

Clearly the last two days of birthday festivities got to Luke...it is 9:15am and Luke should be at school with his brothers...instead he is in my bed sleeping as he was beyond overtired and crabby this morning resulting in a massive meltdown over a green bowl at the breakfast table! He was so out of control, yawning and telling us he is so "sweepy' that we decided back to bed was in order! We actually had to pretend to call his teacher and get permission as meltdown #2 arrived when  we told him the plan! I guess it's not easy to grow up no matter how big or little you are :)

First friend party!

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Luke is officially five tomorrow...a thought that makes me want to cry! We are officially the parents of three kids....no more babies, toddlers or preschoolers...we now have to say we have three kids! Don't get me wrong...I love having three kids! I'm just not sure I'm ready for my sweet baby to cross to the dreaded other side full of eye rolls, sassy mouths, conscious lies and angry attitudes in need of adjustment!

In true growing up fashion Luke requested a "friend" party this year. He was no longer satisfied with a family party consisting of family and close friends...he wanted his school friends to be the guests! (Sorry to those no longer considered cool!!! Don't worry, the family party will still happen and you are all still needed for presents (direct quote) but you are all no longer the cool people he wants to hang with at parties!)

Craig and I honored his request and had a party at the bowling alley today with his Pre-K class. Much to Brian and Matt's dismay...they were also NOT on the guest list! Luke had an absolute blast!!! He ran around with his buddies, bowled, had pizza, cupcakes and soda and totally played up the fact that this was HIS BIG DAY! He sported two birthday badges and a birthday crown and had a smile that never left his face! Tomorrow is Round 2 with a birthday treat of rainbow push-ups at school, Mommy bringing Subway to school for lunch and a special request of...Chick-fil-A for dinner!

A year of firsts...

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Another first day of school has come and this one is by far the most exciting as for the very first time...all three boys are at the same school!!!!! Whoohoo!!!! Luke is completing Pre-K three days/week/full day at the boys school and that means 1 dropoff and 1 pickup each day!!!

Another first is that we have actually have a first day of school picture with all of us in it! We were out front taking pictures and a neighbor heading to work literally stopped his car and asked if we'd like a family picture! Gotta love living in a friendly neighborhood!!!

For the first time ever, much to Brian's delight, I did not cry today!!! All three of my guys were so happy today and so excited to go to school and had such big smiles on their faces that I was truly happy dropping them off. We love their school that we have them in so much and truly feel that there is someone loving on our guys every minute of the day. They each love where they are, we are so blessed to have made such wonderful friends at this school (both the kids and Craig & I) and the boys are academically doing better than we could've ever imagined! I know when I leave them each day that they are safe, happy and loved...what more could a Momma ask for?!?!?!

Yet another first this year was Matt finally grew up and it breaks my heart! Every year as I tuck him in the night before school he has a huge sobfest as to how much he's gonna miss me....not last night!!! Apparently he has moved on and decided that I am in fact not worth missing each day :( As much as I love that he is getting bigger...I hate that he is getting bigger!!!

I am officially the Momma of a 3'rd grader, a 2'nd grader and a Pre-Ker (is that even a word???) and as I look at my three growing boys I am both proud of what amazing little guys they are becoming and so, so sad at the fact that they are in fact growing up and becoming amazing little guys that make me proud each and everyday.

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 ;)