To Mom, with Love

You know you have truly arrived at motherhood when you receive a gift like this....and you love it...because your child spent a lot of time and creativity working on it, just.for.you.  This could be a peek inside Ava's brain...hmmmm....

 And after giving it to me, she said "So where are you going to put it?"  Gulp.  Guess I better look around quickly and find a use for it...so I checked in my craft room and saw that my scissors could use a fashionable "holder" so there it went. 

In other news, I am working on not snacking when not hungry...these things are my secret weapon.  I keep gumballs around and every time I want to eat, I pop one in my mouth!  Some days I go through 10 pieces...some days less. 

And lastly, I went on our annual Ladies Retreat with the women from church this past weekend and for breakfast Saturday they had some blackberry jelly out.  I'd never tried it before so thought I'd be brave (I live on the edge.)  Anyway it was DELICIOUS!  I think I'm a full convert to Blackberry Jelly!!!  It's delicious...you should try it if you never have...it's okay to live on the edge every once in a while.

12 inches gone!

The girls both got their hair cut today.  And it wasn't just any haircut.  It's the first official salon haircut for Ava and only the 2nd for Elle...and combined they had about 12 inches cut off!  I was dreading this appointment all day.  I was worried that the cut would end up not working or looking right and truthfully hadn't even decided what I was going to allow with the haircut.  But after consulting with our new favorite hairstylist, we decided on a layer look that hit just below the shoulder.  The girls wanted it shorter before the cut, but both absolutely L-O-V-E how it looks.  They were just about as proud as can be to go to worship tonight and basked in the sweet words that all of our friends and theirs had to say about them.  There is just about nothing I love more than seeing my girls feel good about themselves.

So here are the befores and afters of the back of their hair.

And the befores and afters of the front.

Now looking at the befores, I can't believe I took so long to do this!  They needed this a WHILE ago!  So thankful to have found a wonderful stylist for them!

Gorgeous Surprise

Today I received this bouquet from a very wonderful long time friend.  It was a total surprise and my face just lit up.  I wanted to share how gorgeous it was. Thank you sweet friend!

Why It's Okay to Hoard

Exhibit A: The only sauce I will use for coconut chicken and coconut shrimp and HEB has decided to discontinue it.

Exhibit B: Why is this so hard to find?  Why is it so irregular as to when they will have THIS particular flavor in stock?  It's popular people...stock it well!

Exhibit C: Lipstick that I must now buy on Ebay which almost feels like the blackmarket.  I've searched in vain for any other lipstick that I like as much...to no avail.

In unrelated news, I realized yet again that I'm getting seriously old.  I chose this magazine over People Magazine, by a landslide.  It has way more articles in it that are useful to me than People ever will, and it's cheaper....I'm almost acting like I'm about to be 35...oh wait...I am.

Out to Lunch

Today, April 16th, has been one of the first warm days this year.  This is unheard of in Texas.  Unheard of, I tell ya.  Yet, tis true.  For whatever reason, is just hasn't wanted to be spring here.  I fear that we are skipping spring all together this year, which makes me really sad.  Spring and Fall are the seasons that many Texans look forward to the most....not too hot, not too cold.  Either way, Levi and I took advantage of it and headed to the most wonderful park today which is shady and never crowded, for a picnic and a big ol' dose of Vitamin D and fresh air! 

Levi's getting to be such a helper.  He even carried our lunch for at least 2 feet once we got out of the car.  "It's too heaby Mama!"

I can't resist writing names on lunch bags.

He was so excited to see what I had packed him!  It was almost like a present he was unwrapping.

Self portrait with a 14 pound camera isn't exactly easy.

Chips...the way to all my children's hearts.

Another Stab in the Heart

Yes, I'm being overly dramatic, but I'm told that is completely allowed when discussing the "baby" of the family and how that "baby" is not staying a baby like they were told to do.  Yet again, Levi is transitioning to something that gets further and further from the little sweet mama's baby that he has been for so long.  This morning I snuck out of the house while the kids were watching Saturday morning cartoons and Shawn was still sleeping, to check out a garage sale a few houses away.  I immediately saw a twin size mattress and box spring with a price tag of $65 on it.  It looked to be in GREAT shape and looked extra soft and barely worn at all.  I knew the people who were having the garage sale too.  Their daughter is in Ava's kindergarten class.  So I immediately told the man to take that sign off that mattress because it was S-O-L-D!  We have been really wondering how in the world we were going to come up with the money to get Levi a big boy bed.  New twin beds run about $300 and that's for a cheap one.  The crib thing was working, but really it was time.  So it came home with me this morning and we have sort of been scrambling around to make it his bed to sleep in tonight.  It will be a work in progress over the next few months...maybe even a year.  Things will have to be bought in stages.  But, he absolutely loves the new bed and had no qualms about giving up the crib.  I, on the other hand, and having a twinge of pain in my heart.  That crib has been a fixture in our house for 9 1/2 years.  At least I still have the glider in his room....for now.

The crib is getting disassembled...and no one even seems to be panicking!  Don't they all know what this MEANS?!

 

This is how he demanded to pose.  He wanted to stand on the bed, not sit.

After looking and looking and looking and finding only VERY expensive comforters and duvet covers that I liked, I ran across this one at no place else but IKEA...and for under $20!!!!  I was so excited and Levi loved it.

 

 And here's a shot of it on the bed with the top portion not covered...It has the cutest little owl family and a bird feeding it's babies a worm.  Levi and I both adore this duvet cover.  It has so many little details and the colors are great and I think it can grow with him for quite a while.  My vision would be to make his room an "outdoorsy" theme....as I said before....stages.

Nine is Divine

I am the mother of a 9 year old....that makes me old.  Other than that, what a joy it is (and sometimes a heartache) to see my firstborn as she bravely begins to explore the world.  Sometimes is hilarious, sometimes terrifying, and many time frustrating...but still, so fun to watch her as she decides what kind of person she will be.

One of the gifts she got was checkers.  Please someone help me to understand how to play checkers without completely massacring a much younger opponent...I tried numerous times to give her advice and not make moves that would crush her, but still..I beat her BADLY.  All those years of my dad playing checkers with me are paying off. lol  I'm sure it won't be long until she's shaming me.

The best gift Elle could give me for her birthday, if that makes sense, is picking Tokyo Steakhouse to eat at rather than something like CiCi's pizza.

Our sweet family, with full bellies and a wonderful memory of a cool place to eat.

 

After dinner, we headed home to celebrate with some cake.  She requested an icecream sandwich cake, which again made my heart sing....I've been craving one of those for a while so it was nice to have an excuse to make one!

A Day in the Life of a Three Year Old

Since we already had a party for Levi on Saturday, today was not really going to be much.  But I still wanted to chronicle what I did for his actual birthday, and truthfully it's quite humorous...if you have the ability to laugh at typical toddlerish behavior.

We started with a trip to Whataburger for hash brown sticks...one of the few high calorie items that he'll eat really well.  He asked me "Mommy, is this three?" and showed me his fingers as I buckled him in the car.  We've been working on that for a while now.

 Yummy hashbrowns....but in true Levi fashion he ate 3/4 of one hashbrown stick and proclaimed that he was done.  We were in Whataburger for a total of 2 1/2 minutes.

Then we came home and I remembered to take his picture in front of his birthday banner.  Again, he's concentrating really hard on holding that pinky down with his thumb so his fingers make three.

 

I had saved one gift from this weekend's party, to give him this morning.  I had it at the bottom of the stairs when he woke up.  In true 3 year old fashion, he would have nothing to do with it and acted mad that it was even there.  After coming back from Whataburger and telling him that it blew bubbles, he had warmed up a little....but only a little.  And when it didn't blow bubbles very well....well, more three year old antics ensued.

 

Next we opened some of the cards he received over the weekend that I held onto until today.  This part he had no issues with and enjoyed it.  Whew.

 

After opening mail, I took him outside to play with his new remote control cars that Gramme got him.  He really liked playing with these!

And while outside, I thought I'd get a bluebonnets pictures...wrong again.  This was the nicest he smiled...he kept going back and forth between a "mean" face and an unhappy pouty face.

Then his best friend Uriah stopped by to give him his birthday present. 

 

 This is the only picture of Levi being nice, because out of the 45ish minutes that his friend was here, he was mean to him for about 43 minutes of that time.  But there was those two minutes....on camera, no less.

 

And this is how he looked the second time our family sang Happy Birthday to him.  The first time was in the car as we took the girls to school.  He put his blanket over his head, stuck his fingers in his ears, and screamed "STOP SINGING TO ME!!!"  This photo was taken after his nap and we all tried again to sing the song and he ran to the couch, screaming at the top of his lungs and attempting to bury himself in the pillows. 

If today is any indication, the threes are going to be TERRIFIC!!!!

Celebrating the Threes

My parents came in this past weekend, so I thought we'd go ahead and celebrate at least of the kids birthdays will they were here.  We also went on a little road trip Saturday and everyone had such a wonderful time.  The weather was great and the trip was an adventure...couldn't ask for anything better!

We started at Jacob's Well in Wimberley.  Really cool natural spring/hole that goes really far down.  Scary to see and at the same time, really neat.

 After dipping our toes in the cold water, we walked the dry river bed a little further "upstream" looking for fossils, neat rocks and such. 

 

Shawn found a really cool lizard with a black and white striped tail and blue coloring on the sides of it's underbelly.

 

Next we headed to a truly creepy, weird, strange place called Pioneer Town, also in Wimberley. It's suppose to be a sort of recreation of what a town from that time looked like. It.was.creepy. At least the parts we got to go in were creepy...and that was almost no where. Most of the buildings were locked up and the ones you could go in, you weren't really allowed to touch anything. But there were a few touristy photo ops that awaited us.

 

We even got some icecream from the icecream parlor....$2 for one tiny scoop....this place was straight up stealing.  But it made the kids happy and Levi got a nice looking blue mustache to go with the icecream.

 As we left Wimberley, and headed north towards Austin we passed a restaurant called Nutty Brown's.  Looked kind of "Austiny" if that makes sense.  Shawn said "Hmmm, I'd like to try that place one day," to which I replied, "Why not today?!"  So we u-turned and ate there for dinner.  It was great weather for it and the kids loved being able to eat outside and move around as they pleased.  Then we headed back home after a looong day and celebrated with a Monster's Inc. themed party.

After cake, it was time for presents...something EVERYONE had been asking about since Friday night when Nana and Poppy arrived!  I love this picture.  Ava wanted so bad to give Levi something so she wrapped up a dollar that the tooth fairy gave her and gave it to Levi.  Levi gave her a big ol' hug.  We asked him what he was going to do with his dollar and he said "Give it to God" and that's exactly what he did Sunday morning.  Love those kids. 

Elle also got to open her presents from Nana and Poppy and she got a brand new pink Daisy BB gun!!!  She was thrilled and we've already taken it out and tried it out...she shot till there were no BB's left...and that's a lot!

Nana and Poppy gave all the kids an arsenal of weaponry.  We are ready for anything now!  We have a bow and arrow, a bowie knife, a machine gun, some other type of shorter gun, and a pink BB gun.  Levi also got a sword that morning, from my garage sale efforts early on Saturday :)

Here's Levi, after everything is said and done, and bath has been taken, in his new shirt from Gramme. 

What a great weekend we had!