Easter and the Astros!

The two topics don't totally go together, but they will for this blog post.

My mom and I got back from California just in time for Easter. The Easter bunny brought too much candy again, but the kids had a lot of fun!


Chris also got his first taste of baby food. He LOVES it!

The next day was the Opening Day for the Astros and we try to go every year. We always have a great time. Even though they lost this year, we always love our Astros!

Go 'Stros!

Happy 95th Birthday Grandpa!

The first weekend in April Christian and I flew to Sacramento to help celebrate my Grandfather's 95th Birthday. Grandpa is in great health and is amazing for 95 years old. People kept reminding him to use his cane, but it appeared to me that he'd rather do without! We had a party for him with several of his friends and it was great to be with him and see him socialize.





That same week my Mom, Brother and Aunt and Uncle helped Grandpa move out of his home and into Eskaton Retirement Community. He has a great place and was able to take most of his furniture with him, so hopefully it feels like home to him. We shipped some of the things he couldn't take with him back to Houston and I got a few of his things. Every time I see the stained glass mirror outside my bedroom or the love seat in my living room I think of him!



I love you Grandpa and I'm glad you're mine!

Aaron’s 6th Birthday

My big guy turned 6! I can’t believe he’s as big as he is. The other day Chris has this look on his face that reminded me so much of Aaron and it doesn’t seem that long ago that Aaron was the babe in my arms, but now he’s this amazing kid who does amazing things and surprises me all the time. He just got accepted in the Gifted and Talented program of his school and we are so proud of him for loving to learn!

His birthday was on Sunday, March 28 and the boys had stayed up the night before with the neighbors and all 3 kids were asleep in the car on the way home from church.

Aaron got lots of great presents and had a great birthday.


Happy Birthday Aaron, We Love You!

Primary Talent Show and Easter Egg Hunt

The fourth weekend of March we had our Primary Talent Show and Easter Egg Hunt. The boys talent was reading Dr. Seus’s Green Eggs and Ham aloud. Brian was Sam I Am and Aaron was the other guy. They did a great job and we got it on video, but it was over 6 minutes long and there’s no way I’m going to try to upload that here! Maybe to Youtube later, but not now. They also played the part of the wolves in a rendition of the 3 little pigs with some other friends. It was so much fun watching the boys show off their talents.

After the talent show the Easter egg hunt began. Each kid got to collect 10 eggs and were done really fast, but had a great time. It was a nice warm up for what they’ll get this next Sunday when the Easter Bunny comes to Grandma’s house!

Freezer Meals

My biggest and most exciting news is that I bought a freezer! I know, kinda silly, but I’m totally excited about it. I’ve been wanting a deep freezer for a while, and I finally just did it. I got a 7 cu ft chest freezer from Sams Club and put it in my utility room and I couldn’t be happier. I then took my freezer and filled it with food!

I got together with 2 of my friends and in less than 6 hours we made 45 meals and 8 dozen rolls to split up between us. We had a lot of fun, and now we each have 15 meals or so to cook whenever we want. I love making my freezer meals and had never done it with friends like this before. It was a lot of work, wasn’t quite as efficient as it could be, but it was a lot of fun. Next time I’ll do things slightly differently, but I look forward to many more freezer meal sessions with friends!

All our meals together

My stash!

Spring Break and a Camping Trip

The third week of March was Spring Break. I tried to keep the boys engaged and have things for them to do, but mostly they just wanted to watch TV and play on the computer. They drove me crazy quite a bit and fought way too much…I now have slightly mixed feelings about school being out this summer. I love having Aaron home and getting to spend more time with him, but Aaron and Brian butt heads a lot lately, so I’ll have to work hard to keep them occupied and happy.

We were invited by some friends to go camping at Lake Livingston Stake Park the weekend of Spring Break. I initially said ‘No’ since Paul had class all day Friday and Saturday, but decided to go anyway. To be honest, after finding out my friend Stefan was going to be taking her 4 kids without her husband, pride wouldn’t let me stay home…if she can do it, I can do it! So I packed up my 3 kids and headed to Livingston. There ended up being 7 families camping together, including 12 adults and 26 kids, aged 19 to 4 months. There were lots of kids to help entertain each other and lots of hands to help hold the baby. I missed Paul and it was still a lot of work, but I had a great time. I love camping food, love spending time outside with my friends and love teaching my kids about nature (although I think they played more UNO than anything else!) We were blessed with amazing weather and I wish I could do it again tomorrow…but with Paul!

This picture was actually taken by Brian...love the composition of the trees!

Our little tent

Hanging out with our friends

The boys playing UNO...again!

I love campfires!

Day of Play

The second weekend of March we again were able to spend time with Andrew and Michelle before they flew back to Utah. Paul took Friday off and we let Aaron skip school so we could all spend the day together. We started off with a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and even bought a family membership. I hope to take the kids this summer on a regular basis (anyone around here that wants to come with us is more than welcome!) We spent a few hours at the Cockeral Butterfly Exhibit and loved it. I’ve been about 5 times now and still love it every time. We then wandered around some of Herman Park then drove downtown to Discovery Green. After a rousing game of tag and playing on some of the playground equipment we headed to the Galleria Area and saw the Waterwall and wandered through the Galleria before having dinner at Pappadeauxs. It was a long fun day! I love having family in town to play with!











OK...there were just too many pictures to pick...so here's a slideshow of many more!

Chris’s 4 month Check-up

Can you believe he’s over 4 months already? He’s rolled over once…yes, just once…but he did it…I promise! He is still quite the talker and coos and aaaahhhs and gurgles all the time. He loves to smile at everyone, especially his Mom…which just melts my heart. We had some nursing problems this month, but got some medicine from the doctor and thankfully, things are somewhat better now. I am not ready to quit nursing, but I did come close a few times.

At his check up his measurements were 13lbs 14oz, 26 inches long and had a head circumference of 41.5cm which put him in the 25-50, 75-90 and 25-50 percentiles, respectively. He’s growing great and is a joy!

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

The first weekend of March we were pleased to be able to have Paul’s brother Andrew and his wife Michelle come visit us. They were on their way to spend a week in Florida with friends, but spent the weekends before and after their trip with us. Yippee!

We decided we’d spend our Saturday playing at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. First we hit the Livestock Show and the kids had a lot of fun at the petting zoo, watching chicks hatch, learning about all kinds of animals. Then we had lunch and on to the carnival. We went up on the Ferris wheel, then let the kids play on some other rides and adventure activities. Brian did not want to leave the carnival and threw quite a tantrum on our way to the rodeo, but he eventually enjoyed the rodeo also. Michelle had never been to a rodeo before, and the Houston Rodeo is pretty huge, but we all had a good time despite the crowds. We didn’t stick around for much of the concert afterwards, we were all pretty hungry and tired and ready to go home. It was a great day though and we were so glad to be able to share it with Andrew and Michelle.

Lots of new posts coming your way!

I have LOTS of posts half written in my head. I promise...more is coming...and soon!
I just need to download the pictures off both cameras and make the time to actually blog. If you don't see more in the next few days feel free to mock me openly until I blog. But I promise...it is coming!

Triplets?

So obviously my kids are NOT triplets, but I am amazed at how much they look alike. Some people tell me that they think Chris looks like Aaron, then other people tell me that Chris looks like Brian. My mom says that Chris just looks like Chris...whatever that means. I think he looks like what all of my babies look like. Here are some pics of them looking all cute. You determine if you think they look alike.

First, here's Chris giving us some of his smiles. Note the "one" curl on the left side of his head! So adorable! Can you believe he's over 3 months old now?

While trying to get Chris to smile for these photos I smiled so big, and for so long, I pulled a muscle in my cheek!
My cheek hurt for 2 days after!

Now here's some of Aaron with Chris.



Now Brian and Chris.



And finally, here's all 3 of my boys together!

Valentines

Considering it is valentines day today, we opted for a red themed meal. And what else could we do... live lobster.

Aaron and Brian were super excited to cook lobster, but neither one really wanted to touch them. They thought it was pretty cool to see them move around and know they were alive though. Aaron wouldn't even eat it though, but he rarely likes trying new things, so it wasn't very surprising. Getting the meat out of the shell takes a while and the boys didn't have much patience, so they were done with dinner before we were anywhere near done, but that was ok, we then had semi-peace and quiet for a while.

We also had Angel Pie for dessert which is a meringue crust topped with shaved chocolate, topped with whipped cream, topped with an orange custard, topped with more whipped cream and more shaved chocolate. It is heavenly!

Trip to DC

Christian and I spent last weekend in Washington, DC where both my brother and sister live with their families. I had a great time playing with my 3 nephews and my siblings and their spouses. It snowed enough for them to cancel church and with the bad weather and toddler nap times we didn't do any sightseeing, but we hung out and played games and had a great time. It was Christian's first plane ride and he did GREAT!!! He slept most of the time on both flights and while I worried before each flight, I had no reason to. I have a great sling I bought from my friend Kim and wore him through the airport with ease!

I didn't get as many pictures as I should have, but here's just a few of our trip.

Christian and I wearing the sling

My sister Marcia and her son Brycen holding Christian

Christian with his younger cousin Lance

Brycen and Jackson

My brother Marc and his son Lance

Lance - sleeping like a baby!

Winter weather! (although nothing compared to what they are getting this weekend)