I'm not sure if this counts as snow but this is what we woke up to this morning, a wintry mix of sleet & snow on the houses and cars.
Micah thought it was so strange to drive the car while the ice was still on there.
We couldn't wait around for it to melt!
The houses across the sreet with their snow covered tops.
I am so excited that it's finally Christmas time, I love all the lights and decorations. Well, most of the decorations but I would love to find out why so many think decorating is throwing lights on their house whether they look good or actually fit on the house. We have neighbors that literally have a ball of lights sitting on their roof because they ran out of roof line to put the lights on. The strand just goes to the end of the gable and then piles on the roof in a ball...seriously??
I'm lucky, Zac lives for Christmas lights and he was crazy enough this year to decorate our house, the entire front elevation! I think the top gables are actually a 3rd story! He did confess after finishing that next year he'll figure out how to anchor himself for safety! I'm going to try to take a few more pictures but you get the idea!
Here is the front of the house.
Here is backyard with the finished deck, stained and with a cover that's not showing. The lights are awesome in the evenings.
And last....here are the stockings hung on the mantel. Ignore the toys at the bottom of the picture!
I am finally updating a few pictures. We've been very busy the past few weeks, as always. We were in Dallas for the week before Thanksgiving and then brought Zac's mom home with us to celebrate. Zac's dad got here on Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful meal and fun just spending time together.
My parents have a gator for the kids to drive while they're visiting. This visit, Emmie realized she is just barely tall enough to push the pedal and make it go. Micah is just crazy enough to ride in the back while she drives.
Here is my cute little dainty girl eating her donut!
For some unknown reason, my kids love to play in my mom's closet under her stairs. They were trying to get to the back to play with the baby swing. My mom says the closet was just organized but I am just not seeing it! I guess I should keep my kids out of there or lose them!
Here is Emmie showing my mom things in a toy catalog. She demanded to sit on this chair in their kitchen and then wanted to be covered with a blanket and read. She choose the toy catalog and when to pointing...I think we already have what she's choosing!
For a few months Emmie has been jumping and within the last month she's started really getting of the ground. She's crazy and loves jumping but it's so not normal for a 16 month old! Micah didn't start jumping until around 2 years, something about muscle development in their calves. I guess Emmie has crazy strong calves because she's jumping around the house. I'm not usually one of those moms that say my kid is advanced or special but this is just so cute that she can do it, I took a video of she & Micah jumping today. Sorry about the music in the background, tv radio stations play junk sometimes! And sorry about the closeness of the video, they kept getting closer with each jump.
Now on to other things. We've had a busy week. We had Rosey & Isaac over yesterday to decorate cookies for fall. I made orange & black icing for them to decorate with and of course sprinkles! I had planned to make sugar cookies and let them use cookie cutters to cut out the cookies but that failed miserably. Here the kids are decorating and enjoying the cookies. It was a fun time, the kids play SO well together, Rosey & I get to sit and talk about grown-up stuff without the kids interrupting! It's been so nice to have them come over after Elijah goes to school and they are a huge reason that we love SA so much!
Emmie kept scraping the icing off with her finger and licking it. She eventually ate both cookies after she realized I wasn't adding anymore icing!
Micah eating his cooking, he loves sprinkles!
Isaac decided to make a cookie sandwich with tons of sprinkles. He did enjoy it but I'll spare you the picture of him chewing! Here's a cute one of him.
It's finally fall and we are enjoying our new deck. The kids spend so much time outside, playing in the sandbox, climbing on the play on the slides and riding the tricycle! Micah absolutely loves riding in circles on the deck! The weather has been so nice that most of the time they're out there the back door is open and they come and go as they please. The deck has improved the backyard so much and removed the most dangerous part of our sloped yard! Zac spent a few hours this weekend finishing the stain/sealant on the deck. The deck looks so nice now and Zac's mom should be mailing the awning for the top soon and I'm excited to see everything together and finished!
Yesterday was a busy day around our house. Zac & I both had errands to run so we decided to each take a kid and get to it. This is a big deal around our house, Zac usually doesn't run errands with kids, he usually stays home with them so I can do it quickly or we run them all together. We've been trying to make sure Micah gets one on one time with Zac more regularly now that he's getting older. So...once all the errands were done it was onto lunch. We tried a restaurant called Chuy's and it was good. I got the enchilada special with a tomatillo sauce which was great and their salsa was also excellent...I'd go back again! Then we headed home to rest before going to Keira's 1st birthday party (K's mom is my cousin Amanda). During rest time Rosey called and asked me to ask Zac to go to the Spurs game with Jimmy! Stay with me, I know it seems like jr. high, but the boys don't usually talk, they let us keep their schedules! Zac was excited and would leave the party just in time for the game.
We went to Keira's house to celebrate her first birthday in grand style! They had a bounce house, pinata and all kinds of fun things for the kids to do and served food! Score...it was a great time for everyone. Micah had fun playing with all the kids and both Em & Micah loved the cake and candy from the pinata. Amanda had so filled the pinata that my kids came home with 2 bags of candy. I noticed her kid was absent during the candy activity...seems suspicious to me! I think I might hand out the candy at Halloween if Zac doesn't eat it all before then.
Just before the party ended Jimmy called to meet up with Zac & asked if he wanted to bring Micah too. I told Zac he could do whatever he wanted to but that Micah would probably love it. Well, he decided to take Micah to his first Spurs game! I'm not sure Micah knew what basketball was before the game he just knew if Elijah liked it had to be fun! As any good dad would, he fed Micah popcorn and sprite for dinner and they had a blast. Micah came home exhausted, fell into bed and tolerated me while I put on his jammies in his sleep! I've rarely seem him so tired but he said it was so fun! I enjoyed the quiet after I put Em to bed, an evening to myself was wonderful.
Today was quiet around here until, Zac finished the deck and watched some of the Cowboys' game. He spent a lot of time yelling at the Cowboys. It figures the Texans suck until we move, the Cowboys are awesome until we move and can actually see every game and then they suck. Go figure!
I bought a pumpkin this morning at Wal-mart for the kids & Zac to carve. Micah decided he wanted a scary face so he could "run from the room screaming". He's so funny...who knows where he came up with that one. The kids were too chicken to actually touch the messy pumkin insides for enjoyed watching Zac work. We named the pumkin Jack, of course! Here are a few pictures of the kids & Zac working on the pumkin.
The kids watching Zac cut the top off.
Emmie pointing out the eyes on Jack.
I'm not sure what was going on in the picture, but it looks like Em is saying "Jack stinks"!
Cute picture of the kids with Jack.
Micah hugging Jack.
Both kids hugging Jack...NOT fighting over him.
Emmie is now 16 months old and surprised me yesterday by wanting to go pee in the potty. She kept going in there and wanting to take her pants off so I figured what's the harm? Well folks, she did it, she peed on the potty and not just once or twice...three times! Now I am not crazy thinking she's ready to train, but I will make sure I put her on there when she wants to try. We'll see maybe it will be easier than Micah.
Not much exciting is going around here. We went to MOPS today and the kids did pretty well. Micah did great of course and reported to have had "so much fun"! Emmie cried when I dropped her off but she made it the entire time and her teacher said she did well. She was crying by the time I got there but she was really tired and ready to go home!
Micah is still taking swim lessons on Tuesday mornings and he loves it! I love the school because they are awesome about teaching him the techniques to swimming before he can actually swim. He is learning all the parts to it and when he's ready to take off he'll do great!
That's all the news I can think of right now but I'll be back as I think of things!
We had corn on the cob the other night and Emmie loves corn so I cut hers off the cob. Once she has cleared her ENTIRE plate of all food she was still whining for my corn. I decided to let her try to take a bite and she LOVED it. Here she is eating it right off the cob and watch she "winks" now and does it at Zac.
I am finally finding time to update the blog since our family vacation. My computer is still at the shop. The motherboard was bad and they replaced it only to find out after I'd picked it up that the right side of the keyboard didn't work and I had to take it back. Upon taking it back they figured out that the new motherboard had a bad port which was keeping the keyboard from working properly! This is crazy, I just want my computer to work. The called the manufacturer (Dell) and were getting a new one and hopefully I'll get it back tomorrow. I never realized how much I loved my computer until I lost it and am forced to wait for Zac to finish with his or go up to our bedroom and use the desktop. I know it's not horrible but the desktop is very slow compared to my laptop and it's driving me crazy and making me not want to do anything on it. Enough complaining, but I am ready to have my computer back!
We spent last week at Canyon Lake with Zac's family, his parents, brother's family & grandparents. We usually spend the week at a lake house in Galveston but that had to be rescheduled at the last minute. Zac's dad found a house on Canyon Lake and it was a wonderful trip. We spent a lot of the week seeing the sights around New Braunfels & San Marcos and I left the week in awe of how many cool things there are to do within an hour of our house! For anyone who has not visited the Texas Hill Country you are missing out, it's simply beautiful. It reminds me of Durango, Colorado, hills, valleys and rivers. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousin Matthew and Zac's parents and I'm so thankful that Zac's grandparents are still able to travel to Texas and spend vacation with us so our kids get to know them and hopefully make enough memories with them they'll have their own memories of them.
There is not much else new around here. Emmie is finally growing more hair and I think it's adorable, especially after naps because it's often standing straight up in the air. I captured it on camera the other day...pictures to follow.
I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting to post about but I'll try to be better and post updates more often and when I think of things.
And now the pictures...
Emmie loving the batter from cheesecake! And "reorganizing" my coupons with a smile.
Family picture while hiking the dam at Canyon Lake.
Miss crazy hair upon waking from her afternoon nap! I guess she rolls around a little.
Micah & Granna roasting a marshmallow over the campfire.
Emmie hanging out at the campfire. She is signing more, as in more marshmallows please!
The boys "in jail" at the gates to the dam over Canyon Lake.
Micah is excited at the campfire but left proof of eating chocolate on his face.
Micah hanging in the tree overlooking the lake after our hike.
Micah swimming in the lake off the boat we rented, he loved jumping in and swimming around.
Granna, Micah & Matthew swimming near the boat.
Dad & Emmie swimming. She wasn't a big fan of it but loved sitting on the boat kicking her feet and splashing in the water.
Adorable family picture of Zac's parents & his grandpa (Papa) with the kids.
Only a few more pictures...you're almost done. We went to Zac's company party on Saturday afternoon and one of his friends was taking pictures and got a few great ones of the kids. These photos were taken by Jorge Moreno and I think he did a great job. Here's my favorite of Em.
Micah riding the pony.
Emmie taking her turn on the pony.
I am posting from our old desktop computer because my laptop will not turn on! I used it this morning and shut it and when I tried to turn it back on later it won't turn on. I am taking it this afternoon to be looked at and I'm praying it's not too expensive to fix but I'm worried about all my stuff on it! The computer is 15 months old and it's utterly ridiculous to me that it would stop working, it's maddening!! I can't update the blog from this computer with pictures so everyone will have to wait until my computer is fixed.
We're leaving for vacation on Saturday for our annual trip with Zac's family. We usually spend the week in a rented beach house in Galveston but that had to be moved this year so we're going to Canyon Lake for the week. I am very excited for a week of relaxation and fun with his family. The kids will have a blast and will get to play with Matthew and spend time with their Granna & Da & Zac's grandparents, Gran & Papa. I'll update when we return and it will hopefully be a picture overload.
We do not miss Houston at all, in fact we're very thankful that we live in SA now. We are enjoying watching the coverage of the storm with interest and knowledge of the area, but are thankful we're not in any danger or facing a long drive. We always take a week long vacation with Zac's family to the west end of Galveston for vacation, we're supposed to leave in 2 weeks so we're praying the house will be there but in all reality we won't be going this year! We're praying everything turns out well for our friends still in the area and thankful our family that lives there have left the area.
The deck is finished! Zac worked hard this weekend and finished the deck. We have to wait to stain it until the wood dries out completely and Zac's mom is getting the awning but we'll wait until it's stained to put it up. I am so excited and am loving sitting on the deck and enjoying the breeze!
While I was cooking dinner last night the kids were playing together in the cabinets. Micah likes to pretend that the cabinets are his car and get in and out so of course Emmie follows his lead and climbs right in. They had tons of fun until Em got her finger in the cabinet door. She calmed quickly but was very hesitant from then on!
I found a lady selling a skunk costume on Craigslist for a cheap and here is my little model with the top on. I stuck it on her before we left for MOPS this morning and she actually asked to put it on again when we got home! The bottom has a patch that says "little stinker", very appropriate!
I took the kids to a local petting zoo and farm yesterday. Rosey invited us to meet her & Isaac and her neighbors to play for the morning. The little farm was really fun and the kids had so much fun! There were ponies to ride, goats to pet and animals to chase. Micah & Emmie both rode the pony, Micah took a few turns and loved every second of it! The horse's name was Tootsie which he thought was really funny. I didn't get an pictures of Em riding the horse with my camera, hopefully I can get a copy from Rosey or maybe she'll post pictures!
Emerson loves animals so this was perfect for her. She loved petting the horse and got very excited about the goats. She did look at them funny when the goats starting making noises and "talking" to her. Luckily this time, no goat tried to eat her clothes.
There were also babies pigs that we got to feed with bottles and bunny rabbits and guinea pigs. Micah really wants a hamster and wanted to hold the guinea pigs but they weren't to hold, he did enjoy petting through the cage. Both kids got to feed the bunnies carrots. Em got so excited when the rabbit took the carrot from her! The kids also saw llamas, turkeys, roosters, chickens, geese and donkeys. They loved all the animals and listening to the sounds. Micah & Isaac found a teter-totter to play on and had tons of fun too! Here are pictures of the fun.
