Happy Sibling Day

April 10, 2015

I have been so fortunate to have 3 siblings that I not only love because we are related, but that I actually enjoy being real friends with. The older we've gotten, the more blessed I feel. I so wish we all lived close together, but cherish the times we do get to spend together.

It is so fun and special for me to watch as these two grow up and show each other so much love and support. Bug is so helpful and truly loves her little brother. Bub idolizes her and tries to do and say everything she does. They've started to really enjoy playing with each other and while of course they fight, the happy times more than make up for the bickering. I am so excited to see how they become even closer the older they get and continue to love and support one another.

Duck lips. His latest, I am over this face. 

Hurray for warmer weather

April 8, 2015 

We had such a cold winter (for Houston anyway), and it's seemed to drag on forever! Thankfully, the heat is starting to return. I know I will be hating the humidity come July and August, but for now I am just happy to be able to get out of the house.

Somebody wasn't having it.

Good weather means lots of park time again. Specifically after / during Pumpkin's ballet class. Bug is obsessed with the big kid swings, and is somewhat learning how to pump herself. She mostly just wants to be pushed though :). Bub is a crazy little guy, very aggressive and I have to make sure he doesn't hit / push / punch / scream at any poor soul who accidentally gets in his way. Oy. Hopefully this phase is short lived.

You sit here mama.

Bug is such a little momma and loves to teach and help her brother. She was so sweet with him and her scooter.

An eventful Saturday

This past Saturday was very eventful to say the least. We started out with a trip to Memorial Park (or the Green Park, as Pumpkin likes to call it). Both kids love this park, and when I have an extra set of hands (in this case AJ) it makes keeping track of them both much less stressful since it's pretty big and has no fences to keep Bubba in :)

After the park, we stopped by River Oaks donuts for the obligatory Saturday Donut run. Bug nearly died of excitement as they had a purple donut. Seriously, she screamed in joy. All the workers laughed at her enthusiasm. I anticipate her requesting to go there from now on lol.

After a quick stop off at Costco and Honey Baked to get food for Easter dinner, we returned home to listen to conference and enjoy a picnic on the back patio. 

For the past few weeks AJ has been researching minivans. Not because our family is growing anytime soon, but because our current brood makes it so we can't take anyone with us if we currently go anywhere (poor Brianne was smooshed in the back to Galveston last week and I'm sure her hip went numb!). During the kids nap time, AJ pumped his search up a notch and before I knew it he had negotiated a new minivan and trade in for my CR-V. As soon as the kids were awake we schlepped them down the 45 minutes or so to the middle of nowhere to save a few thousand dollars and after 3 hours of waiting for the slowest sales team, we had a new van, had traded in our old car and were off to dinner. 

He woke up early from his nap in such a good mood so we were playing outside while we waited for AJ to get back so we could go pick up the new car.

He saw a plane. He loves planes so much.

He is obsessed with cookie monster. Here he is saying "Cookie!! Om nom nom!!"

To help pass the time, we let him sit in the drivers seat and 'drive' this has proved to be a huge pain however, as now every time we get in the car he throws a huge fit when i won't let him drive.

This is the face of a kid who just waited 3 hours mostly patiently for the sales people to get there act together and finally take our money so we could leave.

So far I like the extra space and the potential for taking people with me on little road trips. Bug is in love with the car and has been telling all sorts of random strangers about our new car and every time we get in she gets all happy and says, "I'm so glad we got this new car. It is so wonderful." She particularly loves the fact that she can shut her door on her own by simply pulling the lever (she will tell you all about it).

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Brianne come to visit

We were so happy to get a visit from Andrew and Brianne a few weeks ago for their spring break. Andrew has the energy of a small child and was able to thoroughly wear both kids out through hours of playing. We spent nearly 2 hours the first morning alone playing at the park.

Taking advantage of the extra hands, we also took a trip down to the beach at Galveston. Both kids had a great time swimming with Andrew and I again enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to get wet :)

Because no trip to visit us in Houston is complete without a trip to Chuy's, we of course had to take Andrew and Brianne as well. It happened to be Chuy's 25th anniversary as well so we also got to get some pretty memorable photo booth pictures. Apparently Bub was not feeling it at all, but Pumpkin was all over it and even hammed it up with AJ. (as a side note, she LOVED her unicorn face painting and cried when it washed off in the tub that night).

Thursday, we braved the rain and headed out to the zoo. Thankfully the rain held off until after we left, so we were able to see the favorites (Elephants, monkeys, carousel and of course the ducks) with Andrew and Brianne before the rain came.

Before Andrew and Brianne had to leave on Friday, we spent another day at the park (but not before I took advantage of the extra hands, and lens and drug them out to the Bluebonnets). I love the pictures Brianne captured, it's so rare I get to be in any so it's nice to have a few.