Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all you fabulous moms out there!!! I love this kind of day, I get to sleep late. Does 8AM constitute late?????? I remember a day, about 5 1/2 years ago, that I would NEVER have thought that 8am was sleeping in. Fast forward 5 1/2 years and I'll take it!! I hear the door opening and Christian whispering very loudly at Caroline saying, "don't disturb mom". She ignored him anyway, and wanted to curl up in my bed to watch a movie. Very sweet, I must say. Then I smell something coming from the kitchen. Smells a lot like Starbucks, wonder why?????


Love it!!!! My very own Espresso maker. Even better, Randy found the recipe for a white chocolate mocha, my absolute favorite, and made it for me. Good job, honey.

With my espresso kicked in, we were off to a picnic in the park with my mom and sister. Hot dogs, hamburgers, playground, soccer, baseball, it was a fun time for everyone.

Mad Hatter Tea Party

Have I mentioned lately, that it just makes my day to have a little girl???? My favorite part of each day is getting to dress her up and fix her crazy curly hair with the biggest bow I can find. My second greatest joy is taking her to do girly girl things. Saturday, was just that kind of day. The country club hosted an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea Party!!! You were to wear a pretty dress and a hat, it just doesn't get any more girly than that!! Caroline wore her fancy nancy dress and we took the hat but she wanted a bow instead, no matter, it was fabulous.

Tea Party

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Not as Advertised

We have to stop reading brochures and internet websites!! We had a Schlieker family gathering this weekend in Bryan and the kids had Monday off for Cinco De Mayo. I know, we are not sure why either, but anyway. So, we wanted to find a camp ground that was within a reasonable drive to Bryan, but also had lots of amenities to entertain the children. We found a "deluxe" castaways RV Park & Campground on Lake Conroe. Sounded great, boat rental, fishing, clubhouse and activity center, playground, park store, miniature golf, baseball diamond, etc... You get the picture.

We drive up and we are so sure that can't actually be the location, we drive past it looking for the the "advertised" version. We drive down, end up in a mobile home neighborhood, can't get turned around because we are pulling the hummer behind the motorhome, have to unhook the hummer so we can't get out of these people's front yards. I'm not kidding. All the time, realizing that we did indeed pass the park we were going to.

Here's what we found. A playground that is rusted over with spider webs all over it, the clubhouse and activity center was the office for the park. I inquired about renting a boat and they suggested that I look in the yellow pages. We never did find the minature golf, but the baseball diamond was indeed available. If that was the "deluxe" park, I'd hate to see the "average" park.

It was a Good Friday

Spring is in full swing and Good Friday is here. That, of course, means the kids are out of school. What shall we do with the little munchkins to entertain them and also wear them out for the day???????? Oh, I know, let's go swimming, in April!!



Yes, it was 70 degrees with a north wind and they didn't shiver a bit. Codie, put in a pool this winter, so she heated it up to 90 and off they went jumping, diving and generally acting like monkeys.





Didn't think about sunscreen, because it was cool and breezy. Christian got a really bad one on his arms, face and neck. Miss Muffett on the other hand, didn't get anything, but a beautiful tan color. Oh yes, my friends, she's going to be tan, with curly blonde locks, blue eyed, and tall. I'm in DEEP trouble, I think I should just go ahead and chain her to her room now!!!

Still here, I promise

Christian the always outspoken and never boring child. We are at a t-ball game, he says, I need to go potty. You all know how happy I am when I hear those words from his mouth, so we sprint to the bathroom. (one day he is going to HATE me when he realizes I spent a lot of time on this blog talking about his potty issues, still I press on) He refuses to go into the girls bathroom anymore, so I stand outside the men's room hoping that he's okay and that there are no creepy men in there. He comes out half dressed, because he hasn't mastered the baseball belt quite yet. Then as loud as he can he says, mom I just saw a brown pee pee!!!! There are people EVERYWHERE, because the bathrooms are right beside the concession stand!!!! I can only imagine what he said while in the bathroom looking at the brown pee pee.

This morning we are on our way to school and both kids have an easter egg hunt scheduled today. The sky is a little dark and here come the sprinkles of rain. They start chanting, rain rain go away come again another day. Over and over for the 20 minute ride to school. Then Christian breaks out in prayer, "dear god and jesus, please don't let it rain today on our egg hunt, please please".

Memories

When I had dreams of becoming a mom, I thought about the memories that I wanted to create with my children. I thought about the good talks we would have, the neat places we would visit together, the shopping trips that Caroline and I would take, where she would love everything that I do, you know like a Disney Land commercial on TV. About a week after we brought Christian home, I realized this isn't Disney Land!!

Example, an email went around a couple of weeks ago and children around the age of 5 were asked, what does love mean??? The answers were thought provoking, tender and amazingly mature for a child of that age. So, I sent out an email to my girlfriends and said let's all ask our boys what love means and share their answers with each other, again trying to believe in the fantasy. When I asked Christian, he made some sort of potty humor statement, which is his go to answer on just about anything these days. If it begins with "poop poop butt", he's all about it.

I have to say, that the reality of my day to day life slaps me in the face more than I would like to admit. However, occasionally a little piece of that fantasy comes to life. Unfortunately, I wasn't home for this one, but it is certainly worth sharing. When Christian and I were in Paris, I bought him an Eiffel Tower for his room, so that he could always remember our trip together. Well, tonight Ms. Botello is babysitting and she noticed the tower statue in his room and when she picked it up she saw a switch on the bottom, turned it on and it lit up just like the real Eiffel Tower in Paris. We could see the Tower shining brightly each night from Peggy's balcony and Christian loved it. When she flipped the switch tonight it lit up his whole room and he said, "now, I will always remember Paris."

I tell you, that boy takes me to the highest high's and the lowest low's, but I can't remember any low's right now, only that I adore his charm and loveable personality. I can't wait to make more memories with him!!

Miss you, Peggy, Jaylee, Aiden and Brandon!!

Willy the Dog

Many of you have inquired lately about Willy, the dog. Well, we had to return Willy to Santa because he is scared to death of our kids. The only time he would go anywhere near C & C is if they had a treat for him. If they approached him he would run the other way. He took to hiding behind the couch and any other place that they couldn't get to . The final straw was when he starting hiding behind the dryer!!! Clearly, Willy was unhappy with us and needs to be in a family without children.

Randy returned Willy to the breeder one day while the kids were in school, and we broke the news to the kids. We thought that Caroline would just have a complete breakdown, but we were so wrong. Christian cried and cried and cried. His sorrow came from the gut and just about broke our hearts. He still talks about him every once in a while and we are getting the full court press to get another dog, so we probably will. Caroline never skipped a beat, that just goes to show you that Willy never warmed up to her, because she LOVES doggies. So, if you see the kids, DON'T ASK ABOUT WILLY!!!!

Bonjour

Yes, I know I have broken my New Year's resolution to blog once per week. It's been about 4 weeks, but Christian and I went on a fabulous trip to Paris!!! We have some friends that used to live in Arlington and were transferred with Nestle to Paris, so we cashed in some of Randy's miles and off we went. Sometimes all that traveling he does, comes in handy. I was a little bit worried about taking Christian on a 10 hour flight, but let me just say, he was a ROCK STAR both ways. Honestly, I thought he must have been switched with a calm child during the security check at the airport, because he was THAT good.

I discovered a few things while away.
#1 Christian doesn't speak english, he speaks Texan, with a serious hick accent!!
#2 Disney land is NOT the "happiest place on earth"
#3 French wine is REALLY good, but only a second runner up to french bread and french butter with sea salt!!!
#4 I love going out to my garage and getting into my car and driving wherever I want to go
#5 I can survive without my cell phone
#6 Personal space took on a whole new meaning

The family we went to see is the Rice Family. Brandon, Peggy, Jaylee and Aiden



Peggy is awesome, Christian and Jaylee played beautifully together. Roxanne Botello went with us, she was the teacher that Christian and Jaylee had at CU together and we have become good friends.



We toured all the usual hot spots, the eiffel tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Luxemburg Park, etc... but the absolute best was watching Christian attempt to speak french to various french people. Just image the most country bumpkin accent your've ever heard, add to that wild random moves of a five year old boy and you might come close to getting the picture. All that was missing were the overalls!!!

Everything in France is tiny. The tables, the elevators, the chairs, the apartments, the kitchens, the washers, I mean everything!!! Because the tables are very close together and you must move the table out in order to sit behind it, we had incidents!! I do not think we managed to have one meal without breaking something. Thankfully, Peggy cooked for us several times.

Here is a little glimpse of our trip:

Paris

Make a Smilebox slideshow