Max is 4 !!!!

Monkey Boy Max is 4 years old!!! His birthday was the 12th of July but his celebrating started July 3rd and I think ended yesterday. Way to stretch it out. He partied at Grandma Mouse and Paw Paw's when they took him and all the cousins to Chuck E Cheese and had a Buzz Lightyear Cake. He got spoiled with lots of presents and fun. Thank you to everyone that came. I wish I had pics but maybe I can get some from my mom.
He also thinks that Aunt Jan's 4th of July swim party was for his birthday too. Well there was cake and lots of friends and fun, so maybe it was a little for him.
Then this week Grandma Nana came for a visit and took him shopping for his birthday and got more cool presents and then we made a green race car cake and had another mini party. So I'm all partied out now and don't want to do it again until October when it's MY TURN!!

I was going to spend some time and make a cool race car cake, but he wanted to help and it was for him anyway, so this is what we came up with.
He wanted to eat it all but was gracious enough to share a little. Red velvet cake, green cream cheese frosting, and rocky road ice cream--what a combination!!

We didn't have candles so we thought sparklers would work just as well--and they did!!

Happy Birthday Buddy!! We love you!

More House Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from my house. Enjoy!!

This is our sunroom. It's 300 sq feet and airconditioned so it's a great place for the boys to play "outside" when it's rainy or way too hot (both happen quite regularly here). We love this room!

This is our den. Not a great pic of it though. We have since added a 55 gallon fish tank in the right corner and are looking for the right piece of art to hang over the mantle.


This is the gameroom upstairs. I keep most of the boys toys up here, but they do a great job of spreading them around the house b/c it would be too simple to just clean up one room!

This is Max's room. In the corner is his new train table and dresser and the far wall has two closets for him as well. The walls are painted Buzz Blaster Blue in honor of his hero Buzz Lightyear.

Zach's room is the same size as Max;s and just across the hall. We painted it a nice soothing Sand color which I want to use in a lot of the other rooms, but we will see in time what gets done.

I don't have pics of the master, the outside, or the apartment, but I will try to get some and put them up soon. Hope you enjoyed!!

New House

I am finally posting some pictures of our new house in Houston!!! Here are a few pics of the downstairs. If I get a chance tonight I will put some pics of the upstairs too. I need to get pics of the outside and the guest apartment so those won't be added till later.

Let me just say the I LOVE our house. It truly feels like our home and I hope and pray we can stay here for a LONG, LONG time. Sorry I haven't blogged so much lately. Things have been incredibly and ridiculously insane the last few months. Maybe I will blog about it one day or maybe I will just start from here and try not to look back. We shall see!This is our entry way and foyer. To the right is Jeff's office (too messy to take a pic) and to the left is the formal living room.

This is our formal living room and dining room. I bought some chairs for the living room and Jeff and I are debating over paint colors. So if we ever do anything with it, I'll let you know!!

One of my favorite rooms in the house--my walk in pantry. There is so much room in here I can't believe it. Plenty of room for storage so we never have to worry about running out of the necessities--like Diet Coke!!

This is the kitchen (well half of it). All new appliances! To the right is a space where we are putting in a little office nook for me so I don't have to share Jeff's office. There is also a laundry room to the right so I don't have to wash clothes in the garage anymore!!

This is the breakfast nook with a huge window behind it. The door opens to the deck in the backyard. There are a million windows in this house but this one is one of the biggest!

Well that's the start of the tour of our home. After I get the kiddos to bed I might get a chance to put up a few more pics. Stay tuned!!

1st Real Haircut

BEFORE

AFTER

WHAT DO YOU THINK??

Last Night with the Diablos

We went to our last Diablos baseball game last week. We will be moving soon and there are no more home games before we are gone. We have quite enjoyed going to the games over the last 4 years. It's a minor league team in a smaller stadium so it's very afforable and kid friendly. It's one of the highlights of our summers here. We went to this game with some friends who go to church with us and live down the street. There kids are the same age as our kids and play great together. We have enjoyed getting to know them and wish they had moved here longer ago so we could have done more things together. That's ok b/c we will meet again when Max marries their sweet little Lily. I just know it will happen!! Zach is just chillin out and waiting for mom to break out the cracker jacks and churros. He only comes to the games to eat!
Max had to wear a baseball hat to the game so everyone would tell him how handsome he was!!

Max and Lily posing with the mascot chicken. I still don't know why the Diablos mascot is a chicken, but whatever works!!

Florida 2010

We took a trip to the Florida coast at the beginning of May. The real reason behind the trip no longer matters, so we'll just call it a mini family vacation. We stayed at a beachfront hotel (which is the only way to do it with kids!) and my kids LOVE the beach. Me, not so much, but I guess I'm odd girl out. I love the sounds and smells, but hate sand and not crazy about saltwater. But anyway...

Since Jeff wasn't around much the first day we were there (long, unimportant story) I was a good, brave Mommy and took the boys to the beach myself. Kids require a whole lot of crap to go to the beach...buckets, shovels, towels, sunscreen...just to name a few things. So I got them ready and hauled all there junk out the the beach. It was worth it though b/c they had a blast.

Max was brave enough to run out into the water a little ways to get his feet wet. The water was still too cold to really swim though.
Zach tangled with the waves a little too boldly and decided he'd better stick to the sand. One of his smarter decisions I think.

Max became a sandcastle building expert by the end of the trip. He must get that from his dad.

We went to the pool a little later (again more changing of clothes and hauling of crap) but Zach decided he'd trying sunbathing over swimming.

Max stayed in the pool until I had to drag him out. He was freezing and turning blue, but kept insisting that the water was nice and warm and fine to play in. He brought his giant squirt guns and spent the afternoon trying "not" to squirt the other people around the pool. It was great b/c they were having a wedding just over the wall in the beachside pavillion and I was sure that Max was going to aim jsut right and hit the bride. That would have been perfect!

We will have to make it back to the beach this summer b/c my boys love it so much. I don't know that it will be in Florida, but I'm sure we'll figure something out.

NASA

On our mini vacation to Florida, we decided to go to the Kennedy Space Center and see the space rockets. Max LOVES spaceships, space rockets, rocket ships, whatever you want to call them and was SO excited to go. Unfortunately the trip turned out to be one of the most disappointing days of his life. He literally ran across the Rocket Garden toward the space rockets and shouted "So which one do I get to fly today?" Poor kid, I guess we forgot to mention that they were all for show. After he realized that he #1 could not fly them, #2 could not ride in them, and #3 could not even watch them blast off and "blow fire" he sighed heavily and then asked if this place had a playground or something else he could do. Even a $10 ice cream cone didn't make him feel any better about the day.

Gas for the Rental Car $3 a gallon

Price of Admission $80

IMAX Movie tickets Included

Ice Cream Cones $10

Crushing a Little Boy's Lifelong Dream Priceless

Way to go NASA!!

All these rockets and none of them fly???

I'm just here to be cute and follow my big brother around!

This is as close as the boys got to flying to the moon. Not a bad pic of their daddy though!

Yeah I was there. This was at the beginning when Max was gearing up to be an astronaunt.

The closest thing we have had to a family photo in quite some time. Help Aunt Erika!!