a bonnet

does it get any cuter than this?

instagram photo dump

Just a little Friday night instagram photo dump over here today :) 

Monday, I took the car for a car wash (to use my free car wash coupon I got when I got the oil changed and because with stage 2 water restrictions there is pretty much only one day a week you can wash your car and I always manage to miss it) Once washed I finally added our LSU sticker to the back window and these little family stickers my aunt sent us. Think it shows where our loyalties are? Micah wouldn't let me get away with not adding the dog either. :)

The kids are loving their sandbox in the backyard. If it would quit raining (yes I did just say we were on water restriction due to a drought for the past year and yet this week it's rained every day starting the night I got the car washed - go figure)

It's teacher appreciation week (here is what we did for most of Abby's teachers) but I didn't think her pe coach would like the flowers as much but he is usually drinking a coffee every morning while he does the crossing guard job in the parking lot so we got him a starbucks gift card... and even though it's been years since I had a frappacino (usually get a iced chai if I'm getting a rare starbucks treat) the mocha cookie crumble just sounded too good not to try. 

I took Abby out on a mommy-daughter date to pick out flowers for her teacher gifts and left Micah and Lexie home with Daddy. He saw Micah sitting at the table looking at Abby's nail polish.... just didn't realize he was actually painting his nails. 

Sweet girl and I got her dressed for her 4 month photo shoot. 

When Alexis joined our family we started slacking on the whole evening playroom clean up time. This week we've finally started doing it again. The first couple nights were rough - the first night it was even abandoned and early bedtimes were had by some very tired kids instead. Yesterday and today however Abby and Micah were super helpers and we got it all picked up in no time! So proud of them. Tonight Abby didn't even mind starting before Micah and I (as I was helping him put all his clothes back in his drawers since he had removed everything to get pjs.) 

Today we got the exercauser out of the closet and put together for little Lexie. She seemed to enjoy it... not as much as Micah did though. He climbed in and spent more time sitting in it than Lexie did (she was ready for a nap.) 

Hope ya'll have a great weekend! 

teacher appreciation

First I have to say thank you to pinterest because there are so many cute teacher appreciation gift ideas on there! I did a little gift each day this week for teacher appreciation. 

Monday - glitter: "Thanks for making our class sparkle" 

Tuesday - Chips a hoy: "Thanks for making me one smart cookie" 

Wednesday - pens: "Thanks for being the 'write' teacher for me" 

Thursday - sharpies: "Thanks for making our class 'sharpies' "

and Friday - I have a little something for all Abby's teachers so her kinder teacher and for her art, music, librarian, computer and pe teachers. 

While Abby was at school Micah and I went to Target and picked up some pots from the dollar store. While Micah played I took out the silhouette and cut out some quick decoration for the pots to personalize them. After school I took Abby to pick some flowers to put in the pots. Since the rain had stopped (for the moment - we finally get fun play things for the backyard and it rains all week!) we headed to the back porch to plant the flowers.

Even Lexie joined in and enjoyed being outside while we planted the flowers.

Micah got more into the planting that Abby did. For a girl who likes to dig for rolly pollys and snails in the backyard, she didn't want to get her hands dirty from the potting soil. Micah had no problem helping out with that part!  

 

She did help did the hole to put the flowers in the pot and then she gave them each a little bit of water.

I think they look pretty cute!

 A little printable with "Thank you for helping Abby bloom" finished them off. Simple, easy and inexpensive so that I could do something for all her teachers.

Alexis: 4 months

Hard to believe it but this sweet peanut is already 4 months old. She's such a content, sweet baby! 

Last month she found her hands and has continue to love to put them in her mouth this month. She's also found her feet though and will hold onto them often when she is on the floor.  She enjoys laying on the floor and watching Abby and Micah play but she also gets tired of laying down and wants to sit up. 

 She'll grab and hold a toy for a short time and usually tries to eat it as well. :) I don't think she's quite ready for food yet... meaning she isn't grabbing food off my plate yet. We held off until 5 months with Abby (and only gave them to her then because she wouldn't take a bottle) and 5.5 months with Micah until he grabbed a roll off Daddy's plate to gnaw on. So we'll hold off a while long with Alexis too. Plus just nursing is much easier than dealing with food.

She started rolling belly to back soon after she turned 3 months even though I said I didn't think she was close but she still doesn't do it on a consistent basis just every once in a while. No rolling from back to belly yet. We are about to pull out the exercauser for her as she's ready for it and enjoyed it at the gym. She also likes to stand while you hold her on your lap.

We don't have our 4 month appointment until the end of the month so I don't know exact stats yet. She can still fit into 0-3 clothes though they are starting to get a little small but not a squeeze yet, though we mostly wear 4-6 month clothes. You are starting to look a little chunky without clothes on though... or at least daddy says so.

Shark party!

Micah's 3rd birthday was May 5th (Cinco de Mayo.) Since it fell on a Saturday this year he got to have his party on his actual birthday. Hard to believe my little guy is already 3! 

 We started the morning with opening his presents from us.  He was very excited about his gifts - and I think he really likes his toy story figure set. He also got a 'big boy' bike from my parents - a balance bike. However he's such a little guy that he needs about another inch to be able to touch the ground while riding it so to him it's still a little 'scary.' 

 Then we went about the whirlwind that is party set up. No matter how prepared I think I might be the night before a party the morning of always seems so busy! Beau set up this sandbox he had built for the kids and I filled up the water table for the younger kids that would be coming. In the sandbox I put some shark teeth for the kids to dig for and find. 

 Uncle Jeremy came and the kids were excited to see him. Even Lexie gave him some cuddles! 

 Then the main party feature - the water slide. With two summer birthdays it seemed like a good deal to pick this up when it was on sale at the HEB grand opening. It was a hit! 

I also had a game of drop the shark in the tank which they all seemed to enjoy - and they got their own set to take home as a party favor.

 Then it was inside for cupcakes and singing happy birthday to Micah. 

(Thanks Wendy for this picture)

I think Micah really had a great party and fun time with his friends. He's still telling me about his party and that he's 3 now. 

Micah's birthday weekend

Friday night, my parents, Gigi and Pops, came into town which thrilled Abby and Micah! Saturday was Micah's 3rd birthday and we woke up early and went right into party prep mode getting everything set up and food prepared. Then our friends arrived for a very fun shark party. More on that in another post. We were wiped and relaxed, watched some LSU baseball (I'm a curse though and since it was on tv where I could watch they, of course, lost.) Then Lexi and I went to Church and worked in the nursery. While I was there Abby and Micah headed to Bass Pro with Gigi and Pops to look at boats. We ended Micah's birthday with hamburgers and milk shakes at the new fudruckers near by us. Yum! 

Sunday morning, since Beau was working Saturday evening, we went out to breakfast all together. We went to Mimi's Cafe, I'd been there once before but Beau hadn't. He now loves it and claims he's going to stop there for breakfast on the way home from work often. Ha! Lexie and Abby were being pretty cute at breakfast. (Micah was a little grumpy until he got some food in his belly.) 

I'm trying to get more pictures of me with my kids... instead of always being behind the camera. Though Abby and Micah wanted little to do with me when Gigi and Pops are in town. Lexie still thinks I'm best though. :)

After a quick run to Target for some small teacher appreciation gifts and some play/cleaning time we headed outside. I wanted to let Micah practice on his new 'big boy' balance bike but he wasn't in the mood for that. It's a little tall for him (though it looks tiny!) and he can only reach on his tiptoes. So we ended up driving around in the mini instead. Lexie hung out shaded in the stroller - and actually did really well - so far she much prefers the single since she can face me but I want her to enjoy this double because it's much more shaded and will be necessary for the zoo and Sea World this summer. 

After lunch we headed out back and played on the water slide again before we put it away. Lots of fun to be had here! I sat and watched for the most part but I did go down the slide a couple times - seriously fun stuff here!  (I'm sure the neighbor who was on the porch next door thought I was crazy though!) It's going to be a fun summer! I can't wait for the pool to warm up just a little more so we can swim - it's probably still just a tad cold right now so I'm giving it another week (or two depending on how much of the rain we get that they are predicting right now) Micah does start swim lessons in 2 weeks. 

Lexie even joined us when she woke up from her nap. The water was a little chilly for her taste so I just used a little to keep her from getting to hot but she stayed pretty shaded as well. We did put on her darling swim suit (well one of her darling suits - too many cute ones so she's got several for the summer - but she will almost certainly need them in two different sizes with how long our summer is)

We finished off the day with a picnic dinner and movie for some tired little ones. All in all a wonderful weekend. I think it's the best one we've had in a while!

busy, busy day

Party prep is exhausting work ya'll. I think it will be worth it though. I have a very excited almost 3 year old for his shark party. We headed to hobby lobby and then by the new HEB. I can't believe I'm saying this but I love the new HEB (it's our local grocery store - pretty much the only option besides driving ll the way across town to the one Whole Foods or one Sprouts) Our new one is so pretty and has tons of new things. They have new, much easier to push truck buggies too. 

Oh and they have giant metal chickens. Beyonce anyone?? 

After lunch and naptime I got out the Silhouette to cut out some sharks for Micah's party... and since I had it out I decided to work on this project for the playroom as well. Alexis had other plans though and it took 3 times as long as I planned. She was a little out of sorts today poor thing - not wanting to sleep when she needed it mainly.

The big kids went outside to blow bubbles and I filled up the water table (to stop them from trying to play in the dog's water bowl - yuck!) Apparently playing with the water table is not as fun as having a water fight using the water table toys. They were both soaking wet in no time. I think Abby at least is maybe out growing the water table aspect of it as this is our third summer with it. Micah still plays with it when she's in school (though only a month left before she's out for the summer!)

I made them some quick popsicles with the zuko - love this thing! No wait time. These were very simple - cut up strawberries in diluted apple juice. 

I managed to get Lexie to sleep after nursing her again and carrying the swing downstairs (not as easy task - glad I skipped the in the morning or I might have been too sore to do that since it was a body pump class day) and finished my new playroom art. I just need to print some new pictures of the kids playing to put up in there and rearrange them all. 

Since I was distracted with a fussy baby I didn't get dinner prepped by the time I needed to get it cooked for dinner so we had a quick simple dinner instead and then off to bed for the littles. Now I guess I should go clean up from the little hurricanes and make lots of tiny shark fins. 

Menu Monday

So it's back to meal planning for me. A friend introduced me to this neat website and app called Food on the Table that has tons of simple recipes. I like simple! It's easily broken down and you can search by type of food, type of cooking (crockpot for instance), and you can even search by what's on sale at your local store you want to shop at. That site combined with pinterest has made me look forward to this week of meals. I found some simple meals I think we'll really enjoy and threw in a few staples we haven't had in a while. And yes you'll notice as you look at my menu we like chicken - that's what easiest for me to cook, especially on evenings Beau doesn't eat with us, hard to mess up and what the kids eat best!

So here's what we are having/had (I start my meal plan from Friday because I usually grocery shop on Thursday or Friday morning)

Friday (grocery shopping day) - Mac & cheese for kids and cook meals (chicken bacon ranch taquitos and buffalo chicken in the crockpot for sandwiches) for Beau for work lunch/dinners. Leftovers for me.

Saturday (Bible class in the evening) - spaghetti and meatballs

Sunday - glazed chicken in the crockpot

*so this was wasn't terrible but not something I'd do again... but hey I tried something different. 

Tuesday - Grilled sweet and spicy bacon chicken

Wednesday - lime and cilantro whole chicken (but going to try it in the crockpot)

Thursday -  hamburgers

Friday (again grocery day & house cleaning party prep) - homemade pizza

Saturday - Micah's birthday! 

week in recap

This week started out pretty normally. School for Abby, gym time for me (Micah and Alexis) and the normal errands to run. Our errands this week consisted of getting ready for a certain little boy's 3rd birthday party. He's super excited about his party... And honestly I am too. I think it just might be the best party I've thrown yet ... well will throw.

Wednesday morning Micah woke up wanting to go on the potty. So I declared it potty bootcamp day. He's been so close for so long but refused to do #2 in the potty so we held off a little while. We finally had some success and have had 4 full days fully in big boy underwear and not pooping in them! Yay!

Thursday I took Alexis and ran to HEB (but not our normal one because our usual HEB was pretty empty in preparation for the opening of the new one the next day. The 'big' two have been pretty wild this week and I was happy to escape the crazies for a little bit even if it was just to run get more milk. Lucky for me this one has the best snowcone stand around in the parking lot so I got a snowcone and hid in the car eating it before coming inside the house and enjoying some peace and quiet. The kids will get plenty of snowcones this summer but it was too close to dinner for one that day.

Friday was a school holiday for the Battle of the Flowers and the grand opening of our new HEB. We were all up early (thanks to my early bird Micah) so we hit the store bright and early for groceries and to check out the fancy new store. It's super nice and I am excited to shop there once it's not so crowded!

Yesterday afternoon was I cooked meals for Beau for his busy weekend, Lexie was on the floor in her bumbo and Abby started pushing her around the kitchen. I was too thrilled with this game but Lexie was giggling about it.

This morning Abby woke up with pink eye :( It's not bugging her and no gunk which made me think really hard about it being pink eye or not. It's just a bummer because it means we are stuck home since I don't want to share germs. I'm hoping it clears up quickly and doesn't spread! It's very mild so far thank goodness. If it spreads it's going to make the final party errands I need to run hard to get done next week. Lots of hand washing going on between the frequent potty trips and the pink eye!

Hope ya'll are having a great weekend!