Summer plans

Summer is coming and we have some weeks and weekends booking up quickly with VBS for both kids, swim lessons, a wedding and various other events. However there is still plenty of time to fill with fun. I've seen ideas on pinterest for having a 'plan' for each day and I'm thinking I'll try and follow that so the kids know what to look forward to. 

Source: somewhatsimple.com via Katie on Pinterest

One of the things on that list? Splashtown because my kids are waterbugs. You can find a coupon to save on your visit and more on our summer plans here. 

Pray for Oklahoma

My heart is heavy for those who lost loved ones in this awful disaster. I couldn't help but cuddle my littles a little longer last night as I'm sure many of ya'll did as well and cry for those who weren't able to last night.  We are keeping all those affected by this in our prayers. 

insta-lately

Happy Wednesday ya'll! It's begining to feel closer to summer after this abnormally cool spring we've had lately. Normally it's hot by now and we've been swimming for the past month, this year - I haven't even thought about going to the pool yet. I, however, made the mistake of letting my kids know the pool at the Y is open.... and now Abby and Micah changed into suits first thing after she got home from school wanting to go swim. I wonder how long they'll last in the water? 

Now a little of what we've been up to lately on instagram 

• Abby and Micah started with 'normal' animal sounds like woof and moo. This girl: roar for the dino and the alligator. 
• She looks like such a big girl playing sweetly with her baby doll. I love seeing and playing baby doll with my girls. 

• Being FOUR means that Micah can now climb the rock wall at the gym. He was so excited to give it a try the other day. I'm pretty sure they could just easily hoist him up there, he's so light! 
• We met friends to play at the park and ride bikes on the trail. It was perfect timing because Micah had just days before figured out how to ride his big boy bike. He was so excited to show his friends how he could ride. 

• This girl is worn out from all the playdates we've had lately. It's been so nice to see our friends and play with them often. She's also exhausted from her late night parties - molars are no fun. The past two nights she's been up until 10:30 not wanting to sleep (partly due to late naps but also due to molars) Even a little motrin didn't help get her to sleep earlier last night, at least it kept her from waking up every hour like she had the night before. 

What have you been up to lately? 

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sunday afternoon scenes

Mother's day afternoon we kept it low key around here. Beau had to work so since it was Mother's day I gave myself grace and we kept it casual with a movie for quiet time before a late lunch with Beau before he headed off to work. 

Lexie even joined in on the movie time for a little bit. (Tell me that ruffly bottom isn't one of the cutest things ever!)

She was mostly happy about having swiped Micah's leappad. She was content with pretending to play with it as long as it was making a little noise. I see either passing down sister's or one of her own come Christmas time. 

Then after naptime we head outside. I was finally able to convince Micah to pedal forward on his big boy bike - the brakes when you pedal backwards kept tripping him up since the trike doesn't do that. He was and still is so proud of himself for riding his big boy bike (he kept wanting everyone to look at him riding it this morning at the park!) 

I pulled out the water table for this little bit. Summer #4 with the water table and it's still a hit. She of course got all wet and we stripped down to her diaper because wet clothes were chilly in the shade and hint of wind. Just keeping it classy around here. She was giving me high tens and then clapping for herself. She's so stinking cute lately. I need to do an update on her with all her cuteness as of late. 

Then we headed in for an easy dinner, bath, books and bed. A simple but sweet Mother's day. 

kidecals

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post

Personalized Kids Name Labels:

Kidecals are an absolute must if you've got kids and hate losing their stuff. Label water bottles, clothing, books, toys, sports gear with their trendy and fun designs.  kidecals are crazy durable...dishwasher, washing machine AND dryer safe, and they don't damage surfaces. Love it.

Waterproof Labels:

The annoying thing about using a sharpie to label stuff is it eventually washes away - or non-water proof stickers that leave your sippy cups with sticky residue on them! Kidecals waterproof name labels are insanely durable and can stick to just about anything...from clothes to water bottles...and stay put through wash after wash after wash. Oh - and pool toys? Done and DONE.

Fun Mustache Stickers:

Kidecals fun Partystache stickers are great to use as drink markers, and the Mustache Chalkboard Stickers are a sassy way to label/organize anything in your pantry or craft room. (They're also fun for labeling foods or drinks at a potluck or party!)

Chalkboard Labels that you can write on:

Chalkboard labels are the easiest way to get organized fast without having to create new printed labels from scratch.  kidecals makes the prettiest designs, and their chalkboard labels are super durable and can even go through the dishwasher!

Daycare Labels:

If you have kids in daycare then you know how important it is to label EVERYTHING. kidecals daycare labels are not just super cute, they're dishwasher, washing machine and dryer safe, and stay put on anything from clothing, to baby's favorite lovey to sippy and snack cups.

As seen on the Today Show personalized clothing labels:

kidecals is such a fun site for personalized clothing labels! If you're getting ready to send your kids off to camp, you'll need to label everything. Labels HAVE to be waterproof and washing machine safe. kidecals clothing labels are crazy durable and I love their cute designs. They were even featured on the Today Show!

Camp Labels:

It's obvious kidecals is founded by a mother of two boys, because not only are kidecals designs amazingly cute er - "cool" for boys, they are super duper durable for all the stuff I need to label for camp. kidecals are dishwasher, washing machine AND dryer safe. They literally do not come off. Ever. kidecals makes the perfect camp labels for this mom, who is expecting her kids to return with every single thing she packed. (yeah right.)

And mom isn't left out either. How cute are these keyboard labels? 

You can save 15% off Kidecals the most durable waterproof labels on the market by using promo code: bestlabels at http://kidecals.com/

*I received a set of labels for posting but all opinions are my own - they are the cutest labels I've seen. 

Mother's Day 2013

Every year since Micah was born, our Church has arranged for volunteers to take family pictures so that Mom's can be in the picture too on Mother's Day.  It usually means that sleeping in and breakfast in bed aren't an option for the morning since we have to get up and ready but I love our tradition of having a Mother's day family picture. 

Beau cooked a yummy lunch for us after Church - with a baked brie appetizer, steak and mashed potatoes. It was delicious. The rest of our day is going to be low key - Beau has to go in to work and the kids and I will watch movies, play outside, and then some ordinary getting ready for the week ahead chores. The kids really want to blow up the water slide but it's not quite warm enough (crazy as it's usually plenty warm by now!) 

And a look back at our last 4 years of pictures.... 

- 2012 - 

we were distracted by all the rolly pollies on the round and Micah was mad I mad him look up 

- 2011 - 

- 2010 - 

 - 2009 - 

My itty bitty 5 day old Micah 

I hope ya'll are enjoying a happy Mother's day as well! 

Micah's dino party!

Micah has been oh so excited for his party for the past three weeks. Sunday morning on his birthday, he and Abby woke up about 7, Abby is telling him "Happy Birthday Micah, you're 4 now" then they quickly put on their swimsuits. Ummm... it was about 55 degrees outside... in May... in South Texas. 

Micah only had about 3 requests for his birthday - the water slide, party hats and a dino piñata. I'm happy to say that we were able to give him all 3. I'm not so sure what the deal was with party hats or where they got the idea as I don't remember taking them to a party with party hats before but he sure wanted one! 

I tried to keep things simple - we had cupcakes - because a party isn't a party without cake! 

Dino cookies - because I have a love for iced sugar cookies even though it's like a 3 hour task to bake and decorate them.

Dino goodie bags - with some dinosaur tattoos, dinosaur crayons and more to come.... 

The dinosaur piñata. I think he's kinda cute. 

The simple set up....

I blew up and filled up the pool of the water slide 4 hours before the party and it warmed up the water.... until I turned on the water to the slide and made it cold again. 

So while they had fun, we did manage to turn all Micah's friends into popsicles. He's got some sweet friends who were glad to huddle around him and help him warm up after I convinced him to get out. 

thanks for the great picture Wendy!

Happy Birthday Micah! 

Once we froze everyone and had some cake, we sent them out on a dino egg hunt. 

And then it was pinata time!

Micah had a great time at his party and we are so happy his friends were able to come over and celebrate with us. We've promised to have to have them all back when our normal Texas weather returns and we won't freeze them on the water slide.

last week(s) in recap

We've had several busy weeks.... busy weeks that mean mama is exhausted and too tired to blog after the littles are in bed. So here's a quick recap - mostly for my own memory since that's what this blog is. 

Last week we went to the zoo with friends. As we waited for our friends at the front, Micah mapped out our visit. Lexie was content to be a passanger  - as long as she had a snack to munch on. When the snacks ran out, she was ready to run. Once we had seen the animals we wanted to see, we found a picnic spot to let the littles take a stroller break before getting in the car for the ride home. Lexie was very proud of her self for both stealing Micah's drink and sitting at the picnic table like a big girl. 

Two days later, we were back at the zoo so that Abby and Beau could join us. We wanted to get one more visit out of our pass before it expired. We'll renew it eventually but I'm debating waiting to renew it until fall when it's slightly cooler (well cooler if you don't count this really odd cool front we are having now)

Lexie does enjoy eating black beans... and chocolate cupcakes. Can you tell? Some days (well a lot of days it feels like when I'm constantly worried if she's eating enough to gain weight) she isn't interested in eating and more interested in being busy. This day - she wanted to eat and made quite a mess too.

She also looks adorable in pigtails. These were the perfect bows for pigtails or a side sweep in the front - just the right size and a nice full pretty bow.... until she yanked one out of her hair while we were in the car and took one of the bows of the double bow apart. These came off her new bow squeaky shoes - I emailed the company and should have new bows headed my way since this one came apart so quickly.

Little polo tennis dresses are darling! This surprisingly isn't too big on her for being two sizes bigger than she wears right now. It must run small... and so therefore I couldn't resist letting her wear it.  Then crazy Texas weather came along and we had to pull out our winter clothes, jackets and hats. It was freezing... okay so it was 'spring' for anyone up north but it was like another taste of winter down here. Bad timing for a cold front with Micah's party in which he requested the water slide make an appearance. Jackets and waterslides all in the same week.... yup that's crazy Texas weather for ya.

The past few years it's been warm - almost hot by this point. The pools opened this weekend but the water is going to be awfully cold for swimming! I'm debating trying to switch Micah to a later swim lesson session - I have him currently signed up for the second session right before Abby is out of school so I can enjoy watching his lessons (while Lexie plays in childwatch) but if it doesn't warm up soon it's going to freeze his little no-body-fat self! 

Sunday was Micah's birthday and party - my little Cinco de Mayo baby. Once day maybe we'll have to incorporate that into his party and serve Margaritas and Mexican food but this year it was all about dinosaurs (more on that tomorrow) To start his birthday however - we had birthday donuts. Which means we stick a candle in our usual Sunday donut and get to pick out a pink sprinkle one. 

What have ya'll been up to lately? 

Meeting Curtis Stone at the Tanger Outlets

The other weekend I had the chance to go out and see the fabulous Curtis Stone. I used to watch him on the Take Home Chef and hope I'd to run into him at the grocery store. I think every one who watched probably hoped for the same thing. I mean who wouldn't want a chef to come cook a fabulous meal at your house? Well since that never happened to me - seeing and meeting Curtis Stone at the Tanger Outle ts in San Marcos was the next best thing. 

My mom joined me and along with all the littles, we headed up to San Marcos. We arrived and were seated to watch Curtis Stone cook a few meals from his newest cookbook. 

Lots of yummy recipes for easy, healthy and quick weekday dinners. 

*some photo courtesy of the Tanger Outlets FB - I didn't bring my good camera and Lexie kept stealing my phone #bloggerfail

After the cooking demonstration, we were able to meet Curtis Stone and he signed our cookbooks. He was so nice in person. 

In addition to the Curtis Stone demonstration and book signing, Tanger Outlets had several food trucks set up in the parking lot. There were lots of yummy options for food - we settled on some delicious mini-cupcakes. 

Then since we were at the Outlets - we had to do a little shopping right? The Tanger Outlets in San Marcos put on quite the successful event and the shopping wasn't bad either. 

*I was provided with VIP access to the Curtis Stone event in exchange for posting about the event - all opinions are of course my own.