March 31 - Run Like the Wind

Julia & Ellie - speed demons

Clear Springs HS (a high school near us) has sponsored an elementary relay challenge for the last several years. Eight schools are invited to compete-seven of the schools feed into Clear Springs and there is us...North Pointe. There is a boys and girls relay-each team consists of a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grader. Julia was selected for 2nd grade and to say she was excited would be a gross understatement. As she likes to tell us repeatedly 'Running is my passion!'. So she was excited and nervous, as she wasn't sure what to expect. We drove to the HS and there was a big outdoor meet in progress. There were at least 16 different high schools competing and our kids were competing in event #3. The girls relay was first and the kids went in grade order..so our little Julia Bean (powder blue shirt) was the first leg. She absolutely rocked it-she was first out of the second graders and while it was hard to see the baton hand-off with Ellie (royal blue shirt, 3rd grader) it's clear they nailed it because Ellie shot out like a canon. Katelyn (maroon shirt, 4th grader) was next and she was incredibly fast..followed by a 5th grader (purple shirt, I'm not sure of her name) but she kept the lead and our girls came in....FIRST PLACE!!!! Go North Pointe Rockets!! The girls were so proud. The boys team did great too (I think they came in 3rd) and most importantly, all the kids had fun. It's great to be a North Pointe Rocket!

Go Rockets!

Luke's first movie date with Hadley (3D)

Julia and Emma drink their lemonade in style

March 29 - Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. The kids and I went to the zoo on Saturday and it was simply gorgeous out-80 and sunny. We had a great time and saw two lionesses being fed 'lion ice cream' (sugar water and milk) for the first time ever. It was incredible seeing them so close. Several of the exhibits had eggs and bunnies drawn in chalk and the kids were excited that the animals were able to 'celebrate Easter too.' After the zoo and a train ride home, it was time to go home and get ready for Easter morning. The kids dyed eggs at a party the weekend before and had no interest in doing it again (I'm the only one in the house that eats hard boiled eggs) but Julia was sure to write the Easter Bunny a letter before bed.

We reminded her that he was already hopping around so it should be a short letter. She ended up asking for...something 'awesome like flying shoes.' LOL! That girl cracks me up. 

Easter morning, the kids woke up around 7am and tried to cajole us downstairs. We made them wait until around 7:30am (Luke crawled in bed with us around 3:30am so I had barely any sleep). They were excited to find their Easter baskets as well as go on an egg hunt around the house. Luke also had fun spreading the 'grass' all over the floor as well as all over the dogs. After a great Easter morning, we went to Tammy and Hannah's house for an early Easter dinner. The kids had a blast playing outside all day while we ate some amazing food. 

Snake 

#flyingshoes

Easter morning

March 24 - Spring Break 2016

Last year for spring break, my friend Kristen and I surprised the kids with a trip to Six Flags in San Antonio. This year, JD and I surprised the kids with a trip to Pensacola Beach. They were shocked and couldn't wait to get on the road! Kristen and her family watched the dogs (where they swam every day and had a mini-vacation of their own) while we headed east. The drive out was non-eventful and we checked into our hotel late Sunday afternoon. We stayed right on the beach at the Holiday Inn Resort PB. If you are looking for a budget friendly, family friendly hotel-I cannot recommend this hotel enough. Our room had bunk beds for the kids and they had their own alcove with a tv and playstation.

The hotel is right on the beach with a heated pool, lazy river, 2 hot tubs, hammocks, lawn games and...wait for it...KIDS EAT FREE. That's right-kids eat free for EVERY meal. Huge cost savings! 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous every day that we were there. Sunny and mid-70s. We spent a lot of time in the pool and while the ocean was quite chilly, the kids went in it anyway. Our second night there, we were at dinner across the street and lo and behold-my friend Kristen from Emory (not to be confused with Kristen watching the dogs..Kristen from Emory and I were divers together for years and we haven't seen each other in 3 years, she lives in Auburn with her family) happened to be in Pensacola as well, staying just a mile down the road from our hotel. So they met us out for dinner. We had a great time catching up and the kids had fun playing together. 

After a great week at the beach, it was time to head back to Texas. We were re-routed off I-10 near Mobile due to traffic and decided to stop at the USS Alabama last minute. You will not believe who we ran into walking onto the ship. Kristen and her family! Amazing, what are the chances?! We had a great tour of the ship and then headed back to Houston. The drive from Texas to Florida is a straight shot on I-10 but this trip was unique in that I-10 was closed at the Louisiana/Texas border due to flooding. To keep us on our toes, Google maps nor Waze were updated for the road closures (a lot of small county roads were also closed). After being rerouted several times throughout Louisiana, we finally made it home. It was a great spring break 2016!

Family snuggle

Pool time!

Beach time!

Cold little man

They carried their bears everywhere

Dinner with friends at Red Fish Blue Fish

USS Alabama

March 21 - Outside Fun

Spring break started last Friday with a half day. The weather was gorgeous and I had to work all day-so the kids were told to play outside (I'm pretty sure my exact words were: You are not allowed inside until dinner is on the table). And play they did-those little stinkers set up the baby pool, chairs and eventually the sprinkler and had a grand ole time. Love those two! They tried to get the dogs to go through the sprinkler but they weren't' interested. 

On Saturday, Luke went to Hadley's birthday party at a bowling place. Turns out Luke has no interest in bowling, but he was excited to play with his buddies Isaac and Nolan (they used to be thick as thieves at school but they aren't together anymore). Afterwards, we stopped by a local firestation to schedule a tour for the girl scout troop. The firemen there were super friendly and gave Luke a personal tour and let him get in the truck. He loved it! Happy Monday everyone!

Clara, Isaac, Luke & Nolan

Fireman Luke

March 18 - Dimpled Munchkin #3

You may be wondering why the blog hasn't been updated that much in the last few months and if you've tried calling me in the evenings, why I'm never available. Well....

Dimpled Munchkin #3 - BABY GIRL - is due September 1st! Surprise! She's been a challenging pregnancy (daily vomiting and I blacked out in Starbucks 2 weekends ago, cutting open/bruising my lips and mouth really bad) but I've been feeling better the last week or so (thankfully). 

We are excited, especially Thing 1. I told her she can decorate the nursery however she wants and she has been looking at a lot of photos online. She is THRILLED with the news (she asked Santa for a baby sister for Christmas). And Thing 2...isn't that excited but I'm sure he'll come around.