May 21 - Sisterly Love

sisterly love

Happy May everyone! Our house has been a construction zone the last several weeks (I'll do a different post on home renovations when it's all done) so I've been super disorganized and behind on everything recently. I'm sorry for the lack of blog posts. We've had an action packed month so I'll try to do a few updates this week to catch everyone up. 

JD
JD has been a traveling machine this month. He was in Denver 2 weeks ago, Seattle last week and now he's in Australia this week. I fly to Florida next week and have 2 trips to Phoenix and another trip to Florida in the next few weeks too. Crazy travel schedules!

Julia
Julia had her state 'STAAR' test last week and she's happy that its over. She also applied to be part of our elementary school's "Character Crew" and she was offered a spot on the crew. Congratulations Julia!! As part of the character crew, they have all sorts of jobs including helping pre-K students with computers, helping with the car line (in both the mornings and afternoons) and being a goodwill ambassador for the school. We are so proud of her. May is the last month of diving for the year and while that is winding down, swimming is ramping up. She's in fantastic shape and having a lot of fun with her friends. 

Luke
Luke is very excited for school to end and has been counting down for weeks. We have a Hawaiian themed end of year party this Friday and he's super excited. Orcas started last week so I withdrew him from Aquastar and he's focusing on summer league. He decided he wanted to cut off his curls so he's rocking a buzz cut again. 

Jillian
Jillian is one active little toddler. She loves to eat, run and climb on everything! She's also been stripping completely naked when she naps at Rachel's. Rachel will put her down in her pack-n-play fully clothed and when she goes to pick her up, her clothes and diaper are in one corner. She hasn't done it at home so we'll see if this continues LOL. When she wants to go outside, she brings her shoes to us and says "shoes." She says more words every day, she knows 'dog, mom, dada, Lu (for Luke), JuJuu (for Julia), Melia (for Amelia), Hannah, yum yums, some of her ABC's and a few numbers. If you ask her how old she is she will hold up 1 finger.

Her favorite thing to do is get into my toiletries drawer in the bathroom and go through my deodorant, etc. She's always on the move! She reminds me of a mix of Julia (the activity) and Luke (the climbing). She definitely keeps us on our toes!

Amelia
I am very worried about Amelia. She has been drinking copious amounts of water the last few weeks and then throwing it up. I'm scheduling an appointment this week to see what's going on. Googling her symptoms is making me very nervous, so I'm keep everyone posted. 

April 27 - Houston Kids Triathlon

Congrats Dimpled Munchkins!

Last month, the PE coaches at school brought in someone from the Houston Kids Triathlon and talked to the kids about participating in the upcoming race. Julia and Luke came home saying "We want to do it!" Interesting fact-USA triathlon uses your age as of 12/31 of the current year so Julia registered as a 10 year old and Luke as an 8 year old. They each had the same distances: 100M swim, 3 mile bike and 1/2 mile run. They were both registered under team "North Pointe Elementary" and we weren't sure who else signed up, but they were both excited! 

mini-road trip to pick up race packets & drop off bikes!

The day before the race, I picked the kids up early from school and we headed to Reliant Stadium to drop off bikes and pick up their race packets. Over 1.3k kids were registered for Saturday and the event planners did a fantastic job setting up multiple registration tents, so it didn't feel crowded at all. After picking up their race packets, we put their race numbers on their helmets and bikes and then headed to the transition area. No parents were allowed in the transition area so the kids dropped off their bikes and then we walked over and checked out the giant inflatable pool.

the cold pool

The kids were wrapping up a quick jump in the bounce house (it was a fun event) and saw one of Julia's friends from school, Tanner...and the girls were off! They went back to the transition area to drop off Tanner's bike and then the girls listened to a pre-race talk and made posters. We headed home, the kids packed up their bags for the morning and they went to bed excited. 

The triathlon started early in the morning so I stayed home with Jillian while JD headed out at 5.30am with the big kids. All of the participants wore a band around their ankles with an RFID tag to track their times and I was able to check results remotely. Both kids did absolutely fantastic!! They both said the water was freezing but they otherwise had fun.

Julia and Tanner

Julia not only had fun...she also WON first place!!! Go Jules!

April 26 - Bayou Wildlife Park

Last week I met Luke's class at Bayou Wildlife Park for his spring field trip. The weather was absolutely perfect-65 and partly sunny. And the best thing? The only classes there were from our school and 1 other. It was practically empty! (when I went with Julia's class it was so crowded and hot, there were black flies everywhere and we waited so long for the horses her class never got to ride). Luke had an absolute blast!! We did a ride around the grounds seeing llamas, camels, alligators, longhorns and other various animals, went to the petting zoo (where Luke hung out with a ginormous pig), rode horses, saw an amazing peacock and had a picnic lunch...while literal deer tried to steal food from the kids. Only in Texas!

Feeding Animals

Giant Pig

Horseback Ride!

My Favorite Man

April 24 - Did You Put Together the Wind Chime?

Colorado Springs

Sorry for the blog delay folks, life has been crazy lately. JD turned 40 a few weeks ago and he and I celebrated by going to dinner at Brenners on the Bayou, a restaurant that overlooks Memorial Park. It was an oddly cold evening but we had one of the best dinners we've ever eaten in Houston. Delicious! For his actual birthday, we had Italian food with the kids, followed by chocolate cake and then presents. All he wanted as a wind chime and new jeans. The kids and I went shopping and Luke picked out the exact wind chime he knew JD wanted.

Vail

Well....when JD opened it he said "Oh, did you guys put together the wind chime and hang it outside?" OMG-we bought an empty box at the hardware store. Oops! If you are wondering why no one realized it, one of the kids put it on the counter and I just tossed it in my giant (already heavy) purse when we left and didn't realize it. Definitely a birthday to remember! 

Amelia turned 13 the day after and Luke and his friends threw her a little birthday party, complete with cards and peanut butter. I missed the party because I was in Colorado working. It was an absolutely gorgeous week there and my co-worker and I made it to Vail one night for dinner. Perfection!

April 16 - Fun Run

Mr. Dimples is FAST!

The North Pointe Elementary fun run was last weekend and for the first time in years, it was cool and overcast. Perfect running weather! Luke ran the 1 mile race and took off like a rocket. I thought he would wear out quickly...but no! He shocked me by catching up to several older kids (they do a staggered start by grade, 5th-4th-3rd-2nd-1st-kinder) and did a 6.20 mile!!! WOWSA! We have another runner in the family folks! He won gold for the 1st grade, congratulations Luke!! Julia and her fellow Girl Scouts all decided to run the 5k this year. They rocked it!! Julia placed 2nd in the 4th grade with a time of 27min. Great job!! 

Friends, Girl Scouts & 5k Finishers!

April 13 - Bunny Time

Spring egg hunt!! Luke's class came to our house the week before Easter for a spring party. Everyone brought in a dozen eggs and I had to label them 1-18 (which corresponds to the kids class number) before the event. We had a HUGE rain storm the night before the count and I made a last minute decision to do it in our front yard as well as our neighbors (they ok'd it, the front yard was not as muddy as the back). After spreading the eggs out, I went up to school and the kids hopped over to our house. They had a blast looking for their numbers (it also took longer) and then we played some fun games. After pizza and cupcakes, I gave the kids little buckets with bunny ears, bubbles and a little bunny stuffed animal. The weather held out and everyone had fun!

The Saturday before Easter we had brunch at the Aquarium restaurant in Kemah. Jillian was initially a little weary of the Easter Bunny but she quickly got over her fear and kept trying to run up to the bunny. It was so cute!! The food was delicious and we will definitely be back next year. 

The kids were up early Easter morning and were excited to see their baskets and candy. Also...they loved the egg hunt around the downstairs!! Jillian very quickly realized the eggs were filled with candy and kept trying to get them open and shove chocolate in her mouth. 

Kemah (the windows are tinted blue which is why the color is...unique)

Organizing eggs for Luke's class

Love these babies

March 29 - Ninja Warrior 2.0

Ninja Warrios!

The kids ninja warrior competition was rescheduled for last Sunday, the 25th. JD had to work all-day Saturday and had a lot of yard work to do, so it was me with the kiddos. I contemplated driving up Sunday morning and making a long day of it, but decided that would be too much with the baby. So we drove up Saturday afternoon and stayed at the Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop, Texas (just outside Austin, only 20min from the competition site). I've driven by the entrance to this hotel many times but had never been to the actual hotel. Wow! After turning at the sign we drove 3 miles down a winding road. The hotel has a golf course, ponds, pool with a lazy river and waterslide, hiking trails, horses and lots of open spaces for the kids to run around. They also had s'mores at an outdoor firepit, which Julia and Luke loved! 

S'mores!

After a quick night at Lost Pines (we will definitely go back for a long weekend at some point) it was time to head to the competition. We had no idea what tot expect and after parking in a field, we took a path to the courses. There were different courses for every age group and kids were signed up alphabetically. This was a bummer as both Julia and Luke were last and their courses were close to 1/4 mile apart from each other with no line of sight between them. Luke was in the 5-7 age group and Julia in the 8-10. They both had approx. 40 competitors listed (combined boys and girls, just like the tv show). After lugging Jillian back and forth multiple times, I found a parent on Julia's course who had a child competing in the spot in front of her. She agreed to text me when her daughter was going. I spent most of the time watching the 5-7's compete while Jillian played around...in the mud (there was no way to avoid mud there and she LOVED it.

Jillian watched Frozen and loved it!

I've never been so muddy in my life). There were 6 kids in front of Luke when I got the text "Your daughter in on-deck." I hightailed it back to Julia's course with Jillian (who wanted no part of leaving her mud pit and was limp noodle and crying) only to find they added 10+ competitors in front of Julia that were not on the posted list. I then hightailed it back just in time to see Luke. He did fantastic!! He made it through the course without penalty and was very proud of himself. We then ran once again back to Julia's course (no joke, I must have walked 6 miles between courses) and made it in the nick of time to see her compete. She was the last competitor and only 4 kids completed the course without penalty all day, she was one of the 4 with the fastest time. Great job!!

Ninja Luke

Ninja Julia

March 28 - Temper Tantrums Already?!

I really love this pool

 We were outside playing the other day when Jillian discovered my neighbor's pool. She shuffled up their driveway, put her hands on the gate and stared at the pool intently. I eventually made her leave-she managed to wiggle out of my arms and shimmy back up the driveway to stare at the pool. Once again, I removed her from their driveway and she then gingerly laid herself on the ground and started to to have a little tantrum. Complete with leg stomping! People, she's only 18months old!

Speaking of our little 18mon old, she has the activity level of Julia (on the go) with the climbing skills of Luke (little monkey). She's getting good about using her toys, chairs, etc to get what she wants. We have to watch her like a hawk! 

I do not want to leave the pool!

Trouble maker for me

Snuggler for daddy

March 27 - Kemah Boardwalk

Best attempt at a pic of the kids

 We did take one short trip during spring break to Kemah Boardwalk (for a few hours). The boardwalk opens at 10am and it's normally pretty quiet until closer to dinnertime. We got there at 10.30am and it was packed! We luckily found street parking and bought ticket quickly. Luke and Julia walked around together riding rides while I was with the wiggly little beast known as Jillian. We did the merry-go-round several times. At first, she wasn't sure what to think of it, but once we started moving she did not want to get off. In fact, she threw a fit every time I pulled her off the horse (or dolphin..whatever she was riding). We also did the Ferris wheel, which proved challenging as she kept trying to climb out the entire time, so I had to have her in a super tight grip which made her scream (sorry for anyone near us). She loved the train though and just running around Kemah in general. She'll love it when she's taller and can go on more rides. Fantastic spring break!

I'm not sure what this is, but I think I like it

Don't touch me-this is MY horse!

Love these two cuties

March 26 - Spring Break

For the first time in 6 years, we stayed home for spring break and did pretty much nothing all week. I took the week off and we just relaxed and played. The weather was absolutely perfect for outdoor fun and we made the most of it! 

Park Fun

Water table...she loved to to climb in and out

Jillian loved the sprinkler!

Let's take a ride

Fun with neighbors