October 22 - Zoo Boo

Some of my favorite Halloween memories are taking Julia and Luke to the Houston Zoo for their Halloween celebration, Zoo Boo. Last Saturday we had a rare, gorgeous cool day and decided to hit up the zoo! Jillian put on her adorable Owlett costume and we headed out. Parking was a total nightmare but we finally made it into the zoo which was not crowded at all. The kids had a blast dancing, doing a hoola hoop contest, riding the merry-go-round and seeing all the animals. Jillian's favorite animals were the elephants. We went to that area multiple times! Jillian told us she wanted to take an elephant home, we said we didn't have room. 

Our one day of autumn weather was short lived, it was 90 the next day!

Zoo Fun

October 21 - Happy Birthday Luke!

One week ago, our little curly man turned 9. Happy birthday Luke!! We celebrated as a family the night before his birthday and opened family presents (and had a delicious ice cream cake). Luke was thrilled to open gift bag and find a water bottle...and then a giant cage. His hamster dream was finally coming true (thanks to Dad, I was not on board with this..nor did I even know JD was buying him a hamster until the day before when Julia accidentally opened an Amazon package). On his actual birthday, we went to lunch at McDonald's (his choice) and then JD took him to PetSmart to pick out a hamster. He came home with a male Fancy Syrian Bear hamster, known as the 'gentlest' hamster.

The hamster when through multiple names until Luke settled on Peter Parker, as the Peter spent a lot of time swinging around the cage like SpiderMan. Welcome Peter!! Luke is SO EXCITED!!

This past weekend, we celebrated with Luke's friends at Jumping World, a trampoline park. We invited his class and had about 15 kids total. Jumping, pizza and cake-they all had fun!!

Thank you to all the family and friends who reached out and wished Luke a happy birthday. Happy Monday everyone!!

October 9 - Blitz Softball

After begging me to sign her up for softball, I finally caved. Julia and Kennedy are playing on a tournament team called The Blitz. She loves it and is having a great time. I am not loving it because it's extremely unorganized (no tournament schedule and everything is done by group text). Last weekend was their first tournament. They played 4 games (they won one and lost three). This is a kid pitch league so there are very few hits. In softball, there is a rule that states if the catcher drops the ball on the 3rd strike, the batter can run to 1st. That is how almost every batter gets on base. Julia got on base by that method her first at bat, hit the ball the 2nd at bat (that was exciting) and struck out at her next at bat. She played 1st base in game 1, 3rd base in 2 and outfield in the last 2 games. Unfortunately she had zero action in any of those positions. I think the funniest moment for me was when several experienced softball moms told me they would never sign up for swimming because the meets were too long. Um..we spent 11h at the tournament from start to finish! Longer than almost any swim meet I've ever been too. 

Julia at bat

Team Blitz

September 26 - Officially a Big Girl

Guess who is officially done with pull-ups and has a big girl bed now?

And look at these cuties reading together?

And look at these fur babies...wondering why they were locked in the office when the bed was being delivered. 

September 24 - Birthday Memories

Jillian's 3rd birthday party was last weekend and she was so excited, she couldn't stop talking about 'her party.' First and foremost, I have to thank our amazing event planner, Julia. Julia did the majority of work for this entire party. Jillian wanted a Paw Patrol theme and Julia planned around it. She picked out the bounce house (she researched several companies and presenting pricing to me), the plates, napkins, table clothes, party favors and the cupcakes. Amazing job Jules!!

We invited 9 kids in Jillian's class plus Kason (Kennedy and Kaleb's little brother) and we ended up with 6 total. It was the perfect number. The littles jumped in the bounce house for awhile, indulged in some light snacks, ate pizza and cupcakes and then opened presents. There was a small snafu with the bounce house (the company didn't provide a motor strong enough and it kept collapsing. Luckily Julia, Kennedy and Kendall stood in there for an hour holding it up) but overall it was a fabulous time!! 

Julia and Kendall frosted the cupcakes

These trooper held up the bounce house in 90+ degree heat for an hour-ROCK STARS!

Happy Birthday Jillian!

September 13 - Save the Hamsters

Julia asked me for a hamster a few years ago and I said no. That was that, she never pressed the issue. Luke asked me for a hamster last year and I said no..but Luke being Luke, he didn't leave it at that. He has been asking and asking and asking. I finally told him to write a persuasive essay to convince me. He didn't write anything for a week or so and then one night he gave me this:

Well, well, well. That little curly man has a secret talent for writing, who knew? He also is extremely persistent. I received this the next morning.

We then took a trip to IKEA and he spent the entire time begging me for a hamster. 


I am still resisting a hamster but he did guinea pig sit for Midnight for a few days. I've never seen  him so happy (seriously, look at that face, pure joy). 

And guess who else has a love for rodents? 

September 10 - Jillian is THREE

Dear Jillian,
Hello sweet girl. I cannot believe you are 3. THREE! How did my baby become a toddler so fast? I love the little person you are growing into you. You are so funny and have the most expressive face. Here are some of your favorites:

*Food: mac and cheese, spaghetti with marinara sauce, yogurt, croissants, desserts of almost any kind, pancakes
*Color: pink
*Person: mommy, you love to slip into our bed at night and snuggle with me (we are working diligently to get your to sleep in your own bed all night)
*You love preschool and you are so excited for your birthday this weekend
*You love the dogs and call them 'Baby Apollo' and 'Baby Bella'
*You started ballet a few weeks ago and ask me almost every day if it's time for 'ballet'
*You are very opinionated about clothes and how you wear your hair (you like a low ponytail like Julia)
*You hang out with the Girl Scouts and think you are a big girl
*You love Paw Patrol, Super Monsters, Minnie Mouse, PJ Masks and unicorns
*You are super loving and ask me to snuggle all the time
*You have already figured out how to delay bath-time and bed-time! (smart child)


We love you Jillian Noelle Yamo!!!!

September 9 - Tiny Dancer

Jillian started ballet a few weeks ago and blog readers-let me tell you, there has never been anything cuter. She is at the same dance studio Julia used to go to and is in a combination ballet/tap class once a week. She has a dance "uniform" of purple leotard, pink tights, pale pink ballet shoes, snap tap shoes and hair must be in a bun. Her first class went fantastic. There were just 3 girls and they all did a good job listening to the teacher. The 2nd week was not so great. There were 10 girls and none of them listened or paid attention. If one had to go to the bathroom, they all had to go to the bathroom. Jillian also discovered the exit doors and kept leaving the room. The studio broke the class up in half the following week and it's been much better since. We love our little dancer!

August 30 - Muddy Paws

Bella Rose....I'm thinking we should have named her: Muddy Paws. This was Sunday afternoon after being outside for 10min. Our back porch looked like a crime scene.

Turns out she just loves mud. This was yesterday. I let her out and then jumped on a conference call. I looked out the window and saw this..

She has a penchant for diving head first in mud!

August 27 - Back to School

Back to school time! All three kids started new schools/classes last Monday. Julia is in 6th grade at Brookside in the science magnet program, Luke is in 3rd grade at North Pointe and has 2 teachers this year, while Jillian is now officially in preschool. 

Julia
Brookside is not our zoned school so we have a carpool for this year. Hannah (my friend Tammy's daughter) and her neighbor also attend so we split the drives. JD and I handle Thursday and Friday mornings as well as Monday pickup. The kids take the bus from Brookside to our zoned school so I don't have to travel far in the afternoons. So far Julia is enjoying the school aspect and working on making friends. 

Luke
Third grade is the first year with 2 teachers. Luke's homeroom teacher is in charge of reading and writing while his switch teacher is in charge of science, math and social studies. Luke keeps thing close to the chest but he seems to really like his switch teacher. His homeroom teacher also has 2 crazy dogs and 2 hamsters which he loves to talk about. 

Jillian
Jillian moved from daycare to an official preschool classroom and so far it has been an amazing transition. Her class size went down from 18 kids to 10 and she's working on numbers, letters, colors, etc. She has show and tell on Fridays, does yoga and LOVES her new teachers.