Field Day

Today was field day at Scobee. The teachers must have been getting them excited about it all week because Allie kept telling me that she needed to wear shorts & a t-shirt and tennis shoes on Friday. Since Allie is in PM PreK her class had the games to themselves (the rest of the school had already finished.) Her class has 4 teacher and quite a few parents showed up so we divided into groups.......2 kids per adult. NICE and EASY! Plus, I had Allie and her best bud, Penelope........super easy! Of course I had Avery too and she kept running off for the playground. For the most part she was pretty good though.

Here are Allie and Penelope doing the joust.


Avery and one of her best buds, Emma.

We Beat the Odds!!!!

Had my 20 week ultrasound today and we're having a BOY!! We are ecstatic. Of course, we would have been happy with whatever the baby was but this is a new adventure for us!!! There was no denying that it was a boy either. :0) In fact, the ultrasound techs said it was very noticeable from the get go. They said if it turns out to be a girl they will be extremely shocked. I was measuring at 21 weeks 5 days.....technically I'm 20 weeks 3 days. I don't know if that's much of a difference for them to change anything. I guess I'll find that out at my next OB appointment, which isn't until the end of May. Baby looks to be healthy although I was a bit worried when they said they wanted to take another look at the heart after going over the ultrasound pics with the dr. They assured me it was nothing to worry about - - just needed a better picture. Hope it's not anything.

When I called to tell Derek he didn't believe me at all. I could tell the excitement in his voice. It was so sweet. The best though was a call just a few minutes after we hung up and the first thing he said was, "You're not joking with me are you?!" I'm happy he'll have his little buddy to hang out with. Even tonight when he called again just the sound in his voice was pure happiness.

Allie's reaction, however, wasn't as thrilling:

And it got worse.........


And this went on for a good 30 minutes....maybe more. She's fine now. We went and got the 31 cent ice cream at Baskin Robbins to celebrate. Then we went to Old Navy and the girls got to pick out a few outfits for their little brother. Now they are asking when he's going to get here!!

The Great Flood of 2011

Well Happy Easter to us!! The girls woke up early and they enjoyed their Scavenger Hunt to find their Easter baskets.....however because they were up so early they were both pretty cranky today. We went to church in two separate vehicles today because Derek needed to leave a little early to go into work and get stuff done for the trip he's leaving on tomorrow. Since the girls were being so cranky earlier I decided to skip the last hour (we have a three hour block for church). However, I'm wondering if there wasn't some greater reason as to why I decided to come home early. We go home walked in our front door and saw a very flooded house and heard what sounded like roaring rapids coming from the kitchen. I'm surprised I didn't start crying, but I did PANIC! I had no idea what to do!! I ran outside and turned what I thought was the water line off, came back inside and we still had roaring rapids. By this time the girls were crying hysterically. They were scared out of their minds and I'm sure my panicking didn't help any. I couldn't get Derek to answer any of his THREE phones so I ran to the neighbors to see if they knew what to do. By the time the neighbor got her husband I had finally gotten a hold of Derek and he was finally able to tell me how to shut the water off (it took him awhile b/c I think he was in shock). I knew he believed me though because I was so panicked while I was talking to him. He rushed home.....in the meantime our KIND, KIND, KIND neighbors came over and helped me start moving furniture outside and sweeping out the water. The girls tried helping too, but they kept falling down. I was afraid they were going to get seriously hurt! The water was about an inch and a half deep in the ENTIRE downstairs! Another set of neighbors came over to help with a wet vac, and we borrowed 2 others. So there were three of us doing that. While the other two people were soaking up water with towels and blankets. Another neighbor took the girls over to her house to get them out and let them play with her kiddos. I am just so thankful for wonderful neighbors who were so willing to help us out (on Easter to boot). And thankful that this happened on one of the 6 days that Derek is actually home this month.

We decided to tear up the carpet for fear of mold........the wet vacs were getting the carpet dry but not the padding underneath. We ripped out all of the padding.........we're trying to salvage the carpet.

SOME of the blankets, towels, etc hanging out to dry

The girls taking a well deserved break. FYI - Mom & Dad.......this is why Avery was SO dirty. She was sticky from the Popsicle and then played outside and all of the dirt stuck to her!

And finally, we had someone come out and take a look at the damage. We know how holes drilled in the bottoms of our cabinets to suck/dry out all of the water that leaked through. We have 2 dehumidifiers going and 6 industrial fans. It's going to cost us a whopping $1100 and will not be covered by home owners insurance b/c USAA sucks and has a ridiculously high deductible. We have to leave all of this stuff running for the next 2 days to hopefully get everything dried up so there won't be any mold. These things are so loud you can't even hear yourself think. We were hoping this would be our year........luckily it's still early in the year and we can still be a little hopeful. But right now things aren't looking too good.

Egg Hunt & Some Aloha

It's been a crazy, crazy busy day today. I waited until the last minute to go get our food for tomorrow and stuff for the Easter eggs for the girls' Easter baskets........bad decision! I remember working at a grocery store in high school and the day before Easter always seemed like the busiest day.  Luckily I knew what I was going for so I was in and out of 3 stores in an hour and a half.

We've done a lot of baking today. Mini bunny cakes for our neighbors and cupcakes for our 11 year olds at church and for our dessert tomorrow.

Allie & the cupcake she decorated. 

This evening we did our Easter egg hunt. The girls were soooooo excited!

Scoping out the yard

 

They were just as anxious to get in and see what was in their eggs!

Avery stopped after opening the first egg and ripped open her candy.......she thought she was going to be able to do that with every egg. She really would have if we didn't stop her. She loves her sweets!!

Their Easter baskets!! I think they turned out pretty good, especially for getting it all at the last minute. They will be searching for them tomorrow in a scavenger hunt!

And finally, Derek is back from Hawaii! The girls were SO excited to see him. It was pretty cute. They wouldn't leave him alone. He brought us back some ALOHA!

I'll post a video of the Easter egg hunt and scavenger hunt sometime next week. Have a Happy Easter!!

What's Cookin' Wednesday

Sausage, Onion, Potatoes, & Peppers

One of my favorite meals.....and it's pretty simple too. This was an easy decision for me tonight because we've had some sausage in the freezer for a while and we had potatoes and an onion that desperately needed to be used. I did make a stop at the grocery earlier today to get some fresh bell peppers.......only green though. We usually use red and yellow too, but they are way too expensive right now. We ended up not using the onion b/c it was way too far gone. So I replaced it with minced onion for the onion flavor. And yes, the girls love this too. I just have to cut the onion and pepper pieces big so we can pick around it easily :0)

Simple Directions
cut everything up and toss it all together in a pan with a little bit of oil and cook until done!! Add salt & pepper to taste (I also add some fennel seed).

Funny thing that just happened. I asked the girls to start cleaning up their toys since it's almost bed time. Well, like always, they try to find ways to get out of it. Allie all of a sudden has to go to the bathroom and Avery says okay and heads over to the dvd's. I ask her what she's doing, "organizing."

Easter Bunny Visit & Egg Hunt

Saturday we made a trip to the Bass Pro Shops to visit the Easter Bunny and participate in their Easter Egg Hunt. (I don't know why all of my pictures are looking blurry lately). The girls had fun. It was a little frustrating at first because we couldn't find any eggs. When we got there they had already started. We finally found 4 eggs after about 20 minutes of searching, but in order to get their treats they each had to find 5 eggs. At that point we decided to split up. Allie and I found the jackpot........they had just put out new eggs. We grabbed 6 in case Daddy & Avery couldn't find anymore. In the end, everyone was happy. :0)

It was so bright outside.......they were having a hard time looking at the camera

Before we went to see the Easter Bunny we went to the "Taste" at Sam's Club. Our plan was to fill up on the samples and that would be our lunch. Close, but didn't quite work. The girls LOVE eating at Sam's.......they really like their pizza.

Cute Quotes Recently:
We have 2 little basketball hoops for the girls. One has a white backboard and the other has a dirty gray backboard. Allie asked me which one matched her skin and I jokingly said the gray one. She said "No, my skin is white like the white backboard. Avery's is white like this one, yours is white like this one.....but Daddy's is dark like the gray one"  ??????

I know Avery said something really cute too, but I can't think of it right now. She does say "Okay, okay, okay" whenever we ask her to do something. She really exaggerates it and says it like she's giving in. Pretty cute.

Zoo Back Talk

Yesterday isn't really a day I want to remember. It was supposed to be a fun day. It was a no school day. I'm not really sure why there was no school. Something to do with Battle of the Flowers, whatever that is. Probably something to do with this whole Fiesta thing going on. Fiesta is like a two week long festival, called "Party with a Purpose". More like a time to bring crowds, drunks, and money to downtown is what I would say.
So, anywho.....We planned a "fun" trip to the zoo. It started out bad from the beginning. It was crowded. Mostly full of school field trips. One group of kids ran up to where Avery was standing and knocked her flat on her back. Of course the teachers / parents didn't do anything.

It only got worse from there. Later, we went to the Discovery House. More of a place for someone Avery's age, but Allie was really enjoying it and didn't want to leave. After being in there for 35 minutes I said it was time to go see the rest of the animals. Allie was not having that. She threw the biggest tantrum EVER all the way to the car. I said it was time to go when she started yelling at me and hitting me. Plus, on the way out of the zoo we all got pooped on by some birds. We probably won't be making a trip back to the zoo for quite a while.

My little trooper. Such a tired girl and probably dealing with a headache.

Okapi

Our favorite part

First trip to the pool - 2011 & More updates

Last Saturday we ventured over to the community pool for our first swim of the year. It was hot out, but the water was still pretty cold. We only stayed about an hour and we had had enough.

My attempt to try and get Avery's behavior under control........daily activities. Right now I'm introducing a new nursery rhyme each day with a craft and a few other activities whether it's going over colors, counting, matching etc. We also try to act it out and other things to help memorize the rhyme. It seems to be working a little bit. They both really enjoy the activities and look forward to them each day. If Avery's routine gets messed up to where she doesn't get a nap during the day though then she is a mess and you definitely don't want to be around her!

Avery had her first play date yesterday without her sister to hang on to. Just her and her little friends that are her age. At first she didn't want to go. But then when we were in the car she kept asking if we were there. She had SO much fun with her little friends Emma, Reese, Mia and Vivica!!

I'm learning that it's nearly impossible to make any plans with Derek's schedule. For the past two weeks we've made plans to go to Dave & Busters on their 1/2 price game day so we could add more tickets to our total and finally let the girls pick out a prize. Well, last week he didn't end up getting home until 8pm and so we decided not to do it. This week was just about the same. He even worked late Tuesday night to allow for us to do this, but it didn't matter. He finally called at 7 to say he was just leaving. The girls were starving by this point. I made the decision that he could come home and fix him and Avery something........she didn't get her nap yesterday b/c of the play date so she was exhausted........and hungry --- not a good combination. As soon as he got home Allie and I hopped in the car and went through the McDonalds drive thru and then went on to D&B's. We had a lot of fun. She was so sweet. For every prize she got she would get something for Avery as well. 2400 tickets got us the 2 balls and the two laser pointer/candy. I won the two large stuffed animals at the claw drop game. Allie saw someone else win and wanted me to do it for her. I tried 3 times and didn't get anything so we left and went to play more games. People were watching me.....too much pressure! She kept saying she wanted me to try it one more time. We went back and I tried 3 more times with no luck BUT on that third time I figured out what I need to do. The next two times I was able to snag up those darn animals. Like we need anymore.......BUT the excitement and awe on her face was SO worth the effort! I felt like a Super Mom. :0)

This is disgusting, but we have been catching a mouse about every day for the past week! There is obviously a nest in here somewhere. We think they've been living with us since about October or November. That's when we spotted the first one. That's also when they started clearing the field across the street to build the new church. So we think they congregated over this way and somehow found their way inside....and keep making babies. We have searched and searched and can't find where/how they are getting in or where they are nesting. But the old fashioned mouse trap has been working, thankfully. I'm going to go get some more today and put them throughout the house so we can hopefully get them all. UGH!!

Fiesta Farm

Today Allie went to another little friends birthday party. It was at a cute farm down the road called Fiesta Farm.
Enjoy the pics!

Allie and birthday boy, Aaron

Allie on the little horse

Avery on the big horse

hayride

 

Salt Lick

Last night we drove out to Buda, Texas to choose our granite for our counter tops. Afterwords we headed out to Salt Lick BBQ for some good food. I had heard a few people mention that this was a good BBQ place and it is the #1 BBQ joint "in" Austin. I say "in" because it's actually in Driftwood, TX which is 30 minutes south of Austin. We got there around 5 and the place was already packed. We overhead two guys talking as they were walking out. One guy said, "That was the best meal I've ever had." That's a good sign!! By the time we left the place was jam packed. There were 3 huge buses dropping people off. I think it's become a bit of a touristy restaurant. But it is pretty big with a lot of indoor and outdoor seating. There was even a really good live band. As for the food, we thought it was good. We ordered the Family Platter (pictured above). It came with ribs, sausage, and brisket, potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw, bread, pickles and onions. There were also two sauces: the house sauce and a habenero sauce. Both very good..... even better mixed together. The food was endless. We didn't think we would be able to take any home b/c of this so we stuffed ourselves. And then when we told our waitress we were ready for the check she asked if we wanted a box! The girls were able to eat for free. They devoured the sausage and bread. Avery even ate a few onion slices! I really liked the sausage and the brisket. I especially like the brisket when I made it into a sandwich with their bread. The bread was so soft! I really liked the potato salad as well. Derek's fav were the ribs. mmmmmmm, I think I'm going to go eat my lunch now.... Salt Lick leftovers. :)

This & That

This week has been awful with Avery and her little tantrums. In part, I think it is because she has been going to bed late. We're all still so off with the time change and with it still being light outside when it's bedtime. For some reason she has been refusing naps and she is still getting up super early so I don't know what the deal is. We've dealt with her pulling Allie's hair, biting Allie, coloring inside the dishwasher, calling 911, getting into the candy and eating it without asking and then throwing the wrappers in the toilet, and just not listening to Mom. I've had a headache every day this week from all of this stress she is causing me!! Okay, I shouldn't say everyday.....Monday she was good.......because she was sick and didn't want to do anything. I'm not sure what I should to do get her to stop acting this way. We do time outs and they obviously aren't working. I think I will try to do more structured activities with her now that I'm feeling better. Hopefully that will work.

Monday we were able to hang out with our friend, Abe. He was in town for work so we spent the evening with him out to dinner and watching Derek's softball game. Allie really enjoyed playing with Adeline's Daddy!

Allie demands to dress herself everyday. I finally caved and let her dress herself every other day. On the days where I pick what she wears we are 100% guaranteed to get a little whining that, "I don't like it. It's ugly." And then, of course, on those days that Allie gets to pick what she wears Avery thinks she gets to as well........

And I have to admit, they don't do too bad. Allie is always wearing something really girly.......like a skirt or something with ruffles, dress, etc. Luckily, Avery lets me pick out pants to go with her shirt or else she would be quite the sight. You can see here she was not having a good day.

17 weeks & 2 days

I had my dr. appointment yesterday. Everything looks good. Weird, because something has always been wrong with my other pregnancies. But EVERYTHING is normal!! I wouldn't be considered high risk if it wasn't for the fact that I'm going to have a c-section. At 32 weeks we will go ahead and schedule the section, which will be around 39 weeks.....so September 4th. My birthday is on the 2nd so I think I will see if we can just do it on my b-day so baby and I can share that special day!! I also got the approval to have my abdominal muscles stitched back together.....as long as there are no complications, of course. I'm super excited about that!!! Baby's heartbeat was 147. I can schedule the ultrasound anytime now within the next 5 weeks. Yay! Can't wait to find out what we're having.

Random pics

We did some yard work this weekend. Trimmed some of our rose bushes!!!

Waiting for Daddy to get out of work. This was their favorite plane so we had to take a pic.

Funny conversation I overheard yesterday while we were in the car -- really, more of a conversation turned argument. I missed some of it but the girls were talking about being a big sister / big helper for their new baby. This is where I started to tune them out because a song I liked came on the radio. :) Anyway, next thing I know they are yelling at each other and Avery says "You're fired!!" Then Allie, "No, you're fired!" and back and forth. I couldn't help but laugh. I asked them what was going on and Allie said that Avery said she was going to be the only big sister / helper for the new baby. I guess Allie tried to tell her they both were and that's when Avery told her she was fired. LOL! 

Bird Talk

Taken Tuesday night:


Today Allie is sick. She woke up with a stomach ache. That was followed by some vomiting and she has a slight fever. She's out of her flannel pj's now and is resting in shorts and a t-shirt and is "freezing". Hopefully this doesn't last long.......and isn't contagious.