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.

What's Cookin' Wednesday

Squirrel Stew........that's what's cooking!! No, but seriously, we WILL get this creature. Is that some of our furniture stuffing in it's mouth?? He's hiding it in our back wall!! That's where he hides out too. I've always thought squirrels were kinda cute....until I saw this one. There are two of them that roam around out there and they have really dark fur. I've seen gray squirrels and brown squirrels but never these dark black squirrels. They are creepy and obviously very rude!

Back to serious business. I did this "What's Cookin' Wednesday" series a year or two ago and never got back into it. I haven't cooked a real meal in 3-4 months now (besides when our families were here). This definitely doesn't qualify as a "real" meal either.....and not healthy, at all. Cooking for just myself and two little ones isn't that easy. Especially when some smells still get to me and the girls are pretty picky. Tonight's dinner was a hit though. I wanted to share this simple grilled cheese that I make. It's a little different from your normal grilled cheese.

1) Set oven to 450. Yep, you're oven! You can cook more than one or two sandwiches at a time this way and they come out nice and crispy on the outside and ooey gooey on the inside!
2) Butter one side of each slice of bread, add a little bit of garlic powder or garlic spread to each slice as well. Then sprinkle some basil on top!
3) Add your normal slice of American cheese, but also add some shredded Italian cheese.
4) Bake for 5 minutes or so on each side.
These come out sooooo delish!! We all love it. Served along with some Spaghettio's and a nice dessert of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. A real treat for our girls! They love ice cream but hardly ever get their own bowl!

MISC

Pregnancy update: starting to feel a little better. I went two days without getting sick and then two days of getting sick and now today seems to be going good so far. I go to the doctor on the 4th. Hopefully we'll get to schedule an ultrasound!! I am still down 7 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. I just hope baby is okay. I felt the little squirt moving around a lot during the 1st trimester and now I very rarely ever feel anything.

Things kids are saying:
Avery
- "boy baby, Mommy, boy" she always says this out of the blue. The first time I had no idea what she was talking about because she just said "boy". I had to ask her what she meant. Basically, she thinks she's going to have a little brother.
-"Yep" can't go a day without hearing this at least a dozen times.
-"oh man" this is new. I don't know where she got it, but it's pretty darn cute.

Allie
- "we're like a family!" she said this one day when all four of us were holding hands walking into the store.
-She wants a sister. We've explained to her that she already has a sister but she really wants another one. One of the boy names I really like is Hudson. I told her if she had a brother that could possibly be his name. Well, one of her friends has a 6 year old brother named Hudson. They were all playing one day and Allie and Hudson were in the little battery powered car driving. I don't know if Hudson didn't think Allie knew how to do it or what but he was trying to help her and telling her what to do. Next thing you know they are yelling at each other. So Allie really doesn't like Hudson and does not want a brother Hudson!

Derek update: He seems to like his job. He is extremely exhausted all of the time though. He works late when he's not traveling.......and really I think he works late when he's traveling too. He just started this job this month and by the end of the month he will have been on 5 trips!

Weekend: We actually had a fairly busy weekend. First was Allie's school carnival. We didn't stay long. We were all hot and tired and that didn't make for a whole lot of fun. So, to compromise, we came home for naps and went to Dave and Busters for dinner and games that night. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics for proof........except for this balloon that was made at D&B's that was taken the next day.

Other:

The girls play Starfall everyday!

Anyone ever had squirrel stew? Once I catch the squirrel that did this I'll let you know how it tastes.

Too Sweet

This morning, as with every morning, my little Avery climbed into my bed to snuggle. I was still tired so I gave her a kiss and closed my eyes to go back to sleep. I then heard a little whisper, "I love you, Mom". awwwwwww, was all I could think. Then I heard it again, this time a little louder, "I love you, Mom". "I love you too, Avery." My sweet, sweet child.

Derek and I were just talking the other day about how these little girls are just growing up way too fast. And they definitely say the sweetest, cutest, and funniest things. We need to do a better job of documenting these things so that is why I wanted to write down this sweet encounter that we had this morning. Don't get me wrong, both of our girls tell us they love us ALL the time....which we really enjoy. With Avery, at her age, it's usually us telling her we love her first and then she'll usually respond with, " I love you much!" This time she initiated it. All to often I'm talking about how ornery and silly this little munchkin is. She is definitely a sweetheart though.

Now here she is, at my side, with an innocent little grin. She's supposed to be taking a nap. "Hi, Mom! Uh, sumping eat, Mom!?" She's too cute to resist. Love HER!

Laughter

Nothing more healing for a sick mommy to hear.....laughter!