Huber HIGHlights

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Enchanted Rock

Today we headed to Fredericksburg, Texas to visit Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. It was an hour and a half drive so you can imagine the things we heard in the car (mostly from Avery). "It's taking forever!" "It's taking for long!" "It's taking super long!" And the list could go on. Luckily it was a gorgeous drive through the Texas Hill Country so her whining was easily drowned out. We had heard a lot about this park and is always recommended to us when people hear we enjoy hiking. When I researched it the pictures I found didn't make it seem as 'enchanting' as people described. We figured we would go ahead and give it a go though. I'm glad we did! After looking back at my pictures they don't do the view we saw any justice whatsover. The hike is basically just up this huge pink granite rock. It reminded me of parts of our hike up to the famous Arch in Arches National Park. Obviously not nearly as long and strenuous though. The girls hiked the entire way up and down by themselves! We asked them if they would rather be hiking or at the Carnival (we were trying to decide last night which one we were going to do today). Avery said, "hike!!" Allie said, "How can walking be more fun than a carnival?!" ha. She's so funny....and smart. But she really did have a good time. All of us did. Now get ready for picture overload.

View of Enchanted Rock from a distance

Blake's not sure what to think of this contraption. Get that tongue back in your mouth!

Enchanted Rock behind us

Those little dots/spikes at the top of the rock are people

Starting the hike. Avery wanted to go without holding anyone's hands.

Ten minutes into the hike Allie hurts her leg. I had noticed Blake's hat was gone (it was pretty windy) Being the helper that she is she immediately turned to start looking for his hat and slipped on the rocks. She has a small scrape and is fine. Blake's hat was sitting in front of him.

This was probably the steepest part.

"I'm the Queen of the World!!"

"NO, I'm the Queen of the World!"

I think these LARPers (or whatever Derek called them) think they're the Queens of the world.

Looking at the clouds

Took a break for water and snacks and to give Blake a break from the backpack

Hanging off the edge ;)

**************a little video of the girls walking***************

Blake Emerson ~ 8 Months

Our boy is eight months old! He's still the happiest baby. We get comments all of the time about how happy and good he is. We think he's finally starting to thin out although he still has his monster thighs and chubby cheeks like Momma. His newest tricks are to rock back and forth while he sitting and then leap for whatever he sees in sight. Sometimes he really seems like he is going to crawl but never does. I have a feeling he'll either skip the crawling and do an army crawl or a scoot like his cousin Abby did. He will also pull himself up onto his knees. He can't get himself all the way up yet but we can get him to stand and hold on to something and he'll be fine. Although he loses interest pretty quick. I swear he said "da" the other day but can't be sure. He watches us talk so closely then mimics the movements with his mouth but usually nothing comes out. He still adores his sisters and thinks it's pretty funny when they hold him.

There's his teeth!

this boy still isn't feel 100%. He fell asleep sitting just like this except his head was on the floor. He must not have been all the way asleep yet because he popped right up when I turned the camera on.

Friday, April 27, 2012

5 Year Plan

When Derek and I first got married we had a plan when it came to having children. We wanted to wait at least a year before trying to have any kids. Check. I was good with two or three children but Derek comes from a big family so he wanted six to eight. So, we agreed on five. My only thing was I wanted to be done having kids by the time I hit 30..........so we would only have enough time to have 5 kids in 5 years. After the complications with our first pregnancy we knew our dreams were no longer a reality. We are perfectly content with the 3 AMAZING children we have. I don't know that I would have been able to handle 5 kids so close in age. I got a taste of that earlier this week.

Ages: 5, 4, 3, 18 months, and 8 months

It wasn't too bad. I think the main thing was that I wasn't prepared for having the extra kids this day. I saw on FB that my friend was having a rough day and she's 27 weeks pregnant and has been having contractions already (her kids have all been 6 weeks early!) Being the good friend I am, I went to her house and picked them up. It was so incredibly hot that day (somewhere in the 90's). I had to get all four to the bus stop to pick up Allie. Then as soon as we got back I had to start dinner. I was making it for 3 families (us, my friend's family, and another lady that has chemo on Wednesdays). I wish it was a crockpot meal......unfortunately I was doing a meal that was a lot of work. It was a relief to get the meals delivered and the kids dropped off. They were really good though, I was just ready for a break. Avery and Blake had been extra whiny that day. Obviously the house was a mess. I had to get things somewhat cleaned up because I had to teach preschool the next day! I also had to make cupcakes for Allie's teachers birthday the next day! I was exhausted and looking forward to a good night's sleep after that day! Unfortunately, shortly after I went to bed, Avery woke me up saying she puked all over. Sure enough there was a trail from her bed to the bathroom. After cleaning that up, then her bed up, i get her back in bed. Poor girl got up several times during the night. The next morning we slept in a little.......a little too long. We were rushed to get ready and had a huge load of cupcakes and flowers to get delivered to Allie's teacher. Blake was still sleeping so I waited until the last minute to grab him. I opened the door to his room and was blasted with an awful smell. I grab him, change his nasty diaper and we head out. On the way to school I hear Allie go, "ewwwww, what's that on Blake's head." When we get to the school I check and it looked like matted puke in his hair! Sure enough when we get home I find the pile in his crib. I give him a bath, get things changed and scrubbed, cuddle him etc. Put him back down for a nap only for him to do the same thing again. Hopefully everyone is feeling better today and we can just take it easy.
And, I've gone off subject of my original post. Shows how exhausted I am. I'm just so thankful there was another plan in store for me because I really don't think I would have been able to have handled 5 children so close in age.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A Saturday at Home

We actually spent ~~an entire~~ almost an entire Saturday at home. Avery did have a birthday party to go to and Derek and Allie ran a few errands before it was time to pick Avery back up.But, for the most part, we spent the entire day outside. Derek stained the fence and I hosed down the deck, washed the windows, etc. The girls had a blast riding around in their Jeep, playing on the swing set, and playing in the water. Blake must be going through a growth spurt because he slept for FOUR hours! I was constantly coming in and checking on him because I couldn't believe he was still sleeping.