Day 137: Last Day of School!!

So today was officially Brycen's last day of school but Skylar isn't scheduled to be out until next week. However, because we will be on vacation next week, today was her last day also! It's kind of bittersweet. They've both grown so much this past year and made huge strides. Skylar is now at an early reading stage as well as early math. Brycen has learned memory verses, counting, his colors and most of all - hearing his huge vocabulary and listening to him carry on conversations with his sister is by far my favorite. The year has flown by and while Skylar is "okay-ed" to move on to Kindergarten next year, we have officially decided to put her into a transition class which will just give her one more year. She's incredibly smart but I don't like the idea of her being one of the youngest in her class. I also think she needs that added year for maturity. Like Matthew said, "you never hear a parent say - man, I really wish we didn't give them that extra year of school." She can always move up if she seems ready but I don't want her moving down. So in a sense, I feel like I have one more year with her before sending her off to real school. Yikes, that thought is scary. Now that Summer is here, we have a lot of ideas in the works for what to do to have fun and stay busy. The first up is vacation which can't get here fast enough! We leave for New Orleans tomorrow!!!!!

Here's a little before and after pics...

Day 136: Breakfast with mama!

After taking Skylar to school today, Bryce and I decided to go grab some breakfast before hitting the stores for everything we need for vacation. He really wanted pancakes and since I obviously didn't want him eating anything like that in my car, we went to Denny's. Bryce was a crowd favorite of course with every "hi" and "good morning" he said to each person that passed our table. When his pancake came out, he was so excited to see that it was a baseball! He kept saying "look mama, b-ball. A b-ball!!!" My favorite part of the meal was that he wanted me to sit next to him and he kept scooting closer and closer where I was having to eat left handed because he was literally pressed up against my right side! LOVE that he loves me!

Our sweet little Eva did really good too and just waited patiently for us to finish our breakfast before getting hers. ;-) After our yummy breakfast, we waved bye to every body and wished them a good day, then headed to Target. This is not something I really wanted to do but since we are leaving on Friday, I really had no other choice. The kids did great!! Really great! In fact, I let Bryce run around rather then being in the cart because he was listening so well. He even got to pick out his very own vacation hat!

Such a stud! After spending 2 1/2 hours inside Target, we finally had everything we needed and got out of there as fast as we could! Our buggy was so full but we made do...like always...

Now the really crappy part - packing it all! This was a NIGHTMARE! You'd think that I utilize the time that they were in school to do things like this but nope, that's no fun at all! To be continued...

Day 135: Reflecting

Since having Eva, it's become increasingly apparent just how fast time goes. In a lot of ways she reminds me of Skylar so when I see those little glimpses and then look over at my soon-to-be 5 year old I can't help but get emotional. Here lately I've been really having a hard time letting go. I don't know if it's her turning 5 or Eva getting bigger but I've been reflecting a lot. Looking at old pics, watching old videos, doing the "remember when" with Matthew, and having a few moments where I cry. This baby girl was a HUGE miracle for me and sometimes I feel like I forget that. Like I get lost in the day-to-day of raising 3 kids that I forget just what an amazing blessing she is. She started it all. And now here she is, this little girl with a huge personality and keeps us entertained daily. She's so sassy and so emotional at times but gosh, I absolutely adore her. Skylar - you are forever my baby! I love you sweet girl and can't believe you're almost 5!! Hugs and Kisses!

Day 134: Eva is 6 months!!!

I can not believe that our little princess is already 6 months old! That's half of a year! Which means the next six months will go just as fast and I'll be celebrating her first birthday. Tear. I absolutely love this stage she's in though (which I'm pretty sure is something I say each month) but this is my favorite so far. Her personality is coming out more and more and she's the perfect bookend to our little family. For now. *wink* She's still a boob gal and refuses a bottle or a pacifier. I've also still held out on feeding her rice cereal but I think she's beginning to show readiness for eating along with us at the table. She's getting ready to push out tooth 3 and 4 (top front teeth) so right now she's a mess! She sits okay but is still not completely there. I often times forget that she'll topple over because sometimes she sits so perfect that I'll go to fix Skylar's hair and then bam! face plant! Amazingly enough, she is starting to show signs of trying to crawl. Homegirl won't sit but will army-crawl or roll her way around the living room. Skylar still seems to be her favorite although Bryce has definitely made her laugh on occasion. She's already got daddy wrapped around her little finger with that smile of hers. It's the best. We love hearing her laugh and her newest discovery is this high-pitched squeal, making her sound like a total girl. LOVE that. It's been an amazing 6 months and I know the next six will be even better. Thank you, God for this little blessing...

Day 133: Lunchin w the babes

One of the things I love most about living where we do is there's always something we can do. Our area has fun shopping malls, great places to eat and on the weekends there's free concerts. It really is a ton of fun. Today, we decided we'd do a little window shopping and grab some lunch with our little babes because the weather was perfect! After browsing a few stores, we went to Tommy Bahamas for a delicious lunch. I'm amazed that my husband has finally come around to the idea of going out to eat more with the kids since before that, he was terrified. So much so that it just didn't happen but now he just goes with the flow...somewhat. After lunch, we snapped a few quick pics then headed home for naps...

Day 132: I DID IT!

Whoot! That's right...I just completed my very first tri and it was awesome! Brutal. But awesome. I hardly slept at all and thank God for my mom for showing up so early to take care of my little angels while I was gone. The entire way over I was so jittery and really about to puke. Despite his best efforts, there was NO way Matthew was going to succeed in getting me to calm down. There were just so many thoughts racing through my head and I just couldn't get my brain to shut off. Normal race-day jitters. When we got there, it was obvious that we really didn't need to show up quite so early but at least we had more time to get nervous and expend a lot of energy in talking myself into a frenzy. I was so happy that he was there with me though because he's such a cool fan to have. Between transitions he'd say things like "way to go mama, looking good." Or my favorite "watch out for 187, she's a beast!" Love that man. Word of advice, USE A ROAD BIKE. I thought since this is my first one and I really wasn't going that far, use the bike I have. The mountain bike. Terrible, terrible idea. That thing tore me up and I spent so much energy trying my best to keep up with the streamline bikes. I'll tell you this much, I was never so happy to see a finish line in all my life and I nearly puked. No joke. If it wasn't for Matthew filming me and making me laugh, I think I really was about to lose my breakfast. But I did it. I tried a tri and succeeded. And naturally I'm looking at dates for another one cause that's just what I do....
After getting home and showering, it was time to get ready for Mothers Day! Next year, I'm taking my babies with me. My dad decided to have a pool party which my kids were just over the moon about. The minute we got there, they both headed straight for the back door. I was only sad that daddy couldn't come with us but he was feeling pretty bad. He sucked it up to be my cheerleader but then got hit bad once we got home. Fever, body aches, chills, the works. So I thought it best to keep him home. My kids had so much fun though swimming around and I really enjoyed spending time with my family. It was a great end to a great day!

Day 131: Packet-pick up nightmare!

Since TriGirl competition is all the way in Lake Houston, that means packet pick ups are also located far, far away. I thought I'd be proactive and wake up super early and take the kids to play afterwards but it didn't really work out that way. Instead, we got a late start, had to drop Roxy off at the vet, get gas, get breakfast, make the hour drive over to Bike Barn, wait around for them to open, only to discover that packet pickup doesn't start until 3pm!!! And as if that wasn't bad enough, we had to dart through the parking lot, in the rain and hellacious wind. As I'm running out I hear people say that there's a tornado warning issued for this area...grrrrrreat. Living with me is always an adventure, what can I say. So after the long drive back, we came home wet and empty-handed but at least we still had good spirits.

Daddy wasn't too happy this all occurred either because it meant him going back up with all of us later that afternoon because I HAD to have it. Race is this weekend. Eeek. So once he got home it was back on the road we went with daddy complaining the whole way. We finally got the packet and decided on dinner to lift every one's mood from the long day.

It was really a great dinner with even better company. Skylar and Bryce of course did their best to entertain us the whole time and slowly I could see the stress draining away from daddy's face. Now time to prepare for that TRI....