Catching Up.....

Not that anyone has noticed but I haven't posted in about 3 months! Where have I been you ask? Insanely busy.....being layed off from my job, looking for a new job, traveling to Colombia, Halloween, my birthday, broken down truck, broken down van, getting sick, broke a toe, Thanksgiving, sick kids, broken van again, cleaning peed on mattresses, playing soccer, washing clothes, running errands, cooking, cleaning, building Geotrax, re-building Geotrax, Christmas shopping, going to storytime, Christmas decorating, still looking for a job.

Fun in the Sun

No you aren't having vision problems. Yes BOTH of our sons our smiling in this picture and having fun together. Actually it is amazing to me how well they play together now. William is very patient (thank goodness) and although Andrew wants to swipe everything that William has they still find ways to play together. Andrew LOVES to copy William and most of the time this is how their "games" get started. Simon Says is a favorite game we play almost every day. Although they still have their moments and tantrums it is the cutest thing when they are getting along and actually doing things together. Below are some more pics of the last few weeks of the kiddos having fun outdoors. Enjoy!

Micheal...you know you liked him back in the day.

Not many words needed to describe the video that follows. Is he a weirdo who perhaps vicariously has lived his life through the eyes of children in his playhouse/themepark home. Sure, why not. But admit it folks. Yeah I'm talking to you. Back in the day when he was the "man" you listened and you LIKED it. So here's another blast from the past and one of my Micheal Jackson favorites. Yeah I said it. Unless you've got some dance moves like his I suggest you keep any comments positive :)

Click here to watch the video of SMOOTH CRIMINAL

Pictures of the Week

Here are a couple pictures I just have to post that I took this past week and a half. The first picture is Andrew after I had dried his hair. He is not one to have any camera shyness so he eagerly gave me his biggest smile. William on the other hand is being camera shy at the moment so that is the best "smile" I could get from him. Finally, we went to Gatti Town on our weekend trip to Dallas the weekend before last and Jordan got her face painted. Oh and did I mention she cut her own hair for this current style?

In Sickness and In Health

I never made that promise when I started this blog. Thank goodness. We spent about a week and a half with someone being sick in our family. A stomach bug, sinus infection, runny nose, fever, headaches....you name it we had it. It's funny how after illnesses run their course and everyone is well again I look around the house and realize only half the battle is done. Because of course during that week and half my focus was the kids and not so much the house so now I have a laundry backup, dishes piled high in the sink, and mess everywhere! Enough complaining though. Our house is back in ship-shape and I can write again without having a guilty conscience. This past Saturday we went to Tim's grandparents' house to celebrate all the August birthdays in the family. I love how this particular picture came out of Andrew with his great-grandparents.

Bye Bye Job

So the week before last I found out my entire department is being layed off. Did I mention I had the perfect job? I worked from home, watched my kids and took care of our home all at the same time. It's been great. I'll still get to work until Oct 1st so I guess that is a blessing, but unfortunately it doesn't make it any easier. They said our position are being transferred to our headquarters, however yesterday the Dilbert comic of the day may have divulged the real reason for their decision. If you have trouble reading the small print, just click on the picture and it will open in a new window. :)

Muppets....need I say more?

I wore my muppet shirt today so the boys were pointing at all the characters right away asking me who they all were either verbally or in Andrew's case, with his very ellaborate facial expressions. It made me start singing the theme song and later in the day I obviously HAD to find the song so the kids could hear it. Not only did I find the song but a video no less. Be sure to check out the guest star on this particular episode. Memories...

Blue Bell Factory Tour

I should rename my blog "The Forgetful One's Blog". I don't know how I didn't post about this memorable day on July 9th. I had been wanting to take the kids to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory in Brenham, Texas. William was actually excited when I told him about it and we barely made it to one of the last tours they had that day. They started the tour with a short "film" about the history of Blue Bell and then we were taken through the building where we could see into the factory where the ice cream is made and packaged. It was pretty amazing how much ice cream is made and also baffling how although they obviously have to keep the factory and the ice cream frozen and cold, behind the window where we stood there seemed to be absolutely NO air conditioning whatsoever. Besides the heat down all the hallways, our lovely tour ended with a free scoop of ice cream and about ten flavors we could choose from! Yum! Andrew was a bit cranky this day but we made it through the tour and the kiddos got to enjoy their ice cream out in the 90+ degree weather. Right about then we were wishing we worked INSIDE the factory!

Doctors + Babies= Fun??

This past Thursday and Friday were bad days for Andrew. He had to go see the doctor because of a scratch in his eye from the dog jumping on him, he had his 18 month checkup, and a follow-up visit for his scratch. On Thursday the doctor checked the scratch by putting an eye drop in his eye that turned neon green and then shone a type of black light in it. Jordan and I thought it was pretty cool so I asked the doctor what kind of light it was and he said "It's just like the kind you see at clubs." I have 3 kids, a teenager, a toddler and a baby....when does this doctor think I've been to a club recently? I digress.
Friday the doctor said his scratch was completely healed (yeah!), but he was due for 3 vaccinations :( Since we had been there the day before Andrew knew the drill and was NOT happy to be there, period. The nurse came and she and I had to basically hold him down while she gave the shots(not fun!). He stopped crying relatively quick so William decided that was the prime time to say, "That was fun!". Ahhh, to see things through a child's eyes. Somewhere in that chaos of seeing weird neon green oozing out of Andrew's eye, seeing him held down while he got shots, there was fun to be had. Wish I could have said the same. I was exhausted! Jordan luckily came with me to both visits so she was a great help with William. In the end we left with one less scratch, three new shots, and four yummy lollipops for all of us!

Trip to the Houston Zoo

We went to the Houston Zoo last week with William and Andrew. They both loved seeing all the animals although William when we first mentioned we were going said he didn't want to go because he was "scared of the lions". He's at a point where he's says he is scared of going anywhere or eating anything or doing anything, but once we get to where we're going or he sees what it is he thought he was scared of he tells us "Mama and Dada I loved going to the zoo!" He's so silly about certain things at the moment. This past Monday William started going to a 2 hour Gymboree Play & Music class. I had been telling him all week what the name of the place was and that he would get to do gym time, music and art. Fifteen minutes before the class is over they ask the parents to come back so the kids can do a show and tell of sorts, talking about what they did that class. They got to play with sand this first class and do art work with sand and read books about.....you guessed it, sand. I could tell he had a good time, however as soon as we got to the van he started complaining and telling me "Mama you said we would have music and they didn't do any music!" Apparently music is not done every week....great. He would not let me live that promise down and the rest of the day all I heard was "but we didn't do music", "you said they would sing songs" and "the teacher forgot the music". Talk about feeling like he missed out. I sure hope next Monday they include music!

Happy (late) 4th of July!

All of the neighbors started popping firecrackers 2 days before the 4th of July. Pyromaniacs. Therefore, I have chosen to blog about this celebration 2 days after. Okay, the truth is Tim and I ate a delicious 4th of July meal at my mother-in-laws, have been shopping the last 2 days and made numerous trips to Starbucks so I've been away from my computer a bit. Earlier in the week on Wednesday, the kids and I went to storytime and the theme for the craft was (drum roll please)....4th of July! Andrew and William made really cute "Firecracker" hats. William refused to wear his, or even put any decorations on it since he is a boy of few frills. Andrew with help from me finished his lovely creation and even agreed to wear it. Here are both our cuties in front of the library showing off their crafts.

Learning from big brother

What is it with boys and their affinity for everything gross, messy and yucky? ABC's? No thanks, mom. We'd rather make lovely noises with our mouths and arms. On the plus side, at least they are learning something no school will ever teach them. Priceless.

Bath Time Fun

Is it okay to post and talk about pictures I took last week? Will my blog be taken down for this infraction? Will I go to blog-jail? If so, take me away now because this picture is too hilarious not to make it the first on this lovely blog I'm creating. Andrew and William were taking baths as usual last Thursday night, right before bedtime. William requested "lots of Mickey bubbles" (ie: Mickey Mouse bubble bath) and so he got his wish. Andrew somehow lost his balance while he was playing and landed face first in the oodles of bubbles. When he came up he looked like a cross between Abraham Lincoln and that guy from Mr. Deeds. (The one who says "I tried to make my own [Frosty] at home last night but it just wasn't the same.") If you have no clue who I'm talking about then you missed out. I think I'll photoshop a nice hat on his head to complete his look.

It's about time

I finally broke down and decided to do it. Blog. It's about time too since I've had NO time to scrapbook. At least this will help keep the family informed and help me remember all the wonderful, happy, crazy, messy, chaotic, daily things that happen in our life. I'm so excited and I just can't hide it (that's a song isn't it?)...ok I'll stick to my usual "Woo-Hoo!". I hope everyone enjoys!