Lazy weekend

It's been unseasonably cold here lately. Seriously cold. So there hasn't been much to do except bond with one another. We left the house only once yesterday to go to the 8:30 spinning class. James attended also for the first time and I was so proud. I looked over about 30 minutes into it and his face was incredibly red but he hung in there for the whole hour. I think he stayed because we were in the front row and people would see him leaving if he left. Now if I can just convince him to go back.

I cleaned out more closets. If you have never seen the show Hoarders before, you definitely should - as it will make you get into action and throw everything away. It is highly disturbing. I would do anything to avoid being like that. If our neighbors are paying attention to the amount of trash that has been placed outside the last few weeks, I'm sure they think we're nuts.

I found a box full of old cds. Really old. I won't embarrass myself by telling you exactly what was it included. Also in the same box I found all the documents from a cruise James and I took in 2001. I kept everything. I have no idea why. Potential hoarder in the making?

Anyway, these pictures were in there. Weren't we cute? And tan... well at least James was.

Ahhh, those were the days.

Anyway.

This is the kind of fun we had this weekend. The kids' new obsession is reading Where's Waldo books. We take weekly trips to the library and the area that holds the Waldo books gets hit first. Then princess books. Then My Little Pony and Barbie. Then Dora. Then so on.

We lit the fire and about 2o minutes passed before they found all the Waldos. They are really good. I have a much harder time finding Mr. Waldo and his friends.


We played board games and darts. Austin has apparently beaten James a few times now.

I started a new series of books my sister recommended - the Mark of the Lion by Francine Rivers. It is very good. I might have neglected some parenting duties by reading 300 pages on Friday.

We watched a show on the Food Network called The Worst Cooks in America. My mouth was watering on some ravioli and mushroom dish. James went to the store to try and find the ingredients to cook for us, but unfortunately it called for some very strange things (pancetta?) that the average store did not have. I will have to try and find it later this week. Anyway, he came home with the new Patty Melt from Whataburger instead. Hellooo deliciousness! So not good for me but oh so good! James said he'd make the dish later this week. What a great hubby!

Austin came up with a new game called "square bounce." I think it's like 4 corners only you use a bouncy ball and the ceramic tile in your house. Very inventive. We seriously need some warmer weather.

Emily played with her princess dolls. This is her favorite thing to do - she would do this all day if she could. She has the best imagination.

Abby made these glasses in Sunday School.

And that pretty much sums up our exciting weekend. No pictures of the room yet. Or closets for that matter. We're looking forward to the Pro Bowl tonight. Perfect time to do some more laundry. Yeah for me!

A hiking we will go

Since we are having #4, James and I have agreed that we really don't need to buy a whole bunch of new stuff for this little one. I really wish I would have kept some baby items, but oh well... I started looking on Craig's List for various things - and found a bedroom set that I thought was cute. Only thing is that they were inside the Houston city loop - which is a good 30 miles away so we had to find something else to do. After all, I wasn't going to make that drive just to pick up those items.

So this is where we went yesterday...

We had to park about a mile from it, and then we hiked several trails and visited the nature center.

We told Austin that we would likely see a bunch of animals on the hike. Here he is reading about the birds in the area. Emily was a good sport - and listened to his every word. Sort of...

For some reason, Emily was full of energy. Here she is seen running laps.

"Look! A holly tree!" That was a fun game for the first 20 trees or so. Then he realized that they were all over the place.


Here's Abby trying to order a pizza. We forgot to bring snacks with us... (actually it was a bat exhibit). Thankfully we didn't see any of those on the nature trail.

When you get hear cars from the freeway and various other city noises - it takes something away from the whole nature experience. Maybe it's just me.

I think total we hiked a good 4 miles. Plus 2 miles getting to the park (round trip). I did a spinning class that morning and think I might have overdone it a tad - it wouldn't have been as bad if we didn't get turned around at one point. That's when we about lost the kids (not physically - they got extremely tired). Then I turned into Jillian Michaels and Austin got a kick out of that. It was our "last chance workout."

After our hike we went and picked up the room stuff. I think it's pretty cute and in pretty good condition considering how reasonably priced it was. Today while James worked in the yard for the first time this year, I worked in the room... I will post pictures later. My break is officially over - must get back to my chores. Hope everyone has a great week!

Shades

You gotta love a girl who knows how to accessorize.

Stay away cavities

Here is Abby demonstrating why we don't have cavities in our house. I think the fact that we don't have sugary drinks definitely helps, but you have to admit - the girl has skills.

It also helps you concentrate when you close your eyes.

New look

Since I've been in the blogging world for almost a year now, I figured it was about time to change the look up a little bit. Nothing drastic of course... I'm not one to push the envelope. And I'm definitely not the creative one in the family. James is - maybe one day he'll make me something really cool. Until then, this is all I have.

I really wanted to put this picture on top because it cracks me up every time I look at it.

I decided against it and went with our Christmas picture instead.

We've had a busy week, it seems like there is always something going on. This weekend I decided to tackle the closets upstairs (kids rooms). They've been needing to get done for about... hmmm 2 years. Pretty pathetic. James claimed we had a box of boys clothes in the attic which I don't ever remember boxing up. I thought we gave them all away. He went up there and sure enough there was a big bin. Score! I feel so much better knowing I don't have to buy a completely new wardrobe for this boy. So I boxed up all of Austin's 3T and 4T stuff and washed all the new found clothes and hung them up in the baby room.

This is a shot of all the diapers I have so far. Any time I have a coupon or they go on sale I get a box. Hopefully I'll have a whole year's worth when the baby comes.

When I was going through Austin's closet I found 2 big boxes and I had no idea what was in them. We opened them up and found some beautiful dolls James' mother had gotten for their first Christmas. We put them away immediately because they were way too small for them at that moment. I felt so bad I forgot about them - that they were just boxed away in the back of a closet. The girls are at the perfect age to play with them now. His mom named one Elizabeth (Abby's middle name) and one Paige (Emily's middle name). I've been thinking so much about his mom lately. One of our neighbors lost their father last week and as she was telling me the story about his final days with hospice which reminded me of her. I always think about her, but just more so this week. I feel so sad she won't be here for this baby's birth (and James' father) and that my kids won't remember either one of them. I know they're looking down on us, but they sure are missed. I was so happy to show them the dolls that their grandma got them.

Here the girls are with their "new" dolls. I'm trying to grow their bangs out now, so their hair is driving me crazy!

Anyway, I still haven't completed the closets but hopefully this week. I need to address the baby's room soon as I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate having flowers and butterflies all over his room. Actually he could care less, but James really wouldn't appreciate it...

It's a....

BOY!!!

Of course we are all on cloud nine. The kids were so excited to see the ultrasound and the baby dancing around. The tech gave them each pictures of their baby brother. We are so blessed with our beautiful girls and Austin, and now a little boy is on the way. Two of each - perfect!! I can't stop smiling today. We came home and celebrated with a french toast dinner. Yum!

I'm 20 weeks along and feeling great. The baby looks healthy and is about 13 oz. I'm finally starting to look pregnant and have gained 7 lbs so far (with much more to come). I don't feel him very much yet - only at night sometimes when I'm laying down. I'm looking forward to getting some shopping done - and coming up with some names (no, we seriously don't have any yet). From now on we are keeping all of Austin's clothes!

Introducing the red room

So here are some pictures of Austin's new Texans room. We're still missing some decorative items and his chair - a Longhorn chair for his desk that's supposed to arrive on Wednesday. Thankfully he still wants it after the dreaded loss last Thursday.

This is what it looks like from the hallway. The dresser is on the left connected to the bed. Everything is a very tight squeeze.

James and Austin have been playing darts like crazy... James just informed me that his winning streak is in tact... that's real fair isn't it... :)

It's nice that he has a place to do homework now where two little girls can't pester him!

Oh and tomorrow is the big day where we find out the baby's gender! I haven't thought about it too much, but I'm starting to get nervous. We are taking the kids out of school for the big event so they can see it too. I was almost 82% positive it was a boy until my friend Merideth sent me some Chinese gender spreadsheet that shows the age and month you conceived - then based on that the gender. It was right for my other pregnancies. It shows a girl - so if it's a girl James can blame the Chinese. I have explained to him over and over that I don't decide the sex anyway. And no, I am really not putting that much faith in it - I think God has the main role. :) But seriously... as long as it's healthy, we are both happy! So please keep us in your prayers tomorrow!

HOOK 'EM!

Go Longhorns!

Yeah, yeah... I know. I'm a Red Raider (who is not thrilled with all the Texas Tech controversy at the moment) - but being married to a Longhorn, I guess I have kind of adopted them as well. Plus, you should always cheer for the conference anyway, right?? Unless it's the Aggies... :)

I do hope the Longhorns can pull out a win at the national championship tonight... if they don't then I will be dealing with a very grumpy husband (and son) for a few months.

And what game is complete without some cheerleaders (sans the burnt orange) dressed in feather boas and sunglasses?

Austin's 7th

I can hardly believe my baby boy is 7 years old. Seven. Ugh. How times flies. It seems just like yesterday we were on our way to the hospital on New Year's Eve and came home the next day with a sweet little boy we had no idea what to do with. We couldn't be any prouder of our Austin - he's sweet, smart, kind-hearted, talented, athletic... and as cute as they come. I need to stop before I breakout in tears. We only have 11 more years with him until college. Ok - seriously stopping now.

Anyway, his big gift this birthday was a new room. The room he had was pretty pathetic - we moved him from his baby room a month before the girls were born. James and I didn't know if I'd be continuing with work, so our budget was limited. We got his old bed and dresser at a place called Bubba's Beds. Now that's first class, don't you think?

This time around we got him a nicer set - it's a combination bunk bed with a dresser attached and also a desk. This way he can do his homework in his room now. The theme is Texans football - and I'm still waiting on his bedding and some other decorative stuff to arrive (ordered online).

Here he is in his pink room. Gasp!

Well not exactly. We assured him that it was just the primer. Poor James spent 4 hours putting the primer on, and then 12 hours the following day doing 2-4 coats getting it to the Texans "battle red." I would have gladly helped, but figured we didn't need the baby being around all the fumes. James was up until 2 in the morning. And don't get me started on the delivery people who were supposed to be here between the hours of 2-6 that next day and didn't arrive until 9:30 p.m. Ridiculous.

On New Years we celebrated his birthday - first stop the gym. He was excited to go because he knew he'd get a birthday hat. By the way, the flood of gym "resolutions" people didn't make it that morning, maybe next week.

Second stop - It'z. If you haven't been, it's kind of like a glorified Chuck E. Cheese. Except they have as many TV screens as a sports bar - and way more stuff to do. We ate pizza, and spent several hours riding rides and playing games. Then we came home and had cake. Later at HIS request, we headed to Chick-fil-A. Little did I know the only reason he wanted to go there was because of the peppermint milkshake. No big deal to me - anybody who wants to have Chick-fil-A for dinner is definitely a keeper. Austin had so much sugar that day his stomach hurt that night.

Pizza... and sugary drinks. Bleck.

Austin and I did the bumper cars. Come to think of it, I maybe should have skipped due to my "condition."

The girls "played" these racing games for about 10 minutes - James convinced them that they were driving, but he didn't put any tokens in... very sneaky.

Here are the boys saving the world from destruction.

Welcome to the "slide of germs."



This was one of those simulated rides that jerks you around while showing you a video of a roller coaster. It freaked all our kids out.

Mental note: add candles to the shopping list.

I bought this Texans chair online - thought it was going to be the size of a beanbag chair. Boy was I wrong. It won't even fit in his room.

Hope everyone had a great New Years! Here's to a great 2010!