Weekend Round-Up

Another weekend has come and gone and I can’t believe this is the last day of April. The kids have less than 5 weeks of school left.

The weather has been very nice these past few weeks so we took advantage and stayed outside most of the weekend. Our pool is again swimmable after we added another pump for the Polaris so the boys swam for a little bit on Sunday.

We had 3 soccer games on Saturday and it was a little painful. Michael lost both of his games and Matthew’s team tied 0-0.

This was the last game for Michael with his recreational team. I’m a little sad about leaving because he’s played with these kids for 2+ years and I’ve gotten to be friends with some of the family. Michael says that he’s OK leaving.

His last Odyssey game will be next weekend at a tournament we signed him up for. I hope we are making the right choice to move him to Solar. It can’t possibly be any worse for him. I just can’t stand how unfairly he is being treated by the person who is supposed to help him develop his skills. I would rather have him play for an OK team and be treated with respect then leave him a winning team and be treated like crap.

We didn’t do much on Sunday. I went grocery shopping and took the boys to buy some Pokemon cards at Target. I love to hear their reaction when they open up the packs and see what they got. There’s always a discussion between them whether a card is valuable or not.

We put up the swing for Mark on the swing set. He’s still a little small for it, but Michael loves to push him. He’s such a good big brother. He was very gentle about the whole thing and was very attentive to make sure Mark does not fall off.

Lots of things going on this week. Michael has his class fieldtrip to the zoo tomorrow that I’ve volunteered to chaperone. Matthew has this 2nd grade musical on Thursday. Mark has his 6-month check-up on the same day, and of course, there are the usual soccer practices and such. Phew..I’m tired just thinking about it.

Hanging out and playing some iPad

Love that expression on his face.  So CHUBBY...

Watching TV on Mamma's bed

Michael helping Mark learn to walk

Not sure if he likes the swing

Michael likes his swing

Friday Brain Dump

I think this is the longest I’ve gone without posting for awhile. There just hasn’t been anything interesting to post about. This week has just flown by. I love that it’s Friday, but my gosh, where did the time go and what did I get done this week? I’m too unmotivated to try to post anything creative so here’s a brain-dump.


• All the flowers I planted a little over a week ago are doing well. I’ve fertilized and watered with root stimulator so I’m hopeful that I will not kill them.

• Marky is still not really liking his rice cereal. Sarah says he is doing better, but he’s still crying when she feeds him. We will try some sweet potatoes on Monday to see if likes that better.

• UPS man delivered a couple of things I ordered for Mark from Zulily. This is the watermelon shortall - so stinkin' cute!

• I’m feeling really bad that my kids are getting constantly yelled at. I want a peaceful house, but sometimes, they just completely ignore us and do things they know they are not suppose to - repeatedly. They may look innocent, but they sure know how to push our buttons.

• We’ve already had 2 soccer games this week – 1 for Michael and 1 for Matty. This weekend is pretty much shot. On Saturday, we have 3 games – 2 for Michael and 1 for Matthew. Michael has 2 more games on Sunday. Oye.

• We are getting a second pump installed in our pool so we can attach a Polaris. We had to drain most of the water out yesterday and I couldn’t help but feel very wasteful.

• We are switching to FIOS today. Supposedly, it’s the same as what we are paying for regular cable now.

• Since I’m on home improvement – we will be replacing our fence in a couple of weeks. I would rather use that money for pretty things around the house like some new chandeliers and light fixtures but I guess that’s not really practical, is it?

• We finally got Matthew some new clothes that will fit him. I don’t know what happened to all of Michael’s clothes that we could’ve passed down to him. Where did they all go?

• I got a haircut last week and had 18 inches cut. I’m loving my new haircut and I haven’t loved a new haircut is many years.

• Mark is babbling a lot and I think he’s starting to get separation anxiety. There are times when I’m the only one who can comfort him at night.

• M will be gone almost all week next week for business. I have QBRs the same week at work so it will be a challenging week for balancing my time (read: next week will totally suck)

House Full of Boys!

I’m participating in Kelly’s Korner link-up to talk about being a mom to ALL BOYS!

I never thought that I would be a mother of three boys. In my little girl dream, I wanted to 2 older boys and a sweet little girl. Two older boys because they can take turn protecting their sweet little sister.

Well, I guess God had other plans for me. Maybe he knew that I couldn’t handle having a girl because I am now a mother of three boys and I love it. I’m grateful everyday to have these little people in my life and I wouldn’t trade it in for the world.

My house is mostly a mess with Legos, cars, action figures, and all sorts of balls all over the house. It’s never really quiet and peaceful – it’s full of laughing, crying, playing, running, hitting, screaming, and meltdowns. I rarely get to read anymore and Spongebob Squarepants, Johnny Test, Adventure Time, and anything else on Cartoon Network are our constant companion. The floor is always in need of vacuuming. The bathrooms are sometimes SCARY. But I guess these are the things that make our house a home. Wouldn’t I love to have everything organized and clean? Of course, but I live with 3 boys -4 including my hubby so I’m not hopeful. Even I’m not that big of an optimist.

But these little guys are my heart so I am thankful for them.

 Michael is my little sensitive one.

Matthew is my outspoken one.

 Marky is our new little addition.

Home Improvements

I was really motivate this week to do some pretty things for the house.  It usually is a big mess with 3 boys and a full-time job, but I surprise myself every now and then.

This is the Spring wreath I made.  It was very easy.  I used a grapevine wreath for the base and randomly inserted "silk" blossoms here and there. It turned out prettier than I expected.

A closer look - daisies, hydrangeas and peonies

I got these lilies on clearance.  I was originally going to plant them around an oak tree, but realized that they needed full sun so I put them in pots instead.

I saw these beautiful gardenias and I had to have them.  Actually the fragrance sold me - I'm a sucker for sweet scented flowers. I bought 2 bushes and they went in front of some holly bushes in our front yard.

Our Awesome Easter Weekend

Loved, loved this weekend.  I wish I could bottle up the weather on Saturday because it was so nice.  We didn’t do much this weekend.  On Friday, the boys had the day off from school, so they stayed home with Sarah and dyed Easter eggs.

Saturday, M and I cleaned out the flower beds and pulled out the old, ugly cabbage plants in the morning.  He also trimmed the very overgrown hedges along our driveway.  Then we took Matthew to his soccer game in the afternoon.  He did so well!  He didn’t score, but he was being aggressive and showed his speed.  M thinks he’s ready to go academy. We may put him in Solar next season.

After soccer, M and I dropped off all three boys at G-pa’s house and we went over to Lowe’s to get some roses for planting.  We got 7 plants and it only took us a little over an hour to plant all of them! I was expecting for us to spend at least a few hours to get it all done. It was so easy that I went to Lowes again Sunday morning and got 5 more to plant.  I’m so excited about my roses.  Most of them our Knockout Roses, so it will be fairly easy to keep them alive, but we also planted some other varieties that are probably not as hardy.

I love the way some of them smell.  A couple of my favorites are “Intrigue” and “Oklahoma.”  They are so fragrant! I also got a variety called “Peace.”  I’m not sure how it will smell, but I loved the name so I bought it. I’m hoping that these will grow to be big, bold and beautiful!

We had a really strong rainstorm on Sunday so the Easter Egg Hunt in our neighborhood got cancelled.  He boys weren’t too overly disappointed because I don’t think they were all that excited about going so it turned out OK.  And luckily, we had enough time in the morning to finish up our planting, trimming and clean-up before the downpour.  

Walking around the lake on a beautiful Saturday afternoon

Cute baby boy

Enjoying drumsticks outside

Boy with the beautiful smile

Got a little something on his nose

Hubby working hard on the hedges

Matthew helping with the clean-up

Michael bagging up the trimmings

My new rosebushes we planted this weekend

Love this "Intrigue" because it smells divine

Chrysler Imperial

Our azalea in bloom. We had these planted last year.

Easter baskets for Michael and Matthew

Easter morning

Love this little monkey

Twisters Came Down

North Texas was hit with at least 3 tornados yesterday. Thankfully, there were no fatality and no one got seriously hurt. That’s amazing considering that 800 houses were damaged and in the city of Forney alone, at least 20 homes were completely destroyed.

We were very blessed to not be in the paths of any of the tornados. The closest one to us was the one in Arlington, which is about 20 minutes to the south of us. For the most part, we got off pretty easy. We got some really heavy, heavy rain, but no hail.

My heart goes out to those who have lost their homes. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to lose everything so suddenly - to come home to a pile of crumpled concrete and wood.

This is the tornado i sAlrington-about 20 minutes south of where we live. Picture from http://www.wfaa.com/

This is the one in Forney which was the one farthest from us and caused the most damage. Picture from http://www.wfaa.com/

Same Forney tornado- AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Damage in Forney- Picture from http://www.wfaa.com/



Damage in Forney - What's striking to me about this picture is that there's this one house that's completely destroyed but the 2 on either side look fine. AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram



Mark is 5 Months

My little man, you are 5 months old.  I can’t believe that you have been with us for almost half a year. I don’t have your stats for 5 months because we don’t visit Dr. Scott again until next month but if I had to guess, I would say that you grew a couple of inches and have gained at least another couple of pounds. Your neck is strong enough to hold your head up at all times.  Here are some things to remember about you at 5 months:

• ·       YOU’VE STARTED ON RICE CEREAL MIXED WITH FORMULA
• ·       You are getting better and better at rolling over
• ·       You will stay on your tummy for much longer now (5-10) minutes before you get ticked off
• ·       You want to sit up all the time.  You hate it when we hold you flat.
• ·       You love playing with your toys
• ·       You are more vocal now and you scream much louder, especially right before you get tired
• ·       You recognize your bottle because you pant and reach out for it when you see it
• ·       You are a morning person.  The first thing you do when you see us in the morning is smile.  That’s my favorite part of the day with you. You are so sweet in the morning. I can leave you in our bed for 30 minutes and you are happy just to lay there and play with your toy.
• ·       You are still wearing size 2 diapers
• ·       Your wear size 6 months clothes; 3 month clothes are getting way too snug for you
• ·       I love dressing you in your Polo rompers – you look so preppy and cute!
• ·       Sky blue looks the best on you
• ·       You love it when your big brothers are playing around you and they love to make you laugh!
• ·       You still sleep in our bed and for the past few days, you’re only getting up once a night

• ·       Your eating habits are still inconsistent – sometimes you have a bottle every 3 hours, sometimes you can last for 8 hours without a bottle. 
• ·       You take about 5-7 ounces each time
• 
  

I’m sure there’s so much more that I can’t think of right now.  You are such a sweet little baby and I love you so very much!

4 Months

5 Months

Learning to sit

Love that toothless, open-mouth smile!

Mesmerized by the TV

Weekend Recap

What a beautiful weekend here in North Texas. We had great weather the whole weekend. It was a little humid for my taste, but I will take it. We spent most of our time outside. The boys had soccer games Saturday morning. Michael scored 3 goals for his StarJets team to help win the game. Unfortunately, I had to leave his game early to get Matthew to his game on time so I didn’t get eh final score, but I think they won by at least 3 points.

Matthew scored a goal for his team. They had a great game even though they lost by 2 points. They were down by 4 points in the first half, but came back and scored 5 goals in the second half to keep the game close.

It was nice that both games were in the morning because that me time to finish reading “The Hunger Games” and also gave M and I time for our date night. We dropped the kiddos off at his Dad’s and we went to see “The Hunger Game” and had a nice dinner at Bob’s Steak House. It was a treat to be able to enjoy my food. Normally, I’m either inhaling the food because Marky is crying or I’m eating with one hand because I’m holding Nary with the other. It gets even better – Michael and Matthew ended up spending the night at their G-pa’s so we only had Mark for the night. Yay, for having the in-laws nearby.

I really liked the movie, but I think I enjoyed the book a little more. My friend Krista let me borrow the next book “Catching Fire” and I can’t wait to start reading it.

Sunday was a “do nothing” day for us. We went on walks and ate outside. The boys went swimming. I took Marky grocery shopping, M did some yard work and that was it. No games, no plans, no schedules, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Did I mentioned that the weather was awesome? Well, it was and I hope that it stays for awhile. But it’s 90 degrees now, what will it be like in the summer? I’m a little scared…

I found this picture this morning that Matthew must have taken on Saturday.  A great snapshot of our life. I think we were getting ready to leave for Michael's game in the morning.
 

Rice, Rice, Baby!

Today was another big milestone for my little Marky! He had some really runny rice cereal. I don’t think he liked it all that much, but he swallowed most of it! He got mad and started to fuss before he finished all the cereal so I had to stop.

Hopefully, next time he will enjoy it more!

What the heck is this?

Umm, why is this in my mouth?

Hmm....



Please stop puting this thing in my mouth?