Casey's Clubhouse

All my poor little boys have bug bites, even Michael!  Poor Matthew has 5 bites on one arm.  I've been spraying the boys before they get on the bus to go to school because there's a bit of a West Nile Virus scare going around. Some of the mosquitos around this area tested positive. I'm not one to freak out, but I am more conscious about spraying the boys now. I am still kicking myself for not spraying them on Sunday night.  I thought the citronella would keep the pesky things away.  Lesson learned!

I read about this playground called Casey's Clubhouse and wanted to take Mark there to play because it's suppose to be really nice and new. Yesterday was the perfect day so I did. 

It is one of the nicest playgrounds I have ever seen! There was also a pavilion with shade and tables - perfect for a little picnic. There are also lots of things there to play with/on, but Mark was a little too small for most things.  That didn't stop him from running around and having a great time.  I've discovered that he's more like Matthew when it comes to adventure.  He's a little more cautious. He does not jump in feet first like Michael.  It took him a while to experience the slide and he did not like the zipline. Halfway through the course he told me he was all done. I asked him if he wanted to try again. He said "no" and walked away. Haha. I'll have to bring the other 2 boys because they will love the zipline!

Getting ready to go play! He let me put the hat on him for about 2 minutes and pulled it off.

Before he got out of the car, I told him he had to put his hat on if he wanted to go and play.  He wore it for another 2 minutes.  To his credit, he took it off, handed it to me and said "take this" instead of just throwing it on the ground like his brothers would have done.

He loves anything with a steering wheel and he loves to drive!

This and That

It's officially Fall! What a gorgeous weekend it was.  It's cooling down so I spent most of my weekend outside cleaning the patio furniture, windows, and rugs in preparation for frequent outdoor dining and hanging out.

This weekend turned out to be not as busy as I anticipated - Matthew's baseball game got cancelled because the fields were wet so I was able to postpone some to-dos. And he was able to stay the whole time at a friend's birthday party instead of having to leave early to make his game time.

Michael's game was early on Saturday so they headed out before 6:30 and were home by 10.  His team won and he had the day to relax.

They had a friend spend the night on Saturday night and probably did not get much sleep so our Sunday was pretty lazy-Mark did not even get out of his PJs. We had dinner outside and all of us (except M-bugs don't bite him) have bug bites to prove it.  I hate those pesky mosquitos!

This is from Friday's playdate. More kids showed up after this picture and Mark went crazy!  He loves a crowd.

Mark loves to help with anything.  He's so sweet.  He helped Daddy wash the car on Saturday.

Look how hard he's concentrating...

I love this picture.  When Matthew was at a birthday party, we went to pick up Sonic for Michael.  Michael ALWAYS shares his food with his little brother. My silly monkeys.

TGIF - It's a Nice Rainy One

Happy Friday!  It's raining and I love it. I'm happy that it's starting to cool down and that I don't have to go out and water the flowerbeds.

It's going to be a busy weekend.  Michael has a soccer game in Dallas, Matthew has his first baseball game ever, and then throw in a birthday party all in one day.  Phew! It's definitely not summer anymore.

It's been kind of a blah week-mostly because I'm trying to keep up with the kids schoolwork.  It's been a little bumpy.  The summer break has really thrown them out of their routine and I need to help them focus on staying on track.  I had a meeting with Matthew's QUEST teacher yesterday.  She wanted me to know that Matthew is having a hard time focusing and is falling behind. I asked her what we can do to help him focus-does she have any tools that we can use?  Of course she has no idea and just gave me some BS answer about how I can break up the work into increments, blah, blah.  Did not answer my question at all. I'm just going to have to help him myself.

While the boys were in school, Mark and I ran all over town running errands and doing some fun things for him.  We went to a couple of story times at the Grapevine and Southlake libraries.  I love the children's area in the Grapevine library-they have a play area and lots of tables with puzzles and interactive toys. They also have a computer area with educational games for the little kiddos.

Last Friday, we attended our first neighborhood playdate at LegoLand! Mark is still too young to actually play with other kids, but he had so much fun building with the legos and watching the other kids play.  He loved putting his little lego car down the ramp! There was a lot of squealing from him!

I'll be hosting today's playdate at the Grapevine Library.  My original plan was to go to Casey's Clubhouse but because of the rain, I had to switch it to an indoor meet area.  I'm looking forward to it!

These are some random pictures from this week.  Every time Mark sees the camera he says "cheese" and then says, "I see, I see" because he wants to see himself.

This is what we do almost every morning - he gets down from the bed, runs to the top of the back stairs, stands there calling out "mom, mom, mom" until I go get him.  Then we watch a little "tee-tee" before we go and get his "wabbles" or "yogo" for breakfast.

We were getting ready to go to Grapevine Mills to return something and he wanted to wear my hat.  So CUTE! He would've been such a pretty little girl....

I snapped a couple of pictures of him playing after story time.  He loved to see other kids.  He got so excited! That Elmo shirt? It was Michael's and he loved it.  Then it was passed down to Matthew who also loved it.  Now it's Mark's and he LOVES it.  He asks to wear it EVERY day. Fortunately, he gets it when I explain to him that he can't because it needs to be washed.

{five} on Friday

Happy Friday!  It's been a pretty good week for us, but Fridays are always nice.  And I enjoy sharing and visiting the Five on Friday link-up at the good life blog.

California has been calling to me this week. I opened up our local paper one morning and the headline was...drum roll, please.....

{one}

I was so excited.  I love their fresh pizza dough and their frozen meals. So convenient for busy days when I don't have too much time to devote to cooking.  Flatten the dough, throw some cheese on it, put it in the oven and viola! Dinner. The closest one to us right now is in Ft. Worth and trekking down there for pizza dough defeats the convenience factor.

{two}

I saw this little mini pack at Ulta and I had to have it.  The colors are so pretty and perfect for fall.  And the little bottles are super cute. My favorite is the First Date at the Golden Gate, but I like all of the colors I got really.

I painted my toenails and when Mark saw, he wanted his painted as well. So now we have matching painted toenails. When Michael saw, he said to me, "Mom, you've got to stop painting his toes.  He's going to become a tom girl!" HAHA!!

{three}
I started decorating for fall this week.  And this little guy helped me.  He inspected everything I took out, touched it, and said, "ohhhh...NIIIICE..." Then he took a little break from decorating to read the dictionary.

{four}
Michael is doing really well so far at the intermediate school.  The first week, he came home saying he hated school everyday-which is to be expected right after the long summer break.  Who really wants to go back to homework and sitting in a classroom all day after 3 months of playing with friends all day? This week, I have not heard him say it once. Here he is getting ready to walk over to the bus stop.

{five}
On Monday, I took Mark to Grapevine Mills to walk around just to get out of the house. Little did I know that I would fall in love with this scarf. Then I saw the price and fell deeper. Twelve dollars! In Kirkland of all places. My day was complete.

Our weekend will be full of soccer and baseball.  It will be great! And? It will only be in the lower 90s! It's starting to look a little like fall :-)

Trying a New Sport

Matthew has tried a few sports, but has not found one that he really wants to stick with yet.  He played soccer last Spring and when I asked him if he wanted to do it again for the Fall, he said he would really rather try baseball. Hmmm..I thought back to last Fall when he wanted to try out lacrosse. Four hundred dollars in equipment/uniform and a few weeks later, he decided that it was not the sport for him.  We finished out the season, but it was like pulling teeth to get him to go to the practices.  To be fair, his coach was not very encouraging and I didn't think that he gave Matthew the attention that he gave to the other kids who were more skilled. Matthew thrives when he gets positive reinforcement and he gains confidence from that.  That's his style.

So when I heard he wanted to try out baseball, I was a little hesitant, but I signed him up anyway.  He had his first practice last Saturday and he had so much fun! He said that he really liked his coach and he's very excited to start.  He wants to be the best player by the first game. I'm not sure how long his enthusiasm will last but I'm hopeful.

Michael had a his 2nd soccer game of the season and his team won 7-0. I had to miss the game because it conflicted with Matthew's practice. I was a little bummed out but I really had fun watching Matthew practice. I took a blanket to sit on and some snacks for Mark and we were set.

This was Matthew before practice.  To say he was a little nervous is an understatement. He looked like he's about to walk the plank. But after a little while, he got more comfortable and by the end, he was excited about baseball.

Mark had fun running around while Matthew was practicing.  He met a 15-month old boy there and played with him a little. When the little boy started putting dirt on his leg, he freaked out and frantically wiped it off screaming, "I need towel, I need towel!"

Twelve Years Ago

I can't believe it's been 12 years since we've been married! And I can't believe how young we looked.  We celebrated with dinner and that was pretty much it.  Again, we don't make too much of a fuss because we know we've got so many more coming!

{five} on Friday - Looking Forward to Fall

Dear Fall,

Please come sooner than later.  I'm so over the summer heat and can't wait for the cool, crisp mornings. To help me get into the Fall spirit, I'm linking up with Darci and friends at the good life blog for Five on Friday to share my Friday loves.

{one}
I cannot wait to recreate this outfit from Pinterest.  I love how simple, comfortable, and put together this is.

{two}
 Hello, Pumpkin Spiced Latte.  I've been waiting for you to come back to me.

{three}
OK- so this has nothing to do with Fall, but I love that we will need to re-tile our shower soon. What I'm not loving is the leak that we have and that we cannot use the master shower at the moment and probably not for another few months. Apparently, the tiles and grout has been "compromised" and water is seeping through the shower floor to the ceiling of our 1st floor. Since we were planning on redoing the shower and tub eventually, we've decided to wait, save up and proceed with the re-do instead of just getting it fixed. I love looking at bathroom ideas. We'll probably go for something traditional and warm like this.

Then maybe, M will say since we are redoing the shower and tub, we might as well so redo the whole bathroom. Then, I can have a chandelier.  I girl and dream.

{four}
I am hooked on these 3-wick candles from Bath and Body Works thanks to Shay from Mix and Match Mama. Can't wait to light this baby up.

{five}
I've been hanging the same fall wreath I made 3 years in a row.  I think it's time for a little change. This is my Pinterest inspiration wreath.

This is my recreation.  It's my old wreath, but I added the turquoise burlap bow and the wood "F." I was going to paint the letter but changed my mind because I was lazy  the natural wood color looked better with the burlap ribbon.

And that is all from my piece of the Internet space.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday - Now on to Our Anniversary

Today is M's 40th birthday. He's going out town today for a business trip so we celebrated with cake last night. We don't typically make that big of a deal over our birthdays (exception of the boys, of course) because, really, it gets a little old.  We recognize it, celebrate it and move on.

So happy birthday to my wonderful hubby. I'm so proud to celebrate you and all that you've done for us. Let's move on to our 12th Anniversary in 3 days! Woohoo!!

I love this picture.  Matty looks so content just being with his Daddy.

Happy Tuesday

We had a pretty boring weekend.  Lots of just lounging around because Michael did not have a game, no social plans at all.  I ran some errands, went to the gym and played with my baby.  The boys were hardly ever home though.  They have friends in the neighborhood and when they are not over at their friends' house, their friends were her at our house.

Today is Matthew's first full day of school.  Poor guys.  And this will be the first time they will get homework so we really have to be on the ball. I've already received emails from teachers letting us know what the plan is for the week which is very helpful because Michael does not tell me anything about school no matter how many questions I ask.

Yesterday, we had a nice little break from the 100+ temperature so I was very happy to stay inside and pretend that it's chilly outside (it was still in the 90s, but cloudy).

This week is going to go really quickly-catching up on errands and chores.  I've got to get to the dealership and have them put on my front license plate.  Apparently, I can get fined for not having it on.

The school Spirit Shop will open up this week so I'll have to be at school for most of the day on Thursday.  I'm excited to see how much we will sell.  When we opened up for Meet the Teacher, we kicked butt! I just hope that we get more merchandise to sell by Thursday.

My Marky has been sleeping late lately which is A-OK with me.  He is a night owl.  When we are in bed trying to sleep, he starts yapping. Last night, he listed all the things that he eats.
"I eat french fries (but it sounds more like fried rice)"
"I eat ombuger"
"I eat ogurt"

When I say, "You are so cute, I can eat you up," he responds with "I eat MAMMA!" He doesn't call me Mamma anymore, though.  When he wants my attention, he yells out, "MOM!" I'm guessing it's from hearing his older brother.  I'm a little sad that he completely skipped calling me "Mommy."

And since I have not posted many pictures of him lately, here are a couple from a few weeks ago.

He will not let me feed him anymore unless I sneak it.  He thinks he's such a big boy and will not use baby bowls or utensils.  Loves his waffles and yogurt for breakfast and snacks all day long. When he wants a snack, he'll say "nack" and run to the pantry. One of his favorite snacks is cranberries.

He loves to watch videos on the iPad.  This keeps him busy for a little bit so I can get some chores done. And he loves to be with his bo-bos. My Matty is so sweet to his baby brother sometimes.

He still loves to water the plants!