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Home Grown Tomato

Straight from the kids' garden!

Soccer Season is Almost Here!

Everybody is getting ready for soccer! Dave attended a meeting last week and will be attending a clinic this Saturday since he will be the coach for Carson's team. As you can imagine, Carson is thrilled about this. Natalia is fine with this arrangement only because she will be playing with the same girls from last year and will have the same coach, who she liked very much. So, thank God, everybody is happy. And that, makes me happy :0) .

We bought Natalia and Carson their cleats so that they can start playing soccer around the house. Well, Luke didn't like the idea that he didn't get any. He didn't understand the explanation I gave him about being too little and not being able to play soccer. He said: "Mama see, me can (as he ran down the hallway. Then he went to get his soccer ball and started kicking it.) See? Me can!" My mom could not bear the sight, so that night, we went to Academy to buy Luke his own cleats! Once again, can you say "spoiled"? The next day, Luke and Carson wore those cleats ALL day long! Natalia, well you know, "I'm tired! It's too hot! I need a break!"

Shakespeare in the Park

On Sunday evening, we went to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. The kids' first play ever! The actors grabbed their attention right a way. The play was approximately an hour and forty five minutes long and the kids loved every single minute!

The weather was nice, a little on the hot side, but nice. To make it even more fun we, of course, had some snacks while watching the play. We were all so entertained by the play that we totally missed Luke eating the majority of the Gummy Bears.

On the way back to the car, they found this little hill! They rolled down the hill for about 30 minutes. I guess after they had been sitting quietly for an hour and 45 minutes, they needed some kind of physical activity.

What a way to end the weekend!

Guadalupe State Park

On Saturday, we spent our entiere day at the Guadalupe State Park. It was such a relaxing and enjoyable day!

The fun started on Saturday at 9:30 when we met a group of people at the park's amphitheater. We went down to the river to hunt for bugs.

Showing off some bugs she caught.

Carson taking a bug to the bucket.

Carson and the bug.
And...little Luke also caught something.

After lunch, we went swimming! The kids had a wonderful time. Natalia became so comfortable with the water that she now is able to float on her back with no assistance at all. She learned how to swirl in the water. She also swam and swam and swam none stop. Carson was a little fish and Luke decided that he was also going to join in. We really had a lot of work looking out for Luke. He really thinks he can swim. He would throw himself in the water and swim, but the problem was that he could not get out by himself so we really had to keep an eye on him. He also swam none stop.

After twenty minutes of swimming, this is what I saw:

Oh but, don't let this picture fool you though. They were still just long enough for me to get the camara and take this picture. They were up and ready to go swimming again in no time!

My cousin's daughter, Azalea and Natalia

By 7:45 p.m., we decided to call it a day, so we packed up and went back home to give everybody a bath and put them in bed.

"Hey Mama, I have a great idea!"

Carson really wanted this toy. The kids are normally good about not asking me to buy them toys, but this time, Carson would not let go of this thing. This picture really breaks my heart, but where would I be if every time we go to Target we buy three toys?

We made a deal though. As soon as he is finished with the 2nd section in his workbook, he gets this toy!

Natalia decided to come up with another (better) idea on how they could get me to buy them a toy. This is what she came up with:

Natalia: Mama, I know, what if I draw a chart for Carson and me and every time we do a chore we can color in the square.

Great idea, right? Hmmm...I wonder which one is Carson's and which chart is hers?

Oh, don't feel bad for little Carson.  Sometimes she let him make all three beds so that he could color in THREE squares!  (FYI, they still didn't get a toy - I still think my plan is better :0)

Just a Little Girl

I've been so inspired by Jill with Homemade by Jill. There are so many cute projects I would love to try to make, if I had all the time in the world. So, I thought I would get started by getting my own copy of Sock and Glove and give it a try.

I made this little girl last night. I know, she is not perfect by any means. I stink at sewing. I had fun making her though, which is the important thing, right?

Time to Clean Up

After I was finished giving everyone a bath, I walked in their room and found Carson's bed and Luke's bed covered with stickers! (Thanks for the little tiny stickers, Hetal! :0)) So, I said "Okay guys, it's time to clean up! I don't want to see any stickers on the beds." I was shocked at the quick reply I got from Natalia and Carson, "Oh, okay Mama!" --A few minutes later I walked into the room and this is what I found:

Oh, and I also found one of Luke's flip-flops with the back strap cut. I went to confront him. He didn't have an explanation for his actions. All I got was this big smile! I said, "well Luke, no more flip-flops for you, buddy!" He responded, "you buy me more, Mama?"

Birthday Gift!

Look at what I got for my birthday. - Thanks Hetal :0) !

                                              

Last night, I had some time to play.  And yes, this is totally cheating.  These layouts were pre-made.  I just added the pictures and I was done!  Now, how easy is that.  

McCain for President!

Conversation I had with Natalia tonight!

It went something like this:

Me: Do you remember who the president is?

Lia: Yeah!  George Bush.

Me: You know, in November we have to vote for our next president.  President Bush has been our president for 8 years and now it's turn for somebody else to be the president. There are two candidates, Obama and McCain.

Lia: Oh, I like McCain!

Me: McCain?  Why?

Lia: Because he has candy! - Get it?  Candy "Cain"!!!

So much for tax policy when candy canes are involved...

"Faster than a speeding bullet

More powerful than a locomotive.  Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  Look! Up in the sky!  It's a bird.  It's a plane.  It's Luke finally pedaling his tricycle! "

Luke finally learned how to pedal on Friday.  You go Luke!

Hannah is turning 5!

I knew it was going to be a great weekend when I saw this, while driving to Katy:

I had to wake up the kids from their nap so they could enjoy this rainbow with me. It has been a long time since we have seen one!

Anyway, Hannah and Natalia have been friends since birth. They enjoy each other's company very much. Never fight, complain or get tired of one another. It is just so fun to watch them interact. They are truly inseparable! And even though they don't live in the same city, every time they see each other, they just pick up from where they left off.

Okay, so with all that being said, we just had to be there for Hannah's 5th birthday. We had a very good weekend. We got to Katy at about 8:00 p.m. on Friday. The kids didn't go to sleep until 11:45 p.m. They were all just so excited to see each other!

Saturday started at 6:00 a.m. when all the kids woke up. But, why so early???? Anyway, we got ready and went swimming. After swimming, we went home to get ready for the big party!

Dave was able to meet us in Katy! As always, the kids were so excited to see Daddy. Daddy and Carson went to play some tennis before the party and then they came by to pick up Luke and they all went to get a treat.

By 5:00 p.m., everybody started to show up for the "Carnival". There were lots of games, prizes, and food. Hetal worked so hard putting this carnival together and it was a success, even though it rained right before the party. Every kid left with lots of toys, a big lollipop (which by the way, has 790 calories!!!!) and a handmade backpack! Yes, you read right. Hetal and some friends, made 20 backpacks. Go Hetal!

As you can imagine, the kids were very exhausted after all we had done during the day. Luke fell asleep during the party (6:30 p.m.) and didn't wake up until 7:00 a.m. the next morning! Natalia, kept telling me that she needed a nap and if you look at the pictures, you can see in her eyes that she was exhausted! Surprisedly, Carson did fine. I think that, as long as he was right next to Daddy he was alright!

Okay, so I thought that after all that, the kids would have no problem going to bed right after the party. WRONG! They didn't fall asleep until 10:40 p.m. or so. What in the world?

On Sunday, we went to the park to eat lunch and right after that, we went swimming again!

Thank you to the Iveys for letting us spend the weekend with them.

Happy 5th Birthday Hannah. We love you!

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The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I finally finished reading The Secret Garden to Natalia. Wow, it took a while, but we finished it, all 386 pages! At about page 280, Natalia started to loose interest, but then all of a sudden, she started to get into the book again. Today, she didn't want me to stop until we finished it. Needless to say, we read until 9:45 p.m. tonight.

While reading through the book, I often stopped and asked her questions to make sure that she was actually paying attention. It amazes me how she can stay focus even though sometimes she looks as if she is somewhere else. For example tonight, in particular, she blew me away. In the last chapter, it talks about a letter that Mr. Craven received from Yorkshire. I asked Natalia, "who do you think sent the letter?" Natalia's answer was Martha (the answer was actually Susan Sowerby, Martha's Mom). I asked Natalia why she thought that it was from Martha and she said, "well, because she speaks Yorkshire." Oh and then, I was reading in a hurry and I mispronounced a word. She stopped me and corrected me. ~What am I going to do with her...

Birthday Celebration Continues

Do you remember how I went to Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate my birthday ?

Well, since Dave wasn't able to be there to celebrate, on Saturday night he took me to Ruth's Chris Steak House for a nice dinner.

The food, as expected, was excellent. We had a great time spending time with one another. At one point though, I thought everything was going to change when, he reached into his pocket for his iPhone. He claims that he was just looking for a fireplace application. He thought it would be "romantic" to have a fire going while eating dinner. ~Whatever Dave :0)!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Wild West Fun Fest

I was so looking forward to this, but things didn't go as planned.  We took the kids to Enchanted Springs Ranch in Boerne.  Supposedly, we were there to experience an authentic old western town!  The ranch was cute and there were some exotic animals, but what we were looking forward to was the camel ride.  Now, how cool would that have been.  Well, the camels were not there.  They were filming a movie.  We still had fun though.  And the most important thing was that we were able to spend time together as a family. 

Luke was feeling a little under the weather, 

so he sat in his stroller most of the time.

Wild West Reenactment

Now, can somebody explain to me how Carson can be scared of dogs 

after petting this thing?????

Enjoying their new cowboy guns! - Great!

Finally...

Look at what I'm holding in my hands...

My birthday gift!

This little gadget didn't come easy though.  Here is the rest of the story...

After work on Friday, the kids and I went to see Daddy play tennis.  He played on a tournament this weekend.

Here are the kids after 15 minutes of watching Daddy play tennis.

Anyway, after all that excitement, we went back home so that Dave could clean up a little.  Then, we were going to go and eat dinner but first we decided to stop by the Apple store to see if they had any iPhones left.  They still had some!  So, I got to the end of the long, long, long line and called Dave.  We decided that I would stay, with my book, while he took the kids to eat dinner and then back to my parents house. Two and a half hours later, Dave came back to stand in line with me.  To make this long story short, we left the Apple store at approximately 11:24 p.m. with 2 iPhones! I still can't believe we wanted these iPhones this bad.  I've never done anything like this before...  Have I lost my mind?

 

Unbelievable!

My alarm went off at 4:00 this morning, as it normally does, but today I decided I needed a little more sleep. So, I pushed the snooze button and went back to sleep. At 5:00 a.m., Dave woke me up. I didn't know I had slept that long. I jumped out of bed and instead of going out for a run, I got ready for work and headed out the door to AT&T. You might be asking yourself, "why so early?" Well, today is the day! Today is when the iPhone goes on sale.

We have been waiting for this day for so long. We wanted to make sure we were one of the first ones there so that we wouldn't have to wait in long lines. I took "World Without End" (which by the way, is a great book) with me, to read while waiting for AT&T to open. Dave brought me a breakfast taco and a drink from Taco Cabana at about 7:30 a.m. Anticipation was building up. We were all getting a little anxious. It was 7:45 a.m. when everybody started to stand up to get ready for the doors to open. I had to go to work, so I left, while Dave waited to get our iPhones.

Finally, at approximately 8:15 a.m., it was Dave's turn to walk through the front doors. The first words out of his mouth were, "Yes, I'm here to look at your new Razr." The salesman just stared at him. I guess, he didn't think Dave was funny :0) - "I'm just kiddin'," Dave said, "I'm here to buy a black 16 gig iPhone." "We just ran out of black 16 gig iPhones," the AT&T salesman said. And he was serious, very serious!

Can you believe it? Fifteen minutes after opening their doors, they were sold out of black 16 gig iPhones! How is that possible? After all that waiting we were not able to get our iPhones today. I can't believe it!

It's My Birthday!

Oh wait, or is it somebody else's birthday? Hmm...I'm confused. What am I doing at Peter Piper Pizza then?

Well, let me explain. Yesterday was my birthday. The kids decided that it would be great to celebrate MY birthday at Peter Piper Pizza, so Peter Piper Pizza it was. Oh it was so much fun. The kids were so excited to be celebrating my birthday at their all time favorite place. Carson looked at me and said, "Mama, I like your birthday party." ~ Well, I'm glad they enjoyed it.

Later that evening, after we spent I don't know how much money on games and we ate pizza, they each presented me with a home-made birthday card and a gift:

From Natalia - She did it all by herself!

From Carson - Blue is definitely his favorite color!

From Luke - He scribbled a little and then asked Mami to help him!

Oh, and I almost forgot. They also made me a birthday hat. I mean, how can we have a birthday party without birthday hats!

And here are some other pictures of my party:

Horrible drivers, by the way...

For lunch, everybody I work with took me to Demo's Greek Restaurant to celebrate. They brought me a delicious cake and this balloon that sings "happy birthday" to you every time you tap it. It's pretty annoying, to tell you the truth. Oh by the way, the balloon was a great hit with my kids. Thanks guys!

I had a great day! Thanks to all of you who emailed me or called me to wish me a happy birthday.

On Saturday, Dave and I will be going out to eat at Ruth's Chris Steak House. I'm so looking forward to that.