Just the Beginning of The Hardy Boys Series

These were Dave's books while growing up, and now Dave is making sure his kids are exposed to them.  (Thanks Grannie for saving all these books for all these years!)  

Natalia hated it when it was time to stop reading.  She just wanted to know what was going to happen next and she was so worried about the man with the red wig.  She is really starting to enjoy suspense novels.  Carson was just convinced that he was Frank.

I'm glad Dave read this book to them because I enjoy books like The Secret Garden, Ann of Green Gables and stuff like that.  Poor Carson, he really needs Daddy to save him from these kind of books.  If he doesn't watch out, he'll be reading Little Women soon.

Luke's 3rd Birthday Party!

I'm telling you, I had the perfect birthday party all planned out, until Luke said, "No, me want a Wall-E party!"  I tried to convince him that a Cowboy party would be so much fun.  

Anyway, here are some pictures of his party...

He had a blast! A big thanks to all of you who helped Luke celebrate!

Luke's Special Day

The "Happy Birthday" banner, we use for every birthday, was hanging on the doorway.   His gifts, from us, were on the table waiting...  I was in the kitchen preparing a special birthday breakfast when Luke woke up.  Luke looked so pleased when he realized that it was his special day.  We ate breakfast on special Wall-E plates.  After breakfast, he opened his gifts.  

Luke was opening his gifts, while Carson wished Papaw a Happy Birthday!

It was a crazy day.  His birthday party was the next day (Saturday, October 4th).  So on Friday, we had to get things ready.  A big thanks to Elizabeth who helped me prepare for the big day.  

Luke enjoys helping getting the house ready for his party.

After a long day of a lot of work, we headed to Papaw and Grannie's house to celebrate Papaw's and Luke's birthday with a yummy dinner and cake, of course.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Papaw and Luke.

Overall, it was a great day.  I just can't believe my baby is 3 already.  How did this happen????

Look How Old Luke Is!

He is definitely my third child.  Last Thursday, one day before his special day, I woke up and realized that I had not prepared anything to celebrate his birthday at school with all his school mates.  You know, with Natalia, oh...everything was homemade.  With Luke, well...he almost didn't get a thing.  I felt so bad, so I ran to HEB after I dropped everybody off and bought whatever I could find, thus his blue fingers :0).  Oh, the moms all thanked me for all that blue frosting (sorry moms and teachers)!

Luke does not even know who Spiderman is, but hey, a cupcake is a cupcake...right?

Anyway, I have to go now so I will not be able to post more about his birthday and his birthday party.  But, watch out...I'll be back with lots and lots of posts.

Time To Go Back Home!

Okay, so I think is time to go back to Beaumont now.  We had two wonderful weeks here in San Antonio. The first week, we got to spend a lot of time as a family.  Dave and I also had several opportunities to spend some alone time, which was nice.  The second week, I took advantage of and started preparing for Luke's 3rd birthday party, which is quickly approaching.  

We were able to do quite a bit.  In addition to the things I already blogged about, we also enjoyed the following: 

We went downtown to an amphitheater to see a Mexican Folkloric Ballet.  

We went to the zoo with Dave.

The kids and Dave played a lot of basketball.  Games like CAT and Around the World.  Carson challenges every time, where as Natalia will never challenge.  Man, did Carson enjoy every minute of that.  Natalia always has such a hard time loosing, but she hung in there.  

When I came outside, I noticed that Luke was getting hit with the basketball way too often.  The basketball hoop was right next to the sandbox, where he was playing.  Nobody thought about moving the basketball hoop.  LOL.  They would just laugh every time they hit Luke with the basketball.  Poor kid.  Then again, you would think that if it bothered him that much, he would have moved or at least say something.  Luke is just a though little guy, I guess!

Oh, let's see, what else did we do?  Oh yea, we went on a "Nature Walk", as Natalia calls them.  It was the perfect day for a little hike.  The kids were so into catching bugs and looking out for snakes.  We saw several deer and a whole bunch of bugs.  

  

  

I also attempted to potty train Luke.  Ha, what a joke!  Not even close to being potty trained. I'm so mad at myself because I believe that he was ready to be potty trained last November.  He was already letting me know when he wanted to go, but with moving out of the house and all that construction project, I just pretty much ignored the whole thing and now, I wish I would have worked with him.

I've tried this week.  He gets to play with my iphone while he sits on the toilet.  We even have Wall-E calling my cell phone!  You should see the kids' little faces light up when they see Wall-E on my phone screen.  They get so excited.    Wall-E sounds so much like Dave, it's amazing.  But then again, Dora and Barney also sounded like Dave. Geez, I wonder why?

Anyway, we had great times here in San Antonio, but enough is enough.  It's really time to go home.

This time, we only broke an old chair and messed up the bed's comforter in our room with a marker.  Yea, I think my parents would also agree that it's time for us to go back to Beaumont.

Thanks Dad and Mom for everything.  We appreciate all you've done for us!  

Star Wars

We are so ready for Halloween.  Honestly, I don't even like Halloween, but what do you do?  I can't have my children be the only ones without a costume.  Last year, my plan was to skip the whole costume thing.  A few days before Halloween, after the kids begged me for a costume, I changed my mind.  I was going crazy trying to find something for them to wear.  By then, it was a little too late, so Natalia and Carson ended up wearing their costume from the previous year and Luke had NO costume.  I felt this small.

Oh, but not this year!  Even Dave is going to dress up (maybe).  He will be wearing a Darth Vader mask with a black t-shirt (hmmm...I wonder if he has one of those.)  

"Luke Has Blood!!!!"

We were getting ready to leave the house to go shopping, when Carson comes running towards me screaming.

Carson: "Mom, Luke's nose is bleeding!" 

Me:  "Oh no Luke, how did this happen?"

Luke - just staring at me with a blank look in his face.

Carson - "Well, Luke told me to punch him in the nose, so I did!"

Me:  "What, why did you do that?"

Carson:  "Well, he told me to, and I didn't know this was going to happen."

Luke - just shaking his head "yes".

Me:  "Luke, did you ask Carson to punch you in the nose?"

Luke:  "Yeah!"

Me:  "Okay Luke, here is a tissue paper.  Just hold it against your nose, okay?"

Luke:  "Okay"

He didn't even cry.  I guess because, after all, it was his idea!