Friday, June 26, 2009

Bike Rider

Nathan figured out how to ride his bike this week! Here is a quick video of the second day of riding it! It is his favorite thing to do outside now! There is also a little bit of Kate in it, too. I was hoping that she would talk to the camera, but no such luck! Enjoy!
We had the joy of spending time at Mimi and Poppy's house this past weekend. I wish that my camera had not run out of batteries! I will need to plan ahead next time! :)
We were able to see most of the family at a dinner in downtown Waxahachie, which is always great fun (especially now that "all of the family" includes 10 year old Alex, nearly 4 year old Nathan and the busy one year olds: Luke, Rylie, Austin and Kate! Whew! NEVER a dull moment there!
We watched movie, "UP" in 3D which was incredibly good for all ages!
Mimi performed her summer show "The Pump Boys & Dinettes" at the historic Texas Theater. Great job, Mimi!
In addition to visiting family this time, we were able to spend time with Zahns and the Adams (friends from college). The Zahn's were having a Star Wars themed birthday party for their son, Luke, who turned 4 and it was a lot of fun! It was really nice to see everyone's kiddos and catch up!

At Mimi and Poppy's house the kids enjoyed splashing around in the pool. I took a couple of pictures of a little family of birds that nested in between Marla's pillow and chair outside. Pretty neat to see them that close up.

All in all, it was a great weekend!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Way Down Deep In the Deep Blue Sea

We love our public library, especially in the summertime. They have great activities and shows for the children and Nathan really loves it. Throughout the year we go once a week to get books. In the last month we have managed to get Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea twice. Nathan enjoys this book because it is all about the ocean and the animals that you can find down there. The little boy in the story appears to be snorkeling in the ocean for a treasure for "his mama and me" and on each page finds a new sea creature. Although each page is slightly different it does have a repeatable pattern. For lunch last week, I made the "not famous by me," but very new and exciting to Nathan: "Octopus Hotdogs"...and macaroni and cheese. He has eaten an entire "Octopus Hotdog" twice now, which is saying a lot for my little guy who is usually way to busy to be interested in eating much of anything. Last night we also did an extension to the book. At the end of story you find that the boy is not snorkeling in the sea, but using his imagination with toys and goggles in the bathtub. So I put on Nathan's Spiderman goggles and letting him search for sea creatures (aka watertoys) in his bath last night. What fun!

Continuing with the theme of water, here are some pictures of Nathan and Kate at a couple of the children's parks at Schlitterbahn.






Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Couch Potato (er, Tator Tot)

The other night, Nathan and I rented a Redbox children's movie at the McDonald's just down the road. His pick! The next night, I loaded him up to return it. He was asking if we were going to get another one that night.

Now, I am not a movie junkie. I do like a good movie or a fun show, but I would rather see him play inside, outside or read books with me than watch TV.

He knows that, because he must hear me tell him (I don't know how many times), "You might turn into a couch potato if you sit and watch TV all day. I wouldn't want that to happen!"
So, naturally, my response was, "No, not tonight."

He simply looked at me in agreement and said, "Yeah, because I wouldn't want to turn into a tater tot, huh?!"

I had to stop and think about what he was talking about. Then, I realized he had confused couch potato with tater tot.
I smiled and said, "Ewww, no, that would not be good! I would not want that to happen!"

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Serious Style!

The other morning, Kate climbed onto her Dora riding car and reached with her tippy toes every hairclip on her hairclip holder that she could possibly reach. I would add each one to her hair as she handed them to me. She kept them in for a bit and continued playing in her room. Later, I called Nathan in to take a look at his little sister and we had a good laugh. Here is a short video about it all. Take a look:




Wednesday, June 3, 2009

What do I want to be when I grow up?

Tonight, after a fun Missions Class about Mexico (the kids packed bags of supplies for the mission trip this month), Nathan asked if we could go and see the band concert. Burgandy Road was helping kick off the Student Ministry's summer. There was pizza (and Dr. Pepper-love it!), really good group games (the students were really competitive tonight-and funny) and, of course, the B-A-N-D. :) They are going to be camp band at youth camp this summer.
Nathan LOVES music and I couldn't let him pass up an opportunity like this. So, we headed upstairs to sit with Daddy and watch the end of the show. Nathan sat perfectly still in Corey's lap and moved his head slightly every once in a while to the beat of the music. Kate, on the other hand, was moving her entire body! This girl is a "dancing queen!" :)
Afterwards, Corey asked Nathan, "Nathan, do you want to be in a band when you grow up?"
"No," was Nathan's reply. Corey and I just looked at each and smiled.
On the way home, I remembered it was "Free Rootbeer Night" at Sonic. I surprised Nathan by driving past our house to pick up a couple of them. As we drove home with our rootbeer floats in hand, I asked Nathan again (but in a slightly different way), "Nathan, if you were in a band what instrument would you play?"
He responded simply, "I don't want to be in a band."
"Oh," I said.
Then he said, "Mom, don't you remember what I said I wanted to do when I grow up?"
I did, but I wasn't sure if it had changed, so I asked him to remind me.
He said, "I want to be a doctor, a football player, a baseball player and what is that thing that dad does when he throws the ball...?"
"Basketball?"
"No, the thing where he wears the black and white striped pants..." (That is another story in itself that I WISH I had a picture for.)
"Oh, softball?"
"Yes! Softball, and soccerball and golf ball."
I said, "No wonder you don't want to be in a band...you are going to be much too busy taking care of sick people and running around catching and hitting balls all day. You probably would rather just go and watch a band play, huh?"
"Yes."
So, there you go...Nathan seems like he already has his life planned out. The pictures included in this post are of his "earlier" days (he is probably about a 1 1/2) at our apartment in San Marcos...looking as if maybe did want to be a band someday. I look forward to seeing Nathan get older and really figuring out what interests he does want to pursue. Whatever it is, I am sure it will be great!

The Great Wolf Lodge

Earlier today I was checking facebook and saw a giveaway for a free night's stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. This place is incredible! Family friends have stayed here and had a great time with their kiddos! What fun would a free night at the Great Wolf Lodge hold? Well, all sorts of things--two days (included in giveaway) at their indoor waterpark that has lots to do for all ages, storytime at night, great places to eat, spa treatments, arcades, the list goes on!
A good friend from college passed this news along from a blog that she subscribes to called: http://www.survivingthestores.com/. Check this blog out. After browsing it, it looks like she has ideas for ways to cut costs while you shop. Always good as far as I am concerned.

photo courtesy of Great Wolf Lodge website