Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Children's Museum X 2

While we were in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to go to the Dallas Children's Museum (at the Museum of Nature and Science). We, unfortunately, didn't have a long time to spend there, but what we did see was a lot of fun.
Nathan, Kate and their cousin, Rylie enjoyed the Dinosaur Dig, the farm, the water table, dressing up and many more things. What a fun way to spend the afternoon. We look forward to going back and spending more time there.




The following week, I took Nathan and Kate to the McKenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels. It doesn't have the IMAX or Planetarium, but what they do have is pretty incredible. We bought tickets, packed a lunch and spent most of the day there. Some of Nathan's favorite spots were the train station, the ambulance, playing with the ATM machine, pretending to be an astronaunt and the water area among other things. Kate especially enjoyed taking care of newborn babies in the Hospital Nursery, painting, the water area and the grocery store.




What's not to love at a Children's Museum? If you have never been to one, I highly recommend trying one out! You will make some incredible memories! One memory, I captured below. I wish I had taken pictures of them while they were painting on easels in the art room. Kate would squeal with delight at each brush stroke and Nathan was very serious about his color selection. Afterwards, they both sat down and drew with markers at an art table. Well, right before my very eyes, Nathan made a picture of Mommy and Daddy--entirely by himself! This is huge for my little man, who could careLESS about coloring and the whole bit. He just has never been interested. He kept saying he was concentrating on his picture. I was one proud mama when I took this shot!

Monday, September 7, 2009

August Recap

August proved to be an extremely busy time for our family. It was filled with fun, beginning with a trip to Gruene.

From there we spent time at Schlitterbahn and Sea World. We enjoyed hanging out with Mimi and Poppie, our little niece, Rylie and Allie and Jim.

I wrapped up a great summer Bible Study (Experiencing God) with sweet old friends and new friends from Prayer Coffee at J&R gymnastics.

Our family took a trip up to Oklahoma in mid-August to help celebrate my dad turning 60. My mom threw him a surprise party (a first for our family) and he really was surprised! Some of my family are pictured below (my dad, my sister-Melissa, my mom and my nephew Chance-who spent time with Corey and Nathan in the Wichita Mountains that weekend.)

We became owners of a Pop-up camper! We had a trial run overnight with it in our driveway, took it with us to Oklahoma (Wichita Mountains) and more recently spent a little time in Guadalupe State Park. Corey and I look forward to taking it to several more places with Nathan and Kate. It has proven so far to be an excellent way to spend quality family time with each other.




August was full of doctors appointments. Kate now has a small shoe insert inside of her left shoe. That means we have to ditch sandals for a while. Kate did have some special "Mommy, Kate time" shopping for closed-toed shoes. In fact, at one store, I put a brown pair of shoes on her and she screamed, "MOOOOooooo!!!!" (Which was the word-NO-in Kate's August 2009 vocabulary. She has since learned how to say, "No." Lucky me, right?! :) Anyway, I don't think she was a fan of the color, because when I took them off, I put metallic rose/pink slip-ons on her. She was immediately THRILLED and just started smiling and dancing around.) Of course, we got the brown shoes (practical) and wound up with the pink shoes, too!

Nathan and Kate both went in for their well-check appointments. Nathan had his 4 year old appointment and Kate had her 18 month old appointment. Shots were included (which are never fun, but they were both troopers). Nathan went first and he was a bit nervous at the ripe, old age of four (he had heard stories about the shots from his four year old friends). I leaned over him and hugged him while Ms. Joni (our very sweet nurse) administered the shots. He was in tears. While all of this was happening, Kate climbed up on the stepstool next to the bed he was laying on. While his little eyes brimmed with tears, Kate stood next to him, looked at him and slapped him on his face (with an almost-like, "Get a hold of yourself!" kinda of expression on her face). Well, that was when Nathan's big tears started pouring out. POOR guy! I had to move her and really make sure he was protected for the next couple of shots that he had yet to endure. Kate always winces and tears up a bit at her shots, but both were over them as soon as stickers appeared and we were able to play out in the waiting room for a while before moving on with our day.

Some of the summer and MUCH of August was devoted to getting teachers lined up, students enrolled, supplies and paperwork in order for my second year as MDO director. We had a great beginning to our 2009 school year. Here are Nathan and Kate on their first "official" day of MDO.