Just What I've Always Wanted...

Little Ears

2011-11-12T21:12:00.001-08:00

Mike came home tonight and he was telling us a story over dinner about the chase he had been on. Mike's pretty set on work being work and home being home so we don't hear many stories about what he does during the day.

Apparently, though, today there had been a chase of a young kid who stole some stuff from a store and led Mike and his fellow officers on quite the adventure through town. They eventually caught the kid and Mike got pretty animated at the table telling me all about it. Throughout the dinner, I noticed the kids were quiet but seemed to be off in their own little worlds (quiet at our dinner table is very rare).

I didn't think too much of all the quiet until Mike got up from the table. Clay looks at me and then almost verbatim repeats the story that Mike had just told. He had Mike's mannerisms down, he had his tone down, he formed his fingers walking on the table representing people just like Mike had and he showed me exactly how the bad guy had hidden and run away. The best part, though, was that it was all told first-person--he changed out Mike and all the officers to be himself and his little friends!

I had NO idea that Clay was even listening to the story- much less processing and memorizing it! Mike and I were cracking up! We're absolutely loving watching his imagination unfold and hearing the stories he tells.

Oink, Oink

2011-11-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

Clay: I want a real pig for Christmas. How is Santa going to make that?

Fall-ing for these Cuties

2011-10-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

Baseball, Golf and a Little Sass on the Side

2011-09-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Clay comes into the room with a baseball bat and an ice scraper.

Me: What's that?
Clay: It's my baseball bat and my baseball.
Me: I don't think so.

A few minutes later...

Clay: Mom, where are those rocks?
Me: What rocks?
Clay: The ones that were in the bathroom sink.
Me: Daddy took them somewhere. We don't keep rocks in the house.
Clay: But Mo-om, I needed those rocks to be my golf balls! I'm gonna count to 3 and you need to call Daddy and tell him that you don't take away children's rocks.

Side note: He probably had more to say but this is when I interrupted him to remind him of the rules in the house and who does the counting around here. Needless to say, he won't be playing baseball with ice scrapers or golf with rocks in the living room (or anywhere else) anytime soon.

Schoolwork

2011-07-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Clay and I work on "schoolwork" each night after Carolina goes to bed (he's a night owl). I am so proud of the progress he has made and I love watching him work hard each night. I've given him a little grace over the years--I'm totally guilty of wanting him to just enjoy being a little boy and not pushing school until he was ready. He's totally ready now and so motivated, too!

We were working on this upper/lowercase letter sheet tonight for the first time and he did the "A" and the "E" first. I was cracking up when he connected the "O" and the "U". He very deliberately drew all the way around and told me, "I just don't want the line to crash into the other lines." Works for me.

The other page was our last page of the night (hence the sloppiness on the lines) and I asked him to write his name at the bottom of the page. I loved watching him think about each letter and getting each one right and so "pretty" on the paper. The best part, though, was the HUGE smile on his face when he realized that he had done it all by himself without my help. Of course I was making a big deal about it, too, but there's nothing like pride in your work and oh boy, did he have it!

Busy...

2011-07-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

...but quiet. It's a moment every mom can love.

Tiny Dancer

2011-07-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Carolina's been taking dance/gymnastic combo classes this summer. I'll have to get some pics of her in her class on here soon but I have to say, it doesn't get much cuter than this!

Funny Guy

2011-06-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of things we've heard from Clay lately:

Me: Do you want to watch The Berenstein Bears or the Wild Kratts?
Clay: I want to watch that one--the Holy Craps.

Mike: Clay, you need to clean up the Mr. Potato Head stuff in the living room.
Clay: But I didn't play with it.
Mike: Yes, you did. I was in the room when you were doing it.
Clay: But you didn't see me playing with it!

Me: Clay you need to tell Carolina sorry for pulling her off my lap and onto the floor.
Clay: It was an accident. Honey, you know that!

Clay: (first thing when he sits down at the breakfast table in the morning): So, how do we get our own baby?
Me: No comment.

Clay: When you have another baby, is Jesus going to take him out?
(FYI, we're not having another baby)

Clay: Daddy, if Mommy has another baby how is it going to get in her belly? Her mouth is really small!

Clay: Mama, if we have another baby, do we have to give Carolina to another family?

Clay: I want to have another snack.
Me: We'll get one when this show is over in a couple of minutes.
Clay: A couple of minutes is a long time, honey.

We went to a gender reveal party where we had to wear pink or blue according to our guess on the baby's gender. I was explaining to Clay that when they cut the cake we will see whether it's a boy or a girl.
Clay: If the cake is pink, do I have to go home and change my shirt??

I wish I wrote down all the things this little guy says on a daily basis. He is so smart and inquisitive (especially about our non-existent baby) and we love to hear what he has to say!

Critterman

2011-06-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that our small town library has some pretty fun people come through in the summer and we got to meet one of them...Critterman! He's not that exciting but given that it was just up the road and it was free- that meets some of my criteria for a good outing!

We got there right on time and we still got to sit on the floor in the front row. My crew is not quite ready to sit by themselves so I got a close-up seat for all the critters, too. (Yay.) The room filled quickly with daycares and other kids and pretty soon it was standing room only. Again, I was surprised at the crowd for our small town!

Critterman came out and was really personable and funny. He told lots of kid jokes that were just a little above my kids' heads but Clay laughed anyway. He brought out lots of animals and told us what part of the world they were from and about their habits.

It was really educational and neat to see the animals but it was almost an hour and so it was a little bit long for my little ones. There were lots of wiggles and talking and reminders about good manners (from me, not Critterman) but I think that's all part of the experience at this age. The kids got to see lots of fun creatures and "people-watch" all the other kids.

Critterman brought out about 10 animals (Madagascar hissing cockroach, sugar glider, tortoise, opossom) and it was fun to see what he would pull out of the cage next. He ended the presentation with a bunny that he let all the kids come up and pet. The line was pretty crazy and disorganized so we waited until last and the kids got a nice long turn.

It was really cute and I'm so glad that we got to go and see some neat animals and learn a few things, too! Now if only I could get Clay to stop asking for a pet rabbit every day since...

Water Fun

2011-06-24T19:52:00.001-07:00

Mike reminded me that there was a cute little aquatic park nearby that we hadn't been to yet. I am so glad we tried it because we had the best time! The kids were SO excited when we got there and Mike and I loved it because it was a great size for kids but just small enough where we could see both kids at all times.

Clay went straight for the water slide and Carolina went for the water itself. She is quite the mama's girl so she was pretty big on sitting on the edge with me, too.

As much as the kids play together at home, they almost always go in completely opposite directions when we're in public. It's not surprising given their opposite personalities but it does make it harder to track them!

The water was a perfect depth for the kids. It was just tall enough where they were wet but not tall enough where floaties were necessary. Clay did the slide a bunch but he also worked on putting his face in the water and trying to swim. The kids have never had any type of swim lessons but Clay is quite the fish! I'm sure some lessons are in the near future.

Carolina loved running in the fountains and jumping up and down in the water. She cracked us up because this was the first time she's worn a bathing suit with a skirt for the bottoms and she kept pulling it up and yelling to me, "Mama! My baving soup's fawwing off!" Poor girl thought she was losing her bottoms for the first hour we were there. Thank goodness she got used to it!

She would go to the entrance of the water (there were no stairs, it just gradually got deeper) and call over to Mike and me to walk out of the pool to her--and then immediately we would walk back in. It was completely pointless but that's what she wanted and she has a little bossy streak. She would call, "Mama, come here" until I complied and then we would do it all over again a few minutes later.

Ever since she was itty-bitty, I would tell Mike that I thought she would be one of the kids that was always hanging out with the adults instead of the kids and that's exactly how she is. She would much rather Mike and I be her playmates than any of the kids wherever we are. It works for us right now but I'm hoping she'll branch out a little as she gets older (she did play with some little girls at Chick-Fil-a yesterday after I led her over to them and told them her name and it was the cutest thing).

Clay, on the other hand, was completely content doing his own thing. He found a little girl to play with toward the end and they followed each other around. He loves to find a friend to play with but he also wants us to be watching everything he does. When Mike and Carolina and I got out to dry off, he kept telling us to come back in the water until I came and stood close to him in the water. He's happiest when we're right there with him (and that's where we want to be!).

Carolina thought she was big stuff hanging out on the lounge chair with her cover-up on. She had a couple of kids her age come up and talk to her and you would have thought she was the queen on her throne!

We had such a great time playing in the water and watching the kids. We're loving getting in the water this summer so we'll definitely be heading back!

Nash Farm

2011-06-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a fun playdate planned at Nash Farm. We met up with Clay's best friend, Cody, and his mom, Leslie. Cody and Clay could play together for hours (and normally do).

The kids were immediately drawn to the tractor that pulls the wagon ride. They were climbing all over it and they were thrilled when the man came over and offered to take us on a ride. The man tried to tell us about all of the things that were planted on the farm and all the equipment but the tractor was so loud it was kind of hard to hear.

It was super sunny and hot but the kids thought it was hilarious when we would go over bumps in the road. It was a fun ride but we were all glad to get back in the shade!

They had tables with toy tractors set up and other tractors to climb on so it was fun for the kids to get to be hands-on with it all.

We went into a barn and saw a some little kittens and the kids thought that was great. When Mike asked Carolina about her day she told him about the kittens. So cute. They also had some old-fashioned games and the kids played and played with them. Clay asked me several times if we could take them home!

It started to get super hot so we wrapped up our time there with a trip to the garden. The kids thought they were big stuff when they were watering the plants. Carolina watered her clothes several times but who could blame her? It was hot!

After Nash Farm we went to a local park that was super shady but even there the kids were really red and their hair was dripping. Summer is here! We wrapped up our day with lunch and an INDOOR playground. Yay for air conditioning! It was a fun, fun day!

Embarrassing Carolina

2011-06-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

We went to a festival today which was held in the town where Mike works. We talked to Mike on the way there and since it is in his area, he told us that he would swing by.

We got to the festival and I was talking the the ticket lady when Carolina TOOK OFF running. I could hear her screaming, "Daddy! Daddy!" but she couldn't hear me yelling after her, "Carolina! STOP! That's NOT Daddy!".

She reached the officer who was in a uniform just like Daddy's, standing next to a car just like Daddy's. She grabbed his leg, looked up at him and RAN back to me!

She never said anything about it to me but when we saw Mike a couple of hours later at lunch (he never made it to the festival) and he tried to take her out of her carseat, she screamed and cried for me. That's never happened before so I think she might have been a little spooked by the Daddy mishap. Oops.

We had barely been in the festival for 10 minutes when we had our next embarrassing moment.

Our first stop was the bounce house and all the kids were playing in it while the parents were talking. It was one of those bounce houses with the big climbing wall inside where they get to the top and slide down. I knew they were safely playing inside and I could hear the kids laughing as we talked. But at one point, Carolina came running out fussing about hitting her head. I picked her up to hold her and comfort her and then realized- she had been playing in the bounce house with her dress on and no diaper!

I'm positive that I had just changed her and put a diaper on her before we left the house and I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have buckled her and unbuckled her in her car seat without noticing her lack of a diaper (could I?!). What happened to her diaper between me changing it and her playing in the bounce house is another story. When I asked her where her diaper was, she said, "At home." Hmmm.

I was SO embarrassed that she had been bare bottom in the bounce house but luckily I did have a diaper in the bag I had next to me. Phew! She's been taking her diapers off all the time at home now when she's wet or dirty so I think today was a big push to potty-train. Big push.

There's never a dull moment with that girl.

Super Hero Festival

2011-06-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Today we got to hang out with some super special people- super heroes! It was a local festival that was being held for the first time. Some of our friends were also there so it was really fun to get to hang out with them, too.

It was a pretty simple set-up (which is great for my crew) with a bounce house, snow cones and games. The kids loved jumping in the jump house and could've played for hours!

We reluctantly left playing in the bounce house to play some games with the super heroes. All the kids were divided into teams and my kids were on Bat Girl's team. She was super sweet and Carolina just loved her.

The kids did sack races and I was so impressed by how mine listened and stayed in their spots like they were supposed to. They came in total last place but hey, they got Honorable Mention ribbons and couldn't have been more thrilled!

What's the best way to cool off from a sack race?? Snow cones! Clay and Carolina and their little friends all thoroughly enjoyed their purple snow cones. The mamas will worry about the purple laundry later!

We did more bouncing on the bounce houses and headed for lunch with Daddy. It was really neat to get to see some super heroes up close and get to talk to them, too. Clay is still pretty shy about pictures with characters but Carolina was all in!

I think we'll definitely be back next year.

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Mike was telling me today that even he is getting emails about me updating the blog so I will have to make some time soon to update! We have lots to talk about- including Clay's Pirate Party! In the meantime, here's a pic from today of the two people keeping me busy:

House Hunting: Moving in and Pics

2011-02-26T20:09:00.001-08:00

Moving. One of the least favorite words of all in the Skloss house. We hadn't packed anything, not even one box, when we closed. Thankfully, two people we like to call Nana and Papa came in to rescue us!

I can't even begin to imagine the thoughts that crossed their mind when they stepped into our apartment. We had been in limbo for the past couple of weeks and you could definitely tell by the looks of our apartment. It was Monday and we had people scheduled to help move all the big stuff on Friday so we definitely had our work cut out for us.

We worked really hard that week. It was such a tough week but we really couldn't have done it without Mike's parents. I think Bobby about went into shock several times when he would think he had seen all there was to pack and Mike would show him one more closet (or the garage!). Bobby and Anita both walked through the week with us calmly and patiently helping us through all of the work that needed to be done.

Anita and Bobby stayed at the new house starting on Monday while Mike and I kept the kids at the apartment until the move was complete. Each day Mike and Bobby would pack the Expedition up and Bobby's truck up and unload them at the new house. The goal was to have all the small stuff out of the way when the guys came to help with the big stuff on Friday. The boys worked SO hard going up and down the stairs so many times during the week (without complaining). Anita was on Nana-duty and I was on packing. It was LONG!

Friday came and most everything was moved out. The guys moved all the big stuff and apartment was looking pretty empty. At least it seemed empty until Mike and his dad had to make about six more trips to finish it up! It was definitely one of the hardest working weeks we've had as a family but we all worked together and it was really neat on Friday when we got to sleep in our house for the first time.

Once again, Anita and Bobby stepped up and offered to help us through the next week as we unpacked and got settled. We got a lot done and we were so excited to have so much space to move around!

Over the next couple of weeks, we celebrated our first Thanksgiving in our house and then Christmas. We have been moving right along unpacking but we're still waiting to hang anything up. Each week we have new goals and I'm happy with the progress we've made so far.

Clay's birthday is coming up in May and we're hosting his first ever birthday party with friends. I'll be spending the next couple of months getting everything in order for us to finally have guests!

Since it's been such a dry spell of pictures on the last couple of posts, here's a few of the house before we moved in. Hopefully, in the next couple of months I can post some updated ones with all of our furniture and decor.

I'm so glad to be done with all the posting about the house hunt but really glad that I took the time to write it all out- it's therapeutic! It all seems so long ago and it wasn't that long ago at all. We are still grateful every day for this blessing!

House Hunting: Contract #5- Closing the Deal

2011-02-26T18:15:00.001-08:00

After we finally made a decision to go with the new house, we put in a call to the builder's agent. We called, our realtor called and we got no response for several days. We were SO frustrated but we just assumed that the house was under contract and he would not be returning our calls.

Just when we decided to wait for a few months to start looking again, the guy finally called back. He told Mike that the other buyers that were supposed to sign papers that morning had stood him up so if we wanted to go to the house and pick up their contract that it was waiting in the kitchen cabinet. We got in the car and went.

We were kind of surprised that their "contract" was one sheet of legal paper with some numbers on it and a final sales price (that didn't even add up to the right number). We took the paper, signed it and called their finance company to set up our pre-approval before we signed our paperwork.

Because of the very attractive incentives that they had offered through their lender, we knew we would need to stick with them. Now we had loved our lender on the house before. He was super informative and always returned phone calls promptly and was so kind to us so we were so sad to have to move on from him.

We had worked with many lenders in the past couple of months with different Officer Next Door houses (HUD requires that you use certain lenders for specific houses), and then different lenders with the first home we were going to build and the latest contract that we had been under.

We had never had any problems with a pre-approval. We had just come out of a contract for almost exactly the same sales price so we knew financing wouldn't be an issue. I called their financing people immediately after we picked up the contract and gave them all of our info for the pre-approval. It was early in the day so I figured they would have plenty of time to get the pre-approval done before we went in to sign documents that night and give them our earnest money. The longest we'd ever waited for a pre-approval was a couple of hours. Huh.

I called the lender several times throughout the day and she kept saying she was working on it. I called the sales guy to tell him that we wouldn't be handing over our earnest money without a pre-approval letter. He didn't seem concerned. So that evening, with no pre-approval letter, we
drove over to the sales office.

This was our first meeting with their sales rep. Since the sales office was just minutes away from our apartment, we took separate cars and Mike took the kids to Chick-Fil-A while I did the first signing and then we would switch and I would take the kids home.

In the first couple of minutes of meeting us, the sales agent starts telling the realtor and me cop stories. Now our realtor is a police officer and I'm married to a police officer so you would think these stories would be favorable toward cops but no, no. Not this guy. He starts asking our realtor to try and get him out of some tickets he got in another city. I was leery but we moved on.

When we sat down I started asking him questions about the neighborhood. He said he wasn't the original agent for the neighborhood so he didn't know anything about it. There was no offering to call and check on it. Just a flat, "I don't know".

We got through about three pages of the paperwork (out of about forty) and I asked him a couple of questions about the energy efficiency of the house. We had been to visit enough builders throughout the process that I knew that they usually hand you some type of folder or pamphlet that tells you all about how they go above and beyond the government expectations for efficiency. I had gone to their website and wasn't able to pull up anything about that house or the neighborhood (all homes were done by the same builder) as far as energy efficiency. So here I am to ask the sales guy about this house and nothing. No pamphlet, no folder, nothing. This builder's salesman knew nothing about the energy efficiency of the house.

At this point I say, "Okay, well then sell it to me. Tell me why I should buy this house." His response: "Well, it's a little late now, isn't it??" Not really. I had only signed three papers and Mike hadn't signed anything. We hadn't given them a check or anything else. The guy was a total smart mouth and completely arrogant. I had been pretty patient through all of the home buying up until then but he was talking to someone who was VERY done with buying houses and had NO patience left (and Mike was feeling the same way).

We got to the end of the signing and they asked for our earnest money check. I reiterated that we didn't want to hand over our earnest money without a pre-approval. He said that was fine and we could bring it in the morning. I wasn't sure what was going on with the pre-approval and I asked him if he thought the deal was secure. His response, "I might have to do a little dance in front of my superiors but (pointing to the wall of awards behind him) I'm pretty good at dancing." Like I said, arrogant.

The next morning rolled around and still no pre-approval. Mike and I decided that we were done looking at houses and we wanted to try and make this work. Since they said it should be fine and we had signed paperwork stating we would get our check back if the pre-approval didn't work, we just decided to take them the check and hope for the best.

The next couple of weeks were brutal. For the first week, each day I would call and ask the lender about the pre-approval and each day her response was the same, "I'm working on it but can you send me..." I sent her every piece of financial paperwork from my whole life and Mike's in the first two days.

She did tell me that there had been three other buyers who had tried to get approval for the same house in the last week but they had all been denied. It explained all of the people who were in the house each time we were there but I can't say that gave me much hope. There was nothing more to send paperwork-wise but she would come up with one more reason why she couldn't get the pre-approval done. It was the end of the month so it was busy, then it was the beginning of the month so it was busy, she had too many projects, they had given her too many loans to complete and every other excuse you could think of.

We went in at one point to talk to the sales guy and ask him what he could do to move the situation along. After telling us some more fun cop stories about how he likes to be rude to officers who pull him over (he freely admits that he doesn't have a front license plate and likes to go over 100), he told us "I can't just go tap-dance on her desk and make her do work." I was having a really hard time holding my tongue. He was totally rude and never willing to do anything to move the deal along at all.

We had already canceled our contract with the other house so this was the only house we were working with. It was this one or no house for a few months. We were just at a point where we wanted to get some answers so we could move on.

Our closing was set 1 month from the day we signed the paperwork and it had already been a week with no pre-approval (again, the longest we had ever waited was a couple of hours). I just wasn't sure whether this company would ever be able to get their act together long enough to make our loan go through if they couldn't even get a simple pre-approval done.

At that point, I scheduled our trip to Great Wolf Lodge. We were so burned out on the house stuff and I just wanted to get away with the kids and not feel like I was sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring. I was hoping that maybe if I just gave the lender a couple of days with no phone calls that maybe she could get it all wrapped up. I'm so, so glad we did that trip. It was such a great decision to go and we came back rejuvenated.

While we were away, they finally got the pre-approval letter for us. It had been two weeks. That meant we still had several other things to take care of. The sales guy threw a huge fit for Mike about wanting to have an inspection done. "It's a brand-new house! Why would you want to waste your money inspecting a brand-new house??"

It got to the point where we would only talk to him through our realtor. Mike's normally pretty passive but at one point he told me that he's arrested people who were more cooperative than the sales guy. I believe it. Between the sales guy and the lender, there was a lot of stress in our apartment in those weeks.

The inspector came and (big surprise!) there were some things that needed to be fixed before we moved in. Our a/c had been run with no filters for a couple of months and the system needed to be cleaned out, plus some cracked brick and some outlets that needed to be fixed. We were glad to have "wasted" our money on an inspector.

So now that our pre-approval had been done and the inspection had been done, we still had to wait for the final approval. We were supposed to close in 1 month and it had already been 3 weeks. I really, really tried to be patient and not call the lender every day but our closing date was a week away and I had not packed one box.

I had scheduled the kids to make a trip to Mike's parents when we set our closing date originally so that I could take some time and pack without helpers. The trip came and the kids left but we still had no word on a final approval. We were so frustrated and overwhelmed.

Our closing date was set for Friday, October 30. Monday came but we had decided the week before that we were done playing on their terms. We had told them from day one that both Mike and our realtor had to work late that Friday and that we would need to reschedule closing but it really seemed pointless to reschedule since we didn't have the final approval yet anyway. And still, no boxes were packed.

Tuesday and Wednesday came with no word and finally on Thursday we heard from the lender. The loan was approved! We were so done at that point and we told them that there was no way we were closing the next day and they would have to wait until Monday (when Mike and our realtor were off from work).

Mike and our realtor got one call after another from the sales guy who was suddenly interested in our business. Even though it would have been entirely possible for Mike to go to the firm for closing right after work (it was just a couple of miles away), we still wanted to wait until Monday when we could get someone to look after the kids and we could focus on our paperwork. But it was the end of the month and the sales guy needed to make numbers. It was time to make a deal.

I have to admit I was still a little torn knowing the sales guy's numbers would benefit from us closing in October but when he offered us an oversized stainless steel refrigerator that matched our other appliances, I was ready to be done and sign those papers!

Our closing was at 6:30 and we had our two little companions to keep us company. The people doing the closing were very nice and very gracious about the kids. Before we left we were cleaning up a whole thing of paperclips on the floor, a bag of goldfish (crumbs and all) on the floor, a crazy amount of Dum-Dum wrappers, the coffee that came out when Clay put his hand up to the coffee maker and so,so many more messes. It was a long night (3 hours) and we were all so ready for it all to be over so we could have our keys.

Even now thinking back, it was so much fun getting those keys. The homebuying process was tough- so much tougher than I ever expected. There were so many times when we were ready to throw in the towel but I am so glad we stuck it out and stuck to what we wanted.

We totally feel that this is the house God wanted us to have from the beginning. We know that He used the process to help make our marriage stronger, our finances better and to help us grow as a family. We know He was faithful to us each step of the way and we praise Him daily for the blessing that we finally can call HOME.

House Hunting: A Final Officer Next Door Bid and Contract #4

2011-02-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

I keep looking at the blog with it's lack of pictures on the last couple of posts and it looks so boring! So, sorry for the lack of pictures (I stuck one in here just for fun) and all the little details but it's a part of our story and the only way I'll ever remember all these little things to share with the kids someday when they go to buy their first houses!

Well, we picked up and moved on quickly after seeing that the contract on the new home wasn't going to work out. While we knew we could have probably worked it all out and made it to closing, we just didn't have the sense of peace that we really needed to have on our first house.

Our realtor came into town and when he did, boy did I ever have a list for him! It was a little crazy since we knew we would have the kids with us and we really wanted to give each house a good look. I had done all the homework to make sure our list was narrowed, even calling realtors to make sure homes were still available before I put them on our list so we wouldn't waste anyone's time.

I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure that first day we looked at 17. If the house was occupied, Mike would sit in the car with the kids while I ran in with our realtor. If I gave it the thumbs up, we switched and then we would compare notes. We knew what we wanted so we were in and out pretty quickly!

We looked at a few sets of houses and I wanted to love them all (I really wanted to find something!) but we would scratch things off our list for one reason or another. I thought it was so funny how Mike and I have lived together for years but what we love in a house and decorating is so different! He hated houses with red dining rooms (I like it), I like houses with lots of hallways and closets and unique features (he couldn't care less), I thought renovating would be fun (he thought it would be work) and the list goes on and on. It's amazing we ever agreed on a house (and yet we did several times!).

As we were looking at houses, we still kept trying at Officer Next Door. It was a little complicated because our focus was all over the place. After we spent several trips out looking at houses, a really good house popped up on Officer Next Door. It was exactly what we were looking for in our search but normally it would have been way out of our price range (without the 50% off). The price was right and it was on a golf course. Mike loved it! Awesome houses are pretty rare on Officer Next Door so we checked it out.

Each time we would consider an OND house, it was such an emotional process. We spent a lot of time praying about each house and we were always torn about whether it was God's plan for us or not. Clearly, none of them were but with this house I think we felt like we had been led there more than any others. It had so much of what we were looking for that had it been closer to Mike's work, we probably would have bid on it if it was on the market.

It was quite a distance away but we drove the area several times and thought it would be a great opportunity. When the bids came back, we hadn't won again. After so many no's on OND and the 3rd contract not working out, we were a little gun shy about getting excited with any more houses.

We did keep looking, though, and we found another home that we loved. It was in the same city where Mike worked, built in 1998, was a great price and the whole kitchen had been recently remodeled. I loved the exterior and the layout and I could immediately picture us having Christmas mornings in that house (and I hadn't felt that with any of the others).

On our first tour of the house, I told our realtor I was sold. I loved so much about it. There were some issues, though. When we arrived during our appointment window to see the house our realtor couldn't get his key to work. When we came back to see it, the owner was home.

I was able to talk with him in the yard while Mike toured the house and he told me all about their situation. He was self-employed and his income had dropped significantly in the last year. They couldn't afford their house anymore and had to do a short-sale (where the bank agrees to take less than is owed on the house).

When Mike came back, we both agreed that we wanted to make an offer. The price was way below the comparables for the neighborhood and had just recently dropped (it wasn't in our price range before). We wanted to get the house before someone else did!

Our realtor told us all about the short sale (he was buying a short sale at time, too!). We had done some research on our own and based on that and our realtor's experience with buying a short sale, we were prepared to put it in our bid and wait months for a response. Our response was back within a week and our bid was accepted!

We were thrilled but also really nervous. We thought we would have time to let it all sink in and months before anything would happen but it moved so quickly. We started doing all of our documents but there was a wrinkle in the seller's financing. They had taken out a 2nd lien on the house to pay for all of the kitchen remodeling and the 2nd lien holder wasn't willing to settle.

Our closing date kept moving back again and again but Mike and I were fine with it. We were grateful to have more time and we were excited that our bid had been accepted. We had an inspection done and everything was fine. The homeowner was home for the inspection (kind of weird!) and he took Mike and I through the house and told us about all of the things that he had done for upkeep. You could tell from talking to him that he was super compulsive about the house and had records for every little thing that had been done.

The homeowner also went through all of the things that he was going to leave for us since they had moved to an apartment. He would leave ALL of the lawn equipment, all the paint for the interior and exterior, all the shelving in the garage plus a tall storage cabinet, a refrigerator in the garage and a desk in the office. There was a fancy gazebo spa in the backyard and he even offered to come over and do the first cleaning with Mike and leave all the chemicals. He made a list and signed it in front of Mike and told him that he would fax it to his bank to show that he would be leaving those items with the sale of the house. We were thrilled!

Things were looking good and we even took the kids over to take a picture in front of their new house. Through the whole process, Mike and I had kept our home search to ourselves and didn't mention anything (except an Officer Next Door house or two) to our families and friends. We were excited to finally share our good news!

But as time went on, the 2nd lien just wasn't going anywhere. Mike and I were both getting antsy and as adding an addendum to change our closing date approached again (for the 3rd time), I started thinking about looking at other homes. If the 2nd lien wasn't settled in time for our lender to complete the paperwork, we wouldn't be penalized for not closing and could be released from our contract with no further obligation.

I had really taken a break from looking at houses since we were under contract and it had been months so there was a new crop of houses this time around. I would look at them and then get overwhelmed at starting over. It's such a big process evaluating it all!

Each time we would look, we would reevaluate and go between wanting to look at houses on land to wondering if we should spend less to make our budget more comfortable to how far were we really willing to drive to get more bang for our buck and on and on...

I put together another group of houses for us to look through (some we were seeing for the 2nd time). We set out with our realtor and made another day of it. We trudged through houses but ultimately decided that we liked the one we were under contract with as we toured each one. We were a little discouraged throughout the day but then at the end of the day was a house that had never been on our printouts before. It had recently been reduced and it was being sold by the builder.

Our realtor talked to the selling agent and he said several offers had already been put in on the house but we could still see it since it wasn't under contract yet. We'd all heard this line before so we were pretty cynical but we went to tour it anyway. When we got there, we had to sit in the car because there was already another family touring the house. It was then that we realized that they did have other offers.

The neighborhood was brand-new and this house was the last house left to be sold. The price was great and it seemed too good to be true. The house had granite, stainless steel, 5 bedrooms (bigger than most any house we'd seen) and it was a great layout. I was a little disappointed because it was a more open floor plan than I prefer but it did have a lot of great stuff that I loved.

We toured the house several times and always saw other people there. We were pretty beat down from all of the negotiations with our current contract and we didn't want a big hassle of going back and forth on yet another contract (and we didn't want it messing with our budget). Our spirits were pretty low and we were seriously considering just not extending our contract for another closing date and waiting until after the holidays to pick up the home search again.

The brand-new house didn't go under contract in the next week and Mike's parents were coming in so we decided to take them along and show them both houses. As we toured them both, I made it really clear that I loved the one we were under contract with. I felt like it had so much character and I loved that it was in the same city where Mike works. Mike, on the other hand, loved the new house we had seen. I agreed that it was really great but I was also really nervous knowing that so many other people were interested in it. I was definitely interested in getting opinions from fresh eyes (Mike's parents).

So as we toured both houses with Mike's parents, I was just sure that they would see it my way. They didn't- they were all in favor of the new house.

I really wanted to like the new house but I was just really nervous about all the contract details again and some of the things about the house. The floor plan was a little more open on the downstairs than I would have preferred and I didn't love the color choices of the kitchen (cabinets, granite, floors) like I did with the other house. The master closet was a little small and the master bedroom was a lot smaller than the other house, too. They weren't major things but I knew we would be in the house for quite a while and I didn't want buyer's regret.

While we were touring the contract house, though, we noticed that several things had changed. All of the furniture had been cleared out and it was clear that furniture had been strategically placed for the showings to cover large patches in the carpet. My favorite was the office. The office was a forest green color...until they moved all the furniture and paintings out and we realized that they hadn't moved anything when they painted over the original red paint. It was forest green and red patchwork walls!

Many of the items that the seller had told us he would leave (and would be faxing over addendums to the contract to reflect it) weren't there. The fridge, desk and large storage cabinet were all gone. He said his wife had sold them all in a garage sale and he couldn't control it. We were disappointed about the condition of the house (and the additional costs the carpeting and paint would mean for us) and that the seller hadn't kept his word about leaving the extra things in the house or adding them into the contract.

We were really torn about what to do. I was leaning more and more toward the new house and Mike was totally leaning that way. We knew there were a lot of people in and out of the new house so we had to act fast if we wanted it. And after a lot of thought, prayer and consideration, we decided to go with the new house.

So...we canceled contract #4 and started on contract #5!

House Hunting: Contract #3

2011-02-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

When we decided to move on from Officer Next Door, I went full steam ahead with searching for homes in our area. We weren't in a big rush but when I start researching something, I go all in!

I knew our wish list: 4 bedrooms, 2200+ square feet and a play room. I was willing to look at older homes (especially if they were ranch-style or had a lot of character) but I mainly wanted to focus on homes built in the late 90's and newer since we're not super handy people and we didn't want have to worry about fixing anything out of warranty. I also wanted granite countertops and stainless steel appliances but I knew we could always add them later, too.

I had saved every home builder flyer with prices and specs of things in our area for all the years we had been in the apartment so I had a general idea of what was available but I was still nervous that I wouldn't be able to find what I wanted in our price range or that my expectations were too high for our first house (but God is good and faithful!).

So I set out looking on all the home search websites and put my terms in their search boxes. Lots of lots of houses popped up and I immediately found some I wanted to see. We would drive around several nights each week and look at houses for sale and Mike would bring home flyers that he had picked up driving his area at work.

When we finally decided to dive in and start actually going to houses Mike called our realtor to let him know what we wanted to see. As it turns out, our realtor was out of town for the two-and-a-half weeks. This was not good news for an impatient girl like me!

I would spend nap times and bedtimes searching high and low for houses that fit what we were looking for. We would pack the kids in the car and drive all over the city and the suburbs evaluating neighborhoods and prices and all the same things that we had talked about with Officer Next Door (except now we had to pay full price :().

We spent a lot of time driving in the areas close to Mike's work since those are the areas we're most familiar with, we really wanted a short commute for him and there's a lot of new construction in those areas right now.

As we would drive through neighborhoods that still had model homes, I would jump out, talk to the sales rep and bring back the folder with info for Mike to look over. Mike and the kids were so patient to sit in the car while I would ask a million questions to the sales reps about the neighborhood and pricing and of course (my favorite question), "What kind of sales are you running right now?".

On one of the model houses I went in they didn't have what I was looking for in our price range. She told me she could show me one of their homes in the neighborhood that was slightly smaller than what what I was looking for and that would give me an idea of their quality, etc.

I talked Mike into driving over to the house that had the same floor plan (it was in the neighborhood) and while we liked it, we knew it wouldn't be big enough for us to stay very long. The sales girl suggests that they do have a bigger floor plan that would work for us but she'd have to check with her people (we all know how that goes!) to see if they could get the pricing right.

We went to check out the bigger floor plan and loved it! She checked with her "people" and managed to work it out to where it fit our price range and the house would be ready in 5 months (late-December). It was in a great neighborhood with a community pool and park, close to Mike's work, had 4 big rooms and big closets, a play room, whatever finishes we wanted (since we would custom build) and it came with all the appliances plus a new tv, washer/dryer and refrigerator. We were so excited!

We prayed about it but the promotional sale we would be buying on closed in the next few days so we needed to act quickly. And we had no realtor in town to give us advice! But since we had been under contract with houses before (even if we didn't buy them :)), we were pretty familiar with all of the terms and we had spent some time researching lots of other houses, areas and prices, as well.

We talked about it, went over finances again, drove the neighborhood again and again, looked up more houses and then agreed that this would be a great first house. We called the rep up to tell her that we were coming over to sign paperwork and bringing her a check!

I asked her on the way over about how long she thought it would take and she said maybe 1-2 hours, nothing more. Famous last words. As we drove over we realized that I didn't have my license and they would need a copy of it. Mike was fine with it saying that I could run in and sign a bunch of the paperwork and ask questions while he ran home to get my license and blew some time. That way when he came back, we could switch spots signing paperwork and then head home. But it didn't really go like that...

The sales rep and I went upstairs to pick out finishes for the house (everything from brick color to tile) and it took longer than I expected. Then when we went downstairs, the sales girl was having trouble getting all the paperwork to go into the computer the right way. She was going back and forth asking me which lot we wanted (which took a drive around the block to figure out) and then calling her manager to ask for this concession or that.

Mike would come in to check on me and I would give him "the look" (the "she's not competent to sell me Girl Scout cookies much less a house" look). He took the kids to get dinner, to the park and entertained them with the very little amount of things we had in the back of the car. Poor Mike.

At one point we switched and he came in and signed papers and finally, FINALLY we left. It had been 6 hours. Mike was done (livid, frustrated, tired, whatever you want to call it). It was 11:00 pm and he had to be at work the next morning at 6 am.

So the next morning I get a voicemail from the sales girl. Her manager has some questions about the contract and "everything's fine" but they need more money to secure the deal. Ooh. So not what I needed to hear after the night before and certainly not what Mike needed to hear. I pretty much told her in the first phone call that it probably wasn't going to work (I already heard Mike's skeptical voice in my head).

The amount of money that they wanted was very minimal. She said with all of the upgrades that we wanted and the oversized lot that we wanted that her manager just wanted more money down to make the deal more "solid". It was a reasonable amount to ask but that wasn't the point at all. After sitting for 6 hours signing paperwork and being told how serious everything was over and over by this sales girl, we were not about to start handing over more money on day one.

When I told her it probably wouldn't work she told me that maybe if we moved up the closing date, it would be better. Everything we signed the first night was supposedly set in stone...until the next day. We didn't want to risk them trying to make changes in order to make the deal more solid down the line or to pressure us into paying more for the house than we could afford just because we were caught up in the excitement of our first house.

This was one of the houses that I talked Mike into (he talked me into several, too) but it wasn't hard to walk away from the deal at all. We had felt strong going into it but it was peaceful to walk away, too. We knew that when we found the perfect house that we would know it. So that's the story of contract #3.

House Hunting: Officer Next Door

2011-02-25T20:30:00.000-08:00

Sometime last year, we decided that, once again, it would be good to start looking at houses. We were focusing on a HUD program called "Officer Next Door" that sells home to police officers, teachers, paramedics and firefighters for 50% of the listed price. There's a few stipulations but the main things are that you could not currently own a home when you purchased through the program and you had to make the home your primary residence for 3 years.

The available houses are posted each Saturday and you have between Saturday and Wednesday to put a bid on the house. The winner is drawn out of a hat (since everyone would pay the same price for the house) and winners are announced Thursday mornings. Our realtor is a friend/colleague of Mike's and he was great about taking us to houses whenever one popped up that we thought might work for us.

The houses that come up on this program are interesting houses, to say the least. They have all been foreclosed on and most of them needed tons of work. Each time we would walk in a house we would take a deep breath and get ready for the mess we were about to see. We would talk about all of the needed repairs, the cost of the repairs, the distance of the house from Mike's work, the comparables in the neighborhood for resale, the neighborhood and if we really thought we could make that particular house work for three years.

There were SO many houses and SO many issues. We saw creepy neighborhoods, boarded up pools, crazy painted walls, a garage that looked like it was going to fall off the house, messed up foundations and more outdated kitchens than I ever care to see again.

I was kind of drawn to the ranch-style houses and older homes because of their charm (always have been) so the search wasn't all bad for us. I definitely I had fun seeing all the craziness and finding the good parts of each house. There were lots of neat things about some of the homes and I was looking forward to some good demolition on some of those bathrooms and kitchens!

We would check out a house (and hope our kids didn't get sucked in a time warp in some of them!) and depending on the condition I would spend the next couple of days talking with floor people, roofers, painters, pool people, landscapers, carpenters and sometimes most importantly, the people in that neighborhood. Then we would make a decision about whether it was prudent to put a bid in.

There were so many prayers, so many pros/cons lists and so many disagreements between Mike and I. With each house we would talk ourselves into getting excited about the potential and every single time it was the same answer--"You didn't win the bid" (and most of the time I breathed a sigh of relief!).

It would have been an awesome opportunity for us financially (imagine only paying half-price for a house that you can sell for full-price after three years!) but ultimately, we decided to continue looking there but expand the search to other homes as well.

House Hunting: The First Two Contracts and the Apartment

2011-02-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

We've been in our house a little just at three months and we're loving it. We still don't have anything on the walls, the schoolroom looks like a storage facility and lots of things haven't found "homes" yet. Our big plans to finish up a lot of our projects while the kids were away at Nana and Papa's fell through when we got sick 4 weeks in a row (and still are). Someday, though, it will all be complete!

In the meantime, I wanted to document some of the time we spend searching, signing and buying our first house so I can look back and remember it many years (and probably many houses) from now.

We started thinking about buying our first house way back in 2006 when we had been married just under a year. We were both working and it seemed like a great time to stop paying rent, stop living in an apartment with noisy neighbors and no backyard and have something of our own. We did some searching and found a neighborhood where homes were just being built and we could choose all of our own finishes and the design of the house.

The neighborhood was full of young couples and families, the price was competitive and we were excited about the prospect of checking it out each week as it was being built. No sooner had we settled into our contract on that house when one of the other builders that we were considering came back to us with a finished house that was the same style neighborhood, same basic finishes of the house but the house was bigger and cheaper. Sold.

We got all of our financing lined up, got ready to finish our apartment lease, starting looking at Home Depot for all the fun extras and got excited about buying a house. We were nervous of course but ready-for-it nervous!

Just days before we were supposed to close on the house, Mike got a call offering him the courtesy officer job at an apartment complex. I was less than thrilled. It was a complex we had seen in our apartment search and decided against for lots of reasons.

Ultimately, it came down to a deal we couldn't refuse. I was very sad but I also knew that we could do it for any period of time and change our minds and buy a house. So we went from buying a 3-bedroom house and canceling that contract to buying a 4-bedroom house to canceling that contract and moving into a 3-bedroom apartment with a roommate (my friend, Rebecca) in just a matter of weeks.

From day one in the apartment, I HATED it. I had a very spoiled attitude and anything I could find to complain about, I did. I didn't realize until after we moved in how much I wanted to buy that house. Mike will agree with me that the apartment was far from perfect but it did have it's perks. The rent was great, it was brand-new and had fun things not normally in an apartment like a side-by-side fridge, granite countertops and all hardwood floors, we had a garage included, we had plenty of bedroom space for the two of us + Rebecca and it was close to everything we needed.

Over the course of time, Clay was born, Rebecca moved out, I quit my job and Carolina was born. Before we knew it we had been in the apartment for 4 years! Looking back, I grew up so much in that little apartment. Slowly but surely just as all three rooms filled up, my heart filled up with reasons why the apartment had helped our family.

We got to live in the same city where Mike works for the first couple of years of the kids' lives. After bringing home new babies from the hospital, I was so much more at ease knowing he was just a few miles away. Mike works 12-hour days so it was precious time that we got to see him home each day for his hour lunch.

When it came time for me to quit my job, I could do it with a sense of peace knowing that we didn't have a mortgage to pay each month. While finances weren't perfect, all the little things that add up over time just weren't as big because we didn't have a huge mortgage on top of everything else. Really more than anything, though, the apartment gave us time...

Sweet Tooth Carolina

2011-02-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

Carolina: Mama, I unt a cookie.
Me: Well, you can have one after your nap.

The second she sees me in her room after naps:
"I unt my cookie now."

So I give her an Oreo:
"Mama, I unt anudder cookie."

"Okay, Carolina, but this is your last cookie because we have to eat dinner. After we eat dinner, you can have another cookie. Now, what do you want for dinner?"

"Cookies."

Half the conversations I have with this child are about something sweet for her to eat. I'm thinking about calling Cookie Monster's Mom to get some parenting tips!

A Father/Son Birthday Surprise!

2011-02-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

One year when Mike and I were dating, I bought him a sunset plane tour of downtown Dallas for his birthday. We had such a blast and we talk about it every time we pass downtown as something we'd love to do again.

So when the opportunity arose for me to get another plane tour, I jumped on it! The plane was very small and I was a little hesistant about both parents being up in the air at the same time so this would be a surprise trip for Mike's birthday just for him and Clay. I knew Mike would love to do it again and it would be Clay's "first" plane ride (he had been on a commercial flight once before but he was so small he doesn't remember it).

I kept the secret and Mike was so eager to see what his birthday present would be. We drove over to the little airport and it was so much fun to let the boys in on the surprise! Clay could not wait to get up in the plane.

The pilot was so nice to take us all around the plane and explain all about it but Clay only wanted one thing: to get up in the air! I was a little sad to miss the experience with Clay but I was thrilled that Mike got to be there with him and watch him soak it all in.

Both Mike and Clay wore headphones for the flight and Clay oohed and aahed over every little thing. He loved looking at the swimming pools and recognizing the American Airlines Center where we had just been to the circus.

Mike and the pilot both emphasized how Clay was VERY sad when the plane had to land. When the flight was over, the pilot let Clay play with the controls and all the fun stuff in the pilot's chair. So cool!

It was such a special experience for Mike and Clay and I loved that they had such a great time. It was Mike's birthday present but I'm not sure who had a better time!

Bedtime Necessities

2011-02-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

Carolina's before-bed-beauty routine:

Pearls- check.

Bow- check.

Something sweet- check.

And she's off to get her beauty sleep!

Great Wolf Fall Vacation

2011-02-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

I have SO much catching up to do on our blog so I'll try my best to catch up and keep things in some kind of order.

Way back in October, we were super stressed! We had been near closing on a house and had changed our minds and were starting to negotiate on another house (our final choice!). We had been to so many houses and spent so much energy in the process and the whole family was just D-O-N-E with house hunting/buying.

Mike and I had wanted to do some sort of getaway in the summer but all of the house stuff just kept dragging on and there were so many papers to supply to lenders and the seller each day that we just couldn't go on any kind of trip away. We were desperate for some down time and some quality family time.

We love Great Wolf Lodge because it is so close (15 minutes from our old house) and yet it feels like a world away! We booked a night there right at the end of October ( and coinciding with Mike and Carolina's birthdays) and it was so much fun.

This was our third trip to Great Wolf so Clay was pretty familiar with the territory but Carolina didn't really remember it much. This time she was old enough to do so much by herself and she had a blast.

I didn't take many (if any) pictures the first day because I really wanted to enjoy just being with the kids and not worrying about the perfect shot (or dropping my camera in the water!) so all the pictures are from day two.

Our kids are best friends and we love that. It was so neat watching them pal around together and do slides and just have a good time.

I love this next pic because that HUGE splash coming at Clay is little Carolina! Can you see her sweet feet at the bottom of the splash?

We really encourage the kids to be brave and do things a little out of their comfort zones and they both do so well. We were so proud to see them do the BIG water slides that are three stories tall (they don't have any height requirements on them either!).

(This isn't anyone from our family on this slide but look how big it is and both kids conquered it!!)

Carolina wasn't a huge fan of the big slides but she has such a strong spirit that she didn't complain at all. Clay LOVED the big slides. He and Mike would go to the top and he would be down and back up before Mike was even finished going down all the way. I love seeing them be adventurous!

Carolina loved so much about Great Wolf but one of her absolute favorite parts was the rack of life vests. They had several of them scattered about the water park and each rack had about 50 life vests. Can you just imagine the fun of being (almost) two and having an unlimited supply of things to buckle?? She loved it!

The toddler area was the popular place for us on this trip. They have great slides for toddlers and the water is a little warmer than everywhere else. The kids loved doing the smaller slides again and again. Clay still wasn't a huge fan of the wave pool or the lazy river but the hot tub was a big hit with both kids.

The second day, in addition to the water park, we went to the Kid's Club and decorated a pumpkin and played in their playhouse. The kids had such a great time painting the pumpkin and Mike and I loved sitting back and watching them play.

At nighttime, they have a clock tower puppet show which is really sweet and totally captures our little ones' attention.

Since we went so close to Halloween, there was a costume contest every night. The show is really fun but it was so special for them to see all the other costumes and do the extra activities for Halloween.

Clay got to go up and show off his costume and say his name. He did such a good job and the other kids loved his penguin costume! We did the clock tower show two different nights so it was fun to get one more use out of last year's costume and this year's too.

I was so proud of Clay taking a picture with the wolf. He used to be so scared of all things in costumes and now he is so big and brave!

We had the absolute best time at Great Wolf this trip. I am so glad we decided to go! We didn't think about the house dilemma or talk about it. It's so nice to shut off our phones and not worry about anything except Clay and Carolina. They loved having our full focus and we loved getting to shower them with attention without distractions. I could have stayed so much longer but...there was a house deal to be made!

We love, love, love Great Wolf Lodge and we are already looking forward to our next trip!

Our Strong-willed Child

2011-01-08T22:06:00.001-08:00

Yes, she has on fleece footie pajamas and a puffy jacket. Some battles just aren't worth the fight.

Welcome Home!

2010-11-18T16:54:00.000-08:00

The Skloss family has moved! We just purchased our first home and we couldn't be happier! It's been months of searching, signing contracts and houses falling through but we are so happy and relieved to have closed and moved in to our new home.

Here's some of the details:

We went from 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1200+ sq. ft apartment to a brand new, 5 bedroom, 3 bath, 2871 sq. ft house. It's been a BIG change for us! We are loving having so much living space, closet space and a playroom (and one of my favorite spots--a laundry/mud room).

We've been moved in just two weeks today and the kids are adjusting so well. Clay is always eager to go "back to my new house" whenever we are out running around town. Mike and I are just thrilled to have more space for EVERYTHING.

More details to come on our new space (with lots of pictures) but for now--I've got boxes to unpack!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Carolina!

2010-10-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Carolina turned two yesterday! She had a sweet little day except that she was a little under the weather.

We started her morning off with her birthday bucket and a birthday song. She wasn't shy about her song--just a little confused, I think. She immediately got into her bucket which had some of her favorite things. She got Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird figurines, an Elmo book, a birthday play outfit, a birthday dress, a birthday gown and some foam letters and numbers for the tub. She wasn't too impressed with the clothes (maybe next year!) but she loved her Sesame Street stuff and her letters/numbers.

She came out to the living room to her big birthday surprise-- a see saw! It's the perfect size for her and Clay but it took her a little while to warm up. She finally got on it and she and Clay got going and boom! she fell forward and hit her face. Oops.

It took her a long time to calm down from her fall but we got settled and ate a breakfast taco birthday breakfast (complete with candle/song). She was still pretty whiny as the morning went on so we could tell she was feeling a little yucky.

We went to the Purple Cow for lunch and she continued to act puny while we were there. She laid her head on Nana's shoulder the whole time we ate lunch and barely touched her strawberry ice cream for dessert. As nice as it was to have a quiet lunch, we all missed her normal wild restaurant diner self (especially on her birthday!).

We were supposed to head to the Nature and Science Museum after lunch but we were worried that Carolina wouldn't be up to it. We had a quick change of plans and headed to the "Animal Museum" instead (AKA Petland).

The kids both had a great time there and it was the perfect place for our little animal lover on her birthday. We played with a puppy, pet rabbits and all the other little creatures they have. She loved it!

We came home and the kids went down for naps and I started on her cake creation. I was very unsure about what kind on cake to make but at the last minute I found one I liked and it worked out well.

We did our (younger years) birthday tradition with a small party and Aunt Rebecca came over and joined us. Since Carolina's such a homebody, we grilled fajitas and did fun sides.

After dinner, Carolina got to eat her Sesame Street cake (she recognized all of the characters--thank goodness!) and open all of her presents and she caught us by surprise. She was really into the gifts and couldn't wait to open another one.

Some of her gifts this year were a latches board, a Cinderella costume, a princess book with sounds, a magnetic wooden dress-up doll, a membership to the Nature and Science Museum, some new CD's and a counting piggy bank. She loves them all!

We ended our night with a drive around looking for Halloween decorations and it was the perfect end to the perfect 2nd birthday!

Two Little Pumpkins

2010-10-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Grapefest 2010

2010-10-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

Back in Mid-September, we heard that Grapefest was happening and I thought it would be a cute little outing for the kids. Luckily, Anita was willing to extend her visit for a few hours to give me a hand and we had such a great time!

We went early in the morning and there was an area (totally free!) that had a huge sandbox, an area with 20 or so tricycles to ride, a petting zoo, tables with crayons and tables with playdough and blocks. It was so nice and completely uncrowded.

Clay immediately went for the block table and Carolina went and sat down right next to him--so sweet.

Clay loved playing on the bikes and Carolina liked playing at the playdough table with Nana. We switched kids back and forth and hit all the areas. It was morning so the weather was still pretty mild and they had stations set up with water. Everything was in close proximity and the kids had a blast moving from one play place to another.

Clay was a little wild in the petting zoo and tried to chase the rabbits around. I think they reminded him of our cat, Landry, and he just wanted to sit and hold one. That didn't happen. I had to put my foot down though when he tried to pick up the miniature goat. Oops.

Carolina wanted to stay in the petting zoo area for a good part of the time but everywhere we went she would stand at the fence and watch all of the rides. She was so eager to ride something (which came as absolutely no surprise to me given the adventure queen that she is).

Finally, when we had played in the play area for a while we decided to go try out some rides. Nana got us some tickets for the carousel and we watched as it went around, excited for our turn. When it finally came to our turn, Carolina was NOT having it. Anita had tried taking her on and when she wouldn't stop kicking and screaming, I tried too. Needless to say, Carolina and I watched from the sidelines and she was more than happy with that.

We decided to pick another ride and see if she would do okay on that. Clay picked some bears (reminiscent of the spinning tea cups) and I tried to take her in there. Again, lots of kicking and screaming. I guess it turns out she's not so adventurous after all! Oh well, I was excited to ride since I've always loved rides and I was talking big about how they never make me sick. Well, that was before 72 turns inside of an enclosed bear. I didn't lose my lunch but I did feel like I was on that ride for the next two days or so. Clay loved every second.

We let Clay ride on some airplanes and he loved those too (no such luck with little sister).

Finally, we decided to let Carolina pick a ride she would like to go on. She chose some cars that didn't actually leave the ground. We got up to her turn in line and the ticket man said she was too short. Bummer.

After our adventures on the rides, Anita and I decided it was time for some air conditioning. We had lunch at a cute little Italian restaurant that also had some awesome gelato.

Grapefest definitely exceeded my expectations and I'm so glad we went- and I'm so glad Nana got to share it, too!

Memory Work

2010-10-20T16:53:00.001-07:00

Clay is doing Awanas this year and has to memorize verses each week. Clay is super auditory (like his daddy) and picks up on stuff he hears really fast so I knew this stuff wouldn't be a big deal. It's turned out to be a lot more work than I thought! Here's some examples of us going over his verses:

Me: "Say "Everything He did was very good.""
Clay: "Eberything He didn't do wasn't berry good."
(No matter how many times we went over it, our little turkey wouldn't cooperate. That was week one so you can imagine why Mike and I were a little nervous about taking him to class!)

This was tonight's:
Me: "Okay Clay say "Mine eyes have seen his salvation."
Clay: "Mine eyes have seen his decorations....Mama, are we going to have ornaments this year??"

Sometimes we get distracted but overall, he's done pretty well!

First Pumpkin Patch of 2010

2010-10-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

Clay LOVES fall and all things fall. He loves scarecrows, pumpkin, hay bales and he gets so excited to see it all. Carolina is learning but we've tried to train her right (her first outing was a pumpkin patch at 6 days old).

Knowing how into it Clay is, it's made me sad that we were so busy that we hadn't had time to do a pumpkin patch but we have also been up to a lot of other fun things (more blogs on that later!). So today was our first time to a pumpkin patch this year.

We had some errands to run and I knew there was a small one that we had passed in the area so we planned to make a stop. I thought when we passed the pumpkin patch before that I had seen a BBQ restaurant right next to it so it was kind of funny when we got there today and the "restaurant" was actually a trailer with barbeque pits behind it. Mike and I like living on the edge (ha!) so we tried it out.

We ate some lunch and watched the kids play in the pumpkins. There were a couple of bounce houses and lots of hay bales with pumpkins for sale and the kids thought it was awesome. Mike and I loved it because we were the only people there and it was totally low key.

It was such a fun way to kick off our pumpkin season! We're looking forward to many more!

Avoiding the Question

2010-08-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Clay comes in the kitchen while Mike and I are cooking and says, "I need a towel." Mike asks him why and he says, "To wipe Crina's face. She's sticky." Mike and I both know we haven't given the kids anything to eat (they were watching Barney in our bed) so we kept on cooking and didn't think much about it.

When lunch was ready, Mike went to get the kids and Carolina's face was covered in chocolate. We still didn't know where it came from since Clay didn't have any on him.

Me: "Clay, where did Carolina get the chocolate all over her face??"
Clay: "I'll tell you tomorrow."
Me: "Clay, where did she get that stuff on her face??"
Clay: "God gave it to her."

That's when I gave up.

Circus Time!

2010-08-03T14:12:00.001-07:00

Last week we got to do something really special with the kids. It's another of those things that I was really excited about doing as a mom so I was just as thrilled as the kids. We got to go to the circus!

We had the most awesome 3rd row seats (thanks to Nana and Papa) and we were right in the middle of everything. I couldn't believe how close we were especially when they made the two rows in front of us move to the arena so they could do the high-wire act above our heads. Clay had to lie down just to see it!

We had been talking about the circus for several weeks and Clay was extremely excited about going. He would talk about the "junglers" (jugglers) and the other things he had heard from the Mommy Date book.

We thought about not taking Carolina because we thought she might be too little but we were so wrong! She paid attention as much as Clay did. She was way more wiggly and needed more snacks to keep her occupied but she was really into it. She loved it when the "zee zee's" (zebras) came out and she got to go on the floor with Mike and watch the elephants paint during the pre-show (Clay and I missed it since we were in the restroom :().

Carolina did pretty well but there was a point where she got her foot stuck in the chair in front of her and Mike had to kneel down and try to get her free. She was pretty stuck because it took some maneuvering to get her loose. She didn't try that trick again!

Clay was in a circus trance and he couldn't take his eyes off the show. When we tried to talk to him, he just stared and his expression never changed. He was in awe. It was the greatest thing to watch him take it all in and love it all.

Before the show we walked around and looked at all of the booths and Clay fell in love with the sno-cones. He started talking about the a couple of minutes into the show and we had to keep reassuring him that he would get one when it was snack time. He couldn't wait to get his hands on one (and I was loving being able to add to the "circus magic" by getting him something so fun). Luckily, the sno-cone was so big that we could give Carolina some in a cup and she was just as thrilled. As ever with my little opposites, she wanted chicken and fries so they both shared their goodies and everyone was happy.

When the show ended, they turned on the lights and everyone stood up. Mike swooped Carolina up and I turned to Clay and said, "Did you have a good time?". He looked at me for a couple of seconds and then just burst into tears! Bless his heart, he was so sad it was over and did NOT want to go home. We felt so bad for him but he recovered quickly.

Mike and I had so much fun just watching the kids. I'm sure the show was fantastic but nothing beats seeing their little faces when they can't believe their eyes. It was such a neat experience for all of us and we are so grateful that we got to go. We're looking forward to many more circuses to come!

(Just a little side note about their circus outfits. I thought they looked precious in their matching outfits and we got tons of compliments but my favorite comment was from a group of kids who came with their daycare. All of a sudden as we pass the group this little boy starts shouting to his friend, "Look at that BOY in a dress! Look at that BOY in a dress!" I guess he saw Carolina's dress and thought Clay must be in a dress, too (for the record it's a jon-jon). I was laughing so hard! Poor Clay in a "dress"!)

Sand, Sliding and Splashing

2010-07-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

Clay went to a birthday party today and had the best time. It was a water party and there were about 10 other little boys there to play with. I think he would have stayed all day if I had let him! He had such a great time playing in the sand and running around in the water. Here's a few shots from the party (I think it's hilarious how his tongue is sticking out in half of them-such focus!):

Carolina's Getting Big

2010-07-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

Our Carolina girl is 21 months now and she is such a fun girl. She has the funniest little personality and I can't get enough of it! We've loved watching her turn into a toddler and I wanted to make sure and record some of the things that she's into now.

Carolina is a Mama's girl. She loves Mama, looks like Mama and acts like Mama.

As far as her personality goes, she's totally mischievous and loves a good joke. She makes a "monster face" that has people laughing so hard it hurts (a monster face is when she sticks her arms out and stiffens her fingers and makes her whole body tremble) and she loves to do her stinky face. She loves an audience and will do any of her "party tricks" to get a good laugh.

A part of Carolina's personality that I hope never changes is her willingness to jump in with reckless abandon. She is quite the climber and she has no fear. It's not uncommon to find her on the top of the changing table or in the middle of the kitchen table. She's super fast! When you walk up to her she'll say "Gaca!" (we have no idea what it means) and she'll dive at you. Total trust and absolutely no fear in her body at all.

The other night as I cooked dinner I gave her the step stool to stand on so she could "help". She took advantage of the step stool to get to higher ground. That cup cabinet was unloaded before I even knew what hit me! She's creative and she loves to climb.

Carolina's such a smart girl. At her last check-up our pediatrician said she was advanced and I would agree. She talks a lot. She can count and say her alphabet and identify some of her letters (S, A, Z, O). Here are some of the things she says, "I not hungy" (when she doesn't want the food you offered her), "Huck!" (look), "Ca-ay" (Clay), "ele-cant", "eggle" (eagle), "ga-gick" (blanket), "bap" or "pas" (pacifier), "I got dis" (I got this)," I gonna git down", "all un" (all done) , "goodness", "I want muck" (both I want milk or juice) "I gotta go bobby" (I gotta go potty), "ZZ" (zebra) and much, much more. She's incredibly verbal and doesn't hesitate to let us know what she wants.

Carolina has a little bit of a temper. She always has and I'm thinking she always will. She loves to throw herself on the ground when she doesn't get her way but she does usually snap out of it really quickly.

She is by far the rowdiest restaurant diner I've ever known. With Clay, we ate out from the time he was born and we've never had a problem. Carolina's a wild one, though. She screams, she throws things, she wants down, she rears back in her high chair, she's a sight to behold in a restaurant for sure. Mike and I have tried EVERYTHING and nothing has worked. If you look in her diaper bag, you'll see stickers, stamps, stuffed animals, electronic toys, drawing boards, snacks, old phones, dolls, necklaces and at least half of the toys in our playroom have been in there at some point. Needless to say, she has caused two restaurant-loving parents to love eating at home. (I say this not to complain, just to record how it actually is)

That brings me to the next thing about Carolina, she's a homebody. She is a dream at home. She plays well, eats well and is generally happy. The second we walk out the door, though, she turns into a different child. She goes from being a child who loves to play independently to the one who would rather not leave us at the play area. She does let loose and play for a little while if we go to museums and kid places but she checks in with us every couple of minutes to give hugs and get reassurance. She would rather engage in a game with Mike and me than go out and play with Clay and the other kids. If we go outside to play, she will head for the house in less than five minutes. She loves her home, her things and her comfort zone.

Our girl is a pretty good eater but she has a tendency to be picky. While we all love shrimp, she hates it. She loves her sauces (ketchup, ranch and bbq sauce). She especially loves to streak them down her face and paint her body with them when she's finished eating. She won't eat any veggies and only a small amount of fruit (strawberries and bananas). She loves her orange juice (just don't give her too much water in it or she'll throw it at you and fall in a heap on the floor). She loves chicken and she's getting a lot better about eating casseroles. She loves eggs and bean and cheese tacos. She's pretty good about eating bread, lunch meat and cheese. The girl can also eat her weight in cheese enchiladas and queso. She's my kind of girl!

Clay and Carolina have a typical brother/sister relationship at this point. Sometimes they only want to play together and sometimes they drive each other crazy. Their personalities are completely different and it gets tricky sometimes. Clay still calls her Crina and we're not sure if that's ever going away. When we try to correct him he just says "Carocrina". He's also called her Crina Bear a few times which is hilarious because he genuinely thinks we named her Carolina Bear and not Carolina Blair.

I can always count on Carolina eating, playing with and liking just the opposite of whatever Clay has. He loves Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and she wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole- it's Velveeta Shells and Cheese for her. He likes chips, she likes sweet treats. He likes ice cream, she likes the cone. He likes "Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", she likes Barney and Elmo. He loves to cuddle up with you on the couch, she loves climbing in our bed by herself and watching her shows. It totally amazes me every day how different they are (and we love it that way).

Carolina is still a great sleeper. It's totally her personality to do her own thing and she usually sleeps at least an hour later than anyone else in the house. She loves to lie in her bed with all her blankets and animals and just chill. I have only seen her sleep on her belly twice in her whole life and she always has legs and arms coming out of the sides of her bed. She goes to bed around 8:30 and usually sleeps until 8-8:30.

She is so into her "stuff". She loves her blanket (which is actually from Clay's bed), her kitty and her pacifier. She loves chenille (but only the kind with the lines) and she will sit and run her fingers up and down the lines on her blanket while she's watching her shows. She drags her blanket all over the house, Linus-style, and she loves having her pacifier. When you go to take her out of her bed, she hands you her things one by one, "Here it is! Pass! Here it is! Kitty!" and she goes on until she's given you everything to carry for her.

One of the great things about Carolina is that she already knows what she wants. I've learned my ways around her preferences and it seems to work for both of us. She'll tell me, "I-unna-nack" (I want a snack) and then I'll offer her several things but she shakes her head back and forth and tells me "I not hungy" if she doesn't like the choice. So I pick what I want her to have, set it on the kitchen counter and walk away. She'll walk over, pick it up (because she decided to) and she'll eat it. Everybody's happy.

What does Carolina like to play with? Blocks, books and puzzles. She'll play legos with Clay and some Play-Doh stuff, too. She loves to sit on the tricycle (she has her own but prefers Clay's) and she loves to drive in the bus. She is always up for doing school, working on letters, counting bears and stamps that we have and all the educational stuff. She's pretty independent about her play most of the time except when it comes to school time and she always wants to sit in my lap.

She doesn't really like baby dolls but she LOVES stuffed animals. She will always find one at a store and she normally has several in her bed. She loves her necklaces and playing with shoes. If Carolina could do one thing all day, though, it would be watching Elmo and Barney ("Bowney"). She is a huge fan and asks for them all the time.

Carolina is the sweetest thing. We just love her personality and all the fun she brings into the house. She is happy, loving, sweet and full of spunk. We love our Carolina girl!

A Mommy Date to Diggle, Diggle Quack

2010-07-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

For Easter, I got a book from Mike's parents called "Let's Go on a Mommy Date". It's a sweet, sweet book about a mom and her son and daughter and the things she would like to take them to do. Clay loves it and wants to read it all the time (I don't even really read it anymore because he has it memorized and says it all). Ever since Carolina was born, Clay and I have done some special things together but now we call them our Mommy Dates (or Mommy Dapes if you're three).

So on our last Mommy Date, Clay and I got to go to the cutest little play at the Dallas Children's Theater called "Giggle, Giggle Quack" (once again, Diggle, Diggle Quack if you're three). It was the story of a farmer who goes on vacation and his city brother comes to watch the farm. The animals change all the farmer's notes for his brother so that they can have all kinds of adventures (like having pizza for dinner and playing all day instead of doing their farm work).

We got there pretty early and had to wait in line but Clay was so good about playing with his tractors while we waited.

I was afraid that our seats wouldn't be any good but we were on the third row so it was perfect for Clay to focus on the stage.

He wouldn't even let me hold the playbill because he was "reading" it.

As we sat in our seats waiting for the play to start, we talked about all of the props on the stage. He cracked me up when he pointed to the stage lights above the set and said, "Mama do you see the planets up there?" Ha!

Once the play started he was really interested in it. He certainly hadn't seen anything like it before. The play was really cute and entertaining and he got a huge kick out of the animals singing and dancing. About 30 minutes in he started talking about home and getting a little fidgety. I hadn't mentioned snacks at intermission yet because I knew that would be his focus so I told him to just be still and wait.

When intermission came we were the first in line. My guy was ready for a treat! He chose peanuts and apple juice and could not have been happier. I guess he just needed a little break because he kept asking when we could go back in to watch the play again.

After the play was over, they had the cast in the lobby for pictures. Clay was a little nervous but he still let me take his picture with the duck. I'm glad he did because he'll always have it as a memory from his first play.

The play was so cute and we had the best time. Taking my children to plays is one of the things I was really looking forward to as a mom. This Mommy Date definitely did not disappoint! I'm looking forward to many more theater dates to come!

(Carolina got to have her own party while we were at our Mommy Date. She hung out with Aunt Rebecca, her parents and her aunt. From what I hear, she had a pretty good time herself!)

Red in the Face: Take 2

2010-07-14T19:21:00.001-07:00

I stepped away from the table for a minute, tops. Big mistake.

Red in the Face

2010-07-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

One night as we were driving home from running errands we saw one of Mike's officer friends. He was on a call near our house so Mike pulled over to say hi and see what was going on. This was a guy the kids and I hadn't met yet so as they finished talking the guy said something to Mike about his family being in the car. The guy came over to the car, shook my hand and talked to the kids in the backseat for a minute. No big deal.

We drove home (maybe 30 seconds) and I opened Carolina's door to get her out and wow. Really? Apparently when we were out running errands our sneaky girl had gotten hold of a piece of chocolate and given herself a chocolate facial. And since her seat is directly behind mine, I didn't notice a thing (nor did Mike).

What are the odds that this guy never.said.one.word about the fact that she looked like she had war paint on?? I still can't believe he didn't even crack a smile even though he talked to her for several minutes. I just have to wonder what the guy was thinking about Mike's kid. Thanks for making a good first impression, Carolina. We owe you one.

(This little memento was taken when we got back home)

Here Kitty, Kitty

2010-06-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

The bad part (for the cat at least) is this wasn't staged.

When it Rains...

2010-06-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, the kids and I had gone to one of my MOPS meetings and were supposed to meet Mike for lunch afterward. As we got closer to the restaurant, I noticed that it had been raining in the area. I called Mike and he was very busy with accident calls from the rain so I told him we would just go to the toy store which was in the same parking lot as the restaurant. Sounds like fun, right?

Well, we went to the toy store and I stalled the kids as long as I could with playing in the ride-on vehicles and taking down and putting back all 67 stuffed animals on the shelf (thanks, Carolina). After several conversations with Mike, I realized that a lunch date with Daddy was not meant to be that day so I told the kids it was time to leave the toy store and head to lunch.

I had a couple of toys in the cart (clearance!) so we headed from the back of the store to the cashier with both kids screaming bloody murder. Every single person in the store stopped to watch as I passed by trying to push a cart with two kids trying to climb out of either side as they screamed (I wish I was kidding).

As I checked out, I looked out the front window to see that it was pouring so I asked the cashier to wrap all of the toy boxes in bags so at least something would be safe from the rain. Then as I headed to the automatic doors the manager explained that he had locked them because the rain was so strong that it kept making them open. He and the other employee suggested I wait for another 20 minutes or so for the rain to calm down before I went to the car. Yeah, right.

We stood politely in front of the doors for a couple of minutes making small talk (they kept saying it might be a tornado coming) and watching the rain. The kids were getting really restless and I was getting frustrated since our car was the very first car in the parking lot and was maybe 30 steps from the automatic doors. Finally, I said I couldn't wait anymore and asked if he would unlock the doors for me.

I put Clay in the cart and held Carolina in my arms as we ran to the car pushing the cart. Within seconds, I knew it. I should have just waited the 20 minutes in the store. I was as wet as if I had just jumped into a pool (with all my clothes on). I flung Carolina's door open and shoved her in her seat only to hear Clay screaming as the cart rolled through the parking lot with him in it. I shut her door and chased the cart-- catching him a couple of cars away (no one was driving around at this point because of the weather).

I pulled him out of the cart and stuffed him in the car as fast as I could (as he screamed). I pushed the cart to the back of the car and opened the hatch to put all of the toy bags in. As I opened the hatch, I realized that the third row seat was up and the stroller and some bags came flying out at me and fell all over the ground.

As I scramble to pick up the stuff from the ground, I hear the lady screaming at me from the automatic door and I turn to hear her saying, "Your cart! Your cart!" Where was my cart? Oh, it had rolled all the way across the parking lot and stopped in the cart return. Fun. So I ran to get it (in my dress and flip flops) and realized that all the toy bags were on the ground from the impact of it hitting the cart return.

It was still raining harder than I've ever felt in my life and I finally got all the bags loaded in the third row and the cart returned (backing over a cart was the last thing I needed right then). I leaned back and buckled the kids in and Clay is still crying and panicking. All this time when I was getting kids in and loading up the car there were barely any words exchanged. I was totally focused on getting everyone in the car. He kept saying, "I'm all wet! Mommy's all wet!" Poor guy, he had never seen anything like all that rain and chaos.

I called Mike one last time to confirm that he wouldn't make lunch but at this point I don't even know where we would have gone. We looked like drowned rats. We were just a couple of miles from home but I was still a little nervous about driving the kids since I knew about all the accidents happening (the joys of being a cop's wife).

I headed to a drive-thru around the corner and thought we could just have a little picnic in the car and wait for the rain to settle down. Beeeeep! The gas light went off--9 miles to empty. So much for waiting in the car for the rain to settle down, huh?

We pulled into the drive-thru which was super crowded. I guess everyone had the same idea. I was so excited to see that they had a covered awning to order under...until I ordered. The rain was so strong that it still blasted through as I ordered. I got my order done (fast!) and pulled up to wait in the line.

I was so happy to finally have ordered some food and that the car was all settled down with kids warming up and watching their movie. I reached down to get my purse to pay. That's when I realized my purse was in the toy bags...in the third row. So, in my dress I tried as gracefully as I could to lunge back and dig through the bags to get my purse out..until I kicked the horn. I can only imagine what that poor person in front of me must have been thinking when he looked in his rear view. Oops.

We got through the line, paid, got some gas and headed home. Finally, the rain slowed down. I love the rain (most of the time) so I was really sad that Clay was so upset by it. We started talking about his new rain gear and how fun it would be to put it on when we got home. His sad face was finally turning happy!

We got home, I ran inside and put all the food in the microwave so we could eat after our rain play and grabbed all the kids rain gear. I got Clay out first, dressed him in his rain boots, raincoat and gave him his umbrella. He was very excited. About the time I got Carolina out and got her rain gear on I could hear him fussing at me. He had fallen in the mud and wanted to go inside. Really??

Later that night when Mike came home, I thought we could give it one more try with the rain boots. 'Cause who doesn't like puddle jumping?

(If you look close enough you can see how sweet girl was checking herself out in all of the puddles!)

And the little boy who cried so much about being wet? He couldn't splash enough in those puddles!

The Tale of the Pigtails

2010-06-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

Two little pigtails, lots of big feelings.

Oh, the drama.

Bathing Suit Babies

2010-06-22T16:06:00.001-07:00

Raise your hand if you want to go to the pool!

The kids were SO excited about heading out to the pool...

...so after all the dressing, sunscreen application, pool toy gathering and towel packing and trips to THREE different closed pools the water day ended with Daddy and Uncle Garrett spraying the kids with the hose. And they loved it.

Clay's Tractor Birthday

2010-05-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

For a couple of months now Clay had been talking about having a "tractor" birthday. After asking him several times what kind of birthday he wanted, I showed him some pictures and he chose one of a "tractor" (really a bulldozer). So a tractor birthday it was!

He was very excited about his birthday and gave us lots of ideas of things he wanted (mostly from commercials). We were thrilled that the thing he talked about most was Geotrax and we had already purchased a big set.

We woke up the big day and I put the finishing touches on his birthday bucket. This year's bucket had a special book, tractor shirt, watercolors, stamp set and a Happy Birthday coloring book.

When he woke up (at 6:30 like normal), we went in there with all of our camera gear and singing fun and reminded him that it was his birthday. He covered his head and was embarrassed (just like last year). I showed him the birthday bucket and he was excited to get to see all of his fun things.

We went into the dining room where his Geotrax was set up and he was SO excited. He couldn't wait to get his hands on it. Poor child had been pretending that his Thomas trains were "Jo-Jo Tracks" all along so to have the real deal was huge for him. (Ironically, now that it's been 6 weeks he doesn't even use the remote. He still wants to make the trains move manually like his wooden Thomas ones do. Oh well. )

When it was breakfast time, we had a birthday breakfast of bacon and eggs tacos (the boy loves bacon). He was so happy to see the candle but very shy about the singing. Nana and Papa were visiting so we played throughout the day with the Geotrax.

The highlight of his day was getting to go to the "jungle" for dinner. He had been asking to go to Rainforest Cafe for quite a while and he knew that that's where his birthday dinner would be. Since it was also Mother's Day, we had our fingers crossed that it wouldn't be busy (and it wasn't).

When we got to the mall where Rainforest Cafe is, Clay was so excited to see the train. The train makes a loop around the mall and he couldn't wait to get on. Nana and Papa were the chaperones while Mike, Rebecca and I got set up inside the restaurant. The kids were both thrilled to be on the train and could have ridden it all night.

When we finally got settled in the restaurant, Clay had the best time. The kids got balloon animals and special light up cups to drink from. We all had a fun dinner watching the animals and enjoying Clay's special dinner with him.

After we got home we had some of Clay's birthday cake. A tractor cake made with love (but not too pretty).

Clay loved opening his gifts and was excited about each and every one. Some of his fun gifts this year were the Hungry, Hungry Hippos game, new rain gear, a farm Lego set, new tractors, and the Bounce Back Racer.

We had such a fun day with our birthday boy and even let him stay up a little late playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos. I definitely think his "tractor birthday" was everything he thought it would be. Such a fun day!

Who Could Ask for Anything More?

2010-05-09T20:27:00.001-07:00

Today was full of beautiful flowers and hugs,

lots of giggles,
and these two sweet things...

...it was a wonderful Mother's Day!

Happy Birthday Clay!

2010-05-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Clay Morgan,
Thanks for sharing your special day with me today. I am so proud to be your mother and so blessed to have shared three years with you. We love you. Happy Birthday, Big Boy!

Raising Wildcats

2010-04-30T16:27:00.001-07:00

ACU, we love you!

Giddy Up!

2010-04-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Yell at your mama that you want to go potty.
Step 2: Go potty and be totally defiant when she tells you that you need to wash your hands.
Step 3: Realize that maybe she did mean business and wash those hands!
Step 4: Tell her you ARE going to wear underwear to bed tonight.
Step 5: Realize that she is the boss (and sheet changer) and you will NOT wear underwear tonight.
Step 6: Scream and cry that you want to wear your horse hat to bed.
Step 7: Be amazed at how big and bad and convincing you are since she actually is allowing you to wear the horse hat (or maybe she's just picking her battles...).
Step 8: Play, play, play to avoid falling asleep.
Step 9: Wake up to hear your parents hysterically laughing and taking pictures and realize you can't see a darn thing.
Step 10: Jump around wildly trying to figure out why you can't see anything until Daddy comes to your rescue.
Step 11: Wonder if maybe it wasn't such a good idea to fall asleep leaning against the bed wearing a horse hat. Oh well.

Like Father, Like Son

2010-04-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Clay and I were putting a puzzle together the other day and he asked me, "Can you pass me that piece, sweetie?"
Today he and Carolina were fighting over a toy and he told her "No! That's my toy!" I told him not to be selfish. His response," I wasn't, honey, I wasn't."
As I am trying to type this Clay is playing with the mouse. I told him to stop touching it and he told me, "I'm helping you, honey!"

I have to admit I thought it would be a long time before I heard Clay calling a girl honey and sweetie. I'm pretty happy that I get to be the first!

When Accessories Clash (literally)

2010-04-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Carolina loves to put her own necklaces on but this one gave her a little trouble...

...still a little frustrated after having to get outside help....

...all better. Ta da!

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

Easter this year was a little crazy but we had fun. Here's what our little family did this year: We started the Easter season with egg hunts and Resurrection eggs. Clay loved the egg hunts (who doesn't?!) and Carolina had some fun, too. We did the Resurrection eggs each night before Clay went to bed and I thought it was a pretty good intro to Easter for his age. We did end up skipping several that we felt he wasn't ready for but it was a neat way to learn about the real meaning of Easter and a great hands-on activity for toddlers.
The night before Easter we dyed eggs and boy was that fun! For a little while I sat and tried to monitor the length of time each egg spent in the dye and carefully lifted each egg in and out of the water. Clay was SO eager to get his hands on the wire "egg supporter" and lift the eggs out himself. Finally, I gave in. We were leaving town the next day so it's not like we needed to preserve the eggs for anything and isn't dyeing eggs about having fun anyway??

Clay could have played with those eggs for days! He had the best time being big stuff and lifting them in and out of the water. He was thrilled to have a whole project that he could control and make all the decisions. Mike videotaped the whole thing and caught each of my sighs and gasps when Clay would drop an egg and break it in the glass. He couldn't have had a better time, though, and we both loved watching him do his thing.

The next morning was Easter and as usual Clay got up an hour before Carolina. These are the years when I am so glad he has no idea about racing out of his room in the morning to see what the Easter Bunny brought. He came and hung out with me in our bed watching cartoons until Carolina got up. Mike was able (and blessed) to be able to pop in for a minute as the kids were coming out to see all their Easter goodies.

Both kids were VERY excited to see the "bus". This is one of the things I bought on Black Friday but I knew it would be a great Easter gift so it's been sitting in our present box just waiting. Little did I know the number of tantrums I would have to endure in Toys R Us about leaving the bus at the store in the meantime. They looove the bus.
I also picked up the Mr. Potato Head pack on Black Friday (maybe it was worth the 4 hours...) and it was a surprise hit for Easter, too. Both kids like to play with it and we have already played with it a lot.

The other big hit of Easter was Pillow Pets. Clay has been asking for one since Christmas but we just hadn't bought him one. At Christmas when they were pushing the Pillow Pets so much on television Clay kept talking about "twenty dollars". It took us forever to figure out what "twenty dollars" meant because he said it ALL the time. Finally, I heard the commercial and him talking along with it about how Pillow Pets are just twenty dollars (they don't mention the $15 shipping for two, boo).

Anyhow, when I saw the commercials again I thought it would make a fun thing for Easter. I pulled up the website and asked Clay which one he wanted and he was adamant about the monkey. The funny thing was when I asked him which one would be good for Carolina. He picked the lamb and turned to her and said, "You can take it to your grandma's house!" Hmmm, maybe we need to cut back on the commercial watching around here. Needless to say, he was very happy to see his Pillow Pet!

Easter morning was such a fun little morning for us. We didn't get to go to church but Mike was able to come home for a great ham lunch. Our afternoon got a little crazier but we got a lot of preparations done since we were traveling the next day. It was a fun Easter!

Blast from the Past

2010-04-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

We turned in some film the other day from our non-digital camera which I thought was going to be pictures from last month. Surprise! They're from 2 years ago (exactly)! I guess this roll just slipped between the cracks and never got developed but what a fun surprise! Here's a few of the sweet shots (not sure what's going on with the film but it's not great quality for some reason):

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Clay was 10.5 months old, I was 1.5 months pregnant and Mike was 100% tired from taking care of both of us. Oh, how times have changed (although Mike still takes good care of us all). Can you believe my baby boy will be 3 in a couple of weeks? Me, neither.

Two years later...same sweet boy, same sweet smile!

Hoppy Hunts

2010-04-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

We finished our third Easter egg hunt today and I think we're starting to get the hang of it! We've had such a good time getting excited about Easter this year.

Last Saturday, we did the Funny Bunny Festival in our city. This was advertised a lot so I was a little worried about having to park really far away and how crazy the egg hunt would be since I was on my own that day with the kids. It always makes me a little sad to do these things without Mike but I was hoping Clay would have some fun so last minute I decided to suck it up and go!

It was such a fun time! I felt really blessed that day since Mike ended up being assigned to the festival. His shift started just about the time we were arriving so we got a front row spot! Then, to add to our blessings, Mike was able to come to the egg hunt with us!

This egg hunt was like nothing I had ever seen! It was reserved for 0-3-year-olds and there were quite a few kids (and many, many more parents). Out of the 500+ eggs on the baseball field Clay found 4 eggs and Carolina got 3. They were thrilled!

Clay was very overwhelmed when the egg hunt started (those people were intense) so I had to pull him along and get him going. I ended up putting a couple of the eggs in his basket and he picked up one. It was our first egg hunt where he kind of knew what to do so he was really happy. Daddy was on picture patrol and I held Carolina (seriously she would have been trampled otherwise). The whole thing was over in less than two minutes but it was a good start to our egg hunting season!

After the egg hunt, the festival had carnival games and once again, Clay had so much fun! He did bean bag tosses, mini-golf, basketball and bowling. It was very cute and the lines were not bad at all. Our city is so good about putting on these kinds of things that are affordable (it was $1 total for me and the kids) and fun.

Each time Clay would "win" a game he would reach in the candy bucket and grab two candies-- one for him and one for Carolina. She was happy as could be riding around in the stroller eating candy after candy (wrappers included). These are kids that haven't even finished their Halloween or Christmas candy so I let her live it up!

Monday we went to an Easter party hosted by one of Clay's little friends, Cody. It was so sweet! It was a lunch/Easter party and Clay loved it all. At lunch time the hostess put a big blanket on the floor so the kids could eat picnic style. I sat Clay down and went to hand him his lunch but he was already standing up. I sat him back down and tried to hand him his lunch again but he kept standing back up. Finally I said, "Why don't you pick a spot to sit in?" And he did. At the table. He might be a little bit pampered (and I'm okay with that).

The kids played and played until it was time for the egg hunt. The family who hosted has a big backyard and there were so many places to hide eggs. Carolina picked up two eggs, plopped down and played with them during the egg hunt.

Clay's strategy was to put his bucket in the middle of the yard and run to the eggs. He wasn't letting that bucket weigh him down! The moms were cracking up because the kids did the egg hunt just until they were tired of it. The moms ended up doing about 1/4 of the egg hunt! We were just glad our kids were busy and happy!

I loved getting the chance to visit with the moms and knowing the kids were having so much fun. I think Clay would have stayed there all day if I would have let him.

That afternoon Clay said to me, "Mama, di' you have fun at Cody's house?" "Yes, I did. Did you?" "Yes! Thanks, Mama. Thanks." It was so sweet to hear him be grateful for taking him somewhere.

Today was our third egg hunt. This time we got to hunt with our friends from our small group at church. We are thrilled that there are so many children in our small group who are close in age to our little ones and we love their parents, too!

This egg hunt was held at a park and the kids were so happy to have some space to roam. I was laughing at one point because Carolina was running off from the play area by herself and trailing behind her were three of the older (4-5-year-old) girls. They were all trying to get her to come back but she was up for the chase! They looked like a bunch of little ducks all chasing a runaway (who thought it was hilarious)! The kids played for a long time before it was time for the egg hunt and I don't blame them-- that playground had fun stuff!

When it was time for the hunt, this time Clay was ready! He did such a good job and he kept telling me he was looking for the special egg (the golden egg that they hid for the big kids). Bless his heart, he didn't know it was up in a tree way above his head! This time he got about 10 eggs and he was excited. As we walked away he stuck a peanut butter chocolate egg in my hand that he had tried and not liked. I guess he didn't want to wait to check out his loot- yuck!

Carolina didn't even care to take her bucket out this time. I kept trying to put it in her hand but she wasn't having it! She ran out, grabbed a couple of eggs and put them in another girl's basket. She did this a couple of times and she was happy with herself. If she's happy, I'm happy...

..and then she was unhappy! Carolina and the Easter Bunny were not friends.

Last year, my dad and I were changing the kids outside of the Easter Bunny area into their picture clothes and the moment Clay laid eyes on the Bunny he started shaking REALLY bad. I told the picture people that I would run up and stick him by the Bunny and whenever they could get him in the shot to take it. No matter how many times they backed that camera up, Clay was faster. He would take off running and there was no way he was getting a picture with that Bunny!

So you must know how super proud I am of him this year. Look at that adorable smile and look how close he is to the bunny (who was a sweet mom from small group). Yay for Clay!

And those are our egg hunt tales so far this year. We are getting all of our last minute Easter prep done and trying to explain the Easter Bunny to Clay. He and Carolina are going to be in for quite the surprise tomorrow when they realize what the Bunny brought! I can't wait!

Arboretum Day

2010-03-30T18:32:00.001-07:00

Can I just say that after a FULL day of an early morning, rushed house cleaning, crazy breakfast, last minute "picture bow" run, "Carolina screaming like she's on fire so that everyone in the restaurant stares until Mike walks her out" lunch, standing in a 40-minute long picture line stripping our kids down to their skivvies and into picture clothes, jumping around like fools to get the perfect shot for the photographer, then jumping around to get the perfect shot for our own cameras, standing in a 1.5 hour silhouette line, going to the petting zoo where Clay grabbed a chicken by the neck (and the lady said we might be having chicken for dinner...) and where Clay brushed a goat, laughing as Clay came back from the petting zoo and told me "I brushed a gonut!!", going to get pinwheels to keep both kids from screaming (still in line), laughing as Carolina chased birds (still in line), going to get a drink for Carolina so that people wouldn't think we were abusing her from her screams (still in line), listening to Carolina's happy screams from the petting zoo (she LOVES animals!), going to get Clay's face painted like a dalmatian, laughing as Clay chased a squirrel, almost peeing our pants from watching Clay's pants fall down and him trying to take them all the way OFF while Mike tried to catch him, holding kids still for silhouettes (we finally made it to the front!), going to Sonic for a reward (for us all!), having Carolina throw her drink at us because she didn't like it, laughing as Carolina snored in her seat, giving Clay my drink so that he wouldn't fall asleep in his seat, Clay and I getting out of the car as quietly as we could at the toy store so we didn't wake Sleeping Beauty, getting the phone call in the store that we had closed the door too hard and awakened S.B. (oops!), trying to hold Clay as he peed all over his pants in the store bathroom (oops, again), Mike and Carolina catching up to us and me realizing Carolina had no shoes (or bow) on in the store (Daddy!), picking out toys for Clay's birthday and taking turns at the train table while the other parent shopped, picking both kids up of the floor from fits when it was time to leave the toy store, going to have another crazy meal, dashing home for quick baths, listening as Carolina squealed as she ran down the hall after her bath and catching a glimpse of her just as she squatted to pee all over the floor, cleaning it up and dressing two tired little ones for bed, putting Carolina down, doing the Resurrection eggs with Clay and laughing as he tried to take the coins from tonight's egg representing Judas trying to sell out Jesus and put it in his own piggy bank, saying prayers and finally sitting down...there's no one else I'd rather share my crazy days with than Mike. Thank God for good daddies and husbands!

And here's some pics from our little day...

...I think it was worth it!

The Funny Bunny Cake

2010-03-28T20:00:00.001-07:00

Clay has a little egg hunt tomorrow so I volunteered to bring a bunny cake (idea courtesy of Aunt Jamie) and some pasta salad. I thought I would get the cake started this afternoon and I could finish after Mike got home to help with the kids. When I realized he would be over an hour late (and started adding up baking/cooling/decorating time), I went ahead and started.

It's a fun time when you are trying to ice and decorate a cake with 1- and 2-year-old's sitting on the counter taking out every utensil in the utensil bucket, unloading the silverware drawer and trying to grab EVERY candy you're decorating with (and you're OCD about cleanliness in the kitchen).

I thought I was doing a good job decorating and properly monitoring the kids (except for the one time when Carolina came thisclose to taking a swig out of the vegetable oil container-- who taught her how to open lids anyway??).

We were having a great time as I went from memory (no running to the computer when you have little ones on the counter). As I decorated I talked to Clay about how special he is and that the reason that I was decorating the cake was so he would have something special to take to the party tomorrow. I wanted him to know that this special project was just for him.

I was so proud that even though my original plans had gone a little haywire that we had made fun memories and had a super cute cake to show for it. I was SO excited to show it to Clay and get his reaction. Mike had come home by this point and stood over the cake holding Clay.

Me: Loooook Clay! Do you see the cake Mommy made? Do you like it??

Clay: Mama, it's a CAT cake! It's a cat!

Me: No, it's a bunny. Don't you see the bunny ears?

Clay: No, it's a cat, mama. It's a cat.

Mike (whose opinion I didn't need at this point): I don't know. It kind of looks like a cat to me, too.

Since when are cats the only things with whiskers?? And that's when I made both of them do the bunny hop to bed with no dinner. Just kidding. But don't think it didn't cross my mind.

Sorry, Carolina...

2010-03-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

we're not laughing at you. We're laughing with you. Kind of.

Quick Pic Post

2010-03-02T18:01:00.001-08:00

I have lots to post but no time so...

...this will have to work until then.

While Carolina Gets Minty Fresh...

2010-02-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

What's Mommy doing? Putting Clay's pajama's on.
What does Mommy hear? "What's Crina doing?? (code for Carolina's doing something she's not supposed to be) Crina's in da bafroom bwushing her teef."
What does Mommy see? This...

She got out the toothpaste and MY toothbrush, unscrewed the toothpaste cap, applied it and was brushing her teeth (and her hands).
Who taught her how to do all that???
I'm getting deja vu.

Baby Blue

2010-02-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

Worn Out

2010-01-28T09:34:00.001-08:00

Something Like That

2010-01-28T09:21:00.001-08:00

Big Boy Boxer Briefs- Check
"Tough Guy" Shirt- Check
Mommy's High Heels- Check
Happy Two-Year-Old- Check

Carolina: Fifteen months

2010-01-26T13:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Carolina,

You are fifteen months old now. You are such a big girl! Your daddy and I are truly amazed by your little personality lately. You have said a few words here and there over the past couple of months but you really started talking in the last couple of weeks. You will copy what we ask you to copy and a lot of it is really clear. You say "Cay or Key" for Clay, "Baa" for bath, "nac" for snack, "buh" for book, "cuh-key" for cookie, "ca-keh" for cracker, "kittttuh" for kitty, "nah" for no, "nigh-nigh" for night night and many other words. We are so proud of your talking!

You have also really started using your sign language. We have been working on sign language for months and ironically, you really started doing it when you also started talking. It's just your style to do things when you want to do them. We know that for sure. You do "more" and "drink" the most but you point to whatever you want. When someone is holding you, you point where you want to go. You will also go to your chair when you are hungry or point to the cup cabinet when you want a drink. When we ask you if you want to do something you don't want to do, you will shake your head no. You're a smart one, Carolina.

We've learned that you know what you want and when you want it (now). We know this from many, many fits and tantrums. As an infant when you would throw a fit you would sit down and put your face between your feet- every time.

Now, when you throw a fit (or even get frustrated) you ALWAYS throw yourself backward. If someone is holding you, you will do this until they put you down. It is your goal for the back of your head to hit the floor. If you are standing up when the fit starts you just fall backward until you hit. We don't like to give your tantrums attention so we always walk away from you. You're very predictable and you calm down easily when you accomplished your goal of hitting your head on the floor (I don't get it either....).

You love to play and you are great playing by yourself. You are happiest when you have one of your lovies and a pacifier. I think you are absolutely precious when you come down the hall clutching your kitty and sucking on a pacifier. You always sleep with a lovie and a pacifier and we usually leave them in your bed when you get up (because you always want a drink and a snack when you wake up). Some time later, you will show up with a lovie and a pacifier walking around the house. We see you go into your room and reach through the bars of your bed to get them. You are so funny (and sneaky!).

You love books a lot. I took out a basket of toys the other day and I noticed that you had sorted through the whole thing and taken out all of the stuffed animals. It didn't surprise me at all. When we take you to the toy store the only thing you want to play with are the stuffed animals. You will clutch one in each hand and be happy not playing with any of the other toys. We've noticed, though, that you have favorites. When I showed you the doll from your stocking this year, you threw it at me. There are several dolls that we have tried to give to you and you just push them away. You know what you like, no doubt about it.

We see that you love to be praised. When we cheer for you, you get the biggest grin and do whatever it is all over again. I can already tell that this will be the key to getting you to do things as you get older. We are glad to know at this early age that this is one of the big ways you feel loved.

Although you starting walking shortly after you turned one, you really took off during the week of Christmas. It has been so special to watch you toddle around and then get better as you held your arms out and now walk with so much confidence.

You fuss at us when we don't put you down when we leave the house. You want to do all stairs, parking lots and any public place by yourself. You don't stop until we put you down. You have the sweetest squeaky shoes and everyone watches you as you walk around in them. Your sweet smile, big bow and squeaky shoes make you the star of the show.

You love attention from people. You are never shy when people talk to you. You will smile and listen to whatever they have to say.

I am so proud of how well you are doing in childcare lately! I haven't been paged out of any of my meetings or church times in a couple of weeks. Last week when I went to pick you up I talked with the childcare worker over the door while you played. You didn't even pay attention to me at the door. When I called your name you came toddling over to the door and just as you got there you threw yourself on the floor and threw a huge fit. I think you held yourself together as long as you could in the nursery but you had had enough and were ready to go home. Once again, you wanted your opinion to be heard.

You have a brother who is so proud of you. When you two are out playing he will tell the other kids, "That's Crina. That's my sister." At home, you two fight quite a bit. You have very different personalities and it's hard for you to communicate well with each other right now. When Clay does something you don't like, you will hit him in the face. No questions asked. You don't want him to touch you (at all) or take anything you are playing with (and he loves to).

The funniest thing I have seen with you and Clay lately is the love you have developed for Clay's blanket. Clay decided long ago that the one that Mama had made for his bed was not big or cuddly enough for him but he still brings it out sometimes to cover himself on the couch. Somehow, you have made it your new lovie and you don't want him to touch it. I'm thinking we might have to have a new lovie made just for you (we might trick you by making it look a little like Clay's).

You are such a special girl and we are so glad that God chose us to be your parents. We can't wait to watch you grow and grow!

Love,
Mama

The Late Date

2010-01-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight we took the kids to Burger King to try and burn some energy. Clay played with the big kids (who were all much older) and seemed to have fun. We got home and Mike and I were sure that we had exhausted him when it was time for bed. Right...

Needless to say, a couple of minutes after we put him down he starts screaming that he needs to go on the potty. Mike and I talk about it quickly and Mike takes him. It was legit.

A couple of minutes later he needs to potty again. This time I took him and no dice. Sneaky boy. The night wore on with lots of calls for things like he needed a blanket (he has a huge one), he needed to ask Daddy a question, he needed this and that....

Clay has always done well with bedtime and we are not about to start now with the getting up every five minutes. The hard part, though, is the potty training. We're asking ourselves should we let him go every time he wants to or are we just suckers??

So the last time he starts calling out (doesn't he know Mommy is trying to bake and watch the Bachelor??), I just ignore it. He'd already exhausted his two bathroom passes.

As I get up to check on my fudge baking, I hear him again and go to his room. Let me tell you, the smell almost knocked me over when I opened the door. So much for ignoring that last bathroom call...I paid the price.

I got him all changed and clean and went back to what I was doing. Eventually after taking it out and putting it back in no less than six times, my fudge was done. My only problem now was that there was no one to share it with. Yes, it was 10:30 and Mike was out. We party hard around here.

I thought about it and checked on my other date. Yep, still awake and calling for orange juice. You should have seen his face when I put my arms out to pick him up and carry him out. Pure confusion. I sat him on the couch and went and got him some fudge and ice cream. Who better to share it with than my boy??

We ate our treat together and talked about our day. A little ways into the conversation he says, "That kid told me to go away." I asked him if it was the kid from the play place tonight and he told me yes. He didn't seem like he quite knew what to feel about it but I think it hurt his feelings a little bit. It sure hurt mine.

When he was finishing up I told him that if he went to bed and slept well that we could do something fun tomorrow. "That would be perfect!" he told me. So so sweet.

This is our second late date. It's rare to get quiet time with him anymore when he's not running all over or he's not sharing my lap with Carolina. And it just so happens I like to bake and I love to have someone to share it with.

I have to say, I'm looking forward to many late dates with my little guy. It's fun to have special time with him and makes him feel special, too. What a sweet treat to end the night.

Come See Santa....

2010-01-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Mike and I were going about our business this morning trying to get some housework done when we saw Clay pass us with the toilet paper from the cleaning closet. Odd.

A few minutes later we could hear him calling so sweetly from his new perch, "Come see Sanna! Come seee Sanna!" (Apparently Santa gets demoted from the cool Santa throne after Christmas)

He would pat his legs and call for anyone who would listen, "Come see Sanna!" And then he spied the perfect Santa subject: Carolina (AKA: little girl who hates Santa). He called her and called her with his sweet words ("Come see me, Crina. I'm Sanna!") but Carolina was not having it.

So...desperate measures had to be taken by "Santa".

Finally (with a little help from Daddy) everyone got situated. Clay told her, "What do you want, Crina?") It was absolutely adorable to hear him use his best Santa voice.

But just like with the real Santa, Carolina was not a Santa fan. And when Carolina is done, she is really done.

Apparently, Santa was done, too.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Christmas: Part III (Christmas!)

2010-01-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

We got back home from San Antonio the day before Christmas Eve and got everybody settled in and ready for Christmas. We had done most of our preparations before we left for our trip so there wasn't a whole lot to do once we got home except wrap a few things and lay out all of the kids' stuff from Santa.

Christmas Eve we were able to attend church as a family and we were excited about that. Just as we left to have lunch before church it started snowing outside. It took a long time to convince Clay that it was actually snow. He kept telling us it was just the wind. Little did we know that the whole ground would be white by the time we left church and there would be no doubt in anyone's mind what it was!

Because we had been traveling and wanted to keep everything low stress we planned on going out for Christmas Eve dinner and then taking the kids to see a live nativity in town. We did manage to make it to dinner but between Officer Daddy and the snow there would be no more driving around town after dinner (it was COLD, too!).

We got home, put Carolina to bed, made cookies for Santa and got our Santa list ready. Clay really did not get the whole concept of what Santa does this year prior to Christmas but I wrote his letter and he signed it.

We also did our last night with "the house". I have to admit that after 24 nights of doing the house, I was pretty sad to see it go, too. I had explained multiple times before that Santa was going to be taking the house with him but that he would leave a toy.

The chocolate that the house had for Christmas Eve was a big Santa and Clay was really into it. He would have eaten the whole thing (and taken an hour doing it) but we had to call it about 20 minutes in (and halfway through Santa). Finally, we left Santa cookies and milk and put Clay to bed.

I was SO excited to get all the kids' goodies out and get everything set up. Mike was thrilled when Clay's train table took about 20 minutes to assemble. Then there was the train itself....That took another hour +. I got all the stockings stuffed and we were in bed before midnight. Ironically, I think I'm the only one who couldn't sleep in our house from excitement!

Clay got up a good half hour before Carolina in the morning (totally normal) and so we had him come in our room and hang out with us until she got up. How many years could that actually happen?? He was totally clueless as to the all the fun in the living room.

Carolina got up and we all went to check out what Santa brought. Clay was SO sweet. He walked in and said, "Thank you, Santa!" so nicely. Both kids went straight for the train table and played for quite a while.

We spread out the opening of the gifts throughout the day to give the kids a chance to play with everything and relax. It was so nice to be able to do that without them asking for something else or expecting another present. They were totally content with what they had. Once again, how many years will that last? (I'm hoping many!)

Some of the fun things the kids got this year were*: blocks for Carolina, a train table for Clay, a tool set for Clay, a play cube for Carolina, a big Play-Doh bucket, a pop-up tunnel/tent set and lots of other fun goodies.

Because of all the snow that we had, Clay was able to do a little Christmas box sledding on the hill outside for a while. I think he could have done it all day!

Mid-afternoon, Mike went out to take out the trash and Clay was standing on one of Carolina's new blocks and fell forward on the corner of the train table. All I saw was blood. He had busted his lip at the top-right and bottom-left and left his teeth impression on the table. Luckily, we had saved a big present from Nana and Papa and it was the perfect time to bring it out!

That night, we made a birthday cake for Jesus. While the cake was baking, Carolina, Mike and I played in the living room. I noticed after a minute that Clay wasn't with us so I got up to check on him. I found him in the kitchen---with the chocolate cake bowl.

Well, Little Sister wasn't about to let him get by without sharing!

We had a nice birthday party and talked about Jesus and what Christmas was all about again (in two-year-old terms, of course). Since Thanksgiving, we had been doing different parts of the story of Jesus' birth each night and talking about it a little. On Christmas night, I was so happy to hear that Clay knew the story and could tell me about so many of the things that happened. It makes us happy that God's word is growing in his heart.

We were very blessed with a fun, super relaxed day. I loved getting to move at the kids' pace and enjoyed just getting to sit back and watch them have fun all day. We had ourselves a Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas: Part II (Family Time)

2010-01-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

This year, we traveled to see our families the weekend before Christmas. We were excited to see some people whom we hadn't see in a while. The kids loved being at Grandma Susie's (Mike's grandmother) and getting to see all of the animals and getting to play with some of their cousins.

Clay got to open one of his gifts from Nana and Papa early and he was in love! His new Police Station/Fire Station is so neat and perfect for him. He played and played with it.

We got to do fireworks for the first time with the kids. Clay had a great time with the sparklers but when the big fireworks came out, both kids were done pretty quickly. Oh well, sparklers are fun, too.

Some of their other cousins came out for dinner one night and Clay had a blast. He loves to play with these girls and they are so good to him.

On the last night that we were there we got to see Mike's brother Garrett and his wife, Jamie. Carolina had never met her uncle so it was an exciting time! Here she is getting ready for the big meeting (looking totally adorable, I might add):

Uncle Garrett and Aunt Jamie played hard with the kids and a good time was had by all!

We got to visit with a lot of Mike's family while we were in San Antonio and also have lunch with my dad. Sadly, I didn't take enough pics of the kids with all of their grandparents but needless to say, everyone enjoyed themselves!

We were so glad to get to visit with family and celebrate the season with them. After lots of good food, good visiting and good fun it was time to head home for Christmas!

Christmas: Part I (The Events)

2010-01-04T15:52:00.001-08:00

We had so many fun things to do this year and I was so excited about doing them all! We kicked off the season with a visit to Bass Pro Shops to see their Winter Wonderland right after Thanksgiving. They had such a neat set-up with a free picture with Santa, all kinds of holiday decor and a free reindeer carousel. It was a fun time!

The next thing we did was story time with Mrs. Claus at the library. This story time was really busy and it was hard for Clay to focus since there was so much going on (Carolina had her own entertainment with Nana). After the story we got to have a picture with Mrs. Claus (no love from Carolina and no chance with Clay) and "Rosty".

We went to look at lights that night and everyone but Carolina had a blast. The next morning, Clay and I did our Santa breakfast and checked out our local downtown area's Christmas decorations.

Back in November, we had the kids' pictures made for our Christmas card but there was nothing good of them together (Bah humbug!). So...we loaded up our own camera and our Aunt Rebecca (who is the most patient photographer's helper ever) and tried for some pics of our own at a local hotel. They had so many beautiful decorations and we had fun looking at all of their Christmas trees and lights. What we came up with picture-wise wasn't perfect (we didn't get one of the kids together either) but I'm SO glad we did take the pics because I found some new favorites in the bunch. Here's a sample:

We did some "fall" clothes and "Christmas" clothes to try to get some variety.

A couple of weekends later we went for our final Santa visit at the Arboretum. The Arboretum has some really festive stuff at this time of year and we loved getting to see a "real" gingerbread house, getting faces painted for the first time, seeing a live reindeer and playing in the big pirate ship (not so festive). (Patient) Aunt Rebecca came with us again and was a huge help with kid wrangling while I tried to get some cute pictures. I especially love the one of her and Carolina.

We loved the Pumpkin Patch so much that we were excited to go back after they turned it into a Christmas Tree Farm. We were the only people in the whole place so we were able to walk around and look at all of the fun Christmas cutouts and play on the bounce houses without any interruptions. So fun!

One of my favorite parts of the tree farm was the way that Clay started posing and saying "cheese" the second we walked outside. He was an eager picture taker that day (so rare!).

Another highlight was Carolina climbing the slide. The thing was HUGE and she was determined that because Clay had done it, she could too. There were ten rungs and she made it up six before Mike had to crawl up and help her. We definitely saw some of her determined side that day!

One of the last Christmas things we did before we left to visit family was making gingerbread houses. Clay and I were trying out a new playgroup (while Carolina napped at home with Daddy) and this was their activity for the week. We had such a great time making new friends and making a fun project.

I guess I didn't realize until now exactly how much fun we did have this season (and how long of a post this would be!). We were really blessed to get to do some neat things and to be able to do them together. I was so excited about getting to share this season with my little ones (and Mike, too). We started what I hope will be many fun traditions. I loved every little thing we did and I know two little people who had a pretty good time, too!

Oh, Santa

2010-01-04T14:33:00.001-08:00

Clay and Carolina did not have any love for Santa this year (or last year, either). I tried my best to gear Clay up for him by telling him how nice Santa is and how he would bring him presents. He seemed okay with the idea of meeting him...until the time came.

We decided to do a practice run at Bass Pro Shops because it's free and there weren't any lines on a weekday. Santa came out and so did Clay's screams. I think Carolina might have been fine but we definitely have a monkey see, monkey do mentality around here.

We let some other kids go in front of us so that we could see how nice Santa was and what to do when it was our turn. Each time the other kids would finish and we would start our walk up the ~~thrashing about like he was on fire~~ crying would start again. Carolina also let it all out when it was her turn.

Santa was very sweet and I was impressed that we eventually we even got Clay to give him a high-five. It's the little things, you know?

One morning while Nana and Carolina stayed warm at home, Clay and I went to a local Santa pancake breakfast. First of all, can I say how mad Clay was when we passed IHOP right before we got there and he realized we weren't having the pancake breakfast he was imagining. Who knew?

Our table was very close to Santa so we got a chance to watch Santa while we ate our breakfast. I had been imagining this fun breakfast with me and my boy just getting to have a conversation and talk about all the fun stuff happening this season.

Well, the experience went a little differently than I expected. Instead of the sweet breakfast I imagined, I got: cold orange juice spilled all over Clay's lap and nothing to clean it up with, Clay screaming every couple of minutes ("I wanna go to da car! I don't wanna go see Sanna"), LOUD Christmas music, pancakes that you couldn't cut with a chainsaw much less the plastic fork they gave me, lots of people to watch (meaning Clay wouldn't acknowledge any of my attempts at conversation) and all of this took place in a tent (and yes, it was cold). Oh well. There's always next year. It wasn't exactly what I had planned but I was grateful for the chance to spend some time with Clay.

Our last Santa visit was at the Arboretum. By this point in the season, everyone was getting a little tired of the Santa visits. This was the one I had looked forward to, though, and was hoping that it would be THE Santa picture of the year. Ahem. Someone should have told my kids that.

Both kids screamed like banshees until finally the photographer said he wouldn't take the picture if I didn't get in it with them. I am NOT the mother who likes to be in the Santa pictures but after driving the 30 minutes to get to the Arboretum and standing in the Santa line, I was determined we were leaving with a Santa picture. Say cheese, Mommy. (Is it just me or does this Santa look like he's holding us hostage?? Creepy.)

We did have a storytime with a very sweet Mrs. Claus after our Santa visit and Clay warmed up to her a little better. Maybe there's still hope for next year...

And that is the story of the Skloss Santa visits for 2009. We love you, Santa!

New Year, New Look

2010-01-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

Out with the old...

And in with the new! Isn't my new look fun? Once again Marina did a fantastic job! She has such a gift for design and I was blessed by that gift once again. If you need a new look too, make sure to pop over to her blog and check out all of her designs. You won't be disappointed! Thanks, Marina-- I LOVE it! Now, I just have to come up with some good posts to match my great design...

Clay's Countdown to Christmas

2009-12-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

Last month when Mike's mom and I were out shopping we found the cutest little Advent calendar that looks like a house. We brought it home and it was sitting on the kitchen counter waiting for the first of December. Clay could hardly wait to "play with the house".

Every day he talks about the house all day and says, "I have to wait till I have my jamas on.I have to wait until it's time to go to bed." We have discovered him several times lately dragging a chair across the floor so he can reach the house on the kitchen bar. He LOVES the house.

It's important to me that the Advent and countdown to Christmas is tied to the story of Jesus so every night we sit down and read a story about Baby Jesus. Sometimes we read from his toddler Bible and sometimes from a sweet book Aunt Rebecca got us about the Nativity. We talk about the story of Jesus in the manger and Clay listens intently.

Before he's allowed to open a drawer on the house, I ask him a little question about the story of Jesus. I usually ask him something like who Jesus's mother is or who his father is or what the baby's name is. It always surprises me when he gets it right (and he always does). I guess he's really listening but I love his answers.

Who's Jesus' mother? "May-ray".
Who's Jesus' daddy? "Juice-seph"
Who's the baby in the manger? "Jay-sus"

After we read our story and answer a question, we look on the house and find the right day. Then he gets to pull out a drawer and there's a little chocolate in each drawer. Most of the days the chocolates are wrapped in shiny paper and look like little presents. The other ones are just round balls in shiny foil. He'll open a drawer with one of the balls and say, "Um, I don't wike this one. I wan't a diffwent one." The boy knows what he wants for sure (but no switching)!

It is such a fun tradition already and such a sweet time to spend with our little boy. We all look forward to it at night.

The only question is -- how do we explain to Clay that we don't do this every night after Christmas?? Yikes!

You. Light Up My Life

2009-11-30T19:45:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

We had a happy Thanksgiving at our house today filled with food, fun and projects. Mike had to work so it was just the kids and I at home doing turkey stuff. Mike had done some of the cooking ahead (hallelujah!) and that left a few dishes for Clay and I to work on.

Clay was my big helper for making a pumpkin pie and dressing (he left me on my own for the rest). A couple of weeks ago we made a "pumpkin pie" with "whipped cream" and pumpkin spices on top. Clay was so impressed when the real pumpkin pie smelled just like his project. So cute.

We've been working on Thanksgiving projects for the last couple of weeks and today we wrapped it all up with our Indian headdresses and "I Am Thankful for..." books. It was Carolina's first time with a paintbrush when she painted her headdress feathers (and she was NOT happy when I took it away).

The book covers came out so cute with the kids' handprints for turkeys. Clay is thankful for police cars, playgrounds and drawing & scissors. Carolina is thankful for her favorite songs, being able to walk a couple of steps and her lovies (her kitty, Clay's monkey and her doll).

All in all it was a quiet (or as quiet as it gets in this house...) Thanksgiving but we feel blessed to have spent it with our sweet little family.

So... as Clay told Lilly (our cat) tonight--"Happy Thanksgiving!"

Conversations with Clay

2009-11-17T07:48:00.000-08:00

I was holding Carolina the other day and Clay kept coming up and ramming his head into my stomach. I put out my hand and blocked his head and this is how it went:

C: Di' you hit me??!
M: (trying to think of how to explain this)
C: Di' you HIT me??
M: Um, I didn't hit you. You were trying to hit Mommy with your head and I stopped you.
C: That not nice. You need a go to timeout.
M: (I don't think so.)

Carolina's 1st Birthday Celebrations: Part II

2009-11-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

Carolina's birthday was such a special day for all of us. We loved making her feel special and singing to her all day (and all week). She ate it up when we sang to her and she loved all the attention.

We started the day with singing to her in her bed. She was all smiles (and a little shy).

She wasn't too sure about getting the birthday bucket and how to get all of the stuff out (but that's what big brothers are for, right?).

We made sure she blew out the candles and had a song every meal which she and Clay both enjoyed.

For lunch, we went to eat at a family favorite, Posado's. Carolina got her first ice cream cone and she was a huge fan!

After lunch we went to the Children's Museum and did whatever the birthday girl wanted.

After playing for a while at the museum and taking an official birthday nap, we got our evening festivities going. Since we had already had one cake during the week, we decided on a cookie cake from JD's Chippery (we also had one from there the day Carolina came home from the hospital!).

Aunt Rebecca came over to help celebrate and Carolina had LOTS of fun packages to open (and some that were already assembled). Clay couldn't wait to be the helper on this one.

Some of Carolina's birthday presents this year were a Fisher-Price Happy Sounds Home, a new doll, new pajamas, snap-lock beads, lots of girly books, a play table, a Little People van, a tea set, some very cute shoes and more money to start her bank account. She got so much fun stuff from sweet friends and family.

We had a great day playing with our one-year-old and celebrating her big day. Such a big blessing in a little girl!

Carolina's 1st Birthday Celebrations: Part I

2009-11-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

Carolina had some sweet first birthday parties this year (and I'm just now getting around to blogging about them!). She had her first party in San Antonio the week before her birthday. We were blessed to have family and friends there to celebrate with us.

I chose EZ's Restaurant and it turned out to be a great choice. They gave us our own party room and it was so nice to be able to visit with everyone without worrying about bothering those around us or hanging around too long.

I wanted to keep her party simple and sweet so I just brought flowers, a cake and sweet plates and napkins. It was so much less pressure than trying to haul a bunch of decorations on a trip with us and it didn't seem to matter to Miss Carolina one bit.

We were able to eat with everyone and then open gifts and eat cake. Carolina got so many cute things (tutus, clothes, a bow maker, money and some Little People sets). She was so good the whole night even though she had totally skipped her nap and screamed the whole way to the party.

I loved the way she listened as everyone sang to her. Her face just lit up when everyone said her name in the song as if she had just realized it was all about her. So cute.

When I put the cake in front of her to blow out the candle (which Mama forgot and Stacy had to bring!) she just reached out and pulled her whole hand through the cake. She must have known that the birthday girl gets the first piece!

She wasted no time digging into that cake and getting dirty. She had cake everywhere by the time she was done!

We were so happy to be able to share Carolina's birthday with some special people in her life. Thanks to everyone who came!

Clay's Crown

2009-11-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

I have a few things to say about this crown--

1) If a kid is little enough to be wearing a crown from Burger King, aren't they a little young to be reading Twilight?? What happened to the plain gold crowns?

2) Clay told us he had Mommy and Daddy on his hat. Do you like our new hairdos and awesome airbrushing?

3) Isn't this kid adorable?

While Clay gets Minty Fresh

2009-11-15T08:03:00.001-08:00

What is Mommy doing? Getting Carolina up from her morning nap and getting her dressed
What does Mommy hear? "Mommy, I need sa help! I need to bwush my teef!"
What does Mommy see? This...

Out and About

2009-11-04T12:57:00.001-08:00

We went to a program on Monday which Clay really loved. It's made Mike and I consider some kind of class for him a lot more seriously. He was very hesitant at first and then all of a sudden...I have never seen him get so excited about a song or dancing with the other kids.

We took some pics (which came out awful b/c I used our old camera so I won't post them) and some video. Every time I watch the video, I crack up because Clay is obviously the kid most into it. All the other kids are just standing around and he's jumping up and down like it's his own private concert. So cute.

Today's adventure was to a children's museum. They had a story/craft time and I love that kind of thing. Since we don't have Clay in any kind of preschool program, I'm trying to take him more places where he can practice following directions, sitting still and listening to a story or singing songs with other kids.

After the craft/storytime, we played in the rest of the museum. The kids had such a great time. I love how the pictures capture Carolina's constant happiness and I REALLY love the new trick I figured out with Clay. If I say, "show me your teeth", he does (along with his great smile). I love it! So here are some pics from today:

Lots of pictures, lots of smiles! We're so blessed to have happy children.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

We went to a local Halloween Festival on the lake tonight and the kids had so much fun! Clay caught on to the trick-or-treating thing in no time. We went around from booth to booth trick-or-treating and he was so polite. He would say "tricktreat" and then "thank you". He even said "thank you" loud enough for them to hear him. Yeah!

After the second booth Mike realized that we were walking the opposite direction of the trail so we turned to go the right way. Clay started saying, "I no want to go to the car!". He was so worried that we were already leaving. I guess he's a trick-or-treat fan!

They had some carnival style games that were right on his level and there were no lines for anything. He had a good time and loved getting the candy as a reward.

Carolina just sat in the stroller and ate a corn dog. She has been under the weather all week and was happy just to sit and eat. She got a little fussy toward the end and we knew our little zebra needed to stretch her legs a bit!

We had such a great time with our little zebra and penguin. It was a sweet time to celebrate and get to experience the fun of trick-or-treating for the first time as a family. I think Clay's ready to do it all again tomorrow!

Happy Halloween! Love, Carolina the Zebra and Clay the Penguin

Halloween Celebrations

2009-10-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

We have been having some fun this month getting ready for the big day- Halloween! We have been to several pumpkin patches, painted and carved pumpkins, done our fair share of arts and crafts, made some Halloween decor for Clay's room and even played some Halloween-inspired games.

I love doing projects with Clay and we have focused this month on Halloween. Mike and I want to stick with fun, happy stuff (not scary) for Halloween activities so our projects were all smiling pumpkins, candy, happy spiders, etc. Clay and I have so much fun creating these toddler works of art (I tell him what to do but all of the actual work is Clay's) and he is SO proud to show everyone his work.

One of our favorite things this year was making "Jack". Jack is the pumpkin Clay and I carved and he sat on our bar for about a week. Clay talked about Jack a lot and he was very sad when Jack got yucky and had to go to the trash. Clay keeps saying, "Mama make another one 'morrow."

Clay loved watching me carve out the eyes and face for the pumpkin. I had seen some ideas about turning pumpkin carving into a lesson so we talked about how God made our eyes, nose and our bodies just like Mommy was making Jack's face. I know he'll have a much better understanding when he's older but it's a good start.

It's funny because Clay has NO idea what Halloween is. He talks about his costume sometimes but he doesn't even know what a costume is. I think he hears it them talking about sending in pictures of you in your costume on Sprout and sees all the Halloween ads so he thinks a costume is just something to do with Halloween.

Several times when we made projects and I would show him the finished product he would say, "It's my costume!". Today when he opened up one of his Halloween cards, he said it again. Bless his heart- he's going to be so excited to find out what a costume really is (and what you get when you wear it!). He's had his costume on several times but tonight will be the first time he's worn it for more than a couple of minutes-- we can't wait!

We are really blessed to have some aunts who always send them cards and treats for the holidays. Especially now that Clay is getting a little older, he gets so excited to open something (cards and presents). Auntie Jamie and Uncle Garrett sent sweet cards with glittery pictures on them. Clay loved rubbing his fingers over the letters and showing them to his baby sister.

Aunt Rebecca gave the kids a Mickey and Minnie card, some hilarious pumpkin glasses and some fun Halloween books.

We were all cracking up at the glasses. I was so surprised at how long Carolina kept hers on when she and Clay were playing. She finally took them off and kept trying to put them on top of her head. Monkey see, monkey do. Ha!

We are headed to a Halloween Carnival tonight so it should be tons of fun. Pictures of cute trick-or-treaters to come...

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Since the last Pumpkin Patch post was so short, here's a couple of pics from just before the mud bath. The kids were so cute in the wagon and Clay was VERY excited to see Barney and his friends.

Today was our third attempt at the Pumpkin Patch (the second time it was closed due to rain). Clay calls a pumpkin a "catch" for some reason and has been talking about the Pumpkin Catch ever since the first time we went.

Carolina decided to forgo the mud mask and go natural this time. It made for much prettier pictures... I have to say, though, the best part about Carolina falling in the mud was that Clay keeps reminding her of it several times a day. "Crina, don't fall in the mud!" "Crina fall in the mud. Psshhttt!" He even gives her sound effects. He tells strangers about it and warns her all the time. Poor girl. Her brother can barely make a sentence and even he won't let her live it down!

Today, Clay was very excited to do all of the moonwalks and pull the wagon with Carolina. Carolina was happy to just sit in the wagon, be pulled around and smile for the camera.

She's so easygoing at this age whenever we are out and about. I know it won't last much longer before she wants to get down and run around too. I'm just glad to have one more year of the Pumpkin Patch with her staying in the wagon. Every time I think of the Pumpkin Patch my mind goes to our trip last year with this sweet thing who was all of 6 days old. She's growing up so fast!

Here's some shots from our fun time (make sure to check Miss Priss telling you how old she is-- the girl is so proud to be one!):

Happy Fall!

Carolina's One!

2009-10-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

Our Sweet Girl turned 1 yesterday.
Happy First Birthday, Carolina!

Standing Tall

2009-10-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of weeks shy of her first birthday and Little Miss is perfecting the art of standing. Way to go, Carolina!

Asking for Disaster

2009-10-07T09:30:00.001-07:00

We took the children to the Pumpkin Patch this morning in high hopes of getting some adorable pictures (and letting them play, of course). It was a little rainy but we wanted to try it anyway. What's the worst that could happen?? See our cute Carolina in her pretty little cream pumpkin outfit---

Before

After

*This is what happens when two very proud parents step back to marvel at their daughter standing up ALL BY HERSELF in the wagon-- just long enough to take a picture (clearly too long). No children were harmed in the making of this post (except for one little girl's pride). One cream pumpkin outfit is still in critical condition.

Happiness is...

2009-10-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

Carolina in the dog bed and Clay drinking out of the orange juice container (note: this is their idea of happiness, not their mama's).

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2009-10-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

We had a rainstorm the other night just as we were leaving for dinner. Clay has had a raincoat and boots for ages but I have never remembered them when we actually need them. This time, though, I did! We got him ready and set out for dinner. Note to self: When trying to put on shoes that your child hasn't worn in over a year, remember to take the stuffing out of the toes before trying to shove your kids foot in for 10 minutes and especially before asking your husband for help.

This was a special night for two reasons: 1) It was our anniversary & 2) We saw Clay's first rainbow! Clay was very excited to see the rainbow (it took A LOT of explaining for him to figure out where to look). He has talked about the rainbow a lot since he saw it ("I see rainbow 'morrow").

Another fun part of the evening for him, though, was wearing his raincoat and rainboots. He wouldn't take them off for the entire dinner. Mike and I got a kick out of eating dinner with the Gordon's Fisherman.

We came home and still didn't want to take our fun outfit off and now, two days later, the coat and boots live on! Clay eats dinner in them, plays in them and runs around the house in them (the boots are perpetually on the wrong feet).

All this running around in our rain gear reminded me of the first time he wore the rain outfit. This was part of his one-year-old shots and he had just started toddling around. He kept falling over but it had just rained at the portrait place and the mud on his knees was so cute! He was so sweet trying to stand up in his big ole' boots and walk!

I don't know how long the rain outfit will last but for now, it's as cute as can be!

Driving Miss Carolina

2009-09-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

May

September

They're growing SO fast (and getting cuter by the day!)!

Baby Einstein

2009-09-21T14:49:00.001-07:00

Question: Brittany, why do you ALWAYS have a bow in that baby's hair??

Answer: You be the judge...

Before:

After:

Going out for a little run??

2009-09-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

P.S. You might want to put some pants on first. Just a thought.

Summer Fun III: Casey and Kaelen

2009-09-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

On our way out of Houston, we stopped to pick up my sister's kids. Our summer hadn't slowed down yet!

Casey and Kaelen came home with us for 5 days and we had so much fun! Clay was very excited about having kids come stay at his house. He especially liked Kaelen, my nephew, but for some reason he always called him Casey. He still talks about Casey but we know he's really talking about Kaelen. Oh well, someday he'll get it right!

We visited the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science a couple of times (there's two museums so we split it into two days). The kids had so much fun. Casey and Kaelen were also very excited to get to bring the kids I used to nanny for since they had become such great friends over the years.

Clay was in awe over this big bear

He worked so intently on this puzzle

The Spy section of the Museum was a HUGE hit with all of the kids

Casey and Kaelen have been coming to visit since they were babies but this visit was so different than all the others. I think we're all still getting used to me being Mama and Aunt Brittany at the same time.

We had to keep a couple of schedules going- one for the big kids and one for the little ones. Casey and Kaelen are used to having little ones around (their little sister is one) but I'm still working on trying to keep four different ages busy at one time.

Luckily, Mike was off so he was able to do things like take the big kids swimming every afternoon while the little ones napped. We also had fun cooking and playing games after the little ones went to bed each night. That Casey plays a mean game of Scattergories!

We always enjoy having Casey and Kaelen come visit. Kaelen has the funniest sense of humor and cracks us up! Casey is such an old soul with so much to talk about and so many theories about the world and how it works. She is growing up so fast and turning out to be such a pretty young lady.

Once again, we were sad to see company go but we're already ready for another visit with Casey and Kaelen. Come back soon! We miss you!