February/March 2011

Ok - I have now been out of work for 2 months and for some reason never found time to post on the blog. Katie has really started getting talkative and will talk to anyone who will listen. She always says hello to the birds in the morning and loves showing off her pet panda. For some reason her favorite word right now is "No". Are we back to being 2 again?? Zachary finished up his basketball season and is now into Coach Pitch baseball which he really likes. If you ask him to do something he does not want to, you will most likely get the following response - "Boring". Well here is some of the fun from the last two months.

Disney on Ice - Toy Story 3 was in town. The kids really enjoyed seeing Buzz and Jessie. The also liked the train ride to the AAC. Katie did get really scared and paniced when she saw the evil Zerg. She literally wanted to run out of the show.


Here are some pictures of Zach at his first coach pitch game. He got a hit on his first at bat, loved playing catcher and could always be seen cheering on his team.




Katie loves to pick flowers/weeds and save them for Mom or her pet panda "Pandie the Panda." One morning we went to buy flowers and she helped me dig holes to plant them.


Taking Spring pictures has been a little laborous this year. My kids have decided that not only will they not smile they won't look straight at the camera. It did help when you let make funny faces or play in the water features. Luckily out of the HUNDEREDS I took, there were a few worthy ones.














One weekend we decided to make smores at home. Since I didn't have any fire wood we had to settle for roasting in the oven and microwave. Katie thought they were yummy.


At Zach's school they had open house. Zach showed me all his work making the sea animals plus showed me his favorite classes - PE and Music. He loved playing the instruments.


On one of the nice pretty weekends, we went with Mimi and Pop to the Zoo. Katie liked the giraffes and Zachary liked the elephants making the loud noises.




We bought a 100 pack of cookie cutters and have been making lots of sugar cookies. The footballs and butterflies have been some of the popular ones.


Both the kids like to go outside and play in the evenings. Katie likes to get on her bike and ride while Zach likes to play basketball and baseball. We will even play a game of tennis, hockey and soccer sometimes. The kids have started playing better together and have been doing some bike races.



One Saturday we had our girl cousins over for Game Night. They ended up playing the Wii version of Life most of the time after their Wendy's frosties. Both of which they enjoyed.


On Friday afternoons Katie does gymnastics at TLC. She really has a fun time. She likes to show me her front rolls and table tops.



Over Spring Break we ventured out went to Six Flags on what was a very busy night. We went with our cousins and had a great time. Zachary won a Mavs Basketball at the shooting game on his first shot and Kati came home with a pink superwoman cape.





On a nice windy day we went to the park to fly our Tinkerbell and Buzz Lightyear kites. Unfortunately it was so windy that the kites were making real loud flapping noises scaring both of you. No kite flying for you.

A Winter Wonderland

I think our Winter Wonderland is finally over. Over the past 4 days we have gotten an ice storm, 3-4 inches snow along with cold days not getting above freezing. When you add it all together it gives you 4 days of no school for the kids.

The kids really enjoyed going sledding in the neighborhood. It was one of their only opportunities to get out and burn some energy. We have a few good hills in our neighborhood to go down. Fortunately Uncle Brett bought us some sleds last weekend before all of the bad weather hit. Who knew that we would get to use them so soon.

Along with going sledding, Zach also enjoyed playing football, baseball and basketball in the bad weather. Mom never thought she would have to play basketball in the snow:) While Zach was playing sports Katie enjoyed making snow angels, throwing snow balls, and building a snowman once the snow started to compact. She also liked finding her snow treats - Icicles. I think these were her favorite. They tasted good and were cool to watch shatter on the ground.

Winter has arrived

These last two months have been filled with fun and festivities.

We enjoyed many things this Holiday season. The kids were very ready to put up the Christmas tree. Of course they were ready to put on the ornaments the instance that I got the tree down. Never mind that it takes me 2-3 hours to put on the lights. Katie was kind enough to help me check the strands.



After all the lights were on we started on the ornaments. The kids favorite ornaments were the ones that had their pictures in it. Those ones are always special to me as it helps me remember all my Christmas memories with them. After all the ornaments were successfully in the middle of the tree I noticed that one of the strands of lights was out. I finally decided that I it just added character to the tree and went on with the Holiday season.

For some fun this holiday season we went to the Arlington Christmas parade.




The kids favorite part was the light sabers that Mimi got for them.

We also did some cookie decorating. I got all the cookies made and made the icing and then discovered that I couldn't find the Christmas sprinkles - not remembering that we took them to Mimi's last year to decorate and left them there. We ended up with lots of pink and blue stars and bells.



When I asked the kids to get dressed to take some pictures for our Christmas card I didn't get a great response from the kids. It is not until I let them do silly pictures every other time did I get them to give me a half smile.



On one of the pretty days during the Christmas break, we went to Fossil Rim with our cousins. Katie's favorite animal was the giraffe. I don't think there was one of the animals that wouldn't come up and stop your car for food.






The kid's also liked the petting zoo a lot. I don't think I have ever seen a goat just jump up on a bench before and relax.

After we were done with our adventures to Fossil Rim we returned home for the first of Katie's 4th Birthday Parties. Katie requested that I make her kitty cat cupcakes from our birthday cake book. Thankfully none of the ingredients were hard to find.



With all our cousins over we did a photo scavenger hunt which all the kids from 4-15 enjoyed. The kids had to do things such as do the YMCA to all sitting in one chair.




For Church on Christmas Katie was very happy to finally get to wear her Santa dress. She has been wanting to do that for months. For Christmas Zach really enjoyed getting his singing machine and David Murphy Rangers shirt and Katie was all over her pull string Jessie and Bullseye.





On her real birthday we just had a small family dinner of Chicken nuggets, tater tots and cupcakes with lots of sprinkles.



There was also one more party at her Granddad and Nana Linda's. Katie enjoyed getting cash and a Rapunzel doll:)



Now that the new year has begun, Zach has started playing basketball. Yesterday he got his first two points - 2 free throws made. Normally he really just liked to throw the ball in but this time around he was actually rebounding a ball and got fouled while trying to throw the ball in. He looked over to me after he made each one and just smiled. I almost cried because I could see how proud he was.

This past week Katie did something really big - she finally gave up her pacifier after 4 years. The Paci Fairy came on Friday night and took her remaining Pacis and she got $10 and some candy. We went to the store and bought a stuffed clown fish (Nemo) and a princess camera.

Today we went to see Tangled at the theatres. Although it was just a movie I had a smile on my face just seeing Katie laugh at the movie and smile at it. Why is it that seeing your kid enjoy themselves makes Moms and Dads so happy.

When we got home from the movies Katie finally wanted to put her name on her Jessie doll like Andy puts his name on his Woody in Toy Story. She was proud after the name was put on in black marker. About 30 minutes later I found Zach putting his name over hers on the Jessie doll. Of course that sent me over the edge. Luckily it was only green washable marker that he used. I think he did it because he also wanted to put his name on his Buzz Lightyears. Hopefully that was it.