Act II

Our trees are multi-talented. Not only can they fall on our house, they can fall into the road too!

I didn't even know it was supposed to rain yesterday but around 9:30pm it started POURING! Andy and I were standing underneath our skylight (that was covered by a trash bag and a cardboard box!) praying it wasn't going to leak through. As we were standing there (listening to the hail and the sheets of rain hit our house) we heard a really loud crack. We both stepped away from the skylight expecting something to crash through it. Nothing happened so we just went back to hoping the rain didn't leak through. About 20 minutes later one of our neighbors calls us to inform us that one of our trees is down (and is actually blocking the road!). In the dark and rain Andy and I are staring at this mass of tree branches. All I could do was laugh. At least it didn't hit our house or Andy's truck. No one was hurt. It's a huge pain in the you know where, but we will all live through it. Maybe now our yard won't be so shaded so grass will actually grow!

Good times are ahead at the Dallmeyer house! If anyone has a tree removal, roofing, skylight installation or drywall repair company give us a call!

Del Rio

This weekend we went to Del Rio. I have a like/dislike relationship with Del Rio (I figured love/hate was a little extreme). Once I am there I like it. But getting there and back is a different story! It takes me most of the day to pack for myself, the boys and the dog. We literally fill up the back of Andy's truck with the things we need for the weekend. I am not a nice person on the day of packing, which in this case happened to be Andy's birthday. Poor guy. I think the only nice thing I said all day was Happy Birthday that morning. About an hour before we left for Del Rio I got a visit from the monthly visitor. NICE timing! No wonder I was extra bitchy that day. We end up leaving for Del Rio around 6pm. It's a 5 hour drive but with two kids and a dog usually takes about 6. A little over half way there we see a huge lightening storm. We pull over and try to put as much as we can in between the boys seats. That still leaves the blankets, the boy's bags, coolers, etc in the bed of the truck. About 15 minutes later we hear a VERY LOUD bang. It was hail hitting the truck. We pulled over at a gas station (so we could get under something) and waited out the hail. However, we still had to drive the rest of the way in the storm. It was RAINING! We finally get to Del Rio at midnight. We were able to find some dry clothes and blankets in all of our things and finally went to bed around 1am. The next day we were able to have some fun. Mason took us hiking. The guys worked on some projects and went exploring some more. Mason LOVES Del Rio. He cries when it's time to go. I was able to relax and enjoy family time and beautiful weather. Saturday night we grilled and played games. After eating dinner though, we noticed Scotty wasn't around. After calling for him for 10 minutes or so we decided we better go look for him. I was really nervous at this point because it was dark and he had never run off before. Andy, the boys and I pile into the jeep and start looking for him. A few minutes down one of the roads we find him. I don't know what made us go down that road verses all of the others, but thank God we did. He looked really scared and lost! He didn't leave our side for a second after that! The next morning we got up, packed and headed home to work on homework! I think I've figured out that I would have more fun if we went for a long weekend. That way all of the packing and unpacking would pay off! Here are some pictures of our trip. Del Rio has had a TON of rain. We couldn't even use the main entrance to the ranch because one of the roads was washed out. You'll see a picture of that down below. But it sure was green and beautiful!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby

Friday was Andy's birthday. We were headed to Del Rio for the weekend so I wasn't sure when we were going to actually celebrate. I made him a cake and decided to take it with us. We didn't end up leaving Brenham until 6pm Friday. I knew it would be late by the time we got there. Around 8pm we decided to stop at a rest stop for a restroom break. Yes we did sing Happy Birthday and eat birthday cake at the rest stop! Poor Andy! Last year on his birthday we moved from our house to an apartment. Now this year we were in the car for 6 hours and had to eat cake at a rest stop! He is definitely a trooper. He finds the bright side in any situation. Happy Birthday Honey! I love you!!

Really?

Dear Mr. Truck Driver,

I appreciate the fact that you parked "within the lines" but I guess you didn't notice that you were "a little" close to the right line. I'm not even sure how you made it into the parking space without your mirror hitting mine. After the morning I have had I didn't really want to crawl from the passenger seat, over the console, to get into the driver's seat. But hey, it's your world! Thanks for letting me be a part of it!

Update on my dad

My dad finally had his back surgery today. The doctor said he did great. He got out of surgery around 11:30 and we were able to see him about 1:30. He is a great patient. He does everything on his own, never complains, and follows all of the nurses orders. I wasn't much help, but I was glad I was there. All I did was talk his ear off when he probably should have been sleeping! He should get to go home in the morning. I know he is so thankful to be relieved of all of that pain! Thank you for keeping him in your prayers!

Breaking in the new

Yesterday I opened one of the boxes of patio furniture. I thought about putting it together and then decided I better wait until the hubby got home. I just knew I was going to strip a one of a kind screw or something. Since it was already out of the box and practically all over the patio, he HAD to put it together (thanks honey!). We LOVE it! I wasn't 100% sold on it at the store, but it's perfect for our patio. The boys and I broke it in tonight by eating dinner (good ole home cooked Subway!) outside. We continued with our game from last night. It's so much fun! I need to come up with more questions though! If you have any ideas, please send them my way! Here is Mason with one of his crazy faces!

Dinnertime conversations

Yesterday I was reading this blog and loved the idea presented. She was talking about how sometimes it's painful to get your kids to engage in a converstation at dinnertime. We used to make our boys tell us one good thing that happened in our day. They would tell us something quick and then ask to be excused. I wanted a way to KEEP them engaged in conversation. Yesterday's Idea Room post was to come up with questions and everyone takes a turn drawing a question. The boys LOVED it. Everyone took turns drawing a question. We would get Mason to read them (another added bonus!) and then everyone at the table would take turns answering the question. After dinner I decided to write down the boys answers. I think it will be interesting to see how they change as they answer the questions again down the road. Here are some of my favorite answers from last night's questions.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Mason- an inventor    Alex- a singer and science teacher

What could do you want to paint your bedroom?

Mason- black     Alex- orange

What would you spend $100 on today?

Mason- a computer     Alex- a real phone

Give it a try with your family! You may learn something new!

Not what we had planned

This weekend we went to Pville to visit my parents and do some shopping. On the way home yesterday Mason and Andy were talking about what they were going to do when they got home. Soccer and baseball were both mentioned...something fun around the house. When we pulled into our driveway we saw that our plans were going to be slightly different then we thought! A tree branch had snapped off of a tree and hit our roof- right where our sky light is over the kitchen! One of our neighbors so graciously came and covered up the open sky light. He also cut the branch into smaller sections so we could drag it off. We are so thankful to have such wonderful neighbors!! Andy's dad quickly came with the trailer and got the branches loaded up for us. Thanks Grandpa! The boys were slightly traumatized! They said they didn't feel safe now. They thought a tree would fall on the roof over their rooms and hurt them. I think we finally convinced them that wasn't going to happen and that everything would be ok. Mason kept saying "I didn't want that to happen!" Well, none of us wanted it to happen but it definitely could have been worse. Here are the positives......1. We weren't home when it happened- which means less trauma for the boys and no chance that anyone could have been hurt. 2. With just a plastic cover on the sky light you can hear the birds chirping and the wind blowing. It's like being one with nature but inside the comforts of your home! 3. It's not freezing cold or burning hot so we don't have to worry about extreme temps in the kitchen! 4. We have insurance! Anyway, it's definitely a pain, but it could have been worse! There are pros and cons of having trees!

Happy Birthday Heather

Happy Birthday Heather! We are so thankful you have stuck with Casey! (love ya little brother!) You are such a blessing in our lives! I am glad I finally have a sister (Casey wouldn't ever let me fix his hair and paint his nails). The boys LOVE playing with Aunt Heather. You are way more fun then Mommy! I hope you have a FANTASTIC birthday. You deserve it!

The boys wanted to pick you a flower from our back yard. So here you go..... :)

Have a great day! We love you!

Upgrade

Good bye card table and chairs....

Hello bar table and chairs!

Last weekend Andy and I went shopping for patio furniture. We both wanted a high top table and chairs so we could see out over the patio. There was ONE high top set between Lowe's, Home Depot, and Walmart. It's the same one Lowe's has had for a year now. I thought the price was too high for the set so I always just passed it by. However, last weekend we contemplated buying it because we couldn't find another high top collection. Ultimately we decided it was too high and would continue our search. The other night I was reading the local paper at 8:40pm. Inside was a Lowe's ad advertising the high top set for $200 off! I showed Andy and he said "I'll be right back!" Lowe's closes at 9:00 but he got there about 8:55! There were two left! Sweet! Although, it's still in the box because we are going to Austin this weekend. I want to look around there to make sure there isn't something that we like better! I am very excited to have real patio furniture!!

Mini whatever you want

Call it what you want, but I have been wanting a mini cupcake pan for quite awhile now. I told my husband I wanted one for my birthday in June. One day I was talking to my mom on the phone and mentioned my desire to own a mini cupcake pan. To my surprise, she gave me one for Easter. I was so excited! I couldn't wait to try it out. What is my fascination with the mini cupcakes? Alex has a MAJOR sweet tooth. He would eat sweets for every meal. He is allowed to have two desserts a day. That's still probably too much but from where he started it's a major improvement. So whether he has a mini brownie or a huge brownie a dessert is a dessert. So now he has his two desserts and I know it's really equal to one! It's a win for both of us! Next up is lemon poppyseed muffins. After that I am going to try the chicken tortilla cup recipe that came on the pan (from Rachael Ray). I can't wait! Thanks Mom!

Star vs Fancy

This week, in addition to his spelling test, Mason has a Social Studies vocabulary test. The test will be over the following terms: flag, citizen, laws, president, rules, election, pledge of allegiance, mayor, group, leader, vote, governor, eleanor rosevelt, and texas. I am happy to report that he knows them all and should make a 100! In order to get to this point we had to do more than memorizing flash cards. We hosted a mock election. Wednesday Kayci came home with us so when the "big kids" got home I told them I would like them to have an election. I knew with Kayci there she would take charge and motivate Mason. I told them to pick the "people" running for office, decide which office they were running for, make campaign signs, create ballots, decide on a voting location and determine which role each person would play. Before I knew it we were having an election! They decided Alex's horse (Star) would run again Mason's bear (Fancy) for Mayor.

And the winner is...... Star (the horse)! To me, the real win was Mason understanding what election, vote, office, etc really means. I won't tell them they learned something while they were having fun!

Noble day 2

Wednesday was the second time we watched Noble. It went extremely well. Alex didn't have any jealousy issues and the boys played so well together! This is Noble's "cheese" face when he sees the camera!

We set up a tent city before Noble came over. I asked him if he wanted to go inside and he looked at me with wide eyes and very clearly said "no"! But a couple of hours later you couldn't get him out of the tent! He even ate his snack in the tent!

We decided to make play dough. I think the boys had more fun making the play dough then actually playing with it. I asked them what color they wanted the play dough to be and they both said YELLOW! Great, yellow it was!

Since food is very important to me I wanted to make sure I had food that Noble liked. I probably asked Kristi an annoying amount of times what he liked to eat. She gave me some ideas but I think overall she would like me to give him what we eat to make it easier on everyone. I told her that the boys eat peanut butter for pretty much every meal! She said Noble wasn't a huge fan of PB&J but she would like him to be. SO.... I thought if I made the sandwich a fun shape he might try it. He wouldn't have anything to do with it. But we did practice learning our shapes in the meantime!

We are having so much fun with Noble. We look forward to the days he spends with us!

BOOKS!!

I LOVE new books. Really I love any books, but I am especially fond of new books. It doesn't matter if they are for me or the boys. There is just something about a shiny new book. I love to open it for the first time and smell the pages! I'm weird huh?! I can't wait to read the story. I love a good story. My favorite series to read to the boys right now is Berenstain Bears. The books in the series relate to the topics my boys are experiencing right now (bullying, junk food, tv, spending the night at grandma's, trying new things, learning about God, etc). The best thing about the series is they are timeless. One day I was going through a closet at Andy's parents that had shelf after shelf of books. I came across about 5 different Berenstain Bears books that Andy and Amy had as kids. Not much has changed in 30 years! Very neat!

Mason is starting to get into chapter books, which I really like because they actually have a plot! Alex loves the "I Spy" books and pretty much any series book (Arthur, Franklin, Berenstain Bears, Dora, Diego, Mickey, Magic School Bus, etc). I know I have many short comings as a mom, but one thing Andy and I instilled at a very young age is books. We have always read to the boys. It's a special part of the day/night for all of us. Now Mason is reading to us, which is very cool! Anyway, I could go on and on about my love for books, but let's get to the point of the post! Andy's mom is a teacher and receives book order forms through Scholastic each month. Recently she placed a huge order for Mason and Alex with some bonus points she accumulated. I was stunned at the amount of books that came in this box. It was like winning the lottery! I was so excited. Many of the books came in a set and were wrapped in plastic. I couldn't wait to get them home and unwrap them all. There are so many great books we can use over the summer for Mason (Phonics, Grammer, Sight Words). There are chapter books, guided reading books, workbooks and fun books. We are already enjoying them during our bed time routine. Thanks Granna!

Skating

Sunday we met my parents for lunch. It was great to see them! That afternoon we took the boys to Silverwings to go skating. Alex has never been and he had no problems. He took his time but he made it around the rink many times! Mason had a hard time getting the hang of it. I think he wanted to skip the learning stage and just race around the rink like some of the other kids. He will get there eventually. For now, he just holds on to us as we pull him around the rink! Andy and I didn't have any problems remembering how to skate. It was so much fun! Stopping is a different story! That's a skill I need to work on! For now, I just run into the wall! Andy grew up skating at this rink. The same couple owns the place so when we walked in they both recognized him. It must have been a neat feeling for that couple to watch Andy grow up skating there and now get to see his boys skate.

Fun with Friends & Fish

Saturday afternoon we went to Dee's house to help celebrate Colton's birthday. It was so neat because it was just family and us. The boys had a great time. They went fishing, played basketball & football, jumped on the trampoline, played chase, built a campfire, roasted smores, etc. The big kids (us) were able to sit and visit. It was very relaxing. Dee made a great dinner for us too! The kids were WORN OUT by the time we got home that night. Maybe we need to wear them out every Saturday night because they were really good in church Sunday! They were so tired they didn't have enough energy to act up!

Alex caught his first fish and Mason perfected his fishing skills! Mason loved putting the worm on the hook and taking the fish off the hook after someone caught one! Here are a few pics.

Fun with Friends & Firetrucks

We had a fun filled weekend! Friday night we went to dinner with one of Andy's high school friends and his family. While it was an old friend for Andy it was new friends for me. We had a great time and I am glad to have met them. The kids are already planning our next get together! They all got along great! It's a great feeling with everyone in both families can connect! Saturday was a day of parties, friends, and fun! We started the day off touring the Brenham Fire Dept. as part of Hunter and Brock's birthday. They are twins that are in class with Alex. The kids climbed into the fire trucks and even got to spray water from the huge fire hoses! After the tour we went to the twins house to play on their playscape and bounce house. The boys had a great time. You should have seen their cake. It was amazing! I wish I had a better picture of it!