Diggin' up gold

I bought Andy a metal decorator for his birthday so he and the boys could find "treasures" like those people do on the beach! They have had so much fun with it so far!


Check out the treasures they have dug up!


Rusted soda cans, rusted nails, rusted washers, rusted bottle caps. We may need to re-sod the yard soon, but in the meantime it has been a fun past time! :)


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Our week in iPhone pics

Austin tried out Tice's jumparoo Monday. He liked it for the first 5 minutes then got over stimulated. I think we'll wait a little longer on that!


We ate at Manuel's for Andy's birthday. He has been going there since he was a kid and has never worn the birthday hat. He was overdue!


The kindergarten classes got to take a field trip Wednesday when 3rd and 4th grade were taking the STAAR test. They went to bluebell and got to make their own ice cream bars! Alex ate his before I could get a pic!





Really mom?!


Tummy time!


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Ramblings

• Several people have asked me lately how the weight watchers diet is going. Ummm, not so much. I still watch what I eat, but yesterday I watched two cookies, a Dr. Pepper, some summer sausage and cheese, bacon and eggs, etc go into my mouth! I will soon get to watch the effects of all of that on my backside! I really need to get a grip. It just became exhausting constantly trying to count the points, and making 1 dinner for the guys and 1 for me. I would do fine during the day but once the guys were home (at night and on the weekends) it was tough. Unfortunately, I am an all or nothing kinda gal. I need to learn the word moderation, especially before I am forced to squeeze myself into a swimsuit!
• Austin has slept 7-8 hours at night...three nights in a row! I really hope this becomes the new normal!
• The marble jar worked great at first, especially for Mason. Mason started doing everything he could to earn a marble, so he could "beat" Alex. He started making his bed in the morning, feeding the cat, getting ready without being asked multiple times, straightening the house, helping with Austin, sharing, etc. It was fantastic. It didn't work as well with Alex. Alex is naturally polite and helpful without being rewarded so it just made him mad when Mason was trying to compete with him. Alex did end up meeting his goal first, but just by a few hours. He chose to see the movie Chimpanzee as his reward. Andy, Austin and I could barely stay awake through it, but the big boys liked it. Mason wants to see the Three Stooges as his reward. We plan on seeing that tonight. But since they met their goal the first time, it's been a ssssllllloooowwww process in trying to meet it again. I guess I need to come up with a different system for each child. I know they are motivated differently so I need to stop trying to force a single program to work for both.
• Thank you to everyone that gave me advice and opinions on traveling with an infant. This summer we plan on going with Andy to San Francisco for a work conference. I debated bringing Austin because it makes me very anxious to think about leaving him. If we were just going to San Francisco I think I would totally bring him. But we wanted to take the big boys to Disneyland as well. I think that might be a little much (for me anyway) with an infant. I know Austin will be ok with the grandparents and he won't remember it anyway. The big boys will enjoy some time with just mom and dad and they will create memories that will remember! So I have 2 months to get over the anxiety!

Austin says it's time to eat....I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Traveling with an infant

Andy has a work conference in San Francisco this summer. Originally, the 4 of us were going to go and leave Austin with the grandparents. However, everytime I think about leaving him for a week I start having lots of anxiety. I really don't think I can leave him. So then we tossed around the idea of bringing him. Would we fly and have to check the stroller, car seat, etc? I have never flown with kids, much less an infant. How does all that work? I bet it would be hundreds of dollars in baggage fees! So should we drive with 3 kids to Ca? At least then we would have all of our gear and we wouldn't have to rent a car. According to mapquest it would take 29 hours!! We would have to drive 10 hours a day for 3 days. I think I would be insane! Anyone have any opinions/suggestions?!

Austin-4 months

I am really behind in posting Austin's 4 month stats. He was 4 months on April 15th. I took him to his week check appt. on 4/17. He weighed 17 lbs 13 oz and was 26 inches long. Dr. B said he was the size of an average 6 month old!
Here is what he is up to these days:

• He wears 9 month clothes.
• He has started eating baby food, but he is still doing the tongue thrust. I stopped giving him the fruits and veggies and am just giving him cereal once a day (at night). This is just to get him used to eating.
• He is drinking 32-36 ounces of formula in a 24 hour period. He drinks 6 oz bottles every 3-4 hours.
• He is still getting up once a night (anywhere from 2am-4am).
• He loves books (especially the Karen Katz books) and his soft toys.
• He loves his playmat and bouncer.
• He still falls asleep everytime he goes for a car ride.
• He can follow objects and reach and grab objects.
• He hasn't rolled over yet because he sleeps with sleep positioners and I am bad about giving him tummy time!
• He is the happiest baby. He rarely cries unless he is hungry or tired, but I usually try to stay ahead of that.
• He goes with the flow. He doesn't really have a routine yet, because he has to be ready to go when the big boys have something to do.

The poor child still has 98% of his pictures taken from my iphone. Here are a few from his 4 month birthday!

Happy Birthday Andy

Happy birthday to my hubby! He is finally as old as me! Last year at this time we just found out we were having a baby. Shock and anxiety took over the normal birthday celebration happiness! So this year we can actually celebrate Andy as a family of 5! What a difference a year makes! We love you honey!


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Thoughtful

Alex is always thinking of other people. He is constantly writing notes, drawing pictures, and wrapping "gifts" to give to people. His teacher told me that everyday Alex cuts out a heart, colors it and gives it to her. Almost on a daily basis he will write "I love you" on paper or his white board and say it's for our family. When Andy went to VA for work Alex put a craft he made in his suitcase. He also put his beloved blankie in Andy's suitcase with a note that said "to remember me". (I quickly made sure we got that out!) It was so sweet.
This weekend Andy and the big boys went to Del Rio. Alex sent me the picture below with a message that he missed me. They carved this cactus into a heart shape. Very sweet and thoughtful. I love my boys!


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Apples

Apples are YUM!


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Easter 2012

We hosted Easter again this year, therefore we decided to go to early church Sunday so we could get back and start cooking. The boys were troopers getting up early! Here they are before church. Cuties!

Before the Easter egg hunt in our yard.

The Easter bunny made the eggs easier to find this year. The last few years they were pretty challanging to find and we ended up discovering them throughout the year! My dad usually helped us hide the eggs, and he liked putting a few in hard to find spots. In his memory, we hid a few in some areas they were hard to find!

 Where should we look now?

We enjoyed our day spent with family and lots of food! The boys got some fun games for Easter. Our favorite right now is Hedbanz. It's so much fun to play as a family!

Afternoon at Krause

Austin and I spent the afternoon at Krause yesterday. Kristi and noble helped me "hide" (throw easter eggs in the grass) eggs for Alex's class. Thank you friends!
Alex and his best bud, Blake.


While I was with Alex's class Austin was with the fabulous ladies in the office. He is so lucky to be so loved there! I'm lucky that I have so many great baby sitters! I walked into the office after the egg hunt to find Austin like this! Cutie!


3rd grade is studying the rain forest right now so every student had to make a mask representing an animal from the rain forest. Mason picked a Harpy Eagle. Most people thought it looked like an elephant but Mason was proud of it so that's what counts!


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Carrots

This is what I think about carrots! But I do like to throw the place mat from my feeding seat on the floor and chew on my bib!


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Sweet potato day 2

I guess I shouldn't have used the word "love" yesterday when I described Austin's taste for sweet potatoes. Today he gagged a few times then decided to chew on his bib instead of eat. :)





He moved into his feeding sit for meals now. Which means I just lost my place at the table. I guess we need to start looking for a kitchen table that sits 5 now!

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Respect jar

We have really been struggling with respecting others in our household lately. Not just between the boys either. I think having a mommy and daddy that are sleep deprived doesn't help the situation, but I can't give that as an excuse. So I am going back to basics and "bribing" my kids to be good. The first one to fill their jar "wins" something like a trip to the movie, a family game night, a trip to the skating rink, staying up late, etc. I didn't want the prize to be a toy. I wanted it to be something where we are spending time as a family. We talked about ways they can earn marbles....using kind words, helping others, having a nice tone, following directions, SHARING, taking turns, using good manners. You can also have marbles taken away by doing the opposite. A little bonus: the boys can earn marbles if mommy isn't respectful. Yesterday after school they were big helpers while I was working on something for 3rd grade. When we got home I told them they each earned a marble for being so helpful. Five minutes later they were in the living room fighting and yelling over who got the remote. They promptly got their marble taken away. I told them they had all evening to earn it back. We had to go to Lowe's last night and they were very good and helpful. They earned it back when we got home. Maybe it will work?! I know the key is consistency.

What do you do to help keep your kids on the "nice" track?! I would love to hear your ideas, what works, and what doesn't.

Mason- Guitar

I absolutely love this picture! I have been able to watch Mason in guitar lessons twice and this is exactly how he plays, tongue out and concentrating. Now I will always be able to remember what he looked like when he first started playing guitar. Priceless.

Thank you James for giving us this fantastic gift! I can't wait to print these and hang them on the wall!

A funny side story. James took these pics of Mason with his guitar at the end of the photo shoot. It was starting to get dark outside but James had flashes set up. All of sudden a loud diesel truck pulls right up to where we are shooting. They stop the truck and ask if we lived in the house next to the old gas station where we were taking the pictures. We said we didn't live there, we were just taking pics. They stayed and watched the rest of the photo session, shouting "smile", and "take the picture now", clapping every now and then, and even getting out of the truck to strum on Mason's guitar. I couldn't decide if it was friendly/neighborly or just weird. Oh, I forgot to mention they smelled like a brewery. Either way, we drew an audience so we sort of felt like celebrities, if that's possible in Old Independence! :)

Bluebonnets- Mason and Austin

Look at these cute boys! I love it!

Bluebonnets- Alex

Last Thursday the Pharaons and Dallmeyers had a little photo shoot. The Dallmeyer boys were the subjects and James was the expert behind the camera. The kids had a blast running around Old Baylor, swinging on the swings, hopping over bluebonnets, etc. They were definitely relaxed and in a great mood. I think James did an amazing job with the pictures and he really captured their personalities. I wish I didn't have an old, slow computer with an even slower internet connection. I would love to show you all of them! Here are some of my favorites.

Austin wasn't sure what was going on so we couldn't get him to smile for the camera, but I still think this picture is precious!

Trying something new- Austin

Austin had sweet potatoes today and loved them! He won't open his mouth for cereal but he did for sweet potatoes! I think he has my sweet tooth! Doesn't he have that FEED ME look?


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Trying something new

Mason had been bugging me to buy a coconut every time we went to the store. I can't stand coconut and Andy doesn't like it either. I didn't think he would like it and I wasn't sure I wanted to buy the entire fruit for him to try one bite. But Mason is pretty persistent, so I broke down and bought one. He really wanted to drink the "coconut milk" from the center more than anything. Andy drilled a hole in the fruit and Mason stuck a straw in it. He REALLY wanted to like it.

But in the end, he ended up spitting into the bushes for several minutes! He did try a piece of the fruit though and said he wasn't too bad. But he didn't want me to buy it again.

Next, Alex was ready to try it. He wasn't sure if he was going to like it.

Sure enough, he wasn't a fan. He, too, spit into the bushes! Gotta love my boys!