Austin's first swim

Austin was a trooper at the pool today. He fell asleep on the .5 mile trip to the pool. He slept the first 30 mins in his carseat. When he woke up I carried him into the water with me. After he was used to the (cold) water I put him in his float. He was ok until he got splashed in the face (accidentally) twice. Then it was time to get out. The big boys got a little over an hour to swim. Not bad for our first day at the pool with an infant. I keep reminding the boys, and myself, that this summer we have to be more patient and flexible with our outings!


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Cafe Red Onion

Last Friday night we got to go to a private cooking lesson and dinner with some of our favorite peeps! Natalie & Harper invited us and Erin and Roy to go along. It was hosted by Texas Live magazine and was a TON of fun. I think the ride there and back was the most fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We had a 5 course meal and wine and lots of great conversation. The chef, Rafael, is originally from Honduras. He came to the US at a young age after his mom passed away. He worked his way up in restaurants starting as a dishwasher and ending as the owner/chef of two restaurants. He was very interesting and entertaining. He is using profits he makes in his restaurants to open schools in Honduras. Erin has already volunteered to take a mission trip there one summer to teach English! Another interesting fact is that he has a huge fan base within the FBI and is part of a program with them that is similar to a "Citizen's on patrol" program. That caught Andy's attention!

The food we had was fantastic! We started with a lentil soup, then we had an awesome salad. Next came ceviche. I have to admit I am not high class enough to enjoy fish cooked by only lemon juice. I had to pass mine down to Harper and Natalie! Next we had salmon and asparagus and we finished with a berry/croissant dessert. It was all very fresh and very delicious! We will definitely be going to eat at Cafe Red Onion again.

Thank you Natalie for inviting us! We need to take another road trip soon! That was FUN!

Chef Rafael

Alex- our now 1st grader

Alex soared through Kindergarten this year. He made me so proud. He is reading like a pro! At night, I try to read books to him and he ends up reading them to me. He loves reading, math, and art. He LOVES to make presents for people and gives me one once a day. I asked Alex what he favorite part of Kindergarten was and he said "playing in the centers." He loves trying to figure things out and is very creative. He will get things out of the recycling bin and turn them into an art project. He made slippers out of cardboard the other day! He loved all of his classmates. He was friends with them all. I loved that he participated in class and wasn't shy in Mrs. Sommerfeld's room. It helped that he had his best friend in class! Below is a picture of Alex with Mrs. Sommerfeld and his best friend Blake.

I am excited to have the boys home for the summer. I know it won't be all butterflies and roses but I look forward to spending quality time with them and having lots of fun adventures. Plus, I just gained two babysitters! :)

Austin- 5 months

This chunky monkey is over 5 months old already. I intended to post something each new week but I have reset my expectations on that. Once a month is good and as long as I post sometime within that month! It's getting harder to take pictures of him (since I am no professional) because he is constantly moving. You can see he was still kicking his feet even in his seat! Here is what Austin is doing at 5 months.

• He eats 5 bottles a day (around 30 oz)
• He eats baby food once a day (around 4:30-5:00pm) but he is starting to want it more often. I have been giving him a smashed up banana around lunch this week.
• He takes 2 naps a day but his morning ones are the best (1-2 hours). He still takes his morning naps in the car seat!
• He cat naps in the afternoon (although, I don't know why they call it cat naps because our cat sleeps all day long, but that's beside the point I guess!)
• He gets a bath around 8 and goes to bed by 9:00.
• He wakes up between 5:30-6:30 each morning
• He still hasn't rolled over and still doesn't like tummy time, but he loves standing (if you hold him) and he loves sitting up (but he still can't do it on his own).
• His favorite toys are his big brothers!
• I think he is trying to get a bottom tooth, he is constantly chewing on his fingers.
• He has started starting at his hands and moving his fingers around as he stares.
• He loves going to Krause and getting lots of attention from teachers and students. He is so loved (and spoiled).
• He is very interested in animals now and always wants to pet Shelby, but I don't trust her!
• He still falls asleep in the car.
• He is so easy going. He only cries if he is hungry or tired.
• He is the happiest baby. Even when he doesn't feel good he is always smiling.

I seriously don't know what we would do without him in our lives! I love him so much!

Mason- our now 4th grader

I can't believe today is the last day of school. We now have a 4th grader and a 1st grader! Mason had a fantastic year this year. He accomplished so much and really grew personally. He had his award ceremony this week and came home with a haul! We are so proud of him.

Sorry for the blurry pics but you get the idea. Here he is with his two amazing teachers. Mrs. Beasley is on the left and Mrs. Trostle on the right.

Mason with all of his awards. He received awards for yearly perfect attendance, yearly honor roll, runner up in the PE mileage club (he ran 15.4 miles in PE this year), 6th place in listening skills at Academic day, and an AR reader award for making his AR goal each 6 weeks.

I love that Mason has the drive to work hard and meet goals. He may have to work harder then most kids in his class, but he does it and he doesn't complain. He had a goal to exit the reading program he was in at the beginning of the year and he did by December. He wanted to always meet his AR goal and he did. He had to work really hard a few 6 weeks to get there, but he never complained about it. He wanted to have yearly perfect attendance and even when Mommy tried to encourage him to stay home when he was sick, he went to school. He wanted to meet that goal and he did. I am so proud of his efforts and accomplishments this year. I am grateful for his awesome teachers for their encouragement and support. I'm looking forward to spending some time with this big kid over the summer. Love him!!

Yearly perfect attendance

Both boys had perfect attendance for the year this year. I'm pretty sure I never had yearly perfect attendance, ever! There were many days they didn't feel good or were just down right exhausted but mean mommy sent them to school anyway. Toward the end of the year there were days I wanted them to stay home. But they were so proud of their perfect attendance, they insisted on going. I'm very proud of them. They have both worked really hard this year and it's paid off. 7 more school days until summer. I'm ready for no homework and no routine! But am I ready for 3 boys at home full time?! Yikes! :)






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Shelf art

Mason and Alex thought Austin needed something to look at when we was getting his diaper changed. So they drew pictures and tapped them under the shelf that's above the changing pad. Austin is very much enjoying them!





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Could be the start of something

I don't want to jinx anything but little man (maybe if I don't use his name I won't jinx it!) has slept through the night for an entire week. He goes to bed between 9-9:30 and wakes up between 5-6am. The last two nights he has slept from 9-6!


I thought I would document his "schedule" (I use that term loosely) at 20 weeks.

5-6am: wake up and drink 7-8 oz. he stays awake until we take the big boys to school.

7:45: falls asleep in the carrier. He normally takes his morning nap in the carrier. He wakes up on transfers! Why mess with a good thing!

9:00-9:30- wake up and drink 6 oz. Then play until next nap which could be anywhere from noon to 5:00. Very unpredictable. He will drink a 6 oz bottle every 3-4 hours during the day.

5:00-5:30- eats cereal and baby food.

7:30-8: bath then 6 oz bottle

9:00-10:00: bedtime

He is starting to like the jumparoo more. He still likes the bouncer, playmat and a comforter on the floor. He despises tummy time. He still hasn't rolled over. It's hard to get that baby fat moving!
I feel like he is trying to get a bottom tooth. He has been drooling up a storm. I can feel his gums are really hard where that tooth is trying to come in. He has been fussy the last few days.

Still not sure how I will be able to leave him for a week this summer! He is my right hand man! But I will enjoy time with my big guys!