My San Antonio Vacation

The favorite activity this time at Mammy's house was this awesome ball popper that Joel's Mom gave Harper for her birthday. My kids were wildly screaming and the babies thought it was hilarious.

The babies in the tubby together!

The matching girls in the Bluebonnets. It was a little hairy trying to pull over on a busy road and get this picture but I insisted because we don't have these in Missouri!!!!!

Harper loves my Mom's jewelry box. She b-lines for it every chance she gets. We caught Harper and Smith playing with Mammy's jewelry together and Mollie Jane thought Smith should wear some too!

My perfect vacation is
warm weather (check-had in San Antonio).
being with my family (almost a check Jason was back home working but now my sister who moved to Austin was there over the whole break with us in San Antonio)
getting to run and have a little time for myself (huge check-I almost felt back to my old self again as I was able to run just about every day in San Antonio)
relaxation-(check-because my Mom is awesome and cooked great meals and so helped take care of the kids and I got away from all the business of my own housework for a week)
eating out-(check I am not sure how many times but probably too many in one week that the Chick-Fill-A at The Rim in San Antonio saw our crazy crew)
shopping-(check-it is hard with two kids and two babies but we managed to find some great bargains)
Overall, it was a great week and I really needed to get away from our busy house and my busy job. It was a much needed vacation. It is always a little crazy driving to Tulsa with all three and then flying by myself with all three. The kids did great and the most important thing is that we made it. I sure didn't look pretty when we arrived but hey, we arrived. We did lots of fun stuff but my favorite was just being with my family and letting my kids hang with my family. I got to see my best college friends who are in Austin. I miss them terribly and wish I could see them more. They are the two cutest pregnant women I know.
My sister and my pals at my Mandy's house in Austin.

Christy, Mandy and I at lunch in downtown Austin.

The boys at the Spurs game at halftime.

Jackson loves Timmy D. My cute boy was on the Jumbo Tron at the game three times! My Dad has had season tickets for like 10 years and says he's never made the Jumbo tron. I'm telling you my boy's a looker!

Kindermusic with Harper

Rock-A-Bye baby song in a swing out of a blanket. Big Smith was a little unsure (maybe because he knew he was such a big boy and concerned the swing might not hold up) but Harper was loving it.

I love Kindermusic and was so glad to hear Harper joined a class in Texas. When we were down we got to be a special visitor in her class. The babies loved it and Mollie Jane loved being a part of the action. Mollie Jane and Harper wore their matching dresses that Mammy got them. Jackson opted to play golf with my Mom.

Pinkalicious and The Dinosaurs

Pinkalicious the play was in San Antonio and my Mom took Jackson and Mollie Jane downtown to see it. It has been one of Mollie Jane's favorite books ever since we started reading books to her. Jackson actually likes the book but is embarrassed of course to admit it. He was a little unsure of the play but I just promised him I wouldn't make him wear pink to the performance. My Mom said it was precious and Mollie Jane's mouth was wide open the whole performance and Jackson was laughing the whole time. There were several schools at the performance so Jackson felt much better when he got there to see that he wasn't the only boy.
Mom then took them to a dinosaur exhibit at the Science Museum downtown. Jackson loved it and Mom said Mollie Jane was very unsure. The exhibit was so real-like that Mollie Jane couldn't understand that it was just an exhibit. I guess Jackson was very sweet to her and held her hand through most of the exhibit.
I am so thankful to my Mom for doing fun things like this with my kids that I can't seem to find the time to squeeze in. My Mom is so crazy busy with being on about 6 volunteer boards, her travel, her involvement in their church and neighborhood. I am convinced that as a grandmother she has perspective that I don't have and that is that you turn around and your kids are grown and so she just finds the time with her busy life to squeeze super fun activities like this for my kids. For that I am forever grateful.


I love this one of Mollie Jane looking so nerous with the big Dinosaurs and Jackson holding her hand. Priceless!

The Birthday People

I love this picture of the babies in their high chairs and Harper feeding Smith.

We went to San Antonio for Spring Break and we had a fun celebration for the March Birthday people. Jackson turned seven March 23 and Harper turned one on March 1. On Monday night we had a little princess party for Harper. Melissa turned Harper's High Chair into a throne and we had all pink. The next day we went to a Jump place with all four kids to celebrate Jackson's birthday. The babies loved all the baby toys and big mats they could crawl around on. Harper cruised the whole area on a push toy exactly like one she has at home. Mollie Jane and Jackson jumped until they were so sweaty they stunk. We got McDonald's for lunch and had a little picnic at the jump place. We then went home and had a "Buddies" party for Jackson. My Mom and my sister both have golden retriever dogs and Jackson's favorite movies are the "Buddies" movies about the golden retriever puppies and dogs. It was really cute little party. My Mom made Jackson his favorite meal of Pork Chops and broccoli. He was a super lucky boy and got a new set of golf clubs and my Mom got to play with him and said watch out because he can for sure beat me now and may beat my Mom soon if he continues improving his golf game with these new clubs.

A Barnabas Weekend

What an awesome weekend. We went out to Barnabas for the whole weekend and took our precious friend Madie. All the leadership staff came in for a retreat. We got there Friday night late and stayed in our house which is total craziness because there is a massive kitchen and bathroom remodel going on. It is going to be great but for now it is like camping out. So we did a lot of hanging out at Paul & Cyndy's house. It was so great to eat all the yummy food and visit with the counselors. My kids love them and cannot get enough of the staff. Jackson, Maddie and Mollie Jane enjoyed the awesome spring weather and played outside nonstop. I had to work all day that Saturday so Cyndy watched all my kiddos. We stayed out most of Sunday and I went on a run on the hilly back roads and attempted to organize our staff house a bit. The kids and I had a picnic Sunday on the playground out there. The dogs always go with us when we go out there. It is like a dog park because Paul and Cyndy have a great dane and with our lab and the bulldog it is pretty fun. Our dogs do great but we had an incident where Winston (the bulldog) ran under the horse corral and tried to bite and jump some of the twenty horses we have out there. Honestly! I don't know what is the matter with that nappy dog but I thought he was going to be trampled to death in front of my eyes. As much as he annoys me I knew I would forever feel guilty for not really liking the beast if something happened to him. It turns out he just got a good kick and miraculously was okay. I got over my panic attack and vowed to keep the dog away from the horses this summer. We are so looking forward to being out there this summer and this weekend was a great preview for what it will be like (hopefully minus my construction zone house).