Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Coastin'

Back when Connor was about 2 years old, he had the best time at his cousins' house playing on their awesome roller coaster toy. That coaster left quite the impression, so much so that I decided to splurge on our own for a combined birthday gift for Connor and Kaitlynn this year. It arrived by mail in 3 large boxes, and Jeff and Kevin spent one morning putting it together before letting the kids enjoy it. They LOVE it! Jeff, in his typical "helmet police" manner, makes them wear helmets but they don't mind a bit. So much fun!








Sunday, May 29, 2011

A Morning at the Beach

We made a late decision on Friday night to head to the beach early Saturday morning. We knew it would be crowded due to Memorial Day weekend, but we figured if we went early enough that we could wear out the kids by lunchtime and call it a day. When we told Connor at dinner about going to the beach, he got so excited and exclaimed, "I've never been to the beach!" Jeff and I looked at each other and realized surprisingly that the last time we could remember going to the beach together was back in 2007 when Connor was a baby and we went to Hawaii.


We consider ourselves beach people so it was embarrassing to realize that Connor had no memory of being there and Kaitlynn had never been. Well, that settled it. We loaded up early Saturday morning and put a movie on for the kids during the drive. This was K's first time wearing headphones, and she did great for about 45 minutes.


We were on the beach before 9 am and it was great! It wasn't very crowded when we got there, and the weather was VERY windy so the waves were higher than I can remember ever seeing them. Both kids had no hesitation whatsoever about the sand and water.


Jeff and I had big smiles on our faces watching how much fun they had, again thinking, "Why haven't we done this before?!"


I've been working on taking better pictures lately, so I went a little camera crazy and took so many photos of the kids in the water. I was surprised how many I took that actually turned out nice (well, nice to me anyway) so I ended up posting all of them. Now begins the photo overload...


Our morning at the beach turned into almost an entire day. The kids didn't want to leave, but the beach was jam-packed by 2 in the afternoon. We headed home and resolved to make more frequent trips to the beach with the kids in the future.

Friday, May 27, 2011

One Lucky Mom

Our summer is officially underway and I get to spend my days with these two cuties. I am one lucky Mom.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Kaitlynn's Carseat Meltdown

We finally moved Kaitlynn into a front-facing carseat about a month or so ago. She was SO excited about her new carseat that I could barely put it together because she was climbing all over it. Everytime we picked it up and set it down again, she was right there to climb on in. When it was finally installed, she was one happy girl. For about a week or two, all I had to say was "Do you want to go for a ride in your new carseat?" and she would drop whatever she was doing and sprint out the door.


She still loves her carseat ("pah-see" as she calls it, I have no idea where she gets some of her pronunciations) but now everytime we strap her in she says "Tye" meaning tight, so we wiggle the straps and she's good to go.

Despite all the love for the carseat, that doesn't stop her from her typical toddler antics. The other day we were at a park and Kaitlynn didn't want to leave. Jeff had to use physical force to get her strapped in to her seat, and from there she proceeded to have a "big bad meltdown" as Connor called it. This is the kind of stuff that cracks me up, so I whipped out my phone and took a video. So for those that don't believe me when I say how naughty and what a mess Kaitlynn can be, here you go:

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Spring Pictures

I came across these pictures of Connor and Kaitlynn from the day of their spring school pictures a month ago and I'm just now getting around to posting them.


It's obvious in most of the pictures that I post of the kids that Connor LOVES his little sister. Many other friends/parents will comment to me how sweet they are together and I'm trying to enjoy it while I can because I expect it won't last for long!


But just for the record, Connor isn't the only guy around here who adores this little girl.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Connor's Preschool Graduation

I remember before I was a Mom and I would hear about the trend of preschool and elementary graduations, I always thought it was pretty lame. But now that my kid is "graduating" from preschool, I guess I have to admit it's a neat little rite of passage for these kiddos as they close one chapter and begin another.


Connor has been SO excited and talking about graduation for weeks. Last week he actually drew a picture depicting his graduation and I have to admit I was impressed. He captured many of the details of the church sanctuary where the graduation was held -- the stage, windows, doors, chairs, kids walking down the isle, and even parents in the audience with cameras (the little brown boxes, ha!). He even drew himself on stage wearing his cap and gown. When I asked him why he was the only one on stage, he said he thought it would be more fun that way. Ha!


After weeks of anticipation, Connor's preschool graduation ceremony was held this morning. Here he is before school. I could already tell it would be an interesting morning because Connor seemed to be in a "mood" since he woke up, ha!


Luckily we got to school early and managed a quick picture with Connor's sweet teachers, Mrs. Day and Ms. Mory. Mrs. Day is scheduled to be induced with her 2nd baby in a few days, so the entire class was praying she wouldn't go into labor before (or during, haha!) graduation.


The graduation ceremony was held in the church sanctuary and all the preschool kids performed on stage. They showed a slideshow of all the graduates during the ceremony. Unfortunately it was the one time all year they misspelled Connor's name. (Both of my kids are gonna have to get used to that!)


Here's the entire preschool group lined up for the performance. They all looked so cute.


They performed some songs and then the graduates left the stage to have their grand entrance before walking on stage. I think this was the part Connor was the most excited about. (You know Connor -- he loves to make an entrance!)



After the entrance, the kids walked across the stage to receive their diploma from their teachers. At this point I was juggling both the camera and the camcorder, and so neither my pictures or my video turned out very well. The video is WAY off center, but I wanted to post it for our memories. :-)




After receiving their diplomas, the graduates sang us a few more songs. The video below was one of my favorites. For some reason Connor was yawning and looking extremely bored throughout the entire ceremony.



After the ceremony, the graduates and their parents were treated to a little brunch reception. We made sure to get a couple of pictures with Mom and Dad.


Congratulations to our little preschool graduate! We love you, buddy!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Collin's Senior Prom

Last Friday was Collin's senior prom. He and his girlfriend, Mica, were joined by several of their other friends and they all met at our house to take pre-prom pictures. It was so neat to see all the kids dressed up and looking beautiful! Collin's date, Mica, has been his girlfriend for several months. They make such a gorgeous couple!

For their big night, the group rented a stretch Hummer limo -- so cool! They went to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant and then their prom was held at the Westin Galleria hotel. After prom, they attended their school's after-prom activities at the high school which lasted all night. Then the group went home for a little shut-eye before heading off to New Braunfels. They rented a cabin for the weekend and enjoyed floating on the river and fun at the Schlitterbahn water park. Today (Monday) is Senior Skip Day, so the group is just now heading back home. Just curious...did anyone else know that Prom Night has now become Prom Weekend?? I have to admit, seeing all the kids before prom and hearing about all the fun weekend plans...it made me super nostalgic about my own high school days and brought back so many neat memories!