1, 2, 3

I had to blog about Maddie's latest fascination. She loves collecting things in little cups. Mema noticed it when her and my dad babysat. She loves collecting all of the bathtub fish in a cup....and she "counts" 1, 2, 3. Her favorite number is 2. She is so careful to get them in the cup and says "tuuuu". The next morning at breakfast she was being super fussy. I was ready to just go, but my mom gave her all the jellies on our table and a cup. Low and behold she was happy. What would we do without grandmas? She is talking up a storm lately and loves to repeat things. She always says hi and bye (in a really strong Texas drawl). She loves to jump and say "jump". When she hears a song she likes, she dances around and said "dance". Love my girl!

Pumpkin Patch & Carving

We visited the Fairfield pumpkin patch this year. I went alone with the kids, so it was challenging to get a good shot. They loved it though! Max was so into it and his favorites were the small ones. I tried to get a good picture of the two of them, but Maddie wasn't staying still fo long.

 Of couse Max is at a good age for following directions most of the time. Love this smile!

 They each had fun on the tractor, but they didn't want to share the wheel. I thought this picture was funny. ;)

 I told Max that we would be carving a pumpkin so he was asking all week. Finally on Sunday we carved a pumpkin. Of course Shawn picked a challenging design, but he had done this before so we tried it. I thought Max would have fun picking out the gooey inside, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Maddie on the other hand was all about it. Max had a little pumpkin that he carved and made a mess with.

 The weather was pretty warm and the mosquitoes were out, so had to come inside and Shawn finished his masterpiece. It took a while and the kids had dinner before Shawn finished, but when we got the candle in and turned the lights out the kids loved it. Max was so proud to display it on the front porch. Fun day with pumpkins! Halloween is just one week away!!

Aggie win and relaxing weekend

After our big camping trip last weekend we made sure to lay low and just relax at home with the kids. The kids have been under the weather and so have I so it wasn't to hard to do. We started off by taking Max for a much needed haircut. I wasn't too happy with the results because I forgot to ask them to fade it. Maybe I'll try to do it myself...maybe. After we went to our neighborhood park. We love going there during the week. I usually run 1/2 of my 5k, stop to let them play, then finish my run. I love how the playground is just the right size for him and the ducks always come to say hi. It was fun to show Shawn our fun place and we all had fun.

Another fun shot with instagram.

Of course we had to rush home to watch the Aggies BTHO bu. And boy was it a good game. Sucks to b u. When we were down I told Shawn that I would never wear my custom Aggie hat by Oh Sew Peachy again if we lost. But since we won, I'll wear it every time!!! Here is a picture of me and my sweet girl Madeline.

After the big win we had naps and relaxed some more. For dinner we tried out Steak n Shake. It was nice because kids eat free on Saturday. We had burgers, hot dogs, chicken, french fries and shakes. May not have been the healthiest place to eat, but the kids liked the toys, crayons, hats and you know we liked the food, so I'm sure we'll be back!!

 Maddie loves brushing her teeeth!


Sunday we woke up too late for 9am mass, so we let Maddie take a nap and Max and I went for a quick HEB run. We had fun, it's so easy going places with him. I like the one-on-one time too! Of course we were late to 11am mass too, so we didn't get a seat. We tried to hang inside or send the kids to the playroom. So we hung out in the huge foyer.

 After mass we went for another fun meal to our favorite Chuy's. Their chips and salsa are soooo good! I got the Mexi Cobb, Shawn got the "Big as your face" burrito and the kids shared the quesadilla. Good stuff.

 Max was such a good boy. Check out that short haircut!!!

Maddie kept swiping my salad so I gave it to her and she loved it!

...and she loved the push-up too. Max wouldn't touch it!

All in all we had a fun and blessed weekend. 

Hamilton Fun

I was so pumped to go "camping" or "RV-ing" to the family ranch in Hamilton. I was so excited that my parents and Aunt Amy, Uncle Mark and Jessica. The weather was supposed to be nice, with 30% chance of rain. The kids had colds the week before, but those things can last weeks. So we packed up just about everything but the kitchen sink and began our journey! First stop was at Honey & Poppy's to get their awesome travel trailer. That made the trip so much more enjoyable. There is a house at the ranch, but I wasn't sure about having the kids in there.

The kids and Tyson did pretty well on the trip. Madeline slept okay, but when she woke up she was pretty cranky. I tried to keep the snacks coming and ipad playing with Diego and Chuggington. We kept teling Max we were going to Paw-paw's house (as the family calls it) in Hamilton. He seemed pretty excited. It was cute and kind of sad when we got there and he asked for Paw-paw. I had to tell him he didn't live there anymore, but he was in heaven now. When we got there everyone was so ready to get out! Of course my handsome husband had to do most of the hard work of setting up the trailer, hooking up water, electricity, etc. My hero! He does get frustrated, but he is a trooper and we are so fortunate to have him.

 My parents surprised us and came in Friday after all. The kids were so happy to see them. Max keep saying "I hear something, I see something" and using his flashlight. It was so amazing to see his curiosity blossoming. Max is so smart, handsome, funny and inquisitive and I adore him! That night we enjoyed the crisp air, star-gazing, cold beer and washers the first night. The kids slept pretty horribly that night and Max woke up with a high fever Saturday morning. I was totally regretting that I had brought them and called the nurse hotline to figure out what to do with him. Luckily I had breathing treatments, Tylenol an zyrtec so we were able to keep in under control.

We cooked great food, well really my parents and my Aunt Amy. It was so awesome to have them there. I don't know what I would have done without them. Breakfast was so good. I went for a run and the kids enjoyed running around getting into everything. Maddie was all over the place. She would just walk away from the group and just wander off. She was so cute this weekend. She was pretty fussy when she'd get tired, she only wanted me to hold her, which is sweet, but exhausting. She learned how to say the word jump while bouncing up and down. She is so sweet, I love her so much!!

 I was able to take some great pictures of the kids with my dad. He is such a proud grandfather, and I love it. You can tell they feel the same way. They light up when they see him and my mom. It was hard to get a great picture of everyone smiling, but I think we got he money shot.

The pictures stop here. Although the party continued and the food fest went on. We made chili for lunch and just hung out. Shawn took the family for a shooting lesson. Some went fishing. My aunt went to get some huge steaks from David's grocery and Shawn was more than willing to cook them on the pit. But after a long summer of drought, finally a huge storm system (remember that 30% chance) came through. It came so quick, the hot dogs blew off the pit, and Shawn, Uncle Mark and Jessica were caught outside. Luckily I was in the trailer with the kids and Aunt Amy. But the wind was so strong and the rain was so loud we weren't sure it was safe. Alot of shuffling around too place, alot of concern, but long story short.....we enjoyed a fabulous meal together in the trailer that night. Steaks, baked potatoes, grilled corn, onions, salad, green beans.The rain sure put a damper on our outdoor fun, but it was great family time. The rain let up for  while, but it stormed all night. There was even a flood warning in Hamilton county. Luckily we were on high ground and just got really wet. The kids slept like a dream, but Shawn and I stayed up listening to the storm. The trip was so much work, but we made some great memories. I'm sure we'll do it again, we might listen to the weather man next time though.

Nice weather=park fun!

This week started off with wonderful weather. What better way to start the week than to take the kids for a 3 mile run, of course we stopped for some fun playground play in the neighborhood park. I love that I can strap the kids in the stroller, get a workout, let them play, and feel accomplished all before 11am.

 The kids are so cute at the park. Max is wild guy climbing and jumping on all the big things with his new confidence. He has gotten so tall and strong, so proud of my big boy. I'm still watching his every move saying you have to be careful, to which he responds. "I have to be careful". We are in the repeating stage.

 Maddie isn't too far behind. She loves to slide, the bigger the better. We went to Rock Praire Elementary's park and one was so big and scary (to me), she loved it! Kept going over and over. This girl is a thrill-seeker, gotta love her!

The kids have gotten their first round of colds...at the same time which just makes it that much more interesting. And top it off Shawn had business out of town. So off to College Station we went....

Madeline is almost 15 months

Madeline and I have been spending some quality time together in the past few weeks while Max is in school. And while we miss Max when he is gone it's been nice to give Maddie more attention. She is so vocal lately. She loves to say "oh no!", mommy, no, cookie, uh oh, daddy, Tyson, etc. I joke and say she is speaking Chinese because she is aways jabbering away and I have no idea what she is saying. Her and  Max communicate pretty well and when they disagree pushing is usually involved (from both). 

I'm working on trying to set some limits on her, because she is a wild one. She'll grab something she shouldn't have and literally run away with it. This girl is fast! She has the fast walk that is almost like a run. She is still a little wobbly and falls quite often. She is growing like a weed. She weighs about 25 pounds and is wearing 18 month clothing. She loves to play cars with her brother and cuddle her dolls. Did I mention she was precious?!?! Oh, she is no longer using bottles. :( Kind of didn't want to get rid of that since she is probably my last baby, growing pains!!

She is still a pretty good eater. Loves grapes, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, pineapple, broccoli, green beans, etc. She rarely likes mashed potatoes though, must be the texture. She also likes to indulge in a cookie like the rest of us and she clearly says coo-key. She is definitely in that stage where I'd rather just stay home with her. She marches to the beat of her own drum which drives me crazy when we are at restaurants or stores. We call her the "escapee". She can get out of the shopping carts and high chairs even if we strap her in. Lots of fun, let me tell you! We recently went to Carraba's and she was in rare form....coloring on the wall, spilling water, crawling on the table, swiping silverware....oh my...

Betty Crocker would be proud....maybe?

So Maritza came to spend some time with us before she moved the twin cities area. We had so much fun having sister time and playing with the kiddos. One of the fun things we did was bake cinnamon swirl bread. I've been wanting to make bread for the kids. Everyone says its so easy, so I thought I'd give it a shot with Maritza's help of course. The rising part was not so good. Not sure what it was, not hot enough, didn't let the yeast cool down enough at the beginning, didn't mix it long enough....who knows. What I do know is that it was fun and I'm going to keep trying until I get it right. 

It was fun to explain the process to Max. He understood that we were making bread and had to wait to bake it. He loved pouring the cinnamon and sugar in the bread. It was so good, tasted like a cinnamon roll without the icing!

It was amazing in the morning toasted with a little more sugar of course. Max was one happy camper. This is his happy face!

 Maddie was also pretty impressed with our baking skills. Can you tell?

 Here is a picture from round 2 of making the bread. I tried to let the bread rise outside where it was hotter. I thought it do the trick, but nope, still not rising enough. I may try using a standing mixer with a dough hook next time. Maybe third times a charm!

 Voila!