A visit from Maritza

So we were lucky enough to spend some time with Maritza during and after her work trip to Austin. I had a quick sister weekend with her, which was relaxing and fun. Then when her conference was over my mom, the kids and I picked her up. We were on the car for most of the day, and the kids did surprisingly well. We went to goodwill(gotta thrift shop in Austin), whole foods and lunch at Hula Hut. After that we headed to my moms fit a few days.
I am happy to say that the next day we took Mom to get an iPhone. Welcome to the 21st century!! It was a big change for her but I hope she has fun with it and we can communicate and share even more. Of course after some shopping we hit up a favorite restaurant of ours, Blue Baker. I was so impressed that Max ate most if his food, unfortunately Maddie just wanted Cheetos. Oh well! That night we went over to hang out with Lisa and Isabel and the kids had a blast as always. Who knew balls were so much fun. That night my brother came to town. It was nice to have all the family under the same roof again. We of course saw my sweet cousin Elizabeth send Angela too. Too much fun to write about!!

Austin fun

L.O.V.E.

Loved having her back for a week

Whoa!

Fun in the Sun!

Max & Maddie at the Fairfield splashpad with friends

Swinging at the park in College Station

 They loved the water fountain!

 Mommy & Max day at the pool

 After my attempt to take the kids for a jog in the double stroller, we all needed to cool down. Not sure if were are allowed to get in the fountain, but we did. :)

 Nightly routine! Grandpa set up the hoses for each one to have one. My grass has never been this green!

 A cold treat!

 My beautiful bloom

 Edited with Instagram

 Father's Day at the pool

 Another sweet treat - Cold Stone Creamery!

Needless to say we are staying busy and having a fun summe so far!

Part 1 of Summer Birthdays

A few days after we got home from our Bahamas trip we headed to College Station to celebrate Isabel's 4th birthday. The kids had a blast playing with water guns, balls, eating hot dogs and cake. 

 The next day we got to celebrate Shawn's birthday with his favorite, a cookie cake. Max picked out the design! As always Shawn wanted a low key day so we relaxed at home and had the Rutherford's over for cake. The kids enjoyed playing outside after we cake.

Bad timing, bad parenting, bad kids, you tell me?

First off let me say I know that I am blessed to have two healthy and relatively happy children. However today went from great to bad in less than 60 seconds. This may have happened due to illness, teething, exhaustion, parenting, chance, bad choices, I don't know. But it did, and here is how it went down. This summer we have been taking advantage of the gym's kid's club as an activity the kids love and get to go to my two favorite classes: Zumba and Body Pump. They love going and I so do I! We did that and it went great, I was ready to tackle the world. I took the kids to subway, which I haven't been there in years, but I had a coupon so I thought why not. My first clue that they day was going bad quickly was the tantrum Maddie threw about opening her chips immediately. I decided not to give in today and Max was doing a great job. By the time I had to pay, Maddie was having an all out meltdown and said coupon was throwing the cashier for a loop. While I tried to be patient and calm Maddie down I went ahead and got the kids chocolate milk and sat them down. I go back to pay and as I'm gone the kids manage to get into a little fight, which Maddie won and left Max crying. I pay, separate the kids and get them settled with their lunch. We eat, Maddie proceeds to make a mess with her chips, fall out of her booster seat and cry because she has cheeto fingers, really?? I'm just thankful nobody spilled their milk....yet. Of course Max has to go to the bathroom, so we all go. Max is ready to go at this point, so I clean up quickly and start walking to the door. Of course, Max decides to run to the door, falls and spill his milk all while crying and screaming. And you know crying is contagious, so Maddie decides to chime in. I calm them down and I think I might be able to go into Vickie Lynn's to look at some jeans that are $20 off. Max seems ready to go. It looks like things have turned arounds. I find a cute pair of jeans, kids are playing nicely while siting in the dressing room. Then the crying starts again, I decide, I'll come back for the jeans. I get the kids loaded in the Expedition then Max realizes he left a train in the store. Really?!?! I tell him to go get it, no, then he falls again (not wearing those shoes again by the way). So I unload Maddie, take both kids in the store to retrieve the train with two screaming kids. Nice, I'm sure they love me at Vickie Lynn's. We drive home, one kid still screaming the other asleep. I'm sure one day I'll look back at this and laugh, not today though.

Bahamas part 1

So there was a tropical disturbance pretty much over The Bahamas pretty much the day before we were going to fly

But that wasn't going to stop us!!

So we flew to Ft. Lauderdale, then to Governor's Harbor on the Island of Eleuthera.

Shawn looked serious!

...and ta-da....paradise!!

This was my morning most days.....

and my afternoons.....

and my evenings.....

Max's last days of school

Water Day at school

Excited to take his teachers a gift!

Max's wonderful teachers --boy he has grown up this year!!

Jake's Party in Magnolia

We got invited to a fun "John Deere Gator" themed party a few weeks ago and it was so much fun. Shawn was taking a scuba diving lesson that weekend so I was on my own with the kids, but they did a  great job. The location couldn't have been greater. There was a covered pavilion, playset, jumpy house and a gator to ride. It was a great day and we are going to miss Jake and Karen when they move to the Dallas area.