Addi's 11th Birthday

She had a small group of friends over for a painting/Hawaiian Falls/Slumber party. Its never fun to have any group of girls over. But Addi has some pretty chill friends. She is very particular about everything in life including the company she keeps. I could hear her in her room bossing her friends around any time they were being loud, or silly, or annoying. I went to bed and did pretty much nothing. She even planned her party and organized it herself. Its nice having such a smart independent daughter. She is already babysitting and is very responsible with Landon (the little boy she babysits) One night she called me cause he had locked her out of the his room. She told me she felt horrible and I reassured her that I had my own children lock me out several times during my parenting days. To which she replied "yeah, but that is you mom....I should know better". She even refused to take payment after the incident cause she felt like she let the parents down. She is just like her father. But I love that she loves me and can joke around with me even though I am crazy unorganized and helpless most days. And check out the pic of her below. Isnt she gorgeous?

Dallin is officially a teen! 13

Dallin turned thirteen. He has been acting like a teenager for a while. With a grumpy attitude and acne and sleeping all day, but I guess this birthday made it official. It wasn't much of a celebration. I think at this age its time to stop throwing parties (mainly because I hate throwing parties), but any way my parents and a few of his close friends came over for cake. The best part was aunt Net's gift. She had 6 balloons wrapped in a huge box. He went over and over what he thought might be in the box it really had him stumped. At first when he opened it and balloons popped out he looked disappointed, then it dawned on him that $$$$ money was inside. He loves money! The next day he went with his two best friends to Sonic and swimming at Barton Springs. He is really into shoes and got some cool Jordans and a new phone from mom and dad. He is a super smart talented kid and I am so glad he is mine.

Summer summed UP (2015)

We had a really reeeeally fun summer!! For me it was honestly the best summer I have ever had. Even more fun than when I was a teenager, if you can believe it. I went on a girls trip with my two best friends and had the best time floating the river. Its a thing people in Texas do. I went back a few more times before summer ended and I plan on going many more times. Dallin did football camps and got all ripped. The older two kids learned how to cook. We bought season passes to Hawaiian Falls and were there almost every day. Andrew had a mini heart attack on the adventure park. It was pretty scary, but it made him start a diet and exercise program and he has lost about 30lbs and can run pretty fast now. I lost some weight too. My dad lived with us for part of it (while his house was being built). He took the kids skating and bar b qued almost every damn day. Both girls did horse back riding lessons and tennis camps. I went on some pretty amazing hikes with a friend from work. It really was packed with scorching heat and mega fun filled days. I Love my kids and hope I can find a way to not work during the summers and keep the fun rolling.

Swimming Hole (summer 2015)

This summer we didn't hit as many swimming holes as we did last summer, due to the flood most of them were shut down. But we did get to one and it was pretty cool. Addi was upset when we got lost on the hike back to the car, but she forgave me a couple days later. Good times with one of my best friends and her nephew and kids. We also let Olivia's friend Ashley tag along. Next year my goal is to go to at least 5 different swimming holes. Texas is such a beautiful place to live I dont want to take it for granted.

Austin Park with Aunt Net

We had a blast with Annette in town. Just everything we did was so much fun. Austin Park was no exception. I loved every second of it. The kids ganged up on Annette and blasted her with their water guns on bumper boats. Addie stressed out as usual on the go carts and laser tag was me and Annette getting our asses handed to us by a little tiny 4 yr old boy. Pizza and salad bar with unlimited games. The kids kept getting off the rides and running away from us so they didn't have to go home.

4th of JULY 2015

Aunt Net came out like she always does. She is going back to school to become a nurse practitioner and so it had been a while since we had seen her. On July 3rd we hung out at the water park most of the day and then the kids rode in the back of my dads truck to watch the Pflugerville fire works. On the 4th we went to the Round Rock Express baseball game and fire works show and let me just say it was a really good show. Right up there with stadium of fire. My sister and the kids loved it. We made the cookie pizza again but let the kids decorate them. Grandma stayed home with the runs but Grandpa was his typical ride or die kinda guy. Love my kids. They are so much fun to chill with and they still love their aunty more than ever.

Beach Trip 2015

We usually do an annual beach trip but skipped last year cause Andrews sister was visiting and we wanted the money to go towards hosting them. We really missed the beach and were sure to get it in this year. And we out did ourselves this time. We got a much nicer hotel and we stayed 4 days instead of two. The hotel had beach access so we could just walk right to the ocean. We wore shirt to protect our skin and NO one got sunburned. The kids had pink cheeks but nothing as painful as the burns in 2013. We woke up and swam every morning and built sand castles. The hotel served breakfast which was soo sooo very nice. Then we hung out in the hotel and played games till the sun died down and went back out to the beach late afternoon. The hotel pool was nice cause we could swim for a few minutes to get the sand off and at night they lit the pool up with colorful lights and played party music. And the hotel had a fire works show at 9 pm Fri and Sat night and it was a pretty cool! We went sand crab hunting at night with flashlights and cups. It was hysterical. Those little suckers move so fast. They are adorable till one comes right at you and then we all were screaming and flipping out. We caught three sand crabs and then put them back the last day. This year we rented Jet Skis and the kids had an absolute blast riding on/driving them. We found a really really yummy Italian restaurant that put the Olive Graden to shame. South Padre Island is the sand castle capital of the USA so we got to see some really cool sand castles. Every one got to shop and buy little junky toys from the local gift shops. And we rented a nice big van to drive down in with a dvd player so we didnt hear one peep out of the kids the whole drive back. Sweet Success. Every year our beach trip just gets better and better.

My BIG Boys

We have a giant sized ruler in our office. Its one of the very few things I actually made from Pinterest. I measure the kids and write down the date to show how fast they are growing. My boys are getting pretty tall! You always know they are about to hit a growth spurt cause they eat and eat and eat. Nothing tides them over. Derek is going through one now. Its costing me a fortune to feed them. I took some pics with them after a baseball game just to prove I actually attended one this year. I didn't go to hardly any games which I am sure Andrew and the boys loved cause I can be that crazy mom in the stand sometimes. It takes the pressure off when I am not there. Andrew doesn't push them to go hard at all. He thinks the soft teddy bear approach is best... I won't share my opinions on his approach cause I don't want to be negative here, but I can say Thank GOD they have me or there would be little to no success (lol).. uuhhh .. Check out how big my 12 year old boy has gotten. He is 5ft 9inches and still growing! If Derek follows his big brother he will be pretty tall too. I really hope my boys are tall. My dad always said never date a guy under 6ft 3" cause he wanted his grand sons to be big boys. I did at least listen to him on that one. My brother Jed however..not so much.. His wife is under 6ft 3" so we will see how big his boys end up. Sorry Bro I am going to win this time!! ha ha

Field Day 2015

I was able to attend field day this year. I didn't go last year. The school they used to go to had real crappy field days. Lame games so I just opted out...nothing to see. Addie begged me to bring them lunch so I did and then decided to stay. It was so cool. They really fun obstacle courses and three legged races etc.. And the speech the PE coach gave before the tug o war was epic. He basically said all the math and reading they do all year long doesn't matter as much as the tug o war. And that if they win that memory will last forever! My kind of guy. I was a little frustrated cause I didn't get to see Derek. Apparently the younger kids did field day first thing in the morning. They were watching a movie at lunch time so I didn't even get to sit with him for lunch. But he has a few more years to go so I will catch him next time.

Baseball 2015

So far a ton of games have been rained out. But the few that the boys have played were fun to watch. Derek is so into it. He loves the game and he tries real hard. Derek is really really good at catching pop flys. Dallin is playing with 14 yr olds and is kicking butt. He is a really good batter. I hope he hits a home runt his year for his momma. After this year they start claiming its for their girlfriend.

Olivia's 9th Birthday

I will NEVER do a sleep over party again. It was fun until 3 am when little girls are still awake and you have to get nasty with them to fall asleep. They loved the games and making sleep shirts and flip flops. I did the best I could considering how busy I was and how much I hate throwing parties. I know she loved it so that makes me happy. She picked the weirdest cake. I am still laughing about it but hey if its your birthday then you get what you want. She is such a cute sweet girl. I hope she has a fun year.