Terrific Thursday

Late this morning we ventured out back to try and plant our crops in our new raised bed.  As soon as we got out there it started raining on us. We stayed under the patio and I sorted the seeds and made markers for all the rows I was going to dig with Popsicle sticks and permanent markers.  The kids played under the patio together and Allyson wanted to shoot the basketball, but the goal was too high for her, so she got a little help from her older brother.

Sure enough we got a break from the rain, so to the garden we went.

I dug little rows for the fruits and veggies we have and tried to space them out as best as I could.  This is my first go at this, so I'm hoping something will sprout!  I read that a good rule of thumb is to line up three of the seeds in a row and that should equal the depth that you are to plant them at.  I tried my best, so hopefully some of them will take.

As I'm digging rows and hoping that the rain will hold off until I'm finished, I look over and the kids are swinging together on the teeter-totter.  It was so sweet to watch Jase get on there with her and watch them swing together.

All the crops were planted, watered, and properly labeled.  I planted cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, squash, sweet yellow onions, bell peppers, banana peppers, a few types of tomatoes, 2 tomato plants, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, and strawberries.   I think that's about it.

All I can do now is water them and watch and wait for them to grow.  I have a LOT to learn about gardening, but I'm glad we finally did it!  We I picked up everything and we headed inside for lunch.  Not too much longer after we went in, we had a huge thunderstorm come on top of us.  I'm glad I went out there when I did and got it done.

After lunch the TV stayed off.  Some days I am better at limiting the TV than others, and today I am happy to report that the TV was off the majority of the day.  I was in the kitchen cutting and balling a watermelon (I purchased it from Walmart yesterday and it is super sweet) and I went into the playroom to ask the kids if they wanted some and I saw them coloring together.  I just love this.  They do not fight a lot (yet), but a lot of the time he does his own thing and she does hers, but I love it when they play together. :-)

While waiting on Daddy to come home I decided it was a good time to clip coupons; it would help declutter the kitchen table before dinner.  Allyson came and sat next to me and I started giving her things to look at.  I noticed that Disney has checks and in the stack of coupons I had, there were 3 or 4 different brands or forms.  She was in HEAVEN!  She loved staring and studying them.  She would tell me all the different characters and shows on the checks, she was into it.  Reminds me of myself when I was younger, I too loved looking at all of that.

When Daddy came home we ate dinner together and had a great evening.  Since we have been so busy with baseball lately, Daddy wanted to have playtime tonight.  Jase wanted to play hide-and-go-seek, so we all 4 played several rounds downstairs.  Allyson wanted to play Sesame Street match (surprise, surprise) and we played that afterwards.  While Ally and I were taking a bath Daddy and Jase played Battle with his Star Wars playing cards.  It was a great day from morning to night and we didn't even leave our home!

4th Time's the Charm

Thursday when I was out running errands with the kiddos, I decided to drop my ring off for an inspection, cleaning and rhodium dipping.  During the inspection the lady noticed that my engagement ring was wavy where the side diamonds were mounted.  She said this is normal wear and tear, but they needed to rebuild the channel so the diamonds would not fall out.  Only cost to me was time since we have a warranty on it.  No problem and it would be ready on Monday at noon.

I show up on Monday at 12:20, and they said that my pick up time was 1:00, but they needed until 2:00.  Ok, I'll come back tomorrow and pick it up because I had to be back at 2:00 to get my kids from school.  Yesterday I showed up at 11:40 with the kids and go to put my ring on . . . it doesn't fit.  For some reason when the lady wrote the order she put that my size was a 5!! So, when they rebuilt my engagement ring, they sized it and my wedding band down from a 6 to a 5.  Not good.  She said they could fix it and it would be ready at 3:00 pm.

I had already told the kids we would eat at Chick-fil-a, so maybe we could find some things to do in Webster while my ring was getting fixed.  We stayed at Chick-fil-a for a while, probably over an hour and a half while we ate, the kids played, Ally threw up and we visited the restroom 3 times!! What an outing in itself!

Jase needed a haircut, so I found a Cool Cuts nearby and we headed there after the Chick-fil-a fiasco.  The barber asked Jase if he wanted to watch a movie or play a video game and he chose to play a Cars game.  Other than a Wii controller, I'm not sure if he's ever held a video game controller.  It was so funny to watch him try to play this game with over 10 buttons on the controller.

Someone else wanted a haircut too, but we are letting her beautiful locks grow! :-)

It was nearly 3:00 pm, so we headed over to the jewelry store to pick up my ring.  I put it on and it fit, so that was a good sign.  Getting the kids in and out of the car and especially to go into a jewelry store and keep them preoccupied is NOT fun.  I headed out the door with my ring.  After I got the kids buckled in, I took a closer look at my ring.  It felt a little tighter than when I had dropped it off last Thursday, but I could get it on and off so I thought it was ok.  The more I looked at it, I noticed that my engagement ring and wedding band were not lined up properly (they are soldered together).  The rings were not flush with one another, making the size smaller.  At this point, I was almost in tears with frustration.  I mean no one would probably notice that it was not perfect, but then again I was right there and probably should take it back in.

I get the kids out of the car and we go back in to drop it off.  They were very apologetic about it and I was nice about it too.  I mean, what I am going to do?!?  Last Wednesday we heard a message from Brother Darren about the love of Christ constraining (controlling) you (2 Corinthians 5:14).  I always try to put my best foot forward, but since this message I have made a conscious effort to allow the love of Christ control me.

So, today I called the jewelry store before I left the house and it was ready.  I drive out there and pick it up and it looks great!  4th time's the charm!  I can honestly say that I was nervous to pick it up today, but it turned out just fine.  And my ring was purchased in 2003 and this is probably the first time we've had an issue.  I'm glad this is all over and I have my ring back!

Baseball Sister

Ok, I have to share this super cute shirt I picked up a few weeks ago. It says Baseball Sister and has a picture of a baseball with pigtails on it. Last night for the game she wore it and of course I had to put her hair in pigtails. I thought she looked super cute, but I also think that when she wakes up and her hair is in knots. :-)

Mommy & Allyson

As for Jase's game, he played well at 1st base. I've noticed that he has this game face and really is into the game. We ended up losing the game, but the kids said they had fun when Shawn asked after the game, so I was glad to hear that.

I guess I had completely forgot how intense t-ball can be. And now that I have a son playing and my husband coaching, the intensity has stepped up several notches. And not to mention I'm a "little" competitive myself, which adds to the situation. I seriously tossed and turned last night/this morning replaying the game in my head and thinking of situations to work on at practice. Geez!!! And now I'm regretting not taking that Tylenol last night before I went to bed because my head is still ringing. 2 games down and 16 to go!! :)

It's a start

This weekend we were busy in the yard, both the front and back. I started Friday afternoon on the front yard. Our large flower bed in the front had a mesh/cloth on top of the soil that is supposed to help prevent weeds from growing, but they just grow right through it and it is not down far enough in my opinion so you can see it at times. It has been there since we moved in, so it was time to get it out of there. I pulled all of it out of there, pulled the weeds and mixed up the soil.

Sunday I worked on the small front flower bed and planted new flowers and put black mulch down. This week I'll mulch the large flower bed, but it's getting there.

On Saturday we started our raised garden in the backyard. I've been wanting to do this for at least 5 years now and we never took the time to do it. This is the year! With the help of Shawn's family, we built the frame, cleared the area and added soil to the raised bed. The area to the right of the bed is where we had a tree cut down back in August because it snapped and fell on the house. Kind of an eye sore, but what do you do?

With a busy week ahead of baseball, a wedding, and 2 birthday parties, we hope to plant our fruits and veggies very soon. We'll have to see. I'm glad that the raise bed is built and ready to go. I'm really excited to plant and tend to the crops and watch them grow!

Let's Play Ball!! - Updated

A couple of hours after the parade we headed up to the ball field for our first game of the season.  We got up there early enough to watch most of the game before us and OH MY WORD, this is some serious stuff!! LOL!  The intensity level went up right there and let the strategy begin!!

The first two innings in our game were neck and neck.  They scored 5, we scored 5 and so on.  The top of the 3rd inning we got three outs with two forces out at home by the pitcher and Jase made the final out of the inning by tagging a runner at short stop!  We only allowed them to score 1 run that inning! We ended up scoring 5 runs that inning, so we were up 15-11.  Top of the 4th they scored 5, so they were up 16-15.  Time was up, so we would complete inning.  We needed 2 runs and we would win.  They ended up getting an out at first base, geez, here we go.  A few batters later we got the two runs and that was the ball game!

One minor detail from this proud Momma . . . Jase's first at bat in the second inning is one that I'll remember forever!  Daddy lined him up and the umpire placed the ball on the tee.

He hit the ball to the right side and through the infield.  Jase ran fast and did an awesome job listening to the base coaches.  He rounded 1st, then 2nd, and finally 3rd . . . HOME RUN!! His first ever at bat, a home run.  Ok, if it would have been a single I would have been pumped as well.  I was helping out in the dugout, so I had a great view.  I was jumping up and down, yelling "RUN, RUN!" It was awesome!!  I'm sure Little Man in my tummy felt like he was on a roller coaster from all the jumping I did!! As I'm typing this he is kicking, so I know he is doing just fine.

What an awesome game.  All the boys played very well and I was really impressed with all of them.  And the coaches too, especially Coach Shawn :-), did a great job!!  I'm looking forward to all of the games and it brings back memories from when my little sister and brother used to play and we would get so fired up and you thought you were going to have a heart attack cheering them on.  SO FUN . . . I LOVE IT!

Updated...3/27/12
My sister read my blog and sent me an e-mail telling me that I was missing one picture on this post.  She attached the picture below.  What an AWESOME picture she took and the moment it captured!! This is Jase coming in from his home run and that is me giving him a hi-five! Tears came to my eyes when I saw it! Thank you Alisha for sharing it with me!!

Opening Day Parade

We started the day off early this morning.  Don't laugh, but it was 5:50 am, and that was SUPER early for me!  I ran and got donut holes and kolaches from Shipley's . . . super yummy!!

Decorating the trailer went pretty well.  We kept it simple and didn't end up opening up half of the balloons and streamers.  You'd rather have too much than not enough, right?  The baseball plates that I found turned out super cute I thought.

The boys really enjoyed seeing their friends and family in the crowd.  I was in the truck with four of them and their little faces lit up when I told them that their family was coming up and to throw candy at them.

Since Daddy was driving his truck and I was riding in the back of the truck, Allyson stayed with my Mom, Aunt Alisha and Uncle JoJo while the parade was going on.  My mom said that she had a great time and loved picking up candy.  She also got a huge collection of necklaces; Miss Mardi Gras!

The boys had a blast throwing candy out to the crowd.  It was so funny to see some of them throw like 8 pieces of candy at a time and then others (my son being one of them) only throw a piece here and there because he didn't want to run out!!  Haha!! He is SO me!!

What a great start to a wonderful day!  LET'S GO ASTROS!!

Matching Shirts

Today me and the kiddos ran errands all over the place, from Clear Lake to Pasadena.  While in Webster, we stopped at Carter's and I couldn't resist buying the boys matching shirts . . . so sweet!! When I showed Jase he wanted me to hang Little Brother's shirt up in his closet with his! :-)  I pray they have a special bond with one another.  And little Allyson could not be left out, she had to get a sparkly Big Sister shirt too!

We also stopped in the bread store on Center Street for the last time.  Sniff, sniff!  The sign on the door says their lease is up and they will no longer be open, but from what I heard is that Bimbo bought out Sara Lee and they are closing the store.  March 24th is the last day they will be open, so get your bread now!  The sweet lady that works there has worked for the company for nearly 25 years and has been at this location for over 20!! Talk about dedication.  She and the other employee will be transferred to another location, so I'm thankful they will still have a job.  I will miss them and the discounted bread!

My heart breaks tonight for a dear friend.  Susie, who lost her 4 year old son last year due to an unknown heart condition, now has her 1 year old little girl (who has the same heart condition) in the hospital.  I do not know all or many details, but I heard that Addison's heart stopped beating today and she had to be put on life support.  I did hear from Susie about an hour ago that she woke up earlier this evening and looked around and kicked.  Susie said that was a good sign because they had been concerned about damage to her brain, and this movement is a good sign for her brain.  I am praying for a new heart and strength for Addi, peace beyond all understanding for the parents, and wisdom for the doctors.  Please join me in prayer, "Dear Lord, please be with Miss Addi, touch her and heal her tonight.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen." 

Snow Cones

This afternoon we met up with Michelle and the girls for a snow cone.  They just got back from Cabo after a 10 day vacation, so we hadn't seen them in 2 weeks.  It was nice to see them and catch up a bit . . . and I was a little jealous over Michelle's tan, if I'm being honest!!

Jase went with Cherry (as seen on his mouth and shirt) and Allyson went with Pink Bubblegum (as seen on her shirt as well).  Next time . . . white snow cones all around!  Their shirts are in the wash now, we'll see how they turn out. ;-)

You'll notice that Ally is holding a leaf and a flower in each hand.  She is my little horticulturist (yes, I had to look that up!). To date she has mainly picked weeds with flowers, so it hasn't been that big of a deal, but today she would not stop picking the snow cone place's flowers!! It resulted in us leaving because she would not listen.  And no TV when she got home, I hope she understands.

As I'm sitting here typing this I am getting indigestion . . . really, from a snow cone, nice! Tums are officially at my bedside and are part of my nightly snack!  Mixed Berry . . . I know, you're jealous! :-)

LEGO Star Wars Update

Jase is still a fan and plays LEGO Star Wars nearly everyday. Other than a couple of small sets he got for Christmas, he hasn't received any since then. His imagination to transform his existing Lego people into Star Wars characters amazes me. Darth Vader is formed out of a police uniform, a black head turned backwards and a woman's black hair piece. I love it! And Darth Sidious (leader of the Sith) has a set of handcuffs in each of his hands to represent the lightening he shoots out.

A few weeks ago he wanted Daddy to make Darth Maul's face (another villain) using markers. So we got out the sharpies and went to town. We also colored some of the gray light sabers blue and red to match the characters. Yesterday Jase wanted me to make capes for all the characters. So I got out card stock, scissors and a small circle punch and did my best. Jase loved them and had me make more today!! I enjoyed playing up in his Lego room these past couple of days.





He loves to watch Lego Star Wars on YouTube. We try and monitor the shows pretty close and some of them are off limits because we do not think they are age appropriate. Tonight after we played Legos he wanted to watch some videos, so I set the timer on my phone for 11 minutes and set up YouTube for him. He knows that when the timer goes off, he's finished, no more videos.

I handed him my phone and he went to his room while I tidied up the upstairs. I walked into his room and he said "I want you to watch this one." I told him, you're wasting your time, you watch the ones you want to watch and don't wait on me. Of course, we watched it together and then he selected another one and we watched it. We weren't sure of the characters in the video, so I looked at the YouTube description and comments to see if I could figure it out and he says "you're wasting my time!" Hahaha! I literally had to hold back from laughing! I handed over the phone.

I love to see his little mind at work and his creativity flowing.

Strep Sickness

Our poor little guy came down stairs early this morning and he was burning up. I asked him if his body hurt, his neck, arms, anything and he said no. I asked him again if anything hurt and he pointed to his throat. I could tell he was having trouble swallowing too. Off to the doctor we went this morning.

They tested him for the flu and strep throat and sure enough he has strep. Ok, I think this was my first time to ever witness anyone, nevertheless my own child, get tested for the flu. They got a long q-tip and gently sampled both nostrils and then they jammed it up one side. Poor little guy, it hurt Jase so bad. :(

On our way home I treated Jase to Tutti Frutti since I thought it would feel great on his throat. He really enjoyed the cookies and cream frozen yogurt!


This kid does not act sick at all. If he wouldn't have been running fever I would have never known something was wrong with him. Today I had to tell him that it probably wasn't the best idea to scream to a Toby Mac song.

Since he was sick he missed his first practice game. Some of his teammates asked about him and it was really sweet. I ended up going to the practice game so I could help in the dugout, but when I got home I told Jase that some of his friends asked about him and he was happy to hear that!

Jase and Ally stayed at home with my mom and that worked out great. After my mom left, Ally realized that she was gone and was NOT a happy camper. She would get mad and yell "come back Nanny!" She threw a small fit and we tried calming her down, but she wasn't having it. She finally stopped crying and this is how we found her.


This is at our back door!! She ended up being out for the night. Both kids are currently sound asleep in their own bed and I pray (I actually did) it stays that way. I have not been sleeping well at all when one of them comes down to our bed. I don't know what it is, but they all want to snuggle up next to me and basically push me off the bed. And Shawn sleeps so sound that he barely knows we have an extra body in the bed! Within the past few weeks there have been many nights where I have ended up in the living room. I hope that is not tonight.

Amy's Baby Shower

This afternoon Allyson and I went to my cousin Amy's baby shower. She is expecting her second child, a little girl, on May 10th. Her son, Dylan, was there today so he and Ally got to play some.

Amy got some super cute things and I know little Miss Avery will be dressed to impress! :-) So fun!! I meant to get a picture of us together, especially since we are both expecting, but you know how that goes. I did manage to get a picture of our little ones together and they are cuter than me! Enjoy!

Tutti Frutti

Since the boys were gone fishing today, it was a Mommy-Daughter day! :-) We played matched, colored, watched some shows, went to some stores and lastly I treated her to some frozen yogurt at Tutti Frutti. Of course, she wanted pink, so strawberry banana it was! We both enjoyed our time together today.

Strawberry Pickin'

This morning me and my mom took the kids out to Froberg's to pick strawberries.  I had read on their website that there was a line to park on Thursday, so I knew we better get out there early.  They opened up at 9:00 and we got there around 9:40.  There was a police officer directing traffic, but we were able to get a parking spot right away.  We got a bucket and were on our way!

The kids had a great time picking strawberries and Ally did an awesome job and did not pick a flower one.  I can't believe this was our first time to go.  We will definitely be doing this again.  Lessons learned for next time: do not bring a purse, the kids will get muddy, and closed toe shoes for Allyson!  I need to get some cute rubber boots for next time!! ;-)  Oh and when we left, sure enough there were two lines waiting to get into the parking lot! Crazy!!

The kids (and us) were pretty beat afterwards, but the fun didn't stop there!  Nanny treated the kids to some jump time.  Ally was a little timid to get on at first, but she finally warmed up, and Jase had a blast from the word GO!

After jumping it was definitely lunch time.  We wanted to go ahead and feed the kids down in Alvin since I knew they would be asleep pretty soon in the car.  Mom had recently ate at the Casa Ole there and said it was good, so we went with that.  Also, they have a buffet with tacos, enchiladas, taquitos, tamales, rice and beans and chile con queso!! SIGN ME UP!! Haha!! Jase decided on Mac and Cheese (no surprise) and me, mom and Ally had the buffet ($6.99 each).  And it was nice because Ally was free.  Seemed like a great deal to me.  As we were eating and getting close to finishing up, I noticed that no one else ate off of the buffet.  Everyone else was ordering meals off of the menu.  And most of them even ordered queso; I mean I was really paying attention and taking note at this point.  I told my mom and she wondered why too.  We forgot to ask our waitress if a lot of people ordered the buffet.  I'm not sure what the locals know that we do not, but it is several hours later and I feel fine.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous when I noticed we were the only ones eating the buffet.

The kids had a great day and fell asleep on the car ride home.  And their nap continued when we got home and I even joined in too!!

Rodeo Time

We bought his boots last weekend and he got to wear them to the real deal tonight. Aunt Alisha and Uncle Joseph took Jase to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo tonight and from what I heard, he had a blast. I can't wait to hear all about it in the morning.

Never Ever Again

The plan was to go to the Houston Zoo this afternoon a little after 2:00.  No rush, just sometime after lunch.  We left the house around 2:20 and headed that way.  We exited and the normal Zoo parking lot was roped off; this was at 2:45.  No problem, I'll just find a parking garage and we'll be on our way.  The garage that I have parked at before had a sign on it saying No Zoo Parking.  We were on Cambridge and sitting still.  The police were controlling traffic and we just sat and sat.  I turned onto Fannin, trying to follow the signs for "Zoo Parking", but I thought "am I really going to park this far away from the zoo?"  I mean I was all about getting out and getting some exercise, but to walk over a mile with two kids and then walk around at the Zoo and still have to walk back to the car . . . I was not feeling it!!  I pulled into a parking garage by Memorial Hermann Hospital and I asked if I could park there if I was going to the Zoo and he said no, that I needed to find parking garage 2, 7 or 10.  Kidding, right?  I didn't have a map of the parking garages handy!! UGH!!

I got back on Fannin and started driving.  The kids were so pumped for the Zoo, that I hated to throw in the towel on the trip.  From 3:13 to 3:25 I literally travelled feet, it was terrible.  We were just sitting!

The kids were real troopers.  I brought snacks along for the Zoo, but since we were just sitting on Fannin we went ahead and broke them out.  I even had a bag of sunflower seeds and I had a few mouths full.

Since I couldn't turn into the Zoo from the other direction either, I decided to scratch that plan for the day.  Plan B . . . Children's Museum of Houston.  Jase was pumped when I mentioned this idea.  I did not think we would EVER get there!!  3:52 we finally pulled into the parking lot.  So I travelled a total of 0.7 mile from 3:13-3:52 (39 minutes).  And that wasn't even the beginning of the traffic, that started at 2:45. 

Moral of the story: I will NEVER go to the Zoo over spring break again!

The Children's Museum closed at 6:00, so we had 2 hours to get in there and play.  The kids had a fun time.  I ended up taking the stroller in because I had a big bag (for the Zoo) and I didn't want to carry it and Ally if I had to.  I felt bad for Jase because I couldn't go up any of the stairs with the stroller.  There are elevators, just not as handy as the stairs at times.

The kids were able to play and roam around, which was great, especially after being in the car for so long.  And I have to hand it to them, they were great there.  Neither one of them ran off and when Ally wasn't in the stroller, she held my hand and Jase stayed right by me.  It actually made the trip enjoyable and I wasn't worried about them running off at any time.

The kids had a great time dancing.  These are similar machines that you find at the movie theater and you would see kids dancing for several minutes on them, sweating to death.  Well, Jase might be one of those kids!! Haha!! I think towards the end he was somewhat understanding the arrows, because they would light more often than the beginning.  Here is some video I was able to get of him!

And the best part of the day . . . Dinner with Daddy!! We met Daddy at Lupe Tortillas after we left the Children's Museum.  It was nice and relaxing and the food was super yummy too!

Not the exact plan I had in mind, but it worked out and the kids had fun, which is all that matters.

One more thing!  We were in two separate vehicles, so Jase rode home with Daddy and Ally with me.  I had to stop and get gas, so the boys went ahead and left for the house.  After getting gas I was about to get onto 59, but the traffic was stand-still on the entrance ramp.  I had had enough sitting in traffic for the day.  I called Shawn to see which way he went and he said he went the other way on 59 back to 610, then had to let me go real quick and said he'd call back.  I decided to take back roads to 288 then hit 610 to the house.  I wondered why Shawn never called me back, little toot.  We were jamming to Mickey Mouse in the car, so I didn't bother calling him.  I pulled up to the house and was surprised that I beat him home!  When he got out of the truck, he had a surprise for me . . . Old-Fashioned Diner Cake from Dessert Gallery . . . my favorito!!  It is a golden yellow cake with layers of chocolate buttercream.  It is so yummy.  That's where he was when I called him and he had to let me go real quick because people were talking in there!!  So thoughtful!  And he went in there and didn't even get anything for himself, talk about discipline!