Spring Break Fever

We had a very busy spring break this year, but it was filled with lots of fun for all.

We were able to spend a few days in Houston and we were so thrilled to spend time with everyone there.

Jammie, Madison & James were able to drive from the Beaumont area to spend Saturday with us. Out initial plan was the Children's Museum, but they were having their Grand Opening and when we arrived there were about 300 people waiting outside in the cold rain. We chose not to wait & be miserable and decided to go to the Aquarium instead.

She thought the alligator was going to come through the glass to get her...silly girl

Jake loved looking at all the fish

Touching the stingrays

I think she touched one...haha

They were really excited about the train ride

until we got in the shark tunnel

not looking so excited now

Jake & James playing back at Mimi & Grant's house

Sunday we headed for the Houston Rodeo Livestock show

Lily posing with the longhorns

These piglets were born the day we were there - I think there were 15 of them!

petting a guinea pig

when she saw she could pet a rabbit too she said "Oh man, this must be my lucky day!"

She was even more lucky when she got to ride a pony!

Lily only got to ride one ride before it started pouring rain, but she & Grant were able to play some games & win some more stuffed animals which seemed to make her forget about the rides.

Despite the weather we had a great time.

Monday Lily got her haircut - and finally has bangs "like Mom's" - which she has been asking for for months

so cute!

And, of course, then it was time for a dip in the hot tub.

Zoey wanted to go swimming too, but she was a little unsure...what a crazy dog!
she stood like this for a while - I have no idea how she did it...

On Tuesday we headed back home -

but not before the kids squeezed in a little play time

On the way home Lily spotted this beautiful field of bluebonnets & we couldn't resist stopping to get some pictures

I couldn't decide which was my favorite...

On Thursday I brought Lily & her friend Sammy to an indoor inflatable place. Surprisingly enough, I think Jake had the most fun!

Lily has been begging to play putt putt ever since we moved here, so Friday we finally brought her.
We also saw Lily's teacher while we were there - Lily thought it was the coolest thing ever that her teacher was playing putt-putt. Playing air-hockey with Dad

Saturday we took a trip to the zoo in Waco - which was fantastic.

Lily wanted her picture taken with the bald eagles

This slide went through the otter tank - which Lily LOVED! She would have stayed & played there all day if we let her :o)

Sunday Lily was invited to a Fancy Nancy party hosted by the Girl Scouts. She has been on a waiting list to join a troop & she was finally able to join during the party. She had tons of fun at the party & was so excited because they made dog cookies for the "lost dogs" (dogs at a local shelter).
Fancy Lily all ready to go!

When she got home I took her & Jake to the park as one last activity before she went back to school on Monday. (She's peeking out from behind the red pole)
She can do the monkey bars all by herself now - she's so proud!

(Not sure what I was thinking when I told her she could wear whatever she wanted...haha)
She can also climb the rock wall by herself which is also a source of great pride :o) Jake enjoying himself watching all the kids play

The Month in Pictures

Well, I didn't get to do many posts this month, so I figured I'd just post all the pics from this month in one post. Enjoy!

Trying to look cute & innocent...


Lily & Daddy on "Movie Night"
Lily had a great idea to have a movie night at home. We made a big tub of popcorn, Lily made us tickets & sold us our favorite snacks & we all watched a movie together (with our "favorite" stuffed animals, of course). We had a great time & Lily has been begging to make it a regular activity in our house :)


Lily's new furniture - all set up in her room!


This is from the week poor Miss Lily was sick - as you can see Zoey is helping her feel better!

Showing off those chubby cheeks!


Brian put together Lily's swingset & she has been thouroughly enjoying it!

Thank you Mimi & Grant!

Brian also put a swing up for Jake on the patio - as you can see he LOVES it!
Miss Cutie-Patootie on Valentine's Day - showing off the "mailbox" she decorated.

"Can I help you?"
She got this Home Depot smock from school - she was pretty thrilled & has been wearing it around the house regularly

The whole fam on Valentine's Day

Found this little trouble-maker like this after a nap the other day - do you think it's time to lower the crib! What a little dare-devil!

Lily at Chase's birthday party - her first time roller skating! As you can see, she's holding on for dear life! :o)

Happy Birthday Brian!

Mimi surprised Brian for his birthday - she came to visit & made him his favorite dinner! Thanks Mimi!!Looks like someone has got his eye on that cake...

We finally got a few warm-weather days, so we took advantage & brought the kids to the park

Feeding the ducks

Enjoying being outside

Fishing with her dad

Looks like Jake wants in on the fishing action too!

Updates!

Updated blog entries are below the last post.

Brian thankfully does not have to deploy this week. However, they keep changing the deployment date on us (I think they do it just to drive us all crazy), so we're still not 100% sure. It looks like it will be sometime next week. Again, I will keep everyone as updated as I can. I'm not supposed to give exact dates on things like this for security reasons, but I will try to keep everyone in the loop. :o)

Has Walmart Started Selling Time Yet?

I know I need to update this darn thing, but it seems like time to do it is hard to come by these days. I figured once Lily's birthday party was over & done with I would have some time, but alas, it hasn't happened. Lily has been home sick this whole week with a high temp (103.2 was the highest!), so I've been busy taking care of her and Jake has decided this would be the perfect time to learn to crawl, so I've been chasing him all over the place. It's amazing how fast he is already! Of course one of his favorite places to be is in Lily's room, so she is constantly yelling at him or I to get him out of her room "cause he's messing with my stuff!!". Oh, the joy of siblings...

Both kids went to the doctor yesterday - Lily for her fever, Jake for a rash he's had for a few weeks now that seems to get better & worse, but never completely goes away. They did a strep culture on Lily which came back negative, so it's assumed she has something viral, but if she keeps complaining about her legs hurting (which I assumed was pulled muscles from riding her bike at the park recently, which she hasn't done in a long time), then we have to take her to the emergency room because apparently high fevers & sore legs could mean something more serious??? Jake has eczema on his back/bottom which has developed since we moved here to TX, so we came home with 4 different creams for him, a new eye drop and a referral to an eye doctor for his gooby eye (very technical term, I know), which still has not cleared up. We're really hoping he is not going to have to have surgery to correct the problem, but the doctor said it was a possibility. We'll have to see what the opthalmologist says...

We have also just learned that Brian may be deploying as early as next week, so that has put us in a frenzy as well. On top of trying to spend some "quality family time" with him before he goes, he has a list a mile long of stuff that needs to be done at the house before he can go & he also has to pack & tie up any loose ends he has at work. He's been in training for his deployment most of last week, all this week and some of next week too, so that has left him little time to do anything else he needs to at work. We were originally told he wouldn't be leaving until the end of Feb, so we're hoping the date they gave us for next week falls through & he'll have an extra week or two, but who knows with the Army. And of course how long he will be gone is still up in the air too. He could be coming home in June, September or, if he gets moved to another unit while over there (which there has been rumors that he will, but also rumors that his Sgt Major is not going to allow that to happen) then he may be gone for a full year! (We are obviously REALLY hoping that is not the case). SO I will keep everyone updated as we find out more information...

With all this going on, I actually found some time to get Lily's new bedroom furniture ordered & they will be delivering it tomorrow (yay!!). So her days of living out of plastic bins are finally over. I will post pics once we get everything set up.

I think that's all our news for now. I will try to post pics asap. Brian removed my photo program from the computer a couple weeks ago when he was trying to figure out why our computer has been so slow, so now I need to dig out my CD & load it back on here...hopefully I will be able to find it & it's not still packed in a box somewhere...

Matching Hats

Lily made Jake a matching hat to the one she made at school

Crazy Dog

I guess Zoey decided the swingset box would be a good place to rest...

Getting Fancy

Lily found all the extra "fancy" accessories from her party & decided to get fancy again.

Of course Jake was subject to her fanciness as well...
She said he looked like a rock star!

Look At Me Go!

(Of course, Lily's stuff is always a big motivator)

Look What I Can Do!

Hmm...what's in here?

Almost up...
Success!
Looking pretty proud of himself