A Snowy Day in Houston!!

Friday was a fun day around these parts. We got an official dose of snow!! Now that does not happen here hardly ever so people were going nuts. It did snow like it did once before since we have been here, which was on Christmas Eve 2004. Being from the north I just had to laugh at how people reacted to the snow but I of course was a good Texas parent and bundled my kids up and let them experience the snow. Cortlyn had a blast playing with his best bud Alyssa from next door and they even built a little snowman. We also cracked up because Chester's work sent the whole company home early due to inclement weather. I mean there was barely an inch on the ground but like I said they rarely if ever get snow down here so when they do it is a BIG!! deal!!! So that was our fun Friday!!!

A New Church Home and a Day in the Country!!

It's official!! We have a new church home. Yes after 5 years at our previous church it was just time to end our time there. Long story short I never felt connected there and constantly was battling feeling sad and depressed because of it. I kept trying to get plugged in in various ways there but they only seemed to want to pigeon hole me into childcare and don't get me wrong I love the kiddos but wasn't wanting to be force fed working in the kids ministry. The last straw was when I had wanted to help start back up a mom ministry that they had going for a while and was basically shut down with hardly a thank you for thinking of it. I still am a little bitter over it but am trying to close that chapter in my life and here we are in a new chapter. We are going to be members of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. I totally feel like it is the lord's leading and am so glad that I braved meeting strangers and went to a ladies bible study to check it out and it's been a total blessing to me. I feel more connected in just 2 short months then I did in all the five years I attended our last church. I have even been asked to help on the Steering team of MOPS that the church is starting up next fall. Can you say that I was excited and glad to finally be acknowledged for my passion for other moms in the preschool stage!!! We are also connected in a community group and are meeting and becoming friends with a lot of nice people. Our church has so much going on that I just love, couples game nights, ladies night out, mens night out, kids programs, ladies bible studies, mens bible studies. It is just awesome to be in a place that has so much going on and so many places to be involved. I am so glad that the Lord lead us there!! And the pictures at the beginning where from preschool day in the country. Church members have an awesome big house on a ton of land and they invite the little ones out for a fun day of playing in the country. Cortlyn had so much fun swinging, fishing, taking mutiple hayrides, eating peanut butter and jelly and just being able to run around. And there were lots of older ladies who were more than willing to hold and squeeze my sweet baby girl Catherine!! It was a fun day and Cortie was sad to leave. Well that is all from our neck of the woods. Glad to be a member of Grand Parkway Baptist Church!!!

Not Me Monday

Still don't have a lot of Not Me Monday's but at least I try!! And I can totally relate to Mckmama about the oven fiasco! When I was in college I was over at my grandparents with my roommate and we decided to make a pizza and I turned on my grandparents brand new oven to preheat it but unbeknownst to me my grandma keep her plastic plug in skillet in there. Who does that!!!! So anyways we went on our merry way waiting for the oven to heat up when all the sudden there is black smoke coming from the oven and my aunts husband they lived right next door in a duplex came flying in with a fire extinguisher and rambo style put the fire out. That was a pretty scary moment and I felt terrible for ruining their brand new oven but again who leaves plastic stuff in an oven. Well apparently my Grandma!!!

As for Not Me's this week here goes
I did not remind my husband that we had money in our account and that I like flowers and white cake just so he wouldn't forget to get stuff for me on my birthday. He did last year and was in big trouble but he totally redeemed himself this year so all is well!!

I also did not get upset when our plans fell thru on Saturday night and our neighbors couldn't babysit I mean their kid got really sick that would be yucky and selfish of me to wish they could have watched my kids!!

My husband and I did not drive around after having dinner on Saturday night trying to find something to do and we did not go home after only 2 hours out so we didn't have to waste more $ on a babysitter I mean we are hip and wanted to stay out all night!!!

I also did not pretty much go straight to bed when we got home because I just wanted to !!

I did not put my kids in fuzzy pjs because it was cold my northern friends would just laugh and laugh!!

Okay that is all I can think of for this week. Happy Monday!!

A Great Birthday!!!

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a great day. It was very low key but that is ok with me. I was woken up by my sweet boy and his little voice saying Happy Birthday Mommy!! I just love love love that boy!! Then later in the morning we went to Sam's Club cause hey you still have to be a wife and mommy even on your birthday and we were out of chicken so had to go get the big bag at Sam's Club. Well of course we can't go to Sam's Club without getting our standard hot dog combo or pizza combo. So we got our lunch there and my hubby came on over since his work is very close by and we enjoyed a birthday pizza hot dog lunch as penned by the boy!!! Then later in the day I had to go pick up our neighbors daughter at her daycare since her brother became pretty sick and had to go to the ER. So she ended up being at our house for the evening which of course made Cortlyn super happy. He loves Alyssa and always says she is his girlfriend. How cute!! So anyways Cortie, Catherine and Daddy had gone to the store to pick up some bday supplies. And when they got home they had a super secret cake baking mission in the kitchen. It was so cute watching them make the cake although I wasn't supposed to know what was going on!! They made me a beautiful cake with pink icing and blue sprinkles. Very delish and so special!!! So we celebrated my birthday, added another kid in the mix for the evening and all around had a nice night. Chester and I are going to go out tomorrow night sans the kids to celebrate both our anniversary and my birthday so that will be nice.

Not Me Monday!!

When things are happening I keep thinking I should write them down so I can put them on Not Me Monday but I always forget so I will try to come up with a few

I did not cry when my boy slept in his big boy bed for the first time on Friday night and I did not pick him up and rock him while he slept just to hold him and kiss his head. No thats not me I am an emotional rock!!

I did not go to the grocery store to get stuff to make for our church game night only to be to lazy and just brought chips. Of course not me!!

I did not laugh when my boy informed me that he and daddy had penises and baby girl and I did not I mean we explain body parts very seriously in this house.

I also did not laugh when my boy was getting in trouble for something and told me Not to make the Hulk angry which he of course got from his daddy when they were playing one day.

I also did not have to keep it together in the kitchen a few weeks back when my boy stripped off his diaper and peed on the chaise lounge like he was marking his territory I mean peeing on furniture is a no no which of course it is but it was so funny as it was playing out cause you can't stop the pee once its coming out in a little boy!!

I am not relieved not to have to buy diapers for my son anymore since he is potty trained because I absolutely love buying diapers and spending money on them. NOT!!!

Cortlyn is a Big Boy Now!!

It seems like just yesterday that my boy was a baby!! I waited so long for him to arrive that when he got here, I was so excited and just loved being able to be with him all the time. He was a momma's boy and we did everything together. But now he is getting to be such a big boy and I am having a hard time letting go of my sweet baby boy!! But alas the time has come and this past week he has really stepped up the big boy and is now going on the potty and wearing big boy underpants almost all the time and keeping them dry!!! Last week a light just went on in his head and he went #2 on the potty which is what we had been trying to get him to do with no avail and he just went in said I have to go poopy and away we went!! He was so excited and we danced around and celebrated!! So now we are on to the next big boy adventure which is putting up his big boy bed. I don't know why I am having such a hard time with this I want him to get bigger but he won't be my sweet little baby anymore tucked in sweetly in his crib. I wonder if it a struggle with all moms with their first born. With Catherine I am much more ok with her milestones as was able to leave her way earlier than I ever did her brother. I mean I did not leave him for an overnight till he was near 2 years old and I cried and cried at the airport when I left him with daddy for a weekend. But I have since left him since then and have been fine. So I have a big boy in my house now. And although I miss my little baby I am looking forward to him growing up to be a godly man, warrior and friend. That is what he prays with daddy every night. I love you Cortlyn George Thompson!!!!

Our 2 week excursion up North!!

Man I always have good intentions to write on my blog but never seem to get around to it and not sure anybody really reads it anyways and I am not much of a journal person. I love the concept of Facebook updating about your life in just little sentences. Plus I am a very private person and I have all kinds of ideas for blogs to write about but feel like it would put to much of me out there that I am not comfortable with!! Well in August we took a 2 week vacation up North to the great state of Wisconsin. We made several and I mean several stops along the way to see family because hey when you come from Texas it takes a long time!!! I so want to move back up North and am regretting that we ever moved here but hey that is for another post!! Well we left on August 11th and planned to get to Memphis within a reasonable time we were thinking dinner man we were way off. 2 small kids one of them being a baby who is still nursing and 14 hours later we arrived very tired and very hungry to Uncle Walt(Chester's uncle) house. Next year we will for sure stop in a hotel the first night and give Uncle Walt a proper visit. Then the next day we drove to St Louis to see Uncle Steve and Aunt Carol(again Chester's side) we had a short visit with them to we really underestimated how long it would take each day especially with Catherine who would want to eat or have diaper issues very soon after we had stopped. Then the next day we drove to Plainfield, Il to visit Chester's Grandma Betty with a stop to have lunch with my Grandma who suffers from Alzheimer's . She was glad to see us and in the moment she enjoyed our visit and seeing the kids!! We then stayed in Chicago land for a couple of days visiting family and then we made our way up to Northern Wisconsin to Camp Forest Springs for a week of family camp which was awesome. I have been going there since I was born and it is a wonderful place full of memories and learning from God's word. After that week we made a stop in Minneapolis for the evening and spent some time with some good friends. The next morning we got up and drove to Kansas City and spent the evening with my cousin Staci who I hadn't seen in a couple of years and then we stopped to see my Great Aunt Shirley and had a really nice visit with her. We then made a 10 hour drive home all in one day and made it home 2 weeks to the day we left. It was an awesome trip and the kids were really good most of the time. Cortlyn was really good and watched his DVD and read his library books and was a gem in the car. Catherine had her moments but we had to remember that she was just a baby and really for a baby she really did good!! We train em young to sit in the car for long distances because we have no other choice!! And now we are home and I had a few days of feeling really sad about being home but now bible studies and MOPS have started up again and it is nice to have something to do and we will be making a trip to Florida for Thanksgiving to visit Chester's mom so that will be something to look forward too!! Okay so there that is my update and I know it was long but hey I don't post to often.

I keep trying to remember things to put in Not me Monday but always seem to forget when the day actually comes. Oh well here are a few I could drag up.

I did not think it was funny that my son announced to anybody in the bathroom at the library that mommy was going poppy. I mean I am very private about bathroom occurrences.

I also did not think it was funny that my son repeated what his daddy and I said at the table about somebody needing to grow a set. I meant that would be totally inappropriate!!

And I don't immediately say You want a bucket!! When it is pretty clear that my boy is saying a naughty word that he heard mommy say in the car one day when somebody cut her off. I mean I am the perfect mommy who never lets a cuss word fall from my lips!!

I didn't have most of our things packed for our vacation days before we leave I mean who organizes things like that. Certainly not me!!

And who goes on a trip hoping that $$ will materialize out of the sky. Not me of course we have money to go on this trip loads of money!!!

Okay that is all I can think of for now. Go over to MckMamma's website to check out other peoples not me mondays!!

A Night Away Finally!!

Last weekend my hubby and I had the pleasure of spending a whole overnight away from the kiddos. Thanks to my Mom and Dad we were able to get away which has not happened at all since we had kiddos. You see we don't have Grandma, Grandpa, aunties, uncles, cousins, first cousins once removed well you get the point we don't have any family in the area which is a hard concept for most of the people we know. If we get a date night it is very rare indeed and even then if it's we can afford a babysitter for the evenings which lets face it don't come cheap anymore but I digress... Back in May I scored tickets to this show

for Chester's Birthday and my Mom made plans to come down for a week. I also pricelined a night away and we got the Hotel Derek for $80 for the night. It was a super nice place very swanky and very modern. So last Saturday we packed up our stuff kissed our kiddies and headed off to the hotel for the night. I have to admit I was a bit of a baby for a few minutes because it was the first time I left my baby girl which was way sooner than I ever left my son see here http://lynnieped.blogspot.com/2008/10/girls-weekend-in-nj.html I mean he was nearly two when I did that but I bucked up and was fine after a couple of tears. We got to our hotel and we checked in we laughed at the prices of the mini bar and ended up getting snacks across the street at CVS. We tried to swim in the pool but it was on the main floor and not in a very good location it was pretty much kept from the sun by the buildings so it was cold which is rare in Houston in the summer and there was no hot tub so we just decided to chill in our room until it was time to get ready for the show. We then went downtown and had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant that we had been to when Chester's uncle and aunt and cousin Abby were in town last year. It was super crowded so we ended up eating at the bar and even then we were nearly late to the show thanks also to a major downpour. Houston hasn't seen a lot of rain in awhile so people were acting like moroons driving in the rain. But we made it to the show with a few minutes to spare. The show was awesome!!! I had seen it back in 1998 but it was Chester's first time. I have the soundtrack from the original Broadway production so I know the story in and out. I love the theatre and have fanatasies of being the lead in the production. The closest I have come is singing Wishing You were Somehow here again as a vocal minor in college. I get goosebumps when they lift the chandelier and I had tears in my eyes in several spots. I just love The Phantom. I hope to get to see it on Broadway one day!!! After the show we made it back to our hotel and we slept in till 10:30 am the next morning!! We obviously were really tired and a break from the kids was much needed. We then got back mid afternoon and my parents came home from taking the kids to church and I was so happy to see my sweet boy and girl. I am glad that we got to get away and am looking forward to when we can do it again!! And I of course would love to see Phantom again while it is still in town but that probably will not happen. Oh well till it comes back to town again!!


Us being dorks during intermission we didn't have time to get pics before hand

This is the only picture of us together. Wish we would have gotten a good one but after the show people flock out like a herd of cattle so picture taking wasn't in the plans.

I like Mckmama's blog a lot and like I put by the link to her blog I did go to the same college as she did up in the Twin Cities. I did not know her personally but since we have the same alma matter I think it is pretty cool. So I like to read Not me Monday so I thought I would try it out this week.

1. I most did certainly not take my children outdoors in the scorching heat to play so that my husband and I could rubber neck seeing as there were tons of cop cars and a crime scene unit across the street at the neighbors house.

2. And I most certainly did not go back outdoors just in time to see the body being brought out on a stretcher. Nope not me!!

3. I most certainly did not give my son a dose of tylenol to get him to take a nap so momma could have some naptime herself. Nope not me!!

4. I most certainly did not put my kids to bed and not see any fireworks because I could care less about that. I mean I am patriotic and care about the 4th of July!

5. I most certainly did not take out hamburger to have tacos the other night only to go to TGI Fridays when we couldn't afford it. Nope not me!!

6. I most certainly did not justify having fast food for lunch when I had perfectly good food at home. Nope not me!!

7. I most certainly did not put strawberries in pancakes to try to trick my boy into eating fruit. I mean he loves fresh fruit don't you know. Nope not me!

8. I most certainly did not borrow my neighbors Dyson vacuum while we were watching their dogs because it is so nice. That would be coveting. And I don't do that. Nope not me!!

9. And finally I most certainly did not purposely not put a breast milk bottle together for my baby so I could actually sit in church and listen to the sermon. I mean I love sitting still in church I really do

Baby Girl Tries out Food

Pardon the boob shot but baby girl likes to be held at dinnertime and she tries to get a hold of things on my plate. That night we had peas so I figured what the heck and smooshed them up and feed her a few bites. She seemed to like it but she of course liked to chew on the spoon more!! Oh and the last pic is of my sweet girl in the hamper I had to get something in the other laundry basket and I was holding her so I put her in the other basket and she thought that was funny!! My baby girl is such a darn cutie pie!!!

Fun in the Park

The other day we went to the park and had a picnic lunch and played for awhile. It was super super hot outside but this is Cortie's favorite park and it has some shade so it wasn't horrible. My boy is definitely all boy and would dig in the sand and rocks all day if I would let him but Good lord it was hot and it took all about 2 minutes for me to be all sweaty!! Catherine had fun swinging in the baby swing. She loves being outside and watching what her brother is doing. Soon enough she will be chasing after him in the park.