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.

Just Some Fun in the Sun and Random Shots

Baby girl lounging in the sun
Baby girl with Daddy her first time in the pool
Cortie enjoyng a snack outside
Baby girls purple car! She's stylin!!
My little fish!!
Cortie likes to revert back to babyhood sometimes with sister
There's my little angel!!
Hey you talkin to me!!
My sweet boy with his surfer dude bear!!


This is a great video of Cortie singing along to Hey Mickey!! Awesome!!

The summer heat has hit Texas and we have been enjoying spending time outside at splash parks and in our pool at home. I also got Cortie a little plastic pool to wade in for when I am not in the mood to get in the big pool. It has his little slide in it so he has a great time sliding into his little pool. He also loves to swim in the big pool and will swim all by himself with Daddy right near by don't worry Grandmas!! We had hoped to get him some swimming lessons this summer but probably won't have the extra funds to do it. Hopefully next year!! Baby girl is getting so big. I can't believe she is almost 6 months. It feels like just yesterday she was a tiny baby. She has been fussy the last couple of days. We think she might be teething but nothing is showing up in her mouth. Her brother acted the same way and he didn't get teeth until he was almost a year. We have also been going to story time at the library and Cortlyn loves it!! We tried last summer but he was still to little and didn't care one bit about it but this summer he is having a blast and he loves craft time!! After wards we usually go to Chick fil a or chick a la as Cortie says it and he loves playing in the playground. We usually try to find something to do most everyday and we also just like to chill at home. We are looking forward to my Mom coming in July and Chester and I will actually get a night away from the kiddos. We are so excited about that, we rarely ever get a date night so this is a special treat. Well that is about all from our neck of the woods right now. Enjoy the pics and video!!