Sissa Started Preschool

Bailey started preschool today and I had to share some 1st day of school pictures. She was very excited!

I love, love, love that we are close enough to walk, or if your 3 years old run or ride your bike to school.

Blake was really happy until about 11 when I headed out to run errands and then he wanted to know where his sister was. Sissa? Sissa? It is honestly probably easier to run errands with both than just Blake because she entertains him so well.

Also, I have been trying to push his nap back, but I ended up putting him down at his regular time of 12:30 and now I have to leave to pick Bailey up (it's 1:20). He's used to a 3 hour nap and Bailey will have a quiet time when we get home, so this should be interesting.

Countdown to Halloween Craft

I saw a version of this online and thought it would be a perfect addition to my Halloween collection as a fun way to countdown to Halloween for the kids. One could possibly say that I have entered the "nesting phase" of pregnancy and am definitely trying to get things done beforehand.

Here's my attempt at a tutorial, although it is pretty self explanatory.

Materials Needed:

Halloween papers

Halloween embellishments (as many as you want)

Numbers (I used different colored stickers)

Poster Board

Magnet Strip

Glue Stick
Hot Glue Gun

2 24 cup muffin tins

Ribbon for hanging

Cut the paper to fit the size of the muffin tin. My salt shaker was the perfect size.

I glued poster board to the decorative paper to make it thicker and added a magnet at the top and bottom.

Arrange the papers in the order you want them.

Have fun embellishing! I used ribbon, 3-D stickers, regular sticker, and rick rack.

And then Luke punched two holes for hanging it on a wall with ribbon and because he can, he popped rivets to hold it together. You could also just hot glue it together.

Next I made the top part: Countdown to Halloween and Viola! Just need to add ribbon for hanging, but you get the idea.

When Halloween comes around you put goodies in the muffin tin for a daily surprise.

What is Something Postive About Your Sink Leaking and Causing Pretty Bad Cabinet Damage?

When you find your handyman HOT and he provides fast service. Plus, his helper is pretty cute too! : ) 

I do however feel a little bad for Bailey's future husband if he's not handy because he may never measure up to the "best fixer in the world" (Bailey's recent words).

Reflections on The Glorious 2nd Trimester

I thought I would take a moment to reflect on my 2nd trimester, which I lovingly call "glorious" before I enter the 3rd trimester, which comes with a bit more complaining and uncomfortableness.

• I love that I have an excuse to take an afternoon nap and am still sleeping well at night
• I love that I have more motivation to tackle projects and take advantage of my time (future entries to come about some projects)
• I love that baby girl is very active and I can feel her kicking and moving all the time
• I love my hair and nails and complexion
• I love that the belly is getting tight and all foods sound wonderful, however, I have put on a little bit of weight...

Just kidding! This picture was taken with the fat booth app for iphones (thanks to Ms. Katie Foshea) and will forever be an encouragement to me to eat healthy even during pregnancy so that I never end up looking like this. Here's what I really look like at 27 weeks.

And can I just close with the fact that I am SO thankful that I survived the summer without preschool in this heat. It wasn't easy and I feel like I just learned how to do what I need to having the kids all the time. However, with Bailey starting preschool next week and Franny watching Blake one of those day, I know that I can survive the 3rd trimester and that Thanksgiving will be here before I know it.

Family Reunion

This past weekend was the second full weekend in August and that means it was time to head up to the good ole Aledo Community Center for a family reunion of my dad's side. It's about as close to something out of Little House on the Prairie as you will see these days. Saturday is a day for fellowship, craft exchange, and potluck lunch. Sunday is a church service (Baptist style) with lots of old hymns and a message brought by a family member followed by another potluck lunch and family pictures. I really don't know how many people have the privilege of doing something like this every year, but then again not many people get the same privilege of growing up within walking distance of their grandmother's house and wearing out a path going there over the years. 

This is my Nana's clan. It has been such a joy to watch my kids with her. Bailey is finally old enough to know where she keeps her toys and goes right there to get them when we are visiting. Nana of course loves that Bailey knows and remembers her.

Here are two of the kids that Tori took playing around with her new camera.

During the trip we also got to go visit my dad and Uncle Fun at the newly remodeled Tackett Pharmacy with compounding lab. Not sure if Pa's helpers actually helped any, but it was fun for them to get to see him at his real job. Of course it took Bailey no time to make herself at home and find the suckers.

And there are always adventures to be had at my parents place. 

During one of our gator rides we go to see a choo-choo up close. (Look to the middle left of the picture)

And Bailey feeding her favorite cow Becky.

Parenting Conference

This past weekend we attended a parenting seminar by Paul Tripp, which I would highly recommend if you ever get a chance to attend one. I am not really sure what I expected, but I walked away refreshed, encouraged, and energized about parenting my two little ones. I remember reading a bunch of parenting books when Bailey was younger and reaching a point of enough theory and just needing to wait to be able to put things into practice. Well, this conference was perfectly timed because it is no longer theory for us and it hasn't been for awhile. We actually walked away with practical advice we could put into use and were affirmed about alot of what we were doing and to stay the course. I wish I could have written down all the good quotes I heard there, but here are a few:

"Children do not live by the facts, but by their interpretation of those facts."

"Your child's struggles are your job opportunities and job description."

"Be an instrument of heart changing grace in the little moments of life that God will give you with your children."

"If you aren't intent on placing God in the center of your child's world, then he will place himself there because he wants to be God."

"You have to live with prepared spontaneity."

On a completely different note, a couple days later I heard this beautiful song by Shane and Shane, which I can't get out of my head. It speaks of the same thing Paul Tripp did, in that, everything we do needs to be pointing our kids to their creator- Jesus. Click on the link to enjoy- The One You Need

Superman Prayer

These hands can only mean one thing at the Mezger household and that is that it's time to pray!

So that may not have been the best example of it, but hopefully you get the gist- that your arms fly around like Superman while you sing the song. Thanks to Emily for teaching it to us.

Summer Fun

It's been one HOT summer, but we have still managed to have fun. Here's a random collection of some of what we have been up to, but believe it or not there are many, many times that I just haven't had the camera near by.


Tori came down for a visit and we floated the Guadalupe River. The water flow was actually so low that we paddled most of the way, which was work for us, but fun for our little swimemr. These were at lunch at the Grismill and on the way home.

I have tried to keep up with walking, but just keep moving it earlier and earlier. Check out this stroller brigade. Tori was a good sport and walked Blue.

We went to the Cameron Zoo in Waco.









 

The Zilker Park & Train Ride. Blake was in heaven choo- chooing the whole way.

 

 Swimming with the Foshea Fam. B and Emmy were quite proud of their matching Ariel swimsuits.

 

Park Playdate with Abby

 

 

Lots of Dress Up Days as Toy Story

What have you been up to?