Port A

"Vacationing together is when cousins become best friend."

We snuck in one last trip this summer with Franny and the other Mezgers to Port A. We spent just shy of a week mostly just enjoying the beach, but I will also remember Luke and Owen building sand castles with Bailey and Blake teamed up trying to destroy them, the kids pushing "Big Guy" and "Little Guy" a.k.a. the dump truck and maintainer, chasing crabs, feeding the sea gulls, and a little pool swimming. Both kids were pretty self-entertained and it was great! Dare I say that at times it felt like a vacation?!?

So, I saw the above quote on facebook this summer and I think it fits so well for this trip. We are so blessed to live so close to Luke's family and that the cousins are so close in age, but also that they would want to take a vacation with us. Not all families are so lucky. Anyways, if you can't tell from the pictures below this really was a kid's trip and I saw so many sweet moments between them. Blake was semi-obsessed with "baby" a.k.a. Maggie, but also learned to say his own version of Becca. Bailey and Owen were most often found together- watching their morning movie, imaginary play in the beach house, "working" on the beach, telling knock-knock jokes at meal times. It was fun to watch. I can't wait to see what happens between Rebecca and Blake as they get older as well as Maggie and Blair.

Okay, here are some of my favorites*.

*I could/would have more pictures if our internet was working as it should, but I am pretty sure we have a virus and after way too many hours trying to upload pictures, this will have to do for now. Might update at a later point when I am not so frustrated. : )

 Here is a link to my sister-in-law's blog with a more complete set of pictures.

 

 

 

Baby girl has a name and it is...

Blair because we liked it. If you remember, it was what we would have named Blake if he were to have been a girl, but I did spend quite a bit of time researching all girl B names just to be sure. The middle name Kathryn is after my dad's sister whom Luke and I dearly love and admire. So who can say Bailey, Blake, Blair 10 times in a row without messing up???

And one artsy shadow profile shot of the belly.

So, my sweet sister-in-law, Alison, took these for me when we were at Port A last week. Aren't they good? (if I do say so myself). She is one of those people with an eye for what would look good and is quite gifted behind the camera. My strategy with pictures is quantity (and surely I will get something), but hers is quality. Just wait till you see the rest of the pictures from Port A.

There's A Spirit That Can Ne'er Be Told

It's the Spirit of Aggieland

This year we decided to take Bailey to her first game (gotta start the brainwashing young, right?), plus we got to meet up with Tori and despite the one point loss, there is no where I would rather watch the game from than Kyle Field.

Bailey was SO excited to see Tori.

I had to share these pictures to show off gameday fashion. Tori is modeling the cute skirt with top and boots, but it looked like all the girls had on either dresses with boots, skirts with boots, t-shirts and shorts with boots. I can't really imagine wearing boots to a game because there is usually a long walk to the stadium and then as a student you stand the whole game on swaying stands facing the sun, but I guess a girl needs to look cute too.

Mommy and her girl.

It was about this point that Luke and I had a very serious talk with Bailey about running off into the sea of maroon because it would be hard to find her.

A&M does a really good job of catering to kids on gameday. Maybe other schools to do too, but I wouldn't know. Anyways, this was us getting out pre-game energy at the bouncy house/obstacle course.

Thought this one was a good one of the girls.

We carefully planned our seats so that if Bailey got restless, then we could head to a grassy area where she could run around and I could lay down and rest my back and still watch the game on the big screen. However, we had to warn Bailey about the cannon that was close by. By the end of the game when she heard the roar of the crowd, then she knew to cover her ears for the boom.

This was Bailey covering her ears when they were singing the OSU fight song before the game... LOVE IT!

Tori is up there somewhere.

Half  time visit from daddy.

Tori and her roomate Jill came and sat with us for the 4th quarter.

Bailey did really good until the 4th quarter when I think the day started to take it's toll. I really can't blame her as it was a long televised game, in the heat, without a nap, but we had fun and made some good memories. We weren't in our car 5 minutes and she was out! Until next year Kyle Field : ).

Bailey Turns 4 and Daddy Comes Home

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Bailey who turned 4 yesterday. Mommy just couldn't take her eyes off of you all day, remembering all your memories and wondering when you got so big.

These are a few pictures of our big 4 year old I took at my parent's place the day before her birthday.

On her birthday eve, we had a Tackett dinner at Chuck E Cheese. I think it was a blast for "kids" of all ages and Bailey & Blake for sure wants to go back.

After breakfast on her birthday, we headed back to Austin and had some Amy's ice cream with one of her best buds Abby who shares the same birthday. Abby gave Bailey some new dinosaurs and an egg to hatch. Bailey sat at the window seal longer than I thought possible eagerly waiting for Buddy to come out, which he eventually did.

We also got to see the other Mezger cousins for a brief, but very sweet visit. Bailey may not fully appreciate her present now, but her parents sure do and we hope to make Dave Ramsey proud. More on the gift in a future blog entry.

And late last night we picked daddy up at the airport. This was the best picture I could get, but to say that the kids were ecstatic to see him would be an understatement. Our timing was impeccable at the airport as Luke was coming down the escalator. As soon as Bailey saw him, she ran and jumped atleast 3 feet into his arms at the bottom. Blake waited with the sign and balloons. They both wanted ALL of daddy's attention, so mommy had to wait till they went to bed. And a HUGE shout out to my friend Emily who knew the craziness and volunteered to bring us dinner complete with rainbow sprinkled cupackes ( a huge hit!)

More on Bailey's 4 year old birthday to come!

What Do Airplanes, Ratatouille, and Turkey All Have in Common?

Well, that's what my kids are talking about because of their daddy's trip. Luke left this past Tuesday to go visit his friend Walt who lives in Turkey. He went via France and spent a day there, where he sent us a picture of him in front of the Eiffel Tower, which Bailey instantly recognized from watching the Disney movie Ratatouille. Blake is now obsessed with airplanes, which he points to and says beep, beep and bye, bye da da. It's quite cute and I hope to get it on video.

Here's the little man of the house pointing to an airplane. This week we had his 18 month old check up and he weighed 24 lbs, 13 ozs and was 32 inches tall.

And here's Bailey pointing out Turkey after a quick geography lesson.

Meanwhile, I am staying busy holding down the fort. Luke is not even halfway done with his trip and I can say that "doing it all" has been harder than I thought, but mostly because of the unexpected. For example, on Thursday, Bailey got sick at school and had to come home early and we have had two poop incidences on the floor that have required alot of clean up (one was Blake and one was Blue because her stomach is upset from Blake feeding her too much people food). So, I have been crafting. I promise this blog is not going to become about my crafting projects, but my sewing machine and I have had a love/hate relationship for years because I don't sew enough and forget things in between projects, but I think I've got the basics down now and am going to show off a few accomplishments.

Can you guess what we are going to be for Halloween? (And yes, that's homemade)

And she wanted to try it on and of course play in it. (Yes, that's an iphone picture of a picture, but I was uploading this at a very late hour and didn't want to go to the original). Luke is going to be Bullseye (hopefully) so the kids were having him get into character with a horsey ride.

And a Jessie shirt for my very pregnant belly in October. I am going to scallop the bottom of the yellow area once I know how big the belly is so that it fits right.

And some chaps.

This is to cover up my storage container full of the kid's coloring stuff, paints, playdough, and other activities that I really don't want them getting into without permission.

And I did go ahead and make my Thankful turkey for Thanksgiving this year. 

Hopefully all this planning ahead means I won't be trying to do anything crazy in the weeks before and after the baby.

Ready For Some Aggie Football

Yes, yes I know that the Aggies play tomorrow, but I couldn't resist dressing them up for College Game Day. 

BTHO...SMU!!!

 

Nana's Moving Day

Luke and I always celebrate the finish of one of his houses, especially as it means the passing of all final inspections by the City of Austin, which is no small undertaking. However, this moving day was special because it was his mom's house and the finish has been eagerly anticipated by all. When she was moving from Meridian to Austin, we came across Luke's senior year book. In it, Franny wrote that maybe someday Luke would build her a house and 13 years later he did. These aren't the best pictures, but Luke and I had a hard time getting any recently because there has always been a vehicle working in the driveway, work going on in the house and now Franny is unpacking all her stuff so this will have to do, but they don't do the house justice. Oh, and just fyi- they are all iphone quality.

If You Are What You Eat, Then We Are...

POPSICLES!!!

It has been one of my survival tools for getting through this summer.