Someone Knows I Love Halloween

First she made Bailey this cute outfit, then

my homemade surprise came in the mail today!!!

Thanks mom!!!

"I Knew I Could, I Knew I Could"

Lately Bailey has really enjoyed reading and watching The Little Engine That Could, which came in perfect last night when we insisted that she try to ride her bike without training wheels. We told her to just talk to herself like the Little Engine did. We knew that she could do it, but we just hadn't had the time to really try it and let me clarify that by "we" I actually mean Luke because there is no way that right now I could do the slightly-bent-over-run-beside-her-to-make-sure-she-isn't-going-to-fall-move like Luke had to do at first. Anyways, she DID IT and by the end was saying "I knew I could, I knew I could".

So Back and Forth and Back and Forth She Went

Now we just need to work on starting up because it's still a little tricky for her.

6 Weeks, 6 Goals

This is totally the teacher in me, but I had my 34 week appointment (a little early as I am only 33.5 weeks) this morning and I think it snapped me into reality of how soon this baby will be here. So, here are my 6 goals:


For Bailey: To learn to buckle her carseat by herself, so we can move her to the back of the minivan and not have to climb back there to buckle her in.

For Blake: To walk as much as possible, instead of me carrying him.

For Luke: To finish his 4 remaining house to-dos that don't have anything to do with the baby, but won't get done after the baby gets here.  This does mean that I have give him the time to actually do them.

For Me: To finish the Christmas shopping that I had wanted to get done by September.

For Me: To actually get ready for baby girl. Set up her area in our room, wash clothes, get baby gear out and organize.

For Me: To enjoy my family as much as possible and fill their love banks to overflowing. 

RAIN!!!

What??? Rain in Austin??? Yes, not sure the exact amount, but it was more than a sprinkle. Here are a few of the kids enjoying it this afternoon. Bailey loved it and Blake wasn't so sure. Blake was trying to have fun by copying his sister until it started to really pour and then he just wanted daddy.

 

You Know It Hasn't Rained In Awhile When:

Wednesday of this week Bailey ask to take a "rainbath", which is what she calls a shower. Thinking that she had missed church & preschool this week due to a double ear infection brought on my some nasty congestion, I was thinking that the steam might be good for her, so I agreed. I also really just thought that it would help take up some time before quiet time. Bailey quickly got her new umbrella that she had just gotten for her birthday and played "rain" in the bathtub. I didn't get a picture, but it was quite cute.

Halloween Costumes

So, I had no idea that these pictures posted. I thought I had just uploaded them to a draft and was going to write later, but I guess with blogger changing their dashboard that I need to learn to navigate better.

Anyways, here are the kiddos in their costumes this year. I always take pictures beforehand because the day of Halloween is too crazy for me, but this picture session was actually Bailey's idea because yes I do realize that it is only the first week of October. Emmy was so sweet and had given her the Buzz Lightyear parts (look to the right of the kids) to put on a pumpkin and she decided she needed to be Woody.  I used it as an opportunity to do a trial run with the costumes and let's just say that Blake doesn't need to grow any in the next few weeks or I might not be able to squeeze him into his costume.

You will have to wait till Halloween to see Luke & I in action. : )

 

Bailey & Owen's 4th Birthday Party

 I didn't have my normal gusto when thinking about planning a birthday party this year, which was sad to me because it was the first year Bailey really cared about having a party. So, I enlisted the help of my sister-in-law who is a party planning extraordinaire to see if she was interested in a joint party  (Owen's birthday is only 3 weeks after Bailey's birthday). After talking with both our kids, it was settled. The only thing was that both kids wanted their own cakes and Bailey REALLY wanted a rainbow cake. I happened to mention this to Ali at about 8 p.m. one night to see if that would be a problem (about the rainbow cake) and the way I remember her response was "I can totally work with that" and seriously by 10 p.m., maybe earlier there were no less than 4 emails in my inbox with links to ideas about a rainbow parties. It was such a fun, easy theme with seemlessly endless possibilities and I think we did a good job of not going overboard, although it would not have been hard. Here's what we came up with for Bailey and Owen's big kid party:

The Birthday Outfit:

The Decorations:

Franny was very gracious to let us use her new house to have the party.

 

 

Happy Fourth Birthday Sign

In case you don't want to get out your magnifying glasses to read it, it says Happy Fourth Birthday Bailey and Owen.

Party Favors: 

Homemade Rainbow Crayons.

This was a fun little experiment that Ali and I did while at Port A and we learned that not all silicone molds are meant for baking : ).

The Food:

For Fun:

"Kiddie Wash"- think car wash for kids

Ali found this idea and showed it to Luke, who happened to mention how easy it would be to make and that settled it. I still can't believe we had a water party in Oct!?!

We also had a slip and slide.

The cakes:

  

Bailey's Cake:

Dyed white cake with rainbow on the inside. Luke and I were quite proud of how the cake turned out. Bailey got to stay up late the night before the party helping us make most of it, but if you know Bailey, then you know that we waited to assemble it once she was in bed.

 

 

 

 

Owen's Cake:

Chocolate with rainbow on the inside and outside

Happy Birthday to you:

 

I think the look on Owen's face was due to the fact that Bailey was blowing out the candles on his cake. Not really sure why the right cakes were not in front of the right kid???

Thankfully Owen was flexible because Bailey (with a little help from Emmy) was quick to blow out the candles in front of her.

 Another one of the birthday cousins:

This was another Ali idea. It was a hot air balloon for the kids to play in and take cute pictures. Did I mention she is a creative genius???

 There I am with good friends Chelsie and Emily.

And there's Luke making some yummy homemade margaritas.

 And Blake getting sweet sugars from Nana.

Happy Birthday (again) to my big 4 year old.

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.