Big Sister, Little Brother

Discovery Green

Today playgroup was at Discovery Green's fun splash pad and Kate was just in heaven. It was fun to think back to last year when we went as one of the first playgroups here in Houston. We've grown a little last year. Kate has grown a little braver, Sawyer has grown a little bigger and I've grown to like Houston a little more.
Kate didn't hesitate to get in and have a ball. The fountains cycle between big and little and off and on and such and you should have seen the look on Kate's face when she found herself in the middle of the place when the fountains got really tall. She was in full panic mode and you could see it in her face! She ran blindly (literally, she was being blinded as she ran straight through these big fountains) back to me. I wish I had a picture of that face....she soon discovered how fun it was to go under the big sprays of water and she couldn't be stopped.

Sawyer woke up from his nap and had a little fun...although the water was a little cold for him (and probably looks like niagra falls when you're that little) so he wasn't too into it. He had fun playing on the side. And check out how ginormous his swimming suit is.

Kate lasted longer than all the other kids and, at one point, had the place all to herself. She seriously spent 2 1/2 hours running around. The whole way home she kept saying how we were going to take Daddy there because it was so much fun. (Daddy is in finals and a little MIA right now.)
I came home and found I got a wickedly awesome sunburn on my back. Skin cancer aside, I really like getting sunburns. So now that we've partied with the water in 90 degree weather its probably safe to say summer is arriving. Just when I was starting to think I liked Houston.

free ice cream cone day!

Today Ben and Jerry's is having free ice cream cone day! We went after lunch and it was pretty busy. The closest one to us is in Rice village....which probably means nothing to most of you, but to Houstonians it means fun place with lots of stores and not much parking. So we had a fun walk and then some yummy ice cream. Before we even got in the car to go Kate told me she wanted pink ice cream, so she had strawberry. And I had Yellow Brickle Road which was just delicious. I highly recommend it.

At the end I wanted to take a picture of Kate eating her cone and I said "Say ice cream!" she said "Ice cream...cone....without the ice cream!" It was pretty cute.

So hurry on over to your local Ben and Jerry's! They said they're open until 8!

a Coldplay day....

We have accidentally, but happily, had a very yellow day today

Kate picked out one of her favorite new shirts....she calls it her princess shirt. And it just so happens to be yellow.

This afternoon, while Saywer was taking a nap, Kate and I played Pretty Pretty Princess and I asked Kate what color she was going to be. She said, "I'm going to be yellow because I'm awesome."


(she did later switch to pink, though.)
Then for dinner we had corn on the cob....or as Kate called it "corn on the dog" or one time "corn dog on the ob". Its been a while since we had it and she was skeptical at first, but soon found she loved it.

Sawyer did have a little fun today too, although it wasn't yellow related. It has been beautiful here (after a few days of rain, rain and more rain) so we went and blew some of the bubbles the Easter bunny left us. Sawyer hasn't seen bubbles in his life.

*picture this*

Sawyer is standing in front of me and I blew some bubbles towards him and he, at first, looks surprised. Then he starts to giggle. He giggles everytime I blow the bubbles towards him. Then he starts getting out his cute little pointer finger and popping them. All the while he is standing on his cute, chubby legs.

the reason you have to picture it in your head instead of looking at an actual picture is because it is impossible to take a picture and be the bubble blower at the same time. Trust me, I tried it.

Here is one short video that I took that sets the scene but really doesn't compare.


And so there you have it. An accidental but totally fun yellow day.

my cutie church girl

It seems like just yesterday I saw this cutie dress on my niece....I don't know why kids have to grow up so fast! But here is Kate in her new dress that she was just in love with today. She especially loved the spin action she gets with it!

This girl loves to color. Today, like other days, we had to drag her away from the nursery coloring table to go home.
(she has since finished it and hung it on the fridge herself!)

Our *pretend* New York City adventure

Now that Kate has taken to pretending non-stop, I think I got the *pretending* bug and today we pretended we were in NYC.....where a good portion of myself still thinks we should be going to school.
Here are some of our adventures in *the city*

First we left our *two story walk up* and headed to the train.

Kate with her *metro card*


she was really excited to ride the train

Then we met Daddy at *Columbia* for lunch.

Walked over to the *Bethesda Fountain* and Sawyer practiced his standing/walking skills
Watched a pigeon eat a chip
Went to Mommy's Dr appt on the 18th floor and got to ride a really fast elevator. Then we looked out the window and Kate counted all the taxis or "orange cars"....we got to 6.
Then we rode the train back home.We arrived home quite exhausted.

I still think it would be fun to explore NYC with my two kids. But for now we'll just have to settle for pretending every once in a while....

The hunt

Today in Primary we were wrapping up with Senior singing time, about ready to dismiss, when we could hear this really loud thunder and all of a sudden you could just hear it pouring. We got soaked as we tried to leave church! On the way out to the car, I was holding all of my primary stuff and Kate and I was walking as fast as I could in my heels and then it started raining harder and Kate said, "what...is....happening?"
After we got home and ate lunch and waited for Sawyer to wake up from his nap, the sun decided to poke its shiny head out and the Easter bunny was still able to hide the eggs outside. Kate did have to wear her boots, though. Check out the puddles!

Kate was so funny. For a while she was saying, "holy cow!" but it has changed into "holy mole!" She kept saying it over and over as she darted from one egg to another.

I think she was pretty happy with the loot!I think its so funny how for Kate's first egg hunt we set a couple of eggs out on mom's patio and everyone gathered around as she crawled towards them. Poor Sawyer, his parents thought it was too wet for him so he just watched....and didn't know any different!

Once we got inside and Kate started opening all her eggs, Sawyer sat right by her. Its amazing to me to observe how closely he watches her and then imitates it. He started picking up the eggs and throwing them into the basket. He thought it was a really fun game. For Easter dinner, we went over to Ryan's friend from school's house and had the usual yummy ham and potatoes. I brought dessert and decided to make a Martha Stewart lemon cake.
It was so yummy. But it is the last straw. I am back on my diet tomorrow.

Easter Egging

This was the first year that Kate was really into it...and big enough that I didn't have to worry about her making a disastrous mess. (Don't worry, I did more than enough worrying about Sawyer!)

Kate plopped the colors in and we soon found that our pink was defective. (can you see it there, all speckled like and not dissolved?) What a rip off!
The eggs were a success! We can't wait to hunt them!

Addicted to sewing

Yesterday my fingers couldn't accept the fact that there wasn't a sewing project I had to do...so they made one up. I think I have officially forgotten what I used to do with my days before all I did was sew....

Let's pretend

Kate has been all about pretending lately. All I hear is "I'm pretending that...."

It is quite adorable.

She ran into the kitchen while I was making dinner and she said, "Mama, come see what I made in my room!"

I came in to find this:

"I am pretending it is Lala's birthday."

The other day she told me she was going to visit Lala's grammie. She packed up her backpack with the "necessities" and the next thing I know, her and every baby/animal she owns were sitting on the small couch.

"I am pretending I am on an airplane."