Friday, August 22, 2008

*Wink *wink

Katharine has been practicing her winking skills... Check it out:

Monday, August 18, 2008

Pics and next Olympic hopeful

Kit Kat enjoying the toddler area
Whoah.. Such a dare devil...

Birthday boy WilliamDeanna and Kate...
William
Deanna and Kate
Jakob going down....
The sickness.. Poor baby.. :(
And this is great... I always knew she was talented..but I had no idea about this.. or where she learned it from.. I wish I could say she learned it from watching the olympics..but no..
I walked over to the toddler area and saw her doing this.. all by herself.. I think its time to start researching gyms.. I have the next Mary lou on my hands ;)


As always.. turn DOWN the volume to avoid my annoying voice..


Cousin Williams birthday..

This past weekend was Williams 3rd birthday. He was had his party on Saturday and since we had missed the previous 2 birthdays I was dead set on making this one.
Of course Dustin had to work Saturday so it was just the kiddos and I. So we set off for Austin at 12:30 and we were going straight to the bounce house that the party was being held out.
Deanna had emailed me pretty simple directions...so I thought. I should be a pro at going to Austin..Its not my first or even 6th time.. I have been tons of times.. But I am never the driver so there for I never pay attention.
Well I should have known that it was going to be a loooong trip when I missed the 290 turn off at brenhem. HELLO.. I ended up going towards Sumerville and called Dustin to get me turned around. This would not be the last he heard from me.
So once on 290 again, we were on our way...again.
When we reached Eligin(about 30 miles outside of Austin) There was a pretty big brush/hay bale fire right at the intersection so we were tied up there for a good 20 minutes until they got it under control.
My next obstacle came when the exit for 35 came up. Now.. I did not know that there were 2 separate exits for 35. One for north and one for South. My directions just said take 35 to the right. Well I took this very literal. What Deanna meant was take the 35 exit that the bridge goes to the right.. not an actual right turn.. DOH. I guess I am a north, south, east, west girl after all.
So there I was .. headed to San Marcus. But I didnt realize I had made a mistake till I got through all the downtown Austin traffic... made fun of the Morons headed the other way because they were at a stand still .. and made it to a little town called Buda. Then I realized....wait a minute..this can not be right. So I once again made that call to Dustin. After he made fun of my lack of directional knowledge he got me turned around and headed NORTH on 35 and from there it was a cake walk. So I arrived at the party about an hour late and frustrated but it was all worth it.
William and Jakob are like two peas in a pod. When they are together they play non stop and we never have to entertain them.
Jakob only got stuck once on one of the bouncy things. He climbed all the way up and then couldnt get down. A super mom (not me) came to his rescue and I was grateful.

But I was so proud of Jakob because by the end of the party he was sliding down the HUGE slide al by himself. YAY. We had a great time and loved seeing all the kids interact so cute.
Kate got to practice her new talent.. I ll expand on this in the next post.
After the party we headed to Deannas house to veg out for the rest of the evening.
The kids stayed up till 9 oclock and then fell asleep before their heads ever hit the pillow.
Deanna, Chris and Aunt becky(Dustins moms sister) and I, Stayed up till 3am talking.
At 5am I heard Jakob screaming.. uggg.. So I went to get him out of the bedroom and in his sleepy stupor he locked himself in and couldnt figure out how to unlock the door. So it was about 4 minutes of screaming from him and me trying to calm him down through the door before we got it open.
Jakob said he didnt feel good so I let him sleep in bed with me. And I use the word sleep very loosely here. Around 7am the waterworks began.

Jakob spent the rest of the morning puking his little guts out all over the place.
I spent the morning cleaning up after him and fretting driving home with this condition.
Around 2pm Jakob seemed to feel better. Hadnt puked in a couple hours so we tried some crackers.... they stayed down.. YAY!
We got on the road home and we made excellent time.. since there were no scenic detours (getting lost). We did have to travel about 40 mphs on the highway because of the rain. It was so hard I couldnt see anything... so let me take a moment to talk about one of my pet peeves..
if it is raining.. pretty hard outside... TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS!! I cant tell you how many people were driving with their lights off.. I couldnt see the rears of these cars and was so terrified of hitting them. Luckily we made it home safe and sound.
It was a great weekend and I cant wait to go back to Austin when we can stay longer!!
Thanks Deanna for putting up with our pukes and moans.. I love you guys!!

p.s. I took tons of pictures of the kids.. but none of them came out.. our camera sucks.. so I ll post the ones that are decent.. in another post :D

September rush

I want to start by saying.. Where the heck did August go? Is it really almost the end? I am amazed at how fast this year is flying by. I honestly can remember New years eve like it was yesterday...
As September rolls around the days just start flying by faster and with more activities.
Dont get me wrong.. this IS my favorite time of year. I consider from September on to be The Holiday season simply because of all the fun family events that we attend and birthdays.
So September starts off with Kates Birthday. My big 2 year old girl. And as always the next couple weeks I will most likely be posting sappy posts about my big girl and how much she has grown and how sad I get around every birthday. So I just wanted to forwarn you ;)
After September well.. And a few other birthdays sprinkled here and there.. we have October.. Now here is where we have hit the motherload.
Jakob starts school the first week of October.. and I can not wait till he starts let me tell you...

Then we have my birthday, Dustin and I s 7 th Wedding anniversary along with 3 other couples wedding anniversaries on the same day.. 1 couple who we are very close to and in fact actually hooked up..but our matchmaking skills are a whole other post.
After our anniversary it is the Beach house, neices birthday, Twins birthday/Halloween. November is another bevy of birthdays and then Thanksgiving and right around the corner Christmas..
I love how busy this time of year is. Coupled with the weather change and I am one happy girl!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

10 Yrs already??

This past weekend I attended my 10 year reunion celebration in McKinney.
It had been a while since I had been back so I was quite amazed at its growth.
Dustin informed me that my little town was the 3rd Fastest growing City in America.
We took the back roads up to Dallas and it was nice and relaxing. Where were the kids you ask? Well my wonderful grandmother flew in from Wisconsin to watch them.. isnt that awesome?
We got to McKinney and did a little shopping. It was nice to visit the Mall that I spent so much time at.
My very good friend Matt had arranged for us to stay at his parents house(since he lived about 30 minutes away)while his parents were on vacation.

Friday night we went to this awesome bar downtown called Stans Blue note, It was a large bar filled with smoke and booze. Thats not what made it awesome but it helped.
I was a little intimidated walking in. Did I really want or care to see these people? I have kept in contact with my closest friends but alot of them drifted off or I drifted off.
But right away I spotted some of my favorite people and the anxiety left me.
The beer was flowing and so was the conversation. It was a nice relaxing time.
Afterwards we went to my favorite after bar place, Cafe Brazil for some breakfast. We had to wait for about an hour since we had about 12 people with us. Dustin had already passed out a couple times and people were beginning to get a little angry. But we got seated and were able to have a Fantastic 3am breakfast.
We got to Matts house and passed out around 4:30am. At 10am I had to get up.. I am not used to sleeping that late and I felt that I was waisting the day away. So we went on our rounds to visit our people. My Brother, My sister and Friends.
Saturday night instead of going to the actual Reunion that was outside in 100 degree weather and cost 60 dollars for fajitas and cheap wine and a keg, we decided to have a little shindig at Matts house(Preapproved by his parents) Andy brought out the Rock band and we jammed those guitars and the real things as well. Dustin jammed on the Jimbi(a african drum thing) and the boys played guitar and sang, I lent my great humming abilities to the peice and it was perfect harmony.
Sunday we had every intention of getting up and going to church. Our good friend and former Worship Pastor leads at a church in Frisco, but needless to say we didnt make it in.
We hung around at Matts for a good while, chatting up the half drunk, half passed out people that were scattered about the house.
It made me realize that I love my life. I couldnt imagine the meaningless sex with someone you just met or the all nighters just to pass out and sleep the day away. I am so glad we are over that.
Although I couldnt wait to see my kiddos we hung around with Andy for a little while and watched a movie. Then we left to resume our responsibilities.
Gramms had the whole house RE decorated and had done up our previously drab bedroom. Her words were, The kids rooms are decorated, you need a special place for you and Dustin. And special it is now indeed. She purchased a beautiful bedspread and adorned it with gorgeous fluffy and silky pillows. Pictures were hung and candles were brought in, It is quite romantic now.
Gramms didnt do this on her own, her best bud came in from Dallas and assisted with this Makeover. Big thanks to the Pet!! I love ya!!
The next few days were filled with getting back into the swing of things, My grandmother informing me that my children were perfectly behaved when I was NOT around, and the dog as well..lol.
And then the inevitable trip to the airport to drop gramms off.
But I do have high hopes because I know that it will not be another 6 months to a year before I see her again. She will be Wintering in Texas this November to escape the Mind blowing snow in Wisconsin woohoo.
So that was my blast to the past. It was odd and awesome all in the same. I was pleased to see the people that had meant so much to me in my high school life to see them happy and meeting their lovely spouses or significant others. Makes me proud!! I love those guys and I am thrilled that they picked amazing women. Good job fellas.
And that was that. To the next 10 years!!!
Here are some pics.. :X

My hot hubby and I at Stans


Jennifer and I(my other half in High school)


Boy how we have changed

Billy, me, Dana and Ses(and baby)(Bill and Ses got back together after 10 years apart)

10 year ago in Padre: Ses, Billy, Dana and myself...

John playing rock band

Serious drummer Andy

My man Candy..the offical party Dustin pose.