Our Family Garden

Nicholas has been asking for a vegetable garden for years... With new found inspiration from my friend Amy & a LOT of help from Jason's parents, we now have a garden (and even a compost pile)! It measures approximately 4' x 8' and houses plenty of fruits and veggies. Hopefully we will be growing: lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, carrots, green onions, jalapeno peppers, strawberries, green beans, chives, dill, cilantro, basil, and sage. I think that is our comprehensive list. Let's hope my thumb turns green... quickly.

Matthew, Nicholas, & Grandma planting green beans

Nicholas planting green onions

"Finished" Product

New Playscape

My months of begging have finally payed off! Last week we bought a new playscape for the boys & Jason's parents helped us put it together! It took a few more than the suggested 8-10 hours, but it wasn't too bad. The boys love it - they "serve" lemonade (or glasses cleanings), hang on monkey bars, swing, & slide. Too fun! So far, the investment has been totally worth it!

Finished Product

The boys swinging

work in progress - no monkey bars or glider yet

My Baby the KINDERGARTNER!

On Monday, March 8th, I registered Nicholas for Kindergarten. Oh the sadness. I knew this day would come, and here we are. My boy has been "ready" for kindergarten for YEARS! He has asked how long until he gets to go & counts down the months. Although it will be difficult for me (& Matthew, I am sure), he is ready & excited to move on to the next stage of life: Elementary School. I remember kindergarten - Mrs. Bittner, the letter people, the monkey bars IN our classroom, birthday treats. I hope Nicholas is able to create wonderful memories as well.

Nicholas & Gabe - already sucking up to the principal!

With the nurse... making sure all immunizations are in order!

Below the Cactus Ranch sign... future Kindergartners!

SOCCER!

Nicholas is playing soccer again this season. The main difference is that we are now the GREEN DRAGONS (instead of Blue). Dad is still one of the coaches and Nicholas VERY MUCH enjoys soccer. I think this may be our last soccer season as we will start t-ball in the fall. He sticks his tongue out while playing & loves to score goals for each member of his family.

Cute Boys!

Adorable boys...

Nicholas

Matthew

Gonna GET YOU!

Nicholas seems to pick out matching "outfits" for church every Sunday. Two Sundays ago they wore identical shirts with khakis (see pictures). Last Sunday they wore long sleeved white shirts with sweater vests over the top (Red for Nicholas, blue for Matthew) & khakis. While it is certainly adorable, I wonder what people think! No, I do not purposely dress my boys alike, but Nicholas LOVES to wear the same thing as his brother (yes, they do have matching shoes from Stride Rite - that might be more of a price issue than anything else!). Regardless, they are totally adorable and totally in love with each other (still)!

Cowboy Nicholas

Nicholas had "Cowboy Day" at preschool last week! Enjoy the pic of my little cowboy!

SNOW in Texas

Yes, it ACTUALLY snowed this time! Tuesday morning we heard an odd sound - it was like sleet/rain/snow. Strange for Texas! I carpool to Nicholas' preschool, so out the door we went at 8:30am. The roads were fine, although I saw several minor accidents (I am still a Midwest driver). Nicholas' school let out early and he was home by 12pm. The boys & I headed outside to enjoy the snow. It was REALLY good packing snow, heavy, wet. The snow made some BEAUTIFUL snowmen. Except that I have boys. Boys like to destroy. The fun of MAKING a snowman was JUMPING on it after! The destruction part was amusing to watch. Enjoy these pics of of snowy day. FYI - it was 78 degrees just two days prior to the snow, 53 degrees the day after, and 64 degrees today. Odd Texas weather...

The DESTRUCTION

Snowy backyard

Adorable Math.

Handsome Nicholas

Brother love (best pic of the two boys)

Our "best" snowman (prior to destruction)

Haircut

The inevitable happened. Matthew's hair went from cute curls to out of control. I trimmed his bangs last week (one piece was down to the tip of his nose) but left the curls alone. Jason is so attached to them! However, after the bang-trim, he looked like he had a mullet. Not okay (according to Jason). Tuesday was the "Big" day. I took him to the brave, brave soul who also cuts my hair & Nicholas' hair (this is difficult, he actually has OPINIONS about his hair). May I just say that she is amazing!! She was so great with Math and he hardly complained. Not to mention how CUTE his hair looks!! Enjoy the pics... miss the curls.

Getting ready for the cut!

Midway through. Thank goodness for suckers!

After! Adorable...

Front shot, after

Disney Fun!

Our family took a much needed vacation to Disney World several weeks ago. We stayed in an awesome Disney Resort (Wilderness Lodge) and played at the parks for a week.
Every park became Nicholas' "Favorite". He loved every minute of the trip, especially all the roller-coasters (yes, even Space Mountain). A MAJOR high from the trip was our first day at Magic Kingdom. Nicholas & I RAN to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (my all-time favorite ride) and ended up being the FIRST to ride! They made him "Sheriff" of the day and we rode in the train all by ourselves! What a memory! Matthew learned a slew of new words: ride, airplane, bus, boat, Mickey Mouse, and others I am sure. He really enjoyed every minute.
Here are some pics from our trip.











Nicholas meets Darth.










At the Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant (cool place, food was terrible)










The boys with Lightening McQueen & Tow Mater.









Family picture with Donald outside Tusker House.









Nicholas with Plu-dolph (a.k.a. Pluto)









Math at Epcot. Waiting for bro & Dad.

Why I am a ROCK STAR!

So my neighborhood buddy, Uyen, & I started running together months ago. Maybe October? I am not exactly sure. We typically run 3 days per week, in the mornings (6:30am!), somewhere between 3 and 4 miles. Uyen is such a great running buddy, sets an awesome pace and is very motivating! Late (LATE) December, we decided we'd try and run the 3M Half Marathon. We keep running during the week and tried a couple of longer runs, our longest being 5 miles. We didn't have high expectations going into Sunday's 3M Half Marathon, but we were ambitious! We started running with the 1 hour, 30 minute group (mostly because we had JUST ran out of the hotel bathroom and realized the race had started). It wasn't really our fault. The race was postponed over an hour due to windy conditions creating "holes" in the course. Those speedy ones quickly passed us & we kept our steady pace. By mile 6, we were shocked to still be running. By mile 9 it was official. We KNEW we would finish & run the entire 13.1 miles. We did. It was SO INSPIRING to read messages on others shirts. "I am 50!" "Running in memory of ___" "Blind Runner". It was so awesome to hear people cheering us on... random strangers would call out our numbers or say "You Go Girls!" during our run... such encouragement! I loved it! My official time was 2:47:54. So proud of Uyen! So proud of myself! It was an awesome accomplishment!