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How far we have come in the last eight years. Happy Anniversary James! I can honestly say that eight years ago I would not have said that I would be doing any of the things that I am currently doing, or that I would have a dog. But times change, and so do people. So here we are two kids and a dog, living a long ways away from where we started, and happy to be celebrating another year in the process of life and love. Now it is time for me to go give the dog a bath, everyday life waits for no one, not even for special days.

Why I am losing my sanity

So it is still full on Summer around here, even though it may look a little overcast it gets really hot and sweaty and muggy, so we bust out the ol’ yellow kiddie pools to cool down a bit, but the other day I have to say I was not so amused. I ran in the house as the kids were winding down so that I could grab some towels, and when I got back to the sliding door Gwen and Harrison were jumping in mud puddles, and flinging mud all over.

First of all I don’t know how many times a day I tell them that we don’t dig holes in the yard, ( I swear that talking to the kids and the dog are pretty much the same thing sometimes) and second of all we are in a major drought so the killing the grass and yard thing not such a happy topic around here.

Second of all I was bugged about the mud…everywhere. Their hands and feet, and the water in the pools was sick. Then I saw Gwen itch her nose, now I am not sure why, I was really upset, but I ran to grab the camera thinking that maybe this could be funny later when I wasn’t so mad…and here we are two days later.
With mud boogers.

Then today after lunch time Gwen said that she was finally hungry, Harrison and I had already eaten earlier. So we had this conversation.

Gwen: My tummy is growling, I think that I am hungry.

Me: Great what would you like to eat? I could make you a sandwich or noodles, do you want some corn on the cob?

Gwen: I would like some square cereal with milk and a green spoon, with blueberries in a red bowl.

Me: Huh.

Do you think that she could have been a little more specific?
That makes one happy camper.
So she goes for the first bite, and in rolls (actually rolls) Harrison, the kid who could eat all day long and never get full.
He gets close and goes for the reach…
Gwen uses some great shielding techniques, and then
He is shut out! Game over Harrison. So much for sharing. Actually just after I put the camera away and was getting Harrison something else to eat Gwen handed him some of her blueberries. That is what I am talking about. Now as for my lack of sanity…I just wonder if I am ever going to be able to stop using the phrases “we don’t hit”, “no pushing”, “stop jumping on the bed”, and “we don’t scream in the house”. I feel like I say those things so much I am like a broken record.

So if you see me sometime and ask how we are doing and I respond with one of these phrases, just know that apparently the kids have not gotten the hang of not hitting, pushing, screaming in the house, or jumping on the beds yet. And then just walk away.

catch up for a week…

Well believe it or not another week has just flown by and all I have to show for it are a hand full of photos, and a semi clean floor. Oh well at least it has been a little cooler around here.

We got these little stools for Gwen and Harrison’s new play table but it turns out that they just like to carry them around from place to place and stand on them…one of these days I am sure that we are going to have a broken arm to show for it.

We had the chance to go to a little water park by our house with some new friends from our ward, they have a little girl, Lexie, that is Gwen’s age. Alright everyone get your sunscreen on…
head for the little fountains, that is Lexie walking in the back of Gwen.
These seemed to be a big hit as we were trying to leave.
A little lunch break…Harrison ate an apple and some cheetos, and then started pushing the rest of his cheetos through the holes in the picnic table, nice Harry.
Lexie was trying to call Harry on the phone, Harry thought it was pretty funny.
We found these headbands in a box in the kids room and they wore them all afternoon…even while staring totally fixed on the Princess and the Frog trailer. (um we watch that one a whole lot around here)
I love it when we play nice…even if it is just for a 58 second movie clip. That is pretty much what we have been doing all week…kind of, well not really, but a little bit.

If you want to be domestic clap your hands

Clap*Clap This weekend we took on a new challenge around here, and we made our debut attempt at homemade applesauce. We used three different kinds of apples, and a little hard work with the peeling, and soon we were smelling the yummy smells of Autumn, apples, cinnamon, and some secret ingredients.
James is getting ready to measure the amounts into our jars so that we can seal them up.
And a little while later this is what we have to show for our efforts…and full tummies as well. You know that you can’t just make something this yummy and not eat it as you go, that would be silly.
Maybe one day I can actually say that I am kind of domestic, instead of just trying to be, but as for today, I will keep pretending.

What a Friday night should be

So I think that Friday nights should be spent with friends and yummy food, treats of course, and what better way to do that then hosting a little get together in celebration of Jackie’s upcoming baby…in other words a baby shower. Lets see what was on the list…

Food: Check, and lots of it too.
Salads: Check! Thanks to Elizabeth and Emily Kelley for the perfect and yummy sides.
Treats: Check, Thanks to Brooke and her amazing baking skills we had pink conversation cupcakes, lemon bars*, chocolate eclairs, a candy station where you could fill up your own bags of treats, AND she even made sugar cookie favors that were yellow rubber duckies, and pink hearts all tied up in a decorated bag. Way to go Brooke.
Drinks: Check we had pretty much anything you could imagine to drink from smoothies, and soda, to festive lime water and a little celebration cider, yeah I think that you could say that we were covered if you wanted a drink.
And as the celebration started and we were just waiting for the guests to file in all eyes were on…
Jackie of course. Lets just say that she has a way with capturing the audience. She is so much fun.
Gifts: Check! This (not yet named) baby girl is not going to have to worry about not having anything to wear that is for sure.
Maddie and Leanne were happy to help Jackie unwrap all the gifts. And it was fun to see friends and family as we all enjoyed the evening full of talk talk talk and catching up with everyone.
I think that was a great way to spend a Friday night, what more could you ask for? Oh yeah and I am happy to say that we didn’t have to rush anyone to the hospital for an unexpected delivery (Brooke, Jackie, or Paige…) although that could have made for an interesting story sometime down the road. Especially you Paige, seeing as you are only half way through. Glad everyone made it through safe and sound.

* special thanks to Justin for his assistance on the Lemon Bars, they were super yummy and I appreciate your assistance!

I spy…

I spy with my little eyes some place that I had never been before…
Where the security was very reminiscent of an airport…they even took the straws that I had for the kids drinks…because they were plastic!
The wait to get in was just part of the whole experience I suppose. Then as soon as we crossed through the second security gate we were finally there….Sea World that is. We started with a little…
Dolphin fun. And it is a good thing that it was hot that day because our dolphin friends were all about the splashing and sending the waves our way.
Reminds me of the ol’ show Flipper.
Even Liv was all about the dolphins.
Yep Gwen was totally cool with being that close to the water, and her shirt was soaked after just a few minutes.
Harry also enjoyed the show, but he would have rather been in the water with them, that is why he is being restrained in James’ arms. All was well, except I was starting out the day with the squidgy feeling of wet in flip flops…not really my favorite.
We would load em’ up and move em’ out to the next site, and I don’t think that there was one time that the kids were ever in the same wagon around the park, it really was like musical mobility as we meandered around.

It was nice and cool in the aquarium where we spotted the sharks, piranha’s, and other odd looking fish.

James showed Harry the big sharks, and then we were off to the next thing.
Soon enough we were to the rides part of the park, and James took Gwen on her first roller coaster ride,
She was in awe, she really liked it, so much so that before we left the park she asked if she could ride it again, and seeing as James just can’t say no to that little face he took her for one more ride.
Time for a little lunch, and Harry was all about the watermelon, who knew he could open his mouth so wide.
We caught the Beluga Whale show and the kids seemed to enjoy that.

Then we went for a little swim. Well the kids did at least. Syl and I snuck off to ride some roller coasters of our own. Let me tell you I was glad that I hadn’t eaten much for lunch.


After some more little things, and some more roller coaster rides with James we caught the final show of the day, and although it was SUPER cheesy I will admit that I wish that I had the guts that those animal trainers have to get in the water with the killer whales.

After a really long and hot day we were all ready to call it quits, so it was a slow ride to the exit of the park, and quite ride home. Whew, what a fun little day trip that ended up to be.
Thanks to Sea World for sucking us dry of energy, adrenalin, and cash, what more could a theme park offer.

weekend warriors

Weekend projects, who doesn’t have them and love them. While James’ parents were here we busted out a few of our own projects and here is one of them. We started with a little of this,
Needed a little of that…and a whole lot of sawing and painting and some power tool usage, add a big ol’ mat from IKEA and what do you get…
A really cool play table for the kids room. It has four cubbies that are all cut into different shapes on the bottom, and the mat that has all the roads on it…
Finish it off with some toys and pint sized stools and what do you get…
A really fun play area that the kids can’t get enough of. I love it and I think that it turned out so great, Thanks James and Brent for all the hard work.

look who came to visit

Hooray! Grandma and Grandpa Barlow came to see us, and that means that while they stay we are jam packing each day to try and fit in all the fun things that we can. Part of the reason that I have been so absent from the blogging world. So naturally since we are now in Round Rock we had to start off the first day with some Round Rock donuts. Mmmm.
Add some chocolate milk and a cupcake for Gwen and we had a fantastic breakfast to start off the day.

We also were able to head down town with Ryan’s family to do something that I have been wanting to do since we moved here…See the Congress bridge bats of course.
We had dinner at Whole Foods and then off to the bridge and see the little flock of 1.5 million bats take flight at dusk.
Look both ways before you cross the street Harrison.
Waiting…waiting….waiting and then…
They started to fly out over by that big clump of trees so my camera didn’t really pick up on them so well, but soon there were so many all over the sky it looked like dark clouds.
Kind of creepy, like there were swarms of huge bugs coming towards us…but really they were flying away.

Gwen really liked all the boats that were there for the show.
So did Harry, and did I mention that it was hot…um yeah that groddie glisten on my face is not the light…it is me sweating almost to death.
We also made time to dance a little around the giant guitars that are placed around downtown.

Love to dance, and run around with the cousins. It never gets boring. And nothing is boring when the grandparents are around.

this and that and a little skin

First off if you like molten cake and you haven’t tried these, you should. Mmmmm you know that I love molten cake, and here it is delivered to my door. Thanks Domino’s.
On Saturday we were able to do a few little things. We went to Logan’s birthday party and rode a train (not many things are better than that as far as my kids are concerned.)
We also had the chance to play pretend of what it would be like if we had five kids…and all of them really close together. It was Ryan and Leslie’s anniversary so we had London, Maddie, and baby Liv for the day. It was handy to have the van, and the kids all seemed to have a good time.

Everyone likes the Texas landscapes, even Liv.
A little wind in your face and…
A Thomas the train cake, yep life is pretty good around here.
Harrison was trying to sneak in front of the birthday boy for dibs on the best piece of cake. When we got home it was all kids in the pool…and Spock too.
Each of the kids took turns dumping buckets of water on to Spock, I think that he was just fine with it seeing as it was 104˚ outside.

On another note, what should you do when some of your neighbors decide that they are going to be nudists? Gwen and Harry had been out in the pools after dinner one night and when they came into the house I made them strip down so I could immediately put them in the tub, but they were sidetracked to eating something at the table.
What kind of a parent would let this happen, and take a picture of it? Oh that would be me. I thought that it was so funny that they each have the little tan lines, and are basically oblivious to the fact that they are naked. Classic. Kids, what can you do.

money, money, money

Last night when I was driving to meet with friends for a birthday dinner for Brooke I wasn’t thinking about doing anything crazy or living on the edge a little. No I was thinking that if we were really lucky we would be able to get in to Sandra Bullock’s restaurant here in town without waiting, and we would have good food and great conversation, and so a little later than planned we pulled up to the Bistro, and parked right across the street and headed for the door.
As we were walking in the doorman greeted us and told us that Sandra Bullock herself was here tonight. What luck, we would have a night out, and maybe a little glimpse of the romantic comedy star herself. We were seated…
It was all so nice and cozy, with a dash of elegance…and we ate and ate and then after lots of fun talk, and lots of time we were well on our way to head home…or so I thought. As we crossed the street to my car I heard Brooke say “where is your car Lonna” I totally thought that she was joking because I could see the outline of a tall car, but Brooke, having the total height advantage, was correct I turned the corner and NO CAR! We all started looking around for the car or a sign, or a note (not that someone would just leave a note that they stole your car, but I was desperate) Finally we found a towing sign across the parking lot noting that if you did not have a parking pass for that lot then you would be towed, at your own expense.

I called the number and asked if they had my vehicle, and why yes they did. But rest assured that they are open 24 hours a day and they are located a good 15 minute drive away. That is convenient for three women, two of which have a high probability of going into labor at anytime. So thinking fast all three of us were on our phones calling a cab, calling husbands, and looking up the address to find the best solution to the situation, minutes later we were all in the back seat of a taxi with Jackie tracking the drivers every twist and turn into the dark shady streets of East Austin on her phone, classic. With us ending up here…a shack that was surrounded by a chain linked fence and a gate that you had to enter and step up on cinder blocks to pay the 275 pound man that was covered in naked lady tattoos.
While I read over the paperwork, and handed over my ID, Jackie and Brooke were on their phones with their husbands giving the play by play just in case, then the man asked me if the car belonged to my parents, Really? My parents? So I said no the name on the car was my husbands I was so not amused but he must have believed me because he signed the car over to me anyway, naturally after the $193.30 fee was paid(mind you it had only been there for 35 minutes!) we then walked through yet another gate into the parking lot it was smooth sailing from there.

It wasn’t until we were all driving home that we started discussing how badly that really could have gone, seriously three small women….and two of them very pregnant getting into a taxi van that was headed for a dark dank impound lot on the wrong side of town in the middle of the night. I think that was enough of an adventure for all of us for awhile.
This is the back of the building. Brooke snapped it as we were leaving. Yikes! So glad that I was not alone in the whole experience, pretty sure I would have just sat down on the corner and cried upon seeing that my car was gone. Note to self (and everyone else) just pay for the valet parking and save your husbands some piece of mind, some cab fare, lots of money, and yourself and your pregnant friends a shady trip to the towing lot, and just end the night on a good note. So what will happen around here this weekend, I guess we will all just have to wait and see.