Cousin Sarah is in the House

I am committing myself to catching up on the blog before Christmas and I have a ton of posts and just two weeks to go so I better get crackin. After my trip to Pittsburgh my niece Sarah flew back with us to Texas. It was SO awesome to have help on that flight. The only annoying part was that we weren't on Southwest and it was hard to get seats together, but in the end some nice people made it happen for us. Words cannot express how nice it was to have an older child (12 years old to be exact) in the house to help me out. I seriously need an older child in my life. There were one or two moments when she acted kind of weird and crotchety like a normal preteen but really she was pretty much awesome to have around.

One sweet thing we did was the yearly "dress up like a cow to get free food at Chick-fil-A." I mean who doesn't love free food. My sister Sarah and her husband Casey joined us as well. The kids had a blast although Sarah being that preteen did not want her picture taken and seemed concerned that someone might see her. (Not like she knows anyone here).

We also made a trip to the mall for the opening of the Hello Kitty store. Man that is some overpriced crap, but Netta was in absolute heaven. The best part was that they advertised that there were free activities but once you got in there it turns out to get a balloon and have your face painted cost extra. Oh they always get you. I am normally not a sucker but for how excited Netta was we had to let her do it.

This next pic is not so much an activity but a discovery that we made while Sarah was here. That is that King LOVES pasta and looks great eating it!

Sarah was here for two weeks and when it was time to go we sent her off with a nice karaoke party including Sarah and Casey and their dog Neville.

My kids love to play Lips on the XBOX and King even wanted in on the action.

This is the second time one of my sister's kids have come to visit and I have loved it both times. Good thing she has 5 girls so we can have lots of visitors!

Pittsburgh Part 3: 4th of July

We were able to spend 4th of July at my sister Rachel's house and it was awesome. You could see the city fireworks from her back porch, which made life so much easier. EZ hates loud noises so I hadn't planned on actually taking them to see the fireworks, so I was really excited when we realized that we could clearly see the fireworks from her house, but that they were far enough away that they weren't loud. Before the fireworks the kids had a blast playing together. They started out with a slip n slide which was a huge success.

They also did some swimming in a pool that Rachel bought earlier in the week. EZ is so crazy because all week long he refused to get in the pool, but finally today he agreed to get in as long as no one splashed him. (Of course he could splash them all he wanted).

EZ really surprised me when all of a sudden I realized that the girls were dumping buckets of water on his head and he was loving it. I have no idea what came over him. That kid is so crazy sometimes.

While EZ and Netta were having fun with their cousins, King was busy harassing their dog. He followed Chloe around all night long. He has an obsession with dogs and poor Chloe didn't get a minute of peace the whole time we were in Pittsburgh.

After all the water fun we got dried up and grilled up a great dinner.

After dinner we did one of my children's favorite activities, roasting marshmallows! Netta was especially fond of the humongous marshmallows my sister had and who can blame her?!

We flew home 2 days later and I was not ready. Not because I didn't want to fly, but because I just wasn't ready to leave my family. The two weeks went by really fast and the kids were having so much fun with their cousins that I felt guilty leaving. We missed John, but in all honesty I could have stayed another week. Last year, when King was a newborn and I was at my parents' house for 2 weeks without John it got to be miserable, but this time with the kids all older it really was awesome and I was sad to leave. Luckily, my niece Sarah came back to Texas with us , but that is for another post.

Pittsburgh Part 2: Kennywood

No trip to Pittsburgh would be complete without a trip to Kennywood. Luckily there was a special deal going on so we could afford to go. Amusements parks will bankrupt you. Anyway, we had such a blast. Netta of course we her usual daring self and was ready to go the minute we got there. I love that all the girls in the picture flocked to the pink motorcycles even though it meant they had to sit by strangers.

I am sure I have said this before, but EZ has really grown up this year and that was evident when he ran right on to every single ride without any hesitation. Last year it literally took hours before he would ride anything and this time he rode it all including the little roller coaster. I can't believe I could get teary-eyed over amusement park rides, but it really does make me so proud.

King started out the day hanging out with Grandma in the stroller because we figured his insane clinginess to me would make it impossible for him to be handed off to one of the employees to ride a ride on his own.

Well man were we wrong. I rode a few rides with him and then he took off and rode a bunch on his own. The boy has no fear just like Netta.

My sister and her kids were there as well and my parents kindly watched my kiddos so I could ride some rides with the adults/older kids. I know I am getting old and having kids has taken it's toll, because we rode my favorite ride, formerly known as "The Enterprise" and it made me a bit nauseous and I almost peed my pants. Despite that it was still a blast and I loved watching my kids have to much fun.

Pittsburgh Part 1: Hanging with the Fam

John is in the Young Men's President at church which means he works a lot with the youth and that he got to go to scout camp this year. Since he was going be M.I.A. for a week at the end of June, I decided that I would go visit my parents with the kids. This meant flying across the country by myself with all 3 kids. I was nervous to say the least. In fact I think I felt like I was going to throw up for the whole week before we left. It wasn't the easiest trip ever and I definitely got frustrated from time to time, but I never had to threaten my kids with their lives and there were no crazy stories to report so I would say it was a success. Albeit a success that I do not intend to repeat anytime soon. We stayed in Pittsburgh for 2 weeks and it was pretty awesome. When we first got their my dad was really excited because their was a zeppelin at the airport so of course we had to go check it out.

I think some of the significance of it being an actual zeppelin was lost on the kids, but they still thought it was really cool. They also loved getting to play with their cousins. My sister and her 5 girls live 10 minutes down the road and my kids were in heaven. One of their favorite things to do was to have sleep overs. They got really into it and gathered together every blanket, pillow and stuffed animal they could find.

We also got a visit from my Grandpa and my Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy. I was so grateful that they made the trip down. We don't get to see them very often and my parents don't have a car that could have fit all of us for a weekend trip to Rochester so them coming was just awesome. My kids had a blast with them, but unfortunately they all wigged out when I said it was time to take a picture, but I promise they were happy before this pic. The best part was that the only way we could get King to calm down was to let him hold my brother-in-law's Dr. Pepper bottle. Like father like son.

Finally I had to include a picture of my mom and her twin Netta. Everyone says that Netta looks like me, which is true, but sometimes I think she looks even more like my mom.

Last But Not Least

EZ turned 5 on May 26. He was so excited about his party and I was so excited to be done with birthday parties. Having all the kids' birthdays in May is kind of cool and kind of exhausting. It was an extra special party because my parents came into town, which is the best present ever. EZ's party had a super hero theme. Here he is with his Batman cake thanks to the local grocery store HEB.

The best part of the Batman cake was the bright blue icing and what it did to all the kids' faces.

Part of the party was water games in the backyard. We don't have any pictures because EZ kind of wigged out and didn't want anyone getting him wet. Yeah he can be a pill when it comes to splashing. Of course he loves to squirt and splash other people, but the minute someone gets him it is all over. I should have known it would be a bad idea. Luckily, all the other kids had a great time and we had other things to do like this pinata.

Just so you know I thought we were going to hang it but John volunteered to hold it. No one made him do it. He is just crazy and lucky because amazingly had did not get hit in the family jewels by any of the kids or adults for that matter. The pinata was not too keen on breaking so in the end all the adults had to take a swing as well. Here is my dad. . .

. . .and Uncle Casey. . .

. . .and finally John was able to finish it off.

Despite the water debacle, if you ask EZ about his party he will say that he loved it so that is all that matters. Plus Kung Fu Panda 2 came out that day and we all went to see it. EZ was so excited. He had a Kung Fu Panda party for his 3rd birthday and has been obsessed ever since. Between party, movie and grandparents I would have to say that was a pretty awesome birthday.

Biker Gang

We kind of went with a theme for birthday presents this year and everyone got bikes. I think we are a bit behind the ball with EZ on this one, but he is obsessed with his bike so hopefully he can make up for lost time. We took the kids to an elementary school so they could ride around on the basketball court. Don't worry we did get them helmets, but just forgot to bring them this first time. We figured no big deal this once and of course EZ biffed it pretty hard. Definitely won't forget the helmets anymore.

I really wanted to get a bike for King, but it was hard to find one for his age. Any one I saw that had a push handle didn't have a seat belt and King wouldn't be able to keep himself on. Finally, after much perseverance I found this one and it has been great.

Netta loves her bike as well. She is taking a little longer to catch on and still needs a push now and them, but she is getting there. It was kind of windy that day hence she is holding her hair out of her face for the picture.

I loved watching all three of them ride around. They were all so excited and I think we are going to have a lot of fun with these bikes.

EZ's Graduation

Back on July 8th I said I was going to make the most of my niece being here to take time and update the blog. Whoops it is now July 18th and I am just getting around to writing another post. Oh well. So back in May EZ graduated from preschool. You may think it's silly to have a preschool graduation and I would have agreed, but then I went to it and got all teary-eyed and proud of my baby boy so I guess it was pretty cool after all. They had each class wear different colored t-shirts and as they walked down the aisle to the front they were playing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I have no idea why but for some reason that song and watching EZ just got the tears flowing.

I think part of the reason I got so emotional was that literally as I was sitting waiting for the graduation to start I got a text from my friend letting my know that EZ had gotten into the Spanish immersion kindergarten that we had been praying he would get into. We found out about the program in April and as soon as we did we knew we wanted EZ in. It is part of our school district but there is only one class offered at one elementary school. There is a lottery for spots and when you sign up to be in it you have to commit to keeping your child in the program for 6 years. Right before the lottery I found out that there were around 22 kids applying and only 10 spots and by some miracle EZ got one. And I mean miracle because we had 3 other friends apply and none of them were selected.

Anyway, during the graduation they gave out awards to each student and EZ was given the "funny bone" award, which of course we agree with. In the program they listed what each child wants to be when they grow up and EZ said he wants to be a "boxing player". We can thank the Wii for that. I tried to get a picture of EZ's class afterwards and as you can see it was very hard to get a good picture. Of course hardly any one was looking at the camera and some kids were even crying. So this one is as good as it gets.

In the pictures EZ is standing next to one of his best friends Bradley. We love Bradley's family. I have become good friends with his mom Maggie and Netta loves his little brother Sammy. As soon as Netta found out we were going to EZ's school she insisted on bringing her back pack.

They all have a blast together. I think King really wanted in on the action.

Finally, I have to say how much I loved EZ's teacher Ms. Laura. She was so kind to EZ and at the end of the year she sent home a report card with a personal letter about EZ which was so sweet that it had me in tears as well. Here is a picture of EZ with his teacher and his friend Emme. Apparently, he was really excited about having his picture taken.