Pittsburgh Part 1

In June, the kids and I made our annual trip to Pittsburgh. We were there for basically the whole month. We left the day after EZ got out of school, which wasn't ideal, but it was the most affordable so we made it work. I was a bit concerned about flying with all 4 kids by myself. EZ had at one point told me that there was not way he was going to sit by himself, but then once we got on the plane he and Netta kept fighting over who got to sit by themselves. The second flight was empty so I let them each sit in their own row. They both had a great time chatting up anyone who would talk to them. EZ made friends with some college age kid who taught him all about the game Minecraft and helped EZ come up with some experiment ideas. EZ was so geared up about doing an experiment that he made my dad and brother-in-law Brad help him build this "earthquake detection kit." 

Both my parents work and it kept raining, so we got our fair share of tv time in. I love this pic of King and EZ bonding.

My friend Erin came over to visit with her little boy Luxton. He was so cute and it was funny to compare him and Conrad. Conrad is 3 months older, but not really that much bigger. That's our little runt.

My sister Sarah was in town as well for the first week we were there, so we grabbed this shot of her and Erin and I. It was like high school all over again, but with babies in the mix. Erin also brought her camera on a whim and got some great pics of the kids, but that will have to be it's own post. 

We keep leaving John at home by himself for Father's Day each year, which is kind of a gift in itself, but I wanted to make sure I also did something special for him from the kids. For some reason, John and his team at work are obsessed with cat shirts, so I secretly got each of the kids a cat shirt and had a little photo shoot that we then made into a card. 

As you can see above, it was a bit difficult to get a good group shot, so in the end I used these individual pics for the front of the card. Then on the inside included a quote about John from each kid: 

"My dad is caterrific." - EZ Brown, "My dad is pretty like a cat and handsome like a dog." - Netta Brown, "My dad is one cool cat." - King Brown, "My dad is the cat's meow." - Conrad Brown

I may have helped out with the last two, but EZ and Netta came up with those gems all by themselves. 

Like I said, it rained a lot and it seemed like every time we decided to get in the car it would start raining and if we would abandon our plans it would immediately stop, but if we decided to go ahead it would rain harder. We just couldn't win. One of the days when it kept threatening to rain we decided to stay home and take some fun pictures in the backyard. My nieces Carol and Ellie were there to help us. I think we came up with some pretty good ones. I like this first one, because it looks like Carol's head is exploding. 

This one with Ellie was by far the best "vadering" shot.

EZ wanted some pics of him and Netta pretending to fight. 

Here comes of bunch of giants head eating little people. 

Mmmm, tasty!

I am going to squish you like a bug. 

If you enlarge this one you can see that Netta was really into her roll of playing scared. 

EZ came up with this sling shot idea all by himself. 

Stay tuned for Pittsburgh Part 2. 

The Sports of Baseball and Cup Stacking

EZ played baseball again this year, but this time it was coach pitch instead of t-ball. I was kind of nervous for him, because it seems like a big jump to me. That may stem from the fact that I never played softball and I am almost afraid to try, because I think I would be horrible and look like an idiot. Luckily, EZ did great and adjusted pretty easily. In fact, he almost adjusted too well, because the few times he wasn't able to hit and they brought out the tee for him, he got a bit upset. The only bummer about this season is that it rained a lot, which is something we desperately needed, but it meant they missed out on quite a few practices. EZ still learned a lot though and had a blast. Here are some shots of one of the dads trying to help EZ work on his still somewhat lacking speed.

Ready . . .

Set . . . 

Go!

The kids also picked up the sport of cup stacking for some unknown reason. I guess it's because I had bought a huge bag of cups from Sam's and it just seemed like the natural thing to do. It was so natural that the first time they got them out John went to the bathroom and came out to find that Netta had built a tower taller then herself, all by herself. She was very proud and we were very happy that the kids could entertain themselves so well. 

She also built an awesome throne that King demolished before I could get a picture, so John helped her with this one. 

Finally, this has nothing to do with sports or the rest of the post, but I just had to throw in this picture of Conrad. This was taken at his friend Jacob's first birthday party. Conrad is seriously the cutest and sweetest baby ever. 

So Long School

Netta graduated from preschool in May. I got a little choked up when EZ graduated, but unfortunately this time I didn't have a chance to get teary-eyed because John was stuck at work and I had to wrangle King and Conrad by myself. I think King flipped himself off the back of the pew two or three times. In the program they list what the kids want to be when they grow up and apparently Netta wants to be a "fossil scientist." 

They have the graduation ceremony in the chapel and the lighting was horrible. I couldn't get a decent picture to save my life, but here is one of Netta with the 2 directors. She is holding her "Confident Character" award. That is an understatement. While all the other kids timidly walked down the aisle Netta proudly strutted down it doing her best Miss America wave. 

 School didn't technically end for EZ till Tuesday June 4th, which I thought was so stupid, but anyway they did his award ceremony on May 31st. His teacher said he had to dress nice and this was the studly outfit he came up with. He is such a cutie even with only 1 shoe on.

EZ won an award for "Best Writing with a Voice." I wouldn't even have known what that meant, but EZ had just written a short story in Spanish about him and John playing basketball and his teacher had commented on how impressed she was with the voice he used and I totally got it when I read his story. She was also very impressed with a book report that he wrote in Spanish as well. He is reading and writing above grade level in Spanish, which is very exciting. He also had the highest scores for 1st grade on the math assessments. The transition from Kindergarten to 1st grade was a little rough, but you can't tell now!

Non-Birthday/School May Happenings

May is such a busy month with all the birthdays and wrapping up the school year. And then for some reason we had a ton of other stuff going on as well. The kids were also particularly cute this month. One day EZ and Netta decided they wanted to make a surprise for me and they turned the back patio into a "beach". They dumped cups of water on the ground for the ocean and then set up "beach chairs" and got each person a drink so we could all relax and dip our feet in the water. This is what makes having kids so awesome. 

Conrad hit a new milestone in May. He started sitting by himself in highchairs at restaurants and kind of feeding himself. He was so excited to be sitting in one and I was so excited that he could keep himself entertained while I ate. 

We decided to take a trip to SeaWorld and John wanted to surprise the kids so he wrote them this awesome letter saying they had won a trip to SeaWorld for being great kids. They were so excited and made sure to tell everyone about it. 

It was hot and it was muggy, but the kids had a blast and EZ surpised us all by asking to go on this really big roller coaster. He has ridden some before, but none this big and we were just impressed that he wanted to do it. He also wanted to get a fanny pack as a souvenir, but luckily we were able to talk him out of that. 

Netta also had her dance recital in May. She did a tap dance to "On the Good Ship Lollipop". The costumes were so cute and Netta was in her element on stage. All year long she asks me when she gets to wear makeup and when she gets to go on stage. It was really hard to get a picture of her, because I couldn't get her to sit still, but finally we were able to snap this one. 

For our birthdays, John and I bought passes to go on a zipline tour of Lake Travis and we finally got to use them in May. You got to do 5 different ziplines and it was awesome! I have been waiting literally years, since John went ziplining with his family on a cruise while I watched 1 year old EZ, to get my turn. 

 

This is just a pic of King who randomly decided that he had to wear this Scooby Doo costume out and about all day. He kills me. 

Netta and I got to go on a Mommy Daughter date to get pedicures. She has been dying to go with my for quite some time. She thought it was the greatest thing ever and now she says she wants to go with me every time I get one. 

All 4 of my kids had well checks with the doctor this month and by some miracle none of them needed shots.  Also, unbeknownst to be, Netta swiped a copy of InStyle magazine from the waiting room and went through and marked everything that she wants for her birthday next year. Then just in case the check marks weren't enough, she went through and took a picture of each page. This was my favorite thing she marked. She said she wants this gold outfit so she can dress up like Sandy from Rise of the Guardians. 

Happy Birthday EZ

EZ turned 7 on May 26th. Two days before his actual birthday, he took donuts to school to celebrate and then that night we had his party. His party had a Ben 10 theme and it was supposed to be outside at a park so it would be nice and easy, but of course it decided to thunderstorm and so I was stuck with a ton of screaming boys running allover my house. And then John got stuck at work and so he missed most of the party and wasn't there to help. Luckily, some other parents stuck around to help out. Here he is with his friend MJ. I got pictures of him with all his friends, but this shot of MJ falling off the couch is by far the best. 

Here are his Ben 10 cupcakes that are supposed to look the the design on the special watch Ben 10 wears. As you can tell I was getting less and less hands on with each round of cupcakes.

EZ and his friends battled each other wearing Ben 10 masks, which of course would have been ideal had we been outside, but we made it work. This is the only picture I could find that shows the masks. I also completely failed to get a picture of the pinata. This time it was because it broke after about the 2nd kid hit it. Should have known the boys would beat the crap out of it. 

The best part about black cupcakes is what it does to everybody's mouths. Oh and everybody's bowl movements. ;)

EZ got a snorkle and it was quickly stolen by king. Conveniently enough, EZ then got another one so everyone is happy. 

He also got this dinosaur excavation kit and early the next morning we were awoken by the sound of someone hammering. We thought it was a neighbor, but it was just EZ working on his present. 

 His actual birthday was on a Sunday and so we just our family celebration that day. I still can't get over the fact that he is 7. It just doesn't seem right that he can be that old. 

King also stole EZ's new angry bird game and is convinced that it is his. He was very happy to show it off to the camera. 

EZ and his friend Ethan are into these "ology" books. There are ones like "Mosterology" and "Pirateology", but we of course got EZ the "Egyptology" book. 

We had just enough cupcakes left from the party to celebrate one more time. Happy Birthday EZ!

Happy Birthday Netta

Netta was second in line to have a birthday. She turned 5 on May 9th. For some reason that I can't remember, we went out to dinner the night before her birthday. She picked Freddy's basically for the fries. She started this new habit of holding things in front of her face when I take her picture. We will see this again later. 

The morning of her birthday I came downstairs to find her crying, because I hadn't decorated the whole house for her birthday. I don't know who she thinks her mom is, but that isn't typically how birthdays go here. She quickly perked up when I told her I would take her picture and put it on facebook. 

She got to celebrate her birthday that day at preschool and brought big lollipops to share with her friends. Here is another picture of her holding something in front of her face. 

Here she is on the playgroup with 2 of her little friends Avery and Ava. They are all modeling their toys. Oh girls. 

That day Sarah also come over and told Netta she would take her somewhere to pick out a present. Netta requested Old Navy and made a beeline right for these Hello Kitty press-on nails. I don't know why they sell them there, but they do and apparently Netta really wanted them. 

That night we celebrated as a family and Netta basically went crazy over every single present, but she really went nuts for the movie Rise of the Guardians. 

I "encouraged" Netta to have just ice cream for her family celebration. I can't handle all the cupcakes this month!

A couple of days later we had her friend party. Netta wanted a rock star party. So the kids played "Just Dance Kids" on the Kinect and I gave everyone glitter tattoos. We also had a pinata that for some reason we have no pictures of. Not quite sure what happened with that, but I promise it was there. 

Netta of course loved all the attention and she is already busy at work planning her parties for the next couple of years. 

Happy Birthday King!

King turned 3 on May 4th and since he is somewhat obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba, we had to have a Yo Gabba Gabba party. Since he is still young and doesn't exactly play well with other kids his age, we just had some family friends over. I found this idea for Yo Gabba Gabba cupcakes online and with the assistance of Sam's Club and their variety of frosting colors, I was able to put it together. So they were semi-homemade. 

We played pin the eye on Muno. 

And had a pinata. I learned a good trick about pinatas. Hobby Lobby sells the same brand of pinatas that Party City sells, but they start out at $13 instead of $19 and you can always use a 40% off coupon. They don't have as much selection, but if they have something you like you can save a ton. 

King got all things Yo Gabba Gabba, including a new bedding set and this awesome car seat cover. When I bought Netta her car seat, I got a little carried away with the girly theme and now I have just boys after her, so I had to find someway to cover it and this ended up being perfect!

Sarah and Casey got him a Yo Gabba Gabba outfit that he changed into before blowing out the candles. I think he wore the outfit 3 days straight. Like I said he is somewhat obsessed and hey that just meant one less kid to get ready in the morning!

All and all it was a great party and I was happy to only have to celebrate his birthday once, unlike Netta and EZ who had to have family celebrations, school celebrations and then friend parties. These May birthdays are exhausting, but so worth it!