She’s BAAACCCKKK!

The girls and I hit the road for Houston last week. We had plans to make a trip home when Mom finished work, but it was an extra special treat when Leslie decided to come home from her excursion in Central/South America.

After having Father’s Day at home with Ryan we packed up on Monday for Kingwood. We made great time, arrived for lunch and hung with Meems and Grampy for the afternoon. We went to dinner with Nana to celebrate a late Father’s Day AND Dad’s birthday before we headed to the airport to pick up Leslie.

We told Reese we were going to look for Justin Bieber because we heard his plane was landing in Houston. Mom found the girls these shirts at Old Navy. How great were they? “My Aunt is the coolest”…and she sure is after that awesome trip she took!

Waiting for her to arrive!

The anticipation was killing us. We were all so excited to see Leslie, but I think Mom and Dad were on pins and needles. It had been 4 months since they saw Leslie, which is the longest they have ever gone without seeing her.

There she is!So happy that Leslie made it home safely.

Reese was so excited to see Leslie!

After a joyous car ride home, we indulged on delicious cake for Dad’s birthday and Leslie’s homecoming. Everyone went to bed late that night since we were all up enjoying Leslie’s homecoming. Dusty Girl was really excited to see Leslie too!

Reese spent almost every day at Nana’s for lunch and play time. They both had a blast. We visited Grandma everyday and both girls enjoyed their time with their great-grandmothers, especially since Grandma’s new place has fresh baked cookies in the lobby. Reese even stayed at Nana’s when the rest of us went shopping in the Woodlands! Uncle Bill came in for a visit too, so the girls had a ton of fun!

While I was in Kingwood I got to see my awesome high school friends for the afternoon. My friend Kara and her family are stationed in Kenya, where her husband is working with the Air Force. She happened to be home the week we were visiting. Dad agreed to cook a BIG Texas BBQ for my friends, (he’s awesome) and it worked out that Leslie came home for it too. Uncle Bill was a huge help for the BBQ. My friend Mandy leaves in Friendswood so she drove in for the afternoon to see Kara and I as well. It was great seeing these girls and even cooler that all our kids played together like they have known each other for years. It’s nice to know your good friends can still be great friends after all these years. I miss those girls!

All our kiddos playing together.

We took this picture when Kara was home from Germany right Lion was born. He’s about to be 9…

8.5 years, and 8 kids later…we were just missing Emily

We departed from Kingwood on Saturday morning, saying bye to Leslie, Uncle Bill, Meems and Grampy.  Saturday was Ryan’s birthday so we came home, made a cake and celebrated some more. He requested Grimaldi’s pizza for dinner and this super deluxe chocolate cake that we hadn’t had in ages.

Brynn was so happy to sing “Happy Birthday” to Ryan

While in Kingwood, Grampy gave Brynn the name “King Kong” for the path of destruction she makes when she walks around. It’s true, she’s a handful. I remind Ryan constantly that he needs to keep our bedroom door shut because she goes in our bathroom and can open up the childproof locks. Those cabinets are like a moth to a flame for her.  He has trouble following directions. I was washing dishes and he was eating dinner when she came into us saying “lotion” with a bottle in her hand. She had gotten in the cabinets, opened lotion, applied it to herself. Upon further inspection she also dumped out an entire bottle of shower gel. HUGE mess!!!!

June is flying by already…

June Happenings

The biggest news I have to report is that Reese passed her swim test. At our pool children under the age of 8 need adult supervision with them in the pool for them to swim. You can take a test to be in the pool without adult supervision and to be able to swim in the deep end alone and jump off the diving board.

  Reese has taken swim lessons every summer since birth and this year I put her in them one last time as a refresher from last year. I can not say enough great things about her swim teacher because Reese is a champ. Our first day at the pool this summer a lifeguard suggested I put her on swim team. Reese declined this year but I am thinking about it for next summer. I talked to her ALL week about taking the swim test. She was very hesitant and unwilling to do it that whole first week.

The last two summers she would go off the diving board but Ryan, my Dad, or a lifeguard would tread water in the deep end when she jumped to make sure she was ok to swim to the side. On Saturday we were at the pool and she saw another little girl take the swim test. She quickly agreed to allow the lifeguard to watch her swim and she ACED it with flying colors. She did an almost perfect freestyle stroke. Her only weakness is not rolling her head to the side to take a breath, instead she pulls her head straight up before going back down for more strokes. She also floated on her back for the 20 seconds required and doggie paddled as well. Her reward was a popsicle from the lifeguards and a night at the fro yo place from us. I was super pumped for her.

Now she can go off the diving board without an adult in the deep end and she is loving life. Of course I am still in the pool with her and I watch her jump off the board while Brynn and I stand at the threshold of the deep end. All the lifeguards who have seen us every summer have all commented how much she has improved since last year.

Brynn hangs out in her puddle jumpers, “wimming” as she says. She has been doing really well kicking her legs, blowing bubbles, floating on her back and belly. She even jumps off the side and LOVES being thrown up in the air so she can crash down in the water. As soon as she pops up from under the water she says “again”. She is loving the pool as much as Reese does. Which is good because we go there almost everyday!

On Tuesday afternoon we were one of two families at the pool. Reese was the only kid there old enough to swim in the deep end and she made use of her time. I swear she jumped off the diving board 40 times in a row. I couldn’t believe how many times she got right back up and enjoyed her freedom. Needless to say we got home from the pool around 5 and by 6 she was passed OUT. I woke her up for dinner and she was so asleep I was having to shake her to wake her up. She was DOG tired. She made it to the table long enough to have one bite before she went back to the couch to rest again. She was pooped. Mission accomplished.

At Reese’s school in the summer two of the teachers come in on Tuesdays and have a day for the kids to come play. It’s called Terrific Tuesday. From 9-2 kids of all ages can go to the school/Church and play in the baby pools, on the playground, with the toys, and eat sno cones so the Moms can go run errands etc. I needed to get a few things done at the house for the kitchen renovation so I sent BOTH girls. It was Brynn’s first time headed off to “school” and she was THRILLED. She carried her own lunchbox and when a friend asked her if she was going to school she would proudly pat her chest and say “Brynn”. She greeted all our neighborhood friends who were there as well and had a GREAT time. She did really well and I know she had a blast.

Headed to school

We are in the process of growing Reese’s bangs out (get me a gun) but with the use of hairspray I have FINALLY convinced her to clip her bangs back out of her face. As you can see she looks like a totally different kid!

Brynn got her first haircut. It’s hard to tell but we trimmed up all over and got rid of her mullet.

My girls playing together.

As I mentioned before our kitchen has undergone a MAJOR renovation. In January we decided (I talked Ryan into) redoing the kitchen from top to bottom. So he begun painting all the cabinets and the walls. We finished that right before kickball season starts and our Saturdays were full. Finally after I stopped teaching Stroller Strides and was home long enough to be here for installation, we ordered the granite and it was installed on Monday. We also got a new fancy HUGE sink. We are getting our new cooktop installed today and the tile backsplash will be done this weekend (by Ryan and myself). I am super excited to have it all done. I know Ryan is too because he has been working his ass off the last two weeks.  I am in LOVE with my new kitchen.

Here are some pictures from when we moved in. You can see we had darker wood cabinets, boring walls,  tile backsplash and counters (with wicked sharp corners)

new cabinet color

demo of countertops and backsplash. The backsplash removal sucked. With the tile came the drywall. So we had to put up garbage bags to block all the a/c from going into the attic.

No drywall means nice views of the insulation.

It was tricky with no stove or sink over the weekend. I mastered the art of grilling outside, something I always left to Ryan, and thank goodness we had a slop sink in the garage so we could wash dishes.

before and after colors

before granite

new granite

My awesome new GIANT sink

new butcher cut posters for our kitchen

new ceiling fan

My pinterest workup close of prints

I will post more pictures once the stovetop and backplash are in but there is the new kitchen in a nutshell.

We’re off to visit Kingwood next week, but first this weekend the girls are going to camp overnight with Oma and Opa in their camper.

May brings BIG Change!

As you can see we were BUSY in May. We haven’t had a DULL moment since it began. Our month started out with visitors from across the pond. My cousin Jack and his family came to the States from Belgium and stopped in Corpus for a few days. Jack’s kids are 7 and 4, so Reese was right there in the middle of his boys. Despite the language barrier the kids had a BLAST. I stupidly forgot my camera for all of our outings, but Jack took pictures and sooner than later he’ll send some I am sure. Reese and Kobe (Jack’s youngest) got along like they had known each other forever. They played the entire time together, Kobe even requested to ride in our car for all the trips we took. No communication in the car just happy to be hanging out together. We hit up a Hooks Game for Friday Night Fireworks, got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, went to the beach, the park, dinner, and fro yo. It was a great weekend, capped off by Ryan cooking some delicious chicken on the smoker. Fun was had by all.

Brynn in the water for the first time this year! She loved the beach

Speaking of the Clydesdales, they were in town for a few days so Brynn and I went to visit them while Reese was at school. Brynn LOVES horses, so she was beside herself when we got there. I had to drag her back to the car kicking and screaming “Horsey” because she did not want to leave.

We had another day at the Hooks when Stroller Strides had a Family Night Out. It was so much fun having all my Stroller Strides Moms and their families in the same place enjoying such a fun night out at the game. The Hooks played an awesome game, hitting TONS of home runs!

Reese outside of Whataburger Field

We hit the game up a 3rd time, for Tippi Toes Day at the Ball Park. Mother’s Day the girls got to dance on the field, and Reese’s class was able to wear their recital costumes and stand on the field with a player during the National Anthem. She had a blast, despite the rain. The pictures are all on Ryan’s phone so sadly I can’t show you anything.

Reese graduated from Messiah Lutheran Church where she attended their Mother’s Day Out Pre-school program. It’s hard to believe that I am about to have a Kindergartener. Time flies when you’re having fun. Here are a few pictures from graduation!

Brynn patiently waitingReese getting her diplomaHappy kiddo!So excited!

We had Reese’s last kickball game and end of the year party. She LOVES kickball and was sad to see it end. Ryan and I were ok with it ending,  it’s hard being the coach, 4-5 year old can make you nuts, esp when there are 9 of them. They were all great girls, but I am thankful the season is done. Brynn even mastered saying “kickball” because she was dragged along to every practice and game we had! Good thing she likes the stroller.

After the final kickball game the Hajovsky’s popped in for a quick visit while they were in Rockport camping. We had a fun time chatting outside, yes outside in May. Our a/c went out and man was it hot. Thankfully Ryan caved on making me wait until Monday to get it fixed and we were able to have it repaired on Sunday. Two nights of sweating in my sleep was enough for me.

The week after school ended Reese started swim lessons. Last year she did so well, but I put her in one last summer just to refresh her memory. She rocked it once again. She is a superstar in the water. We were at the pool on Friday and the lifeguard was amazed that she’s only 5 1/2 and even suggested she be on swim team!

My little fish! She swims with her head under the water, doing the freestyle stroke and comes up for air while she swims!

I looked back one morning on the way to Stroller Strides and saw these sweet sisters holding handsMatching workout outfits!Grocery shopping with our babies

Brynn with a lei and stethoscope

We had a dress rehearsal for the big dance recital at her school

Practice makes perfect

The biggest change of all was that I decided it was time to hang up my sneakers so to speak, and sell Stroller Strides. It has been an amazing program, has allowed me to make some awesome lifelong friends, and kept me busy for the last 5 years.  My contract was coming to an end, and I just didn’t have 3 more years in me. The 50+ mile drive to town everyday was getting tiring, and Reese was out growing the stroller. I just didn’t know how next summer would have been with her tagging along. Reese was bummed when we had our last class on Friday, heck she’s been going since she was 4 months old, Brynn since she was 10 days! It was a bittersweet week. I had a big party for my members, which was a ton of fun and I was able to sell it to a girl who attends my classes. Ryan was super nice and got my this amazingly large bouquet of stargazer lilies for my final class.

Reese had her dance recital on June 1. She did a great job and had so much fun. She requested to be taken out to lunch, and she picked Texas Roadhouse. She had a feast of peanuts, rolls and chicken tenders.

This was last year’s picture. Brynn has grown leaps and bounds, her hair has changed color. Reese is a giant, and Ryan and I are thinner. My what a difference a year makes.

After the recital and lunch we quickly piled in the car and headed to Geronimo for Ryan’s cousin’s baby shower. While we were there we took advantage of taking a picture of Opie with his great-grandchildren. There are LOTS of girls in this picture and another one on the way for Ryan’s cousin.

We have a busy month in June as well. Reese is going to 3 Vacation Bible Schools, I got to keep that kid busy. We’ll be hitting up the pool, making a trip to Kingwood for a week and getting granite installed in the kitchen! We have done so much work to the kitchen and family room and we’re excited for it to be done! We’re excited for a FULL month and summer ahead.