Samuel turns 2

I know every parent says this, but I cannot believe Samuel is already 2.  Samuel is definitely a perfect baby brother.  He is a fun-loving little boy.  I guess it is only  natural that as the youngest, he loves attention.  He if full of expressions and can definitely get a chuckle out of us any time of day.  He loves to ride the toy 4-wheeler outside and rough house with Johnny.  We sure do love you Samuel James.

Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Jane helped us celebrate with a little party and a trip to Kiddie Acres amusement park over the weekend.  I made a little cake and cupcakes our family so we could sing to him again on his actual birthday.

 

 

 

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Johnny's first day of preschool

Johnny started his second year of preschool.  He is going to a new school this year.  Since we will be moving to Lago Vista when our house is complete, we decided it was best to get him acquainted there.  He had no reservations about the new school and is having a lot of fun there.

Molly starts kindergarten

Molly was very excited to start kindergarten.  Since she is our first to enter public school, Paul and I were a little nervous but everything went smoothly and she is enjoying it everyday.

 

Countdown to school

The 5 days leading up to Molly starting kindergarten, I decided to make a day for each family member to choose the activities for the day.

 

Day 1 - Johnny

Johnny chose bowling which he had been asking to do for several weeks.  To top it off, he won, finally beating Molly at something!

After the bowling alley we stopped at the park and had a picnic, a fun day indeed.

 

 

 

Day 2 - Molly

Molly chose to get snow cones.  Anytime Molly earns a reward or gets to choose an activity, she ALWAYS chooses to get snow cones. 

 

 

Day 3 - Mommy

I had been wanting the check out the Austin Nature and Science Center so it was my perfect opportunity.  We headed into Austin and spent the morning at the center.  They had a large sand pit with dinosaur bones, a small pond we waded in, and some wild animals to visit. . . and bonus, it was free!

 

That night we also had a slumber party!  I had promised Molly and Johnny we could have a slumber party so the 3 of us camped out in the living room.  Thankfully daddy got out the twin mattresses so we were not on the floor.  Molly made sure we turned it into an event so we had pizza, ice cream, and watched a movie before the actual slumber.

 

Day 4 - Samuel

I think we were all pretty exhausted from the 3 previous days so we mainly hung out around home on Samuel day. 

 

Day 5 - Daddy

I am sure we all helped daddy decide to go to the pool for his day.  After the pool, in total Paul fashion, we went to Dairy Queen!  We all enjoyed family time that day as it was Molly's last day before school started.

 

 

 



 

Johnny turns 4

Johnny turned 4 so in our typical family fashion, we had multiple celebrations. The first was in Nebraska.  We had a second celebration on his actual birthday complete with a trip to Mr Gattis to eat pizza and play games.  Afterwards, Johnny chose a cake from Costco and the neighbors stopped by to eat cake with us.  The last celebration was a small PAW Patrol party at home with an inflatable waterslide, cupcakes, piñata, and fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Summer vacay in Nebraska

The kids and I had a great 5 night visit in Nebraska the end of July.  We were able to see a lot of relatives and enjoyed the cooler temps!  We flew into Omaha where we were able to see Uncle Darren and Brooklynn.  Julia spent the several days at Grandma's with us as did Uncle Shawn and his family.

My early morning travelers:

 

Swimming with cousins Julia, Noah, Micah, and Celia.

 

We celebrated Johnny's 4th birthday.  It was awesome to have so many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins join in the festivities!

 

 

Mom and me! 

 

 

Our last night we took a walk on the new pedestrian bridge in Wood River.  The kids had fun running through it and seeing the trains below.

San Antonio

Sadly, in mid-July, Paul's mother passed away.  She had been declining for some time and we expected her days were numbered.  We visited her often and know she loved to see her grand-babies.  Her final resting place is in San Antonio.  After saying good bye to her, we made the most of the situation and spent some quality family time in San Antonio.  We visited the Riverwalk, an amusement park (Kiddie Park), and the train at Brackenridge Park.  Paul has fond memories of each place growing up as a child  in San Antonio.  It was really wonderful for me to see how happy he was to share those special  places with our kids.  As you can see below, the kids were equally happy with the attractions he chose.