Cameron Park Zoo

Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful spring weather and took the kids to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. We were thrilled that Nabeel and Heath and their families were all able to join us for a day of fun.  With nine kids to keep up with, the adults were definitely outnumbered, but they all did great!  We started our afternoon with lunch at Ninfa's and then headed over to the zoo.   

Because the weather was so nice, all of the animals were out and about. 

We stopped halfway through for an ice cream treat.  I'm pretty sure this is one of the only pictures I got of Lily smiling the entire day!  (She had a great time but was NOT in the mood for pictures!)

By the end of the day, the kids were worn out.  This is our unsuccessful attempt at a family picture.  As you can see, they were not interested!

It's been over 20 years since Cory and Heath met Nabeel at Texas A&M.  It's always fun to listen to them reminisce about the good old days when they get together!

As always, it was great to spend the day with old friends.  One of the things I love the most is watching our kids interact as they get bigger.  We always look forward to spending time with Nabeel and his family and are already ready to plan another fun day with them again soon.

Open Gym

About once a month, the gym where Addison and Aubrey take gymnastics offers an Open Gym Night where the girls can go and practice the things they've been learning in class.  Eden has gone with them a couple of times and always has a lot of fun.  The girls really wanted Eden to come with them on the Friday during spring break, but Cory had already made plans to take Parker to the high school baseball game, and I didn't have anyone to keep Lily.  Emily decided to ask the instructors at the gym if we could bring Lily and let her try some of the activities with the older girls.  At first they were very hesitant since Lily is only 3.  They were worried that she might get in the way of the girls who were tumbling and didn't want her to get hurt.  We assured them that we would watch her carefully and make her leave the gym if she didn't follow the rules.

 

I'm happy to report that we had nothing to worry about with Lily.  She stayed right with the other girls, patiently waited her turn in line, and had the time of her life!  She loved doing flips on the bars, walking on the beam, and doing somersaults down the mat.  I think the instructors were quite impressed with how well she did and I'm so thankful they gave her a chance!  I don't think she stopped smiling the entire time we were there and I can't wait for her to start taking a class this summer.  I know she is going to LOVE it!   

Snaggletooth

Over the past two months, Parker has lost three more teeth (two top and one bottom) bringing his total number of teeth lost to five teeth.  At this rate, I don't know how he is going to have any left to chew his food!!

 

Parker's top two front teeth were both loose at the same time.  The first one came out quickly in just a few days.  We tried and tried to get the other one to come out before MerMer's wedding, but as much as we pulled, it just wouldn't come out!  It was literally hanging on by a thread the day of her wedding. 

The morning after her wedding, we were eating biscuits for breakfast when Parker said, "My tooth isn't there anymore!".  We searched all over before deciding that he must have swallowed it while eating his biscuit.  He was so worried that he didn't have a tooth to leave the Tooth Fairy, so he wrote her this note:

Luckily, the Tooth Fairy read his note and left him some money for his swallowed tooth!

Just a few weeks later, he almost swallowed his bottom tooth while eating a piece of toast at breakfast.  Thank goodness he felt it in his mouth and was able to grab it before he swallowed it too!

I absolutely love his toothless smile!  I think I might even be a little sad when his new teeth finally come in.  Until then, I am going to enjoy every toothless grin he gives me!

Spring Break 2014

Another spring break has come and gone and we are already back into the swing of school again.  As always, we had a fabulous week off!  The kids slept in every day which means that I got to sleep in every day. There were a few days that I didn't crawl out of bed until 8:30, which is almost unheard of in our house.  I now have great hope for sleeping in a lot this summer, especially after being up by 7:15 every.single.day last summer.  (There are a few perks to your kids getting older!)

 

We did not go anywhere or do anything too terribly exciting this spring break, but the kids didn't seem to care.  They were just excited to spend a lot of time with their cousins and friends.  We kicked off our spring break with a trip to Sweet Frog!  They all enjoyed their treats, except Eden, who learned a valuable lesson in letting Mommy help her pick out her yogurt toppings.   

On Saturday, Lily and I helped Hazel celebrate her 3rd birthday at The Little Gym (see previous post) before heading home to help Uncle Jon celebrate his 39th birthday. 

Sunday was busy with church, laundry, cooking, and cleaning.  The weather on Monday was perfect so we took the kids to the park to play and feed the ducks.  After dinner, it was too nice to stay inside so we let the kids play outside until bedtime. 

On Tuesday, Eden's friend Grace came over to play.  This was Eden's first real playdate with a friend from preschool.  She still has a lot to learn about how to be a good hostess, but they had a fun time playing together.  Parker's friend Cole also came over to play and they had a great time playing video games, practicing baseball, and riding bikes together. 

On Wednesday, Emily and I loaded up all 6 kids in my car and met Aunt MerMer for lunch in Arlington.  We had not seen her since the wedding so it was great to see her and hear about her honeymoon in Hawaii.  After lunch, we stopped by Emily's new house to check out the building progress.  The wind was chilly but that didn't stop the kids from having fun on Addison and Aubrey's swing.

Thursday was Cory's day off, so I was able to enjoy a little "me" time.  I actually spent the morning cleaning my shower.  The grout in our shower was never sealed and, as a result, it had gotten very dirty over the past 5 years.  I was able to borrow steam cleaner from my neighbor and make it look much better.  It's still not perfect, but it's definitely cleaner. 

After lunch, I treated my neighbor to a birthday pedicure.  It was a much needed and relaxing treat for both of us. 

 

Cory had made plans for he and Parker to go practice baseball with some of his teammates, so Emily and I took the other 5 kids to dinner at Chick-Fil-A.  After dinner, we let them go to Target and spend the $5 that Granna had sent them in the mail.  They all had a great time shopping in the Dollar Spot and each walked away with 5 new treasures! 

Friday we went back to Emily and Jon's land for a picnic with some of her church friends.  The weather did not cooperate as much as we had hoped, but the kids still had a fun time running around and swinging on the swing.  After all of Emily's friends had left, Uncle Jon told our kids that he would give them a penny for each nail they picked up.  Eden and Parker both took advantage of his offer.  Eden came home with 51 cents and Parker made $1.35.  They were both thrilled with their earnings!

On Friday night, Cory took Parker to watch his first high school baseball game while I took the girls to Open Gym at the gym with Addison and Aubrey.  They all had a great time but were worn out by the time we finally all made it home for bedtime. 

My parents got back from their trip to Florida on Friday and offered to keep the kids on Saturday so Cory and I could have a date night.  We headed up to Fort Worth to do a little shopping and enjoy dinner together without the kids.  It was a nice way to end a busy week.

Sunday was spent getting ready to go back to school. (sniff, sniff)  We enjoyed a nice dinner at Cory's parents on Sunday night before heading home to get the kids in bed on time for the first time all week.

We hated to see spring break come to an end but could not have asked for a better week off.  For the most part, the weather cooperated and we were able to spend a lot of time playing outside.  As always, I loved spending quality time with the kids and am already looking forward to doing it again this summer!

The Little Gym

A couple of weeks ago, Lily got to help Hazel, one of our friends from church, celebrate her 3rd birthday at The Little Gym.  Lily was so excited when she received her invitation to the party and was even more excited when she found out that she got to go to a party by herself.  Usually she is the one who has to stay home with Daddy while Parker and Eden go to a party, so she was thrilled that it was finally her turn to go with Mommy while the other two stayed at home. 

 

Lily was so excited on the drive up to Burleson but unexpectedly turned into a mute who wouldn't participate as soon as we walked in the door.  I have to say that I was completely shocked!  I am used to Eden clinging to my side and being slow to warm up, but I really thought Lily would join right in.  As hard as I tried, she would not do anything.  Finally, one of her Cubbie teachers from church arrived and asked her to come play.  Thank goodness that was all she needed to start having fun!

 

The rest of her time at the party was spent flipping, swinging, balancing and jumping!  She had so much fun on all of the little gym equipment. 

She also enjoyed a yummy bunny cake pop made by another friend from church.

It was a very fun party and we are so glad Hazel asked us to join her for her birthday celebration!