Houston: birthdays, eggs, & crawfish

Addison is learning fast to spread out your birthday as long as possible.

My parents wanted the chance to celebrate in Houston and who am I to stand in the way of allowing my children to taste RJ Goodies cupcakes for umpteenth time?

My sister, Pipere, drove out from Austin to see us and the kids and I was SOO glad she was able to make it. It's almost embarrassing to say how long it's been since we've seen each other.

Let's just say it was Graham's first time to meet his aunt.

She tells me she's not good with kids, but my kids loved her and I thought she was great with them!

Can you tell that my child doesn't like attention?

On Friday, our last full day in Houston, the Easter bunny hid some eggs in Nana & Poppy's backyard.

Graham was starting to get the hang of this whole egg thing which is good for him, because Addison doesn't exactly believe in equal opportunity.

After nap we headed off to the Donat/Lee/Price annual crawfish boil.

We haven't missed one in the 8 years Andy and I have been together.

We took advantage of the pool. I mean I took advantage of handing my kids off to others who wanted to enjoy the pool.

And I think Mr. John's intensity is rubbing off on dad a little bit.

Joking aside, Addison did GREAT swimming the whole week. She loves it.

She can now swim about 10-15 feet by herself and get herself out of the pool.

I eat my words Mr. John. Well done.

I will tell you that each night at prayers, Addison still asks God to help her do a better job of listening to Mr. John. We haven't seen the guy in 3 weeks, but she still talks about him all the time.

We had a great time catching up with friends again.

Addison & Jacqueline

And there was lots of food to eat.

Addison had been asking to eat "mudbugs" all day.

Then she found out what a mudbug was.

and decided that Chick Fil A was a much better option

Which left plenty of crawfish for the adults to enjoy

Making their debut at the boil this year were these guys....

Ashton and Graham kept each other occupied.

Ashton has had such good practice being a big brother, he was always ready to step in and take care of Graham.

And Graham was really pretty happy as long as there was food in his mouth.

I have to say that Houston was an incredible trip!!!

It would have been even more incredible if I could have skipped the 2 flights home.

Houston: Part 4 ...We're not done yet

Wednesday we went back to the 'hood.

I LOVE our old neighborhood.

It's Wisteria Lane meets FRIENDS.

It's got this idealistic feel to it....cute houses with front porches, and for 6 months out of the year, you can't walk 10 feet without seeing someone outside. The other 6 months, you better have already made your friends because everyone is hiding out inside or at the pool.

We were always having playdates, happy hours (sometimes at the same time)

girls' nights out, hurricane parties (power outages are a lot more fun with cool neighbors with generators), and plenty of gossip sessions on driveways.

I called up Trina to see if she & Margeaux were up for a last minute playdate.

Of course she was game.

Delaisha and Jackson came too, so it was like old times.....donuts and all.

Then I took Addison up to her old school so she could say hi to her teachers and friends.

It was so fun watching them all get excited and have fun playing together.

I am so ready for her to start back up in the fall.

And not just for the education.

I'm sure she's excited too.

Then to finish the day off, we had Cottage Green dinner at Sakekawa.

It was the last restaurant I needed to check off my list.

Girl nights are the best!!

Tree (round 2, just substituted sushi and wine for the donuts and coffee)

Lacey & I

I love how blogging allows you to keep up with everyone.

Lacey and I actually know each other better now than when we lived in the same neighborhood. I love this girl!

Lesley and I

my old next door neighbor! There were many conversations held from each others back porch in the day.

One more Houston post to come.....

"Houston, we have a problem." Part 3

Yall, I warned you we fit a lot into this trip.

But by Tuesday, we had a little problem.

Really? April. 98 degrees. No joke.

I know that's not even normal for Houston, but I was dripping with sweat by 9am and that's just not cool. Of course it's not cool, it's HOT!!!

So we spent much of our day inside visiting more friends, which was just dandy with us.

We stopped in the Heights to visit Ashely and sweet Presley.

Ashley had her hands full with these two.

Then Callie stopped by. Callie and I have known each other for 20 years!!! That makes me feel so old, but she is such a sweet, special friend.

Ashley and I have been close friends since college and I love that we can go months without seeing each other and it's like nothing has changed.

Well, a few things have changed....

Callie is a pro about this whole parenting thing.

Seriously, she is about to have #4! She's amazing.

We packed up the car and headed back north to The Woodlands to catch up with friends again in the afternoon.

We had borrowed my mom's car, which I was so grateful for, but it's always different when you're driving a car that you're not as used to.

Made me miss my mini-van ....my 16 year old self just threw up a little bit.

There was a ton of construction in The Heights. The roads were narrow and the kids were loud.

I swerved sharply to nearly avoid one of those orange construction barrels.

I might have yelled out, "Holy $*#&!"

Sorry, it happens.

Well, my parrot in the backseat of course yells,

"Holy $*#&!"........followed by ...."I'm ok!!!" Mom! Are you ok?"

Then the parrot fell asleep.

As did he.

Tuesday night we stopped by this little place

which actually gave Sprinkles a run for their money.

Oh my goodness, I want one right now.

And then we ordered Grimaldi's pizza and had some friends over to the Cocke's for some Texas backyard fun.

Graham was all about the water table.

Graham was all up on the water table.

Eating pizza in our underwear....don't mind if we do.

We being the kids, in case you were wondering.

The next 30 minutes because my absolute favorite time in Houston.

The JOY on these kids faces was priceless.

I mean....

total GLEE.

who needs a swim diaper?

Made me remember how much fun I had when I was little putting a little hose on a wall on our driveway so that I could run through it to escape the heat.....

it doesn't take much.

We all agreed this slip n slide was the best $5 purchase Sheila ever made.

I'm gonna eat him up....

Er...maybe that swim diaper would have been a good idea!

I'm just now about halfway through the pictures of Houston.....