Spring Break 2014

Spring Break ends tomorrow.

The last two weeks (we are lucky enough to get two out here) have been some of the most fun, crazy, stressful, busiest weeks we've had in a long while.

We left after school the Thursday before Spring Break to take a 4:30 flight on our first leg to Houston.

It was nice to be able to fly out of the smaller Carlsbad airport, but did have to stop in LA....which meant getting into the Houston airport around midnight.

Yikes.

The kids were doing pretty well, all things considered until about 1am.

Graham started to melt down while dad got the rental car for our hour drive south to Pearland.

Andy and I melted down when our rental car hit wreckage/lost cargo on the freeway at 2:15 am and blew out a tire and took off part of a fender.

It was not the welcome back we were looking for, but thankfully, everyone was safe.

A few tears later, we got to Andy's sister's house around 3am.

The next day we spent fun time with cousins/family and had a girls day getting nails done.

It's not very often that we are all able to get together, so it was so fun to catch up.

Saturday we helped throw a shower for Aunt Crystal and Uncle Mark (Andy's brother) who are expecting a little boy in August.  I cannot wait to meet my new little nephew!!  I know Mark and Crystal are going to be AMAZING parents.

We had a chance to catch up with lots of extended family at the shower....some that we hadn't seen in over five years.

A few months ago I asked Addison if she wanted a birthday party or to go to the American Girl Store when we were in Houston.

She picked the best scenario for both of us, and she and Iris got to celebrate their birthdays together.

Win. Win.

We headed to my parents to settle in for the rest of the week.

The weather was beautiful the for most of the week.

It is no coincidence that we always plan our trips back to Houston in the spring or fall.

We've gotten quite used to 70 and sunny.

My two worlds collided when I got to pick up goodies at the newish Trader Joe's in The Woodlands.

I'm so excited that when we return for good, we can still enjoy a few of our guilty pleasures.

Monday and Tuesday Andy worked in the Houston office and then JB & Lois (his parents) came to stay with my parents Monday night.  This was SOOO special!

My kids have never had a chance to have all their grandparents together since Addison's first birthday!  We all loved it and had such a great time.

The timing was perfect as we had some big topics up for discussion.

I can't expand on the stress of the rest of the week yet, but let's just say it looks like changes are a coming and it was good to have our parents there for the discussion.

Tuesday I took the kiddos downtown to The Museum of Natural Science.

I hadn't been there since I was pregnant with Addison and had about 100 sixth graders with me.

I liked this visit better.  =)

I even got to introduce them to a childhood memory of mine....astronaut ice cream!

We had so much fun catching up with friends....the Cocke's and D'Andreas.

And there was a little birthday celebrating as well.

I had a chance to stop by and see my California/Texas friend, Katie.

Wednesday, Addison's actual birthday, we went to Chuck E Cheese, per her request and had SO much fun.

Seriously.  That place is awesome.  Especially on a Wednesday afternoon at 1.

The rest of the trip was full of catching up with lots of amazing friends, eating, and a bunch of other stuff that I'll hopefully get to share soon.

After 11 days in Texas, we headed back home.

Addison and I had some good girl time when Graham went back to school with brunch, coloring, and naps.  

Back to reality we go tomorrow with school, alarms, homework, activities, and photo sessions.

Easter Egg Hunt

We celebrated Christ's resurrection at church Saturday afternoon and continued celebrating Easter Sunday morning.  It's been an absolutely gorgeous day, so we spent much of it outside.

After the kids went through their Easter goodies (American girl clothes for A, Legos for G, and plenty of candy), Andy made a pretty awesome brunch that we got to eat outside.

Then it was time for the egg hunt.  My hunters, still in their pajamas....

We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool and made dinner reservations out to make it one of the most relaxing Easter Sundays ever!

G's new look

First and foremost, here's a picture of my little guy with his new "magic" glasses.  Doesn't he look cute?  And now a little back story....

At his two year check up, the pediatrician told me she thought G had a lazy eye, which totally threw me for a loop.  She recommended that I take him to a specialist for a 4 hour eye exam.

That sounded fun.

We went and it was awful.  He was two, and he acted like a two year old.

The eye specialist we went to at the time seemed like she didn't even like kids.  Did I already say it was awful?

She told me that it appeared he had to astigmatisms and we could either put him in glasses then or just "wait and see".  What mom WANTS to put her two year old in glasses?

And also....I never wanted to see that doctor again.

So fast forward two more years.  At his 4 year check up (new pediatrician) notices in his chart that we went a couple of years ago and had us do a little test in the office to check on his eyes.  The digital reading came back similar to what they had seen at 2, so she recommended that we meet with a specialist again.

I did a little more research and ended up taking Graham to an amazing pediatric optomologist a few weeks ago.  He recommended glasses and in three months we'll go back and see if we'll need to do patching (preparing us that this is likely)....a whole other story and thing to deal with, but one thing at a time for now.

For today, we'll celebrate Graham's new specs.

He's actually already adjusting really well.  He's not quite sure he wants to wear them to school, but we have a few days to get over that and get used to it all.  I think he's just enjoying seeing everything a little bit differently.  =)

  

and dang......he's cute.

Someone lost their first tooth!

After a month of wiggling, waiting, asking (daily), "when is my tooth going to fall out?"

She got her answer this morning before school.

She had what I would call a "shark tooth" where her big tooth has been steadily coming in behind the baby and it was getting a little desperate in my mind....

so I assisted with a little pull before breakfast.

and so it begins....this whole growing up thing.