What Lives Under the Sheet in Our Garage

I can't even tell you how much fun I'm having working on Allie's doll house!  I stayed up late almost every night this long holiday weekend wallpapering, printing artwork, spray painting, hot gluing curtains, and making furniture.  Brian's been busy also - building and attaching a base, fixing the exterior, and cutting boards for me!  Let me say, I should spend this much time and energy on my real house!  Here are a few pictures:

The house!

How could I dream of leaving this contact paper on the walls?

Ripping out the kitchen paper

The new kitchen wallpaper

I still need to wallpaper several rooms, but looking better!

Hmmm, how to make a washer and dryer?

I think I'll cut the doors open so she can put clothes in!

Some of the furniture and art:  a couch, Mom and Dad's bed, chair (I didn't make this, just spray painted it), a flatscreen TV playing Dora, wedding photo, and painting

I absolutely cannot wait to play with this!  I mean, see Allie play with it!

Fun Run

A few weeks ago Coleman's school had a fundraiser called the Boosterthon Fun Run.  I know, "fun" and "run" aren't two words that go together to me.  But running is one of Coleman's favorite activities!  He ran all 35 of his laps and could have done more!  Thanks to the grandparents for supporting him!  Here are a few pictures from the day:

Coleman's class getting ready to go!

He's off!

Coleman's teacher ran with them!

Spence and Allie cheering Coleman on

Summer... What? Already?

Let me just say, Spence and Allie finished school before I switched into summer-mode!  I feel like I've been running around trying to get ready for some coming things and I've been dragging them with me.  Thankfully Nana came for a day and I was able to get many things done!

For Allie's birthday (which will be here all too soon!) Brian found an awesome doll house on Craigslist that needs a little touching up and redecorating.  We're even going to try to make some of the furniture.  Can't wait to get some pictures of it.  Right now it's hiding from her in the garage under a sheet.  It's 3 feet tall and at least that wide!  But searching for doll house items has been the biggest challenge with Allie out of school, since I don't want her to see what I'm buying!

Another thing that's keeping me busy is getting ready for our church's summer kid's ministry.  I'm so excited to be leading that, and have been blessed with some great volunteers, but it seems like every day I think of something else I need to do or go get!  Please keep us in your prayers as we minister to kids this summer!

I realize that I have pictures of baseball, football, and pool parties that I could post, but I just can't right now.  I will however leave you with the cutest thing Allie told my mom the other day.  Brian and I were leaving to go look at doll house accessories, and Allie was sad that she couldn't go.  Mom said she cried and cried and cried after we left.  Then Mom distracted her.

Nana: Let's go walk around the block.  
Allie:  Okay.
She settled down as they walked along the sidewalk.
Allie:  They're all over my neck!
Nana:  What is?
Allie:  My cryin' things!

Our Graduate

  

How time flies!  I can't even begin to understand how my sweet little Spencey is already graduating from preschool.  Here are a few pictures from the program tonight.

My Little '80s Aerobic Instructor

The other day Allie was at Target with me and I asked her to pick out some clips or bows for her hair.  She just had to have a multicolored pack of elasticy headbands.  It should have occurred to me that she would never wear them as intended!  These pictures were taken at the baseball game last night.  Several people told me she reminded them of the movie Flashdance!

Trying desperately to bring back the 80s!

Why would I keep it on my head?

Close enough!

Earlier this week I was invited to a Mother's Day Tea by my favorite 5 year old!  Isn't he sweet?

Mother's Day Tea

And Wednesday was spent with our good buddies Paul David and Judson, and of course their Mommy!  We always have soooooo much fun together.  Hope we get to hang out a lot this summer guys!

What a bunch!

First Skeeters Game

How crazy is it that there's a minor league baseball stadium less than 10 minutes from our house?!?! About 2 weeks ago, we went to a high school game that was the first game played at the stadium, but today we went to the last game of opening weekend for the Sugar Land Skeeters! Thank you Dane and Leanne for letting us use your tickets! The stadium seats 7500, and there were about 7000 there today, but we still saw several people we know.  (Hope you post some good pictures on your blog Jennifer!)

Welcome to Constellation Field - home of the Sugar Land Skeeters!

Our first game

Texas-sized scoreboard

A fun splash pad right under the scoreboard

Allie loved the splash pad

Spence was pretty into it too!

Once you're done splashing, there's a park!

I can't believe how grown-up Allie looks

One of the two Skeeter mascots - Swatson (the other skeeter is Moe)

Qualitative Ranking of Fruit

In the grocery store buying fruit...

Spence:  I like kiwi one inch more than strawberries.  And I like grapes one inch more than kiwi.

Simple Things Make Me Smile

Don't you love when little things bring a smile to your face?  It helps me remember and realize how good God is - that He would give us little blessings through out the day!  Something that I might miss if I weren't paying attention.  Makes me want to keep my eyes open and looking for Him in everything!

Coleman after playing football

I love that Coleman is enjoying football so much!  In the beginning, I wasn't very happy about him playing football.  But I see how much fun he is having and how good he is at it, and it makes me happy!  I'll admit I'm still a little sad that there weren't any smiles like this in basketball, but I'm realizing that he is old enough now to figure out what he likes and what he is good at and go for it!

What's that in her hair???

This little girl is finally keeping barrettes and pony tails in her hair (at least for a little while).  This one lasted until nap time!  I told her she could choose between getting a haircut or keeping her hair pulled back.  This is her choice for now and I'm happy with it!

There's only one word to describe this:  Spence!

And who wouldn't smile at this sight?  I can't even begin to explain it, but he's got a camo army helmet cover on his head, crazy eye glasses, and fake teeth in his mouth.  I was out last night and Brian said he kept hearing Spence laughing.  He looked and Coleman and Allie were both in the room with him, so he couldn't figure out what Spence was laughing at.  Brian found Spence in the bathroom checking himself out in the mirror and laughing hysterically.  What a hoot!

Saying Cheese at Chuck E. Cheese!

Today my sweet friends from church Amelia and Grace volunteered to take another friends' 3 boys to Chuck E. Cheese and we met them there.  Chuck E. Cheese on a weekday morning is fun place to go!  I don't recommend going there on a Saturday.  The kids had so much fun together!  What sweet ladies to treat these boys to an exciting morning of games and pizza!  And those precious little boys are about to have a new little sister!

Another simple thing that made me smile recently was when our neighborhood changed the red lights so the left turn flashes yellow and you can go if no cars are coming.  Coleman couldn't figure out why I was so excited, but let me tell you, I was EXCITED!  We go through one of those lights to get to church and the ballpark, so our drive time just got shorter!


Leave a comment to tell me something simple that makes you smile!

Please excuse all the extra spaces.  Blogger has decided to "simplify" its layout.  This does not make me smile.  

Yes, They Said That

Spence: I know how you can tell me and Coleman apart!
Mommy: How?
Spence: He's the rude one. I'm the nice one.


Coleman: Allie, I started an episode of Dora for you.
Allie: Gracias, Coleman! You're a good sister.

Good job on the Spanish, Allie. Not so good on the English.

Wednesday's To Do List

1. Register Spence for Kindergarten

Oh my! Kindergarten registration already?

2. Play at the Galleria (and buy some shoes and have lunch with Daddy)



3. Buy a huge sticky sucker

4. Share our candy


It feels good to get so much accomplished in one day! And can you believe Spence is getting ready for Kindergarten? It's true! I guess I don't have much else to say about that. It was all so dramatic with Coleman. He was my first baby going off to big school. And he wanted nothing to do with Kindergarten so I felt like I was always walking on eggshells around him, trying not to mention anything remotely school-related! But Spence is Mr. Laidback. He just goes with the flow. I'm not even sure he realized we were registering him for school. He was just excited that I gave him a ring pop to suck on while I filled out paperwork.

I didn't really want to go to the Galleria, but there's a shoe store there I "needed" to go to. We pulled into an underground parking garage and Spence said in amazement, "Are we at the airport?!?" Then one of the first things we saw when we went in was a fountain where the water fell into the fountain from pipes coming out of the ceiling. And of course the play area was a big hit! (Grandma, I told them we'd have to go back to the Galleria next time you visit! Pretty sure you won't mind.) It was also fun that Daddy could walk over from his office and have lunch with us! The kids from the 'burbs had a great time at the big city mall!


Comparison pictures! Here's Coleman when we registered him for Kindergarten in April 2010...


...and Spence 2 years later!

Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter! I think our family did. I'm not sure though, I was in bed all day on Easter! I had some kind of weird bug that made me nauseated and kind of dizzy. I took a motion sickness pill Saturday night and finally got out of bed about 1:00 the next afternoon. From what I remember, we had a good time at my parents' house! Saturday before I started feeling too bad we went and had a picnic on the beach then toured replicas of the Nina and Pinta.

At the beach

The water was cold, but we got our toes wet!

Nina