Weekend Update Part 3

Monday was Memorial Day of course and I was off and Devin had taken off Sunday night. We all woke up, had breakfast and Pete and Phil came over. We all got ready to head out to the cemeteries. We went out to my dad’s first because they were having a big service out there. They had music playing and several people were arriving. We didn’t think the kids would sit that long and so we just put out our flowers, sat around for a minute and then watched the motorcycles drive by. There were about 40 of them and they all made one line all the way down the road and through the cemetery. They all had flags and it was so pretty. I was glad the kids got to be a part of that and see it. We talked to Aikman about what they  were honoring and celebrating and although he didn’t fully understand all of it, he gets it for the most part and has always loved and respected the flag since it is “just like Grandpa’s flag!” It looked beautiful out there with all the red white and blue and all the flags. We got some great pics and although it always makes me sad to go out there, I am very proud my dad was buried there. We went and had lunch at Wholly Cow after. We then headed to see Gigi and give her new flowers. The kids were sweet out there and Monks gets very happy to go there. We headed home and put the little ones down for naps and then everyone laid down for a nap. I watched Juno since it was on TV and I had never seen it. It was sweet. When everyone woke up, we just played and kind of hung out and then Tio and I made dinner. We made Million Dollar Spaghetti and had some bread and salad and Tio made a pistachio fruit salad. The kids loved it. Adrian wasn’t feeling too well so Tia tried laying him down. He didn’t eat much though. We then bathed everyone and they began to pack. They left at about 8:30 to head home. We had the best weekend and so much fun. The kids love getting to play and see each other and I sure do enjoy being with all of them, I really do miss them daily. Thank God for all the technology we have to keep in touch lol It was a great Memorial Day and we appreciate and salute all of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country and our family. Your service will never be forgotten. 

I love this pic. I love how Pips is hugging it. 

Adrian photobomb! 

Love!

Just woke up from nap

Preciousness! 

Weekend Update Part 2

Sunday, the kids were up early again so I brought them in our room to watch TV. We then heard Adrian so got up to go outside again. We came in and had breakfast. We made waffles and bacon with fresh fruit. We then got ready to head out! We had some extra bread and so we took it to the ducks by the zoo. The kids had a lot of fun feeding them all. Wanna hear something funny? Not all ducks like whole wheat bread. Some flat out refused to eat it. There was a big field with wild flowers in it and we took some pics of the kids in them. We then found this little trail and took it and came out by the water. We crossed a big bridge and had a nature walk. The kids enjoyed it and Pips picked flowers along the way. We then drove around the zoo to the park. We played at two different ones and the kids had a blast. We then headed home for lunch! Pete and Phil met us at the house. After some yummy sandwiches and chips, it was nap time. While the kiddos napped, Jenny and I made another trip to HEB to get a few things I had forgotten the day before. I know; I have a horrible memory sometimes. The guys all played cards and had a few drinks while we were gone. We then came home and joined in on the fun and just hung out. We grilled last time they were down and just grilled not too long away with Pete and Phil so we decided to go with something different. We made Cajun boil! We had shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn. We had several loaves of bread and plates of butter and lemons on the table. It was awesome! When the spices started boiling, I don’t know why but they got in our lungs! We were all coughing and sneezing and had to turn the vent on and cover the pot. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was hilarious! It may not sound funny, but if you could have seen all of us, you would have been laughing. Cajun boil was the first meal Jenny ever ate with our family. My mom liked to make it and we always had fun eating it—outside and on newspaper! We reminisced about that and several other times. We ate so much and laughed so hard. We also made a cake and Monks wanted it to be a Hulk cake, so Phil dyed the icing green. We had it with vanilla ice cream. Adrian sure enjoyed it and had a green goatee and looked like he was wearing green gloves up to his elbows. I also shot ice cream off a plate. I had it sitting on the edge of the table, already plated and as I went to set a piece of cake on it, I hit the plate with my elbow and catapulted it. Clean up was fun. Lol. The kids all were ready for bedtime, so after baths and cleaning up, all the adults sat down to play some games. We played Loaded Questions (a family favorite) and had some drinks. Pete came over when he got off work and ate as we played. I called it a night at midnight. 

Pips with bedhead when she woke up.

Monks with all his monos. 

My sweet girl's fake smile. Lol. 

Precious!

Pretty girl!

Mommy and me

Yee haw!

Our potatoes crumbled some but were amazing! 

Hulk cake!

Weekend Update Part 1

Andrew and Jenny came down for the weekend! They decided to leave Friday night so that they could get here by 9:30/10 and then wake up and have all day Saturday. Thanks a lot truck tractor trailer man! There was a wreck in Eastland, no major injuries, and it closed down I-20 for a few hours. A three hour trip turned in to a seven hour trip with them arriving at our house at 2:10 in the morning. Poor poor Adrian. And poor poor Tia and Tio! My kids woke early so I had them in our room trying to keep them quiet. I went to grab some breakfast stuff and creep back down the hall and I heard Adrian so ran and grabbed him before he woke anyone. I wish I had a camera for when they saw each other. So cute. They all reached for each other and squealed with happiness! We took some cereal outside and went to play. Devin came with us and pulled the kids in the wagon. They loved it! We stayed out as long as we could and it was about 9:30 when we came in. Pete and Phil showed up with stuff for French toast and some sausage and Devin made eggs. We all ate and then got ready to go play Putt Putt! We went out to Prime Time and the kids really enjoyed playing out there. Adrian and Pippa just walked around and held onto the balls occasionally. After a fun game, we went to the batting cages! Tio and Tia competed against each other and Tia won! No surprise there lol and then Devin took a turn. He has never in his 30 years of life ever been to a batting cage. He did pretty well! Aikman wanted my phone as we sat and watched and I noticed at one point he had my camera on and was taking pics. He took 220 pictures in about 20 minutes lol Some were cute actually! Crazy guy. We went inside and got a drink and Tia bought some popcorn and then it was time for lunch! Adrian and Pippa were sleepy so we decided to just grab Burger King and take it home. Adrian was out within five minutes, Pippa within 15. Sweet babies. We ate lunch and then laid Aikman down. After naps, we played around some and then realized it was 6:30! We were going to make spaghetti for dinner and still had to go to the store! We decided to just get pizza and save the spaghetti for Monday. After the kids were ready for bed, Tia and I went to HEB and did some shopping. We came home, put everything away and sat down for some fun! We played Skip-Bo and had some drinks. A fun ending to a fun day! 

Manitas up!

This was my monkey after I missed the hole. 

Monks took this of Tia batting. 

Monks took this as well lol

I like how he took pics of the Go Karts. Ha ha

Tio at bat, one of Monks' pictures. 

Got a slush inside. 

Pips with her gangster dog tattoo from uncles. 

Adrian eating some slush

On a Clydesdale! Hang on Pips! 

For Gramita! 

First Practice

We had our first practice last night! I went straight home and picked up Devin and the kids, who had everything ready! We had our big Anderson tote full of our bat, gloves, balls, snacks, papers I had for the parents, sunscreen and a mini first aid kit! We also had our little ice chest and our tee stand. We went and picked up Phil and headed to the fields. We found our field and headed to it. Everyone was on time and only two did not show, which we knew they wouldn’t. Lots of parents were out there and even brought extra family members with them! Devin rounded all 9 kids up and met the ones he hadn’t at the Parent’s Meeting and then we started! 5:30 means 5:30! They all went near the middle of the diamond and did warm ups. They stretched, touched their toes, did arm circles and then lined up at home to run the bases. They all ran together around twice. We then worked on them running all the bases individually and getting familiar with the name of the base. Talk about precious. Devin was at home and I was at 1^st and would make sure the kids touched the base and continued on. Everyone cheered on their teammate and high fived them as they got home. The kids ran their hardest and were so excited and proud as they ran to each one with everyone calling their name and cheering them home. I seriously love this age. I wanted to pick up and hug each kid and kiss their cheeks due to their adorableness. I was afraid that might seem awkward now, but give me a few weeks. Awkward or not, these babies are too cute to not! We then took a break and we opened the ice chest and let the kids get their mini bottled water. We also had a big tub of animal crackers for everyone. We will take the crackers and water to each practice for them. One less thing a parent has to worry about or I have to ask them for. We did make a signup sheet for parents to bring snacks and drinks to games and it is completely full. I was so thrilled. We appreciated them helping with that so much. After a 5 minute break, it was time to practice throwing! Devin had all the kids in the middle of the field and told them to move their arms like they were swimming. I had never thought of that! They were told to swim swim swim and then that is how they will move their arm to throw. They all got on one knee and threw him a ball. He helped any with form that needed it and actually all of them did really well! He then had them line up on the white line between third and home. Devin asked the kids to stand arms length apart. They were all huddled together lol it was cute. We shifted them down and everyone was set. Each child was given a ball and told to hold it and not throw it until he asked them to. Did you know, out of nine 3 and 4 year olds, in the whole 15 minutes we spent on this, only one ball was thrown before he told them to? One! That is impressive! He went down the line having each child throw the ball. They did great! Again, he reminded a few of their form and they did awesome! Once everyone had thrown theirs, they were told to run and grab a ball and run back to the line. They all grabbed a ball and we only had one kid cry thinking someone took his ball but everyone pointed to the last one left out there and he ran to get it. His teammates helped him! One little girl also handed Aikman a ball and then ran to get another one. It was sweet. A little boy named Caleb had quite an arm on him. Devin called him Rocket Man and he loved that! You could see the pride in his little face! We did that a few times and then it was another small break and then batting time! It looked like a storm was moving in, so it was overcast and not hot at all. I was so thankful for that! After a 5 minute break, we worked on batting!  Devin showed each child how to stand and had them do practice swings without a ball and then put the ball up there. He would tell them to make sure to wait until he told them to hit it and each child listened. I am telling you, we got a great bunch! The other kids were lined up by the back of the dugout and to the side and cheered for their teammate. As each kid batted, they would run to first and wait for the next kid to bat to advance. Just like they would in a game. A parent stood on each base to be able to help direct and cheer on the kids as they advanced. I was at home. We went through our entire team and everyone was high fived as they crossed the home plate! We will work on positions and stopping the balls next week, this week was just to learn basics and get to know everyone. I seriously couldn’t be more proud of all the kids! I got several hugs after and my girl Sirena even jumped in my arms! She is adorable!

The parents were so encouraging and very enthusiastic about their kids playing. I am so grateful for that. Everyone cheered and offered to help and take bases as needed. We really appreciated that. Devin was so sweet with the kids and they really enjoyed him. He made them laugh and really helped them and encouraged them. He taught them but made it fun! We had a little team huddle afterwards where he told everyone what a great job they had done and how proud he was of them. When he asked if they had fun, they all screamed “yes!” Mission accomplished. I did laugh a few times because sometimes Devin talks to them like they are adults. He was reminding them how we don’t play with the bats and how we only use them to hit the balls and not to play with. He said “we need to use caution when we have the bats and be aware of our surroundings.” That just made me smile. They all listened! I only had to tell two kids to not hit the dirt with the bats and that was it! They also never threw their bats after they batted. They set them down and then would run. Oh and the helmets they wear, stop yourself! They were insanely cute! These tiny bodies with these bulky helmets. Precious! We look forward to our next practice and next Saturday will be our first game! Eek!

Our only negative thing was there are no bathrooms nearby. We would have to walk across a huge field to the ones by the park or go in the Y, which is just as far. I told the parents that with kids our age, we will just have to let them go behind the trees out there if they need to. It will be harder for the girls, but we only have three so hopefully we can make it work. Every parent was on board with that! We get our jerseys Monday or Tuesday. The Y will call Devin and he will pick them up and then we can hand them out Thursday. Everyone said Devin did a great job and one of the dads was pretty impressed with him. I always am, but yesterday I was especially proud to call him mine. Something about seeing him with all the kids was so amazing. We left the fields so excited and looking forward to the season even more! I didn’t get any pics this time, but we will soon! Monks said he had a great time and he was too cute for words out there. He said he likes all his new friends on his team. Sweet boy. I told Devin as we ate dinner afterwards that I wanted to have a little party after the season. Like a pizza one or something. Guess what he said? “Oh yeah, I was planning on that.” My hubby planning a party? He really does enjoy this! Here’s to a great season! Go A’s! 

Sweet Gramita

It is with sorrow yet joy I make this post. Our sweet Gramita has passed away. She was 91 years old. Amazing huh? She really just passed of old age. She was not sick, not in pain and just went in her sleep. I sometimes wonder how much longer she would have lasted had my mom not passed. She kind of started going downhill after that. Not really health wise, just social wise as weird as that sounds. She stopped volunteering, traveling to visit and even leaving her apartment at times. All that aside, there was a big reunion yesterday morning I am sure! She was a great person and made us laugh so much. She was the only grandmother I really had. I used to stay the summers with her when I was younger and we had so much fun. She loved when Mike and I would come down. She even loved spending time with Pete and Phil even more. Those were her babies! She came down all the time and would bring them “cakey” in that yellowish colored carrier. The boys actually requested to keep it not too long ago and already have it. We always teased her for cheating at Skip-Bo and referred to parking or sitting right by someone when there were plenty of other spaces as “pulling a grandma Frances.” I really smiled as I typed that. Lol. Every time we watch Wheel of Fortune I think of her. Every time I see a bottle of Mogen David I will remember her. We have so many wonderful memories with her and I will never forget her. I am so grateful she got to meet three of her great grandchildren and at least see little Lucas in a sonogram pic. I know he made her smile.

I talked to Aikman about it last night and told him she had passed away. He said “oh no, that’s sad!” I said yes, it is sad to lose her, but she was 91 so she lived a long life. He then looked at me with big eyes and said “oh, that is a long, long, long, long time!” I laughed and had to agree. I then asked him where she was now and he said at the orange house with the birds in front. He was referring to the nursing home we saw her at the last time we went. I said no, she is not there if she is gone, where do we want to go when we die and he said he didn’t know. I then told him she was in heaven and he said oh yeah, with Big Tio and Tia! I laughed and said um, no they are alive, who is already in heaven? He said Gigi and Grandpa! He then told me he wanted to see Gigi so bad and I said we would one day, but not yet and he said that made him sad. Precious boy. I told him it made me sad too, but they were in a great place and okay. He just smiled. How adorable is he?

Anyway, we will never forget her and this is definitely a celebration of life! We love you Gramita! We will be sure to do a little “ka-leek-ee-lee” at your service! 

With my sweet Pips

Love this pic

Can this be any cuter? 

At Mamacitas

My Day With the Kiddos!

Monday, Mrs. Morgan called in sick, so I took a sick day too to stay with the kiddos! We were all up bright and early and enjoyed breakfast and some playtime outside in the back before it got crazy hot. We had fun drawing with chalk and even tying some curling ribbon around the three big posts on the patio. We adjusted them at different heights and Aikman had lots of fun climbing under and over the laser beams as we called them. We then went inside and got dressed for the day and had snack. We had bought some cherries the other day at the store and the kids love them. I was nervous Pippa wouldn’t know how to spit the seed out, so I tried manually getting them all out. That was messy and they lost a lot of their juice. I gave her a whole one and she did great! She knew to take it out of her mouth. Monks loves pulling all the stems off of them for us. We then headed to Red Bud and we were the only people there! I was in shock! I don’t think that has ever happened. We played for about 45 minutes and then walked over to see the prairie dogs play. The kids got so excited because the animals were “talking” to each other and would stand on their hind legs and then make this squeaky sound and then go back on all fours and another one would do it at another hole and it went back and forth about 10 times. How funny! We ran by Sonic to get a drink and then headed home to make lunch. We had a nice lunch together and then we went down for naps. We played some after naps and made so many things out of Legos. We pretended we were in a bakery and made all kinds of cakes. Pips baked them, and we decorated them. We were just being silly and Aikman would repeat me at times but I laughed when he said he was making “fondant flowers” for decoration. Crazy boy.

Funny story. I was making dinner and Aikman came over to me and asked if I needed help. This was our conversation:

Aikman: Need help momma?

Me: No monkey, I am good, thanks though.

Aikman: Want me to put forks on the table?

Me: I already got some out, thanks though.

Aikman: Want me to help cook?

Me: No squids, I am almost done! Thanks though.  

Aikman: Want me to tear my shirt off like the Hulk?

Me: (laughing) I would rather you didn’t.

He then shrugged his shoulders, turned and walked off. Lol. As if he was thinking, eh, your loss! 

Building some "cakes"

Many faces of my monkey! Sad, angry, shy, surprised!

Look how curly her hair was! She woke up like that. 

Playing at the park 

Onceler Pippa lol 

Just a swangin'......

Finishing a movie

Weekend Update

Friday, I got off work two hours early to get ready for a garage sale we were having Saturday. We had started a little pile in the corner of the garage and I was so ready to have it all gone! Plus, Monks’ baseball season starts this week so we won’t have another free Saturday morning until end of July and I did not want to wait that long. Most of the stuff was still priced from the last garage sale we had so it was pretty easy. We were also able to set stuff up on tables and then just take them out in the morning. Phil was off so he brought over some stuff he wanted to sell. We priced that as well. It was so hot outside, even with the patio door and the garage open so we took a little break for dinner and I decided to finish as the sun went down. We had BBQ chicken Devin had made in the Crockpot and some sides. We then stopped by Kierstyn’s softball game for about an hour and then headed home. We just hung out and I bathed the kids and put them to bed. After finishing pricing and drinking some margaritas, we called it a night at 1:00! We had to be up at 6:45 to get everything out. It came early! Lol.

We found these masks in the garage. Lol. 

Saturday, I had my alarm set for 6:45 but I woke up to someone grabbing my leg and pulling themselves up onto the bed. It was 6:20 and Pips was just looking at me and I looked at her for a second and she waved to me and said “hi” and crawled up. We laid there until the alarm went off and then I got dressed and went to move the car. It was 6:55 and a lady was sitting in her truck at the end of our driveway. She asked me if we were ready yet. I won’t tell you what I thought in my head as she looked at me. Wow people, come on. It was already a little humid and so we were already sweating. We stayed out until 1:00 and then took the leftovers to Goodwill. We did sell a lot, but I also feel like we had so much left! Needless to say, I was so thrilled to see it go. Our garage looks great now! We made about $150 and that was everything being sold at half off from about 10:45 and on! So, not bad, but we have had better. The kids did so well outside too. Pippa would thank people when I did and would tell people bye or hi and wave at them. Phil made $14 and Mike and Jenny made $4. Lol. We grabbed lunch after we made the stop at Goodwill, and then it was time for naps. For all of us. We were so tired. After our naps, we made dinner and played outside in the sprinkler. Aikman loves it, but Pips is very picky. She enjoyed having her feet in it and splashing when the water was off, but if she gets sprayed in the face, it really pisses her off. She was by the sprinkler when Devin turned it on and she got sprayed of course. She stood in the stream of water, just screaming. The longer she was there, the more fury there was behind it. She would not move on her own and was there until I went and picked her up. She then stopped. It was like she was thinking, you did this to me, YOU better fix it! Lol. So dramatic. So she enjoyed her feet and legs being sprayed as she was in her swing and Monks and I played in it, along with Apollo. It felt so good.

Pips coloring outside. 

After the sale, being silly in the car. 

Look at that face! 

Manitas Up!

Sunday, we woke up and I made a horrible breakfast. We had a new sugar free pancake mix we were excited to try and I then realized we didn’t have any eggs. Devin offered to go get some, but I didn’t want him to have to, so I improvised. I googled an alternative to eggs in a recipe. Lots of ideas were given, so I tried one. Yeah………no. I should have known this would be a huge fail based on the batter, but I wanted to be supermom and save breakfast! They tasted horrible and my poor Monks and Devin were going to eat them so they wouldn’t hurt my feelings! Sweet but sorry fellas. I wouldn’t feed those to my worst enemy! Okay, so I take that back, I probably would try that he he but that’s beside the point. We ended up just heating some frozen whole grain waffles we had. Sigh. At least my fruit salad of strawberries, bananas and blackberries and my turkey sausage was a hit! Lol. You live and learn. Never substitute something for eggs. Ever.  Most people are probably thinking, wow, why would we but I feel like that girl from that commercial with the French model boyfriend, they can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true. Ha ha. Our day got better as Pete and Phil and Nicole came by to look at baby clothes. They went through and ended up leaving with a big tub of stuff. I can’t wait to see little Lucas in these outfits! They have gone from Aikman to Adrian and now to Lucas. A lot of it my mom bought so they are extra special outfits! We then all went and had lunch at Tamolly’s. We went back to the house and played a few rounds of Don’t Break the Ice and then everyone left and it was naptime for the kiddos. We had more outside time after naps. Devin and Monks played catch and we had some more water time later on. Such a fun filled weekend with lots of family time! Nothing beats that! 

Huge fail and waiting on our waffles

Monks took this himself at Tamolly's. Yes, he knew how to get to my camera from the home screen and everything. 

My strong boy

Splashing