Getting ready for vacation

The kids are excited (well, I'm guessing Connor is) about going on vacation in a week and half (so are mommy and daddy). We are going to Destin, FL were Matthew and I were married to celebrate our 6th anniversary.
Our neighborhood pool isn't open yet so we made due today with a small kiddy pool out in the yard. It was Connor's first time in a "pool". The water was pretty cold, but he did okay in it as long as his sister wasn't splashing water on his belly. He was not a fan of that. Lauren had a great time playing and splashing in the small amount of water that there was. Since she has come inside, all she can say is, "I had fun. That was fun." over and over. I think our upcoming trip to the beach is going to be Heaven for her.

When I grow up

Today is the first of what I am sure you will see many, many more posts to come on this topic.

Lauren climbed in the car today after preschool and declared that she wanted to be a teacher when she grows up. This is how she said it, "When I grow up I want to be a teacher just like Ms. Gwyneth! And then I can teach all the little boys and girls about bears. But I have to wait until I get a little bigger."

Finger Foods

Connor is now successfully feeding himself some finger foods. If you are a mother you know that the word 'successful' doesn't mean there aren't still 20 cheerios on the ground when he is done, but I would say a good 90% make into the mouth. We are proud of him and happy that he can feed himself a snack mostly because it buys us some time to get his food ready. The 20 seconds it takes to warm is food is just too long in his opinion. Connor is a very good natured boy, but when it comes to meal time - the boy does not like to wait.

Mommy's Birthday

Mommy had a birthday and celebrated like she was 30 again! I actually did get to have a fun birthday and as always tried to stretch the celebration out as long as I could. My mom came to babysit so Matthew and I could have an actual date. We get so few dates that we made this one last as long as we could starting with dinner, then a movie and then we hit downtown to dance the night away. Saturday night I also went out downtown with the girls for some good food and drinks. My friend Kristen was in San Antonio this week so on Wednesday I stayed the night in San Antonio with her and drank more pitchers of margs than I can count! On Thursday (finally my actual birthday) I came home in the morning to balloons, flowers and candles lit on a birthday cake that Lauren and Daddy had baked for me the night before. That evening we went to dinner as a family and ate lots of "noodles" as Lauren calls it. By Friday I was just plain tired from such a long week and was really feeling my age.

Easter

Lauren had a triple dose of egg hunts this year and a double dose of egg coloring! She had egg hunts at preschool, in our neighborhood and at Mimi and Papa's ranch. Wow - she had fun! I am pretty sure by Sunday afternoon she was starting to think the whole Easter bunny thing was better than Santa Clause!

Sea World

We ended Spring Break this year with a trip to Sea World. This was Lauren and Connor's first time to see Shamu. Lauren loved every minute of it and even rode on her first roller coaster ride with mommy! Connor mostly slept while daddy carried him around in the Ergo Carrier during the day. We planned this trip while Aunt Kathy had her sisters in town, so we ended up having a large group that consisted of Matthew's sister, Aunt Katie and cousins Jo and Nathaniel along with my brother, Uncle Ron and as just mentioned, Aunt Kathy and her sisters and their children as well.

Birthdays

Lauren is very excited (to put it mildly) about her birthday coming. She has been ready since Christmas. And now that her Mimi just had a birthday - oh boy - is she even more ready. We have told her that she has to wait because after Mimi's birthday is Mommy's birthday and then it is her turn. (The girls in this family have their birthday's on the 3rd of the month in order - First my moms on March 3rd, then mine on April 3rd, then Lauren's on May 3rd.) So now when we go anywhere and see any stranger at a store she has to make sure they know the birthday order of our family. It goes like this - somebody says, "hi" to Lauren. Lauren then says, "First it is my Mimi's birthday, and then my Mommy's birthday, and then it will be MY birthday!" If she is really into it, then she will continue on with, "after my birthday, it will be daddy's birthday and then it will be Connor's birthday."
We have asked her what she wants for her birthday and she is very certain that she wants flowers - ORANGE ones! She has also added that she would like a pink cake and maybe balloons. I asked her if she wanted any presents and she looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Of course!".