June 2012 Archives

Henry has been wearing these butterfly wings for several days now and even wore them to the farmer's market this morning.

Anna was "selling" M&Ms for free.

We had a playdate & tea party with Anna's friend E. today. We are going to Colorado for a few weeks next month and she is planning a trip to Turkey shortly after we get back from our trip (and we're not sure she's coming back!) so we are trying to spend as much time together as we can!

Okay, we couldn't handle it and had to go down to Houston to try the crepe place I spotted last week when Craig & I went into Houston for date-night. This place also had excellent crepes and a much nicer atmosphere... but it was a longer drive. I'm tempted to take the kids to try every crepe place in town but am not sure that's really in our best interest so I might just stop here!

I don't know how I didn't know this restaurant was in our town earlier (maybe this was a good thing?). I make crepes occasionally for breakfast-for-dinner night but it's a bit of a hassle because it takes me about 30-40 minutes to make them all (maybe I should get a bigger crepe pan?). They're always super-delicious though.

I'm still shocked by the lack of crepe myrtles but the they were too close to the foundation.

Celebrating with Pinkberry!

And now we get to watch it all grow!

Henry had a lot of fun today wearing Sarah's old skunk costume. (We haven't seen any skunks in the yard for a while now, however.)

The kids set up a viewing area to watch the landscapers come do some work in our front yard and then also had a "house" where they could rest in between watching.

Henry felt it was time to feed his cat some food. His cat is named "Chopstick" which is slightly confusing since the other Chopstick is also orange and white.

Henry had his first swimming lessons at the Y this morning and although he was hestitant at first, he did enjoy them. He has 8 days of lessons so hopefully he'll be ready for summer fun at the pool by the time we're done! The girls had their lessons today, too (just four lessons for them this summer), and they did a fantastic job after they warmed up a bit. I'm trying to convince them to join a swim team but they're just not going for it.

Anna had fun with a couple of her friends at a birthday party this evening. It was really nice to see her so relaxed and having fun with her friends from school. I'm not sure why I didn't get her picture with the birthday girl, however!

I took the kids to Minnesota this weekend to see my grandma and we also got to see Gary, Elaine, Dave, Paula, Piper, John, and Grandma Adele; and we we stayed with Bonnie & Neil (best hosts ever!!).

The kids were great on the flight. This was my first flight with all three on my own. It was a little plane so Henry & I sat in front of Anna & Sarah and it was perfect. I told the kids that they had to be on their best behavior this weekend or I wouldn't take them on my own somewhere again and I think they really took that to heart.

Neil picked us up at the airport (Anna & Neil skipped toward each other in the terminal!) and he had monster cookies for the kids to eat while I installed the carseats. We drove over to Gary & Elaine's to see everyone and then back to Bonnie & Neil's for the evening.

Saturday morning, Neil & I went on a 10-mile run (I'm thinking I should have just done 8 but Neil is a machine and human metronome and we stuck with the original 10-mile plan). Bonnie, meanwhile, fed the kids breakfast and took them on a walk to watch a local obstacle run. The kids had a fantastic time playing in Bonnie & Neils giant yard in the lovely Minnesota weather (so much nicer than the weather we left behind in Texas!).

Sunday we met up with my friends from elementary school, Jenna & Chris. We went out to Stillwater for a play at the park and some ice cream. The kids were a little grumpy though so the visit was a little shorter than I would have liked.

On Monday, Neil loaded up the canoe and we drove over to the lake so I could get some open-water swim practice (I have another tri coming up in August). The kids rode in the canoe with Bonnie & Neil (I am still surprised that Henry got in with them) and I swam as well as I could. I think I was out there for about 40 minutes but am not sure of the distance. It was really great practice and I feel so much better about swimming in a lake than I did after that tri last month!

Tuesday it was time to head back to Texas so the kids & I went to visit Great-Grandma one more time (Anna & Sarah prepared a song list to perform for her) and then we went to Carbone's for lunch (wasn't as good as I remembered) and heard some really thick Minnesota accents. The kids were great on the flight home, too, and they were super excited to see Craig waiting for us at the airport.

Sarah made a summer bucket list at school (with a real bucket and a clothespin for each item). One of the items on her list was to walk to Starbucks. Today was the perfect day as we packed for our trip to Minnesota tomorrow and the kids were going nuts with excitement and this was just the ticket to burn off their excess energy. Anna & Sarah did walk the 2-miles (round-trip) and Henry mostly rode in the stroller. I think we'll wait to do it again until late fall when it is a lot cooler though; I heard a lot of complaining about the heat on the way home!

Sarah made these pizza faces today.

We loved the ice cream tour and we were surprised by how much ice cream we got at the end! It was very fresh and delicious. We have been watching "How Its Made" on Amazon streaming video and the tour was like being part of one of those episodes. What a great way to start our summer!

Flowers of the week, chosen by Sarah.

Sarah is big into hosting parties in her room and everything has to be just-so. Maybe she'll be a party-planner one day?

I'm taking advantage of the kids still being in work-mode. We are all so happy to not have to do the drop-off, pick-up routine until August.