We have the neatest friends...

We have had so much fun with our friends lately.  Last week the kids and I headed up to the Woodlands to see Mrs. Gabby and her kids Asher, Keilan and Piper.  Gabby is not just any friend...she was my roommate at Baylor!  We both ended up moving to Houston and we finally got around to getting together.  Should have happened sooner! 

I felt like we had lived together yesterday.  Gabby is sweet and beautiful and was always there to give great advice.  And it was as if Matt and Asher had known each other forever too.  I think they might have had the most fun.  Matt thought Asher was the greatest thing since squeeze yogurt. 

Here are our little ones...Piper was sleeping.  I can't wait to see them again soon!

Then yesterday we headed over to Mr. Scott's house.  If you were around my kids at all you'd think Mr. Scott was a rock star or sports star.  They talk about "Mr. Scott" all the time.  Scott works with Dad and apparently has made a huge impression on the kids.  Marlie has only met him twice and unlike everyone else, takes to him immediately!!  Scott's family has taken Matt to a few Astros games and Scott has even been on the other end of the 20 questions game with my Matt.  

So we had a wonderful dinner with the Steinbring's yesterday and the kids had fun swimming in their pool.  I spent most of the time talking to Scott's wife June, trying to figure out their parenting tricks.  They have 2 children - Amber and Trevor and they are both the coolest, sweetest teenagers I've ever met.  I tried to talk June into trading kids for awhile but don't worry...we did take both of our kids home!  :) I think M&M would have preferred to stay there.  Thank you guys for a wonderful evening.  Hopefully we can bring the kids to a football game to watch Amber cheer and to one of Trevor's baseball games too.  They would love it!

First Day of School

If you can believe it, Friday was the first day of school for my tiny humans! We've been hyping up this day like it was the Super Bowl so the kids were excited.  We got to meet our teachers the night before and feel very blessed that Marlie will be with Mrs. Mary and Sister Mary (same teachers Matt had in PreK-3) and Matt will be in Ms. Marchesani's class.  She is a recent Baylor grad and we've heard nothing but wonderful things about her. 

It was a very emotional day for me.  I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to spend the summer with M&M.  We've all grown so much and we were able to do so many things.  I will miss them every day.  I also can't believe that my baby is in a real school. 

So we headed to school on Friday morning.  Dad came too and I was so happy when Matt said he wanted to ride to school with me because usually if Dad has the opportunity to take the kids they get so excited.  So as Matt and I were driving I was trying so hard to hold back the tears.  We walked both kids to their class and both couldn't wait.  They walked in with big kisses from Mom and Dad and were on their way!  I'm so proud of them.  They are so brave.  Much braver than I.

Matt was so excited he got to wear his new uniform and new shoes.  Here he is tying his own "new shoes with laces". 

I love how the shorts are hiked up to his arm pits.  For some reason he loves this style!

Here is Marlie looking for her name to put on the I'm Here board.  I still can't believe how well she did.  Probably because she was excited to be sharing a cubby with Annie and that Ashdin, Daniela, Sam and Hayden were all in her class too. 

When I went to pick them up, they were so excited when they saw my car.  They were holding hands and running to see me.  I was so excited to hear about their day.  Then they got stopped and were told that they couldn't run and that slowed down their excitement, but once they got in the car they couldn't stop talking.  Well... I guess Marlie did because about 5 minutes later she was passed out.  It was a big day!

Andre Johnson's Biggest Fans

We all had a really great weekend.  Doug headed to New Braunfels on Thursday night for his annual boys weekend on the river.  As usual they had a blast, although Doug said they seem to be getting old because they would worry about younger kids on the river that didn't have parents around.  They were also up before 8:00am one morning because...well between work and kids your body forgets what it means to sleep in. 

Last minute I thought maybe I'd take the kids on an overnight trip somewhere fun.  I searched but nothing jumped out at me.  So then I decided to have the girls over Friday night when the kids were in bed.  Matt helped me straighten up the house (not kidding...because of him it was spotless).  He was so interested in who was coming over and thought it was strange that we were just going to chat.  We had a blast!  We had chocolate croissants, wine and chocolate martinis!  My last guest left at 2:00am and afterwards we were all just amazed we had stayed up so late!  It was lots of fun. 

I was in bed by 3:00am and then up at 6:00am because last minute we also got tickets to the Texans football training camp!  Practice started at 8:00am and since I was solo with the kids I wanted to get a seat.  Initially I wasn't excited about getting up so early, driving all the way down to the field and sitting for 2 hours in the heat.  But when I mentioned it to Matt he was SO excited.  The whole event was free so I couldn't say no. 

I'm so glad we went!  The seating was so much closer than a real game so we could see and hear everything.  Dad loves Andre Johnson so of course Matt (and Marlie) love him too.  Doesn't hurt that he wears #80, Dad's old high school number.  We cheered loud every time Andre caught the ball.  Matt asked questions the entire 2 hours.  At one point I wanted to so badly to plead ignorant but this was a great opportunity to teach him about the game.  Matt was slightly disappointed when I had to tell him that Tom Brady did not play for the Texans.  I guess he got confused with the blue and red jerseys (he owns a Tom Brady jersey because both Mom and Dad have a slight crush/man crush on him).  Marlie sort of paid attention but was so good the entire 2 hours. 

Matt also asked lots of questions about the cheerleaders.  It was pretty funny.  First it was, "why are the cheerleaders here?".  They were signing their calendars but I just told him they were helping downstairs.  Then "why do they wear such small shirts?  You can see their belly button!".  I told him if they wore big shirts then they couldn't move well and then wouldn't be able to dance.  He replied, "well there shouldn't be dancing.  You should be paying attention to the game."  Of course I agreed with that one.  Then later he said, "Mom are we going to see the cheerleaders again on the way out?".  I laughed and asked if he wanted to see them and then he said "no".  They weren't there when we left.  I'm sure he was disappointed. 

Here are my Texans and some other great shots!  We had so much fun!!

Afterwards I made another last minute decision to take the kids to the cupcake place!  We loved the cupcakes and the kids thought it was so cool that we had our treat before lunch!!

Then I thought we should probably have lunch and it was off to my favorite dive for tacos - El Rey!  It was so good and the kids loved it too.  We crashed when we finally arrived at home.  It was a great day!!

Our First Trip to the Bowling Alley

Ok so I was reminded that this wasn't the kids first time to go bowling.  They went with Gram and their cousins so I guess this was really my first trip to the bowling alley with the kids!  You're probably thinking that it's odd that we had never been.  Well here's the thing...there are 2 bowling alleys near our house.  Both quite suspect and I wasn't ready to drive 20 miles to a nice one.  But our summer of fun is almost over and I really wanted to take the kids so we tried the one closest to home.  We recently got a Wii (yes I'm sure we're the last family to own one) and the kids have had fun with the bowling game.  So they were very excited when I said that we were going bowling outside of our house!!

We get to the place and I'm a bit nervous.  I prepared myself for the smoke smell and the minute we walked in the door Matt said, "man it stinks in here" loud enough for everyone at MaxBowl to hear us.  We walk up to the man behind the counter and he sneezes everywhere...I mean really...could you at least cover your nose a bit?  He proceeds to hand us our shoes which I was excited about (the shoes were my favorite when I was a kid) until I saw them and couldn't stop thinking of how many stinky feet had worn them.  And you guys know I hate feet (except my children's and all babies under 3 months).  Then we got our balls and I could only imagine the dirty fingers that had been inside those holes!!  I had to take a deep breath.  I couldn't help but think that my sweet friend Sandra, who is always right, would tell me that I'm not crazy for all these thoughts.  Then we started bowling!

The kids had a blast!  Marlie tried to do it by herself but the ball would roll so slow that we'd have to wait a full 2 minutes (not kidding) for it to make it down the lane.  Once it actually stopped.  So she let me help her and together we managed the only strike of the day!  Matt was definitely into it.  At one point Marlie and I got tired and he was bowling for us too.  He got 4 spares, but not a strike.  And he was not happy that we did not play more until he got a strike. 

We had fun and we will definitely try it again when Dad can come with us.  I will just have to remember to bring a large, Costco size hand-sanitizer with us.  I actually did look there for hand-sanitizer and then after about 5 seconds had to laugh at myself for thinking I'd find that in the bowling alley!! 

Let's Go Astros

We had so much fun yesterday at the Astros game.  Uncle Jay got us all tickets and Grandpa, Nene, Coach Joel and Caden all joined the party.  We started our fun day with a quick bite to eat at Christian's Tailgate which has great burgers.  Oh it was so good.  Then it was off to the game early so the boys could get close to the field and watch the players warm up.  The big treat of the night was that they got to meet the starting catcher for the Brewers, Jonathan Lucroy.  My brother coached him at University of Louisiana - Lafayette and he recently got called to the big leagues.  What a dream come true for him. 

You can see that all 3 boys were very excited...

And we got some great pics of the Dads too...

Thanks Uncle Jay for taking us to meet a "real" baseball player!!

When the game started I told Matt he had to cheer for the Astros.  He said he was going to cheer for the "other" team.  I was thinking maybe he thought the "Brewers" was just the coolest team name (I mean really isn't it?) or because that is Grandpa's team (he's from just outside of Milwaukee) but when I asked him why he said, "because I met one of them".  So we did cheer some for the Brewers. 

Cute moments of the day...

• On the ride downtown Matt and Caden were sitting in the back.  They had such a funny conversation, but I thought it was cute when Caden told Matt he was going to call him "brother".  Matt replied that he was not his brother and Caden said, "well you are my friend but I'm going to call you brother."  Matt just smiled. 
• At the beginning of the game they were throwing Astros balls to the fans.  Man ran down with Grandpa but they were too late.  Not long after Junction Jack (the Astros mascot..a rabbit??) was on the field throwing balls and Matt ran down to the front.  He did catch a ball and later gave it to Caden.  There was some convincing on that one, but we reminded Matt he had one at home so it would be nice if Caden had one too. 
• It was late when we were finally headed home and I asked the kids what their favorite part of the day was.  The boys initial responses were about snow cones and cotton candy.  Marlie said her favorite part was pretending to hit the ball when the pitcher threw it.  She would stand there in the aisle ready for the pitch and then swing. Each time she said she hit a home run!!  Funny that she was the one who came up with something actually related to the game.  But the boys later changed their minds.  Caden said it was when Matt gave him the ball and Matt said he was happy that the Brewers had zero runs. 

I was so excited to get the pic of the boys with Lucroy that I forget to get my camera out the rest of the game.  Darn.  Thank you Uncle Jay for taking us all to the game.  We had so much fun with everyone there!

Marlie Lou Retton and Matt Conner

We are also doing gymnastics this summer.  Because Marlie is 3 and Matt is still 4 they are in the same preschool class.  I think Matt is ready for bigger and better but it's nice that I can watch both of them at the same time.  They stick together like glue.  Well it's mostly Marlie that follows Matt's every move.  Both kids are doing really well.  Since Matt takes a little gymnastics class at school he's a bit ahead of the group...well and he's probably the oldest.  Marlie is catching on and this time around is having much more fun than a year ago when we attempted this.  I love their excitement when they master a skill or do something they are afraid of. 

...still trying to figure out how to take pictures through the glass!

As you can see in the next 2 pics, Marlie would not leave Matt alone!!  She was in a funny mood. Poor Matt was getting harassed like crazy and tried to keep a smile on his face.  Luckily the teachers finally split them up when they went to start their gymnastics.

They did great this day.  Matt has been a bit hesitant since his injury but is starting to come around.  They walked on the beam backwards, did back bends on the roly poly and practiced handstands which they do great because Momma practices this with them at home too!

Their favorite is the trampoline.  I like this one of Marlie.  The mirror makes it look like there are 2 Marlies!  I don't think I could handle 2 Marlies.  I could handle twice the kisses, twice the random "I love you Momma" that I hear during the day, but not twice the tears or drama! 

I'm really glad they got to do this together this summer.  Not sure if we'll continue in the Fall.  Mom will definitely have to go back to work to pay for all these activities!  Man...but I LOVE watching them grow!

Getting our Ducks in a Row

We have spent the summer getting our ducks in a row.  Seems every day we have an activity or doctors appt or errand to run.  But we have been sure to also take time to do fun lazy things.  All these years I have been throwing the butt ends of bread away and now I find myself stashing it so I can take the kids to feed the ducks! 

They love it and Matt tries so hard to make sure each one gets some food.  The first day we realized that there are lots of turtles in the pond too so we feed those too.  Marlie mostly follows her brothers lead. 

Lucky ducks!  The kids I mean.  To be having such a fun summer!!!  :)