Old MacDonald's Farm

Grandpa came up this weekend and wanted to take the kids to Old MacDonald's Farm. It's a little place near us with animals, a train and such. If they put about $50K into that place it would be awesome. But they charge quite a bit and it's always crowded so I guess they don't feel the need. Anyway...they have a train that runs around the property and every time I'm on it I can't stop singing "I think I can, I think I can". But the kids love it. AND most importantly they have ponies the kids can ride as many times as they want so that's typically why I give in to going there. Matt said he had to put on his "cowboy uniform" before we left the house!!

I have to stop here and give props to my little Marlie. No fear. She went right up with food in her hand to feed the animals and pet almost any that she could. If I remember Matt at this age he'd scream like a girl!!! Luckily he's come around!

Here are the kids feeding the deer. Unfortunately the deer must have been super full because they just turned their heads and looked at us like "would you please leave me alone". I'm pretty sure I have that look at times!

And of course....we rode the ponies several times. Honestly I could sit there all day and watch them ride. Matt hops on with this air of confidence that's really neat. Marlie opens her arms for some stranger to pick her up and put her on the horse because she's so excited. Here they are waiting patiently for their first ride!

Then they were off to the races!

The had a few little sheep and goats that even I liked!
And I'm not sure what the subject was but Marlie was talking about something being "this big momma". I am amazed at how well she communicates!
We had a great time. Thank you Grandpa for taking us!

Lots of Fun

I just have to report that Marlie did REALLY well at gymnastics last Monday. She stretched with the group and did the bars really well and semi-listened to her teacher. It was pretty darn awesome. She looks silly in this picture but wanted you to see the outfit. Again Nona Lisa. Thank you!

Matt did have his Tball game this weekend and man can this kid hit the ball. If you ask him about it he'll tell you that "I'm really focusing on the ball so I'm not hitting the tee". So cute. Grandpa came up this weekend for the game which Matt loved. Here's a pic of Matt and his friend Caden. Unfortunately they aren't on the same team but they are in the same class at school. Caden has one of those contagious smiles. I love when I see him in the morning because I'm not a morning person but I just can't help but smile when I see him. What a super cute kid. If Marlie wanted to marry him today I'd give her my blessing!!!

Friends & Family

Last weekend was fun for one and all! I went to Austin to help host a baby shower for my dear friend Audrey. I stayed with my other dear friend Milana and we had a great weekend. I can't wait for Audrey to soon understand how wonderful these little people are!!! I love you girls! You are such wonderful friends!

Gram came up to see Matt play baseball and help Doug with the kids. Unfortunately the game got rained out, but Doug had another surprise for his Mom. They had tickets that night for the Astros game! They made an evening of it and had a blast. Doug said Matt was pretty interested in the game this time. During the national anthem apparently he blurted out "where's Lance Berkman?" pretty loud which made everyone laugh!

Happy Easter

We spent Easter in SA with the family. It was a ton of fun! Two Easter egg hunts and one party for Gram who turned 60! Unfortunately our camera died by the time Sunday rolled around so I failed to get pics of the kiddos in their Easter gear. But here are some cute pics from our Friday night Easter egg hunt at Papa and Nona Lisa's house!

The kids had a blast with the cascarones. Well except for the little ones that cried when someone cracked it on their head. Marlie wasn't too happy. Matt didn't get a lot of eggs on our first hunt because he said he was too slow. But by the time Sunday rolled around he was a professional Easter egg hunter! When we were discussing the meaning of Easter he was so confused because when Jesus was still on the cross at church!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Monkeying Around

Well you have to see Marlie's outfit she wore last Monday to gymnastics. It's awesome. Thank you Nona Lisa! What you won't see are pictures of Marlie actually participating in gymnastics because she had more fun watching the big girls and just running around the gym. Here's my little monkey....

In awe watching the big girls. Maybe one day!!!

And just chilin with my friend Avery. Avery does really well at gymnastics and Mom was hoping Marlie would follow but......no such luck!!

Eggciting!

Wow it's been fun and crazy lately. Matt's TBall team is doing great and Doug is doing a great job in his new "Coach Doug" role. Game on Saturday was at 8:00am and about half the kids were still sleeping. Pretty funny. Matt played first base and was so excited that he caught the ball before the batter got to the base!

Marlie is doing better at gymnastics. I'm not going to lie...it's still challenging but she is having fun now. She won't do anything the teacher tells her to but at least is trying some things now. Her favorite part right now is jumping on the trampoline. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow because Nona Lisa sent the most awesome leotard and shorts and I can't wait for you to see Marlie in it!!! Thank you Nona Lisa!!!

Spent the week enjoying the Shell Houston Open which is in our neighborhood. Matt's school has 2 concession stands out there and both Doug and I took some time to volunteer. Matt asked everyday to go so we got to take him for a few hours too. I think he had fun but it's still difficult to get him to keep quiet so we had to be careful where we were. I could honestly see him shouting "get in the hole" with a golfer in full swing. If you ask him about the tournament he'll go on and on about Phil. How he's a good golfer but had a bad day so he had to go home. Luckily we got to see Phil on the 18th green before he did go home. It was awesome being out there.

We colored Easter eggs today and had a blast. Matt was really into it and Marlie did better than I thought she would. Matt had a sports themed decorating kit and he asked Doug at some point why there were clown stickers. I didn't know what he was talking about so I looked at them and realized they were the cheerleaders!!!! AHHHH!!! Cheerleading was my life in high school (just a few years ago right?) so I didn't find it as fall on the floor hilarious as Dad did. Anyway...here are some pics of my little bunnies coloring their eggs.

It's Rodeo Time

Matt spent Spring Break in SA with Gram and had a wonderful time! He came back just in time for us to catch the last day of the Rodeo! We started off great.....of course Matt wanted to ride the horses...surprise, surprise... and the moment he was in the saddle it was all smiles.

But I wasn't sure if Marlie was ready for this given last time she kicked and screamed and I could not get her near that sweet pony. But we tried...she had me in the death grip until I forced her to sit on the horse. I wasn't giving up this time. She got on...

Then to my surprise I saw a smile on her face!! I held her hand and we started riding...

And before you know it I put both of her hands on the saddle, let go and there she was!!! Riding like a real cowgirl!!! After she got off the horse she was SO proud of herself. She kept saying "I ride horse" like she was the first person on the planet who had ever done such a thing!!!

We could have gone home at this point and the kids would have been happy. But after the 45 minute drive, $12 parking fee and $20 entrance fee we decided we were getting our monies worth out of this rodeo!!! No matter what happens we WILL have fun! We went to the pig races and the kids loved it. Marlie kept saying "more pigs". Then we learned about farming and the kids had a great time being farmers. They actually did really well although I don't think they really understood the concept.

Matt and Dad decided to take a ride down the slide. Matt was furious when he got to the bottom that he wasn't first. Oh boy....please don't let him be one of "those" kids. Matt usually loves carousels but this one was fast and the ride lasted forever! I would say we got our monies worth except that Matt was crying (still not happy about being 2nd on the slide) and Marlie had me in the death grip again because she was scared.

So we decided maybe it was a good time for lunch. We came back and did a few more less "scary" rides. Marlie and I rode the bumble bee ride and she LOVED it. The kids got to ride on one ride together by themselves too. Matt held his sister tight the whole time. And then Dad got to ride with them!

In the end we had a really great time. And Marlie can't stop talking about how she rides horses now. She's trying SO hard to keep up with big brother!!! I hope next year to actually catch a show. One step at a time!