Memorial Day

I'm behind on posts...here is one I meant to post on memorial day!
We celebrated memorial day with a fun family barbeque. Thanks to all who came and shared. Thanks to our soldiers past, present, and future.

Not for the Faint of Heart!

On Sunday when I was at work I got a call from John....he says, "babe! there is a giant snake in the garage! I just wanted to let you know to be careful. I'm not going to get it out or anything." What the heck?!!! My husband is Cuh-razy. Isn't that like one of his jobs as a man? lol. At LEAST call animal control. Luckily, by the time I had time to call him back the situation had already been resolved. John told me that he casually mentioned it to my brother Adam, who is staying with us for a little while. He was also "letting him know" to be "careful!" Is there really a way to be careful when there is a SNAKE in the garage with you?! Well, my brother the snake handler....or something....decided to rid our garage of this pest himself. I also think he is friggin cuh-razy!
(ps this is the second snake situation he has handled at our home. the first one was about two years ago and it was a little garden snake. I still don't like the idea of ANY snakes in my yard. sure sure, I know there are "good" snakes. I just don't want to know they are in or around my home!
Adam...my crazy brother. Thanks Adam!

Julia said, "mommy, we had a gigantic snake in the garage and uncle Adam hit it and hit it in the head and killed it!" Yikes. Adam said he didn't plan on killing it (why not? do we really want it to come back?) that he was just trying to get it to leave the garage. However, when it began to dart at him and toward the back of the garage he said he changed his plans. Scary.

Snake

Haha, no it wasn't THIS snake....thank you VERY much. This snake is some insane killer snake with huge venom pockets that will kill you before you can kill them. We saw it at the Ft worth zoo, behind thick glass just a few days ago.

Bryce and the African Pit Viper

Julia and the African Pit viper

No, no , it wasn't this snake either. wheew. this is actually closer than we ever wanted to be to this venomous snake too. (and the hundreds of other venomous snakes at the ft worth zoo.) we do not like snakes.
After putting the snake out of it's misery (being chased etc) they attempted to identify the snake. Adam said he already knew it wasn't poisonous....really? I mean you have to get pretty close to make sure. I DO NOT recommend attempting to rid your own garage of a snake. I for one would have called animal control.
This IS the snake. I figured I'd spare you of the close ups. They were somewhat brutal. Plus, to me the head does look triangular, but my bother said it wasn't triangular before the "trauma." eek rat snake? I'm not sure if I'm sad he killed the snake. I mean the snake must have found something to eat around here, right? Either bunnies or rats, ugh! please not rats, or bunnies for that matter. maybe it was just looking for a cool shelter...yeah that's it.



We have a 7 acre tract of land behind our house that was previously open space that is now being built on. GRRR....another story! So far in the past 2 months we have had bunnies in our yard, birds in the dryer vent and now a snake in the garage. Personally, I am DONE. A result of us forcing innocent animals out of their natural habitat. I didn't want them to build on the land behind my house either. yeah, I know my home forced them off my land....I'm sorry, but please please don't come back.

Loving Summer

Family Time

I admit it...we tend to hibernate in the winter. The cold just doesn't agree with me. The summer....now that is a different story. Sure, there are days in Texas that it gets too HOT, but for the most part....I'm so glad you are here summer!
Last Thursday we informally closed out our stay-cation by going to my friend Ivy's house. She lives in Denton now. Pretty far from us! We headed up there and had a great time in the pool. This was Bryce's very first time in a pool. He loves the water as much or more than Julia, so he had a great time. Julia's swimming skills are getting better and I'm hoping by the end of this summer she will be a "swimmer." We ended the night with a quick barbeque before heading home.
Little man in his cute little floaty


Ethan and Julia chatting it up

Julia and Emma relaxing

Ivy with Bryce. Bryce is so ready to hop in the pool!

Everyday of our stay-cation pretty much ended the same way, and this day was no different....the kids would passed out from all the days fun!
PASSED out! This neck position does not look comfy! sweet girl

I can't believe I didn't get one of him passed out in his car seat...He was until just before this picture!

Bryce sleeping at an earlier time during our trips out. We did wear them both out numerous times on this trip. There is something to be said about going home and sleeping in your own bed!

Staycation day 4- Ft Worth Zoo

Can you tell I heart my jogging stroller that I HAD to have BEFORE Bryce was born! lol. We really do use it a lot.

(last wednesday)We have already been to the Dallas Zoo and have always heard that Ft Worth was better, so loaded the car again and headed to the Ft Worth Zoo. It was a little bit of a drive. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get there, in little traffic. It's at least 20-25 minutes farther than six flags! It was very nice though.



Dancin' with the Kangaroo

BestFriendsForever (love the rocking chairs!)

Mommy and Bryce looking worn out, but lovin' in



MORE TO COME ON THIS POST

Staycation Day 3- Six Flags

Ready for the days adventures.

family time...Julia in her Super cape. she won it in a boardwalk game

Mommy and Julia time


Another gorgeous day in Texas. We couldn't have picked a better day to go to Six Flags. It was a wonderful 80 degrees. Everyone lathered up with plenty of sun screen, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out to Arlington, TX. Julia was very excited to go to Six Flags for the first time. She had a great time when we went to California last year and visited my friends and went to Disneyland. Both her and Bryce proved to be my little daredevils. They both love a good thrill. Amazingly, Bryce was allowed to ride on numerous rides.


Can you believe it?! A couple of times, John and I were thinking we might be questionable parents for letting him ride some of the crazy rides!

Hope you enjoy the slide show!

We all had an AWESOME time!

Park Days

Monkey #1 holding monkey #2 on the monkey bars

Doesn't get any cuter than this. (cute little shoes!)




I guess I haven't been in the mood to write too much lately. I think that happens when I feel like I have gotten "behind" on blogging!
Well, I did want to add a few notes about this past Monday's adventures. After I slept in until 2pm, yes, I had worked the night before! Plus, I won't even mention how Bryce would love to be an all night nurser...FOREVER. We went to the park. It was a beautiful day. We decided to go to one that we don't frequent very often. First, we enjoyed a little walk along the spillway??? It was really more just rainwater run off. Nevertheless, Julia loved it. We kept telling her to be careful, so of course she starts trying to run and immediately slips and falls.

Thank goodness she didn't crack her head open or require stitches or anything insane. I've found no matter how careful you are...IE, electrical socket covers, stair gates, locks on doors and cabinets your children WILL find some freaky, obscure way to harm themselves. I just pray everyday that it isn't anything too crazy! Tonight, shortly after I got to work John calls and says that Julia has a piece of water balloon jammed in her nose. SERIOUSLY?! All I could think about was...airway obstruction...tell her not to inhale through her nose! I gave him a few ideas about how to get it out from home. Of course, none of the ideas worked. He packed her up and brought her over to the ER that I work in. Normally Julia lays perfectly still for medical professionals, but not for me. She said, "mommy, I have a balloon in my nose!" She really could give no reason as to WHY she had shoved this in her nose, but I blame her father. I hear he did this numerous times as a child. This is the second foreign body that Julia has shoved in her nose. I can't remember exactly what she shoved in her little nose, just a couple of weeks ago! I do not like this! She promised not to shove anything else in her little nostrils. (please, let her live up to this promise!)

I love to swing!

John wanted to go down the slide, so Julia kindly went with him. =)

Kayleigh Memorial/ Family Dinner

This past Sunday was a fun and busy day. First, we all woke up and went to church.
Julia, Kim and Bryce all ready for church.


On a funny note...Bryce actually said "NO!" for the first time today. It was while we were in the middle of church, during sacrament. He was getting very sleepy and ready to nurse. I was attempting to persuade him to wait until the sacrament was finished being passed. He arched his back and clear as day said, "NO!" HAHA. silly boy

All dressed up and ready to GO!

Then we came home and prepared the pink balloons/note cards that were to be released in remembrance of Kayleigh Anne Freeman.

For those of you who don't know, Kayleigh Anne Freeman is the little girl whose blog spot I've been following for the past 6 months. Sweet little Kayleigh passed away on 5/11/09 Her parents had an open memorial on Sunday in NC. For all the "blog followers" that couldn't attend, we released balloons in little Kayleigh's remembrance. Her story touched my heart. I will continue to hold my children close and value every minute of our time on earth together. We can still find solace in that fact that families can be together forever someday.




After the balloon release we all hurried in to finish cooking dinner. Many people in the family were able to come and have a late "mothers day" celebration dinner. My own mom cooked meatloaf, baked potatoes, fresh green beans and carrots. The we had too many desserts to name....yummy. We were so glad that many were able to come! (Nena, Nonny, Prampa, Kim, Cathy, Uncle Joe and Aunt Gail, Amy, Aunt Barbara and Jenna and Casey, Adam, and Bryan...and my family...Bryce, Julia, John and me!) wheew...full house. It is nice to be able to get together! I didn't take any pictures...=(
Here is what my family got me for mothers day...since I forgot to post about it on Mothers Day.
Gorgeous red roses, unlike any I had ever seen before! Yummy, Reece's, and a cute card! Thank you Daddy, Julia and Bryce. John said Julia helped pick the card. When I came downstairs Julia said, "mommy, daddy got you candy and a cat thing." I was like....uh?...a cat thing? lol, it was just a card. I was hoping it wasn't a kitten...lol. Oh and then Julia immediately said...can I have your candy. silly girl.

This is the fun stuff I got my mom and sister! (homemade cards from my kids and a few other cute/ pampering items)

My sweet Julia

My loving and awesome sister and sweet baby Bryce. As you can see he is chewing on his favorite chew toy...aunt Kim's cell phone case. This cell phone case went MIA at the family dinner. There is a small reward for any finders of said cell phone case! (this picture is at Julia's gymnastics class. we were watching Julia and I swear Bryce was saying "Julia!" Kim said that he says. "a-Julia"

Babe (my term of endearment for John!)

Warranty Issues/ Stay-cation Day 2

We had a decent day. We waited around ALL day long for the dryer repair guy to come and repair the mother board on my front loading dryer. This is the second mother board it has needed in the short 4 years that we have owned it. (I will say that I know the bird nest that was just removed from my dryer vent last week had something to do with mother board #2 going out!) Thank goodness for extended warranties. I have no idea about anyone else, but my family really does utilize the extended warranties we purchase. I guess that can be viewed as good and bad. Good, in that we had enough foresight to purchase the warranties. Bad, in that all that extra expense and trouble to get something repaired that should still be working perfectly anyway, right. I mean in that past week John has had to send his very expensive Sony PlayStation 3 in for repair because the power switch went out, the dryer needed a new mother board, we are currently contacting the warranty people because our 2 1/2 year "old" HDTV TV has a large green area on the screen (we have already had them replace the bulb once, my tire got a nail in it and had to be patched, and the list seems never ending. (am I made of money?? NO!) Today I was very aggravated that the repair people gave us a five hour block of time in which they would come over 8am-noon) and then decided to show up at 4:30pm. When I called to complain, the guy kept saying, "Well,the repair man is still coming today." As though I should be grateful that he was going to make it at all today! GRRR. oh well, it got fixed and all is well.
We finally got to leave the house at about 5:30pm. By this point John and I are reconsidering even leaving. The kids seemed tired ALREADY! We went ahead and went to Nickelrama. It's a little arcade in the area that had lots of games that cost anywhere from $.05-$.30 to play. Not to bad, but there is a $3 cover charge, up front. We all had a good time. Even Bryce enjoyed pretending to drive the race cars and watching all the people and lights on the games. Then we headed on over to Petsmart. Who needs the trouble and cost of your own pet when all you have to do is swing by this store and visit the cute little animals! Sure the kitty cats look adorable play fighting behind that Plexiglas wall. But one look to the side of them and you see that nasty litter box that no one wants to change and that Bryce would love to dig in, as though it were his very own sand box. or worse, his very own casserole ....yuck. Then two steps to the right of that is the infamous "scratching post." Guaranteed they won't only be scratching that post! Anyway, I do love animals....really. Just not in the house. =) (my poor children)
We ended the day at Cheddars. If I was rich I would hire...in this order...masseuse, chef, housekeeper!

"Stay-cation" Day One

John finally finished the semester on Wednesday evening and has started his little break until summer term starts. This year we decided, somewhat begrudgingly, to stay here in Texas instead of driving the 10 long hours to Destin, FL. I was all for going to Florida and the beach, but Bryce really is too young. I debated so long about booking the trip or not. However, in the end, reason won out over my love for the beach. I just think Bryce might have screamed the whole way. Now what kind of vacation would that have been?! Tuesday we packed up the kids and drove to The Dallas Museum of Nature and Science in Fair Park. I think that the day turned out to be really great. There were lots of fun and informative exhibits. Upstairs was more geared toward adults and there was everything from how a computer sends email, to DNA coding, to how the human body works. On the lower level the kids really enjoyed the children's museum. There was a dress up area, a dental exhibit, and a house area complete with a backyard and ant hill. All of us enjoyed putting on these little ant head hats and climbing through the ant hill. We quickly went through the museum of nature and then made our way outside to the large pond behind the buildings. Julia immediately noticed a large sculpture that entered the water and was built to be played on. John and Julia walked out on the sculpture and seemed to be walking on water. Of course then she noticed that there were Swan paddle boats. We were pleasantly surprised that we could all ride, even Bryce. Julia later said that the paddle boat was the best part of the day. Unfortunately for Bryce, it was the his least favorite part of the day. I'm sure that had something to do with the fact he was exhausted and hungry. To finish out the day at Fair Park John says, babe, I think I lost my wallet." WHAT?! Seriously? again?! Some may recall that John lost his wallet on a ride the first day of vacation last year, at Disneyland. Amazingly, both times now, good Samaritans have turned the wallet in without anything missing. Maybe because there was no cash, but it still says something. He did have credit cards. We ended our night at On the Border, yummy. Kim even met up with us and ate dinner too. Lately Julia has been interested in people in uniform. Especially policemen and women. The other day she said, "mommy, I want to be a policeman when I grow up." To which I replied, "what about a nurse, like mommy." She said, "No, I want to be a policeman!" ugh. It's not that I have anything against the police force, but I have been getting pulled over A LOT lately. It has to be the color of my car...salsa red. grr. Oh and then there is the fear factor. I am glad that we have people who chose to go into the police force because it is necessary (thanks Karina), but my baby??? We shall see.

Amazing Jakes and New Sand Box

On Tuesday, Kim, Harry, John, me and the kids went to Amazing Jake's. We had taken Julia one time before to a birthday party. It was fun to have a night out with the kids and uncle harry and aunt Kim

Julia loves all the games. She also liked the carousel, train, and airplane.

John and Bryce-ables

Harry, super excited to be losing to Kim!

Kim, ecstatic about winning in bowling. and getting to play. Standard bowling is too hard on Kim. This place had a few lanes that was kid (and Kim)friendly, with small balls.


We also got a new sand box! Julia loves, loves, loves to dig. She really like to dig up the grass around my little bitty patio. Unlike weeds, the grass NEVER grows back....nice. Well, I finally found a great sand box at a good price, so I got it for her and Bryce too. Julia loves it, Bryce hates it...haha. (at least for now) Julia has been having a good time digging, but she doesn't like bugs...at all. Bryce must have absolutely hated the feel of it. When I put him in the box next to Julia he made some horrible faces!
Loving the new sand box!



Bryce trying to escape the horrible confines of the wicked sand box!

Julia, serenading us and playing the guitar.