Heather starts 8th Grade

Yesterday, Heather started 8th grade. It seems hard to believe she is already at the top of Middle School making fun of all the little 6th graders. Next year is going to be really weird -- she'll be in High School! For fun, I am putting pictures of every year of school below. In some of the earlier years, I don't have her first day, but I do have pictures of her taken those years that I'm using instead.

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

Seventh Grade

Eighth Grade

Schlitterbahn

These pictures are from our June trip to Schlitterbahn. I'm not going to say too much about the trip, because there are only a few things to say. Caleb LOVED Schlitterbahn! When we got home, he didn't think Heaven could be better than Schlitterbahn. Zachary and Heather really enjoyed it too. It was my favorite thing we did this summer and it was even nicer that Paul's dad and sister got to come with us. It was a super fun day!

Caleb holding Zachary's shoe that fell off - later we lost it altogether.

Zachary loves Icee's and kept taking Heather's cup.

Farewell Ruckus Room

The Ruckus Room is a bouncy house place fairly close to my house that my boys love. We had Caleb's 2nd birthday and Zachary's 1st birthday there. It has been a great place to take the kids to play when it is too hot, too cold or rainy. Tuesday afternoon I took the kids there and saw a very sad note posted on the door, the Ruckus Room will be closing on August 29th. Not only am I sad because it is a great place to take the kids, but both my boys first real birthday parties were held here. It makes me sad :(

Pictures of the boys on Tuesday (8/17/10):

Pictures of Zachary's First Birthday Party (March 2010)

Pictures of Caleb's Second Birthday Party (October 2008)

Corpus Christi

We decided to have one last summer fling and we debated about whether to take the kids back to Schlitterbahn (the boys, especially Caleb, LOVED Schlitterbahn) or the beach. Heather really pushed the beach so we decided to go there. We had some reward points that covered our hotel stay and I packed us a lot of sandwich stuff , a really yummy pasta salad, various snacks and drinks. We left the house about 7 AM on Saturday morning, and after multiple potty breaks, we finally made it to our hotel. After we got settled and ate lunch, we went to the beach at the National Seashore. It was nice and I think we all had a nice time. Heather started digging a hole in the sand and Zachary kept trying to "help" her by filling the hole back in. Paul saw a fairly large crab in the water and we were all thankful that it did not decide to pinch any of us. After we had as much beach fun as we could take, we went back to the hotel. Zachary loved the hotel, it had many new things to destroy. He is going to be a demolition man when he grows up. He spent every waking second getting into something. His two favorite things were trying to break the A/C unit and dumping everything he could find in the toilet if someone happened to leave the door open.

Sunday morning we got up early and went to the beach again. We all dug huge holes in the sand, played with some shells, frolicked in the waves and got hungry and went back to the hotel for lunch. After eating, we all took naps. When we woke up, no one could decide what to do. Paul wanted Heather to go kayaking with him (you can rent kayaks at the National Seashore and kayak on the bay side) but Heather didn't want to do that. I suggested going to the mall so we could get out of the sun at least a little, but Paul and Heather weren't too excited about that. Heather only wanted to go to the beach or stay in the room. We thought about going to Port Aransas because it is a bit more touristy (the area we were in had 3 souvenir shops, a few very small restaraunts and a handful of gas stations -- it was not a touristy area. There was nothing around except the beach) but no one got really excited about that either. Paul and I did not want to go back to the beach until the late afternoon/early evening. All the while we were debating what to do, we were constantly pulling Zachary off and out of everything. Finally, we all got frustrated and decided to go home. We managed to pack up all our stuff in about 15 minutes and we headed home. Surprisingly, the kids were fine with leaving -- no one got upset.

In hindsight, Paul and I think Schlitterbahn would have been a better choice. Even though we like the beach, we are not capable of sitting there all day. Schlitterbahn offers many more choices of things to do. But, the beach was nice and we're glad we went.

A souvenir shop where you had to walk through the shark's mouth to get to the door.

My sweet boys hugging each other

Zachary entertaining us all by wearing a bucket as a hat

Heather laughing at her silly little brother while sitting in her hole that she dug

Boys and Girls

I am constantly amazed at how different boys are than girls. This afternoon, I got down on the floor to play with the boys and their sense of humor is so foreign to me. They had so much fun tackling me, jumping on me and jumping over me. They especially love to give me zerberts and toot on me. What is this fascination boys have with gas and gas sounds? From birth, both boys have always cracked a smile whenever they have gas. One of Caleb's favorite toys is a whoopie cushion. Even Zachary laughs at the whoopie cushion and tries to make it work.

When Heather was little, she liked to play with her toy kitchen, pretending to make us food and bring it to us. She enjoyed playing with stuffed animals and dress up. Caleb likes to play dress up too, but he wants to be a pirate, a monster, Buzz Lightyear or a zombie. Heather dressed up as princesses, a bride, or a very refined woman having afternoon tea. Heather was relatively quiet and calm. The boys are wild, wiggly and I often think they act like monkeys. I have honestly caught Zachary hanging from the chandelier over our dining room table.

Speaking of my little monkeys, the boys were chasing one another this afternoon and Zachary fell and his face smacked into a chair. Now his sweet little face has a bruise on it. My poor little guy is constantly hurting himself. If my boys would slow down just a bit, they wouldn't get hurt nearly so much.

We have finally taught Caleb not to hit, of course he occasionally slips ups, but for the most part, he understands that hitting is not acceptable. However, it took us a long time to get to this point. Now, we are starting this journey with Zachary. I hope it doesn't take close to a year and a half like it did with Caleb. Heather really was not much of a hitter. I don't remember her doing that at all. I find it odd that my boys are both such hitters. Neither Paul nor I have ever spanked the boys, so they have not learned to hit from us (for those who do spank, I'm not saying that spanking teaches kids to hit, I'm just saying that our kids have never been hit or seen the behavior in any shape or fashion) so I'm not sure why it is something they have such a hard time with. At least once we finish with Zachary, we won't have to teach this lesson again.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Heather as a little girl.

Playing dress up.

She lined up all her stuffed animals to watch a movie with her.

Cupcakes!

I really love sweets! Cake, brownies, cookies -- I will happily eat just about any type of dessert. Given my sweet tooth, I love trying the gourmet cupcake places that have become popular. For Heather's birthday this year, she opted not to get a cake, but to get cupcakes from Crave (in Uptown Park near the Galleria). We liked them pretty well, but the chocolate ones are a bit dry. Their vanilla and red velvet are pretty tasty.

A few weeks ago, Paul and I went out to eat at the Indian restaurant, Kiran's, and drove by a cupcake place we had not seen before. This place was called Sprinkles and the line was out the door and around the building!! Ever since I saw how many people were willing to stand the awful Houston heat and humidity to get a cupcake, I've been determined to try it. Today we went! We got a chocolate cupcake w/chocolate icing (Heather's), a chocolate w/coconut icing (mine), a vanilla w/vanilla icing & sprinkles (Caleb's) and a red velvet w/cream cheese icing (Zachary's). I tried a bit of all but Heather's and they were all good, but the red velvet was my favorite. Actually, the best cupcake I've ever had was a White Chocolate Cherry cupcake from Suzy Beez on FM 1960. However, these were still pretty good. I don't think I would be willing to stand in the heat to get one though, but it was fun to try a new place. We met our friends Kamie, Emma and James there. They tried a Key Lime and Pumpkin and they seemed to really enjoy theirs as well.

There are only 4 chairs inside the bakery, so we ended up having to eat outside. At least it was shaded, but it was still pretty hot. The kids didn't seem to mind. For some reason, Zachary refused to try any of the cupcakes -- I offered him all the flavors and he didn't want it. He loves sweets like I do, so I'm really surprised.

James and Emma with their cupcakes!

Moon Dough

In my continuing quest to let the boys explore their creative sides, I decided to get the boys some Playdough. While we were at Walmart trying to decide which package to get, Heather convinced me to get the Moon Dough b/c the package says it never dries out. Let me encourage anyone else considering purchasing this stuff to pass it up. It has the texture of powdered sugar and really doesn't stick together well. Our friends Kamie, Emma and James came over to play with us and none of the kids enjoyed playing with the Moon Dough. It was just too weird. However, James did enjoy eating it. Poor little guy promptly threw it all up and we called Poison Control to make sure it wasn't toxic. Thankfully, James is just fine. I did not take any pictures of the kids with the Moon Dough because their attempt to play with it consisted of Kamie and me "helping" them do everything until they got so bored they wandered off. Playdough is much better!


Heather made us some delicious Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies yesterday! They are so good that none of us can stop eating them. She has 2 more weeks until school starts, she is not really looking forward to it.


Last Sunday, Paul's aunt Pat came to Houston and we got to have lunch with her, Becky and Doug. Zachary was a little restless but we had a great lunch. It was nice to visit with her! I wish I would have brought the camera because we do not have many pictures of Aunt Pat with the kids.

Zachary learned to say "uh oh" last week. It is so cute! He sometimes falls on purpose, just so he can say "uh oh". He has also started hitting :( When we first started putting him in the corner for hitting, he thought it was a fun game. He would run over and hit Paul and then run over to the corner, run back to Paul and smack him again and run back to the corner -- all while laughing! The novelty of the corner has worn off, he no longer thinks it is fun.



Last week, Zachary was bitten on his cheek by a mosquito and his whole face was swollen! Poor little love. It took about 3 days to go down. The first day, he couldn't even open his eye all the way.

The kiddos

I bought some Crayola Color Wonder finger paints because the boys enjoyed painting so much the other day. Caleb did not really like these new ones very much. Zachary loved it though and he didn't even try to eat it!

The fingerpaints

Zachary painting

Caleb painting

On Wednesday, Caleb and Heather hung out with Grammy and Zachary went with Grandma to school. I got to have lunch with my Dad, which is something I hardly ever get to do. We went to our old favorite, Lasagna House. We've had the same waiter there forever -- Vinnie. Vinnie has been there since we started going to Lasagna House twenty plus years ago!

Today, Paul comes home. The boys are super excited! The boys have been having some major melt-downs this week. When Caleb was a little guy, we expected him to throw some intense fits because he has always had an intense personality. Even as a newborn, he would get so worked up he would flip over. However, we were a bit surprised when Zachary started throwing them. He was such a mild mannered, happy baby. As a toddler, he is much more demanding! If he doesn't get what he wants he screams, stamps his feet, flings his hands around and throws himself on the ground. To the best of Paul's memory, Heather didn't really start throwing fits until she was well into her 2's and then she only did it occasionally. Caleb and Zachary both started not too long after turning 1. Caleb goes through phases where he is really good for a while and then he'll hit a phase where he is prone to melt-downs. This week has been a week where both boys have been having quite a few. Caleb's fits have moved beyond the throwing himself around bit and now he has moved on to crying so hard that he chokes himself and even occasionally throws up. He gets himself so worked up that he no longer hears what you are saying to him and he is just lost in his emotions. I have to just put him in his room and wait for him to calm down before I try to talk to him. The WORST thing to do when Caleb is worked up is to try to butt heads. When he gets to where I can talk to him, I have to speak softly and calmly and explain what he did wrong, how he can act differently next time, what his consequences are and that I still love him very much.

Heather and Caleb are constantly fighting and butting heads. It kind of makes me laugh because Heather thinks she should be in charge because she is older than him. So, she criticizes every little thing he does. If Caleb makes a noise that Heather feels is too loud (though Paul and I will be in the room with them and neither of us are upset by what Caleb is doing), she tries to get on to him. Caleb, of course, is not going to do a thing his sister tells him, so he proceeds to make much louder noises. This makes Heather angrier and she tries even harder to assert her authority over him which he responds to by being as annoying as possible. At this point, both kids get in trouble and Heather thinks we are the most horrible parents ever! She doesn't understand that she started the whole thing. It really cracks me up, though I do feel sorry for her. Inevitably, about 5 minutes later, Caleb will get in Heather's face and start doing something to annoy her. It's like his way of getting back at her for getting him in trouble earlier. This goes on all the time! Paul and I have both tried discussing this with Heather, but it doesn't make a difference. She continues to think that she is in charge of Caleb and that it is her job (not Paul's and my job) to correct his behavior. It must be her age because she sometimes even tries to tell Paul and me how we should be acting or doing something. I do remember thinking that I was smarter than my parents, so I'm sure she is right in the middle of this stage.

Despite their occasional short-comings, all the kids are really awesome. Heather is a wonderful helper to me and she is perfectly willing to pitch in. She is smart and beautiful and a great kid! Caleb is so loving and I absolutely love how he goes at life with everything he has! Zachary is such a happy, easy-going kid. I am blessed to have these 3 great kids in my family.