TexasEggls

Two very different kids!

2010-10-03T18:45:00.001-07:00

I have two very different kids as you can see in the following pics! We went to a birthday party today and Cooper embraced the animals:

Meanwhile Jack hid behind the couch!

Celebrity Week

2010-08-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the week I got the honor to attend a "Tea With Trista". Being a reality TV junky I was all sorts of excited. She was really nice, too bad I didn't say more then a few words to her!!

Next up it was something for the kids. I am still giving my friend Jen grief for suggesting this adventure. The kids enjoyed it but to say the McD's was a zoo is an understatement.

Writing

2010-08-03T15:34:00.003-07:00

We have been practicing our writing A LOT this summer. As you can see, Jack has been writing for different reasons then Cooper!

You can see he left off hit on the first one, maybe because he had to write it TEN times for hitting his brother as we were leaving the gym for no reason.

Was actually shocked when Cooper called me to see what he had wrote. We have been practicing C & O's but he got Coop without any help from me!

Basketball

2010-07-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Basketball season came to a close and it was a FUN season. We signed up with some of our friends and then the other half of our team happened to be from the boys preschool so we about knew them all! Not all the teams we played were 5'10" as I talked about in a previous post but we were a team of beginners! If you ask Jack he will tell you he is a horrible player and they lost every game. This is such a different pace from his soccer team, where we win every game. At the end of the day he had fun even if he can be a tad negative every once and awhile.

Look at those defensive hands!

In Action:

Thanks coach Rob for a fun season and most importantly the pictures!!

Tired Boys

2010-07-01T11:49:00.001-07:00

Monday afternoon I took the boys to an open play at Pump it Up and they had a blast. I paid $14 and the kids ran around for 1.5 hours and got nice and sweaty. We came home had dinner, took baths and then they wanted to watch some World Cup that Daddy had taped.
Five minutes later this is how you could find my two boys:

Would say that is $14 well spent!

Basketball

2010-06-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

We are doing a summer basketball league with a few of our friends. For all your friends out there with kids, playing sports with your friends makes it much more enjoyable!

Jack was very apprehensive about playing basketball before the first game. We missed the only practice due to being in Austin for my tri and he was SCARED to say the least. The entire drive over there he talked about not wanting to be put in first, etc. We talked about soccer and how when he started playing that he didn't know how to play and tried to pump him up that he would do great.

Then we walked in and saw the size of the other team and decided we might be in trouble.

The games since we have played kids more our size and Jack is really liking it. He even asked our friends to come watch him because he was so good at basketball so his confidence is getting better.

They play on an 8' hoop so it is not the easiest to score a basket but a lot of the kids have!

Stay tuned, I will let you know how the season pans out...
Here is Jack with one of his best buddies, look how big they are??

Toy Story 3

2010-06-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we saw Toy Story 3 with a bunch of friends, I wished I would of gotten a picture of the entire group! The entire group went swimming afterwards and it was a great summer day!!
Today's journal topic was the movies and this is what Jack drew, pretty good if you ask me! He didn't like the journal topics I put out there so he went his own direction!

Look how they have grown!

2010-06-11T16:01:00.001-07:00

This past weekend my college friend and I got together for our annual (well almost between having kids and people moving to France) Danskin tri in Austin. I got a kick at looking back at old pictures of the kids and we were trying to settle a dispute on how many times we had actually done this tri. The final tally is Judie-6, Jen-7.

June 2008

June 2010

Picnic Table

2010-05-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

Before my parents headed to Texas I sent my Dad this and asked him what he thought? My Dad being the handy man he is, whipped it up while Jason and I were away on vacation and the following week we stained it. Thanks Papa we love it!!

Look even six kids fit comfortably!

Thanks Papa, I see a lot of dinners outside this summer!

May 16th

2010-05-20T10:51:00.001-07:00

Jack turned the big 5
For the first time I let Jack pick out his own cake
No theme and a little planning
A private bounce house for the guests (cousins and one friend)
Papa, Queen and GiGi (well she actually left before the party but saw him on his birthday)
An overall success!!

Leftover Easter Candy

2010-04-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

I know it is a shock but Mommy has not eaten all the leftover Easter candy as she is trying to slim her waistline. Earlier this week I let the boys do an activity with some leftover Skittles and it was a huge hit. I had seen it in different varations on a few blogs and it was lots of FUN!!

I gave the boys a piece of paper, skittle, and crayons. I had them make circles for each color skittle, then we sorted and counted. Obviously Cooper needed a tad more assistance then Jack. The funny thing is they both ended up with 19 total. It turned into us doing math probelms for quite some time. Jack loves to do math problems and it was so funny hearing Cooper say "I need more math problems". Cooper was just practicing writing his numbers not going addition and subtraction that Jack likes so much!

A boy and his babies...

2010-04-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Everyone that knows Cooper knows he is addicted to babies. He has three babies now and occasionally they make an appearance while Cooper is playing. Last week he made me put knee pads on them for their diapers, he is a HOOT!! He tended to his babies for quite some time!

Space Park

2010-04-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

I had seen this park on another blog and had been dying to take the boys. We were unable to go last week with out friends because Cooper came down with strep so we went this week. It was great fun and the boys had a blast!!

Cooper looks a little scared to be going to the moon!

Have a nice time in space, be home for dinner!

Cooper getting some instructions from the space center.

Is it Jack??

A view of most of the park, there is a little park for the little ones as well!!

Cooper and all things girly...

2010-04-16T12:30:00.002-07:00

So Cooper has always been obsessed with all things girly, I love it and know he will grow out of it eventually. Not quick enough for Jason but I am sure getting a kick out of it for the time being.
This weekend Jack's good buddy Merrick turned 5, an entire hand, apparently that is big stuff for five year olds. She had a great big bash with face painting, horses and a petting zoo.
First Cooper got his face painted after a lot of fear. He went with batman because his brother got Spiderman.

Then we waited in line to wait for an extra special horse, not the knight one or any boy one, see for yourself.

It was a great afternoon spent with some great friends while Daddy was out of town for a bachelor party.

Blogging More!

2010-04-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

I hope to work on a blurb book this summer so I might start blogging more, look out...

Let's Go FLY a Kite!!

2010-03-30T18:15:00.001-07:00

With myself at the library and Jack at a birthday party, Jason and Cooper had an adventure. With all the wind we had in Dallas over the weekend they headed off to the park with some kites.

Jason said they had a slow start and it took several tries to get the kite actually in the sky!

They switched kites and the story is they actually flew spiderman for over 20 minutes. Cooper became a pro eventually laying down because I guess it was taking a lot out of him. Jason said everyone that came by asked how old Cooper was because apparently he was a PRO!! By the time Jack and I met them at the park, Spiderman had became tangled. Enjoy the pictures!!

Takes from the Dinner Table

2010-03-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

I made Tator Tot casserole for dinner last night when Cooper pronounced. "I like Tator Tots from Sonic, not these."

Jack on the other hand ate 4 helpings and asked if we could have it for dinner again tonight after waking up.

In shocking news both boys ate their green beans at dinner!!

Happy Birthday Cooper!!

2010-03-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Boy how time flies!! Cooper turned 3 today and we spent the entire weekend celebrating!!

Reserve Aid

2010-03-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Jason and I attended a benefit with some of our friends. It was a great evening and for a wonderful cause!! Thanks Wayne and Darcy we had a great evening. The flight museum is now on the list to take boys really soon.

The entertainment was Brian Olsen and it was amazing. Too bad Jason and I couldn't afford the John Lennon picture as it went for $25K, a tad out of our price range.

How I Became a Pirate!!

2010-02-21T19:02:00.001-08:00

Saturday Melanie I took the boys to Dallas Children's Theatre production of How I Became a Pirate, a book we read A LOT!! Five seconds into the play Jack leaned over and informed me that it wasn't scary, I think he was worried it would be!!

Only willing to take his pictures with Jeremy Jacobs, not any of the pirates!

The boys ready for the show to start, hard to believe they will be heading to real school in the Fall!

You can tell he was a little skeptical of what was in store!

The play was really cute and I think we will head back soon and take the younger siblings as Cooper was really sad he wasn't able to go with us!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2010-02-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

A little snow??

2010-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe this is the 5th time this winter we have gotten snow. Yesterday it snowed for 13 hours straight so we have done a lot of playing in the snow.

This was last night with our snowman, boys don't need to make it all pretty with accesories!

Back out again this morning you can see how deep it is, somewhere between 12-13 inches. Cooper keeps dropping and making snow angels everywhere!

A picture trying to show how deep it is!

Candy Canes in February

2010-02-10T17:58:00.001-08:00

I saw this on a blog and we made them for the kids teachers this afternoon. The kids creations are on the inside and they turned out really cute!! It was a great way to get rid of the candy canes in the cupboard. So yeah they were old but it is not like they are going to eat them anyways!!

Hooky!

2010-01-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

The boys and I played hooky on Tuesday and headed to the zoo with some friends who were in town! It was a BEAUTIFUL day!! Laura and I have been friends for over 8 years and Kate and Jack met when they were just 3 months old. We had the place to ourselves and with being a member we were able to ride the carousel and monorail as many times as we liked!! The kids got along great and the mommies enjoyed catching up.

A great picture, except for Cooper's hands!

We saw lots of fish and made cute fishie faces!

We got to pet a rabbit, check out Jack.

We became official Zoo keepers in training by feeding the ducks, with a sticker badge and everything!

A great day with great friends!!

Jack woke up today asking to play hooky again!!

Happy Birthday Cooper??

2010-01-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

Not our Cooper, he doesn't turn three for another month and a half. We were honored to our attend buddy Cooper's 2nd birthday bash, his Mommy sure knows how to through a PARTY! Just less then two years ago his Mommy called me to get an opinion of our old school and we instantly hit it off!! We have become good friends and had such a wonderful afternoon!! We partied Yo Gabba Gabba style at the School of Rock in Frisco.

You can also check out pictures from her photographer.

Happy Birthday Cooper!! It is me or do my boys looking realy old in these pictures!

Sorry Dr Pepper your sales just went down!

2010-01-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

Beginning on Monday I gave up something very important to me! I am in the middle of my second Paleo Challenge for Crossfit and decided to pull out the big guns and finally give up Diet Dp. I had planned it perfectly that in coming back from Mexico there would be none in my fridge. I am on day 3 and finally feeling better.
Here are a few reasons on why I gave it up -
I drank about 5 a day
I care about everything else I put in my body
I don't allow the boys to drink it but still was

I am taking applications for my new drink of choice but I don't like tea too much!

Crossfit Showdown

2010-01-10T08:00:00.001-08:00

Frisco vs. NW Arkansas

50-40-30-20-10-20-30-40-50
Double Unders
Sit Ups

Frisco - 25
NW Arkanasa - 24.11
Frisco just might have done a few more double unders, just saying....

Two Cooking Posts, Look out!

2010-01-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share this easy recipe. New Years Eve we spent the night at our friends house. I had made a yummy breakfast casserole for it only to be refused by all the kids (they did all come back to it, and declared it yummy!). My girlfriend came to the rescue with this quick and easy recipe. Not saying it is healthy but this morning I did pair it with the normal spinach/carrot/fruit smoothies I make every morning so they did get something healthy. It was fun for a snow day like we are having today. I didn't say we actually had any SNOW, try explaining that to your 4 year old.

Sticky Rolls
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat in microwave for 1 minute

Cut biscuts into 8ths (use the cheap biscuit, not grands). Mix in with sugar mix. Microwave for 3 1/2 minutes

Look Mom I do Cook!

2010-01-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

Just not very often :)! I have not cooked in well over 3 months probably due to my husband's working INSANE hours, throw in the holidays while we were all taken care of by Queen and there just wasn't much cooking! With Jason working so much I feed the kids staples and I live on these small salads from Target, just easy!

So tonight I broke out the big guns. After having chicken piccata on NYE I was wanting it again and had a ton of artichokes to use up. I searched for recipes and I found this recipe. Threw in some twice-baked potatoes to please the hubby and kids and some green beans and we had ourselves a yummy meal.

Santa Made Cooper's Dream come True!!

2009-12-29T14:46:00.000-08:00

Santa brought Cooper's wish of Babies for Christmas. Look at his face in these pictures, aren't they priceless! The entire time he was opening them he proclaimed he was indeed on Santa's nice list! This is going to be a funny story to look back when he is 18.

Candy, Candy, & More Candy

2009-12-11T16:51:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we went to the Gingerbread Experience at the Young Chefs Academy. It consisted of:

Candy

Hardwork & Determination

Good Friends

And we ended with a BEAUTIFUL House!

All I want for Christmas....

2009-12-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

So it is no secret that Cooper wants BABIES for Christmas, he talks about them non-stop. He might even be called octo-dad because of his desire to carry babies around all the time at school. This week while at Target on one of the days I just have Cooper we visited them in Target. The jury is still out on whether or not he will be on Santa's good list.

Thankful Tree Update

2009-12-07T17:43:00.001-08:00

We missed a few days but the boys really got the hang of it at the end. I think this will become a yearly tradition!!

Jack/ Cooper

Kitchen/Dog
Mom/ Babies
Trees/ Mom
Friends/ Food
Thanksgiving/ Chapel
House/ Grandma
Trashcans/ Angie
Food/ GiGi
GiGi/ Papa Good
Flowers/ Hope
Queen/ Daddy
My Teachers/ Flowers
Papa & Grandma/ Papa & grandma
Donuts/ Donuts
Staying in Pjs/ Lovey
School Friends/ GiGi

Thankful Tree

2009-11-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

The boys are both home today getting over the flu. It has seemed pretty short lived but I am not complaining. Jack woke up fever free on Sunday but Cooper still ran a fever yesterday and maybe has a low-grade one today. I am not one to take my kids temps all the time.
Back to our activity of the day, stolen from a friend, not my idea. We made a tree and everyday of November we will be adding a leaf to it on things we are thankful for. By Thanksgiving we should have a pretty full tree! Jack wrote all of ours today and they seemed excited for Daddy to add a leaf this evening.

Thankful Leaves for 11.2.09:
Jack - Mommy
Cooper - Dog (??), he wanted to switch to babies at the last second but I told him to save it for tomorrow.
Mommy - Daddy

Lazy Mom's Pumpkin

2009-10-27T19:42:00.001-07:00

I had bought these on clearance last year after Halloween so this afternoon we "carved" our pumpkins. The funny thing is the boys totally thought we were carving pumpkins because I had to get a knife to fit all the pieces in! Run don't walk to Target to get yourself some!

Bruiser

2009-10-21T20:11:00.001-07:00

We are busy in the Eggl household, long time no update!

The latest news is Cooper got a HUGE shiner yesterday afternoon, the eve before picture day (of course)! The other 3 year-old in the fight looks worse! OK not really he actually fell on the CFA playground. I being the stellar mommy I am told him to stop crying until I saw the huge gash below his eye. It seems to have gotten worse over night!

Long awaited soccer game!

2009-09-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

So there has been A LOT of rain in Texas which makes soccer games get canceled which in return makes some sad little boys! Today was the long-awaited first game and it was fun for everyone!
The game started off quickly with each team scoring on themselves but they quickly got the hang of it. At this age they play 4 on 4 with no goalie and a smaller field. Jack did AWESOME and I honestly lost count on how many goals he scored, we think 6 (hence no goalie).
Here is to the first season witht he Lil Rebels!!

Update

2009-09-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

School is going great and I couldn't be more pleased. A few funny stories from the first few days at their new school.

In music they were going around saying the kids names, when asked what his name was, Cooper replied "Bubba". Never used in this household??

Jack's favorite time is "Chapetal", we have since gotten it corrected to Chapel.

Jack told me two girls in his class were wearing the same shirt so they must be twins, nope no twins in his class. Now he did have a cute set of twins at his old school.

Do you hear that??

2009-09-02T06:55:00.001-07:00

It is a quiet house because both boys headed to preschool today. I haven't had a quiet house in 1.5 weeks and now I can actually get some studying done (or embroidery without the iron falling on Jack's head, laundry without the boys needing to lay in the clean pile and have clothes fall on top of them!). Now I know any SAHM that is reading this is like suck it up but my kids have been in full time care since they were 3 months old and we were both not used to it! We had a great week and a half off together but am looking forward to getting back to a bit of a routine. That is after we head to PA for Labor Day weekend.

Oh Jack

2009-08-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Naptime has been tough this week to say the least while I am home with the boys before their new school. Today I just tried to make Jack stay in his room for "quiet" time until 3pm. After coming out a few times he came running out to tell me it was 3, knowing full well my clock said 2:45 I went in to see his clock, because he seemed really bound and determined.

As I walk in I notice the clock says 3:45 and I am shocked. The conversation goes something like this..

Mommy - "How does your clock say 3?"
Jack - "It says 3 because it is 3?"
Mommy - "Did you change the clock?"
Jack - Knowing he is in trouble, "I wanted it to get here faster!"

I honestly am shocked he realized he could change it and figured out how to do it! I proceeded to let him and his non-napping cute brother out of their rooms.

A, B, C

2009-08-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I bought some dry erase boards and flash cards from the dollar bin at Target to help Jack practice his letters and site words. Last night he got bored after about 6 words and proclaimed he wanted to write the alphabet and he did! He needed help with probably 6-8 (should have kept a better tally) of the letters but the others he did from memory. Cooper loved drawing on the board and even better erasing the board as you can see why his board is blank!
I was really proud!!

New BLOG

2009-08-20T09:55:00.001-07:00

So I will stop bombarding people with picture of everything I made I decided to start a blog to share the fun of my new machine!!

Happy Birthday Abby!!

2009-08-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

Long time no post, I am honestly debating about keeping this thing up or maybe going private in the near future. But either way here is a new post!!

This past weekend we celebrated our good friends daughters birthday! It was at a horse ranch and my boys had been talking about it for WEEKS! Jack asks for cowboys boots, dark jeans and a cowboy shirt everyday while Cooper just talks about riding a horse and not falling off.

Cooper riding the horse:

Jack riding the horse, big tough Cowboy, not so much!

And of course my machine is still getting a lot of use!

More Embroidery

2009-07-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

Working on a blog dedicated to just embroidery but with school starting this week, no can do right now. Enjoy my latest creations!

One of my best friends has a little girl that I have always made shirts for, I am thinking these are a little more professional:

Another friend is having her second so I practiced with this:

Another friend had me do some towels, I LOVE this font. Each word almost takes an entire bobbin of thread:

Happy 4th of July!!

2009-07-05T09:57:00.001-07:00

Party like a Rock Star!

2009-06-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

So I did party like a rock star on my birthday, even ran into many of my kids teachers!! But who cares about that, lets talk birthday gifts!!

I am the proud new owner of this:

To make fun things like this (excuse the pic, it is from my Iphone):

Now I hope I get better once I actually take the class. Anyone that knows me knows that I am less then patient!! Since I can not even schedule the class until Wednesday I have been playing around on it by myself. We have had a few mess ups but overall it is so much fun!! Don't be worried if the next time anyone comes to our house, everything is monogrammed!!

I do want to say, I had a blast Friday and have some really great friends!! Thank you everyone for coming out and showering me with gifts!! Also thanks to my parents and Jason's parents for the birthday money to buy such awesome gift!

Kind of like Sacre Couer Mommy!

2009-06-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we were watching the news because I wanted to see what all the news trucks were doing at my gym this morning. When the today show started they show a story on Obama and show a picture of the white House. Jack turns to me and says: "Mommy that is the White House and our president Barack Obama lives there, it looks like Sacre Couer except for more steps and the pointing thing on top".

My smart boy, so what do you think??

Nice Weekend

2009-06-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

We had a great family weekend for a change, no birthday parties, etc. Saturday night we decided to go to Kids Night at the Zoo. We are members and really weren't sure what to think. We decided to go to somewhere fun for dinner and Jason mentioned the Twisted Root, where he had eaten with some work guys a few weeks prior. As Jason is ordering I noticed the big picture of Guy and realize it must have been featured on his show. I thought of my parents the entire time since this is one of their favorite shows. Our meal was good not great but I should of divulged in a burger instead of trying to be healthy. Here is a run down of what we got.

Jason - Blue Cheese & Buffalo Burger
Judie - Salad with a hamburger on top (see where I went wrong??)
Jack - Corn dogs
Cooper - Hot dog
To Share - "Fried Ride": ALL Fried Items Piled High in a Basket of Deliciousness (my only complaint is I wish it was fresher!, if I am going to waste the calories I want to do be HOT)

The kids enjoyed it and loved that we got a funky name when our order was ready, Jack is still talking about it. Ask Jack who we were but if you are dying to know it was Chef Morimoto! I am still trying to find the actual episode of the show so I can see what Guy tasted.

We enjoyed the zoo because there was hardly anyone there and the boys got to jump in a bounce house, make necklaces, and do all sorts of fun things. Now Dallas zoo isn't the best but I figure once we finally make it to Fort Worth the kids will be amazed! We all sweated our booties off hopefully making up for what we ate at dinner! This was the third time to the zoo over the past 2 months and I think we have about got our moneys worth.

Throw in a surprise shower for a friend on Friday and a mini high school reunion on Sunday and it was a great weekend all around.

Slippin and a Slidin

2009-06-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today we broke out the Slip and Slide Jack got for his birthday and boy was it fun! It took the boys a little while to get the hang of it and I think they had more fun if Daddy threw them down it instead!

Waiting to finish set up:

I wasn't kidding when I said they liked it when Daddy threw them down!

Even Mommy got in on the fun! We didn't follow the instructions either way, recommended for ages 5-12!

Jack - The Artist??

2009-06-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

I was shocked when Jack mentioned he wanted to draw a picture of our family while I was getting dinner ready. This is what he came back with:

Cooper urged his brother to draw in GiGi(my sister Jeanne) the entire time but Jack said only people that lived in our house.

Oh My how kids are different.

2009-06-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

I had never in my life thought about potty training Cooper, well ok maybe I have thought about it but never actually took action. Potty training Jack was one of the hardest things in parenting so I was in no rush to start again. Last Thursday at school they started taking him to the potty and has been doing great since then. He has actually woken up dry the last two mornings and we rush to the potty and everything works out as it should. He is going on the potty about 80% of the time and we have him in pullups which is something we never even tried with Jack as we went straight to underwear.
As many of you know Cooper calls himself Pooper (sounds more like Poopa!) and now it is official, he is actually a Pooper! I think the big brother helps as well as his little girlfriend at school Ria is potty trained.

Calling all Firefighters!

2009-05-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our buddy Jake's 4th birthday today and boy was it fun!! It was at the biggest fire station in Frisco! We have been to another party at a firestation but Mommy was in Paris so of course we didn't get as many pictures :)!

We got to see what they wear to fight a fire, actually both my kids were scared of him, surprise suprise!

We got to tour an ambulance:

Sit in a firetruck:

Met all sorts of nice fireman:

And finished it off with what else but cupcakes!

How a 4 Year old Spends his Birthday!!

2009-05-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

First you wake up to a bagel with candles, singing of happy birthday #1.

Next you have a chaotic soccer party, singing of happy birthday #2!

You share a cocktail with your PaPa!

You have dinner at the "fire" resteraunt of your choice with all your family that came in town to celebrate! Singing happy birthday #3, if anyone is counting!

Quick Post

2009-05-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

We have been a little busy with family in town!! While they were here we got some pictures taken and just got a sneak peak, can't wait to see the rest!

Book with Jackie today!

Mother's Day Tea

2009-05-09T10:41:00.001-07:00

So Jack has been talking about this tea for weeks! I often get asked when going potty if I like sweet tea or regular tea. They were told to dress handsome and even performed some songs that I will post once I can download it. It was the cutest thing to date and I loved every minute of it! We all know how hard being a Mother is but it sure is enjoyable!! Happy Mother's Day to all my friends out there!

As I entered his classroom he promptly showed me to my seat and then went and got my food for me!

The buffet of goodies!

Me and my Boy!

My card, which was hilarious. I was happy I only weighed 15 pounds :)!

I got a fun present from Cooper too but due to scheduling Daddy had to sub-in at Cooper's tea :)!

2009-05-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight we got together with some friends. These are the kind of friends you don't have to dress up to be around, can drink two classes (or more!) of wine and complain about your kids, not see each other in months and reconnect instantly, and much much more!

I love you ladies!!

And our children are obviously BRILLANT because they sat themself down in birth order. Taking votes, I would guess my kids are the messiest!! I was going to photoshop their shirts and then decided against it!

Cinco De Mayo

2009-05-05T20:37:00.001-07:00

I find this hilarious but maybe because they are my kids :)!

The Next American Idols!!!

Roughriders

2009-05-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

We often make it to Roughriders games because some of our good friends have seasons tickets. This weekend the same wonderful friends invited us to a Kids Day at the park. We had a blast exporing, getting our faces painted, and eating! Thanks guys we had a blast!! My college roommate was also in town so she got to hang at Kids Day, you can tell she is excited!!

Entering the park!

Cooper as determined to do anything his brother did, he started holding the bat like a caveman which was just fitting for Cooper.

Jack was not as daring as his buddy Hudson, big surprise there!

We called it a day because Mommy had the big Kenny concert that night!

Silly Cooper

2009-04-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday Jason and Jack left to go to Flag Football while Cooper and I stayed back to finish up some cupcakes for a friend. After I made the cupcakes Cooper demanded he see the cupcake holder box, so I got it off the counter for him. He just sat looking at the box for probably 30 minutes. I decided to take a quick shower, often calling for Cooper thinking he would come follow me. I got out of the shower, deciding the house was too quiet, and found Cooper in the same spot I left him. This time he was reading a book in front of the box. Silly kid...

And in case you are wondering the cupcakes turned out fab!!

Zoo

2009-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

I got a wild hair to take the kids to the zoo and we had a blast! I actually bought a pass so we can go back anytime we want and even ride the carousel and monorail. I can even take a friend for free, so be it pays to be nice :)!

Four excited kids...

Maps in Hand, ready to go...

This animal finding stuff is serious...

Cooper finds an animal he likes..

The cutest part to the entire day. Two boys playing zoo while Mommy cooked dinner. Jack did mention he needed more animals because most of the dinosaurs had to stand in for animals.

2009-04-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

2009-04-05T17:34:00.001-07:00

This evening Jason was taking a bath because he hurt his back. Jack goes running in there and thought it was the funniest thing ever, grownups around here do not usually take many baths! Then he turns to me and says "Mommy, why does Daddy not have any toys with him, that is silly!!"

Oh kids...

Paris Cooking School

2009-04-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

While in Paris my Mom and I attended a cooking class/walking tour that was awesome. It was a little on the pricey side but it was a great experience and who knows when we will get this opportunity again. Before attending class we had to fill out a survery about our cooking knowledge, which was comical in itself. I answered "nothing" for all my answers and just talked up my mom's culinary skills in her answers.

The day began at a local butcher shop where we bought our meat:

Next we walked up and down her local area visiting all the shops. In Paris you don't just go to the grocery store, you go to each individual store seperatly for the most part. There are few little quick marts but of course you will have to pay premium. This sounds exciting as a visitor but my friend Jen tells me this can be a beating with two small kids.

We then headed back to her kitchen to start COOKING!

On the menu for the day was the following:
Foi Gras Poele Aux Pommes
Souffle Aux 3 Fromages
Blanquette De Veau Vert
Tarte Aux Poires Creme D' Amandes

Everything was yummy but doubt I would make any of it again except for the tarte. The way she did the meat was good I would probably just try different veggies with it!

After we finished eating we set off on a walking tour that any foodie would enjoy. We hit all the places we had been wanting to see in Paris. We started at a famous spice shop Goumanyat, then to Stohrer the oldest pasty shop in Paris, next was E. Dehillerin a Paris Crate and Barrel recently featured on Barefoot Contessa, and ended up at a famous bread store Poilane.

It was a great day and learned a few valuable lessons. Don't buy so much when you have to walk 2 miles home. When buying pastries you might need to think how long you will have to carry them, I ended up pitching the few I had bought because they got destroyed walking for several hours.

Look at all our pictures from cooking school here.

Brothers!

2009-03-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today on the way to school Jack asked me to turn the music up so he could ROCK OUT, so I obliged. Five minutes later Jack tells me to make Cooper stop copying him, how many more times in my life am I going to hear that? I knew this was coming since I had 2 sisters but didn't think it would happen this soon!

Paris

2009-03-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

I returned home from 10 days in Paris on Friday and the boys seemed to do great without me, including Jason! Jack keeps telling me that he is glad I am home several times a day. My girlfriend Laura, who is living in London, met me in Paris and got the boys this book and it has been a great way to recap my trip to the boys. Jack picks out everything he wants to do when we go to Paris, who knows when that will be!
I will try to recap some of my trip in the next few days, but in the meantime here are some teaser pics!

Cooper Turns Two!!

2009-03-17T12:22:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my baby is two, how the time flies!! We had a small party on Sunday, the second kid always gets shafted right! I believe Cooper enjoyed himself though!

Cooper sporting part of the favors!

Friends & Family were unimpressed my the cupcakes considering I just took a class, I told them where to shove it :)!

Whacking the Pinata!

Opening the Loot!

True Life

2009-03-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

This is true life around here! Us chillin on a rainy evening with popsicles! Myself in workout clothes and my boys smiling BIG!

Gearing Up

2009-03-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Gearing up for someones second birthday!!

Boys

2009-03-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

I realized I haven't posted a picture of the boys in forever. Here you go, I love child labor. I pay in pretzels and it is cheap!!

Cake Class!!

2009-02-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

With all my free time lately I decided to take a cake class with my friend Emily. It is something I have wanted to do forever so I gave it a shot! I learned a lot of fundamentals but it was a lot of work preparing for every Thursday nights class. Look out for cakes coming soon to all my kiddos birthday parties!!

My First Cake:

Second Cake, I opted for cupcakes:

Third Cake, too bad my Mom couldn't tell they were roses!

Thrifty Gal!

2009-02-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Everyone is wanting to trim some money off their grocery budget right?? I had been reading about the Mrs Baird's bread outlet in West Plano and thought I would give it a try. Who knew they sold Thomas English muffins and Boboli bread, two staples in this household.

4 Boboli Crusts
5 Thomas English Muffin (1 Package free)
1 Loaf Sourdough
1 Loaf Cinnamon Bread
1 Loaf WW Bread
1 Loaf 8 grain bread
Corn Tortillas (Free)
Flour Tortillas (Free)
Powdered Donuts (My Weakness)
Resuable Grocery Sack (Free)
Total - $21.50

As you can see it was awesome prices and lots of free things for every $6 you spent. Everything felt soft and fresh so I am thinking everything will be good but we will see!

Heroes for Children

2009-02-16T13:01:00.001-08:00

I have slowly become more and more involved with this organization and feel like it is the perfect fit for me! I have tried other volunteer opportunities but nothing quite fit like this one! If you read the article you notice that I accepted a position for membership chair for Collin County HFC friends. Look out everyone I know- YOU are joining next year!

Volunteer of the Month

It is also a sign that staying home for awhile might be the right place for me!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

What better way to start Valentine's Day then with breakfast in bed? The boys were so excited they helped Daddy make me breakfast and got to eat their breakfast in bed as well. Jason made my usual healthy McMuffin I make every morning and added my FAVORITE powdered donuts, balanced it out right?? And a Diet DP of course.

Jack handed me card telling me that Snoopy was inside, no secrets here. He even put my name on the outside of the card and drew a heart.

I ruined the surprise because I came out early but I happily lounged in bed until they were ready to come in. You can see I am already dressed as we had a make-up gymnastics early this morning.

New Look

2009-02-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

I followed my friend Maddie and decided to give my blog a new look. I have just recently gotten into digital scrapbooking and have a lot to learn. You can view my gallery with the link to the right side. Look for new updates to come.
We are back from Mexico but all the pictures are on Jason's work computer so I will post some recaps soon!

Zipling Time!!

2009-01-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

After 6 years of coming here we finally did an excursion! It didn't help matters that I was either pregnant or nursing so finally we attempted ziplining, something I have been wanting to do forever!! We had a blast and 3 of us will do it again and 2 of us cried during the excursion. I won't name any names :)!
Thanks Papa & Queen for babysitting!

Family Pictures

2009-01-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

As many of you know we always get matching pjs while in PV and this year was no different! A little harder to capture pics with the ages of the boys but we tried!

First Day Puerto Vallarta

2009-01-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

We are sunning and relaxing in Puerto Vallarta!! Here is the picture of the day!

We all scream for ice cream!

2009-01-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had our friends over for dinner. Kelly was in charge of dessert and she brought everything for make your own sundaes!! We were kind of sad they didn't stay for dessert but boy did my boys enjoy them.
Kind of random on how we met. Her son is named Cooper and is about 1 year younger then our Cooper. She was debating about started at our school so she called me for some thoughts and we instantly hit it off!

Thanks again Kelly!!

Better Late Then Never!!

2008-12-29T11:42:00.000-08:00

We made it to see Santa on Christmas Eve, look at the pics to see how the visit went!

First with GiGi and Queen ready to see the big guy:

PRYING COOPER OFF OF ME!!

What they thought about the big guy!

It's the Holiday Season!!

2008-12-23T11:56:00.001-08:00

We have been doing all sorts of fun things with the kids!! We still haven't made it to visit the big guy but Jack keeps saying he doesn't want to go near him, we might try tomorrow.

First off we went to the trains at Northpark meeting up with our favorite gal Merrick. I think we could of stayed looking at the trains all day, Jack loved them!!

Then we made sugar cookies. I was really impressed by how well Jack did with these, 3.5 was a perfect age. Cooper isn't in the pictures but I did let him decorate one before he went to bed!

Finally a friend and I took our boys ice skating, not the greatest idea. Actually Jack did great and wanted to keep going!! Mommy wanted to stop because she was dying!

Grapefruits Oh MY!

2008-12-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

Around here we like grapefruits A LOT! Papa and Queen send us some every year. This year I think they sent the most they have ever sent. The plus side was it kept 2 boys very happy and occupied while I was making dinner. They wanted to use them as balls but I quickly helped change their mind and they loaded the fridge with them! Cooper still won't try them but I know once he does he would gobble them up!

Thanks Papa and Queen and don't worry we only polished off 3 at dinner tonight!

Dallas White Rock Half Marathon

2008-12-15T07:12:00.001-08:00

The complete story:

Woke up at 5:30 to get ready for the marathon, after not a great nights sleep! I chose capri’s and our matching pink tops. If you have seen pics from any of my races you notice we tend to buy matching gear for the fun of it! Ate my usual bagel with peanut butter, banana, and Diet DP and headed to pick up Janine.
Got parked and downtown around 7am and the race was set to start at 8am. Took some picture and the time flew by until 8am.

The race started and Janine and I left Jeanne and took off through Dallas. I had great hopes of taking pictures during the race but they all came out blurry so you will just get narration instead! Before we knew it we were at mile 5 and Janine and I commented how great we felt. We joked it was because we had a banana and peanut butter which we haven’t had for over 11 weeks with our diet. Around six Janine mentioned let’s put our headphones in because I was just not being my usual self. I really just enjoy watching everyone along the course. Around mile 8 we saw GiGi heading out as we were heading back in! There were lots of rolling hills but none that were killer and we had to walk up, unlike the Nike Women’s Marathon. We were keeping at a pretty consistent 10:30 ish pace. Mile 10 we hit the Katy trail and I was getting sore and tight all over, couldn’t be that I hadn’t ran a long run since Thanksgiving or anything. I had to stop and tie my shoe and I honestly thought my legs were about to buckle. At 10.5 I told Janine to go ahead of me because she was feeling better then me!
The entire time I tried to maintain anything fewer than 11 minute miles and to not let the 2:20 pacer man catch me. I sprinted the last .3 miles or so finishing at 2 hours, 19 minutes and 29 second. Janine and I went and got beer, which was a serious debate! Was a beer worth walking down all the American airlines stairs for, in the end we decided it was!

To a few fellow runners out there:

- Barefoot man, why do you run barefoot the entire way, do your feet ever hurt?

- Speedo man, why do you choose to run in just a speedo, do you get all sorts of chaffing?

- All the Dad’s with babies out there, you seriously gave me Goosebumps from head to toe every time I saw the kids supporting their mommies!

Christmas Party

2008-12-14T19:51:00.001-08:00

On Saturday Jason and I attended his Christmas party and had a great time! We left promptly at 10 since I was running the half marathon the next day. Driving down to the party Jason mentioned about how exciting it would be to have a potato bar, I told him don't get his hopes up! Check out the pictures, a potato bar is like HEAVEN to my husband. It was heaven to me actually as well since I was earing all sorts of carbs :)!!

Sweet Baby!

2008-12-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

Gosh it is sure fun to love and hold a baby when you know you will be giving it back and sleeping normally! I took a quick trip to CA this weekend to meet my new niece Eleanor. We had a great time and it wasn't long enough!

** I realize these are awful pictures of me but it is not about me it is about Eleanor!

Old Friends!!

2008-12-01T17:28:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of meeting up with our friends who were in town from the Phillipines (Gulley Family). We met Matt and Tam almost seven years ago when we were paired with the same sponsor in our preperation for marriage classes. All four of us had attended Texas A&M and became fast friends. We don't see each other often but I can say she takes pride in every friendship she has and really makes the effort to keep in touch. I caught a few pics of the boys but am hoping she got some better ones!! Mine were all blurry, not sure if it was the picture taker or the fast boys (updated with her pictures, Jason - I think that fancy camera might be worth it!)!!
Check out her blog as they are having an amazing adventure, comment if you do!

They will be back in the states in about 6 months and can't wait to hang out more!

Miss you guys!!

Thanksgiving Day!

2008-12-01T14:55:00.000-08:00

Jason took Jack to his first Cowboys game and I am not sure who was more excited, Jack or Jason. Thanks Liles for the tickets! I believe it was a success for everyone. When Jack got home he told me all about it pointing out that he was no longer afraid of fireworks, well good I was worried...

Running into Jack's girlfriend!

Up close!

Last season at Texas stadium

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T08:16:00.001-08:00

Boy do we have a lot to be thankful for!! Happy Thanksgiving family and friends!!

Stay tuned we are getting a niece...

2008-11-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

Stephanie is at the hospital as we speak about to give birth to a baby girl! Keep her in your thoughts this morning. They think she will be born before 8am CA time and I can't wait for the news. I have already talked to her a few times, a benefit of getting up at 4:00am to workout!

ETA: Eleanor June Ramsey was born on 11/21 and everyone is doing great. Will add a picture once my sister sends some more. (hint, hint Steph we need more pics!)

Girlfriends!!

2008-11-21T04:05:00.000-08:00

My friend Laura (Saeva family over to the right it is not letting me link??) was in town with her kids from London so we had everyone over at my house last Thursday. There was a total of 4 mommies and 9 kids and we had an absolute blast. Kate, her 3 year old, has the cutest London accent already. I planned my wedding with all these ladies. The picture is horrible and I can't fix the red eye but you can see the craziness that went on! Actually the kids played REALLY well and we fed them pizza and cupcakes so they remained pretty well behaved!

Thanks ladies it was just what I needed after last week!

We have been busy!!

2008-11-21T03:53:00.000-08:00

We have had lots going on in the past few weeks, where to start! Many dinners with friends that live overseas, babysitting friends, and family news.
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I will begin with babysitting Amber. I babysat our good friends 15 Month old while they attended a wedding. I figured it could go really bad or good, it went perfect! The kids were great and am pretty sure Amber was a bit confused with all the chaos and boys since she is the sweet little girl. Jack wanted Amber to play with him a little more but I think that will come once she gets a little older. Jack would ask if she wanted to do something and Amber would just look at him like he was crazy. She gave me one scare because I thought she was packing food in her chubby cheeks but it was actually nothing but chubby cheeks.

Amber we hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did and come play again soon!

New Coats!!

2008-11-10T07:30:00.001-08:00

Papa and Queen were nice enough to send the boys new coats and vests for the winter season! It is November and we have only had a few days where we need to actually break out a coat, but we will soon!
The boys love them and so do Mommy and Daddy! The first thing out of Jack's mouth when he heard it was a present from Queen was - Where are the toys? He was soon convinced to become my model!

Thankful Feather!!

2008-11-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

This evening we had to complete a project for school. We made a thankful feather for the turkey in Jack's classroom that is missing his feather. I gave Jack an old Parents magazine which he tore out everything from an apple (he doesn't even like apples!) to Thomas the train(didn't make the cut). We then cut and glued our little hearts out! He placed everything including all the smiley stickers that represent all his friends. After we put his name on the feather he wanted to do Merrick next, when I offered the idea of all the smiley faces. If we had to write out everyone's name that might have taken awhile!

The finished project!

Us working hard!

Don't Forget to Vote!

2008-11-04T06:38:00.000-08:00

The entire family went to vote this morning, obviously only Jason and I actually voted. On the way there I was explaining voting to Jack. Obviously I made it a little too simple explaining that we were going to "pick" are president, etc. Walking out of the polling place Jack turns to me and says "Mommy why did we not pick up the president". A lot more explanation followed!!
Either way both were excited for stickers and promises of donuts that followed!

More Halloween Fun!

2008-11-03T06:06:00.001-08:00

Halloween is sure more fun with kids!! The morning started with Cooper's party, Jack's parade then in the afternoon it was Jack's party. Early in the evening we hit the McKosky's house and then went trick or treating with the Marshall's and many friends!!

Hook and Peter find Tinkerbell

All the kiddos singing at school, amazing what a difference a year makes!

Now I realize this is not a good picture of Jack, but there is enough of that in my journal. I wanted to get sweet Amber looking at the camera!

It looks late in the evening but it wasn't!

Cooper wasn't happy because a Dad with a mask jumped in the picture!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-30T08:20:00.001-07:00

C&C's Wedding

2008-10-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of attending our friends Chris & Caroline's wedding last night and it was a blast!! It was beautiful and they even had a photo booth! Thanks to Papa & Grandma for watching the boys over night!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-23T09:06:00.001-07:00

I look back at past pumpkin patch pictures and it was always an event. Kids matching outfits, mommy & daddy looking their best, you get the idea.
This past Sunday we went to the "smaller" pumpkin patch in Frisco after nap. Does Jack even match and Mommy needs to pull out bigger clothes for Cooper, boy how times have changed! The kids had a blast and we picked out three pumpkins, not sure why we didn't get four but for some reason we ended with 3??

The maze was a big hit!!

Mommy and the kids on the hayride. Daddy had minor surgery on Thursday and didn't need to be going on the bumpy hayride. (Surgery - think we will not be having any more kids!)

Family Photos!!

2008-10-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we took family pictures down in Deep Ellum. I am trying a new photographer since my old one moved away, sniff sniff. The boys were in great moods and responded well as long as Jack and Cooper could be doing the same thing, monkey see monkey do!
I am pleased with the photo she put on her blog!! Probably won't be showing the rest as they are being saved for Christmas cards.

You Dallas folks, check her out!!

http://www.jacquelinereitzphotography.com/

Friends!!

2008-10-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend an old college friend and I spent a night at the Gaylord Texan away from any obligations!! We had a blast and I highly recommend the spa! Happy Birthday Jen, a couple of days early!!

Famous??

2008-10-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

See anyone you might know? Let the pictures run through at the top of the website!

http://www.runontexas.com/