Good Times in San An!

We left the babies with Grandma in Plano and ran down to San Antonio for a quick trip, and each one of the 48 hours we were there was packed with thoroughly non-cultural vacationing madness:

 Our crazy huge hotel, the Emily Morgan, named after the woman Santa Anna was dabbling with instead of fighting those crazy Texans, hence, the Texans won Texas.

The Alamo, which did not make our itinerary.

But we took pictures because it was right across the street from our hotel. 

 Riverwalk, baby! I am happy to report we saw one very drunk young man fall in, who seemed quite proud of himself for it. 

 Tex-Mex

 I cannot remember these guys' names, but they played an awesome blue/funk set at Pat O'Briens, to the delight of a very cheerfully drunk Air Force platoon next to us.

 Next morning: floating down the river for several hours in a tube. I haven't done that much nothing since before Tyler was born, and it needs to happen much more frequently.

 Our cheerful bachelor party friends floating in front of us. Also happily drunk. San Antonio is sauced!

To finish up an already awesome trip, we went to see a comedy show by Justin Worsham, who does the Dads Podcast with Bill Glass. It was a hilarious show, and afterwards, we went up to say hi, and ended up hanging out with Justin for a few hours after the show. We managed to be cool when he asked if we wanted to do anything ("Yeah, sure, that sounds fun."). Then he went inside to grab his stuff, and both of us started squealing at each other like 14-year-olds backstage at an NSYNC concert ("Oh man oh man Justin Worsham is in our car!!!").

The price for all of it: crispy red legs, tummies and backs. Totally worth it.

Mother's Day and such

Mother's Day was awesome. We all woke up late and McKay had to play the organ, so the babies and I skipped sacrament. Just to be sure, there is no sarcasm in those statements. What Mother's Day is better than NOT fighting with wiggly babies for 90 minutes and NOT wincing at guilt-inducing Mother's Day talks, only collecting your M.D. goodies (Godiva chocolates! Drool) and dropping the kiddos off to their respective classes within five minutes of walking into the building? Best Sunday ever.


My present from McKay:

I found this perfume in a shop in Madrid, Spain in 2005 with the help of my friend Mary Anne. It is THE perfect scent. However, about every three years I run out of it, and McKay has to scour the internet for my birthday/Mother's Day/our anniversary and find someone who has a bottle because I THINK THEY'VE STOPPED MAKING IT. Never mind that disturbing fact, disaster has been averted for three more years.

Also, happiness at our house is a blackberry smoothie in the AM. 

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Sugar and Spice

This girl and I have a serious obsession with fluffy, tulle-y pink dresses. The more ruffles, bows, and general poofiness, the better. I passed by Target's clearance Easter dresses in the baby section last week, and well, there are a few more dresses in Jamie's closet now. Also, my friend Jeanette's little girl grew out of her 2T dresses, and we were the happy recipients. Thanks Jeanette (and Izzie!)

Jamie loves carrying around her dresses and shows, but she only likes trying on her big beautiful dresses for about five minutes. Just after I took this picture, she turned to me, handing me handfuls of the tulle layer of her dress, saying, "All done! All DONE!"

Some people (Mom) think I'm a bit overboard with the flowers and dresses and pink, but this story always sends me flying for accessories: McKay's mom Cindy's first baby was a girl. Soon, Cindy had more babies, and little time for dressing her little girl in adorable things. Assuming she would have more girls, she just dressed her baby girl in regular clothes. Wouldn't you know it, she only had boys after that. AND NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO GO NUTS. Moral of the story? Go nuts. Make 6 inch flowers to go on an eight inch newborn head. Get dresses that are so volumous your little girl can't see her matching pink ballerina shoes. (Squee!)

(Sorry for the overload of this picture if you already saw it on Facebook. You know you love it enough to see it twice, admit it.)

Following a whim:

Somedays, you just have to buy a bounce house.

Come play!

A Summer's Resolution

I'm noticing a trend as our days get more full and much more hectic:

Not the nakedness, although that is becoming a trend due to the upswing in temperature lately (hello 92 degrees and muggy today! Ugh.)

No, its the TV watching! It starts out with just a show or two in the morning while I get ready, and then a movie for quiet time, and then some shows while I make dinner. Now I am for sure a fan of TV. I happen to think it is a blessing of living in 2012, that you have an additional tool in your parenting arsenal to teach (and occupy/pacify) your children. It's just a problem when it is taking the place of quality playtime in our day. So, without further ado, I give you....

Screen Free Week! 100 Kids Activities!

We are so not going a week without TV. But we are going to mine this blog for ideas of fun things to do in the late afternoon when we have no plans, people are cranky from post nap drowsiness, and I am just counting down the minutes until McKay gets home. There are 100 ideas on here, and my grand plan is to go through them all this summer! Just one a day, to replace our afternoon TV time and instead have fun together. I love watching Tyler get creative (he comes up with some crazy stuff!) and watching Jamie try her darndest to keep up, which results in her doing things so much sooner than Tyler ever did. I'll try to post a few of the things we do, but I am super excited. I am a little miffed at myself that I am having to SCHEDULE playtime in, but hey, if it gets it in, who cares?