Water Park Fun and a Trip to Nan & Bip's (& Katie's)

Last Friday, my sisters-in-law and I brought Ella, Kamden, and Caleb (friend) to a water park about 30 minutes away. The kids were SO excited about going!!!

They are little water bugs! There were 2 big slides (that, technically, Ella was not quite tall enough to ride, but no one seemed to notice) that Ella and Caleb bravely rode by themselves:

 Kamden hung out in this area for the smaller kids and thoroughly enjoyed himself!

 There were a couple smaller water slides in this part of the park, and at first he would only ride with his Aunt Cay-Cay. But he got brave once and went down alone, and that was it for him! He was hard to pull off the slides after that! He just couldn't get enough!

That evening, we headed up to Many to spend the weekend at my parents' house. We had to bring Ella back Saturday afternoon:( This was our last visit of the summer with her. I cannot believe it's over already!!

While we were at my parents', my mom pulled out this old type writer that my Pappaw Mike (her daddy) gave her. Ella wrote 2 stories all by herself!! She typed it all, spelled it all, everything!!! She just amazes me!!

Now, the kiddos stay overnight with Kaleb's parents pretty often, since they live so close down here. But Kamden has never gotten to spend the night (without us) at his Nan & Bip's house! And they'd asked earlier on in the summer if he could stay a few days with them. Kaleb has a business trip to Austin next week, and I thought that would be a perfect time! Then I started thinking, my goodness, Austin sure is a very long way from Many, and that's 3 days of being very, very far away from my baby boy...so we decided to let him stay up there Sunday night. And Monday night. And then my mom called and said he was having so much fun, could he just stay one more night?? Sooooooo, he's still there! And I am missing him like crazy!! I think that, aside from Kaleb's hospital stay last summer, this is the longest we've been away from him. But he is having SO much fun!! I am just ready for him to be back home:)

Please, Baby, Please!

I think I first got this book before we got married. I remember finding it in the library where I worked and just LOVING it. And Ella LOVED it, too. She could quote every page, and it became one of our routine night-time stories. Then, she got older, and it got pushed to the side.

Then Kamden found it! And it became one of his favorites! And he could finish the lines, and again it became one of our routine night-time stories!

But then he found "I Love You, Stinky Face" and "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "I Love You, Forever," and I can't remember the last time we read "Please, Baby, Please."

Picking up toys around here is usually a bit of a struggle. We have no problem singing the Clean Up song, but a major problem when it comes to acting on its prompts. So I've noticed that threatening to throw whatever doesn't get picked up in the trash works for Kamden.

Tonight, he had some blocks scattered in the floor in our bedroom. Here's our exchange:

Me: "Kamden, pick up these blocks before bed!"
Kamden: "I don' wont to!" (I am spelling "want" the way he says it...I hate misspellings.)
Me: "Okay, I'll just put 'em in the trash!"
Kamden: "No, no trash! Pwease, baby, pwease!!"

You see, there's a page where Baby is throwing her diaper in the toy box and the text says, "No, in the trash! Baby, baby, baby, please!" And he remembered that!!

I know I just posted, but I really wanted to make sure I got that little bit down. And the rest of the story...well I was just so proud that he'd put it together, especially after not having read the book in so very long that I just hugged him and told him he was awesome and picked up the blocks myself.

Didn't really grab that teachable moment, did I?

Oh, well. Next time!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

When I first met Kaleb, I learned that he was really into baseball. Like, really. And I am very much not a sporty girl. But because I wanted him to like me ;) I learned everything I could about it!! And whenever we finally got together "for real," we made it a thing to go to an Astros game every year or so. Behold our family's growth through Astros games!

That April 2009 one is when I was 8 months pregnant with Kam, and in the August 2009 one, he is about 4 months old. We skipped last year, so this is the first game that we've taken him to that he could actively participate in. Ella has been going at least since she was 3, and she probably went before that, but I don't have pictures if she did! She remembers everything...she reminded me that at the last one we went to there was an eagle flying around. No clue!!

We got some great photo op time while Kaleb waited to get our tickets!

 Of course, the kids have to get a prize for going to a game. Kamden chose this bat...

 And Ella chose this ball!

 We bought a $6.75 thing of popcorn just so we could get that helmet they're trading off with up there:) Well worth it!!

 The kiddos with Craig Biggio and Carlos Lee! This was after the game. Doesn't it look so real?? Haha!

We all had a GREAT time. I am so glad we got to take them this year. They only got squirmy close to the end, but they stuck it out. And the 'Stros actually won!! Unbelievable!!

When it rains...

...we bake!

Today, we had the very unusual blessing of having RAIN!! All morning!! Which meant Ella couldn't go play with her friend across the street until it stopped. She was pretty bummed, so we decided to make something! Her first idea was chocolate-covered strawberries! Wonderful! We have strawberries and white almond bark. Let's do it!!

 We each tasted a strawberry, just to make sure they were still good...

 ...and they weren't. That's okay! Bigger and better things:

These are definitely my go-to dessert. Not only are they DELICIOUS, I almost always have the ingredients on hand!

 

 They were SO good. Maybe half of those are left right now;)

The rain stopped by noon, and Ella got to play with our neighbor while I attempted to get Kamden down for a nap before we went to visit his new sitter. I thought it went really well! He seemed to like her as much as he likes any other new people who give him a sucker! I didn't get any pictures of that, though.

When Kaleb came home, we all went out to eat for supper. Ella wanted Mexican, so we went to our usual Mexican restaurant, La Cantina. Mistake. It was SO incredibly loud. I seriously thought I was going to just lose it on the people at the table next to us! We all agreed it would probably be our last time there. It's just not worth it!!

We came home, got ready for bed, and got the kids down. Then, around midnight, someone came plodding down the hall...

When you wake up in the middle of the night and Daddy is still up playing Call of Duty, you get to sit with him until you fall asleep! Good rule, right??

Evenings at Our House

Sometimes we sit, and enjoy the outdoors...

 Sometimes we dance over the toy-strewn floor

 Sometimes we gather in Daddy's shed...

 And cover our ears, when it's too loud for our head!

 We love to help Daddy...

 And we sometimes do weird things!

But my favorite part of the day is our bedtime routine!

Where we jump into bed and read a story or two,

And ask God to help us sleep the whole night through!=)

(Hey, it's practical!!)

Goooooood Mornin'!

Here's what I left in bed this morning!

Sweet, sleepy babes!!

They woke up shortly after this. It was the second time for each of them. Ella found our bed around 5 or 6 this morning, and Kamden found it closer to 7, I believe. Kaleb was getting up for work, so I'm guessing it was 7. Again, success! Since I consider that a full night in that big boy bed! Last night was a little easier and quicker. I had him lie down while I read 2 books (his favorite two...The Stinky Cheese Man and I Love You, Stinky Face. Such a boy!) and then we prayed and sang songs until he was out.

I adore days where we have nothing to do!! We had a little bit of outside time this morning before it got too unbearable.

I have a HUGE praise!! We recently found out that our friend who's been keeping Kamden during the school year since he was born won't be able to keep him this year:( After my initial panic and hysterical crying, I got myself together and contacted some of the ladies I've met at our new church (more on that later!!). They suggested several options, and after weighing them all, Kaleb and I had kind of settled on one that we really wanted for Kam. She comes very highly recommended by a few different people, and seemed sooo nice on the phone when we spoke. We were just waiting to hear if she would have a spot for him when school starts...and she does!!! It will also be $20/week less than we'd been paying, which will be made up for the fact that with our other sitter we didn't pay when he didn't go. But that is definitely something that we can swing! I'll be going to meet her and fill out paperwork tomorrow. I am just so very thankful that it happened so fast and without any stress at all!! God is so good! And I KNOW that I never would've found her if it hadn't been for the new friends at our new church. Isn't it amazing how He just works everything out before we know what needs to be worked?? I promise for an update on our fabulous new church later this week.

Can ya believe it? 3 posts in 3 days! Don't worry, I'll try not to jinx it:)