Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Hill Country Fun

Last week, the kids and I headed off to the Hill Country to visit my family while my Mom enjoyed her Spring Break. My sister and her kiddos (Graycie and Cole) joined us as well. I absolutely love going home, especially in the Spring. I was hoping to see some Bluebonnets, but I think we'll have to wait until Easter. This should be a great year for wildflowers....the first in a long while and I can't wait to get pictures of the kids.

We had a fabulous girls week and Cole and Keaton were good sports about it all, but I know that will all change in a few years! The week started out with Gigi painting the girls toe nails after their baths. Sydney's an old pro at this which kind of worries me.....am I creating a high maintenance little girl? She just now started letting me put her hair in ponytails, but always pulls the bows out, so I guess I shouldn't be too worried!

We spent one rainy day hanging out at the house and took a trip "up the hill" to visit Mimi, Popo and Uncle Jim. We live on the same ranch place as my grandparents, so we all load up in one car sans car seats! It's quite a scene but the girls love to help Gigi drive and point at the cattle, goats and Larry the llama.

Tuesday turned out to be a beautiful day, so we headed to Fredericksburg, a short 45 minute drive. We were able to fit 4 kids,3 adults and 2 jammed packed diaper bags into my Mom's Mountaineer. Unfortunately, there was no room left for any purchases made on our trip, so Kris was very thankful having learned this! We had a great day....ate lunch on a beautiful outside patio, browsed a few fun, but out of sight priced stores and snacked at "Rather Sweet," a bakery owned by Dan Rather's daughter, Rebecca. We had the BEST sugar cookie in the world and chatted about Jima starting a catering service of her own. We had a great brainstorming session and it's so fun to think about all the possibilities there are when you become a "work from home mom."

All but Sydney fell asleep on the way home. It turned out to be a fabulous day and one we had all wanted to do for awhile! The trip ended on Wednesday with eating lunch at "The Acme," my favorite place to eat in Llano! The kids behaved so well, which is always good when there are people you know sitting at every table. John Cougar Melloncamp's (sp?) song "I was born in a small town" sums up my childhood perfectly! :) Sydney and Keaton were both asleep within 10 minutes of heading South out of town. Such bliss!



















Friday, March 5, 2010

1..2..3 Imagine! With Elmo and Friends

This past Wednesday, Sydney and I had a girls afternoon out at 1-2-3 Imagine! with Elmo and Friends. It was a Sesame Street live production with all the popular characters which of course included the little red monster, ELMO (our favorite). I had been looking forward to it all week and was hoping whe would enjoy it just as much as I thought she would. And she did! Sydney is normally a quiet, more reserved little girl (in public), but Sesame Street brought out the wild side of her! She danced, clapped and said "WOW" about a hundred times. Most of the show she sat in my lap for better viewing pleasure (us short girls need some help sometimes) and in between all the claps and cheers, she was chowing down the popcorn! She couldn't get enough popcorn in her mouth, but it was like she was in a trance, not even looking down at the bucket to pick up a piece....just one after another!

Finally, Sydney couldn't contain herself. She had to dance with all that fun music....she's got rhythm in her bones. Ha! Luckily, we had an aisle seat and Sydney had the entire aisle to herself to show off her moves! (More like Elaine moves from the series Seinfeld) She had a blast and definitly enjoyed herself. The feeling of giving your children an experience like that is so amazing and I'll remember her smiles forever!


Pre Elmo Party at the House



I had to get a picture of her side ponytail! Too cute!

Before the show!



La la la. la...la la la la...Elmo's World


Sydney heading towards the stage!