Nothing much

Not too much exciting going on around here. Chris got home from a training exercise a few days early and took the rest of the week off. He's also taking some time off next week so we're just having some family time and maybe trying to plan a little trip before things get crazy for him again. Yesterday we went to a welcome home ceremony for some troops that came home from Iraq. One of our friends was in that group. We're trying to prepare the boys for when it's daddy's turn but I don't know what they'll really think when it happens.

Some random pictures to end the post:

My and my boys.

Zachary as the Last Airbender. We never got to see that movie but got a toy and some tattoos from a kids meal. Chris put the arrow on Zachary's head upside down but he didn't know. Alex refused to put one on!

Have a great weekend!

Friends and Family

Right after our group of house guests headed home Chris had to leave for some training (he's military). The boys and I decided to get out of the house for a few of those days and we went to visit my parents. Not long after we got there my sister Joanne called to say that she was coming with her three kids. We ended up with a house full. My sister Lisa came over with one of her kids a couple of times (she lives near our parents) and we had a great time. We had more family come over to visit along with some friends. We had lots and lots to eat. It was great!
The sometimes buddies - cousins Zachary and Owen (8 months apart in age)
The good buddies - cousin Alex and Hannah (Hannah is almost exactly one year older than Alex)
Zachary played dress up with the girls.

Zachary is the groom and Abbie is the bride. Can we say robbing the cradle? Abbie just loves my little Zachary though.
More dress up. This time in Joanne's old cheerleader uniforms. We had to use clothespins to keep them on the girls.
My sister Joanne and our friend Cathy.
Apparently Zachary had moved Owens potty into the shower for some reason. Instead of telling somebody, Owen just climbed on in to use it. We're just happy for not having diapers!
Me and Hannah making twirly whirly pizzas.
Thanks for the fun time everybody!

Zachary is four!

Yesterday Zachary turned four. Since we had already had a big party earlier this month we kept yesterday pretty low key. We were at my parents house and one of my sisters was there for the weekend with her kids. So we just made some birthday brownies, had ice cream and sang the birthday song. It was good. Zachary didn't care that we didn't have a big to-do or have anymore gifts. Now I have two four year olds for the next four months. You wouldn't know it by looking at them. Alex is way high on the charts for his age. People always think he's 5 or 6. Zachary on the other hand...... At his 4 year Dr. appt today he weighed in at 30.5 lbs - only 7th percentile and 38.625 inches - 16th percentile. He's growing though so we're not worried. He's just a smaller kid.

Happy Birthday to my funny, sweet, smart, crazy-haired, rule breaking, soccer loving Zachary!

Last Friday - part two

When we finished up at the animal safari the next stop of the day was at Chris's work to check out the helicopters. Lucky for us they happened to have one in the hanger than we could climb in. We've seen one several times before but this was a first for the rest of the family. I think our nephews thought it was pretty cool - they are 8 (almost) and 13.





Is that the cutest little pilot or what?
We also walked around outside and checked out all the military vehicles. It looked like a car lot there were so many parked there. Some we were able to get inside but others were locked up tight.

To end our day we drove into San Antonio and parked across the street from The Alamo (we were too late to take a tour inside). We took a boat ride down the Riverwalk and had dinner.
We were worn out by the end of the day and we all slept really well. It was a good day.

Last Friday - part one

Last Friday was the last full day that my brother-in-law and his family were here. We'd had rainy weather for a few days and although the forecast was for more rain we decided to get out of the house and do something. Lucky for us the weather stayed good. Our first stop (other than lunch) was to a drive through animal safari. The kids had a blast and weren't too scared that some of the animals came up close and personal. The zebras practically had their whole heads in the car window trying to get our animal food. We all fed at least one animal out of our hands.




The only animal that we didn't care for feeding was the ostrich. Those things can be mean (or so we think). For the most part they didn't come up to the car. Only one did and we rolled up our windows as he pecked on our windshield.



At the end of our drive there was a little petting zoo. For some reason it only had goats in it but it didn't matter. They had brushes available so you could brush them. They had so much food in there that they didn't care for the leftover food pellets from our drive but they did want to eat the paper bag that the food was in and the edges of your shirt or pants so we had to watch out. Baby goats are really cute.




*More of our day to come in a 2nd post.

Zachary's birthday party

Zachary's 4th birthday is not until the 19th of this month but since we were having lots of out of state family in town we decided it would be fun to have his party early so everyone could be here. The best day fell on the 4th of July so we even had fireworks! We grilled fajitas and the party lasted all day. The weather ended up being nice so everybody got to swim and spend most of the day outdoors (that's why the boys are shirtless in the cake and presents pictures). Here's the birthday boy getting ready to blow out his candles. He had a soccer party (like you had to ask) so I made a soccer cake. Not a soccer ball but a super easy "field" cake with plastic soccer guys and goals on top. It didn't turn out perfect looking but Zachary was excited!

Zachary loved all his gifts and oohed and aahed over them all. He would gasp and hug gifts when he opened them. Very funny.


The soccer goal was a gift from us and he ran out with his new soccer shoes and goalie gloves. Later he also added his shin guards and socks. He's got all the gear now!
We had a cute soccer ball pinata. All the young kids had a couple of chances to hit it before we had to call in a ringer. Elliott got the job done and there was candy for everyone.

Party fun.