1st Camping Trip....

The camping trip I blogged about a few days ago was cut short thanks to Mother Nature. Wes's original plan was to camp Thursday - Sunday, but when the front brought the fierce winds in on Friday, they decided to pack up and come home. Honestly, 1 or 2 nights of camping is all you can expect out of a 2 year old. Looks like Austin is going to be a lover of the outdoors just like his dad. He loved fishing on the boat and just hanging with Wes and Popo. Avery on the other hand will most likely make short visits to the campsite for supper after a day of shopping with her mother. Even when she was on the boat fishing and actually catching fish, it just didn't really interest her.


Avery & Ausitn in the camper... not sure why the baby is hanging by her neck, maybe time out?

This is what Avery really felt about fishing......


Austin caught some decent fish on his Snoopy rod and reel - white bass. Wes said Austin caught about 15 and boy was he excited to talk about it!


Avery's big catch!

This is how Austin would bring the fish into the boat... sling them in. Poor fish didn't know what was happening when he got slapped on the side of the boat!

Camping....

Wes gets points for Dad of the Year. He picked Austin & Avery up from school midafternoon and headed out to the lake to meet up with Popo for the weekend. He has been wanting to take the kids camping and this was the weekend he scheduled. They aren't roughing it too bad... they have Popo's camper. The kids were excited to get to use the shower with the handle sprayer - it's the little things! I am not much for camping, but I will go out tomorrow evening with Caleb for a while. I did talk to the kids on the phone and they were all excited. They had been to the park with the BIG slide, fed the ducks bread out of their hands, gone riding on the boat, - Avery made it clear she did not like when Popo started to drive fast - they saw big bucks and squirrels.... they were having a really fun time. I'm hoping everyone sleeps ok in the camper. I know I am going to sleep just fine in my comfy warm bed!

Bluebonnets

It's that time of year.... time for people to come to our neck of the woods, park on the sides of busy highways, and trespass on people's property to take pictures in the bluebonnets. It's really not all that bad, but I do question those who stop right on 290 when they could have pulled down a side street. We have a small patch of bluebonnets on our property and my goal of the week was to get the kids pics. Monday was way too windy, Tuesday was rainy, so yesterday before the big storm was supposed to blow through, I attempted a few pics with the kids. In the back of my mind I knew a picture with all three kids just wasn't going to happen and I was right. Avery threw a fit to start off with so I got a few decent ones of Austin & Caleb. A few minutes later Avery was ok with taking pictures so I took some of her by herself. Hopefully I will still have a chance this weekend to get one of all 3 at the same time.... I won't hold my breath.

A few random pics from the weekend....

A&A and I checked out the eggs on display downtown. Here's a chick that Austin was fond of...


My first attempt at bluebonnet pics with Caleb.... more to come.

Another egg... the cow...

This is the fountain downtown that the kids could have stayed at for hours. They loved throwing rocks into it.

Avery climbing on the fence at the Relay for Life fishing tournament.

Caleb and Toppe.

Avery having some fun.

My future is so bright, I got to wear shades....

Mr. Brown eyes.

Avery with her baby.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM

So we really didn't scream, but I thought I would treat the kids to ice cream at Must Be Heaven for the end of spring break and so that Austin could eat his ice cream in a cone. I picked A&A up a little early and after driving around for a while, we found a decent parking spot (Brenham has been overtaken by spring breakers this week.... our little town is quite the tourist destination more than ever thanks to the economy and Blue Bell). A&A are used to just seeing Homeade Vanilla in the freezer so when they saw the display of ice cream flavors they got very excited. Avery went with pink - Strawberry. Austin initially had his heart set on "green", but I was doubtful that he'd like the mint chocolate chip so I talked him into getting the one with sprinkles - Birthday Cake... good choice! Here's a few pics of them in ice cream heaven.

Be careful what you promise....

Last night was a big night in our house, Austin went poopoo in the potty! Up to this point he has shown no interest. Wes was able to convince him last night and hallelujah he did it. As Wes was trying to talk him into going, he promised Austin that if he went, he could have ice cream on a cone. The cone is a big deal in our house because when we do let them eat ice cream we make them eat out of a bowl.... two year olds and cones just done mix. Daddy is usually the only one who gets to eat ice cream on a cone. Well, after his big accomplishment, Austin came running into the kitchen saying "Mama, Mama, I went poopoo in the potty! I want ice cream on a cone." I opened up the cabinet door and pulled out the box of cones - EMPTY. Uh oh... I turned the box upside down to show Austin and apologized to him that I didn't have any cones. You could tell he was a bit upset, but he enjoyed his ice cream in a bowl anyway. I promised him we'd go to the store today and get more cones. This morning on our way to school he said "mama, when you pick me up today, we have to go to the store to get ice cream cones. Daddy ate all the other ones."

Where is Emeril when you need him?

It is no secret that I am no cook. As hard as I may occasionally try, I just never get it "right". We have been eating on the go these last few nights... eating out of a can, box, or whatever we can justify as a meal. So tonight I was determined to "cook" - steak, chicken, potatoes, carrots, salad AND rolls. It reminded me that if we ever won the lottery I would either sign up with one of those places that delivers fresh healthy meals to you daily or if we win big we will have our own personal chef. Wes tried to keep the kids entertained outside, but once Caleb wanted to be inside with me, my meal was down the drain. The potatoes boiled too long, the baked chicken tenders didn't get flipped and the rolls didn't stay in as long as I liked. On the flip side, we at least all sat down together as a family and ate. That lasted for maybe 4 minutes, but it happened. Good news, everyone ate and no one got sick!

When I get bigger....

Austin & Avery's new thing is to talk about what they can do when they get bigger. For example, Austin will say "when I get bigger I can have a big truck like daddy's." The other day on the way home from work I was telling them that I had gone to the store and I told them what all I got... yogurt, cereal, grapes, Diet Coke.... Avery piped in, "When I get bigger I can drink Diet Coke like mommy." Austin piped in, "When I get bigger I can drink beer!" Uh oh....

Spring Break???

I can honestly say that "Spring Break" isn't much of a break for us.... just another week. Once the kids get older and start grade school I am sure it will have more significance. Kind of hard to believe it is spring as I sit here bundled up.... it's a balmy 43 degrees outside. Last week's 80 degree temps were just teasers. I say bring on the warm weather! Yesterday we had Easter pics with the bunnies, thankfully they were scheduled inside. I felt a bit cruel carrying Avery in for pics in her cute pink sleeveless dress and open toed sandals. as the cold rain was pouring down. She didn't seem to mind. They did great with the bunnies. I felt sorry for the one Austin was holding. He probably questioned if he was going to squezze his guts out. Austin was holding on TIGHT!!!!!

We are seeing a little progress in potty training these last few days, especially with Avery. She is starting to go poopoo on the potty... YEAH!!! Wes had told her that if she went on the potty we could go eat at McDonald's. Guess where we get to hang out on a Saturday night in Btown!?!? If it will keep her going, I am willing to do whatever it takes. Austin on the other hand isn't quite down with the whole potty thing... we've got some work to do there.

"Country" life.....

In these early days of spring, it is becoming apparent that we will be spending much of our upcoming days outside. Austin and Caleb both love being outside and Avery usually tolerates it as long as everyone else is outside.

Here's a few of the ducks that live on the pond. Thought they deserved a little blog time.


Here's Austin throwing out the dip net into the pond. No doubt we will spend many an hour down here with him.

Here he is catching a "fish". It's one of those rubber ones that stays attached. A sure catch everytime! He can cast like a pro....

This is taken from across the tank so it's not a real great shot, but it is Avery fedding the ducks. They have gotten much more tame over the last year and will come right up to the bowl as the kids pour in their corn.

Here's Wes carrying Caleb and holding Avery's hand to go feed the ducks. He is glad the kids are now able to be outside without needing too much attention so that he can share all the things he enjoys about the outdoors with them.

Just some random things......

Not anything specific to blog about so I thought I would throw out some random things going on with the kids:
- potty training.... we took 2 steps forward and then 3 steps back. Avery was doing so well and now it just doesn't seem to interest her. The Skittles no longer do the trick and a sticker chart didn't seem to be the thing to do either. "It will happen when they are ready"... I know, I know...
- Caleb loves to give high 5's and open mouth kisses
- Avery does not like to be told "no". She reponds with intentional bad behavior.
- A new fun thing for us to do is have tea (sprite) parties. I cut up cheese, pickles and fruit and the twins make funny faces out of it on their plate and then eat it.
- Austin and Caleb prefer to be outside when they can. Avery would rather be inside.
- Caleb loves to bouce balls.
- We tend to have melt downs after bath time. That's when we know it is time to go to bed.