A fun 4th.

We had a fantastic 4th of July weekend and I wish I had the pics to prove it. The pics I posted in the previous post were actually taken after the kids evening bath July 4th night and instead of jammies I grabbed whatever red/white/blue I could find. I wasn't sure we'd be making any traditional parades or parties this 4th so I didn't stock up on the red/white/blue outfits. The pics were the best I could do to have proof that we were patriotic on the 4th.
The holiday weekend was coupled with Trae (wes's college roommate) and Cyndi's wedding and we headed to Austin on Friday to join in the festivities. The weekend started off with the rehearsal dinner at the Thurmon Mansion at the Salt Lick (YUM!), the guys had lunch downtown at Iron Cactus (YUM!) Saturday for lunch for Trae's last bachelor meal, and then we watched them become husband and wife at the Vista West Ranch in Dripping Springs. After cocktails and a YUMMY dinner, we rocked to LC Rocks - an 80's band - ALL night long. I feel like a little kid sayin this, but "it was so much fun!" We have the photo booth pics to prove it! We stayed until they told us to go home and sent Trae and Cyndi home down an aisle of sparklers. Congrats Trae & Cyndi!
This was a kid free event, but the kids didn't miss out on all the fun. They had fun of their own at Uncle Jason and Bruce's which included lots of pool time, constant entertainment, and plenty of fruit snacks! These guys know how to treat house guests, even if they are only 3 years old. Wes & I got in our pool time too on the morning of the 4th. We all suited up and had some family fun in the pool - water guns, cannon balls and all. Lunch consisted good ol' hot dogs on the grill poolside - now that's Americana. Mid-day we headed back for good ol' Btown and opted to take a chance on seeing fireworks from our backyard opposed to getting back in the car to drive to a guaranteed sky lit display. For the sake of seeing fireworks, we should have loaded up and gone somewhere, but for the sake of enjoying a little family time outside on the picnic table just talking about "stuff" and being silly we made the right choice.
I guess that is one thing we can do on the 4th of July - and year round - make choices. We can choose to raise our kids in the bustling big city or enjoy small town country life. We can cook gourmet mac n' cheese or go for the powdered box brand. We can choose to work full time or be a stay at home mom. Beach or mountail vacation... vanilla or chocolate... flats or heels... cats or dogs.... paper or plastic... it is our decision to make. I thank God I am in a country where the choice is ours - God bless the USA.

Happy Birthday America!

Quarter update...

I have had so many inquiries about Caleb's swallowed quarter so I thought it was worth a quick blog update. Bottom line: no quarter. After a little more thorough thinking, it is very possible that Caleb could have swallowed a dime/nickel/penny. Quarter is the coin name he knows best. Even if he swallowed a dime, he would have said quarter. There have been 3 times that we have not been able to "examine" his deposit and all I can do at this point is hope that is when he passed whatever it was. Our doctor seems to think that if there were issues, we would have seen them by now seeing that it has been a week and he thinks Caleb has made a human piggy bank deposit on his own. He shows no sign of distress and everything seems to coming out right on a regular basis.... if ya know what I mean. Learn from us.... keep those small objects out of children's mouths!

Na na Na na

Close your eyes and in your mind sing the song that seems to be popular to yell at the losing team at sporting events:
"Na na Na na, Na na Na Na, Hey hey hey, Goodbye"
Now replace a few of the words:
"Na na Na na, Na na Na na, Hey Jesus, Fill My Heart".
Now imagine driving home after a long day at work and three toddlers are yelling this Christian rendition at the top of their lungs over and over and over.... and over. Yep, that was my ride home today. My heart was filled to the brim!

35 Years... a reason to celebrate!

June 28, 2010 marks 35 years of marriage for Toppe & Grandpa Otto. This day and age that is a pretty impressive marriage milestone and because they do so much for us on a regular basis, we thought it would be the perfect time to gather friends and family and celebrate. Steven & Candice, Wes & I and the kids hosted a backyard picnic at our house for a few of mom and dad's closest friends. You may be thinking, a backyard picnic in June? Um, did you forget about the 100 degree temps? Well, no. We knew we were taking a heated risk, but we did it anyway and were blessed with a breezy bearable summer evening. It was quite refreshing actually and a beautiful orange full moon made it even more impressive. Mom and dad have some great friends and it was a pleasure to welcome them to our home and host a memorable evening.

The menu consisted of fried chicken and a few summer salads with cobbler and ice cream for dessert. Aunt Candice made a crowd pleasin' sangria and of course we had plenty of cold beer to make sure thirst was not an issue.

Ms. Pam checking out the tree house/playscape.

Lots of laughs shared when looking at mom and dad's wedding album. The side burns, pastel colored bridesmaids dresses, bridal headpiecs/visor, carpet patterned tux - oh yeah, those were the days!

Ms. Pam gave them shirts for the next UT tailgate!






To my mom and dad, aka Toppe and Grandpa,-

Congrats on 35 years of marriage! Thank you for showing me that though marriage can be work, it's not always hard work. Thank you for showing me that marriage is not about romantic getaways and dozens of roses, but it's about the everyday "I love you's", walking through the door to greet each other with a kiss, and holding hands while walking down the beach, even after 35 years. Thank you for raising Steven and I in a house that was filled with love and laughter and thank you for exposing your grandkids to that same love and laughter. Though we may not always understand your devotion to baseball or your random trips fishing to the coast (Rollover?!?!), we do understand that when you do those things you are doing them with your best friend and you are right where you want to be.

Love you,

Jamie

On the look out....

for a quarter, but not just any quarter. This quarter will hopefully be deposited in the toilet and this quarter will hopefully be obvious when it comes out. You see, Caleb swallowed this quarter and we are hoping it comes out without having any issues. Oh the joys of parenthood!

Mustang Sally...

Not so sure this Mustang's name is Sally, but sounds good, right? Actually this is the car that Mimi and Aunt Bonnie drove in high school back in the day and Uncle Freddie has restored it back to like-new condition. We attempted to get a picture of all the Grabarschick grandkids in the Mustang and let's just say it was more of a challenge than the picture was worth. Everyone wanted to be in the driver's seat.