Our trip to the Strawberry Patch...

Everyone that knows us, knows that we are always on the move....so when Daddy has to work on Saturday, we take the chance to find a new place to visit. This weekend it was the Strawberry Patch. It's actually called the King's orchard and its located about 30 minutes from our house near Plantersville. Its a really quaint little orchard that also grows Blackberries and Blueberries but right now Strawberries are at their peak of ripeness! I will admit I was a tad concerned about the weather b/c we had the worst storm of 2009 on Friday - hail, winds, pouring rain..probably 2 inches of rain in 30 minutes. So I packed up the kids on Saturday morning and brought a second set of clothes and shoes b/c I was prepared for it to be a muddy nightmare.

However, the strawberries are actually planted in very sandy dirt so there was no mud at all. Aw shux...we didn't even get to change clothes!!!

Here are some pictures...and yes, the winds were 20-25mph so we went from wearing shorts last Saturday to our winter hats this Saturday (got to love the Texas weather!!)

A Long Week with a Beautiful Weekend!!

So who says that Friday through Sunday are a week 'end'? We are praying that they are a week 'start'! Meaning that in the Peters' household we are hoping that the coming week is just as amazing as Friday through Sunday!

Kate's stomach bug was relentless. It put her out of commission and school Tuesday through Friday..hence the lack of postings last week. Finally Friday she got some reprieve and by Friday night she was her normal self. Which was perfect timing b/c MiMi and PaPa spent the weekend with us.

It was beautiful outside so we spent a lot of time outside....but MiMi also knows Kate loves movies so she brought her the Aristocats movie (Kate has had the Marie kitten plush toy for quite some time but had yet to actually see the movie). So MiMi brought her the movie and we watched it over and over and over again--probably 12 times at least this weekend. It is a very cute movie.

As usual Kate and Wesley put on a cute show for MiMi and PaPa. Wesley ignored his normal bedtime of 8pm on Saturday night and was playing strong until 9:30pm. But he was being cute and silly and showing off his precious side.

<--This picture shows off just how silly Wesley was being. He took Kate's rubber band out of her hair and wanted a pony tail just like hers...he's really wanted a pony tail lately. Silly boy. Our nightly routine is that Kate and Wesley take a bath and both get out of the tub. Wesley is wrapped up in his towel and goes into his room to get me a diaper. We put his diaper on and then he goes into Kate's room. Kate gets dried off and then goes into her room (followed by Wesley wearing only a diaper). Kate picks out her favorite panties (she has 25 pair of panties but only wants to wear her ariel panties!!). On Saturday Wesley decided that he wanted panties too. So he picked a pair out of Kate's drawer and put them on. Kate thought it was the funniest thing ever. MiMi laughed as well. When Dad got home from picking up the pizza, he didn't think it was as funny.

When Sunday came and it was time for MiMi and PaPa to go home, Kate cried. She wanted to go home with MiMi and PaPa and see her favorite horse Teva and MiMi's newest pet - Koty bird. Koty bird is an African Gray parrot that MiMi adopted from a friend of hers. Koty bird isn't necessarily a fan of kids but Kate doesn't care. She loves Koty bird and could spend hours just watching him play around and babble. The bird LOVES to talk. Once MiMi got home, she sent Kate a picture of Koty bird so that Kate could look at the picture when she missed them. Here is Koty bird...

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

I wore green too..to share the spirit.. From one little leprechaun to another..

Much Love....

Kate and Wesley prepared for St. Patrick's Day by having dress rehearsal the night before. They were decked out in their green hats - each one had a different hat and they looked so cute! However, their is always a different Plan that even the Best Mom's can't change. Kate started throwing up viciously in the middle of the night and it went into the morning so she had to skip the St. Patty's festivities at school and had to opt for celebrating Green Day at home with Dad and Wesley. But she wore her Green shirt anyway...and looked cute as a little leprechaun anyway - stomach bug and all!

Dad was quite the trooper too, keeping Wesley at home with him too. Kate would not have had it any other way....when I called her on my way home from work to see if she wanted a grilled cheese from Sonic she said 'Yes..a Grilled Cheese and a milk for Wesley!'

It's 7:57pm and we have a rarity on this St. Patty's night...Kate has been asleep since 7:15 (normal bed time 8:30pm) and Wesley is still going strong (normal bed time 7:3opm). This bug in her tummy definitely has taken its toll on her. So Pray for my sweetie. She needs to get better quickly. Dad just told me that MiMi and PaPa are coming this weekend! She will be so happy!

I wanna be like my big sister....

Does this look familiar? It should b/c the is the same exact way Kate wore her hair from 9 months to 2 years and today during breakfast we had to put Kate's hair back in a ponytail so she wouldn't get her muffin in her hair (that is a daily ritual with all meals as her hair gets longer and longer). Anyway, Wesley wanted his hair in a ponytail too so we obliged and granted his wish. He thought it was cute while we all laughed at him but when the humor wore off, he quickly yanked it out of his hair...poor fellow.Make sure to get a picture of me, too!!

Since the weather this weekend leaves us trapped inside thinking of creative ways to keep the kids occupied and burning off some of that energy....we made a blanket cave in the living room..it is Kate's favorite thing to do!!

And of course, Wesley's favorite thing to do is to tear it down!!

My sweet Kate....she is loving the camera these days....

Week in review...

Wow this week flew by! Probably b/c I am super busy at work but that should mellow out next week. We have a lot going on but it keeps the brain young.

Wesley is still going strong with his potty training. He's doing really really good. Still a long way to go but he's so excited about the potty.

Kate is getting so sharp with all the new stuff she's learning. She knows all her 'popcorn' words like 'the', 'go', 'and', 'it'......and she can read short sentences. She loves bringing us the Dick and Jane books and reading a few pages. It's amazing to watch how their little brains are like sponges and just take in what ever you give them. I hope her love of learning continues to thrive as she gets older.

Earlier this week Justin brought home the 'bucket' truck...not his normal van.... and the kids were so jazzed and amazed with its huge size. (Just for the record, Kate become obsessed with bucket trucks after Hurricane IKE when we had to explain what all those trucks along the road were.....we told her they were going to fix our electricity (aka: make the lights work and water run so we can GO BACK HOME!!).

So dad let them play in the bucket. He offered to let Kate sit in the bucket and take it high in the sky but she opted to stay at eye level. She said she didn't want to be a bird just yet.

Girls Road Trip!!!

Kate and I made a quick road trip to Austin for Tara's birthday dinner at this really cool Mexican restaurant in south Austin. I originally was going to go by myself but when I explained to Kate where I was going and she wanted to come with me b/c she wanted to 'tell Tara Happy Birthday, too'. (She even wanted to wear purple b/c she knew purple is Tara's favorite color...she helped me pick out the purple bracelet and necklace earlier in the week).

Fast forward, Saturday afternoon and Kate and I jetting to Austin to see Tara and her amazing crew! There was a balloon man at the restaurant and Kate got a pink poodle balloon. Then Peyton got there and we went back to get Peyton a ladybug bracelet and Kate got a second balloon (a light sabor like Star Wars!).

Miss Peyton taking a cat nap before dinner on Mr. Smolik's shoulder....

Peyton woke up and Brian is being silly!

Me and Big Chief and TaraMe and Tara and Erin (we are really cute!!)Tara and Brian (so sweet!!)

All of us girls!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA!!

Look at our big boy go...

So Wesley is all about going to the potty on the 'big boy' potty these days. We don't know how long it will last so we are just going with the flow - no pun intended. He moved up to a new class this week (Early Preschool 1 is what they call it) and the teachers are all about getting the kids potty trained. They line up and go potty and wash there hands and it was super cute the first time I watched him through the door. Kate is all jazzed about Wesley wanting to use her potty so she pulled out the donut (I don't know the official name but we call it a donut but its the supplemental lid that makes sure they don't fall into the potty when they are super small). The first time Dad heard him go he was so surprised and happy. He still has a long way to go on this journey and will possibly hit some road blocks along the way, but his teacher did ask that we start bringing Pull-Ups next week. The thought of finally hitting the milestone in my life of not having to buy diapers any longer is fascinating..what will we do with that extra $20? Oh I'm sure Kate and I will find something to do with the extra $$. Speaking of...Kate and I are headed to Austin tomorrow to celebrate Tara's 31st birthday...but shhhhhh...we are surprising Tara. She has no idea that we are coming! More pictures on that to come.

Welcome William Wesley Zurovec!!

I just had to post this picture since most of you have heard me talk about Wes and Joan expecting their sweet baby boy....

So Maybe I Spoke Too Soon.....(about Spring in the air)

So just as I packed away the coats and little hats for next year (or Goodwill if they grow out of them), we had to bring them back out as this weekend proved to be quite chilly and windy. But we still managed to have tons of fun outside (just had to do it in moderation so our noses didn't fall off!!). On Saturday morning we all took a trip with Daddy to the mulch yard to get a load of mulch. Then Daddy spent most of the morning spreading the mulch in our flower beds and made them look new and fresh (we are SO ready for SPRING!!) Then later in the day, Kate and I had a girls only outing to Miss Julia's first birthday party in Houston. Julia is absolutely precious and she is the most petite little princess with bright blue eyes. She's just gorgeous (like her big sister Elizabeth).
Sunday has seemed to be better outside..not quite so brisk. But we opted for the back yard for our play time since its fenced and kept us a tad bit more protected from the wind than the front yard. Kate has been fascinated by these little white worms that grow in the seed pods high up in the pine tree. So Dad (for all the love of his little girl) spent a lot of time throwing the football up in the tree to get the pods that hold the seeds where these little worms like to live...yuck I know. Mommy wasn't really digging the white worms so we started making mud pies to look for big fishing worms. We only found one worm but no worries b/c we ended up spending hours playing in dirt and sand. Needless to say bath time came really early this Sunday. And just as we thought all the excitement was over for the weekend, Justin got a picture message on his cell phone from our good friends Wes and Joan......they had their BABY BOY! He was due March 13th but came a little early but from the first picture he looked very big and healthy. We are so very excited for them..and I know Justin will be happy to give Wes advice and listen to him to rave about his little boy....now both of them can share in this wonderful journey of parenthood. And all the fun (and craziness!) it brings! Congrats Wes and Joan!