Day 5: SuperHero Day - Be a Hero Not a Zero

Kind of a corny theme but it worked out perfectly to coincide with the-day-before-Halloween. Kate borrowed a BatMan shirt from Wesley's closet and Wesley's BatMan mask that is he is going to wear tomorrow for Halloween and she went to school as BatGirl! Wesley wore a SuperMan shirt. My cute little SuperHeros with my big Hero!

Day 4: Red Day - PepRally for Red Ribbon Week

Definitely not the most 'fun' dress up day of the week but definitely the most important. Today was red ribbon day and the kids got to attend a mini pep rally with the bigger kids. Kate hate a big red bow in her hair!

Day 3: Western Day - Give Drugs the Boot

Day 2: Lei off of Drugs

Is she not the cutest hula girl ever....she even had the cutest flamingo tatoo adorn her sweet little cheeks.

Day 1: Pajama Day - Don't Sleep on Drugs

This week Oct. 26 - Oct. 30 is Red Ribbon Week and the fight against drugs! Each day carries a special theme and the kids are encouraged to dress the part. This is even more fun since the kids wear uniforms on a normal day and even more fun because its leading up to one of our most favorite holidays - HALLOWEEN. Kate wore the most precious monkey PJ's today with her coordinating monkey slippers...we packed an extra pair of shoes just in case.

First Annual Faith Academy Grandparents Day

Kate's school held their first annual Grandparent (and Special Friends) Day. Kate was super lucky because she had representation from MiMi and Papa as well as Grandma.

The event was from 8:30am to 11:30am and included a singing introduction and prayer time. Then the grandparents got to meet Kate's teacher Miss Cox and visit her classroom. Then they got to do arts and crafts and then a presentation with cookies and punch. Since not everyone in Kate's class can read with ease yet, her class didn't read their presentation but just told their special guests how much they loved them. It was nice to hear what the different children call their grandparents. I grew up pretty traditional. I called my Grandma and Grandpa - Grandma and Grandpa as did Justin. Even though I had two grandmas and two grandpas I didn't differentiate between them. Everyone knew which grandparent I was talking about and if there was any doubt I would always say Grandma Irene or Grandma Marek or Grandpa Sam or Grandpa Cricket. So I listened today as the kids had NaNa and PoPo and MiMi and Papi..it was pretty cool. Then it came Kate's turn and she got a tad bashful. I looked at her from the second row and gave her a big smile and tried to mouth ' I LOVE YOU MIMI AND PAPA AND GRANDMA'....but when she finally spoke she said 'Love You Mommy'.....What can I say....I guess I'm the apple of her eye just like she is mine.

We love you MiMi, PaPa and Grandma and we appreciate you sharing the day with our sweet Kate.

Kate and Miss Cox....isn't Miss Cox the cutest thing ever!

Yard Work - Kicked Up a Notch!

Earlier this summer some crazy person (ok crazy couple) decided to buy a 2.5 acre lot and eventually build a house. Like most of South Texas, this summer was labeled by record drought conditions. At times, Justin and I would drive out to check on our lot and seriously wonder if the oak trees were going to make it...that is how dry it was. Cracks in the ground that could have easily sucked up Jake or Rex....

Well, now we have had consistent rain the past month (thank God!). Justin and I went to take a look at our lot a week ago and were completely AMAZED at how tall the grass and underbrush had gotten!! We obviously have 2.5 times more land than we had before. So the John Deere that cut our acre in Conroe in an hour, was no match for this beast of a landscape debacle!

Poor Justin spent his entire Sunday out there and didn't come close to finishing...Good thing the Cowboys were on a bye week :)

Our landscaping dilemma is this....we really don't want to pay someone $500+ dollars every time we need to cut the grass. However we really don't want to spend $12k on a small size tractor at this point and time....let's build a house first, please God!

Just to give a realistic image of what he was up against...the grass was taller than the kids..and here are a few photos.

The many faces of Kate...

Kate got some really cool things for her 5th birthday. A lot of girlie things that she normally would not ask for but she loved getting them as gifts from her friends.

She (and Wesley) have been dying to open them up and every night we've been branching out and opening one at a time. Last night we finally opened the Snow White gift set filled with a lot of sparkly lip gloss, eye shadow, necklace and earrings. I helped get her dolled up which is quite the chore when you also have to battle Wesley investigating all the glitter and goopiness (remember..we rent our house...we would LOVE to get a portion of our deposit back) Check out the shiny gloss on the little man's lips.

Every night after bath time we have to put Kate's hair up to keep it out of her face but then shortly before she goes to sleep we try to take it out so that she doesn't get ponytail bump in her hair as she sleeps...so she let her hair down and posed next to her newest pets...Nemo, Flounder, Sucker and one-yet-to-be-named fish. And just a side note for any readers who contemplate getting their child a small aquarium if they ask for fish....go all out! For the work you put into a small one you might as well buy a large one!

I have no idea why her hand is on her forehead. But I thought it was a great pose and snapped a picture =)

A close up...and she did end up spending all night with the necklace on. LOVE HER SO MUCH!

Wesley

Kimberly(http://www.bledsoefamily.typepad.com/) posted a blog about the place she gets her prints put on canvas. It made me start going through pictures to see which ones I'd love to eternalize on a canvas. Should I pick that cute, innocent one of Kate at the beach or the one of Peyton and Kate swinging from the tree, or the one of Wesley's dimples staring at me...what should I pick?!?! Then I came across this one from the other night when he was so tired he fell asleep on the couch after dinner, half clothed, with ketchup residue still lurking on his cheek. As crazy as it sounds, I could see myself picking this picture as one that I want to put on canvas and hang up in our new house. After all, Wesley loves to sleep. He falls asleep so easily, anywhere, anytime with any amount of noise in the background. He has this emmence amount of calmness and sweetness about him. I'd want to keep those memories with me forever!

Fun Filled Birthday Weekend...Starting Friday

Friday - dropped little brother off at preschool and headed to The Woodlands. We got to The Woodlands in time to drop by Mommy's work and tell everyone hi! (and get some computer paper and note tablets). We then headed to lunch at (of course!) Kobe! Rice and salad for Kate and steak and chicken with an EXTRA salad for mommy! We were joined by David, Maria, Shannon, Joe and Veronica. Super thanks to Shannon who really doesn't like Kobe but always is a good sport when we decide to go there! Then David's family (Kelly and kids) were in the area so they joined us later. Jake(3) and Julia (almost 5) were absolutely the sweetest kids ever. Kate warmed up to them at the end of the meal. Jansen(4 months) was the cutest baby ever!. He smiled and smiled at me. Kate liked looking at him but was a little apprehensive we may take him home with us. :)

After a great lunch, we headed to the mall to get Mommy's hair cut by her fave Carmen! Then we hit the Disney store, the Great American Cookie company, and a few others before heading to Kroger (we don't have Kroger in Victoria and miss it dearly!). We have gotten Kate's birthday cakes for the past 5 years at the same exact Kroger at Research Forest and Gosling. They make the best cakes. Kate picked out her cake- chocolate of course. Then we headed over to see Kyle and Avery. We spent a few hours playing with Kyle(6) and Avery(5) and Carl Jones (the cat) and Willie (dog) and admiring the bearded dragons they have. Needless to say, Kate did not want to leave (note second picture below where she is crying..she did NOT want to leave Kyle and Avery). Kyle and Avery are the sweetest kids and they played so well together! After the rain calmed down we headed home. We didn't even make it to FM 1960 and Kate was zonked out. So much for my talking buddy! Destination - HOME- 11PM. Everyone was asleep.

Saturday - Kate's Party at Magic Bounce! She and her friends had a super fun time. A lot of bouncing, pizza and cake. Cousin Vanessa (23) is staying the weekend with us. We are taking her back Monday night. Kate has been playing with her new Barbies and My Little Ponies with her. Who needs a big sister when you have a 23 year old girl cousin?!?! Vanessa also serves as my little sister so it works out great!

Sunday - Rest, rest and more rest....and Dallas Cowboys football! Wesley took a 3 hour nap on Sunday and then Vanessa and I took the kids (yes both of them) to see Toy Story 2. It was a great movie and both of the kids did wonderful! Wesley sat through the movie and sucked on a pickle and drank some of Kate's icee. Kate was alittle timid to keep her 3-D glasses on because some of the previews were a little loud and the 3-D images were a little too 'real' for her. But once Toy Story came on she loved it. Its a very cute movie and it definitely convinced me that I am going to pack up their favorite toys once they grow out of them and put them up for my grandkids to play with.

And the Cowboys finally WON! So we have a happy house right now!

Happy Birthday Miss Kate!! The BIG 5!

At 12:38pm exactly FIVE years ago, Justin and I met our little Angel.

Like most expecting moms I prayed for a lot of things over the course of the 9 months leading up to her arrival. I prayed for her health, a safe delivery, an easy temperament like her dad, beautiful brown eyes like her dad, olive skin tone like her dad and a heart of gold. I'm sure there were other things that I thought about but I was consumed with 'will she born full term?', 'what will she look like?' , 'will she have Justin's curly hair?', 'will she have hair at all?', 'how much will she weigh?', 'will she be a sweetheart?' or 'will she be one of those high maintenance little girls that makes you want to scream?'. Being a girl myself and being around a lot of girls in my lifetime I knew that there were a lot of different types of girl personalities. I just wanted her to be sweet yet strong. Five years ago, God answered our prayers and He answered our questions: Yes I would deliver her full term (she was due Oct. 10, I had her Oct. 8), She looked just liked her dad as a newborn (Identical!), No, she did not have Justin's curly hair and still does not have curly hair (she got my hair-the only thing of mine she got!), Yes...she had more hair than should be allowed for a newborn to have, She weighed 7lbs 8oz, Yes...she is a true sweetheart. She was a super easy going baby and five years later she is still very easy to please. When people ask me about Kate the easiest response I can give is:
Kate makes being a mom really easy. I can take her anywhere, we can do anything together, and she is just a pure joy to be around. And while I would love to take credit for her sweet disposition and tender heart and headstrong nature, I have discovered over the past five years that a lot of these characteristics are innate...she was born to do something special.

Only time will tell what that will be. She has a love of animals that is so fascinating even to Justin and I who grew up loving animals ourselves. She even treats her stuffed animals like they are real..giving them baths and shots and wrapping them up in blankets to put them to sleep. So maybe she'll be an animal rescuer. She gets very worked up to trash laying around on the ground and always wants to tell people not to litter...so maybe she'll be an activist of some sort. More recently, since she's been learning a lot about the Bible in school, she's been fascinated with Angels and God sending Angels to help people who need it. So maybe she'll do mission work. She comes home every afternoon and tells Wesley what she learned in kindergarten and then attempts to get him to pay attention to her lessons. I tell her that maybe one day she'll be a teacher. She looked up at me the other day and said I don't want to be a teacher....I just want to be a Mommy. I guess in five years, she is just as pleased with me as I am with her. She makes being a mom very easy!
Thank you Kate for Blessing our lives five years ago...you are my Angel!

Daddy got some PEARL JAM!!

A few months ago, my best friends' husband sent me a random email letting me know that Pearl Jam was going to be the closing headliner for the Austin City Limits Music Fest...and he wanted to know if Justin would want to go?!?! Crazy question.
Justin and I haven't seen Pearl Jam since August 2000...I think this was the last time PJ was in Texas actually.

We obviously have had quite a few changes since August 2000 (married Dec. 2000, Kate Oct. 2004, Wesley July 2007 just to name a few). Tara and Brian lined up the best babysitters EVER (Denise and Scott). The kids had a BLAST and never even missed us. Thanks Denise and Scott!

The music was phenomenal! PJ rocked. That was the best part of the night. The not so good part was the fact that it was an outdoor show and it rained like cats and dogs for 3 days before the festival. So it was a complete MUD FEST. I have never seen so many dirty filthy people in my life..not even on TV. By the time we got there the mud smelled like a pig sty..oh yeah..it was pure fun!
Got back to Tara and Brian's place around midnight and Kate was still up. But I wasn't surprised b/c I did tell Denise before we left that she didn't' have to try to get Kate asleep by any certain time b/c Kate can party 'like a rock star' and stay up all night- no pun intended! Who knows..maybe one day she'll be in a band headlining the ACL!

Picture Imperfect....

Wesley has always been pretty good with the camera but lately the camera isn't so good to him. I capture the cutest moments only to look at the pictures to find faces like this:

So in an attempt to make me super proud, he did make this one pose...and it was precious!