You go girl!

What can I say other than.....my daughter absolutely ROCKS at softball.  While she definitely has some natural athletic ability (Justin and I are both super athletic...even in our older age), she got this good, by working her tail off!  Yes...Kate is the only girl that never missed a single practice (even more spectacular because she had conflicting schedules with Kumon on Thursday's which meant that this mom worked just as hard getting her from point A to point B in record time!)  When she wasn't practicing with her team, she was out in the yard playing with her dad.  They have been playing softball since she was 3 so (outside of learning the formal rules) she knew what to do with a bat and ball....SLUG IT!   Softball is a great sport for a child that is going to be vertically challenged.  You don't have to be long and lean.  You just need a lot of heart, some quickness and (when at bat) some really good hand/eye coordination.  Kate was by far the most consistent hitter on her team.  She was also one of the smallest girls and looks were very deceiving.  Which is nice because the girls would move up when she would come to bat, she'd hit it past 2nd base and end up with 3 RBI's...love it!  Did I mention that outside of being an athletic family we are VERY COMPETITVE as well?

Congratulations to my amazing Kate for a great season!  Many more to come!  Here she is at her end of season team party.

Her team..the Little Dippers.....

Our special cupcakes for her teammates...very appropriate since her team sponsor was Chocolate Fountains of Victora

Where is WALDO? I mean, WESLEY?

Where is Wesley?  Peek-a-boo?

This was the scene from Wesley's K3 graduation this morning.  I would LOVE to have photo shopped this picture with a big arrow pointing to my very photogenic child but unfortunately someone (I'll blame it on the teacher that is not returning next year?!?) decided to place my child in the very back.  Not only is he the YOUNGEST in his class...turning 4 in July, a good year younger than most in his class...but he's not one of the tallest in the class.  So I didn't snap any other pictures because it would have been a waste of time and it was far more enjoyable watching him bob up and down in the back while waving to us.  Waving as if to say 'Mom and Dad..I'm here...your tuition did pay off...I know this song, I promise...you can't see my lips move but I know the song..I practiced hard..I promise..you just can't see me!'

And since I can't look back on this particular day and remember what he looked like at this point in time, I snapped these pictures a few days later....now THERE is Wesley!

And just for the record...I am talking to Mrs. Thompson his K4 teacher on the first day of class and demanding that they put my son int he front for at least ONE performance during the year...I don't care if its the Christmas program or the Grandparents Day program or the K4 graduation.  But at some point I better get a picture of my son on stage...or else I will trot myself in front of other people's children and get a picture of him.  He is far too cute and photogenic to allow this for one more year.  :)

Easter Sunday - 2011

The kids left their Easter baskets on the back porch for the Easter bunny and when they woke up in the morning this is what he left them......cool stuff!

But they had to wait to play with any of it until they got home from church....where we had another Easter egg candy hunt....at church instead of hiding candy inside eggs when we all know that the kids ahd enough eggs from other hunts, they just laid the candy on the lawn and let the kids go after it.  Makes it really nice when you have the little boy that runs to an egg, opens it for the candy and then misses out on more eggs b/c he's mesmerized with the candy inside...just cut the middleman out and give him some c-a-n-d-y!

Here are Kate and Maddie getting ready for the 'go!'

Vanessa and Kate

Wesley...he loves smarties!

 After church, we had our own hunt at home...........................

Reach high my big girl!

Wesley had the tree house covered.....if there was an egg..he got it!

Then we headed to Schulenburg to Uncle David and Aunt Cathy's for Easter lunch.  They have an indoor pool so the kids enjoyed swimming together...here are Katharina and Wesley born just 3 weeks apart!

The following pictures are priceless.....Wesley doing what he LOVES to do the most..make people LAUGH..even if its his 80 yr old grandma getting soaked by his water gun!

 Cathy and David have a HUGE house...like 5000 sq ft huge...so they did an indoor egg hunt.  Plenty of cool places to hide eggs....

Then Aunt Cathy hosted a cupcake decorating contest.  The kids had a blast!

And finally......we stopped by Grandma's house on the way home and she always sends us home with something.  This time it was a cute pot plant (not seen in the photo) and this bear...yes...its a 3ft bear carved by hand.  Grandma got it from a girl down the road that was selling some things.  Evidentally it originated in Nacadoches, TX while she was in college, she bought it.  It is very very heavy and the kids love to decorate it.  Cool idea grandma (even though at first I thought Justin was going to kill us when we drove up and asked him to get a 200 lb wooden bear out of the back of his truck!)

Easter Celebration #3

We will call this one Easter Celebration #3 and Peters Family Reunion all lumped into 1 special day.
Unfortunately Justin was on call, so he couldn't leave his home area but Vanessa and I took the munchkins to Beeville for 2 separate events. 
First, we went to Uncle Gene and Aunt Shirley's to have our Peters Family Reunion.  When Grandma Peters was alive, every holiday was a reunion.  Everyone came to Grandma's house and had lunch and sat underneath the oak trees and talked about how things were going and how they used to be and everyone just loved it.  Now that grandma is gone, its much harder to get everyone together.  Grandma was so special to everyone but to Justin, she was his world.  So I think that (for Justin) any future Peters reunion will never be the same (or even come close) without grandma there.  For me, Grandma's get togethers were a very integral part of my life with Justin before we were married and as we started our life together.  I enjoyed the closeness of the Peters crew since I was an only child and (as an adult) couldn't really count on my family for much more than a genealogy pool.  So Vanessa and I took the kids to see cousins that they had not seen before (or if they had seen them before they were all too young to remember!). 
Second, we headed to MiMi and PaPa's for some one on one time with Mary Grace and Cade (and more Easter gifts from MiMi and PaPa)...luckily MiMi and PaPa didn't indulge in candy since the kids already had enough candy to last all year!

Wesley and Cade in Uncle Gene's backyard fort....Wesley is instigating something I'm sure from the look on his face :)

Vanessa getting ready to hide the eggs for the younger cousins

 Kids getting ready to hunt eggs...sweet little Frannie is chatting up to Wesley

My beautiful Kate

 Wesley found all the super sneaky hidden eggs.................

 Our uncles....Chuck, Buster and Gene (and Aunt Shirley in the background)

Easter Celebration #2

Kate's Celebration at school......just like everything her school does, her Easter egg hunt was very organized, safe and fun!  And (unlike most public schools) we were allowed to celebrate Easter as a Christian family as well.  We go to church with 95% of Kate's Kindergarten class and the remaining 5% go to church at other churches across the street from ours (in downtown Inez there are literally only 4 streets and one is Church St).  So many of the kids we hunted eggs with on Good Thursday, were also hunting eggs with us on Easter Sunday after mass.  It is very nice to have developed such a tightly knit circle of parents.......our kids are so amazing and special!

Kate's custom Easter basket...accessorized with her favorite little charm 'cutie'.  Cutie goes EVERYWHERE with Kate.  She's normally attached to her backpack or getting washed in the bath tub along with Kate's bath but for this special occasion.....she's decorating Kate's basket.  Kate was very surprised when she woke up Thursday and saw my mommy decorating  :)

 On your mark...get set...GO!  The kids were allowed 5 eggs each.  Honestly, its the best way to run an Easter egg hunt for a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds! Everyone gets their 5 eggs and sits back down on the sidewalk..everyone walks away a happy camper  :)

 Kate and her dear friend Maddie....and just for the back story...Maddie's mom is best friends (from high school and college) with my cousin Melody.  Small small world!  And Maddie has a cute little brother that will be in Kindergarten (Class of 2012) with Wesley!  Of course Maddie also has a cutie pie little sister Abigaill (2 yrs old) and Kate doesn't have a little sister (nor will she ever) but we will be happy to take Abigaill with us anytime she wants us  :)

Easter Celebration #1

Wesley's Easter party was originally slated for Thursday morning but was moved to this morning (found out that it was because the accreditation auditor was going to be on campus Thursday - who schedules an audit the day before Good Friday at a Christian school?!?!)

The kids had a great time! 

We had to make a last minute HEB run on Tuesday evening to get some candy to put in Wesley's eggs (which was probably really unnecessary because we definitely had 12 pieces of wrapped candy in our candy stash!)  But while perusing the Easter aisle, Kate picked out two pretty basic baskets for her and Wesley.

We had to snazz his basket up a bit...he LOVED it and definitely one of a kind....

Hunting eggs on the baseball field

 Wesley's cute class (and even more adorable teacher Miss Kristie)...and just a note that as we were walking back to his classroom, Wesley and Justin and I were walking behind Miss Kristie and this conversation ensued......
Wesley:  Miss Kristie sure has a bright yellow dress on.
Me:  Yes, Wesley..its a pretty yellow dress
Wesley:  She looks like a big banana.......bahhhhhhahahahhhh....
Me:  Wesley...you are silly
Wesley:  No, Miss Kristie is silly for dressing like a banana.  It's Easter.  She's supposed to be dressed like a bunny, right?

Miss Kristie turned around and winked at me and said:
You know before I taught this class, I always thought I wanted to have 4 girls when I had kids.  But after having such cute boys like Wesley, I seriously want 4 boys like him.

Awww...Miss Kristie, that is so nice.  But let me warn you..there is nothing easy about Wesley (except falling in love with him!)

And what keeps us busy these days?!?!!

Anyone who thinks that parenting gets easy or less exhausting as your children grow up, obviously never reared children.  We are constantly driving from here to there, practicing, games, Kumon, play dates, performances and CCD..you name it, we've done it or are doing it.  And I wouldn't change a thing!
I was very Blessed growing up that my mom let me participate in anything I was interested in.  As a single mom she toted me here and there and everywhere and most of the time was the only willing chaperon (and when they didn't have enough parents on field trips, she'd recruit one of her friends so that there were enough adults!)  So I have big shoes to fill when it comes to opening my children's eyes to all that the world has to offer.

Last year, Kate tried soccer and while she got better as the season progressed, she is not the aggressive type.  She was very accurate in ball placement but when it came time to needing to 'steal' the  ball or bump around, that was not the way she's wired.  So this season we tried softball. Softball is still a competitive sport, but its not as physically aggressive but does require focus and problem solving (what base do I throw the ball to if she hits it to me?)  Kate has done FABULOUS!  She looks forward to practice and is quite the hitter!

She looks very very cute in her Little Dipper hot pink and black uniform too!

Flowers...for me?

These beauties came from my adorable kiddos courtesy of our very own flower garden.  Gerber Daisies one of my absolute favorites...and in hot pink and deep orange...they just don't get more beautiful.  The yellow wildflowers are just perfection!

My little entrepreneur

So last week Kate was selling candles for her school's Parents Club.  The IPC raises money through various fund raisers throughout the year to support the school.  Most recently they purchased a really snazzy rock climbing wall for Kate's playground.  So we don't always get involved with all of the fundraisers but who can pass up a local candle company helping the kids (and I love candles).  Kate had been asking me to help her sell some candles but with me working from home, I don't have a lot of people to hit up...especially since the people I do network with all have kids selling the SAME candles as Kate! So one day Kate got annoyed that I hadn't taken her to sell candles and she came out of her room with this sign and told me she was taking the sign to the end of our road and holding it up while people drive by.

That is such a great idea except we live in a rural subdivision so we don't get that much traffic :)
Vanessa saw her note when she came home (and Kate was holding it in the driveway) and she thought it was too cute to pass up.  Vanessa took the candles to her work the next night and sold quite a few.  Chalk one up to my little entrepreneur.  I LOVE HER!

Spring Break - A recap

What better time than now to blog about our Spring Break 2011!  The week is over and the kids are back at school (Kate loved being back, Wesley not-so-much...he suddenly has a 'cough' and needs to stay at home..ha ha!)

But now that I have a moment to breathe, I'd like to share some of the action that kept us very busy on this week long 'break'.  And its officially only a 'break' for the kids.....mom and dad and Vanessa (all the adults in this house) were exhausted!

The first Saturday of Spring Break, the kids and I headed to The Woodlands to do what we like to do when we head to The Woodlands.  We ate at Kobe, got our hair cut and visited with Shannon, Kyle and Avery.  We headed home on Saturday night to a lonely dad who missed us dearly (that is what he gets for working again!)

Then on Sunday, we started the big paint project.  When we built our house, the painters did a custom paint on two walls of our living room and while we liked the very dark walls at first, the darkness got old very fast.  Not to mention, black walls are not conducive to great lighting and made our living room seen very small.  So, Vanessa and I repainted the walls this awesome shimmery gold.  I LOVE IT!  I couldn't handle the color in our entire house but for it to be showcased on two walls...MAGNIFICENT!

First, we had to prime the black walls to prep it for the new paint-->

We have just opened the base coat and are a bit shocked at how yellow it looks...don't get me wrong Justin had been asking for a yellow color but this was NOT what the swatch looked like...take a deep breath..there a multiple coats to apply.....

Can someone say CHEESE (maybe for my huge smile or maybe for the color on the wall!)

Kate kept begging to help us paint....we let her and Wesley help prime since we figured they couldn't mess up the primer...well they did a great job on the walls but they did not understand the concept of keeping the paint nice and tidy..so they were stripped of their paint duties and Kate went into her room and wrote me this note which I just had to photograph (I WISH! I WISH! I NEVER GOT TO PANTE A WALL.  KATE WILL KEIP ON ASCEEN)

Finally...finished product...this picture doesn't do it justice b/c it really got lighter and is a mellow shimmery gold color but nonetheless, it makes our living room look like we just added 200 sq ft!

On Monday, Kate had a play date with Maddie at her house.....I didn't snap any pictures of that day b/c Maddie has a little brother (Cody) that is Wesley's age so I was too busy making sure everyone was playing nice.  Then on Tuesday, Maddie came over to our house while her mom ran some errands and they had a great time playing dress up and jumping on the trampoline!

Wesley was left dressing up with the left over dress up clothes....which makes for a very discombobulated outfit for one very cute little brother!

Wednesday we were SEA WORLD BOUND with Uncle David, Aunt Cathy and Katharina. Thank God for Uncle Davids luxury van which made for a very comfy ride with 3 kids.  NOTE: that is Vanessa in the very back getting a bit car sick and not to mention she had just worked a night shift and hopped on the trip with us (what a trooper!)

Wesley and Katharina are only 3 weeks apart and wired very similarly...so there was a lot of giggling going on!

Kate and Vanessa riding the Shamu coaster!

Justin and Wesley riding too!

The dad and his girl at the sea lion show...

Me and my little man.......

on the way home......tickle monster attack!

Thursday was St. Patrick's day and Vanessa picked up shirts and tattoos for the kids.....on Thursday, MiMi and PaPa picked up Kate and took her (and Mary Grace) to the beach for some sun and fishing!  She had a BLAST!

My little leprechauns!  This was right before Kate was leaving....we missed her!

Wesley was chilling out in the yard and I snapped what could be the making of a supermodel pose?!?!

Since Kate was fishing at the beach with MiMi, Justin and I took Wesley fishing at Coleto Creek and on the way he was zonked!

And this is what Wesley thinks about Spring Break....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

On Sunday, we got ready for a very special birthday party (see below) but before we left the house, Kate checked her miniature garden and found her first strawberry of the season..yum yum!

And finally on Sunday (the last day of Spring Break) we celebrated Uncle David's 57th birthday at CHUCK E CHEESE!  He let Katharina pick the destination and when you let a 3 yr old pick, of course you end up with he big mouse!

This is one of those pictures that made me take a double take.....Wesley and grandma have the same exact facial expression and the same exact body language....guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!

My girl..I finally got her to slow down long enough to snap a picture!  I LOVE HER!

This is the perfect picture to show Kate in 20 years...my grandma is already getting her ready for the slots!