June: Dallas VACATION!

Last fall I suggested Dallas/Fort Worth for our vacation destination.  Mike had never been there before, so he was game.  There's a lot of history to explore there.  There was also a LOT of family of mine there.  We stayed at my cousins' house (Matt & Joy).  Joy has the blog "We Three Smiths Plus One" that I follow.  Her boys are 5 & 3.  I had never met them, but since we've been following each other's blogs since 2005, I felt like I knew them.  On our way to Dallas, Mike, who had only met Matt & Joy at our wedding, asked me again which one was my cousin.  Matt is my cousin & Joy is his wife.  I had only met Joy at 3 weddings (hers, mine & another family wedding) since 1997.  We had the best time.  The boys (ours & theirs) were instant friends.  Like within seconds.  They played and played and played every morning.  I think Evan would have been content to only stay at their house and play for an entire week.  Mike & I talked and talked with Matt & Joy.  It was so much fun.  It's one of those times when you wish Texas wasn't so far away from Indiana.  I truly wish we were neighbors.  My cousin, Matt, said, "You know, at the end of it all, what do you have left?  Family."  So true.

 Here is Ryder.  He will be 6 in September.  He's a lover.  He would kiss and rub Reid's head and tell him what a good boy he was.  He was so very gracious with his toys.  I was impressed; many kids his age are possessive, and he was not.  He cried when we left because he had such a nice time with us taking over his room, his bathroom & his toys.  ;)

This is Rustin.  He is the type of 3 year old that will make your heart melt.  He is so sweet.  He loves action figures no matter if they're marketed for boys or girls.  The girls are "so very beautiful" so he plays with them too.  He was so happy to play with everyone.  Hearing him say, "Miss Amber," was seriously the cutest thing.


We left home on Thursday, June 6 at 4 am.  We thought getting through traffic/construction in the early morning while the boys slept for another hour or two would be a good idea.  It was.  We ran into a little snag of traffic outside of Little Rock (90 minutes worth - ugh).  We planned on making the trip in 2 days, but were able to make it in 1.  We showed up at my cousin's at around 9 pm. The boys did great.  Reid gave up on the last 25 minutes of the drive, but for being in a car seat all day, not bad.

We went to downtown Dallas to visit the Sixth Floor Book Depository & the site of the JFK shooting.  I had been before, but Mike & the boys had not.  It was still fascinating...not quite for Reid.  He was a trooper though.

We went to my cousin Kristie's house to swim.  Evan loved that too!  It was great to see so many of my cousins and meet their kids.  (I didn't manage to take many pictures that day.)

Mike & I went out to eat with my cousins in Fort Worth one night.  It was so fun.  We sat around and talked a lot.  I'm always amazed at Mike.  He is so very social.  I am too, but he'd only met my cousins once (and some of them not at all) and he chatted all night long and had a great time.  Joy brought her good camera and took this shot of us; she has quite a gift with photography.  I wish she could be on both sides of the camera!

We went to the George W. Bush Presidential Library while in Dallas as well.  My mom and dad came down to Dallas & stayed with my dad's brother, my Uncle Greg & Aunt Pam.  Mom & Dad, and Matt, Joy & their kids went with us to the library.  It was really cool.  It was super-crowded though.  Evan picked out a book and read the whole thing to Mimi (my mom).  Reid, once again, did well.

We also went to the Texas Rangers game.  Matt got us some sweet seats and the Rangers won!  Evan loves the Rangers two-fold.  We've been talking about going to the game and he was also a Ranger in his baseball league this year.  I also included the "Don't Mess with Texas" trash can because it's so well-known.  It was at the BallPark, so I included it here.

I visited my Grandma while I was in Texas too.  I hadn't seen her since 2005 at our wedding.  She is going to be 93 next Saturday, and she is doing well.  She gets around just fine, and was able to chat about her experiences overseas in Patton's 3rd Army where she was a surgical nurse.  The boys hadn't met her, and they did so well in her small apartment for over an hour.

On the last night, we went to see my Uncle Steve.  My Aunt Tara was out of town, so I didn't get to see her. Luckily, we'll get a chance next month when they come our way.  He took us to a barbecue . . . meaning it takes all day to cook the meat.  It was awesome.  It was also right next to the Fort Worth Stockyards.  Anything you stereotypically think of Texas comes to life at the Stockyards.  It was so fun.  Evan said it was one of the best things we did.  Before we left Uncle Steve's house, he gave Evan some "magic" walnuts.  They had $2. in 2 of them and a quarter in the other 2.  Evan thought that was amazing.

We had a wonderful vacation in Texas.  We didn't make it to San Antonio like we had planned, but we'll make it back some day.  They're not kidding when they say, "The great state of Texas!"

June - A Cake I'm Proud Of. :)

I took one Wilton class at Michael's in 2007.  I took it because I spent more than I wanted to on Evan's first birthday cake.  Since then, I've been practicing.  A friend from work asked me if she could hire me to make her daughter a birthday cake.  I don't charge for my cakes.  It's a chance to get better (without eating the cake...have I mentioned I love cake?).  Her daughter LOVES Little Einsteins, so she asked if I could make Rocket.  I'm proud of this cake because it's the first cake I carved.  Of course I see places where I could have done something better or improved, but I thought I did a nice job.  She said her little girl loved the cake.  My friend came to pick up the cake and her (the mom's) face lit up.  That was perfect!  :)

May

In May, Evan finished pre-school.  He can read at a 2nd grade level, and his teacher called him a sponge.  He craves reading and loves figuring out new words.  (I always cringe when we drive on the Interstate and pass a not-so-child-appropriate billboard.  Luckily, we haven't had to cross that bridge yet.  ;)

Reid got his first ride on my mom & dad's 4-wheeler.  Evan would drive, but every time Reid let go of him, he stopped.  Reid would then yell, "Go!" 

We went to Fort Wayne for Mother's Day.  We saw my grandma when she came over to my mom & dad's house.  We saw my friend, Alea, who was in town.  We also went out to eat for the first time in my life on Mother's Day.  Big mistake.  Our service was not great, and Reid was not great either.  We're in that "can't take him anywhere" stage.  We try to avoid restaurants & stores right now because he's a maniac.  He'll throw a fit, and it's just not worth it.  My girlfriends and I with boys just throw our hands up in the air - - especially when we see little girls the same age as our kids holding their mom's hands perfectly and sitting so well anywhere we go.  I just know they fight their own battles . . . maybe with doing hair, getting dressed, puberty....

I was also supposed to get my hair cut at school at the end of the school year.  The bleachers wouldn't come out that day.  Boo!  :(  I was going to have the kids cut my hair, so I had it all clean & dry (a big deal if you have naturally curly hair) and separated into ponytails that were measured out to 10+ inches. It didn't happen, so I still have my hair.  I'm going to cut it next month and then send it to Locks of Love.  One of my students from a couple of years ago grew out her hair too, so we're going to get it cut together.  

I also won "Teacher of the Year" for my school in May.  I was excited that I had won, but when I got to the Board Meeting to get recognized, I also found out I had won for my whole school district.  I didn't get into teaching to get awards, but it was nice to hear/read all of the things people said about me.  There's something very fulfilling to know that other people respect me in my job.

Evan went to a birthday party where they had Darth Vader as a guest.  What a blast it was!  He is VERY tall and intimidating, but the kids loved him.  So fun!

 "Evan's last day of school: 5/24/13  "When I grow up, I want to be a construction boss." 

 Dinner after graduation - with Auntie Judy & Grandma.  (Reid sat in between Mike & me . . . in a booth!  Flanked on both sides.) 

Reid Is Two!

In May, Baby Reid turned 2!  He's such a sweetie pie.  I don't have any pictures from his birthday right now - I have to retrieve some pictures from Mike's phone - once I do, I will definitely put them on this post.  I do have his cake.  He LOVES Disney's Cars.  I've made Lightning McQueen twice already, so I decided to go with "Radiator Springs McQueen" cake.  It basically doesn't have a huge 95 or lightning bolt on it.  (It was easier to make.)  :)

Reid was 8 pounds even & 20 inches long when he was born.  At his 2 year well-child check he was 29 pounds and 34 inches long.  He's in the 50-60%ile for kids his age.  He's not quite the moose Evan was, but he is definitely a force to be reckoned with.  He doesn't run everywhere like Evan did, but he climbs EVERYTHING.  Evan did not do this.  He can get himself up on just about anything.  We call him monkey boy sometimes.  He is still very sweet - but the non-crying baby we knew from 0-12 months, has figured out tantrums like no other.  He'll throw himself on the ground or put his hands over his eyes and pout.  We think it's funny (because we know it's a stage), but we can't smile.  As long as he's not hurting himself or others, we let him go.  He gets over it quickly when he has no audience.  It drives Evan nuts, but we have to remind him he used to do the same thing.

Reid is an average talker.  He says, "Mom, Dad, Dog, Eduh (Evan), Night Night, No!, etc."  all of the basics are represented.  He knows exactly what we say to him.  He follows directions (when he feels like it).  He can jump in place (he's been doing that since 18 months or so).  He loves to color . . . in crayon . . . on just about every surface he can.  (We LOVE the Magic Eraser.) 

It's Been a While: Let's Catch Up on April

Here we are - we've kind of gone underground for a month (or three).  I got a new phone in April, and I started taking pictures on it since it was a better camera than my snapshot camera.  (Technology is amazing.)  So I hadn't backed it up or connected the phone to my computer . . . until June 3.  Well, on June 3, I was being proactive.  I had 400+ pictures on my phone, and school was over for the year, and it was time to update my blog with my zillions of pics.  That was going well until I pushed the wrong button on the screen.  I managed to wipe away everything on my phone (contacts, texts, & pictures) and sync it with Mike's phone.  :(  I cried.  I had Mike's birthday, Reid's birthday, Evan's last day of pre-school, and lots of other fun moments on there.  Technology is still amazing, but I feel like an old lady sometimes when I don't know how to make it work for me (or when I have to get on YouTube to have an 11-year-old show me how to do something).  Luckily, I am an active participant in Web 2.0, so I was able to retrieve pictures from Facebook, Instagram, & anything I thought was cute I sent to my sister (Ti), and she sent it back to me.

So, here's April.  In April, Mike turned 35 (and we bought him a mega donut and threw him a party.  Evan designed his cake and I made it.), Evan started playing coach-pitch baseball, Reid got to go to the playground for the first time since it was finally warm enough, and Reid gave up on his crib.  He flung himself out of it, and we had to transition to a "big boy" bed.  (He now sleeps on his flip out Mickey Mouse couch he got for Christmas even though his bed works just fine.  But, having already lived with a two-year-old, we know if it isn't broken, don't fix it.  Go with what works.  Pick your battles.  Those cliches work.)