Happy Birthday to me!

What a wonderful day! Peter took great care of me today and tried super hard to make sure I enjoyed the day. I did. It was a super success honey. Thank you.

I went to church this morning to help set up for rally Sunday tomorrow. While I was there, Peter took the kids out for some birthday shopping. They arrived home after me with a beautiful bouquet of pink roses. They smell delightful.

I took the children to the pool while Peter tended to him mother here at our home. Then he met us up there for a bit. From there, I took a nap with Alex lying beside me watching Jungle Book. I woke up to gifts and cards. Conleigh picked out some hip purple earrings for me and they also got me a membership to the YMCA. I'm thrilled about that!


This evening our family went to Kobe Steakhouse. We lucked out and sat with a nice family with young children. Our kids were excited to have Shirley Temples to drink. Campbell wasn't quite sure of the show and fire, but she liked the rice, as usual. Conleigh surprised me with her willingness to try the sauces and the soup. She also did well using her chopstix. Alex cracked me up. He tasted his plain white rice and asked me if we could ask the restaurant for the recipe so we could make the rice at home. Peter & I had some sushi to start and then I ordered shrimp. It was very good, but I was full before the plate was empty.

We headed home. There was the most beautiful sunset this evening, so we stood on the driveway admiring all of the colors. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing was the order of the day for birthday cake. Daddy did good.

I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday.

Afternoon Fun

We've had silly string in our cabinet all summer. The plan had been to use it the first day of summer. Well, summer has come and gone and there sat the silly string. We pulled it out and the kids went to town on each other. Here's the fun.


The city says we cannot water our lawn with our sprinkler system except on Saturday. As long as we are holding the hose, we can water whenever we want. What better excuse for some water fun in the backyard.

Convo with Alex

Alex: "Mom, if you marry me, I'll give you all my money."

Mom: "Wow, Alex. That is very nice of you. How much money do you have?"

Alex: "Mom, how about tomorrow you and I count it. It's in my piggy bank."

May the Force be with You

We went to a Star Wars birthday party last weekend I bet you didn't see the kitty cat in Star Wars. You'll have to watch more closely next time.

And we're off...

to Mrs. Ready's first grade class.
I love this picture. I wish it wasn't washed out at the top.
According to Daddy, Conleigh was not into the picture taking at school this morning. Peter took her as he did all last year and all seems to have gone smoothly. Conleigh said it was a great day but hasn't had a lot else to say.

Time Flies

I can't believe that school starts this week! We have a first grader in the house. Tomorrow at 3:00 we'll find out our teacher. Can't wait.

Alex & Campbell are excited about going back to Spicewood Country School too. One of Campbell's classmates is having a get-together on Friday this week, so it will be fun to see her friends and some of Alex's too. School starts September 4 for them. Still a little juggling ahead as far as work and no babysitter for the next couple of weeks. We'll make it.

Sarah is still in the hospital. Skin grafts were done on Friday. We'll know if they took possibly tomorrow, but definitely on Wednesday. We are still hoping that she will come to Austin and stay with us for awhile to recover.

So what have we been up too since the cousins left?
I hosted my wonderful bunko friends on Wednesday night. I love that we call it bunko but we haven't played since January. Our groups new years resolution was to play bunko in '09. Oh well. I love these ladies and am so thankful for them. I served 7-layer dip with chips and a southwestern dip with all sorts of delicious veggies for appetizers. The HEB lady talked me into a big bottle of Lambrusco. Yum-O. It was like Sangria and as Peter said, "it goes down easy and the next thing you know, someone is dancing on the couch. "
For the meal, I made watermelon-strawberry soup, crab quiche and spinach-artichoke quiche. Everyone seemed to enjoy it all which makes me happy because I'm pretty sure I am not the most wonderful cook in the group. It was Kathleen's birthday, so we had a great chocolate cake with homemade (by my sis) icing. It was a hit!

Grandma came to town and saved the day by watching the kids on Thursday, so I could drive to San Antonio and do some presentations for work. Thanks Grandma.

Friday morning Conleigh & I did a little school shopping. She picked out a new backpack with Tinkerbell and her fairy friends, and we bought a couple of cute outfits to start the year. Peter left for Houston that afternoon and has been there with his mom for the weekend. The kids and I went & chose a birthday present for a party this weekend and then stopped at Conleigh's fave ice cream joint, Zeros on the way home.

Saturday we had a quiet morning & then made a road trip to South Austin to visit my manager and her new twin girls. Campbell loved seeing the babies and even held the bottle to help feed them.

After that jaunt, we headed to the pool. Conleigh then spent the night with her friend and Campbell & Alex and I watched The Tortoise and the Hare movie. A thrill a minute, I tell ya.

Bats in Flight & Cousins on the Road

We had so much fun having our cousins (nephews and sister) Spencer & Ryan in town for an overnight visit Monday. Our Wii hasn't been played that much all summer long. We went real bowling on Monday afternoon and ate at Hut's for dinner, then enjoyed Austin's Amy's Ice Cream. After all that, we went to watch the Congress Bridge bats come out. In our 10 years in Austin, we haven't done that. It was a little bit of a long wait, but when they did start flying, they kept flying and flying and flying. All the spectators ended up leaving & there were still bats flying. Amazing.


On Tuesday morning, the kids played in the house, and Conleigh & Spencer played Wii bowling.
Then we hit the pool at noontime before the Gosmano's headed back to H-Town. Thanks for visiting. We love you all!

Saturday night convo

Conleigh: "Mommy, I'm growing up."

Mommy: "I know, and I don't want you to grow up."

Conleigh: "Oh, but Mommy. If I work at a movie theatre, I'll let you see anything you want for free!! And, if I work at a hotel, I'll let you stay in the nicest room for one dollar!"

Life is Precious, Life is Sweet

My heart coo'ed as I checked on my three wee ones tonight before bed. Alex is sleeping on his back, mouth open, right under his bedside light which he turns on nightly after we say goodnight. Lately, he has been "sleeping like daddy" and going shirtless to bed. It is pretty cute if I do say so myself.
Moving on to Conleigh's room, I find her on the far side of her queen size bed sleeping like a baby albeit topless. What is with that girl and her clothes or lack thereof? She has all the make-up from last weekend's girl party lined up at the edge of her bed.
Finally, I peeped in on Campbell. She is a light sleeper, so we don't open her door that often. Tonight after her visit to see me though, I walked her to her room which she has decided she doesn't like. I was trying everything to get her to lie down. I offered for her to sleep in her closet which is where I found her last night, no interest. I offered Elmo as a sleeping bud. Okay, but still not interested in her bed. She finally accepted the floor with her pillow and blanket, so there she is.
Life is precious. Life is sweet.
We are more aware of that today than yesterday as we pray for Granny who is in the burn unit in Houston. Thursday Granny tried to put out a fire on her farm, and she was burned on both her arms, her left hand, and her face and legs also have some blisters. While we expected her to be released today, the doctors have changed their minds after seeing the burns today. On Sunday, they will decide whether skin grafts are needed on her left arm and hand. Daddy said it looks really bad. Please pray for Granny and remember, Life IS precious, and life IS sweet!

Friday Night Fun

What do you get when you mix a four year old boy, a six year old girl and a three year old sister with a trip to Party City where you find a bunch of last years Halloween costumes on sale for $5?

A fun night of dress up! What else?


Cleopatra, an Arabian Princess and a mean Ninja came home with me! Are they cute or what?

I think she needs a little more practice...

We have a girly-girl on our hands. She had her hands and face in make-up Saturday night and before church on Sunday and then again afterwards. So funny!

Wordless Wednesday

Wrappin' it up at SeaWorld

Conleigh & Campbell had both been telling us they wanted to see Shamu. Your wish is my command darlings. We spent Monday at SeaWorld. We started the day in the water park which was a good call. It wasn't so crowded. Then we moved on to the shows. We saw Viva! and Believe(Shamu)! Our season passes have been completely worth it for the past couple of years.
We love Louie Ladeaux so much. We ate there again on the way back to Austin. A short stop at the outlet mall and home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

A Little Staycation down San Antonio way...

You can click on the small pictures and they will enlarge. My smart husband taught me that.
We jetted out of town this morning southbound. Our minivan made a stop at the Natural Bridge Caverns. We walked down what was equivalent of 18 stories. There were some amazing sites in the caverns. I think the kids enjoyed it too. Alex said his favorite part was learning about the mad family of raccoons that were found when the cavern was discovered in 1960. The big orange dinosaur was also a highlight. I thought it was really a neat thing to see and I'm surprised I've never done it before. Then we continued south to San Antonio, but before we got to town we had to stop for the best cajun food at Louie Ledeaux's. Peter's friend Arthur owns it and we lucked out and he was there. The two of them talk food stuff. They worked together back in the Pappadeaux's days.
We made our way to our hotel and went swimming. The kids would be thrilled to only go swimming. A pool and a hotel are the perfect vacation for a 6,4, and 3 year old.

After cleaning up, we took a trolly to the River Walk and ate dinner, fed some ducks and ate ice cream. It warmed my heart to hear both Conleigh & Alex say at the end of the evening, "this was a really fun night."