a real treat . . . lunch and play with the big cheese!

i surprised the kids with a lunchtime trip to chuck e. cheese today . . . another little "last hurrah" before school starts in less than 2 weeks! we met our bff's there and the kids had a wonderful time! pizza, coins, tickets, and soda . . . what more could a kid ask for? ken and mck are pretty independent there . . . they like being able to walk around and play games/rides all by themselves . . . and kam, well she totally has the concept down and would like to do everything herself . . . "mommy, i need MONEY!" she kept telling me! :) b.c. enjoyed his first trip to cec by sleeping for the first hour and a half, nursing, checking things out for a bit, and then letting us know he'd had enough by screaming as we packed up our stuff and headed to the car! :)

zilker park

we celebrated the beautiful weather (and a school holiday!) by meeting our friends (ms. t has 3 boys the same ages as my 3 girls!) at an amazing park in austin. we played on the playscape, had a picnic lunch, walked by the water, rode the train, chased birds, and enjoyed a little afternoon treat! we even managed to get 5 of the 6 kiddos to sit for a picture together! (that's quite an accomplishment!)

the girls loved the train ride. i put kam in a seat while i got the girls settled in their seats and when i went to sit down with her she started crying . . . she wanted to ride all by herself! :(

we spent the majority of the day at the park until kam was repeating "puppy, puppy!" over and over again . . . i knew it was time to hit the mini-van and give her her snuggly! :) the kids (okay, me too!) were worn out so the ride home was nice and quiet! what a wonderful day at the park with wonderful friends!

is it christmas?. . . nope just an empty box!

the girls have been so excited since bailey purchased a water softener for our new water system . . . no, they weren't thrilled about the softener, just the giant box it came in. since friday they've been bugging us to bring it in the house so they could play. this morning we gave in!

they all sat with markers and crayons to decorate the box. ken wrote everyone's name on it and mck added "i love you, mom," for letting them play in the box! kam was content to sit with her winter hat and color the inside of the box which ken insisted was not to be colored! :) seriously, who needs christmas when you have an empty cardboard box? :)

bouncing baileys

ken had off from school today so we headed to a bouncy place with mck, kam, and a g (a friend of ken's). we arrived just as they were blowing up the inflatables . . . it was a treat just to see them all growing big before their eyes! the girls had so much fun running around, bouncing, and hiding from each other! kam thought she could do everything herself . . . even the big slides! luckily it wasn't too crowded, so we could take our time climbing to the top! what a fun friday!

a visit to the san antonio zoo

we made the "trek" to san antonio to visit the zoo there since we had never been (and i was motivated to go because we could make a pit stop at the pb outlet on the way!!!) . . . well we picked a warm day . . . over 80 degrees in january! hello? where is winter? we started off with a picnic by a little stream there . . . really nice in the shade of the trees. we were all a bit warm, but had a great time checking out all the creatures.

there were three cool things we saw . . . a joey in it's mom's pouch (too cool!) and two hippos chilling in the water (you could see them above and below the surface), and the prairie dog exhibit with all it's tunnels and peep holes was a huge hit with the kids!

ken and mck wanted to be pushed in the double stroller A LOT . . . next time we'll leave it at home! and kam loved her "princess seat" as we tried out her carrier for the first time (sadly we've had it for almost a year!)

would the day be complete without an injury? of course not . . . and of course it was mck who got hurt . . . she rested her arm on a log COVERED with fire ants and was bitten like 10 times. poor baby!

we stayed until it closed and then headed home. the kids were worn out, but had a great day!

new year's eve

well, we made it to midnight! :) we had a nice evening at home with our bff's (we had to hang with someone who wouldn't make fun of me for not making it to midnight!). the kids ate snacks, played, and watched movies in their sleeping bags while we got to play games and chit-chat! :) we even had a few fireworks to ring in the new year! we had a champagne and sparkling apple cider toast (thanks stef!) and lots of friend hugs and kisses! it was a great, relaxing evening . . . the kids even played some wii and the guys did a little boxing (hillarious to watch!). we had to sleep in a bit and take it easy the next day to recover . . . gosh, are we old!

the north pole flyer

bailey and i had been anticipating taking the girls on the north pole flyer, a local train that does a christmas ride for kids, since may when i purchased the tickets (it fills up fast!). we had a great start to our evening . . . dinner at a favorite restaurant, the kids opened their christmas p.j.'s and slippers in the car, the were all decked out! :) even the walk up to the train was pretty cool! we had out own compartment . . . plenty of room to spread out and let the kids be monkeys!

well, after the initial boarding, it seemed to be one crazy thing after another . . . the train left almost 45 minutes late (we were having to entertain them for the whole time . . . i didn't bring anything entertaining other than food!)/ about 15 minutes into the ride our car (attached to the engine) became unattached from the rest of the train and went completely black. fun. so we had to reverse and re-attach. the kids were dressed in fleece p.j.'s and the car was like 80 degrees! and despite all of the pitfalls, we still arrived back at the station promptly at 9 . . . hmmmm, not exactly the magical experience i was imagining! the kids had fun and just enjoyed being on a train and moving without having to sit in their seat! :)

there is a silver lining to the whole thing! :) i complained and they refunded my $140! so for a free ride, i guess we'll take the craziness! :)