1-On-1 Time

A few weeks ago Chase asked if we could have a "Mommy/Son Day." We hadn't done it in awhile, so this weekend their dad and I decided to do a "kid swap" weekend. On Saturday I took Chase and he took Chloe, then on Sunday we switched. It gave us all a chance to have some quality "1-on-1 time."

On Saturday Chase and I started our day with a kids improv comedy show.  When the kids walked in they were asked to create some artwork, which was then used in the show!  Chase's picture was one of the first be used, and the actor onstage called it a "masterpiece!"

After that Chase requested to have lunch at a restaurant with an outdoor playland, so we headed downtown to Freddies, where he had what may have been the biggest pancakes I've ever seen!  This photo was taken after he just couldn't eat any more!

From there we went to the library where they were having an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter tea party!  There were tons of fun things to do, like play croquet:

...and play with giant bubbles:

...and giant beach balls!

Chase loved them:

Those who know my son well know he is slightly obsessed with video games.  We have really limited his game playing lately, so for a fun treat we went to GameStop and found a game we could play together.  He had so much fun sword fighting with his new "Puss in Boots" game:

After that we had pizza and watched a movie together.  What a fun day!

Sunday I dropped him off at his dad's and picked up Chloe.  She and I started our day with a Groundworks Music Orchestra concert at Cherrywood Coffeehouse.  She ordered waffles and ate none of it (so I ate them for her).

She kept asking to leave, so finally we did and on the way out the car she said, "Mom, that was soooooo fun!"  The girl makes no sense.

From there we headed out to get our nails done!  It was her first time getting pampered like that and I had no idea how she would handle it, but she's definitely my daughter and settled right in!

She got both her fingers and toes done, and I just did my toes.  I was so thankful for the Visa gift card I got for signing up with AT&T when I moved!  We will not be making this a habit!

We got matching pedicures, but then had an issue when we realized Chloe didn't have any sandals that fit her so she could show off her pretty new toes with me!  That prompted a trip to the shoe store (for her, not me... *sigh*), and in the end all was well with the world:

We finished our day at Chloe's favorite pizza place before heading home for our movie night together.

It was a wonderful weekend with my kids, getting to spend some quality time with each of them.  Chase is pretty proud of himself.  On my day with him he said several times, "This was a great idea of mine, wasn't it?"  Yes, Chase....  It was.

More photos are in our Photo Album if you're interested.

 

School Pictures

Here is Chase's school picture!  Please respect copyright.  Thank you!

(He needed a hair cut, but his smile is just so genuinely precious that I just can't let it go!)

Jumpy Day!

I wore these kids OUT today!

Chase has been missing his friends from Killeen so we invited his BFF Adara down to visit.  Chase wanted to take her (and her brother and mom, of course) to his favorite pizza place, Austin's Pizza.  Afterwards we went to Jumpoline and the kids spent 2 hours jumping and running around.

They also had fun playing the games there:

After that we had dinner and headed out to the birthday party of one of Chase's new classmates, which was held at a gymnastics studio.  Once again they jumped and ran around everywhere!

I also discovered my daughter has balance!  Click the thumbnail to view the video.  We're still working on her dismount (lol):

Needless to say, they crashed when we got home.  Phew!  What a fun and exciting day!

 

Summer Fun (Part 2)!

Sadly, summer is almost over. I have one more week of teacher in-service before everyone goes back to school. Since my last post we have been busy! Before the move, we had to get together with our Killeen friends! The kids enjoyed their friend Nathan's birthday party:

I said goodbye to many of my Killeen friends at a Painting With a Twist party!

Behold....  My masterpiece!

I spent time in San Antonio with my dear friend Katie, and made good use of her pool!

I also saw my friend Luc in his production of South Pacific:

THEN....  I bought a house!

That started the Austin moving adventure.  The kids were really excited (as was I!):

Chase helped me paint before we moved in.  He was SO excited to help, but after about 20 minutes he was like, "Yeah....  This isn't so fun after all."  Ha ha!  Thank goodness I had the iPad to entertain him so I could get it done myself!

Our new neighborhood has a pool, which we have had some fun at:

And this weekend we checked out the Austin Ice Cream Festival:

We are all really excited about our new home, and look forward to new experiences down here!

 

Summer Fun

Well the summer is definitely not over, but it seems like we have done so much in the past month or so, and I have been horrible about reporting it!  So here's a little "catch-up" blog post about some of the things we have done to keep busy since the end of the school year.

We kicked off the summer with Chase's Kindergarten graduation (sorry for the horrible photo):

Shortly after that we celebrated my birthday!  Seeing as it's my mom's birthday, too, we did a little birthday party via Skype:

Instead of a big cake on my birthday, I always get cupcakes from my favorite place, Cookie Addiction.  This year I got to enjoy my cupcake and ice cream on the new dishes the kids made me.  Precious!

The first official day of summer break I took the kids to the splash pad:

Some other fun things we did this summer were...

Carpet picnics:

Painting a birdhouse for their dad for Father's Day:

Playing at the park, where the kids loved to play Hide and Seek (can you find Chloe?):

I took some shots of them in the trees and this one is so cute except for one thing:

(I had to teach her how to be a lady!):

We have also been getting ready to move down to the Austin area!  The day they put this sign up in my yard I about threw a party:

We spent a few days exploring our soon-to-be new neighborhood, checking things out and finding fun things to do there.  We found a splash pad nearby, which the kids obviously enjoyed:

The kids also decided they found their new favorite pizza place (we have already eaten there twice):

Conveniently, there's a Baskin Robbins next door (no complaints here!):

We also had to go furniture shopping, which the kids helped me with.  We had different ideas of what would work well in our new house:

They have done quite a bit of shopping with me, actually.  It isn't usually a fun thing for me to do with them, but they have been troopers:

I also got a new iPad for school, which was taken over right away:

(Though we have had fun with other games this summer, too):

The last couple weeks we have had swim lessons.  Both kids loved their lessons this year.  They both did so well.  Chase is finally swimming on his own:

Here's a photo of Chloe floating on her back with her teacher, who she loved:

And here she is again, coming to get a kiss from me:

(How can you resist that face?  I don't even try....)

Well, I think that about covers it!  We are gearing up to move!  Every day while Chloe naps, Chase helps with with house projects and packing.  We are all so excited!  Stay tuned for more updates!