Happy Independence Day!

This 4th of July the kids and I went to the Pfireworks Pfestival at Lake Pflugerville again!  

We had a blast, and were even on TV!  While the kids were swimming a small news team set up on the beach in front of me.

I told people to watch for the kids swimming on TV, but I ended up being "highlighted" instead!

Isn't that depressing?  All alone on the "packed" beach.  Sigh....

Hope everyone had a happy 4th!

Happy 5th Birthday, Chloe!

My baby girl is FIVE! How did this happen?? It's very exciting!

We started the birthday celebration with a pool party!  She wanted a "Paw Patrol" theme, and I had a lot of fun with that:

And as is tradition, I made her cake:

She had tons of fun swimming with her friends at the party...

...and doing cannonballs:

And then came time for cake and presents!

She was so cute blowing out her candles.  She blew them out one at a time.  Ha ha!

After the party it was my turn to give my gift to her.  I redecorated her room!  This was her room before (taken when we moved in):

It was definitely in need of a makeover, and she requested pink, so....

I was really nervous about the color, but it turned out soft enough that it works... especially since I repainted all the brown trim and doors white as well:

To keep with the tradition of giving my kids birthday "experiences," that night Chase went to his dad's and we had a "girls night."  We played with her new toys on her bedroom floor, ordered pizza and popped in one of her new DVD's:

I totally fell asleep on the couch during the first episode.  When it was time for her to go to bed she asked what time I would be going to bed, and I said, "I'm right behind you."  Mom was pooped.

On her actual birthday we went to Gattiland, per her request.  We played games...

...and she was finally tall enough for the bumper cars!  It took a little encouragement, but she did it and loved it.

She wanted to keep going back, but finally we convinced her we had to go because we had more fun planned!  We headed back to my house so she could show off her new room to her dad and Grandpa W, and then we had cupcakes and opened more presents.  After that, we headed to her dad's for some fireworks:

Her birthday definitely went out with a bang.  Happy Birthday, baby girl!  Love you!!

 

Fun in Houston

We went to Houston this weekend to visit my friend Katie and her daughter, Ashlyn. We had a great time. We took the kids to a little production of "Schoolhouse Rock," which they really liked:

Saturday we spent the morning at the zoo.  My kids are such apes!

And of course we had to ride the carousel!

That night while Katie ran a 5K (which I would have done with her had I not broken my toe!), the kids and I had a movie night.  Ashlyn didn't quite make it:

The weekend flew by fast because we had to leave right away Sunday morning to make it back in time for Chloe's birthday party!  That post coming soon....

 

Library Day

I took the kids to the library for "Maker Fest," where they had droids, robotics, crafts, etc.  We had a great time!  My favorite part was having fun with the green screen:

The fully functional R2-D2 was pretty cool, too:

We got to see a 3D printer in action, which was so fascinating for all of us:

I wonder if one day my kids (or my kids' kids) will look at this photo and be amazed at how ancient this thing looks!  They will probably have them in their homes by then.

Chloe also had some fun playing with and building electrical "stuff" (for lack of a better word):

It was a fun and educational day overall!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Yesterday was my 38th birthday.  I had fun celebrating with both friends and family.  First, I celebrated with my kids the night before, since they were going to be at their dad's on my birthday.  We have a cupcake tradition, so we found a new bakery (Baked by Amy's) and man it was a great find!  We picked out our cupcakes (I got the Boston Cream, Chase got the Peanut Butter Cup, and Chloe got the Oreo), and then took them next door to Amy's Ice Cream for the full dessert experience.  Yummmmmm....

When we got home the kids gave me their awesome homemade gifts.  Chloe painted the picture frame and Chase painted the box:

And because my son knows me so well, he put some treasure in the box!

(Love that kid!)

Last year Chase won the award for most entertaining card.  This year Chloe took the crown:

 

Ha ha!  How did she know?!?

On my actual birthday I went to dinner with friends...

...and of course that also called for some fantastic desserting!

I'm not sure why I can't take a normal picture.  I mean, I see something cool like this on the door of the restaurant...

...and turn it into a freak show:

Ah, well.  I always said I couldn't wait to get old because then I'd have a really good excuse for acting crazy.  Maybe it has started already!

Toe Drama

We have had a bit of toe drama at our house.  Chloe had to have ingrown toenails removed...

...and then I fractured my pinkie toe on my coffee table.  I wasn't going to go in to see the doctor, but after it kept getting worse and the pain spread I got worried I did something to a bone in my foot.  The thought of messing up my feet so I may never wear heels again drove me to the urgent care.  It was, in fact, just a toe fracture (top to bottom), but they put me in a boot.  When they came in the room with it, Chloe said, "Oh no, Mom....  That is not cute."  So she decided to decorate it with stickers when we got home:

Much better!  Ha ha!  Love that girl.