strawberry fields

Last week, my mom and Dave and I took the kids to Froberg's Farm for some spring time strawberry picking.  As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Kate's favorite fruit is strawberries and fruit in general is Sam's favorite food so we knew this would be a pretty big hit.

That morning Kate told me that she was nervous about picking the strawberries.  Her main concerns were about whether or not there would be buckets for us and if the buckets would have strawberries on them.

Well, lucky for us, they sell buckets with pictures of strawberries on them.  Also, Kate stopped being nervous when she realized she could bring this awesome "Farmer's Hat," as she calls it.

Sam loved wandering around but he got really upset any time we were not all on the same strawberry row.  Kate and I were walking up and down the rows looking for the best strawberries while Sam explored the fields with my mom and Dave.  Anytime Kate and I started picking berries on a different row, he would cry until we were all together again.

Of course, we tried to get a family photo behind these giant strawberry cut outs.  Sam, however, wanted nothing to do with any of that kind of silliness.

And perhaps, my favorite photo of our strawberry picking adventure was this next one below, taken by my mom.  This was right after Sam kicked mud all over Dave's face and right before Kate said, "Get your hand off my shoulder Mom."

Why don't kids cooperate when you all you want is a nice family photo in a field of strawberries?

All in all though, we had a berry good time. :)

the beach be awesome

Last weekend I attended a conference in Corpus Christi.  Dave and I decided that it would be easier for me to go by myself while he and my mom watched the kids.  Packing two small children into a very small car and driving a few hours to spend three nights in a crowded hotel room seemed like a daunting task.  At first, it sounded like bliss for a stay at home mom.  A weekend by myself in a nice hotel room with no one to share my drink with, no one to share my food with, and no one to share the bathroom with.  But, as I started to think about it I realized that also meant I would have no one to share any fun with.  I knew it wasn't going to happen the weekend before when I couldn't fall asleep one night because I was crying into my pillow just thinking about it.  I was positive they would forget me while I was gone.  I have never spent a night away from my kids!

So Thursday morning, we loaded up the car and embarked on what was supposed to be a three hour journey.  We soon learned that the major freeway to Corpus Christi was closed and we were sent on a detour that more than doubled the time we spent in the car!  There were tears and promises of candy and the beach and there was even, at one point, vomit but we finally made it to the hotel!

We stopped at a gas station along the way that had this little tiny toilet that Kate did NOT want to pose next to.

We stayed in a fun hotel that was more like a teeny tiny apartment.  There was a bedroom that was separate from our living area which was nice for putting Sam to bed on time.  There was also a free hot breakfast every morning and drinks and snacks in the evening.

Please, no paparazzi during breakfast.

My favorite part of our accommodations was a Diet Coke fountain machine in the lobby that I could access at any time.  Kate and Sam's favorite part was the pool.

I spent most of Friday in classes so Dave was on full time daddy duty for the day.  What to do with two bored kids?  Chuck E. Cheese of course!

Sleeping in the hotel room was definitely a challenge and we ended up playing musical beds every night.  Our main objective was to keep Kate and Sam separated so they didn't wake each other up.  Sam still woke up a few times every night.  I think he just knew he was in an unfamiliar place.  Dave and I took turns helping him get back to sleep while Kate took up an entire queen sized bed.  Dave finally ended up on the uncomfortable sofa bed in the living room after his sleep talking woke Sam up the first night.  It was crazy but we each managed to get at least a few hours of sleep a night.

On Saturday, I was done with meetings by lunchtime so we decided to make our way to the beach.  Getting two kids ready for the beach is exhausting!  By the time I got them in their swimsuits and sufficiently screened from the sun, about and hour had passed so we knew we had to hurry.  First though, we drove through Whataburger for lunch and a big giant drink to share.  As soon as we got to the parking lot, I put the drink on top of the car to help Kate out of her car seat.  In hindsight, I realize that was a bad idea.  At the time I knew it was a bad idea.  As soon as I shut the car door, our drink rolled off the car and exploded onto the pavement.

I think it was at this point that I looked up and saw dark rain clouds.  I should have just stopped right then.  I should have just called it a day and put the kids back in the car and drove to the hotel pool and said it was just as good as the beach.  But I was facing a motherhood dilemma.  All weekend we had been talking about the beach to Katelyn.  We had mentioned the beach no less than a thousand times.  It was our light at the end of the tunnel during the ill fated car trip.  It was the carrot we had used to ensure good behavior.  We had promised and Kate had spent the morning saying things like, "The beach be awesome," and "The beach be the best ever."

So, to be true to my word, I looked at Dave and said, "Let's do this."  We hurried along to the beach and found an unoccupied umbrella and threw our stuff down as I yelled like a madwoman for everybody to, quick, put our feet in the water.

The downpour started as soon as our feet hit the surf.

Kate was a good sport.  She didn't cry or even complain but I just couldn't take it.  I think I was more disappointed than she was.  So the next morning, we tried hitting the beach again before we left to drive home.

It was perfect.  We ventured over to the beach early that morning and got to enjoy our own private seaside because everyone else was still sleeping in.  Kate loved the beach.  To her, it was every bit as awesome as she said it would be.

Sam was not a fan.  He kept trying to eat the sand which, as everyone over the age of eighteen months knows, does not make a good snack.  He'll learn.

In the end, the drive home went much smoother.  The road was re-opened, the traffic was light, and the kids napped until we got back to our house.

Kate's right.  The beach be awesome.

ho ho no

Things have been a little crazy around here.  We bought a house which I am so excited about and tired from at the same time.  The past several weeks (or months, really) have been spent on the phone arranging for utilities to be turned on an inspections to be completed, printing, signing, scanning, and emailing mortgage papers, dusting, scrubbing, and cleaning, and finally, painting.

Get out your red pen to correct the punctuation in that sentence.  I may be a grammar snob but punctuation is just not my forte and I absolutely hate commas.

So much work and effort has gone into getting ready to move into this house that I have pretty much neglected everything else.  I have been lucky enough to have a mom down the street (not literally unfortunately) who will step in as temporary Mom to Katelyn while I work.  I have spent the last two weeks as a paint covered zombie and not much else.

I will definitely post some pictures of the house and blog all about it soon.  We ran out of moving boxes and packed all of our clothes in trash bags.  Right now, the bedroom looks like a cloth tornado ran right through it.  Seriously.  If we had invited Edward Scissorhands over to our house and told him to go crazy with the bags of clothing, it could not look much worse.  Nobody needs to see that.

For now, let me just talk about last night.

Last week, I decided that it was time to take a break from the house and just have a weekend of family fun.  Dave took Monday and Tuesday off from work and we planned on relaxing together.  At the same time, I decided that we needed to get out more as a family and take advantage of the exciting events our community has to offer.

I'm not sure what it was about nesting in our new home that made me feel so zealous in taking on a weekend family adventure.

I had heard that there was a free Christmas event at the Galleria in uptown Houston.  There was to be music and signing and a tree lighting ceremony and an ice skating Santa.

I'll let you guess what I was the most excited about.

If you didn't say "ice skating Santa" then we need to get to know each other better.

Anyway, I thought this would be perfect.  The event started at 6:00.  We left the house at 5:00.  Kate was buckled in the back seat with a french braid in her freshly washed hair.  We got to the Galleria at 6:00.  Kate was still buckled in the back seat slumped over to the side with a bottle hanging out of her mouth.  She had taken the rubber band from her hair to use as a bracelet.  I don't know how she does that.  We finally found the entrance to the "free" parking at 6:15.  Don't believe the signs.  We spent forever trying to find the elusive "free parking" only to be greeted with this sign.

We circled the "free" parking lot until 6:45.  Kate was still buckled in the back seat but, by this time, she was desperately trying to unbuckle herself to get out.  We got back onto the freeway by 7:00.  Tired and hungry, Kate had given up trying to free herself and began using her energy to scream instead.

We finally made it to our local First Colony Mall by 7:15.  (Thankfully, the southbound traffic was much lighter.)  We strapped Kate into the stroller, did a fast paced walk by the Santa stand (just to say that we saw Santa), and ran to the food court for a cookie and a Diet Coke.

(Only we didn't get a Diet Coke because she mall McDonald's charges forty five cents for a refill and it's not that forty five cents is that much but it goes against my principles.)

We let Kate roam around in the indoor playground.  Most of the time, she had free range of the equipment because she was the only baby.  All the other responsible parents didn't attempt the trek to the Galleria and had put their children to bed, I guess.  We sat there beaten and tired while Kate wandered around aimlessly for a while and then we left.

And that was our family fun Saturday.

And Kate didn't even sleep in this morning.

I'm not going to be totally negative.  We did have a lot of fun in the car.  We got to just sit and talk and listen to music.  We heard Katy Perry's Roar at least five times which is unequivocally Katelyn's favorite song of all time.  We did get to enjoy a few Double Doozie cookies.  And even though he wasn't on ice skates, we technically did see Santa.

But it was definitely enough excitement.  So this afternoon, I am staying glued to this chair watching all the Lifetime Christmas movies I have recorded on my parents' TV.

I know it's November.

I don't even care.

mommy and katelyn's rainy day adventure

This afternoon Katelyn and I decided to go for a walk to the grocery store.  I needed some supplies for dinner and Kate desperately needed to get out of the house.  We loaded up the stroller and somehow made it down the stairs and went on our way.

Katelyn loves walks.  She has loved being in the stroller ever since she was a newborn.  Dave and I could always count on the soothing roll of the stroller's wheels to calm her down on the fussiest of days.  During those first few weeks we went on so many long walks around the neighborhood.

We had to run in to our apartment office for a few minutes and when we came back outside it was raining.  How dare it rain on our parade to the store?  I could see blue sky in the horizon so we decided to wait it out at the apartment clubhouse.  We sat out on the porch watching people walk by.  A school bus drove up to drop off a herd of students and Katelyn thought it was very entertaining.  Eventually, the rain slowed to a drizzle and I figured if we were already sweaty, why not cool off in the rain?

As soon as I stepped out from under the patio covering and into the sprinkling rain, Katelyn clapped for joy.  She spent the entire trip alternately watching the cars drive by and applauding the rain.  By the time we were halfway to the store, the rain picked up and we were getting soaked.

Katelyn didn't seem to mind but it was raining really hard and I wondered about all the people driving past a mother and baby walking through the mud in the pouring rain.  It's not that I expected someone to pick us up or anything.  I would never have gotten into the car anyway.  It just made me want to be more aware of people I pass by that could use some help.  As I was pondering on that thought, I passed a construction site where the workers were packing up to get out of the rain.  I noticed one of the workers approaching us with a rain coat.  He offered it for Katelyn and then started to turn back to get one for me and just like that, my faith in humanity was restored.

We made it to the gas station on the way to the store to wait out the storm.  I bought Katelyn a cookie for being such a good sport about our adventure.  The gas station has a little row of seats at a table by the window so we had a seat to watch the rain.  Several birds had the same idea and they were all walking the sidewalk trying to stay dry.  Kate loves birds and she laughed and laughed and laughed out loud.

Finally, we got to the store and picked up some groceries.  I was careful to buy just enough to fit in our bag for the way home.  We walked out the door, loaded up the stroller, and just as I was walking away, the bag broke and spilled our groceries everywhere.  I was so done with the adventure.

Luckily, grandma was just a few miles away.  I called in the cavalry and my mom was outside the store within five minutes to take us home.  So much for a rainy day adventure!

baby kate's museum adventure

Katelyn invited her friend Rahzy to the Children's Museum today.  We had a great time!

First, we got all buckled in for our big adventure.

Katelyn was dressed appropriately for posing in a train.  I wonder if train conductors still wear overalls?

The museum had a fun area for babies and toddlers.  Every thing was padded. (Which is great for little baby girls who think they can stand on their own.) There were all sorts of toys and other fun games for the kids to explore.

When they got thirsty, Kate and Rahzy enjoyed a nice drink in the little play house at the little foam table.

"Would you care for a spot of tea, Katelyn?"

"Why, yes.  Thank you!"

One of Katelyn's favorite things was the car with a steering wheel and buttons.

Rahzy didn't seem too sure about her driving skills though. :)

We had a great time at the museum and can't wait to go again.