There they go again

Five Under Five

Guess which kids are mine, and which ones are sick. (hint - they might be the same ones!)

Spring break brings us on our annual trip to Houston to "Charlie's house". James was very excited and had been counting the "sleeps" for three weeks.


James is wearing my mom's sunglasses. I remember her getting these WHEN WE LIVED IN SAN ANTONIO (pre-1990). Maybe it is time for a new pair?

Andy, as always, is slow to adapt, took a little longer to warm up to traveling.


That thing under is nose is just a stratch that he got from falling on our driveway. How he managed to get it just in that spot, we will never know. Andy, God Bless Him, was in one of his moods the whole trip.

At any rate, Gramma was nice enough to drive us to the airport and drop us off. From there is was just Team JAM. (James, Andy, and Mommy). We used the stroller method.


The boys were super excited to see all the planes!


The flight there was fine, could have been better, could have been worse. It wore out the kiddos and within 5 minutes of being in Aunt Turah's car, they both zonked out. This is unheard of for my children.


Turns out, they both were getting sick, but after a dose of motrin, it was playtime.

The best part of visiting family, is doing the everyday stuff that they do. James and Andy had a really great time. We spent a lot of time playing outside in the backyard. Here is Baby AC, who is just so content:


AM and Andy on the swings:


Everyone in/on the caddy. Um, Andy LOVES this car. Are you listening grandparents? He would just get in. Get out. Get in. Get out.


Granny had gotten these punching balloons. They were a big hit. I think I got all the kids in this shot.


James enjoyed dressing up while we were there. More on that later, I'm sure.


When you have this many kids, transportation can be an issue. Here is seating for all 5:


(it takes 2 shots)


Another arraingement with only 4 kids:


And of course we had music time with Uncle B.


Some of the big stuff we did: chuck e cheese, the park, the zoo. It turns out it is hard keeping track of 5 kids so I didn't take pictures of any of those.

The trip home was pretty quiet because both kids were sick. By sick, I mean I had to dose James up with the motrin so they would let us on the flight and Andy threw up all over me after take off. Other than that, it was uneventful.

Ok, this might have been the worse trip ever, but it was still fun, right? Thanks to K and B for everything!

21 months, 5 days

I just thought this was a cute picture:



I have a wierd way of thinking about milestones for my kids. Well, really it is just what is Andy like when something big was happening with James? When James was 21 months, 5 days old, Andy was born. Wow. That is a big one.

When James was 21 months, 5 days that was the beginning of my favorite time with him. I really do love this terrible two age. They can walk, they talk so cute, and they really think everything is GREAT! I mean, there are tough times as well, but good outweighs the bad. I am looking forward to the next stage with Andy until he is 2 and a half. Then they apparently reach that "devil's spawn" age.

Falls Park 2010

Last year we spontaneously decided to go to Falls Park and it just so happened to be right after the Reedy River Run. We still had a great time.

This year, I actually ran the Reedy River Run and planned to meet Mark and the boys at Falls Park after the race. We had a great time.

James was exploring:


Andy is SO CUTE!


James is still wearing his medal from the night before:


We had a picnic lunch. I believe Mark and I talked about making sandwiches, but Mark picked up subway instead:


After lunch, I had a surpirse. At the race, a vendor was passing out little planes. I got three: one for James, one for Andy, and one for Mattie. They were a big hit.


Oops, I forgot to give Mattie hers. John got it:


Then everyone played ball:


Alright, I'll say it. Andy loves balls.


Then we played frisbee:


A good time was had by all. I little cooler than last year, but still nice:

A pirate says...

Racing Day!

Like most boys in James's age group, James loves the movie cars. Whenever we watch it, James loves to act out the opening race. This racing has spread to other activities and before you knew it, James races with everything and loves to win. When I signed up for the Reedy River Run tomorrow, I noticed they had a kid's fun run. I asked James if he wanted to be in a running race. "Yes!" he said "I am going to win!"

So, we had to work on the idea that he may not win...there may be bigger kids there who are faster, and as long as he did his best and had fun, that was all that matter.

"Yeah, but I am really fast!"

At any rate, the race was today at 5:45. I got James dressed in cute little soccer shorts and a tshirt, then layered with sweat pants and a sweat shirt (good thing!). Once his new running shoes were on, he was good to go.

"I am very excited!"

We timed our arrival just right. We parked, got our packet, and was putting James's number on when they were calling the participants to the starting line. "I am a little nervous..."



And of course it was a hurry-up-and-wait situation. I got James warmed up and stretched out.



The dads were on stroller duty. Andy was trying to make a break for it. Sorry, buddy, you have to be three!



We made our way to the starting line and got lined up. James had said all day, "I am going to run ALL BY MYSELF and you can watch me mommy. Yes, I do it ALL BY MYSELF." Can you see James on the front row center of the starting line?



As the person in charge counted down, James started looking really nervous. He allowed me to run with him. This picture was taked about 30 seconds before we started.



This picture was taken about 30 seconds after we started:



That is exactly how James looked the entire race. He had a GREAT time. He ran the whole way except for where he tripped right before the finish line. His (our) time was 2:20 for 400 meters. Once he finished he got a medal.



He was in awe of his medal! Here is James with John who also finished:



We went for a celebratory dinner at Sticky Fingers. A good time was had by all!



We can't wait for the next race. James "Mommy, maybe sometime I can go run with Ms. Jenny and you can stay home." I think someone has a crush on Ms. Jenny!