Boo boos, Standing, Birthdays and More

The past three weeks have been crazy busy both at work and at home. A week and a half ago Addison decided to combine (unsuccessfully) two games that she and her Daddy play together; Hide and Seek and Catch Me (which is Addie launching herself at him out of nowhere and it's his job to catch her mid air). Unfortunately this launch was one that was impossible to catch and one corner of the wall later she needed to have the gash in her head glued together with DermaBond. We are friends with DermaBond as it helped us with a similar incident last year when Addie pulled a little side table over on her head and it gashed her forehead open on the other side of her head. Thankfully this years incident didn't result in a three hour long ER visit where they misplace our chart and forget about us! I'm hoping splitting her head open is no longer an annual (or more frequent) event after this year.

The weekend before that we were out at the ranch part of the time doing a survey for the upcoming deer season. The girls had a great time playing with Aunt Courtney and Brad and even learned a few new tricks. They also got to hang out and relax while swinging with Oma on the back porch - wish I could fit in those swings!

This past weekend was Charles and Abigail's 2nd Birthday Party. Cake, gifts and cousins - what's not to love! Even as we were trying to leave the party Addie was still going full speed ahead. Guess it was the cake. Addie and Camden also got to bottle feed baby calves and then pet a little bigger calves that Tate and Tamara have been raising at the horse barn. Addie, Nora, Grandma and I also tried out the Aquatic Center in El Campo. Grandma and Addie spent a lot of time playing in the kids area and even as we were leaving Addie was begging to go on the big red slide (which she won't be able to go on until she does several more years of growing - darn minimum height requirement )

For the past several weeks Nora has become an expert (and quick) crawler. She's also been pulling up on everything in sight!! This is great except for the fact that she is still working out the kinks on getting back down - a source of serious frustration for her some days, an opportunity to simply body dive and roll on others.

Hunting season is coming up so we'll soon be spending a lot more time out at the ranch. It's a beautiful place. If anyone wants to check it out the website is http://www.rojograndehunting.com/ Hunts are sold so if you are looking for a gift for someone it could be a good idea!

A little country

The Girls and I went to El Campo last weekend and made a trip out to a rice field where Grandpa was cutting rice. Addie was thrilled to drive the combine and was constantly jumping up and down to check to see how full the hopper was getting. Her favorite part of the ride was dumping the rice into the augger cart pulled by the tractor. Nora took it all in and would randomly get very excited about the whole process. Uncle Dwayne, Aunt Holly, Skylar, Cadence and Luke were all there too. Skylar and Addie had a blast playing in an augger cart partially full of rice while Cadence and Aunt Holly rode with Grandpa. They made rice angels, buried their shoes and swung from the bars of the augger cart just to name a few of their play activities. Addie even got to ride in the tractor when Uncle Dwayne eventually dumped the rice into a truck. The next morning we went out to "help" haul hay. Addie and Skylar had fun walking around on the hay bales - I was up there with them the entire time (once the pictures were taken) so there was no real danger of falling.

The pure joy and excitement that each new experience brought to Addie was really amazing to watch. We're talking about little high pitched squeals, finger pointing, constant questions ("Mommy, do you see the _____?"), and constant movement to ensure she didn't miss a thing. If Nora was around (she was with Grandma in the car part of the time) she'd get really worked up and excited - if for no other reason than because her big sister was excited. It makes me happy that Addison is absolutely crazy about animals and all things outdoors. At least in that way she takes after me!

The girls with Grandpa and his combine

Nora and Grandpa

Addie takes control of the machine!

Addie did a great job of actually holding Nora for this picture!

Addie just hanging around in the augger cart.

Skylar, Gayle and Addison

Carnival, Bowling, Cousins, Mexico

Last Thursday Addie's daycare had a carnival. In addition to the goodie bag full of bracelets and big magnets, Addie was super exicted about her face painting flower and smiley face on her hand. The fun continued on Friday when the firm I work for had their annual family bowling night. This was Addie's first time bowling. She bowled a strike and a few spares (with a little help). I was pretty proud of my 121 (not bad for not having bowled in a few years) and my team ended up getting 2nd place over all. The prize was a four inch plastic gold trophy with a purple bouncy ball (make to look like a bowling ball) glued on top - super. Nora had a great time being passed around. Saturday was my cousin's wedding (no kids invited) so Addie, Nora, Charles and Abigail got to spend some time together. I got a great picture of them watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on our bed - they were totally entranced. Of course, all good things must come to an end. Addie was disappointed when her cousins had to leave but was quickly distracted when Aunt Misty returned from a trip to El Marcado with a new little Mexican dress and headband with little Mexican dolls on top! She danced around and chanted (just like Aunt Courtney taught her) "Mexico," pronounced MEX-E-CO, over and over.

Ping Pong a/k/a Basketball

We were in Fredericksburg for part of this past weekend. Saturday afternoon was pretty hot so an indoor activity sounded like a good idea and who doesn't love some Ping Pong! Chris and Opa put the cover on the pool table and started playing some serious ping pong (Opa was getting winded). Of course Addie wanted in on the fun too and lucky little girl, her Oma had a Nerf ping pong set just for her. While Oma and Aunt Courtney were teaching her the finer points of the game in the living room, Daddy and Opa continued to play hard in the game room. Eventually Addie decided she had learned enough and was ready to play with the big boys (and I think they may have been ready for a little break too). She proudly announced that she was going to play basketball with Daddy and Opa. Of course we corrected her and told her it was ping pong which she dutifully repeated. While she was playing we'd ask her what game she was playing and she'd look at us a little annoyed and announce, "Basketball." Eventually she said "something ball" and then by the end of the afternoon it was, in fact, PingPong! Nora was just hanging around:)

Swimming & Calling Cows

I'm a little behind in posting this but the weekend of the 11th the girls and I went to visit Aunt Wendy and her family. They have a few amazing swimming pools that are a ton of fun to play in unlike our neighborhood which, sadly, has no pool at all. Chris had to stay in San Antonio because of a seminar that lasted half of Saturday which meant that I was on "Addie Duty" which is difficult even when shared. The result was that I got no pictures of Addison in the pool but we had fun times - starting with her deciding to sit down in the play pool so that the water would go over her head except for the very tip top of her pony tail (mommy to the rescue), and ending with her fearlessly jumping into the adult pool with her legs straight out so that they typically caught me right in the stomach or ribs if I couldn't move to the side quick enough. She went down the slide, got dumped on by the big bucket and played with the water wheels and noodles in between. Nora loved floating with Aunt Wendy but couldn't stay in long (even with sunscreen I'm paranoid about little baby skin). Grandma was there to take care of her in the shade. Charles had fun jumping into the big pool too but didn't want to try the slide this trip. Abigail made it a little late to the pool because she was doing a buld a bear with Aunt Misty. The best thing was they all took AMAZING naps that afternoon! Our other cousins were on a fun trip in Colorado so we missed having them there but we can't wait for next time - we love those splash days!


A weekend in El Campo wouldn't be complete without riding the toy horse at Grandma and Grandpa's, visiting some of Grandpa's "baby calves" (which Addie says in a tiny voice while cupping her hands like a cradle rocking them back and forth and finishing up with a "I want to pet them - come here baby calves"), and feeding the bulls. We wanted to ride the combine but Grandpa had stopped because of green milo by the time we got back from swimming - hopefully next trip we'll have better luck. Instead of riding the combine we drove out to some of Grandpa's pastures so Addie could see the calves. Grandpa taught her to call them "Sue cow -wooooo" which she immediately started to repeat. I cracked up because she was doing this while wearing her princess crown which grandma had clipped into her hair before we left. Sadly I didn't bring the camera. Picture a two year old with her head out of the Expedition's window (we were stopped on a country road so no seatbelt necessary for a short time) in her PJs with a tiarra on her head saying "Sue cows -wooooooo, come here Grandpa's cows, woooooooooo. Mommy look, it's more cows over there, woooooo. They are walking. Come here baby calves, I want to pet you. Sue cows- woooooo." Her little face showed that she wanted with all her heart to be able to pet those smelly cows. There was one cow and calf right next to the fence so I got Addie out and walked up to them. Of course, the calf ran right away and the cow stepped back several steps before turning around to walk away too. It was enough for Addie though, she was excited and pleased about seeing them up close. Twice during the week she woke up taking about the mommy cow at the gate (which is a fence in Addie speak). She'd tell me all about how it walked away but that she got to pet the baby calf (this part happened only in her dreams). She gets so excited and satisfied with herself after telling me about it that I'm certain she is convinced that she really just saw this cow and her calf again - too sweet! When we got back to San Antonio the girls were so happy to see their dad. Addison was feeling generous and shared her red horse, Rody, with Nora. He's probably a little more appropriately sized for Nora than Grandpa and Grandma's horse. Nora was thrilled when Chris bounced her up and down on that thing - big smiles the entire time:)

Mommy and her girls - all in green suits by chance. Mine is a few years old and the girls got theirs (as did all their cousins) from Grandma on the landcut trip.

Aunt Wendy, Nora and Charles

Abigail and Addison

Addison, Charles (out of his suit), Grandma, Abigail and Nora

Nora, Grandpa and Addison

Nora on Rody

4th of July

We had a great time this 4th of July. We started the long weekend at the ranch and then we went to Fredericksburg where we went to the horse races (thank you Aunt Courtney & Alyssa for entertaining Addie), visited with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Nixon and then had lunch with Mimi on Sunday. We also had fun all weekend with Aunt Cassy, Oma and Opa. A bittersweet part of the weekend was hanging out with Michael John Swanzy - he's in the special forces and shipped out to Germany on the 7th of July. He's expected to be gone for a few years so this was our last chance to hang out with him (other than perhaps a yearly visit if we are lucky). We are so proud, and so grateful, that Michael's our friend:) No big fireworks display this year, hopefully there will be a little more rain next summer!

Grandma's 60th Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated Grandma's 60th Birthday. We had lunch with all of the kids and grandkids first and then a party later in the day. It was nice to have all my mom's family together to celebrate. Highlights from the day included homemade strawberry ice cream and banana ice cream, tripple slip and slide, and a craw fish boil. The kids got a kick out of the crawfish pre-boiled. They would put their pincherless "pets" on the slip and slide and watch them crawl around in the water. It was a great way to celebrate a special day!