Under the Sea!

This past weekend, Craig had a builders show in Monterey to attend, so we hitched a ride and went with him. We had a blast. We were lucky enough to be joined by my mom and truly appreciated the extra hands. On Friday we visited Fishermens Wharf. As you can imagine, Avary's nose went wild. That girl has the nose of a hound dog and does not like fresh ocean air. We probably heard, "Whats Dat Mell?" a thousand times. It was pretty nasty in some areas. From fresh clam chowder to fresh saltwater taffy everyone was happy. On Saturday we spent most of the day at the aquaruim. Now, that place is amazing. No matter how many times you go, it gets better each time. I must say that my favorite exhibit of all was the Seahorses. Those are some amazing creatures. But, then again I liked all the jellyfish also. They too are pretty cool. And then there was the penguins. We could have watched them for hours. The kids of course loved all the hands-on things to do and I of course loved all the hand sanitizer dispensers :) All in all, it was GREAT weekend!!

There is an artist in the house.........

So the other night I was making dot-to-dots of Griffen and Avarys names. That got boring pretty quick so we moved on to shapes. Griffen wanted a pumpkin! So I very simply drew one and he did his magic! Let me say, he would not leave the table until it was finished. It turned into a late night, but an awesome pumpkin!

I Don't Even Know What To Title This.....

The other day I came downstairs and found Avary giggling. Turns out she discovered static electricity! You would of thought she discovered gold. This went on for a good 10 minutes. It doesn't take much to keep her busy.

It Was This BIG..............

So, this past weekend we spent the day with my Nana & Papa and Dad at my Papas Rotary Family Picnic. It started out with a fishing derby. The kids were all very excited to catch some 'Cat Fishing' as Griffen and Avary called it all week. I really think that they were expecting to see cats fishing. Anyway, within 10 minutes of being there and getting the hook in the water Jackson caught a HUGE fish! It turned out to be a 24" catfish. He was super excited and totally grossed out! Then it was Griffens turn. He cast the hook out (Craig actually did the casting) and again, caught another fish! He too was super excited, but still looking for the cats fishing ;) Avary had her turn, but didn't catch anything. She was fine with that. She just wanted to know, "WHAT'S DAT MELL?" That is what she yells when she smells something stinky. At the end of the derby, awards were given for various things. Jackson won the Biggest Catch Award and Griffen won the Youngest Boy to Catch a Fish Award! Two very happy boys. We came home with a new skateboard (Jacksons prize) and a new basketball (Griffens prize)! All in all a great first experience. We finished the day with a nice picnic lunch, good talks, some frisbee golf and just hanging out with the family. It was an awesome day! Thanks Nana & Papa!

So, for the past few weeks..........

Jackson has been climbing the ladder with his Multiplication Chart at school. When we go pick him up after school the first thing he always says is either, "I am on my 7's (or whatever) or I passed my 11's!" So, the other day when I went to pick Griffen and Avary up from preschool it was it was Avary's time to shine. Avary got in the car and said, "Guess what mom, Miss Tracy said I'm on my 10's!!" Griffens reply was, "Oh Avary, you crack me up."

ArtBeast!

This past Sunday, the twins and I met up with some friends at a place called ArtBeast in Midtown. It is an old house turned into a childs artistic delight! There were options from painting (yes, on the walls), making puppets, making necklaces, moonsand, dress-up, playing house, washing babys in little tubs outside, music and dancing, spaceships and so much more I can't even remember. We were there for four hours and if it wasn't for needing naps, we could of stayed even longer! Everytime we get in the car they ask if we are going back!! Soooooon!

Run Forrest, Run!

Jacksons school had its annual Fund Run a couple of weeks ago. He was a champ and finished 9 laps around the playground during the given time!

Weekend in Sonoma

As I write this, Craig is swimming laps at the pool and I am sitting on the hotel bed listening to the man play music on his guitar, poolside. I am also enjoying the peace. Craig and I are celebrating our 12 Year Wedding Anniversary this weekend in Sonoma! What an awesome place. We were greeted at the door with a 'sample' of wine(they know how to score points with us) and have been enjoying every minute since. Although it is tough being away from the kiddos, did I mention that I am sooo enjoying the peace. My wonderful mom is fulfilling her Grandma duties this weekend and volunteered to watch the kids. Between the pizza, ice cream, slumber parties, zoo and great grandma coming over for a visit, they are just fine. Craig and I slept in, had breakfast in bed, walked 'The Square' and shared a pizza at Marys Pizza Shack. It was the first time we have been there and will NOT be the last! So good! Did a little window shopping and now starting to get ready for dinner. It has been a great weekend, but I do need to say, I can't wait to give my babies a kiss and a squeeze! Thanks mom :)

It's official. Jackson is a Democrat.

This morning Jackson accidentally ate everyones vitamins. I said to him, "why did you eat all of those? " His reply, "Mom, did you NOT watch President Obamas speech yesterday? Everyone makes mistakes. It is OK to make mistakes. Now I know not to eat all the vitamins. See, I already learned from my mistake." I just sat there and drank my coffee. What else could I do?

Ouch!

You can only say, "Please stop before someone gets hurt." so many times before it happens. It happened. Jackson, Griffen and Avary were piling up on the Hotel ottoman and crash, Jackson hit his eye on the corner of the cabinet. Three stitches and some glue later, I think they finally translated what we were saying. Lets hope so at least.

Weekend in Berkeley and visiting with Bri!!

This past weekend was great! Texas A&M Womens Soccer was here playing Cal Berkeley so guess what that means?? Bri was here! Brian, Gia, Goose and Gumpy all came and stayed with us and then we all headed to Berkeley for the weekend and some awesome soccer! Lisa and Andrea even flew in for the game on Friday night. The weekend went by too fast as they always do, but we got in quite a few good laughs, some tears, and lots of memories. I have to say, although we LOVE watching Bri play, we did spend some nice 'family time' on Saturday just hanging out. Those are the best times. We love you Bri!

It has begun....PRESCHOOL!

So, today was the day Griffen and Avary started school. It began with the two of them waking up at 6:00 demanding we leave for school. They actually slept next to their school boxes (plastic totes full of their change of clothes and stuff). They were soooo excited. Everything was fine until it was time for me to leave. DUN, DUN, DUN!!! That did not go well. Avary cried quite a bit (if you listen quietly you can probably still hear her) and of course Griffen just sat there eating his pretzels and cheese. Thank goodness there is an easy-going one! I am sure that she was fine, but boy did she make it hard. Such drama! Here are some pictures for you to Enjoy!