Greg's Birthday

Since Greg's birthday was on Monday, he took the day off and we went to the Houston Zoo. We've had a membership since May and this was our first time to use it. It was the perfect weather to be outside. We did not even break a sweat. Yeah!! We did not get a whole lot of great pictures at the zoo and Greg dropped our camera there and it broke. Thankfully, we were already considering buying a new one since we have had it for 7 years. Here's a few from our time at the zoo.

How do you like my new hair cut and color? I went a little darker for the Fall. There are about 4 colors in my hair. I even have some red in the there. I am loving it!

Before you move on to this next picture and wonder what in the world is Greg sitting on, let me just say Greg had to do some major persuading to let me allow him to buy such a silly thing for his birthday gift. It cost way more than any of his birthday gifts and probably always will, BUT I love him and I know he is not characterized for spending money on crazy things like this......Well Greg bought a Cruzin' Cooler!!!! YES, it is exactly what it sounds like.... a cooler on wheels. It is battery powered by a 750 watt battery and it goes up to 15 mph. Greg rode on one of these at his friend Joel's, which inspired the thought. Thank you Joel! No really, I love it!! The thing really is just plain fun and crazy all at the same time. We rode this around Hermann Park and packed our lunch and blanket inside the coolers. Greg and I sit on the seats while the kids ride in front of us. We were noticed by everyone at the park and were asked about our Cruzin' Cooler by lots of people. It was hilarious! You can not not get on this thing and just smile and laugh. Without farther ado..... The Cruzin' Cooler..... and all it's glory!

See.... CRAZY, SILLY, But very FUN and WONDERFUL! After a very long day on our feet at the zoo, we were able to sit on our cooler and ride through Hermann Park without complaint. We really tried to bring it in the zoo, but we were denied; however, the manger on duty thought it was the coolest thing he had ever seen.
Let me know what you think?? If you want to order one you can go to http://www.cruzincooler.com/ (and no we did not pay the whole amount....thanks to Joel we got a discount). Once you own one of these you are a riding advertisement.

An Explanation

I feel like I owe my readers an explanation for not posting recently. Well, we broke our camera at the zoo on Monday. Thankfully, we were able to get the pictures off our camera and onto the computer. Another reason for the lack of posts is because we got a laptop and it is a whole lot faster than our other computer. I plan on posting about Greg's Birthday/Zoo trip as soon as I have an hour to wait on the other computer. It's a sacrifice. Anyways, I hope you don't stop reading if you haven't already. I have lots of great pictures I want to share, but it will take some time. It will be worth the wait, I promise.Thanks for your patience!

Carlee Lost Another Tooth

Once the first tooth was gone, the second one started to wiggle. Carlee wiggled it for a few days and I finally pulled it out. The thing was practically laying horizontal in her mouth, gross, I know. She was brave and it barely bled. Two teeth gone and her smile is changing fast. How does this happen? One day she is a baby and the next thing you know she is loosing her teeth. What next?!

Carlee Lost Her First Tooth!

"I just can't believe I lost my first tooth!!" This is what she said every 5 seconds after it happened. All this happened while eating dinner tonight. Carlee was eating corn on the cob. She got started before we sat down to eat and I noticed there were red spots on her corn. I asked Carlee if she bit her lip or mouth and she said, "no." I asked her to show me her mouth and noticed she was missing one of her bottom teeth. I told Carlee that she had lost a tooth. This is when she replied with, "I just can't believe I lost a tooth" for the next 20 minutes or more. Even Zachary said this over and over too. It was pretty hilarious! I just hope they all happen this way, there was no pain, no crying - we didn't even know it was loose. Greg and I looked in the corn on the cob, we looked on the table and on the floor. After searching for a few minutes, Greg found a rice crispy on the floor thinking it was the tooth. Same size but not quite. Then he looked again using a flashlight and found the missing tooth. Yeah!! We were thankful she didn't swallow it.

Now you are probably wondering if we did the whole "tooth fairy thing"..... The answer is not exactly. We told Carlee the tooth fairy was not real, but we would give her something special for her tooth. I had a pink box with a tiny pillow to hold her tooth for this occasion. I had saved it for this day for the last 3 years. We left the box in her room and told her there would be some money in it in the morning. She was very excited and wanted to go to sleep quick so the morning would come faster. Greg tried going in her room an hour after we said, "good night" and Carlee was still awake and asking questions. She was hoping she only had an hours worth of sleep left, but Greg and I hadn't even gone to bed yet. Carlee is expecting $ 0.25 because that is what I told her I got when I lost my teeth, but Greg is giving her $10- this is only because it is her first tooth and we don't have any smaller bills. Greg and I tip-toed back into her room 2 hours after laying her down and did the swap. I had a hard time controlling my laughter because Carlee had her sheets tightly snug over her head and Greg had to peal them off of her before we exited her room.

Holding the tooth in his hand Greg said "this is kind of weird... it's like holding a piece of our daughter." It's amazing to think how grown up Carlee is getting. The toothless smile only makes her that much cuter. We are in for an exciting morning!! Tomorrow night we will celebrate at Berry Pop and have some frozen yogurt.

Grammy's Birthday Celebration

After church on Sunday, we met Grammy and Paw Paw for a delicious lunch at Fish City Grill in the Vintage Park shopping center. This place reminds me of Market street in the Woodlands. The kids played in the fountain while we waited for Grammy and Paw Paw to arrive.
The kids handed Grammy their homemade birthday cards right when they saw her and wished her a Happy Birthday. She loved them.... glitter and all.

I had to get one photo in front of this beautiful fountain

After treating Grammy for lunch, we headed over to the Tomball Silverado Theater. This was Carlee and Zachary's first time to the theater. We were going to see Toy Story 3.

When we got to the window to pay, the clerk said, "the only Toy Story 3 movie that was playing was in the IMAX theater, which is $14 a person." We had already told the kids about seeing the movie and they had high hopes.

So Paw Paw bit the bolt and paid the $84 (for 6 people). We are so glad he did! The experience was worth every penny! Thank you Paw Paw for the great memories!

Carlee loves movies and when she sees something new her eyes are glued to the screen. She loved wearing her 3D glasses. We had to warn Carlee before the movie started that most movie screens are not this big and you normally don't wear glasses. I didn't want her setting her expectations too high when she sees movies in the future .

Randle and I laughed so hard the first half of the movie because of Carlee and Zachary's excitement and comments. They were hilarious! Carlee kept noticing scene's in the movie that reminded her of her Leapster game and she would say, "Hey, this is from my game!". Zachary kept making sure everything was going to turn out okay. He would say, "What's going to happen? or Are they going to be OK?" He is so sweet and sensitive.

Zachary wore his glasses the first half of the movie, but then choose to keep them off. The movie was a little blurry, but he seemed fine.

Grammy bought Carlee and Zachary some Toy Story 3 toys for the kids when the movie came out (probably a few months ago) and she gave them to the kids when we got back home from the movie. They played with them for the rest of the night. Their cars go fast after shaking them lots and lots.

Greg and I bought Grammy her favorite chocolate cake from Costco and ended the evening singing, "Happy Birthday," to our special Grammy/Mom.

Randle- You are beautiful and we are so thankful to have you in our life. You shine with grace and love in all you do. I don't think you have a moment when you are not thinking about someone else, which makes you the greatest friend. You are very thoughtful! Thank you for all the acts of kindness you display to our family. The world is a better place because of you. It brings me tears of joy just thinking about how God has blessed me with the best Mother-in-love. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Thank you for being there for me in times of need and encouraging me along the way. Life is precious and we are thankful we get to share some fun memories with you and Ed. God bless you this year! May it be a year of joy!

One Stop Before We Go Home

We stopped in Kemp, Tx before heading back home to The Woodlands. Marsha and Rodney (Randle's cousins) live here on 64 acres of land. It is beautiful! This was probably my favorite day because I got to workout, read my book, spend some much needed time with God, take in the beautiful scenery and do things I never get to do.
Zachary is exploring the fields. He tired himself out this morning and took a morning nap in the trailer house we stayed in before heading back home.
This is where Carlee slept. On the top bunk in the trailer home. She absolutely love this place and went to bed rather quickly because she was so excited about sleeping up high.

Zachary slept on the bottom. He liked it too, but you can't tell from the picture. For all those people out there that thought we had perfect kids, here is a picture to change your mind. I'm not real sure why he is crying, but I think he is crying because I am taking his picture. I guess after 300 shots from the vacation, he was all done with the camera.

Yeah, for working out! It was about time to get rid of the extra calories from all the home-cooking we had consumed.

This reminds me of Charlotte's Web. I love it!

I might have to blow this one up and frame it.

MOO COW

We went exploring in this funny looking gator. Rodney uses this when he goes deer hunting. Greg got this baby up to 30 mph. It was a lot of fun to ride in.

Here we are on the paddle boat. We went for a quick ride around the lake. I should have saved this for my workout because it was a quad burner. The kids loved it! The tricky part was getting out of the boat without getting wet.

One of my very favorite pictures of me and my girl....

The boys....

Marsha and Rodney thank you for letting us stay at your place. I could have stayed all week and been happy. Your place offers time to reflect and rest. Your home is lovely and we hope to return again.

Now for one last stop at Sam's lunch buffet and we are off to the Woodlands.

This post concludes our vacation. If you have stayed consistent in reading all the posts, thank you for allowing me to share this with you. I will probably be taking a break from this blog for a little while so we can start home-schooling Carlee again. Don't worry I will update as the Lord allows the time. :)

Random Photo's That Did Not Make It In A Post

Just when you thought I was done posting pictures about our vacation..... I add a few of my favorites. Here's the things you haven't seen. Carlee and Mommy in our pj's having good morning hugs.
This little man and his sweet smiles will melt your heart in seconds

There is no telling how many games of Domino's we all played on this trip, but when the kids were napping or sleeping, all the adults were playing games. Carlee learned how to play Mexican train dominoes on this trip as well and managed to beat daddy her first game without any help. She is raising the bar for competition in our family.

Zachary had the cutest hit when it came to playing putt-putt.... It made his daddy crazy, but Zachary loved hitting it this way and would not change when taught properly.

I leave you with one last pose of Carlee with hand on hip, crossed legs and side cocked head. Gotta love it!

We already miss this place and find it hard to get back into the swing of things, but with time and adjustment we will find a new routine and try to adapt a less stressed lifestyle. If we could only be on vacation everyday..... haha