Day at the Museum

Just wanted to share some more pictures that my friend LE took. If you are ever in NYC, you should visit the Museum of Natural History. It is so awesome!

Why is my daughter so sassy??? Look at Alli's pose!

Aren't these funny? They are good actors!

Good Times with Old Friends

Our great friends Aaron and LE and their three children came to visit! We LOVE having visitors! Pete and Aaron have been great friends for a very long time. Aaron was Pete's best man in our wedding and Pete was his. We have spent many weekends with Aaron and LE. Back in the day, we were all about having fun and, well, how shall I say this, partying! But life is so much better now that all of our "partying" is revolved around our children and letting them have all the fun while we try our best to be the parents God intended us to be.

Our first outing with The Yanelli's was to NYC. Yes, that is right! We took six children, ages 6, 5, 4, 3, and two 1 1/2 year olds to The City! We were frantically walking the streets looking for a place to eat. The kids were "starving" and we were cold! It was 42 degrees, but with the wind chill factor it felt more like 20 degrees! We were pretty much turned down by two restaurants because we had "too many kids". We finally found a restaurant that would take all of us. And it was great. The food was good and the service was great....I highly recommend it, but can't remember the name. And now that the children were fed we could go The Museum of Natural History. Remember the movie Night at The Museum? This is where the movie was filmed. It is a great museum!

"Gum, Gum! Dumb, Dumb!"

Our next stop was to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. By this time, it was even colder and the wind was blowing harder. Luckily, we found great parking. We walked out to look at Lady Liberty and turned right around to get back into the car where it was nice and warm.....no time for pictures! I saw the craziest thing while we were walking back to our car. There was a ginormous bird hanging out on a tree branch. I yelled out to everyone to look at my discovery and the kids freaked out! Especially, Alli......if you know my daughter well, you know that she is scared of everything! They started yelling out, "It is a dinosaur! It is a dinosaur! It is going to get us!" Well, back at the museum, we watched a film. And the kids really paid attention! They remembered that it said that all walking dinosaurs became extinct, EXCEPT THE FLYING ONES.......which evolved into other types of birds. Alli and Madison really thought that this bird was a dinosaur!  A man who worked at the Coast Guard office where we parked was nearby. He heard the hysterics (mostly coming from Alli) and informed us that this bird was a wild turkey that has lived there for 10 years now and her name is Zelda. It really was SO FUNNY!

The rest of the weekend was spent just hanging out while we enjoyed having our friends around. The kids got along great! The only problems we had were between the two little ones. They were not too excited about having to share the baby toys! Having a house full of 6 kids was lots of fun! There was only one major accident. Tori tripped and hit her head right above the middle of her eyes on the corner of her dresser. The bump came up immediately and I FREAKED OUT! I am so bad about that......I know as a mom you are not suppose to freak out in front of your children. I CAN NOT HELP IT! I saw this huge bump right in between my baby's eyes and did not know what to do! She is fine. She still has a bump and the bruise is now going around her eye. My poor baby! She is always getting hurt. I think I might make her wear a helmet around the house!

Bruiser One and Bruiser Two

Of course we colored eggs.

 

    The Easter Bunny filled their baskets.

And then the egg hunt began!

BOO-HOO!

My live-in help is gone! My mom left yesterday afternoon. No more running up to the bus stop by myself, running in and out of stores by myself and no more of easily taking care of those tedious little task that are so much easier by yourself. It was really great having her here. My days were easier for sure, but I will just miss having my mom around. This morning Katie was calling out for her MoMo. It brought tears to my eyes. I just love that my girls love my mom, their MoMo, so much! And I am so thankful that she is now retired so she can visit for weeks at a time.

And wouldn't you know, four hours after dropping my mom off at the airport Tori starts throwing up!

Just Because

There is not a whole lot going on over here. Just a whole lot of waiting around. Waiting for Pete to stop traveling, waiting for and dreading Tuesday when my mom leaves, waiting for our great friends The Yanelli's to visit, and waiting to close on our house. Tuesday is really going to be hard for me and especially the girls! They love having my mom around and SO DO I! She is such a wonderful grandma and mother! I don't think I have done one load of laundry since she has been here! But luckily she is retired now and can visit again soon.....probably just in time to help us move into our new home.

So here are some recent pics of the girls - just because they look so cute!

Thank you Miss Madeline for my pretty dress.

Yes, she is wearing a tank and skirt even though it is 40 degrees outside!

And my sweet baby girl!

House Hunting

I have had no time to blog because I have been spending all of my time house hunting! House hunting in NJ is difficult..........especially for a Texan! But there is a house....a great house that is perfect for us! I believe it is the house that I have been praying for..........the one in a great neighborhood with kids my kids' ages and moms who are looking for a new neighborly friend. Buying a house here is a process, but hopefully I will have some good news real soon! Pictures to come soon.

Little Miss Drama Queen

Katie throws the perfect tantrum.

She throws herself onto the floor, puts her head down and screams.

I couldn't help but to take a picture.

An Extended Stay in the Northeast

Never in a million years would I have thought that New Jersey would be my home for a long time. Way back in May, Pete received a promotion to come work at the home office. It is a temporary position that is required to move along. So great! We move to New Jersey thinking that it will be pretty temporary.....six months to a year or so. We will have lots of fun. See lots of things. Make the best of it. Along comes a DM position for NYC and New Jersey......and we are interested in it!?!? Yes, that is right! Pete applied for the position, was offered the job, and has accepted it!

Ok, so why will staying in NJ be great? I have to come up with some reasons.

1. It is against the law to pump your own gas in NJ......Full Service every time!!!

(These are in no particular order, but not having to pump my own gas when it is FREEZING outside is pretty darn great! So it might really be reason number one!)

2. We live very close to our great friends Pete and Jami.

3. We do not have such a huge move ahead of us. We are hoping to find a home very close to where we live now.

4. We already have friends here.

5. I can take my time working through my To Do List.

6. We can always go to the Army-Navy game.

7. We live close to some REALLY GREAT PLACES. Hopefully we will have LOTS OF VISITORS. (Did you catch my hint?)

8. Umm.....ok, I am having a hard time coming up with any more!

The good news is that we are Texans through and through. I WILL make sure that my girls say "y'all" and not "u's guys"! And WE'LL BE BACK! Texas will always be our home. We are determined to get back one day. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy our time here. We will look forward to having lots of visitors. And we'll make more friends and get to know the ones we have now even better.

And I am so happy for Pete! He is doing exactly what he wants to do..........next to playing in the PGA!