Beachy Egg Hunt

Cinnamon Shores put on a Easter egg hunt on the town green the Saturday before Easter. We thought this would be a good time to get the kids in their Easter outfits and get them all cute to find some eggs. The hunt was a total joke, especially if you have younger children. I have to laugh at the parents that bring their 12 or 13 year old children to these events and I laugh even harder that they allow them to collect so many eggs when they see that the little babies haven't yet collected one single egg. It's pretty ridiculous.

I wish I had been in charge. I would have allowed 3 and under to have a minute head start, then 6 and under, and the big kids could find all the harder ones. These kids were picking up eggs that were in plain view, most likely intended for (OUR) younger babies. I think if you are old enough to wear a bra, you're too big to be at a community Easter Egg event. Those are my two cents. There...I'm done.
The kids were a little frustrated after learning they would only be going home with one or two eggs while watching their older counterparts take off with baskets full of them. They did still had fun running all over the place in search of whatever they could find.


We got them all together to see what they found and it was pretty cute seeing them all lined up in their little outfits.

These next few pictures tell a story. First Sadie and Jack are looking in her basket. Jack is quite interested in some of her chocolate (melted BTW).
After realizing she isn't going to share he longingly looks at her while she scarfs down her measly pickings.
Then he sulks. Poor little guy just wanted a little treat.
Good things the Easter Bunny comes to beach houses too because these kids got ripped off.

The Beach

Of course the beach was the main event of the Port Aransas experience, and where we ultimately spent most of our time. I was a little weary taking the camera down to the beach with all the sand and water but what I should have been scared of was the humidity and sunblock. After a while my lens was completely fogged up and I wasn't about to clean it around all that sand. I did get a few good shots before this happened.

Sadie was the first one in the ocean and played for hours in there running in and out of the waves. When we lived in San Diego she was NOT at all a water baby. It's nice to see her enjoy the beach more than when she was a baby.

Jack was a little more timid, rightfully so, with the big waves crashing in. He spent most of his time playing in the sand and the miniature pool we toted along. The odd thing about this beach was seeing cars drive up and down the sand through out the day.

It was nice to fill up the Willard's truck with all of our gear and get it to the beach in such a convenient manner, but we did NOT like having to worry about the kids getting hit by a car speedily driving by. Katherine and I had the idea to stick my stroller right in the middle of the beach so the cars would either have to stop or drive very slowly to get around the road block. It slowed them down but it was still a little worrisome. It was also little "redneck"ish but we're in Texas so I guess that's how they "beach it" here.

My sweet little Jack was quite a delight the whole day. He skipped his nap and you wouldn't have known. It takes a lot to get this kid in a bad mood. What kid wouldn't want to play in a giant sand box all day? I really enjoyed watching him play in the water, and latch onto a certain yellow truck that belonged to the Willards.

After watching him carry it around the ENTIRE trip, they were kind enough to give it to him. He still carries it around everywhere we go. if you see me at Target with Jack, that yellow dump truck is likely to be there as well. (this is when the lens got foggy...can you tell?)


And with the large waves and high tide came tons and tons of sea weed. I've never seen so much sea weed in all of my life. The community had bulldozers down there in the morning trying to remove it all but it was an endless battle with the waves bringing in more each day. We didn't mind it too much. It was definitely a sight to be seen. It's not everyday you see a bulldozer on the beach.


I really enjoyed just talking with Katherine and Dana. I don't think Moms get enough time to really sit down and talk to one another with out interruptions from the little ones. So great to have the dad's there to play with the kiddos while we relaxed for a while.



Of course when Sadie plays hard, she crashes hard too. It happens every time we go to the beach. Her eyes get all bloodshot and she becomes super cranky and irritable. This little lump is Miss Sadie after she had hit her quota of fun at the beach.

And this is our "sweet" Sadie after she had quite enough at the pool and her mom taking pictures.

We had great weather, warm water and fantastic company. I have to say it again...WE LOVE TEXAS!!

Port Aransas with the Winegars and Willards

We have some fun friends that live up in Georgetown that we love seeing every once in a while. Sadie LOVES Lucy and Savannah so whenever we can get them together to play they have a fantastic time. We really looked forward to this beach vacation because Sadie would have built in playmates for three whole days. That makes our job as parents a whole lot easier. Just about every day in April Sadie asked if we were going to the beach yet. It was an agonizing wait but we finally made it after a four hour drive.
We stayed at Cinnamon Shores in Port Aransas and it is the cutest little community of darling, pastel color beach houses. I felt like I was walking through a Martha Stewart Catalog. The house was adorable and perfect for three small families. We put the babies in the walk in closets and the kids slept on the floor with mats.
The best part about the whole vacation was having so many fun people to hang out with. I had a great time getting to know the Willards (some of the coolest BYU people I've ever met:-) and a hilarious time reminiscing with Katherine over our old Chi Omega days. The kids got a long swimmingly and the husbands talked sports. What else would they talk about? Other than the power going out on the island our last night, it was a perfect vacation. Even the power outage was kind of fun.
Every morning whoever was in charge of breakfast turned Backyardigans on for the kiddos so the other parents could sleep in. I love how hypnotized they are in this picture. We all know Sadie is an early riser. It turns out all the other kids are too, especially when sleeping in such a fun beach house. They found plastic mermaid martini toppers in the house and that was their entertainment for a couple of days. That and Angry Birds on all of their parents iPhones.
Our house was right on the nearby lake so if you walked outside our bedroom there was a beautiful view of a cute bridge and sparkly lights at night. It felt a lot like Balboa Island. We tried fishing but didn't catch anything. Did you know I've never caught a fish? Probably a good thing. I'd probably cry if I did. I don't like hurting wild life. I don't mind eating ones that someone else killed though.
It was fun having Dana there because not only is she great company but I loved talking to her about her blog. You've probably heard of it: www.dana-made-it.com. It's my new favorite blog to read. She takes such amazing photographs and even though I can't sew, I love looking at the the creations she makes every week. It was also nice having another person there who takes as many pictures as I do. I took pics of her and her kids and she did the same for me. Sometimes it's nice when someone else is taking the pics for a change. I'm the only one who does it in my family and it's gets a little exhausting after a while.
She took these pictures of Jack and me and I LOVE them. He looks so handsome in these photos. Such a little bruiser. I love my little Jack and she captured us so well.
Chase sat out there for a while one morning taking turns with all the kids. Still no luck. Our neighbor caught one after having the hook in there 20 seconds so we thought it would be an entertaining activity for the kiddos. It was still fun even though there were no fish to be had. I love this picture of little Sadie and her dad. There's something so special between a dad and his little girl. I love watching these two together.

She's FIVE!!

I remember when Sadie was born and thinking "one day she will be five and go to Kindergarten." It seemed like an eternity away! She's been quite a delight along the way with her sassy little personality and sweet spirit. I'm going to miss her this fall when she's in school every day and Jack will too. They have really started playing together for longer periods of time and it is so fun to watch them FINALLY get along.
Sadie's birthday happened to fall on Mother's Day this year so we got to share the day together. I wanted to make her breakfast in bed but Chase insisted I stay in bed as well. I was too hungry by the time he got the delicious crepes made so I had a frozen waffle with Sadie at the table because she didn't want to eat it in bed. A strange concept for her still. Why would someone want to eat in bed when you can wake up at 6 a.m. and start the day with more energy than a race horse?
So breakfast in bed didn't happen and even though it was Mother's Day, Sadie made it quite clear it was HER day too. When I asked her to open some of the blinds to let in a little more light she said, "sorry, not on my birthday." And, when Chase presented me with a wrapped gift she asked "why does Mom get to open a present on MY birthday." I hope we never have to share this day again because not only is it hard to share her toys, apparently it's hard to share her birthday as well. Good thing she's not a twin. I also don't like working so hard on Mother's Day. I spent all morning making cupcakes for her CTR 4 class and the rest of the afternoon making her birthday cake for our family that night. I guess I didn't have to do this but it's my little lady's birthday for Pete's sake.

When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner she requested "soup and bread" which happens to be one of the only meals (other than Chick Fil A) that she will willingly eat. Chase BBQed some fantastic chicken kabobs on his new grill. So glad he has his own way of cooking for me now.
I have to laugh about the fact that in the years past we got her trains and cars for her birthdays. She has really gone pink these days and is totally into dolls, dressing up and everything fancy. Skirts have to twirl, pink must be worn at all times and she likes pigtails so she can "tag" them with her fingers.

It was a great day. Sadie couldn't bear to wait until after dinner to open her presents so she opened one or two throughout the day. CC and Pops sent her Ferdinand the Bull and an actual bull that resembles a Texas Longhorn. Sadie's named it "Tex" and he's kicked Clifford out of the bed the past few nights but we know it's only temporary. Clifford will always prevail.
Chase and I tried to keep it simple with gifts because she was getting a birthday party with friends the next week. She still had some gifts from Mimi and Grandpa as well and got a Rapunzel Doll from us which of course was a HUGE hit.
Mom always puts chocolate on her teeth and pretends she doesn't know it's there and Sadie has totally caught onto the scheme. She's such a fun little girl to have around. Her favorite things of late are Angry Birds and Barbie Fashionista games on my phone. These are of course limited mainly because after she's been playing on my phone for a little while I've found she's purchased an actual stuffed angry bird and other apps I'm not at all interested in. I do like her to play word games on the computer whenever I remember to hook her up to it.

She's reading amazingly well and we're ready to move onto level three in her Bob books. She still has an adorable little lisp that seems to be slowly going away with age. Her S's sound like "echh" and we try really hard not to laugh when she says words like "schee horsches" and "poneesch." She had her five year check up with the doctor and was so engaging with him. She told him all about her birthday party, how she was five, how she was getting bigger, and all the cool stuff she can do. She passed her eye and ear tests with flying colors. I'm hoping she inherited my eyes because poor Chase is as blind as a bat.

Sadie is the first to rise and would love to be the last to go to sleep. She's a party girl and always wants to stay up late with Chase and me. She's become quite social with her little friends but I've noticed at play groups she still wanders off on her own from time to time as she seems to be overwhelmed with larger groups. She's much more of a one on one kind of playmate. Playdates are a must at our house. I often feel like a personal assistant making sure her week is all scheduled with friends. You don't want to get Sadie bored. After ballet one morning, Chick Fil A with the ballerinas, and a playdate with Linley, kylee and Renn in the afternoon; Sadie begrudgingly asked me if we could do anything "fun today". I can't work under these conditions!!


She loves to snuggle up and be read to. I love to do this but my only issue with snuggling up to read is I ALWAYS fall asleep. The same thing happens when we play Polly Pockets together. Having to use my imagination and high pitched voice for over an hour is so exhausting I need a power nap afterwards. We're usually always doing these things right around 4 when I am my most tired in the day. I don't know how I could ever go back to school. I would fall asleep three pages into a text book.

Sadie is great at reminding us to read scriptures every night. She has her little comic strip ones and LOVES to be read to. She is always asking for one more chapter and I know it isn't just because she wants to stay up later. She seems to really enjoy the stories.

Sadie's a little dare devil and I always cringe when I see her race her bike, training wheels rattling against the pavement, down the street. She's also found it amusing to get her old leap frog baby bike and ride it down the side walk at lightning speed as well.

She can be heard throughout the day singing to herself. She's made up a song about lightning and thunder that's especially entertaining. We get a lot of storms out here and lately she's been setting them up to music: Lighting coming in, lighting coming in really really fast. You better better watch out, and go inside. Go inside now. Then the lightning won't see you, so go inside and see what happens, see what happens, see what happens. (Imagine the sweet sultry voice of a tone deaf five year old and it should sound about right.)

She continues to terrorize Jack whenever we aren't looking but loves it when he "trusts her" and will go into the play room to "play choo choos" for a minute. She's also developed a little potty language and thinks talking about private parts and bowel movements is about the funniest thing ever. It has started to get a little out of hand so we've come up with a new method that whenever I hear a potty word she gets to chew on a hand full of spinach. She hates spinach so it's been working pretty well until I found a pile of chewed up spinach in her sink the other day. Now she is monitored while chewing to make sure it's swallowed.

She's a sassy little thing and I can't get too upset over her feisty behavior because she's a miniature version of me at her age. I seriously see so much of me in her it's ridiculous. The other day she didn't want to share something with a younger child at play group so I told her it either had to be shared (it wasn't hers to begin with) or I would throw the frisbee she found in a field away. She handed it to me and said, "fine...throw it away." I guess she'd rather have it in the garbage than let the screaming little girl have a chance to play with it. (I would have done the same thing if it meant Nick not getting his way). I know she's working out all these childish notions and it's really hard to watch as a mom knowing it will affect friendships in the future. I just hope she will be a nice girl and be happy. Ultimately that is my greatest goal for her is to be a happy, vivacious, and sprightly little girl. As of yet, she seems to be this way 80% of the time so we're on a good path (I hope).

Despite our little qualms and frustrations with one another (we're a lot alike) I love the little peanut to pieces. I see such a strong desire from her to feel loved. Maybe it comes from having to share me with Jack but I find I need to give her double hugs after I give Jack one. Apparently she doesn't like sharing her Mom either. It's ok, I wouldn't want to share her either. I love you Sadie Lady. You're such a fantastic human being and I'm so excited to see where your strong personality takes you.

Poppy Festival in Georgetown

No, we didn't take a trip back to D.C. There's a Georgetown here too. It is one of my new favorite places to visit. Such a cute, quaint and picturesque little town with antique shops galore. My friend Dana told me about a festival they have every year in honor of the beautiful red poppies that emerge in the spring. We debated over the butterfly festival in Wimberly (same day) but decided because Georgetown is much closer and the festival was validated by Dana, poppies won over butterflies.
It was a beautiful day and there were fun activities everywhere for the kids. Jack especially enjoyed the train and even rode alone with his big sis which was a first. We enjoyed dollar cupcakes at the local bakery and loved looking at all the local artist's booths. I can't get over how creative some people are. Of course there were about ten booths dedicated to tutus and hair bows (I got sucked in..of course) but we also really enjoyed the local paintings, wood toys, and food.


To avoid sunburns on naked shoulders we headed into a few shops that made me smile. One was a modern wooden toy shop that kept the kids entertained FOREVER. It was hard getting them to leave. From Lincoln logs to marble blocks it was looking like we would be there all afternoon.
You can count on live music anywhere you go near Austin and we had a lot of fun dancing in the street with the kiddos.
Jack eventually passed out which meant we could finally go into some more shops with out the worry of a tornado on the loose.

I fell in love with this bookstore. All the stones, winding staircase and books made me smile. It's always nice to go into an independent bookstore and be reassured it will be there forever for it's unusual charm (did we all hear Borders went out of business? Always a happy day when us booksellers or a has been hear these words.)

After ice cream and more fun finds we realized we still hadn't seen one single poppy. Wasn't this flower why they were partying in G-Town? We asked around and learned that most of the poppies were in front of the older homes off of Church street.
We found them and decided they're worth a celebration of their own. What a beautiful flower!