A Backyard Afternoon

In the summertime, we spend lots of time in the backyard. But, as the school year got underway, and with Hazel arriving, we hadn't done much of that lately. But, one afternoon filled doing exactly that.

 

Century Square

Century Square is a newer place in College Station. It is where the International Housing was when Vic and I were in college. But, they have built up restaurants, a movie theater, retail shopping, and this great big green space covered in turf. We've only been a couple of times with the kids but it has always been so fun. The kids run and play and we have gotten food at the restaurants around it and just eaten on the ground. This time there was live music. We lasted until Hazel got hungry and then nursed in the car before we headed home. It was just fun! One of my favorite moments was when Atticus, who at age 7, still seems to be just growing up so much, asked me to throw the football with him. So, we are out on the green, and Hazel is good in her carseat in the stroller and the girls are playing where I can see them and Vic is off ordering food and there are other kids playing football in the green space. But, of all that is going on, Atticus asks ME to throw the football with him. He's not embarrassed that I am no good or that I am his mom. He WANTS to throw it with me. It just made my heart so happy because I love him so very much and know there will come a day where he picks friends over his mom to throw the ball with. I hope it is a very long time from now, but I just loved, loved, loved that evening of throwing the ball with him for a little bit. Once the pizza came, I had to stop to get the girls settled and eating and some kids asked Atticus to throw with them and I was glad he joined them. But, I was so happy he picked me first! And, actually, I was also so happy to see him join these kids because it really made him feel good to throw with other kids and be good at it! He wants so much to throw the football really well.

Anyways, the entire evening was fun, except next time we will actually just bring Chick-Fil-A or something to eat. It took Vic, the entire night I think, to order our food. We thought it would be easy to get pizza for the kids and burgers for us, but everywhere was busy and had long waits, even though it wasn't that packed outside. So, we ended up skipping burgers and trying crepes. I will say that I was excited to try a savory crepe, but yuck! Not impressed! Give me all of the sweet crepes, but no more savory ones for me!

Here's some quick photos of our night.

Parks & Outings in September

We seemed to do a lot of walks and parks and outings together in September. So, I thought I'd put a few pictures here. I take the kids to places regularly, but I love having Vic along and us doing it as a family.We had a looong trip to Lowe's one day which was so fun because the kids had so much to look at and they played and played on this fake porch. We played at the parks, rode in wagons, did a lot of swinging and a lot of sliding. They will only be young once, so I'm glad we get to have these memories!

Friday Favorites: Magnolia Market, Conversations, Breakfast, Swimming, & Everly

ONE

This past Saturday, we took our first official "Family of Five" outing. We took a day trip to Waco to see Magnolia Market and to go to the Mayborn Children's Museum on Baylor's campus. As we had been told, the area around Magnolia Market was super packed and we had to pay to park close. But, we put Everly in my wrap, held little hands and off we went to check it out. 

Honestly, it is a really neat place. The shopping is great and the prices were not as expensive as I was expecting for the Fixer Upper's store. The outside has a big turf area with balls, cornhole games, and hula hoops for kids to play. There are two shaded areas to sit and eat and there are food trucks for lunch. They just opened a garden store and are working on a bakery. If it was just me and Vic, we would have shopped, eaten, and hung out awhile. But, the one problem for our little family that day? It was SO HOT. It was ok inside in the a/c, but I was worried about Everly getting too hot in my wrap and getting sunburned outside when I tried to give her some air. And Atticus and Grace were doing the best they could, but they were just so hot too. So, after 45 minutes of checking everything out, we got back in the car and headed to lunch at Torchy's Tacos. After that, we surprised the kids with the Mayborn Museum. It was great! The bottom floor has normal museum rooms where we learned that Waco was grounds for many Plesiosaurus's and Woolly Mammoths at one time. The top floor is all for kids and had great rooms for kids to play and explore; they had a pioneer room, a dress up room, science rooms with bubbles and magnets, a room with old phones and typewriters, a weather room where you could stand in front of a green screen and see yourself doing the weather, and best of all for Grace....they had a Tea Party room. Grace is really into tea parties lately and this room was so cute. She was enthralled and she and I stayed there at least 25 minutes just letting her setup her tea party and then move it and set it up again. We were there 3 and 1/2 hours but we would go again! It was a great first outing for our family!

TWO

This is my new favorite breakfast to eat and it's healthy, so I have to share! First, scramble 2 eggs. Then, cut an English muffin in half. Split the eggs and place on top of each muffin. Add a little shredded cheese on top. Then, place a slice of tomato on top of the cheese and top with a little more cheese. Put in the oven on 450 degrees for 5 minutes to toast and melt. Oh my goodness! This is so delicious!

THREE

A couple funny things Atticus has said:

Atticus: "Hey mom look! That is the place you and Daddy used to eat when you were falling in love!" as we drove by a Taco Cabana recently. Technically, we used to go to Casa Ole, but it was cute that Vic had told him that story and he remembered it.

When he was setting up his dinosaurs and had me come check out his amazing setup:

Me: "Atticus, this is the best setup you've ever done! I don't even know what to say!"

Atticus: "It's ok Mom; you can just say 'good job Atticus!'

He and Grace both love Everly. Atticus will constantly ask me where "my sweet baby" is and tell me he wants to eat her toes for breakfast or give her a million kisses. And, he really does love to kiss her all the time or ask to look at her. Grace also loves to check on her, but mostly she wants to touch her. I have to constantly remind her to be gentle. But, the funniest thing she will do is say "coochy, coochy, coo Evewee!" all the time!

Oh and a couple other kids things: So, Atticus has told me he loves sorting and has been sorting toys all week. He has also been into watching American Ninja Warrior with Vic! As for Grace, she has been memorizing Doc McStuffins songs on the Disney app on my Iphone. She will try to sing the songs and the moves and is so proud. She has had her microphone out a lot more lately too to practice her singing!  

FOUR

We finished our 2 weeks of swim lessons yesterday. This is our 4th year to do them with the City of College Station. This year, Atticus and Grace were in the same age group of 3-5. When they get in the pool the first day, the teachers have them do a few things to determine what level they go into. So, Grace went to the youngest, least experienced group and Atticus was in the middle group. They have 1-2 teachers per 3-4 kids so they get lots of attention. The first day, Grace got scared and cried the entire time and would not stay in the water. But, the next day, they sucked her in when they gave the little kids tiny pitchers to pour water onto their teachers' heads. Grace loved this so she was happy to go each day. She did good, although she would NOT even try to blow bubbles in the water. They would ask her to try and she would just shake her head politely "no". By the last day, she would get down and blow on top of the water and that was it.

Atticus, however, thrived this year! He still cannot swim on his own yet, but from day one, he put his head in the water and was so proud! He did it anytime they asked and sometimes just for fun. He worked on floating and swimming with help and I was so proud of him. However, let me tell you the funniest part. Although I was proud of his excitement to put his head under the water, he had me laughing so much when he did it. He has a very dramatic, choreographed method to do this. He starts out standing up high with his arms flexed and in the air and then he squeezes his eyes shut, holds his breath, squats up and down a couple of times and then maybe repeats this whole method again until he gets his courage up to go under and THEN he finally goes under the water. He comes back up and rubs all of the water out of his eyes. It really is hilarious in person because when the teacher asks them to do 5 bobs in the water, (which should take about 10 seconds), he goes through this entire process which takes longer. It's no big deal but it's cute and funny! 

 

Also, the last 3 days of swim lessons, his class put on life jackets and got into the big pool to practice. On the last day, they let all the kids go down the big log slide. Again Atticus surprised me with not hesitating at all to do it. However, I did notice that he let all the other kids go first and then when it was his turn, he took a few seconds before he would slide down. His face was hilarious though! And he was so proud!

FIVE

And last but not least, Everly turned 2 months this week!

Happy Friday everyone!!