Halloween

The boys were Buzz Lightyear & Optimus Prime for Halloween this year. We took them out around the neighborhood trick or treating & then they came home & ate WAY too much of their candy while Ethan "helped" me hand out candy to our trick or treaters. He seems to like Optimus Prime more than Bumblebee for some reason, but that actually turned out good because we had at least 3 Bumblebees come to our house & didn't see another Optimus at all. ;)

We've been doing well. We're working on getting back on the BBQ trips & went to Southside in Elgin a few weeks ago on our way down to the coast. Erik & I both really liked it. I even spied a few Bonfire pics on a backwall. Yesterday, we had BBQ again while we were out & about, but it was Rudy's & we've been there a few million times. Love it & Erik says that their brisket has improved. I wouldn't know since I'm such a creature of habit & always get chopped beef from there.

We went to Dickinson/Hitchcock a few weeks ago. Erik & I went to our friend's annual Halloween party as Slash & Jessica Simpson (the theme was music). I'll have to download everyone else's pics to put one up because we didn't take any ourselves. The boys stayed with Granny & Grandpa Hamm in Hitchcock & loved it. Ethan keeps asking if we're going again.

There isn't much else new that has been going on. We have a reliable car now so trips out of town are more of a possibility. We got a new Nissan Rogue for my birthday a few months ago & I'm loving it. Having 4 doors is AWESOME! I think Erik's tired of me telling him how much I love my new car, but I do. We haven't been up to much otherwise. The boys are growing like weeds & are both over 30 pounds finally. They differ about 5 pounds in weight & 5-6" in height. Evan is quickly catching up. Mr. Cody is also growing. He's not the puppy that he was when we got him back in June. He's full of energy & loves to play which is exactly what the boys needed... and he's finally learned to stop chasing the cats... for the most part at least.

I'm not sure why the rest of the pictures aren't on here. Here's the link: Halloween Pics

Little Boy Logic

Quick, but funny stories of our day.

Evan got really mad at me & threw a pretty ugly fit this morning.  He thought that I had given Cody a cookie & he wanted one.  What I really did was put a doggie bone in Cody’s kong toy for him to chew on.  No cookies involved.

Later he saw me get a doughnut out of the box that we had stashed in the oven (to hide from them).  He waited until I was back in the living room & went in & got his own out.  He only got busted because he didn’t come back in the living room when I called him.

Both of the boys are napping now & I just finished getting my papers together to take to the county tomorrow to protest our appraisal.  Now it’s time for mommy to relax & maybe even get a nap in before work.  Doubt it, but there’s always hope.

Cody

Welcome the new member of our family.  Ethan & I drove to pick him up yesterday & he’s doing great.  We named him Cody & the kids just love him.  A little too much if anything.  He’s still a baby after all.  He’s 16 weeks, so just under 4 months old.

   

We’re all doing really well.  Cody slept in the room with us without being crated & didn’t have any accidents or chew on anything that he wasn’t supposed to.  In fact, he’s only had one accident at all.  Since then he’s waited until he’s outside.  Amazingly considering he wasn’t inside at all before he came to our house.  We went to the vet this morning & got him all checked out & he got a few more shots.  He has one more booster in 3 weeks & then he’s good for the year. 

BBQ Travels & the 4th of July

Erik & I decided a few months ago to start taking day trips a few times a month to BBQ places around the area.  For our first trip we went to Kreuz in Lockhart.  Erik is absolutely in love with their pork ribs.  I wasn’t a fan of their sausage which was really peppery, but Erik loved it too. 

Yesterday, we made our 2nd BBQ trip & went out to Cooper’s in Llano.  We went out down 1431 through Marble Falls & Kingsland & the drive was beautiful.  Once you get to Coopers, you get in line & pick your cut of meat off the pit.  Then head inside where you grab your sides & they slice the meat for you.  Their brisket was awesome.  I even ate some of the fatty part & didn’t gag.  I really don’t like fat on meat.  Erik wasn’t impressed with their ribs, after all he’s really in love with Kreuz, but we all like their sausage, and the boys ate quite a bit of it as well.  We drove around afterwards & even went in a rock shop that they had in the old square.  We were going to get out & walk around & play at this park on the water, but I hadn’t been thinking that morning & put on sandals with a heal.  As clumsy as I am, that wasn’t a good idea.  So we just drove around & then headed back home again a beautiful drive.

On top of our trips, last weekend for the 4th of July we decided to take the kiddos to Round Rock for their parade… at 10 am.  The boys were pretty impatient waiting on it to begin & it felt like it was 100 degrees already at 10 in the morning.  I actually ended up with a tan.  Once the parade begin, Ethan was really & drug daddy out to stand in the street with him so that he could get candy & beads.  He was a really happy boy.  Evan was too, just not as in the middle of everything as Ethan. 

We’ve been enjoying ourselves.  This morning, however, Ethan was back to being his normal hellion self.  He decided to break out of the baby gate & come downstairs without getting us up.  Got some vaseline that I had from when they were babies & rubbed it all over the ottoman & coffee table.  Add a bottle of my liquid makeup to the ottoman.  Vaseline hands rubbed all over the couch & black permanent marker on the cabinet doors in the living room.  It took a few hours, but Erik & I managed to get almost all of it cleaned up.  I’m still working on the couch since it didn’t come out when I cleaned it earlier.  However, as frustrating as it was, it was a hell of a lot easier to clean than the sunscreen he decided to rub into his bedroom carpet a few weeks ago that took the 2 of us combined 3 hours to get out.  Hopefully he’ll get out of this phase soon. 

Forgot to mention the link to the pics.  Here you go:

4th of July: http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/4thOfJuly?feat=directlink

BBQ: http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/BBQTravels?feat=directlink

Mr. Segura’s Birthday & Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s. 

We spent our Saturday at the Segura’s house.  David & Jenn had rented a huge waterslide & we had burgers & hotdogs.  It was tons of fun & just a nice relaxing day out of the house.  We got Ethan to go down the slide with me once, but he didn’t like all the water getting in his face at the bottom & wouldn’t go down again.  Anyway, here are the pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mwilder99/MrSeguraSBirthdayEarlyFatherSDay?feat=directlink

We didn’t do much today.  We tried to let Erik relax as much as possible since it’s Father’s Day, but he ended up mowing the front yard anyway since we weren’t home yesterday.  But we’ve already had dinner (with lots of leftovers since I made way too much) & relaxed for a while. 

 

Tyler

Our dog Tyler passed this morning.  I’m not sure what exactly to say other than that he will be greatly missed.  Erik had had Tyler since he was a 10 week old puppy & he would have been 12 years old in August.  I remember how terrified I was to meet him for the first time & then realizing he was just an overgrown lap dog.

Vacation!!!!

We’ll we’re back.  Our vacation was wonderful & we can’t thank Aunt Janna & Uncle Eddie enough for letting us use the condo.  I can’t even begin to explain how much better this trip was than the last time we went.  Even after the first night it was a million times better.  We had a few issues as can be expected when traveling with 2 & 4 year olds, but nothing major & loved our vacation.  We ended up staying an extra day & it’s our longest vacation since we went to Cayman Brac for the wedding.  Here’s the link to all the pics that I put up on Picasa.  Hope you enjoy.

South Padre 2009 Pics (I will be adding some more pics later today, but I have to get on the other computer since Erik took them & it won’t let me access them from the laptop at the moment)

Let’s see, what did we do?  We got in on Wednesday afternoon.  That night we just unloaded & then went to dinner at Padre Island Brewery.  We actually got there during happy hour & got to refill our growlers at almost 1/2 price.  Erik was more than a little excited.  They still didn’t have my Raspberry Wheat.  I guess they only have it during July & I got lucky the one time that they had it in August.  After dinner, Daddy & Ethan went to walk on the beach (we needed to get Ethan accustomed to it as quickly as possible) & Evan & I went over to Port Isabel to grab some groceries.  That was about it for the night.  We all just relaxed & enjoyed being out of the car.  The boys both slept incredibly well & Erik & I were able to sit outside on the balcony & just enjoy being alone for a little while.

On Thursday, we got up & went to lunch at Daddy’s.  It was our first time there & it was wonderful.  After lunch, we went down to the Sea Turtle rescue.  I remembered driving by there when we were down previously & wanted to make sure that we went during the week so that it wasn’t crowded.  It was fun.  The boys enjoyed looking at all the turtles.  After that we went back to the condo so that the boys could nap before going to the beach.  When we went down to the beach it was so nice.  Since it was late in the afternoon, it was nice & breezy & just wonderful.  We all had a great time.  After we were all cleaned up we went to dinner at Tom & Jerry’s.  Erik & I had gotten take out from there previously & weren’t too worried.  The service this time was completely awful.  We won’t be going in there again.  Take out in a fix, but that’s about it and with so many other options on the island, it just isn’t worth it.

I can’t really remember much about Friday.  I’m pretty sure that’s the day that we all ended up taking LONG naps after lunch & just relaxed in the condo for the most part.  I know that we had lunch at Dirty Al’s which was awesome & ended up having dinner at Daddy’s again after everything else had closed.  We were trying to get the boys to watch the fireworks from the front area of the condos before we went to dinner, but Ethan was a little scared of them.  I’m not sure why since we used to do fireworks at Erik’s parent’s house for the 4th & New Year’s, but I guess it’s just been long enough that he’s forgotten.

On Saturday we had lunch at Lost Galleon in Port Isabel.  All you can eat shrimp for less than $12!  Erik & I had way too much, but it was wonderful.  However, we’re both convinced that the shrimp at Dirty Al’s was the best.  Anyway back on track… after lunch (& naps) we went back to the beach at the condo.  Ethan said that he wanted to go in the water with daddy, but changed his mind after got close.  However, because it was low tide there was a pretty big puddle & the boys & I played & splashed around in there for quite a while before we went back to playing in the sand.  We had a great time.  We didn’t do anything special that night.  The boys had fun playing around with daddy while I went to Port Isabel to take back our movie.  While I was out, we found out that we were going to be able to stay another day & didn’t have to leave the next morning.  YEAH!!!!

On Sunday after lunch (we just had DQ – nothing special, we’d had more than enough seafood at that point… never thought that was possible after being landlocked for the last 8 years) we went to the Nature Trail that’s by the convention center.  We had lots of fun looking at all the birds & Evan loved running around out there.  Ethan got a little scared when we got to the end & were out over the water, but all in all it was a good time for all of us & a good spot to just let the kids run since there weren’t many people out there.  After that, we headed to the north end of the the island where the dunes are.  We found a wonderful spot to get shells (once you got past all the trash) & the boys enjoyed it out there as well.  We just had to keep an extra close eye out since people can drive on this part of the beach & they tend to drive like they’re on the highway.  Erik & Ethan ended up going out there again after Ethan’s nap since Evan was still down.  Sunday night… wow.  We thought that we would head over to Port Isabel to go to the store & get some crab legs & Erik was going to cook.  BAD IDEA #1  We aren’t sure what caused it but traffic was completely backed up like crazy.  It wasn’t moving really at all.  We ended up taking a back road to go to Shell World so that Erik could look for some big shells (& then couldn’t decide) & then the same way to get back to the condo.  The boys ate in for dinner & headed to bed & we planned on Erik heading out later to the store alone, however when traffic was still backed up at 10pm I resorted to Whataburger.  BAD IDEA #2 I’m assuming this is partially because a lot of other restaurants on the island had already closed & partially because so many people had come onto the island to start their vacations on Sunday (it had been pretty quiet up until Saturday) but Whataburger was jam packed.  The drive thru didn’t look too bad (I’ve sat in longer car length lines at home) so I was hopeful.  It was awful!  By the time I got back to the condo I’d been gone for an hour!  and it’s just a couple blocks away…. and this delay WASN’T caused by traffic.  Craziness.  Erik & I ate, had our nightly ritual of sitting on the balcony & relaxing before heading to bed. 

On Monday morning, we just got up & packed & headed home.  We got here about 4:30-4:45 so we unloaded the car & I headed to work.  Luckily that only lasts a few hours. 

Like I said before, we had a wonderful trip and we can’t wait to go back.  When we were almost home yesterday, Ethan asked if we were going back to the condo, when we told him no that we were going home, he got upset & said No I just want to go back to the condo.  It was really really cute & I couldn’t be happier that he enjoyed himself so much that he didn’t want to come home. 

Momma, I really don't like that.

Mr. Ethan is four.  I can't believe it really.  We had his birthday party on Saturday and he loved it.  This morning was his doctor appointment and he's 34 pounds and 38 inches now.  They checked his eyes & ears too.  He was bored with the eye check before we were finished and he wouldn't really talk anymore.  He passed both but will probably do better next year.  They said that 4 year olds don't always cooperate, and then they just do the check at the 5 year appointment.  He also got his booster shots, and he was not at all happy about it.  He wailed, and then as soon as Mary (Dr. B's nurse) left the room, he told me "Momma, I really don't like that."  This progressed to "Momma, Mary shouldn't do that" by the time we were in the car.  He's still talking about how much his legs hurt and that he needs to be careful.  I feel so guilty, but I know it's for the best.

4 Years!

I really can't believe that our baby is about to be 4 years old. It seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. All tiny & cuddly. He's such a big boy now. He wants to do everything for himself and is really helpful with Evan, when he isn't being a bratty big brother anyway. He's super sweet too. Every night when I leave for work he has to have a hug and kiss... and make sure that daddy gets one too. And ever since Granny was here because of Hurricane Ike, he tells me to watch out for the storm. Everyday! Don't get me wrong, he has his days... but he's really such a good boy, and I love him (& Evan) more than I ever imagined, but then who wouldn't. The pic is from Sunday. I took him to get his hair cut before his party this weekend and they spiked his hair up. The goofy grin is because they gave him a sucker & he chomped it up so quick that it was stuck in all his molars & he was enjoying that his teeth were sticking if he bit down. Here's a new one of Evan as well. He got a haircut this week also, but I just did it at home.

Time flies

It's been almost 2 months now, and in some ways it feels like it's flown by.  In others, it feels like the weeks just drag on.  We've had some good times, Christmas and Evan turning 2, and some that I'd prefer to forget.  But all that really matters is that the four of us are good.  We're healthy, we're happy (most of the time anyway), and we're together.  We have each other, and some days coming home to those 2 adorable faces or waking up to them grinning at you (even when Evan's managed to get all his clothes off again) it makes everything else seem less important.  That's it for now, just wanted to let you all know that we're okay.  I'll try to post more soon.  Don't forget to check out the evite for Ethan's party.  It's hard to believe that our little man is about to be 4.