Well hello there!

Hey bliggity-blog friends!

I hope everyone had a great summer.  I know we sure did (despite the 46 and counting days of 100+ temps - outside, not in my kids... although last week...)  I thought I'd catch everyone up on our summer with some pictures.

We played in our kiddie pool

 Ruby loved the water

We planted a perennial flower garden in front of our house.  Thankfully, all but the butterfly bush (top left), and one of the phlox (bottom left) made it through the oppressive heat!

 

Andy and I left the kids with my parents for a day and went to the Sand Dunes to ride our dune buggy.  It was a wonderful break from the kids and was SO nice to spend some one on one time with the hubs!

Here we are out on the sand.

 Andy & I celebrated our 6th Anniversary!  God has blessed us so immensely these past 6 years!

 Our parish celebrated its 125th Anniversary with an outdoor mass.  Yes, it was 100 degrees outside, no, nobody that I know of fainted.

 We babysat for my niece and nephew for 4 days.  It was a lot of fun and gave me a good idea of what life would be like with 4 kids.  I LOVED IT!

 My nephew celebrated his 5th birthday.  He and Ira are just 10 weeks apart!  Hopefully they will be lifelong buds!

 We played slip and slide!

 We went to Paradise... er... Galveston, TX.  It is our very favorite vacation spot of all.  Here are the kids at our favorite restaurant, Bennos.  Ruby was kissing Ira over and over.  He couldn't stop laughing.

 Again with the kissing.  Sheesh, it's like they love each other or something!

Sweet Ruby is growing up so FAST! 

 We rented a condo in Galveston right off the beach.  It had 2 awesome swimming pools.  It was our first time down there in a condo as opposed to a hotel.  I don't think we'll ever stay in hotels again!  It was AWESOME having a room for the kids, a room for ourselves, and a full kitchen!  It was a vacation for us too!  When the kids went to bed, we got to stay up and hang out instead of the hotel, where it's lights out for everyone at 8:00!

 

 We had a street artist on the Strand draw a picture of Ira and Ruby.  I think he did a pretty good job, don't you?

 We got to ride on a ferry from the island to the Bolivar Peninsula.  And for the record, I was copying Ruby's expression, not vice-versa.

We got home from vacation to this produce from our garden.

My sister and I dressed our daughters like twins.  They are a 14 weeks apart in age, but couldn't act more like each other.  I'm pretty sure they could pass as twins any day of the week.

 We hosted the girls when our parish had the Totus Tuus program.  It is always a joy to be a part of that program!

 Ira took swimming lessons.  I can't believe how much his skills/comfort level/abilities in the water grew over the summer.  He'll be ready for level 2B next summer!

 Ruby ate holes in her toast.  I don't know why, but that is how Ruby eats toast (or muffins, pizza, rolls, breadsticks) every time.

We got us a new baby cousin! 

Well, that just about sums it up!  Like I said, I hope your summer was as great as ours!  I hope to get back to more regular blogging now, but as always, the fam. comes first.  God bless!

This momma knows

So last night in a burst of productivity, I cleaned the house. Including scrubbing all the hard floors.

After finishing, I was teasing Andy and said "You know what's going to happen tomorrow morning right?"  "What?" says my handsome hubby.
"There's going to be milk spilled and mud drug in on the freshly scrubbed floors.  It always happens." - Me.
"Well I'll take care of the mud." -Andy
"Yep, and I'm sure the kids will take care of the milk."  -Me

So this morning, I'm in the bathroom and I hear Andy tell Ira to stay out of the kitchen.  I come out of the bathroom to find Andy cleaning up a cup of milk that he spilled while trying to get the lid screwed onto a sippy cup. 

When Ruby and I came in for lunch, I finished washing her hands and looked down to see dirty footprints all the way from the back door to the kitchen sink.

Okay, so I was wrong about who would do what... but I'm telling you, this momma knows!

It's apparent you're a parent I

The inaugural post of a series I like to call "It's apparent when you're a parent when..."

Maybe when I have a little more time I'll make it a link up, but for now, this will have to suffice.

"It's apparent you're a parent when you get excited about taking a shower (at 2 o'clock in the afternoon b/c that's the first chance you've gotten) and using a new bottle of shampoo."

Just so you know

Fingernail polish remover, hairspray, and toothpaste will almost completely remove permanent marker from 100% cotton clothing...

Mouse in the house?

Someone's been mousing the cheese...

The long and short of it

I have always been attached (unreasonably so) to Ira's long hair.  I loved how cute it was curly and long and floppy.  It just seemed like it was part of his personality.

For those who didn't know what Ira looked like as a baby (or 18 month old) here are some pictures for a refresher:

Just LOOK at those curls!

His hair also grows incredibly fast.  Like... he's 5 years old and has had his hair cut around 20 times... fast.  (Thank goodness for my sister who cuts his hair - I'm happy to pay her!)

Alas, we found out that when he goes to school in the fall, the school rule for boys' hair is that it "cannot touch the collar or the ears."  So I knew the day would come when we'd have to cut his precious locks.  And I'd really, really been dreading it.  You see, every time Mandy cut his hair short (which I'd had her do before just so she wouldn't have to cut it so often) I would CRY.  There I admitted it.  Perhaps I am vain or looks-obsessed or something, but it just seemed like Ira wasn't himself with short hair.  He wasn't that adorable, funny, floppy-haired little boy.

So, as you can imagine, Mandy wasn't real excited to do the "big boy" hair cut on Ira.  But he'd already changed in looks with his glasses, and I figured that I'd be a mess enough come the end of summer about him going off to school the last thing I would need then was for him to look like a totally different kid too.

So we decided to have her cut his hair short.  Shorter than she'd ever cut it before.  And let me tell you.  I LOVE it!  I didn't even cry!  It was definitely an adjustment at first (I saw him a couple times at Story Hour and was like "whose kid is that?" before I realized he was mine.)  And everyone that saw him for awhile after he got it cut seriously did. not. recognize. him.  But I love the cut.  I love how easy it is.  And I love how handsome he looks.

And truly, the thing that I think I was really mourning all along was not the loss of his curls or long hair, but just the fact that my baby boy is growing up.  And he's looking like a big kid now - and that's okay.  I'm proud of the boy he is growing into!    

Baby Elijah

On March 24th, the last of my 4 siblings had a baby.  My brother Drew and his wife Abby had their first baby - a boy - Elijah Jude.  Eli brings the niece/nephew (which I really think there should be a collective word for - like "sobrinos" in Spanish) count on my side to 4 - 2 boys, 2 girls.  It's kind of crazy to think that in a matter of less than 6 years my family went from a family of 6 with all 4 of us kids living at home - to all 4 of us kids being married and having kids of our own - there are now 16 of us all together (inlaws, outlaws, and children included.)  We are so blessed!! 

My mom and I took Ira and Ruby up to see "Baby Elijah" the day after he was born.   He looked SO tiny compared to Ruby.  Ira was timid at first, but quickly fell in love after he finally decided he would try holding Eli.  He's been in love ever since and can't wait to see him whenever we're getting together with the fam.

A little timid at first

"Can I kiss him, mom?"

Not shy anymore! Ira, Uncle Drew, and Baby Elijah

Ruby's not sure what to think