First Day of Kindergarten

I totally forgot to write about Samantha's first day of school. She had a great first day...no tears :) She loves her teacher, Ms. Craven. She has been a kindergarten teacher at that same school for over ten years, so I am really comfortable with leaving Samantha there. We are already about to start the third week of school and she has received a good behavior reward. (Now, if only she can act the same way at home.)

She Survived her First Bus Trip!

Samantha really wanted to ride the bus, so I drove her to school today and let her ride the bus home. My stomach was in knots all day wondering if she would make it home okay. School gets out at 2:45 and her bus was set to arrive down the street from our house at 3:05. So of course we left the house at 2:45  to go wait for her. We get to the stop at 2:47. And it's 98 degrees outside. Plus the bus was a little late due to first days and everyone getting into a routine and the bus driver getting to know which kid goes to which parent.

Matt was crazy running into everyone's yard and picking their flowers. I don't know what is more stressful: waiting in line in my car for an hour with a screaming Matt to get Sammy from parent pick up, or making sure Matt doesn't dart out into the street.

Of course we brought Sydney. If she sees you leave the house on foot, she better be going with you. She will get so sad and depressed thinking she missed out on a walk opportunity.

It's funny because she hates walking in the street, so at least she keeps Matt on the sidewalk.

Waiting...

There she is!!!! She made it and LOVED it!

She wants to ride the bus to school in the morning now too. It gets to the stop at 6:45. That's way too early for me, but if it means I just have to roll out of bed, get SAmmy ready and run down the street, then hey, it's worth it! Plus, I met a mom who's son is in another kinder class and he rides the bus with his sister who's in 3rd grade and she said she'll walk Sammy to her table in the morning. That was my one concern: How will she know where to go in the morning if I'm not there to drop her off?

Overall, I was highly impressed with the bus experience. 

She's so grown up and independent. I'm going to go cry my eyes out now.

Buccees!!!

My mom, Kassandra, the kids and I decided to head out to San Marcos to do some outlet shopping. Big Mistake. We went on a Sunday and it was tax free weekend. We literally drove into the parking lot, tried to get into one store and bailed. It was awful. So on our way back home we decided to stop at Bucceess in New Braunfels. It is a HUGE gas station. Google it. It's ridiculous. The store inside is pretty neat and the kids loved the toy section. Matt bought a bedazzled triceratops :(
Then we went across the street to Target and then to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt. It was so good that we scoped out another frozen yogurt place on Monday. Both times I got cheesecake yogurt with oreo mix ins. Yum! Sammy ate a little bit and Matt refused all together. Maybe someday I can get my kids on board so I can visit the frozen yogurt bars more often.

Sammy's 5th Birthday!!

 We some cupcakes on her real birthday

We went to a place called Henry's Puffy Tacos on Saturday Aug 18 with Aunt Kim, Uncle David, and Ryan and of course my mom and sister. Awesome tacos...you must go there if you visit San Antonio. It was even featured on the Food Network. She was super surprised when the waitress put this hat on her head and everyone started singing. They brought out a kid sized hat and it was too small for her noggin :(

Of course Matt had to try it out.

This was her big gift from Sam and I...all the way from Babyland General Hospital in GA. Twin Boys!!! Jayden and Joshua. She was so excited when she opened them that she  couldn't say "Joshua" she said "Joloshula" It was hilarious. I still give her grief for it.

 We had a birthday for her Saturday, August 18 at Sunburst Gymnastics. This was the place where she went to summer camp and she begged us to have her party there. I'm glad we did, it turned out to be pretty awesome. Sam had a little too much fun and rubbed holes in his hands from hanging on the rings and bars, Everyone enjoyed watching his skills. He'll probably kill me for saying this, but he's a natural gymnast.

Happy 5th Birthday, sweet Sammy.

Sammy Kay and Audrey Lynn

She loves the high bar.

...and the balance beam.

Matt doing a crazy dive.

Loves her dream light unicorn.

Adults were allowed to go crazy too, so Sam did.

Party guests. From the left: Derek, Katia, Sammy, Audrey.

We were hoping for a few more kids, but she had a ton of fun!! All the kids were super sweaty and worn out by the end of the party. Success!!!

Morning at Grammy and Grampys's (11/7/10)

* I found this in my list of blogs, but never posted it. He was actually a chunky baby at one point. I miss when he was this little :(

Samantha, Matthew, and I went to my mom and dad's this morning to hang out. Sam's in Tucson this weekend for his guard duty and I was going crazy at home. I actually don't know how I would survive if Samantha didn't go to daycare. They are a handfull. Matt, Sammy and my Dad were sitting on the floor tossing flash cards back and forth and Matt just thought it was the funniest thing ever. He was cracking up! I got out the camera a little too late and I did catch a cute laugh, but unfortunately blogger isn't letting me upload any videos...again :( I'm putting it on facebook though.

Bunny and Other Things

Just a random photo of Matt from last month.

This is our new hamster, Bunny. We got her several months ago and she was only about a 1/4 of the size she is now. Sammy would not hold her because she bit her and same for Sam and I. When we went to El Paso at the end of June, Lacy taught Sammy how to hold her and now she holds her all of the time :)

Sammy spike

Ready to go to gymnastics camp (July 23, 2012)

Matt's dinos. He has a million and they are always all over the floor.

This was from my birthday when we decided to drive down to Corpus and go to the beach. I thought it would be a fabulous idea to bring Sydney since she has never seen the ocean. BIG MISTAKE. She barfed in the car and all over the beach. She finally got over it and decided she liked the ocean. She was chasing the kids in the water. It was pretty cute. Matt looks thrilled too. Once we got to the beach, he was fine and did not want to leave.

Favorite game...cabinet hide and seek

Alamo (Aug 12, 2012) My Aunt Liz and Uncle Jim came to San Antonio for a visit from Houston. It was really fun, but very hot. We also went to Ripley's Believe it or Not and the Wax Museum.

Lacy's Update Request

My sister, Lacy, sent me a text the other day and asked me update my blog. She doesn't have a facebook account and that's usually where I update pictures, etc. I realized that I should probably start keeping up with the blog if nothing else but for a memory log. I am really awful about making photo albums (real ones you can hold), scrapbooks, baby book updates...I'm sure you catch my drift. I need to make documenting these memories a priority before they become lost in the vast space that is my computer. So, here we go starting with the first pictures on my phone:

Sydney before and after the groomers.

This one is old school, but it's Lacy and the kids.

This above picture deserves it's own paragraph. A few months ago I decided to buy Matt a potty and big boy underwear. Samantha was already potty trained by Matt's age, so I figure, why not? He already undresses himself and rips off his diaper and he notifies when he is going to the bathroom, so I assumed he was ready. Big Mistake. Peeing in his underwear did not phase this kid one bit. I ended up cleaning up a lot of pee accidents and hours later, yes literally hours, I decided to can the whole idea. I think I'll revisit it in another 6 months.

Audrey, Annie, Sammy hanging out at the Cracker Barrel. Three of the four fire fighter girls. (A few of the fire fighter wives all got pregnant within months of each other and we all had girls.) Audrey lives here in San Antonio and Annie was visiting..she currently lives in OK and we are missing Faith who lives in CA.

Probably one of my favorite Matt pictures taken at 2 yrs and a few months old. It's his trademark "smile for the camera" face.

Picture of out house. I have probably already blogged about it, but just in case, here it is. Sam was in the process of cutting down a ton of trees and brush. You can kinda see the house now.

This kid loves his strawberries. Road trip from San Antonio to El Paso- 4th of July 2012

Sam got the kids flight suits. He originally just brought one home for Samantha thinking that Matt would not be interested. That was not the case, so he had to go back to the clothing issue and get Matt one. Once Sam gets his, I think it will be time for an Awkward Family Photo with all of us in flight suits. That would be hilarious.

Just waking up Sammy.

My sweet Sammy July 2012

There will be more posts, I promise. It's midnight and I really want to get to bed.