Pouring Day!

Back in April I was so excited to share with you that our little purple house had been moved to a better place...

 I also told you that we had a little work left to do in order to get our plans "builder-ready"...it seems that was a several-month understatement. But in mid-August - we got the final go-ahead from the engineers and had the building permit in hand. Wahooooo! So, then we had this. 

(Sorry for the crazy blue exposure.) This is the foundation "in forms" or, rather, the "forms are set" - I'm still working on my builder speak - kind of like pirate talk (Happy Talk Like a Parate Day, by the way me matey.)

  Then there was a bunch of the totally necessary but boring to watch stuff...like digging for plumbing, putting in steel so the house doesn't fall over, blah blah blah. :) 

That digger thing is digging trenches. Two hard-working souls were out there for several days driving that thing and shoveling the dirt it kicked up.  Didn't get any detail shots of that process.

In this one you can see pipes sticking up (plumbing), rubber trash-bag stuff over packed mounds of dirt and the steel. This stuff all happened during August and the first of September. This is what it looked like before this morning...

TODAY! YES, TODAY! 

Today was a big day - today was "Pouring Day"! Henceforth we shall celebrate it monthly until we reach "Move-In Day" which shall then be celebrated annually! :)

We went by before pre-school and Uncle Luke and his crew were already hard at work - there was a huge pump truck with a long boom that controls where the concrete is poured, and 3-4 mixers in and out (there were probably a total of around 20 today - that's a lot of concrete)!

Owen got a special treat - he got to "drive" one of the trucks and honk its very very very loud horn. If the neighbors don't already love us, I'm sure they do now. (I didn't get any pics during that hour because I had to hold Maggie.)

 But after preschool we went back (and Maggie stayed with my mom for a bit) so we could really take it all in. You can see the pump truck with the yellow boom, the mixer truck backed up to it - and Uncle Luke acting as foreman as well as day-care-owner.

 This guy drove the boom.

 The three-hour time-laps and you have this!

Over the course of the hour, there were sixteen (!) kiddos there to watch - yea for fun friends and neighbors!

 Here is what they watched...

The boom in action - plop plop plop.

 All the men moving working to get everything just right.

 Using pretty cool tools: If a floor-buffer and a ceiling fan had a baby.

 Why they all wear tall rubber boots.

 Such an intricate process - that's our shower.

 This guy was fun to watch. He seemed very meticulous and kept smiling.

 A younger guy on the crew asked Melissa why we were all there - was it some sort of field trip? They weren't used to the preschool paperazzi. I don't think I ever went on a field trip this cool. Except maybe to that bread factory in 3rd grade. They gave me ruler. Why do I remember that?

I digress. So, we're headed to the beach on Friday with Luke/Mel/kids/Franny...so I guess that means our builder is on vacay next week. Perhaps we will see the framing stage shortly after we get back? Oh my goodness, then it'll actually start to look like a house!!! Until then...

Bailey is Five - The Puppy Tea Party

Lovely little touches.

 

Funny little touches.

 And just plain fun touches.

 And sweet touches (resulting in stuff animal sugar-coma).

 Happy Birthday Bailey Girl! We love you!!!

 Great party Aunt Mel - is that a puppy on your head?

If you want all the details...

The Smell of #2 Pencils...or Play-Do

I rejoice with moms the world-around that school has started! 

Owen started his 4th year, Rebecca her 2nd, and Maggie her 1st year at our little preschool. Here they all are on the first day that all of them went.

Their school days are short (only 3 hours) but we are there every day - Owen goes 4 days a week, Rebecca goes 3 and Maggie goes 1 but they don't all overlap so we're there 5 days a week. Sounds less than ideal but actually it's working out really well because I have 1 day where they're all there, 1 day w/ just Owen and Maggie and 2 days with just Rebecca and Maggie. It's amazing how much more we can get done (both productive and fun stuff) with 2 vs. 3 kids! And it's nice to have some time with the both Owen and Rebecca without the other.

Here are the girls having a little play-do time on one of Owen's school days.

 Yes - our play-do looks like pooh because all the colors got mushed together long-ago. And yes, Maggie likes to eat it even though it looks like pooh. Her sweet teacher has a lot of patience! Our goals for the month are 1) reinforcing that play-do is not for eating, and 2) teaching that shoes need to stay on our feet! 

In other news...the foundation for our house is being poured RIGHT NOW! I'll have pictures very soon...

The Big Kids

The difference in age between Owen & Rebecca seems soooo much less than Rebecca and Maggie these days even though its pretty much the same. So, we talk a lot about "the big kids" and Maggie.

Here are some recent big-kid-isms.

Owen

A super-cool train track he designed and built (he is really in to drawing the "plans" for all his building projects - tracks, pillow forts, etc. - first).

He recently told Kyle that he had finally decided what he wanted to be. He had been saying "a doctor and a builder" for a long time. But he informed Kyle about a month ago that he had decided to be a doctor because "there is less traffic". (Clearly he has heard Kyle talk about one of the perks of his job being that he goes to work and usually comes home at non-rush hour times. This - more than any other perk for either job - was the deciding factor. Practical little dude.)

The other day Rebecca wanted to show Owen a drawing she had made and she kept trying to get his attention - Owen, Owen! - Look at what I made!  and WITHOUT looking up from what he was doing he sad flatly "oh. wow. that is awesome". Oh my goodness he must have learned that form me! (Sad mommy moment.)

Owen learned how to snap. He snaps all the time now. All The Time. Incidentally - his snap is way better than mine. 

Big parenting lesson: sometimes it's easier to do things for your kids that they could and probably should be doing for themselves! Case and point - Owen can give himself a bath. Yippee!

Rebecca

Sometimes we have "quiet play time" after lunch, and sometimes (when I can tell morale is low) Rebecca will still have nap time. And sometimes, QPT turns in to naptime all on her own. When it does, it looks like this. :)

In a parking garage with Kyle - she told him it was "creepy crawly" and "boooooooky" (spooky). 

Kyle doesn't know this, but I'm wondering how long it will be before we cave and finally put R in some sort of dance or gymnastics class. This girl is constantly moving in, shaking it, contorting it, twisting it, spinning it, tumbling it, jumping it, balancing it, diving it...Look at me! Look at me!

She ends most of her sentences with - Okay?

Owen, come with me, okay?

Hey guys, come over here! Okay? (Yelled to total strangers at the grocery store.)

Maggie, eat your broccoli, okay?

Momma, I can paint my toes, okay? (No, not okay.)

It's the age/stage where R is having to really work on learning to ask permission BEFORE doing things and is spending a lot of time in time-out. Let's just say there have been a few tantrums. It's a little dramatic around our house these days. But one afternoon a few days ago Kyle sent her to time out and she was SO GOOD waiting quietly on her stool for him to come talk to her that we both totally forgot and she was in there for 20 minutes. If she could just show that kind of self control at other times! (It's good for Daddys and Mommys to have to say sorry to their kids every once in a while - this was definitely an opportunity!)

That's it for the big kids for now. Preschool has started back this week so we'll have an update on that soon...and the house...which is UNDER CONSTRUCTION! YIPPEEEEEEE!

Mezger Family Fun Day

Last week was a big week for the kiddos. On Wednesday they all got to go meet their teachers for preschool this year - very exciting. On Friday cousin Bailey spent the night - something we had been looking forward to for a while (more on that later). And on Thursday we had MEZGER FAMILY FUN DAY! In order for the most Mezgers to have the most fun we left the littlest Mezger with Nana - that way Kyle and I could spend some real quality time with Owen and Rebecca and Maggie got special one on one time with Nana. It was truly a GREAT day. 

We started off at Austin's very own "Kiddie Acres" - think state fair rides on a MUCH smaller scale. Even though I checked the hours online, when we pulled up we had a Grizwald Family vacay moment because it looked like it was closed - nope, just pretty much empty. There was one other couple with 1 kid (a few more by the time we were wrapping up) - so we pretty much had an attendant follow us around to whichever rides the kids wanted to ride.

Let's get ready for some fun! (Like R's visor? She dressed herself.)

 The mary-go-round was a favorite for both - it got ridden a record 3 times. Round and round with a little up and down.

 Second favorite was the airplanes. Round and round in the air. R's visor kept blowing off (those propellers are really spinning)!

 Round and round in the water. 

 Owen's "excited face" in the 6 cart ferris wheel - round and round the other way! (R rode with Kyle and O rode with me - 2 carts on opposite sides - they thought it was so fun to try to spot the other kid as we circled each other top to bottom.)

 There was also a round and round jeep ride but we didn't get a pic of that one. Here are R and Daddy on the train - think Zilker Zepher but only circles the 1 acre of Kiddie Acres. Round and round, choo choo!

 Bee brought Owen here a while back (I think when Rebecca was still a baby) and she couldn't get him to try the pony ride. But with little sister leading the way...

Go Rebecca!

 Owen wasn't scared anymore!

 Yeehah!

 Rebecca was only disappointed that she didn't have her "cowboy stuff" (pink hat and boots) - next time baby, next time.

We could have stopped there...but that was only the beginning of Mezger Family Fun Day! We headed to Hat Creek Burgers for some - you guessed it - burgers, fries and milkshakes. Even ran in to a few friends.

Then we headed to fun-part-3: to paint pottery at Ceramics Bayou. Rebecca painted a small flower and a small butterfly (magnets) and Owen painted a shark and a dog. Kyle enjoyed it because the mess was on somebody else's table. :)

Followed by a family nap and picking up Maggie for an all-5 dinner. Seriously - great day!

Cruising and Crashing

Maggie Maggie - Why you buggin? 

Maggie Maggie - I need some lovin'. 

When Maggie was born, we chose Before the Throne of God Above as her song (Owen's is Be Thou My Vision and Rebecca's is Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing). But if you were to ask either of her siblings to sing Maggie's song...they'd sing the above lyrics. (I think it all started when Kyle sang that line sort of under his breath one day when Maggie was fussing - it's a butchered version of a Monkees turned Run DMC song. Nice, I know.)

The big news is that she is doing less and less of this...

 And more and more of this!

 She still needs help - her shopping cart, the couch, the kitchen chairs which glide so smoothly across Nana's wood floors...but she's cruising more and more.

 So proud!

 Rebecca cheering her on - You doin' it, Maggie! You walkin'!

 Pooped!

So, people always tell parents of babies and young children to ENJOY EVERY MINUTE BECAUSE IT GOES BY SO FAST. And honestly, while I understand what they are saying (and I even find myself looking at Owen who is almost 5 and wanting to tell moms of firstborn tiny babies to do the same thing...) it's really hard to ENJOY EVERY MINUTE BECAUSE A LOT OF THEM ARE REALLY STINKY (read this if you don't understand). Back to my point - Maggie has been doing something recently - for the past few months actually - that is so sweet - that is so precious - that Kyle and I literally fight over getting to spend time with her to enjoy it. 

Right before you put her to bed, if you sit down with her, she literally CRASHES into you. She is like the softest, sweetest, heaviest, ton of perfect baby just melting into your chest/shoulder. And then - this is THE BEST - she'll throw her head back to look at you - shoot you a BIG dimply smile and then CRASH back down and SIGH.  
MELT. MY. HEART.

We happened to catch one such cuddly moment even though it wasn't bedtime.

 Now that's a "kairos" worth "carpe-ing". 

In other 15-month old updates:

-She definitely knows "no". Because she also knows how to turn on and off the tv (remember our other kids doing that???) - which drives the big kids bonkers - literally. And so the discipline train leaves the station...

She's testing us in other ways too - she learned "uh oh" and LOVES the age-old toddler trick of dropping stuff, and saying uh oh in that sweat breathy baby voice (dimples a-blazin') to see if we will pick it up. And we're idiots and we do. Lather Rince. Repeat. 

Owen is very proud of her, saying she is "funny like me!" - because she likes to offer you a piece of food and right as your mouth gets close to her chubby little fist to eat the offered waffle, she yanks her hand back and puts it in her mouth. Tease. 

Even though she is a danger to herself pretty much everywhere we go and she leaves a wake of destroyed TP rolls and emptied cabinets wherever she goes...this is a pretty fun age. :)