Splash Pad Mondays

I have always erred on the side of being pretty unscheduled during the summer - maybe out of wanting to be the exact opposite from how I am during the rest of the year, maybe out of laziness, probably both. Anyways, in a couple of weeks the kids are going to start going to the sweet mother's day out program at Franny's church two days a week. And I'm actually thinking of instituting a little schedule on the other 3 weekdays - maybe day 1 at the splash pad in our neighborhood (much less stressful than a pool when I'm on my own w/ the 3), day 2 at the library, and the 3rd where we plan something with friends. 

So, this was "Splash Pad Monday"...

And this is the way summer feels to me - WHITE HOT. It's also the way a picture looks when you don't adjust the camera settings to account for having been inside and now being outside (where it is super bright)! 

Thank goodness I noticed and adjusted everything just in time to catch Maggie drinking from the splash pad. After I heard (with my peripheral hearing - if that's such a thing) some other moms instruct their kids not to drink the water, I told Maggie with great confidence the same thing. Mom peer pressure at its finest.

 Owen living it up.

Rebecca checking her piggies.

Did I mention we were at the splash pad thanks to a call from a mom-friend? I was soooooo excited to tell Rebecca we were going to get to see her buddy Caleb (or, Calip, as she calls him). Her response - FINALLY!

These two didn't skip a beat.

Fun friends.

Won't You Be My Neithbor

We are having a LOT of fun getting to know our neighbors. It's such a blessing to be in such a pedestrian, friendly, neighborhood with so many interesting people. A couple of weeks ago, we invited about 15 houses over for breakfast so we could spend some time with the neighbors we'd already met and get a chance to meet ones we hadn't.

The invite (address blurred)

 The scene - Owen waiting

As promised - breakfast tacos and coffee

 

The crowd...

Looking down the other way...

??? 

Are you dying to know what happened?

Well, what you can't see form these pictures is that it was raining. And not just normal raining, like Forest Gump raining. And had been since the afternoon before. Like major fire-your-weather-man unexpected torrential rain. 

But remember me mentioning how awesome our little neighborhood is? Well, we didn't have 15 houses show up. But we had 5 and its not about numbers anyways - we had a really fun morning getting to know some of the neighbors we had already met (and introducing them to each other)! It was too much fun for me to stop and take pictures. Plus, that might have run some of our neighbors off. Maybe next time...

Oh, on another neighbor note. There are 2 precious sisters (ages 5 and 7) who live up the street and they have become fast friends with our kids. It makes me feel like I live in Stratford - swap out the  hybrid cars for trucks. They run over after school most days to see if O & R can play. They go back from house to house (a lot of times without shoes). Their parents are super sweet. We watch them cross the street to make sure they remember our instructions about looking both ways - they hold hands. Its pretty idyllic. A couple of weeks ago they came over on a Friday after school just to tell us they'd be gone for the weekend and wouldn't be able to play. How much do I love that? Okay, enough neighborhood gush for one post - you get the idea.

Man Make Fire. Man Eat Meat.

One of the things we love about our new house is having a guest room. A quick glance back at our calendar tells me that its been occupied about 25% of the nights since we've been in the house.

One of those guests has been our friend Carlos - one of Kyle's roommates from college. He's working/traveling this summer and we are his Austin home-base. Carlos is a man w/ many many many talents. I have a running list of recipes I want from him. There is one I probably won't ask for - not because its not good - in fact, it's amazing - but because it is soooo labor intensive. (I'm fearful Kyle is being drawn into another hobby!) 

Prepping the meet: 3 15-lb beef brisket

Prepping the smoker

The set-up at the bottom of our driveway - the borrowed smoker, table w/ supplies, standard camping chair, dedicated Smoke-Master. (Doesn't show the air mattress in the garage Carlos slept on - when he slept at all - during the 18 hour process.)

 Tending the fire and the meat.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

The leaky smoker didn't want to stay hot enough so they finished in the oven, but not until the proper smoke ring was achieved.

My kids were like: Hey Carlos, what are those? What??? You are MAKING beans? Don't they just come from a can??? (

BBQ Sous Chefs in the making

We ate on one brisket for a good week. Have more in the freezer for a rainy day. Don't they say food tastes better when you make it yourself? I would like to amend that and say that food tastes better when Carlos makes it for you. Thanks man!

Hunt, The Town

A few weeks ago Owen and Rebecca got to go to Hunt - the town - with Dahdo and Pam to stay at the waterfront home of some family friends. 

Here are a few of my dad's pics from the weekend - which was spent almost entirely on the waterfront. Spoiled rotten. :)

O & R had a great time playing with the 2 grandkids of the friends - same ages.

R being silly.

O fishing for tadpoles.

Enjoying some ice cream on the porch.

Couldn't get many other details out of them but know they had a GREAT time.

Unorganized Randomness

UNORGANIZED: no order to these at all - they were chronological from my iphone - just overdue for a post - but they got all mixed up in the upload and I'm not even going to bother redoing - further reinforcing the title.

RANDOMNESS: no theme, no idea, no story. random moments from the past couple of months.

Rebecca's first haircut from a "real professional" (her words). Only other trims have been by Bee. 

She did sooooo well. 

Then the crazy lady put those pretty curls in braids. She just liked playing with R's hair. I'll give it to her - it was pretty cute.

Pretty much the best view. in. the. world. 

Don't you dress up like this when a friend comes over?

Or this when you're going to a friend's house to play?

From a while back - 3 kids in a giant shopping cart. All so I could buy a can of spray paint at Lowes. That's how I roll.

Kyle taunging Bee (and Joyce) about his impending chicken coup project (photo from the Funky Chicken Coup Tour - yes, welcome to Austin).

My childhood is filled with memories of sitting on artificial cows (thanks to the Arboretum)...now seems like they're everywhere. Glad this will unite the generations.

Just hanging out. In my closet.

Owen's Ms. Laurie made us homemade meatballs the week Kyle was in Honduras. She had no idea what a treat that was for all of us. Or how I'll never hear the end of how much better her homemade meatballs and sauce were than mine (which implies mine are homemade which they are not). I'm never making spaghetti again.

Nana has been having some wild adventures with racoons - or, 'coons to be accurate - living in her attic. She caught one and was keeping it outside in its cage until Luke could take it away. Rebecca, always the hostess, made it a "birthday party" consisting of a potted plant "cake" and some songs.

One morning we got sorta kicked out of our house by some subcontractors right as I was about to make breakfast...so we ended up at Uppercrust Bakery - so yummy! Each kid picked their bread-coma-breakfast and pretty much ate the whole thing. R's cinnamon roll was about the size of her head.I'm sure the teachers had a great day with them at school that day. :)

It was Owen's weekend to keep the class pet - Pal. Here they are at a trike birthday party.

And at Owen's last soccer game - donning his medal.

Left: "playing school" - Owen dressed Pal up - I didn't quite get it, but O was having a blast.

Right: sleeping with Pal and the class quilt (bought at the auction by another family - who let each child in the class keep it for a week before it made it to them for good) - he loved having both at the same time.

 A little outing with my big kids - painting some pottery. Rebecca picked a cupcake. And spent most of the time telling us how much she likes brown (because as the mixed the colors, it turns brown). Complete creative freedom. :)

Owen painted a dragon. That broke in the parking lot the day he got to pick it up. He handled it so well - pumped he could see inside it!

This is a picture of Owen in our bed after coming down to our room in the middle of the night. It really should be a picture of Rebecca, because the past couple of weeks she's ended up in our bed most nights - usually at 4am. This was the one night she didn't, so of course he did. Owen just had a weird night. Rebecca is having bed issues and its time for an upgrade...I'm thankful for a king-sized bed. Don't tell them, but since we actually have enough space (unlike when we were in a queen bed), I kinda like their warm little snuggly bodies at 4am. At least for now. :)

Merry-Go-Round + Butternut Squash

These two videos have been on my phone (black hole of photos/video) since early March - but I love them. May only be entertaining to me and Kyle, but thought I'd share nonetheless. 

This is the merry-go-round at "little randalls" - the small grocery store down the street from preschool and my mom's house. My mom always let Maggie ride if they stopped in during their time Wednesday mornings, so when I went w/ R and M one day it was almost a non-negotiable. Notice Maggie saying goodbye to all shoppers as they leave - only one captured on video, but I assure you everyone got a bye bye.

 Maggie has 1) the example of her independent older siblings, 2) a big appetite, so the idea of pushing a chair up to the counter top to get some dinner leftovers was probably nothing to her. Girl loves her some roasted butternut squash.Video quality is poor - but if you got a clearer picture of her face you'd see that her mouth is so full that even if she had the words to answer us she wouldn't be able to.

Long Overdue

It's been a little over a month since my last update - longer than that for one not about the house. I have a long list of things I want to post about, but in an effort to not be overwhelmed by my to-do list I'm not giving myself a deadline...no one is grading me, right?! 

So, this is just a little teaser post. Kyle was in Honduras the first week of May - right after we moved in - and the day he got home the kids made him a welcome home banner. It also happened to be Pam's birthday so she got a happy birthday banner too. One of the great things about concrete floors (although the markers were a little too close to the cream couch for my comfort)...is how great they are with kids.

So, just a little glimpse of some actual living going on in the new house. This is the kind of stuff that actually makes it home. Cheesy, but so true. 

More to come soon...