Anonther Fit of Blog Activity

Sorry to do this in bursts...but that's life right now. Below are 7 new posts that cover:

-our experience w/ 2 exchange students from Baghdad

-dates w/ my 3 wonderful kiddos

-summer fish fry and Grandpa Robert's visit

-our summer vacation - sort of

-the Pajama Party

-cousin camp

-ali's family nostalgia 

Happy reading!

 

Far from Home

Most of you that know Kyle and I know that we both love to travel and meet people from all-over. Kyle spent several summers in various different cultures during college years and I studied abroad. As the kids get older we hope to be able to travel more, but in the meantime its fun to let the "travel" come to us. We have been involved with the "Friendship Program" at UT for a couple of years - they partner international students up with Austin people/families just to hang out and give the students a connection to the local community. We are excited about getting 2 new students this fall since our friend Yiyi and her boyfriend Fei (both from China) are moving to Houston. Plug - if you're local and interested or have questions, let me know, I love to talk about it. I've gotten a little off topic...

We got an opportunity through UT to host 2 college students from Iraq - they were participating in the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program of which UT was one of four host schools. Part of the summer program is a weekend-long stay with an American family. Sign us up!!!

Dalia is an engineering student and Lubna is finishing med-school. They are both from Bagdad. 

(Here they are posing in front of a giant stork at the Domain.)

There is SO much I could say about our weekend. It was hard. But it was SO good. We had some great conversations - social, cultural, political, religious. We also had some awkward silences. Or Arabic-filled silences. We had some cross-cultural snaffoos - like when I tried to serve them chicken for dinner (which they couldn't eat because of certain religious rules which I had misunderstood).  We also had some funny moments (at least for us in hindsight) like when they asked me (w/ 3 hours left in their stay) if I could take them horseback riding. We ended up at the Domain. :)

They didn't get to go horseback riding, but they got to experience a little bit of life in our family, they attended (at their request) our church - they videotaped the music and were humming one of the songs afterwards because they liked it so much. Catchy! 

They taught us some about what their region of the world is really like - what their families have been through in the past two decades. On that - lets just say that everyone in the world who hasn't lived in a country at war can count that as a HUGE blessing.

We all discovered that although we definitely have differences, we have so many things in common. Like family dynamics are universally tricky. Shopping is better when you have your mom or a trusted friend with you (or both). Fresh food beats frozen food. People watching is fun. Kids are cute and also mischievous no matter the language. Good music is good music. People are people. 

Thanks Dalia and Lubna for honoring us with staying at our home. 

(We will definitely apply to be a host family again next summer - if you're local and want to join in let me know!)

Date Night(s)

Kyle and I are trying really hard to prioritize spending special one-on-one time with each of our kids. It's hard!!! We haven't done well these past few weeks months years. He has always done better at it than me - he can leave work and come home and turn on "fun-dad" and I have a harder time turning on "fun-mom" since momying=my job. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely adore my children and I woudn't trade staying at home with them (in the macro sense) but in the micro sence sometimes it makes me a little loopy and I get in a hunker-down get-er-done mode and don't make time to stop and smell the roses. 

Or the legos and ice cream. 

So, we're working on that. I am working on it. :)

OWEN

Last week Owen and I went to the Lego Store in the mall. (He was like - what is this place with all these stores inside? - Score 1 for our family that he's not overly familiar with the mall!)

It was tinkery-boy-paradise. And momma loved it too. Was so proud of him for the mature way he handled knowing we weren't going to buy all we were looking at!

Followed by ice cream in the food court. 

Love this boy.

MAGGIE

O & R were spending some time w/ Dahdo and Pam and Kyle was working so it was the perfect time for a little Maggie-date. We went to Central Market and did the playground thing and then enjoyed some lemolade (R's word) and dinner inside. It was hard to get this usually ravenous little girl to eat because she was so busy people-watching and saying 'Hi-eee" to everyone that walked by her. 

That's MY girl! :)

Dreaded self-pic.

REBECCA

 Last year I made Rebecca 2 simple skirts for her birthday - one for the actual day and 1 for the party day. She has worn them out. Still tries to get by wearing them now even though they're painfully too small. She told me she wanted more skirts for her birthday and wanted to pick out the "paper". So, we went to JoAnne's to pick out the fabric. She was a very quick decision-maker. Did not need much browsing time. Though didn't like that she couldn't have 6 or 22 fabrics for 6 or 22 skirts. Nope, just 2.

And on to the ice cream shop. She kept reminding me its frozen yogurt. Well, whatever it was, it was yummy.

Kisses from my spunky sweetheart.

Looking forward to our next dates. I already have ideas...

Fish Fry with Grandpa Rober aka Pop Pop

I mentioned in the previous post (below) that Kyle and Luke's dad "Grandpa Robert" or "Pop Pop" (depending on whom you ask) was in the Marble Falls area for about 4 weeks this summer doing some work for his brother. We didn't get to see him as much as we would have liked but it really was super great having him here. On one day he got to spend with us the Foshea Fam was just happening to have a fish fry. Serious fun.

Kids playing in the kiddie pool and slide. (Maggie is taking it very seriously.)

Aunt Melissa the Queen-Bee-of-Toddler-Wranging with her double-handed tour of kid-plates. What a pro.

Kids on a blanket. (Take a close look at Maggie's face.)

I was trying to get everyone's attention for a photo - and only she listened. That's her "cheese" face.

The process.

The rings.

The men doing what men do. Cooking and gabbing (just like the ladies do). :)

Enjoying the bounty.

Dad and Boys.

Rebecca getting in trouble for twisting her hair into dreadlocks.

Owen doing his impersonation of Maggie's cheese face.

Katie watching a hilarious video on her phone (google - It's not the nail - if you haven't seen it) - followed by Maggie.

You've heard of trust falls. What about trust throws? Owen being tossed from Uncle Luke to Grandpa Robert.

Good catch!

Air-Born Blake and Flying Boone.

Seriously, this kind of stuff is what summer exists for. Amen for Foshea Fish Fry.

Summer Vacay 2013

Back in June we had a week of vacation on the books. We had plans to go back to Port A with Luke, Mel and their gang and Kyle's mom Franny/Nana. She was having some health issues so we decided to call off the trip and stay home for a staycation. We didn't get out and do as much as we planned but what's new? 

What do you do when you can't go to the beach and its 150degrees outside? Go underground! So, to Longhorn Caverns we went...(giant cave about an hour from Austin).

As I was taking this picture I actually said out loud - LOOK at how happy Maggie is! We haven't put her in the ergo in forever, but she LOVES it! This is going to be a GREAT tour. We are just ROCKSTAR parents.

 I mean, would this squinty smiley face lie???

YES. 

The answer is yes, it would. It did.

Here is our sweet/cranky/old/hippie/geologist tour-guide - same guy the last time we came w/ just Owen (he doesn't remember). Pretty sure that's the same t-shirt too.

About 20 yard down the path and she's out of the carrier. But we're still rockstar parents because look  they're all holding hands and walking together like such well-behaved little people. This is still going to be great -thinks ME.

WRONG-O MOOSE-BREATH. (Mame the phrase origin for bonus points.)

This is what the next 45 mintues or so looked/felt like. A MAGGIE BLUR. Where is she? Catch her! I'll get them, you get her!

Big kids hanging in there.

MAGGIE GET BACK HERE!

Oooh, this is pretty. I'll stop and look at it for 1.2 seconds. And then run some more. - Maggie

That was the first half of the tour. The second half - perhaps even a longer 45 minutes - were Maggie refused to be put down. And wanting me.

Ahhhhh. We're out. We've picnic-ed. Let the adventure continue.

How about a little run by Kyle and I's FAVORITE PLACE in the WHOLE WORLD?!? Camp Buckner, how we miss you so. (And how about I forget to change the ISO on my camera so the pics look like we went from cave to nuclear winter?)

The next part of our adventure included lots of driving. And napping. We headed to "Big Sandy" to play in the river but the river was dry. (Isn't that a song?) so we turned around and went to "The Slab" at the Llano River. I was happy with the detour because the kids got more rest-time. (And I did too.) Time at the Slab was great. We polished off an entire watermelon. The water was actually cooler than bathtub-warm so it was great. But since there's water there are no photos. 

THEN...and this was a huge treat...we got to meet up with Grandpa Robert! He had been "in town" (meaning central TX) for a couple of weeks - see the fish fry post - and Marble Falls wasn't very far so he met us at the FAMOUS Bluebonnet Cafe for dinner (cue more Camp Buckner nostalgia).

Any place that has Pie Happy Hour is alright by me.

It was a great way to end a great day. That's about as much vacation as this family can handle!

Actually, we finished the week with another fun day-trip to a new friend's family's lake house near Wimberly - which I have to say - is probably my new most-favoritest spot in the world. Seriously a heavenly location. Will have to finagle another invite sometime. No photos - boo. But the kids and the adults had a blast - it was the great way to end our week.

Pajama Party

I think I've mentioned how thrilled we are with our new neighborhood and all the fun people we're meeting. And the kids loooooove having E (age 7) and H (age 5) as such easily-accessible and fun friends!

This is something I should probably be expecting as the kids get older (especially hanging out w/ older kids) - they're starting to make plans. On their own. And then tell me about them.  We're working on boundaries here...

The kids informed us that E & H wanted to have a pajama party. Luckily, the party plans were confirmed by an actual invitation from their mom - at least someone is in the loop! So, one Friday night, O & R walked up the street in their pajamas before dinner to have their long-awaited pajama party.  (Here they are waking - holding hands - in ill-fitting pajamas from last Christmas if not before.

They had pizza, watched part of a movie, ate popcorn, there were even little party favors for everyone. 

And then they had the dance party to end all dance parties.

Can you believe that when they came home at 9:30 (hence the pajama party and not "sleep over") they were CRAZY wound up like a bunch of sugar-drunk-flying-squirels??? No, unbelievable, right? Next time we'll return the favor. :)

SIX KIDS - been there, done that.

As my previous mushy post about family alluded - we are super blessed to live near most of our immediate family. Our kids have 3 cousins right about the same age that are some of their best friends. It's really a treat to see them all growing up together. And by together, I mean in the same house. :) 

Luke and Melissa celebrated their TEN YEAR anniversary this summer! Wow, right!?! So, as most busy parents of 3 are, they are in need of a much-deserved adults-only gettaway. So, they hopped a jet plane to Glacier National Park (or whevever you hop a plane to in order to get there) for 3 full days of hiking and other cool stuff - did I hear something about a helicopter ride???

Three full days plus 2 for travel including an early departure means their gaggle had 6 nights of sleepovers! We got round 2 for the first 2 nights (sorry to the two families that came after us). 

Here are a few memorable moments. 

Night 1 our 3 kiddos shared the girls' room - easy. Blair  (their youngest) slept in a pack n play in our close - easy. That left Bailey and Blake to share Owen's room which has 2 beds - easy. Especially easy because Blake didn't want a bed. He actually started the night under Bailey's bed. He ended up at the foot of her bed like a little puppy. (Night 2 we let them convince us to mix things up  - we agreed like a couple of rookies and it didn't go well...so there was some late-night rearranging. In all honesty I should confess that the rearranging was done by our fearless babysitter Kimberly so Kyle and I could take part in a super-fun birthday party for our bestie Christal - so we got off pretty easy.)

Our first day started Nana's pool - I thought O & R had swim lessons so we loaded up the crew (I recruited my mom for help), but apparently I forgot to confirm w/ the teacher so we ended up just having a big play time. Here they are eating their snack during life-guard enforced pool-time-out.

 

Bailey and Blake were fascinated w/ my mom's car. She followed us home and I kept thinking something was wrong because she kept pulling over to put the top up or put it back down. She was just following orders - they just couldn't believe the roof could move!

While the "babies" napped the big kids and I made banana bread. With chocolate chips. Gone within hours.

I guess if you really have 6 kids you can't feed them lunchables for lunch and pizza for dinner every day...but if you only have 6 kids for 2 days you definitely can. :)

Not that there weren't any tiny run-ins with the disobedience-police but all in all we had a great couple of days. Loud, but great. Cousin-Camp was a success!