Besties...

Katie has formed a very sweet friendship with a friend from school and fortunately for me and Jack she comes with an adorable & spirited little sister and a mom I truly enjoy hanging out with! The Boettiger girls have become a household name and I constantly hear, "will you call Ms Kathleen to see if Sam and Kaitlyn can come play." We have had a great time with these girls this year and am sure there is more to come!

Spring Break in Mansfield

This was the first year of many where I will appreciate sping break from a different perspective. Long gone are my joyous carefree lazy spring break days of either hitting the slopes or the beach. Now spring break means, "How am I going to entertain all three kids for a week on my own??". Well problem solved.. send one away!

We packed Katie's bag and hit the road and met Meme 1/2 way between Houston and Dallas. They had a fun filled week of movies, shopping, zoo, museum & baking! She spent 4 nights away and spent most of those nights curled up with Meme! Somehow I don't think either one of them minded one bit!

Here's hoping next year I get to send two kids! :)

Katie's first camping "trip"...

We decided it was time to dust off the old tent that hadn't been used since I was about 6 months pregnant with Katie and see if we could have some fun! So up it went in the back yard and the kids thought it was great. It provided hours of entertainment and was the easiest camping trip I have ever been on! With the amenities of our house only steps away, Katie and Andy embarked on her first camp out. We even got out the little BBQ pit and tried to roast marshmallows! It was not overly successful, but we had fun trying!

Jack joined Katie and Andy for story time in the tent and then was nicely tucked up in bed and Katie and Andy were tucked up in there sleeping bags. They had a nice time chatting away until someone couldn't hold her little eyes open any longer and they tried to sleep blissfully under the stars. Unfortunately we live in the city (well maybe not the big city, but it is certainly not rural), and lots of cars drive past the back of our house at all hours. So it wasn't the peaceful nights rest Andy remember from camping during his childhood!

What it did accomplish however was that we might just be ready for a family camping trip come this fall.. if we can find a willing grandparent to keep Luke (Katie is ready, Jack is probably ready, but we are not ready for Luke ;)!!

Traditions...

Well the conversation went along the lines of, "can you remember when we started this?" and "nope, just seems like we have been doing this forever"..

Well at some point in 2010 the Fisher family and the Hanhan family started have weekly play date dinners and it has been a sanity saver! Alternating between each others houses Terez and I have been sharing the joys of post nap time boredom, dinner, and the post dinner chaos once a week. It is by far the single appointment in my diary that I look forward to the most!

The kids absolutely love the time, part of it is getting out of their own home, but it has a lot to do with the friendships that are forming! All six kids get along marvelously and Katie does not seem to mind at all being the lone girl of the group. Don't get me wrong, the play time has had it moments and plenty of time outs and lots of warnings, but certainly not b/c they are not playing nicely, probably more b/c they are just a little too excited to be with their friends. This week we took the jeep out for a test drive for the first time and it was a hit! I can see many more rides to come in the future!

This is one tradition I hope we continue for years and years to come!