Silverleaf Resort Trip!!

FREEDOM!!!! I'm still not sure how we managed it, but we scored a 3 day/2 night stay for $15 at The Villages Silverleaf Resort a couple hours south of us in Flint, TX. Austin and Liz were able to come with us and, even though Oakley had to come because she was still nursing, we were able to have fun adults-only time! Oakley was so easy-going and adorable and no trouble at all. Since Tammy is in Florida finishing up a Bob Ross instructor course, my mom came to stay with the kids while we were gone. Liz got some help from Jenna and a friend in the ward. On our way down, we found a Carl's Jr and had to stop! I was expecting more of a burger and not a crab/turtle/burger thing, but it was still tasty. After we sat through the 90 minute presentation that turned into a 3 hour attempt to get us to buy a timeshare type deal (which would be an awesome idea if we spent $1000 per year on entertainment, but we don't), we were able to check into the two-bedroom condo. It was awesome! Austin and Liz were a couple hours out at that point, so Mitchell and I watched some TV and took a walk around the grounds. Tall trees, the lake, lots of grassy lawn. Beautiful! We missed the last horseback ride by 30 minutes, but we still scored free passes to the water-park. The first night, we all watched a couple episodes of "River Monsters" (Liz and I agree that the host is a very attractive for a 60-something year old) on the pull out couch and ate turkey chili, ice cream, chocolate covered pomegranates/strawberries/pineapple for dinner. Haha! We had doughnuts and massive cinnamon buns for breakfast the next morning and were living it up junk food style. My body was not happy, but who cares? We headed over to the main resort location to play putt putt and hit up the water-park. When we finished putt putt and playing in the arcade, the guys decided to make a run for some pizza for lunch and I hung out with Liz while she fed Oakley. Poor Oakley. She was wearing a swim diaper most of the morning and peed through her swimsuit and onto blankets and the stroller (and Liz!), but she didn't really mind. She totally pooped all over the deck when we weren't looking though! Good thing we weren't in the water-park right then. :S Speaking of the water-park, it was nice but definitely geared more towards kids. We hung out in the lazy river and went down the two cool slides. My waterproof camera case came in handy again and I got some cool shots. About this time, I started feeling pretty icky. Turns out I had caught the same fever virus that Bryce had had earlier in the week, but I didn't pack any medicine with me. We wrapped up and headed back to the condo and the rest of the day is kind of a blur to me. I took a bath in the awesome jacuzzi tub in our master bedroom, wrapped up in as many comfy layers as I could and took a  nap. We had fun later that evening playing Battle of the Sexes when Austin and Mitchell (but mostly Austin) thought Pencil, Poodle, Mini and Raglan were different types of dogs. Lol. Liz made a spectacular guess that Zebco made fishing gear, I guessed correctly about Civil War era firearms and the guys totally picked out a blush brush from a picture in seconds. It was awesome. After that, we ate more ice cream and doughnuts and watch Thor 2. Packed up and went home the next morning to hang with my mom and Bella for part of the afternoon to end the trip on an awesome note. :) I missed my little boogers more than I care to admit, but it was so good to see they had a blast with Nana, Aunt Amy and Aunt Val. Nana spoiled them with Frozen cereal, Hulk waffles and Reeses Big Cups (a particular favorite with Clara)! A billion, billion thanks to Nana!!!! 

This happened a lot on the trip - with no background choruses of "Ewwww!" Lol

Oh, I mean it...

It totally looks like a crazy bacon crab/burger turtle, but I still ate that Western Bacon Burger!!!!

Delicioso!!!

My handsome hubby on our walk down to the lake

They should really make extensions for tall guys

Liz found the golf ball Mitchell hit into the pond!

We were really entertained by all the quirky shots (like this one, that went straight over the barrier rocks into the grass) Lol!

Liz and I got a good laugh out of climbing on all the stuff we would normally be telling the kids to get off of. Haha!! Parents unsupervised!

Austin is Liz's Guitar Hero!

We got a kick (or a punch, really) out of seeing how hard we hit in this punching game. Liz is a beast!

Mitchell OWNED this Lord of the Rings pinball! Way to go, babe!

Of course, Liz couldn't resist the basketball game! Look at that form!

Austin may have beat her score by three points... :D Competition runs deep in this family

But they're good sports in the end!

He's my Top Shot! :D

Liz helped Oakley get in on the snowboarding action

Oakley loved hitting the big flashing boost button

The adorable little flower girl!

These two were wrestling all up and down the lazy river

Oakley curled her little foot as far away from the water as she could, haha!

Tie!

Beast mode!

Yeah, this is about the time I started feeling icky... Oakley was pretty tired, too.

Relaxing in the wave pool

Love this shot of Mitchell!

Hot Mamas!! Ow Ow!!! :D

I only have one eye, but Oakley's face was too adorable!

I sure do love this man. It was AWESOME to get away and spend time together, just the two of us. Love you, babe! :*

I Caught a Bird

 Derek came running into the house this afternoon yelling that there was a bird in the grass that won't fly away. Sure enough, I found a older fledgling scissor-tailed flycatcher sitting in the grass. I picked it up to see if it was injured, took a few pictures and opened my hand. It perched on my fingers for a split second before it fluttered and flapped awkwardly across the yard, aiming for the large tree just across the fence. It missed the branch by inches and landed in the mud behind the barn. I checked on it a few hours later and it was still there, so I walked around the long way into the pasture, picked up the kids' toys they had dropped and grabbed the bird on my way back. The neighborhood kids were fascinated and we did a quick biology lesson before I headed back home. The bird was struggling, so I opened my hand again and it fluttered into a bush. Safe enough.

 Isn't it cute?!

I love the beautiful orange color under the wings. Definitely one of my favorite birds.

Community Helper Day and Watching the Washer

Derek had Community Helper Day at preschool! He chose to dress up like a police officer, so we dug the Halloween box out of the attic and thankfully found a hat and shirt that look like something a police officer would wear. Bryce was excited to see the fancy clothes, but he was more enthralled with watching the clothes washer when we got back. He insisted on lounging on top of the washer as it spun, lol. I guess it's good entertainment. 

 Police Officer Derek!

 Oh these boys! So adorable!

 He looks so uncomfortable, but he refused to get down

I love seeing his excited smiles!

Dallas Zoo Dinosaurs

It's Spring!! Spring means taking pictures in the bluebonnets and we were lucky enough to find a patch growing right inside the fence for the parking lot. Some of the kids were cooperative enough to sit for a couple pictures, but most of them were having too much fun running around. They all seemed to think it was ok to squish the flowers, eek! After we all caught up, we headed off to the zoo!! We were so excited to get in to see the new dinosaur exhibit! There's a new baby giraffe due any day now, too. Unfortunately, it's Good Friday and none of us realized that is a school holiday, so that meant HUGE crowds of people. We'll have to go back when Aunt Lanae gets here next month. :D There was a cool travelling dinosaur costume show that had travelled all the way from Australia and the kids were somewhat impressed. I think we were too far away from the stage for the kids to really understand that these were realistic costumes, but it was still pretty cool! Most of the dinosaurs in the zoo exhibit were recycled from the Heard, but it was still cool to see them! A lot of them had baby dinosaurs set up with them, and they were adorable. :) Scotty, a kid from Derek's Primary class, was hanging out with us while his mom was at work. He seemed to like the dinosaurs, particularly the brachiosaurus. We were so excited to have unlimited passes to ride the train and the boys were thrilled to be able to see all the dinosaurs as we rode in a circle. We all had a great time and are excited to go back soon!

Derek and Isaac are such stinkers :)

Andrew is such a sweet sunshine face!

Bryce wanted a closer look at the bluebonnets and gave me his silly cheese face, lol.

Clara was thrilled to be surrounded by pretty flowers close enough to touch

The kids were thrilled to see battling tortoises. Derek got in trouble for throwing sticks at them.

Derek, Scotty, Gracie and Nathan are all excavating at the fossil table!

Jenna, Derek, Nathan and Gracie are squeezed into one train car

Bryce was so excited to be right behind the engine! This kid sure loves trains.

My favorite dinosaur is Parasaurolophus - and there were tiny little babies in a nest next to it!

No ID for this one, but I'd guess Acrocanthosaurus based on the spines (which should be skin-covered)

Coelophysis on a log

Clara was a little wind-blown, but she was clapping every time the engine rang its bell.

Bryce loved the Brachiosaurus best! He calls it the "brachy-saurus" :)

Derek begged to take a picture with this Parasaurolophus. We walked past it into the park and Derek wouldn't leave without a picture. :)

Easter at Preschool

Derek had an Easter Egg Hunt at preschool today! He was so excited when he hopped in the car with his personally decorated Easter bag and his collection of goodies. Bryce had no idea what all the fuss was about until he saw Derek dump the bag on the table at home. Then he became VERY interested, haha! Derek is such a good big brother! He helped Bryce pull up a chair and they sat there, thick as thieves, divvying up his candy and eating nearly all of it in just the one sitting. Silly boys. Clara wasn't happy to be left out of all the action, so I set her up with some animal crackers and milk in her high chair.

Candy Craze!

Bama's Birthday!

Happy birthday, Bama! Bryce doesn't say "grandma" so he calls Tammy "Bama(w)." Tammy wanted to do something fun for her birthday so we went to do Whirly Ball and Laser Tag last night. We put the kids to bed, left the house in the charge of a couple teens from the ward and high-tailed it outta there!  We had a lot of fun playing Laser Tag (I won one and Colton won the next!) and then we played Whirly Ball. We found out the moderator attended an LDS ward in Frisco and he gave us several extra minutes of game time which we thoroughly enjoyed. :) After playing, we stopped at Cold Stone for a yummy sweet treat. We had cake tonight though. Tammy had a baby shower cake that wasn't picked up, so she brought that home as her birthday cake tonight. It was still delicious. :) The kids are always crazy about cake, no matter what flavor or color it is. I grabbed all the pictures in this post from Liz. Thanks Liz!

 Me, Tammy, Jenna, Jon, Austin, Liz, Colton and Mitchell - waiting for our turn to Laser Tag!

Mom really got into her waffle cup. :D

 Me, Mitchell, Jenna and Jon enjoying our Cold Stone ice cream

  Austin was definitely rethinking his ice cream choice, lol!

Happy birthday, Bama!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

One of the fridges at the shop broke, so Mom brought home one of the spare cakes as a birthday cake. We had Austin and Liz and Jon and Jenna and all the kids over for yummy cake and Mom's favorite dinner - Hawaiian Haystacks! That was always her choice for dinner growing up. :) It's pork, gravy, crushed pineapple, chinese noodles, sliced almonds, coconut shavings, cherries and sliced green onions over a bed of rice. Yum! We're so glad we get to spend so much time with this fantastic lady! We love you, Grandma!!!

Happy birthday, Grandma!

Fire Engine Surprise

As I was putting the boys to bed tonight, we heard a loud siren and the boys dashed out of bed to find a fire engine right across the street. The neighbors had a false CO2 alarm but the neighborhood kids were thrilled with the entertainment. Derek and Bryce insisted on walking across the street (even though it was starting to sprinkle and the wind was pretty stiff) to see the firetruck. The firemen came out after checking the house and took some time to answer the boys' questions. Derek was fascinated with the silver bell on the front fender of the fire truck. One of the firemen took him over to the truck and showed him how to ring the bell. He was so excited! Bryce loved the "monster truck" tires and the reflective strips on the fireman's jacket. He tried to ask questions, but I couldn't even understand what he was asking, and the fireman wasn't faring much better. Another fireman gave the boys fire department badge stickers and they insisted on wearing them to bed tonight. I love being part of an awesome community!

They totally want to be firefighters now. :)