Father of the Bride sporting the Elvis chops and Corona hat!

On the way to the dinner cruise

Boarding the boat!

Me and the bride!

Breakfast.

Awesome infinite pools!

Our first night in Cabo at the welcome cocktail party.

Yum!

Back to School!

Ethan started at his new preschool in August and he couldn't be happier. He loves his teachers and the new friends he has made. What a big boy!!

Flying Solo!!

I can't believe it had been 8 months since I have been back to Texas! I decided to take a much needed mommy break and head back to my roots for 4 nights. It was a retreat indeed! I stayed with my dear friend Lindsay for two nights and my sister for the second half of my trip. While I missed Eric and the kiddos terribly, I took advantage of the late nights and late mornings with no schedule!!

From the pedicures and margaritas with Lindsay, to hugging and squeezing my sweet niece and nephew, the trip was a blast and just what the doctor ordered! I can't wait to take the whole family back in November for Thanksgiving. God Bless Texas!!

What can I say? He started Kindergarten already?! I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday....

Happy 84th Birthday Papa!!

Really people? There are no words for my cutie pie niece. I loved my time with her and wish I could see her more often.

Thank you to my hubby, friends and family for making my trip a special one!

Pudding + Unattended Toddler = DISASTER

Why haven't I learned yet that leaving a toddler unattended with a potential messy item almost always ends up a disaster? 5 seconds, well, really 5 minutes, was all that I needed. I just needed to brush my teeth and this is what happened:

Really? Thinking back, giving Carson a pudding cup and expecting him to sit nicely and eat was maybe a bit much. I won't lie and say that somewhere in the back of my mind, I may have even had visions that when he was finished, he would get up and throw the empty container in the trash. Crazy I know.

At least Presley was getting a treat. Could Carson really be a mini Ethan? See picture below:

Not even a year ago I snapped this fun one. For all of you loyal blog readers, you may remember the Sharpie disaster of 2008. If you look closely, you may even be able to recognize a similar facial expression from both of them.

I started to get angry and lecture Carson about the bad choice of body painting with pudding. Halfway through the lecture, I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of lecturing and I let him have fun in our shower. I think Mason was a tad jealous of the attention he was getting. Let's hope he doesn't get any ideas from his brothers!

Why yes, that's Donny Osmond...and three stinkin' cute boys!

Sweet summertime is beginning to wrap up. Although I love the carefree days of summer, I can honestly say I'll be the first to welcome the cooler weather and being able to spend time outside without worrying about dehydration and sunburns! We've been enjoying the inflatable pool in the backyard. It's amazing how little it takes to entertain the boys when you stick a slide in it!

So...hanging out for 2 hours at the Toyota dealership with two 2 year olds may seem like a nightmare. I have been putting off taking the car in for service for months now because I absolutely dreaded the task. Much to my surprise, the dealership had a big play area complete with a slide and balloons. Nothing makes a 2 year old happier than slides and balloons! Add a visit from Donny Osmond and the once dreaded errand just turned into an experience I preferred way more than sitting in the heat at the park!

Now, I'm no fan of Donny Osmond. I even had to google his songs to see if there were any great hits that maybe I had missed. Having said this, I'm known to get starstruck pretty easily (i.e. meeting Ryan Cabrerra in a former blog post), being on the same flight as Sheryl Crow, and once meeting that creepy lead singer from Sugar Ray in an airport. I digress. I jumped at the chance to have my picture taken with Donny and he was so incredibly nice. Why was he at the Toyota dealership you ask? No clue. All I know is that he played with the twins and gave them high fives at the end, and that was enough to make me want to join his fan club. Who knows, maybe you'll even see me at Donny and Marie's show on the strip!

Quotables

I have to say that I'm loving age 4 so far. Ethan is asking so many thoughtful questions these days. Our nighttime routine has been especially sweet for me lately because it gives us a chance to talk to him without any interruptions. The conversation tonight tugged at my heart a little more than usual.

Ethan: "Mommy, are you ever going to be a kid again?"

Me: "Nope, I'll never be a kid again."

Ethan: (A little bothered) "Why mommy?"

Me: "Well, we just keep getting getting older every year..." (my lame attempt to try and explain aging)

Ethan: (Still bothered) "Oh...so I'll never be a little baby again?"

Me: (really sad now realizing that he really is growing up, but trying to make him feel good about getting older) "No sweetie, but getting older is fun, you get to do lots of things that you couldn't do when you were little." (all the while failing to mention sore bones, the start of wrinkles, gray hair, etc.)

Ethan: Oh....that just stinks mommy.

This picture was taken last Friday at The District. Ethan is such a proud big brother these days. He's very protective of them and is always trying to guide them around when we're out. Lately, he has been filling the role of second mommy by talking to them when they've made "bad choices".

Me: "Ethan, you're brothers aren't really babies anymore. They're toddlers now."

Ethan: "What's a baller mom?"

Me: "You mean toddler?" "Well...(me, trying not to laugh) a toddler is not a baby, but not quite a big boy yet."

Ethan: "Oh...so my brothers are ballers now."

Papa- this definition is for you:

Taken from the Urban Dictionary (yes, there is such a thing):

Baller: a thug that has made it to the big time or used to describe any thug that is now living large.

Man I love that 4 year old.

Happy 4th Birthday Ethan!!

This past weekend we celebrated Ethan's 4th Birthday at Bounce U. It was a great time complete with 25 preschool kids running and bouncing with endless energy. I cannot even begin to wrap my brain around him turning four. He is growing and changing so very fast that it is dizzying at times to keep up with him. Happy 4th Birthday Ethan! We love you so much!

If you a regular blog follower, then you already know about last year's cake disaster. I think we redeemed ourselves with Spider man this year. Note to self: never plan a children's birthday party again! Paying Bounce U to take care of it was most definitely the way to go!

So excited! Did I mention he was up at 4:30 a.m. ready to go to his party?

Ethan picked Chili's for his family birthday dinner. Yum!

Just had to include a newborn pic of E in this post. So sweet! This seems like another lifetime because it has all gone way too fast. We are so excited to see what this year will bring! Love you E!

San Diego Summer Fun

I know I know, I have been a lazy blogger. It's not that I don't love to do it, but the lazy days of summer have set in and it's so hard to do anything but sit with a good book in hand and soak up the sun. After a month of posting nothing, my guilt got the best of me and I'm making up for it with a VERY long post.

We took our 4th annual summer trip to San Diego and had a ton of fun. We did everything from the beach and Old Town to the zoo and the Wild Animal Park. As always, it was good to get away but always nice to come home to our own beds.

Mason found a friend in the petting zoo.

Cheese!

We headed to the beach after dinner on our first night in San Diego. The swimsuits were still buried in the suitcase but Mason didn't mind. He loved the massive sandbox and preferred to stay on the blanket with me and dig dig dig.

Superstar! (think SNL skit with Mary the Catholic school girl)

Twins experiencing the water for the first time on our trip.

Ready to start the day at the fabulous zoo!

We spent a day at the Wild Animal Park and had a blast! It had a totally different feel than the zoo with many different opportunities to see the animals up close. We started off the day at the carousel.

They even had deer in their petting zoo! After practicing walking up to them instead of sprinting, the boys were really gentle with them.

We bought nectar cups to feed the birds in the aviary. It was such a neat experience if you didn't mind them landing on you. Mason was not a fan of this but Carson and Ethan were loving it.

I love the look on Mason's face here. I think he was a little frightened of being that close to the lion!

Although it was overcast and a bit chilly, it didn't stop Ethan from having a blast. He ran into the freezing water with no hesitation and was just fine spending several hours playing.

Hmmm....I thought it was supposed to be sunny at the beach!

We spent the first half of the morning burying our feet. It was a great way to stay warm until the sun finally came out!

The twins ended their day with a sand fight. The party was definitely over when they got sand in their eyes. Meltdown time!