spring break - texas!

Spencer's boss was going to Mexico with his family for spring break, which made it pretty easy for Spencer to take the time off as well. So we decided to take advantage and go the best place within reasonable driving distance to see family - Austin! It is great knowing some cousins are close now, cousins we really don't know because we have always lived so far from them.

The drive to Austin was horrible. We drove all day on a Friday and construction and traffic (and a screaming Sadie) set us back enough to hit rush hour traffic in Dallas (3 pm). Then we had a ton of rain and slow drivers and more grumpiness and then way more traffic into Austin...

We finally arrived after almost 10 1/2 hours in the car. Seeing the Smith's was such a welcome sight! Kristina made pizza and we ate late then the kids crashed.

Saturday was rainy again but we braved the rodeo anyway. The petting zoo was so cool! We stayed in there for a long time. We also saw a baby kangaroo. Then we went to the pig races and that was really cute and fun. We had to get some "carnival food" before heading back for nap time for the little kids.

That night was so fun - date night! Kristina got a babysitter and we went to Pappasito's for their fajitas. Oh my goodness - YUM. We stopped at SteinMart (kinda old-person-ish) and HEB on the way home. We stayed up late talking and watching Jimmy Fallon clips. Kristina and Tyson are some of my very favorite people to hang out with. They are just cool.

Sunday was a regular Sunday. I loved visiting their ward; a friend from high school is now in Kristina's ward and is the Laurel advisor so I went to her class to see her teach and it was one of the most incredible lessons I have ever heard. It is so satisfying to see friends doing great things after many years. That night we had pulled pork for dinner and then went to Lake Austin (?) to watch the boats and enjoy the beautiful Sunday evening. Spencer was totally drooling for a boat. I was falling in love with Austin.

Monday was our crazy busy day but was just so much fun. We hiked ("hiked") Mt. Bonnell and had great views of the city and mansions and the lake below. Then Kristina went to Chuy's for chips and dip and my family went to Sprouts (LOVE AND MISS THAT PLACE SO MUCH!) for lots and lots of fruit. We ate fruit and chips and dip for lunch and it was just so yummy.

That afternoon Tyson met us downtown to canoe on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin. Keeping the kids in the canoes and keeping us upright was a little bit of a challenge but the views were amazing and the weather was absolutely perfect. It was so gorgeous.

After that was food truck time! We went to Torchy's Tacos for some of the best tacos ever, then to Gordough's for donuts. These "donuts" were insane - we got Blackout and I can't remember the name of the banana cream cheese one but both were so good.

After that we went to the bridge that the bats fly out of at sunset and watched that. We took some exhausted kids home and got them to bed.

Tuesday we drove out to Brenham (toward Houston) for two reasons: Blue Bell ice cream factory tour AND to see the bluebonnets. We were about 10 days early for the bluebonnets and out picture attempts were just plain not good, BUT the factory tour was fun and ice cream at the end...what could be better? The drive was long and Sadie wasn't sleeping but it was ok. Early bedtime again.

We enjoyed our last night hanging out with our closest (geographical) family. On Wednesday we drove home, rushing pretty big time because of tornadoes and hailstorms in NW Arkansas (they were crazy, especially when we got stuck in the first part of it).

It was such a fun trip, and a great reminder that having kids and having stuff be "hard" is not an excuse not to do things. Because what we will remember in a year is just the fun stuff and not the hard stuff (maybe?). And it is always worth it when you go see family - those connections are just far too important.

And Sadie keeps asking for "Baby Paka" (Parker).

basketball

I really am so proud of my oldest two. Within two weeks of moving here they both let me persuade them to join the basketball league at our local Baptist church. Neither had played before, neither ended up being the best on their team. But they had fun, learned another TEAM sport (my favorite kind), and got to know a lot of people.

They had kind of opposite experiences; Tyler's team lost the coach and then someone stepped up but it was never the same and they just struggled. By their sixth game, when they actually tied it up and then WON, by 1 point, the gym erupted and I think I cried. Tyler played his heart out and really started to like it.

Emma's team, on the other hand, was awesome. Her coach was incredible and there were only 4 teams but Emma's team would win by at least double digits every single time. Once she got more aggressive and made some baskets she really started to like it (one thing that is frustrating as a parent is when my kids don't like something simply because they aren't good at it). Her team was so great! It was fun to watch her games. She got into the semi-finals and then the final game, when she played her friend's team. It was close this time and we were down for a few minutes, but we came back and won.

Here are some pictures.

on being a mom

Being a mom is pretty much all I do - it encompasses everything in some way. Every single day. I have no time until 9 pm where I don't have a little person around asking for something or talking or crying. (Emma is no longer a little person by the way.) But I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a parent. What it means TO parent. To mother.

Sadie is really hard. She is sassy and demanding and cries a lot and wants me to hold her all the time. She is a big girl and she is getting heavy. Taking her out is hard (I would rather take the other 3 HANDS DOWN than take Sadie anywhere alone. The other day I had an idea. Sadie has no control over her own life. She is dragged everywhere and it's cold so even if she did ask me to go to the park JUST FOR HER TO PLAY, I would say no. She is in a tough spot. Being the youngest has its perks but it can't be easy. So I decided to give her control.

Normally I wake her up at 7:30 a.m. because by then I am ready for the day and she eats while watching Daniel Tiger and all is right with the world. She naps from about 1-3 (if we're lucky) but with her being so grumpy all the time I wondered if she needed more sleep. So, last Thursday was the "Sadie is in charge" day. She slept until 8:30 a.m. and I figured she wouldn't take a nap. But she was so happy! She didn't want to get dressed so she got to stay in her warm jammies. She didn't want to eat breakfast so I didn't make her. We took Tanner to preschool (she didn't have a choice there to stay home). When we got home she asked for eggs so I made them (it was almost 10 by this point). I let her take whatever she wanted into her crib for "nap time." She didn't fight me about napping and slept an hour and a half. I don't remember the rest of the day because I'm pretty sure she didn't control the afternoon, but she was so much happier. I am trying to give her choices (go to bed or be tickled; she HATES to be tickled so she chooses going to bed...but SHE CHOOSES it). That makes me feel like a good mom.

Last night we baby-sat twin baby girls. For a minute I glimpsed what it would be like to have 6 kids (the youngest two twins). I ate up those three hours with the babies, who were perfect angels and didn't even cry. Spencer had one, I had one, they were fed and happy...  Spencer asked me if it made me want more and I was thrilled to say no. I love knowing that we are complete and I will borrow babies anytime because I love to, and I also love to know that no more babies are in our future. I feel like our family is perfect and I'm not trying to keep up or compete with anyone who is having more than me. I just feel so content with my little family.

Lastly, I am reminded that I need to stand up for myself, for motherhood, for families, and for our values. Today at story time at the library I was with some friends and all our kids. Toward the end we were whispering about something (can't remember) and not paying attention to the book anymore. After it was over the librarian came up to us, and said "Girls, If you are going to talk while story time is going on, next time move to the back." (Whatever, fine, we shouldn't have been talking.) But then she said, "Remember to model good behavior for your children and set the example about what is ok and what isn't." That bugged me and I brushed her off and was ready to walk away. My friend Jen didn't take it, however. She told her that her mother had died and she didn't need another one. She said that crossed a line, and while we shouldn't have been talking, she did not need to treat us like children and insult our parenting. I was so proud! We both have 11 year old girls and said how if they had been there and heard that it would have been really extra inappropriate.

It got me thinking about, first, remembering to be quiet during story time, but also to stand up for ourselves and for what is important. I don't know if that lady had kids, but I remember in the moment being so glad Tanner couldn't hear. He probably wouldn't have understood, but for her to insult our parenting just because we were whispering was appalling and I am glad Emma and Tyler weren't there. Also, it makes me want to stand up for myself more! I would have been stewing about it all day, and probably would have gotten more and more irritated, but Jen was a good example to me about getting it off your chest, righting a wrong, and moving on.

These things are all random, but all connected in what I do as a mom. I sure love my kids, and I know Sadie will come into her own soon enough.

painting

When we first saw this house, from the outside, we were in love. When Spencer walked in and saw (out the windows) the backyard/lot, he was sold. Done. Nothing mattered after that. I didn't quite put those blinders up so fast. I hated the kitchen. Another thing that I don't like is the step-down living room. But I can't fix that. Lastly....some of the paint colors are pretty bad. Well, WERE bad. I only have two rooms left that need to be changed in the near future. There was a LOT of lime green in this house. But it is more like avocado green. And when the ceilings are painted the same, it's just horrid.

Sadie's room came first. It was a true blue and I didn't mind the blue but I did in my little girl's room. I painted it a gray I got for $10 in the mis-tinted section of Lowe's. It looks a little periwinkle in her room because of the off white ceiling and off white trim, but I like it. Way better.

I had a little "helper."

Before^^

The lighting isn't good but it looks way better. I have since put stuff on the walls - I will post pictures of her cute room some other time.

Here was Emma's room. She has such a great room - it is huge and has the best view in the house. But wow the color. She was so patient and didn't nag me to change it. I knew it would take a long time but I had to paint the ceilings too, and that was hard. Oh man, I don't like painting ceilings.

And here it is now (it is cleaner now though). I did the same gray that is in the living room and kitchen and it looks great in her room. She likes to change accessories pretty often so having a neutral gray on the walls makes those changes way easier. Now to get stuff up on HER walls. And find new curtains or something that will match...

Her bathroom and jack and jill were also green.

And look 100x better now. Also had to paint the ceilings white, from green. (I had soreness in muscles I didn't know I had after painting all those ceilings...)

I also painted the dining room. One more HOORAY for snow days (more on that later). I didn't hate the dining room, but wanted fresher and brighter. I thought this color would have a bit more green to it but I still love it. This is the first room when you walk in the house. It needed a facelift. (This blue is also in our guest bathroom, and I really like it in there. For now. Ha.)

Before:

I love it!! It does feel much brighter. I never realized until about 10 years ago just how much paint can change the look and feel of a house. It does so much to spruce it up. The only white walls in this entire house are in our walk-in closets. :)

That ugly green color is still in one more room (well, two: the craft room and connecting laundry room), but I think I need about a month of recovery before I take that on.

visitors

One of the reasons we bought this house is that we have A TON OF SPACE for visitors. I feel like in our day to day we don't even use about 1/3-1/2 of this house. We wanted to have a lot of places for our kids and their friends when they are older.


Tyson and Kristina and (cute!) family came the day after Christmas for a week. It was so fun to have our first visitors, who are our closest family members at 9 hours away in Austin. The downside was that it was FREEZING the absolute entire time they were here, and we had sickness going on (luckily just our family and not theirs) so it wasn't as fun as it could have been. But our cousins got a lot of play time and that was the most important. These kids are CUTE and little Parker was just so adorable and sweet.

The day after the Smith's left to go home, we started on our kitchen remodel. That was pretty much done after two weeks, and that night my DAD arrived! The kids were SO EXCITED for Papa to come.

We hiked to Crystal Bridges, toured a cave (way cooler than I was expecting at first glance) and Dad was a total workhorse! He replaced electrical stuff, helped us figure out home theater stuff, put together a few pieces of furniture, played with the kids, ran through our neighborhood, toured the Walmart museum, taught us how to make kettle corn, etc. It was fun, and the kids were so happy to have Papa here for a full week (and me too!).

We love visitors! We want more!

eleven

Often, VERY often, I forget Emma is only 11. Technically still a child yet so far removed from childhood. She is so grown up and mature, she bakes, she shares my shoes and wants to share more, and she is a great friend.

Emma is keenly tuned in to those around her. She knows when I need a minute and don't want to talk to anyone, she knows when I am at my wits end with Sadie and handles it (read: saves Sadie's life), she just understands social cues and can even hold her own in adult conversations.

Emma has handled the move and the HUGE changes that came with that SO well. She is flourishing in her new school and with her new friends. Last week when I was driving her to tennis she told me she already likes it better here than she liked California because she feels like she fits in better. That made me sad, but it also reassured me that we made the right choice to move here because we really felt like it would be the best thing for our family.

Emma is competitive. Oh MAN she is competitive. When we got our ping pong table and I beat her handily she made a goal to beat me and worked her tail off until she beat me once. She wants to be the best at everything and (a fault) if she isn't good at a sport instantly she resists doing it again. We encouraged her to try basketball here, right after we moved here, and she did! She struggled learning a game that everyone else knew already and her first game was a huge learning experience. Her second game was today and she was ready to go. She made 3 baskets, for 1/4 of her team's total points. Watching her was incredible - what a difference in just one week. She is happy when she is the best. We are working on her being happy always, not just when she is the best. (She takes after her dad.)

Emma is good at tennis. For the first time (and likely the last) I am letting her do two sports at the same time. She plays tennis at the Walton Fitness Center. On her first day she had been on a 5 month tennis break so she was rusty. She took out her frustration on me after practice, but pulled herself together and the next week kicked it up a few notches. I love watching her in sports because she is so determined. A "don't care" attitude is not in her make-up. She likes to whoop the other boys in her tennis class.

Emma is really good at piano. She enjoys it and plays all the time. Even in this big house I feel like the piano tune carries everywhere...sometimes good and sometimes bad. I am glad she is determined and that we found a new teacher here so quickly.

She pretty much is awesome. I am so so glad she came first. I am so glad she is 11 now - we officially have a baby-sitter!!! This responsible, beautiful, wonderful girl is such a blessing.

 ^^Opening her bday present from her dad (fresh out of bed) - a charm bracelet.