Victoria's 2nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby, Victoria! We went to the mall for lunch to celebrate and ride the carousel, just us girls. Jason and the boys are in Colorado camping. We had a great time at the mall, and Victoria enjoyed the carousel, twice :-). We went to Mattitos for dinner with Aunt Stephanie, and the girls were great. We then went across the street, and Aunt Stephanie treated them both to some candy at the candy shoppe :-). Then it was on to the fountain to throw some pennies. All in all, is was a great birthday. So blessed to have our special, sweet girl. Love her sweet kisses :-). She is talking much more now, and saying some 2 word sentences. She loves her baby doll and strolls her around. Katharine is being a good big sister, and trying to teach her things she feels is imperative to know :-).

The boys had a snow ball fight in the mountains of Colorado, even though it was 72 outside! They also got to cook some smores. Hoping they sleep in a little in the morning for Jason. They were up at 0550 this morning with the time change!

Kaden and Colin graduate Kindergarten!

I cannot believe it, but this school year is over. Colin and Kaden are on their way to First grade. It is amazing, how much they have learned this year. Special thanks to Mrs. Buffington (Kaden's teacher), and Ms. Ballesteros (Colin's teacher).

Katharine's play date and Book Fair

Me and Katharine had a play date with Joanne and Emma at Pump it Up. We haven't been there in a while, and I was so proud of Katharine! She was doing the obstacle course and slide all by herself! No help! She was a pro! So proud of her! She was proud too! She is growing up! Grew 3 inches this year! She was so happy and had such a great time during the play date. Emma came over to our house after :-)

Kaden and Colin had their book fair at school. I got to go and help them pick out a few books. Colin was not overly impressed. After some coaxing, he only bought a few books, and one was for Katharine :-). His favorite was a book about Storms. Kaden came into the library and wanted everything that wasn't tied down :-). Kidding. He ended up with 8 books, with 2 for Katharine. He had 2 Star Wars and 2 Scooby doo books. Very expensive boy :-). It was fun to visit them and spend time with them at school. Plus, I'm glad we have instilled in them a love of reading.

Katharine 4 year check up

Katharine had her 4 year check up. She is growing great! Sight and hearing are good! We had to get our 4 year immunizations, and that stunk! I held her during the shots, and she cried, but did not kick like she has in the past! She really was fine by the time we got her sucker! I took her for ice cream after :-). She is a big girl now!

The launch of Discovery, STS-133!

Discovery Launch!

Jason and I are in Florida with Kaden and Colin for the STS-133 launch of space shuttle Discovery! This has been a life long dream of mine, and I cannot believe that we all witnessed the launch up close and personal with congressional launch tickets from our Senator John Cornyn! There are no words!
NASA picked us up in the mall parking lot several hours prior to the launch. We made our way to Kennedy Space Center in time to see the Winnebago type trailer take the astronauts to the launch pad! We finally made it to the viewing site, and I was a little disappointed, as I was so hoping to be closer! We were still about 3 miles away. Still, thrilled to be there! Kaden and Colin did great, as they were distraced by their itouches. Sadly, the itouches batteries died about an hour prior to launch. At that time, they resorted to beating up on each other a little bit. Strange behavior for them. They are only recently becoming more aggressive with each other. Thank goodness, we did not have to throw them out in the swamp as alligator dinner, as we were saved by the launch!
The launch was postponed 3 minutes due to some sort of security issue. People were speculating that some goofball was out in his boat in the solid rocket booster water landing area. Goofy! At any rate, there was only 90 seconds left in the launch window when they restarted the clock! Whew!
Kaden and Colin wanted to take photos with our iphones while I did video, and Jason did camera. There are no words to describe the launch! It was very quiet. Viewers were quiet. It was like we were all in awe of the sight. We saw the plume of smoke for what seemed like several seconds before we heard the sounds of the launch. It was stunning. Speechless. Everyone was speechless. Then we heard the noise of the launch, heard that Discovery was clearing the tower, and then it was elation! Everyone whooping and clapping! So wonderful and stunningly beautiful. So amazing to witness Discovery propel herself into space. To witness people do what they dream. Breathtaking. And during that time, I was a 12 year old girl in elementary school, watching in awe.
Colin and Kaden said that it was "Awesome!" Their photos are fantastic! Kaden said he was so happy that my dream came true! It was amazing to share this with them. NASA says that the astronauts that will explore Mars are not engineers, or in college. They are in Kindergarten and first grade. Who knows? Maybe they will be Kaden or Colin or Katharine for that matter! I am so eternally grateful for the opportunity to witness a launch in person.
#1 on my bucket list: check :-) God speed Discovery!!!

Colin and Kaden's 6th Birthday party!

Colin and Kaden are 6! We had their birthday party at Sci Tech Discovery Center in Frisco. It was the Rocket themed party, where they conduct experiments using rockets, soda, and mentos :-). The kids all loved it! They had to guess which ingredient would cause the largest "explosion". In the end, it was the Mentos! Huge gush of soda! They were in awe! Nana, Papa, Grandpa Mark, Mimi, Aunt Mindy, Uncle Shawn, Aidan, Aunt Steph and Uncle John were all there to help us celebrate :-).

They wanted a Tom and Jerry themed party, and each had their own cake. We first sang Happy Birthday to Colin, and then to Kaden :-). There were kids every where! 26 kids total! Good grief! We then got to explore the exhibits at Sci Tech. Very cool! Kara Price came up to me later with tears in her eyes. Her son, Truman, is the now 4 year old ex 23 weeker, that has some impluse control issues. Kaden and Colin were told to lead the children out to Sci Tech. Kaden saw Truman, and told him that he could be the line leader. Kara was so touched by his kindness. I got tears too! As a parent, you just want to raise your kids to be compassionate, kind, individuals. I'm hoping we're on target. Kaden showed we are :-).

Happy, Happy Birthday to my amazing sons! You are both such Blessings in our lives! We love you more than you'll ever know. . .