Friendcation 2013

I never associated moving to Texas with the beach. But 2 summers in Texas and we have had our fair share of the beach and it makes me so happy that we will all have these fun memories as a family.

Our most recent trip was to Galveston for our 2nd Annual Friendcation! This time 6 couples were able to come and there were 4 kids total. And 4 pregnant women in tow. We just had the best time! Our typical day included the beach in the morning, out to lunch, back to the beach house for naps, and then off to the clubhouse pool in the afternoon. I was in the sun way too much but my sunburn isn't that painful :) Amelia is a product of Juan and me (we don't particularly love the hot sun) and there was a shady spot at the pool that she had to be. When I tried to talk her into joining our friends across the pool she said, "it too hot over there". That said, we do love our sun in small amounts, so this 3 day vacation was perfect! When I was sticky and sandy and gritty, I knew in just 2 short days I'd be back to the indoor life, haha.

Each evening we cooked dinner back at the house and just chatted, watched the kids play, and played games into the night as the babies slept. We are never all together without kids so that was a big bonus. I really feel so blessed to have our friends here. Recently at a friend gathering I got choked up and thought, this is our family away from family.

Things we learned:
1. It is much easier to travel with a 3 and 1-year-old than it was last year with a newborn at 2-year-old.
2. Maya is going to be good and tan this summer. We've never seen her this dark!
3. We are getting old. The first 2 nights we were to bed by midnight. 3rd night was a small triumph, we made it until 1 am.

Our current state of chaos

A week ago we got news that everything with the house was going so well, that they wanted to move up closing 2 whole weeks! So we moved 2 days ago! It has been a crazy and busy week, but we are in our house and I am completely in love with it. 

And since my house is never going to be in perfectly clean and tidy picture-taking condition, I decided to show you the inside of the house only 2 days after moving in. Please enjoy the chaos.

 The kitchen. Pretty much unpacked, thanks to Juan.

 I love that we have an upstairs and Maya has become a professional at stairs. Our $11 gate will go unused for now. I also love the tv on top of the fireplace feature (that you can't really see here, but it is what the couch is facing, haha).

 Our gigantic pantry/storage/laundry room.

 Our front room that will go empty for a while. And for right now is filled with everything!

 Our awesome backyard.

 The playroom. I am floored that we kept all these toys in one corner of our family room in the apartment. And are you keeping count of all the windows we have to cover? 4 total.

 The third bedroom/eventual baby's room. And Maya's napping room for now.

 Our bedroom in all its glory. It is a wonderfully huge master bedroom, but of course we have saved our room for last and it is an absolute mess. I have plans of a sitting area in this room, and maybe even a sewing table.

 Master bath.

 Master closet. Big enough for a bed. When I suggested it, Amelia wasn't too thrilled.

 Girls' bathroom.

Girls' bedroom. That is window-to-be-covered #4. No the High School Musical blanket is not a permanent window covering. The best part is it is perfectly viewed from outside, our neighbors already know how classy we are.

Ginger is in town!

My sister Ginger is in town with her husband and cutest baby ever Bennett. We have been having a blast and this last weekend we took a trip to Corpus Christi and visited the beach. The girls have been having the best time with family in town and they are in love with Bennett. Maya is a bit territorial, but Amelia has been really great and loves playing with baby Bennett. 

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Ginger & Sam leave tomorrow. We have had so much fun playing games and hanging out together. We are sure lucky to have visitors!

Maybe even bigger news...

So since we went out and bought a house, we might as well fill it, right?

Our family is growing.

We are so excited to announce we will be having another sweet, cuddly, scrumptious newborn- due 11/12/13.

Let's be real, is there ever going to be a day that we don't need a baby in our life?

My Mornings

This post isn't about my evenings. Where maybe I'm the mom who is shuffling Amelia into bed, begging her to go right to sleep because I just need a break. And maybe I sing Rudolph (her nightly request) at triple speed and hightail it out of there so I can plop myself on the couch and be a bum. No, this post is about my mornings. The mornings look much more idealistic over at our house.

Each morning I am greeted by HUGE smiles from miss Amelia, as she can't wait to climb in and snuggle mommy in bed. Soon after, miss Maya joins us and that is where the party really starts. Maya reaches for help up on the bed as Amelia is yelling, Maya come say hi to me! Then Maya proceeds to hug Amelia a thousand times and Amelia literally says the words, "I'm so happy, I love Maya." This happens every morning people. And then Maya moves in on me and snuggles and plays and the sun is shining and let me tell you, every morning I am full of so much joy.

I love my children. 

That is all.

BIG news!!!

This house is in the process of becoming OURS. That's right, we are growing up, we are saying good bye to apartment life, and we are buying a house!

The process happened so quickly. I requested to see a different house a couple Saturdays ago. And that house was a dud. So then there was another house that wasn't officially on the market yet. This house. And we were blown away. It was one of those things where if we kept looking and let this house pass us by, we would be comparing every house to this house. So we made our move and we close in about a month!

It is a couple miles away from where we are now, which we know we love. It is in a cul-de-sac and right next to the neighborhood pool and playground. It is spacious and lovely and the backyard is huge and perfect for our family. We are in love with this house.

  Our covered patio and our swing set! There are huge trees that provide shade.

We are so happy for our next adventure. 

Balance

I have been really focusing on the girls these last few weeks. We are doing Mommy school almost every day and Amelia is really catching on to recognizing letters (S, E, O are her most consistent) and she loves our time together learning. Maya is learning animal sounds and identifying her nose, eyes, ears, etc. She is hit and miss with loving learning time, haha. Maya has also re-invigorated our love for books. Amelia went through a period where she was less interested. But Maya is obsessed now so we spend a lot of time reading together all three of us. I love this part of being a mom. And I am proud of myself for getting more consistent. 

And just like me, whenever I improve one thing, other things fall off the map. This time it's the state of my apartment and the constant mess. Also my cooking has gone way downhill and I just don't have the motivation to do it. Thank goodness for Juan to pick up the slack when I go through the down slopes. 

Speaking of Juan, he has started a new position with Dell in Accounting and it is looking to be a great position for him! He is coming home happy and really likes his managers and co-workers and I couldn't be happier for him. Juan is such a hard-worker, I love that he is enjoying his work.

And Juan and I, on our downtime, have been having Dawson's Creek marathons. Something I love about Juan is he has always watched all my girly dramas, even before we met! I remember when I first met him when I was 15, I was watching Days of Our Lives and Passions (soap operas, which I don't watch anymore mom, don't worry) and he was watching the same soaps! We are in the Pacey and Joey episodes and it's fun to hear him share things like he remembers his mom watching this part with him, or they definitely changed the song it was actually a different song playing in the background. He has a good memory! Or he has a secret obsession with Dawson's Creek, haha!

We have big things coming up in our near future. It is so exciting to go through changes together as our little family. 

Amelia took these pictures, pretty good!

Maya's face is exactly how she felt about being forced to sit in the itchy dirt for these pictures.

But we are Texans now, we can't pass up a photo shoot with the Blue Bonnets.