Spring Break Pizza Night

Let me just start by saying that we have the best friends ever (not all of whom were present tonight)!  I love these families and I love these kids.  The kids play so well together.  Caden can not wait to play with his friends and he never ever wants them to go home.  It is always a relaxing time (in the midst of relative chaos) and my awesome friends leave my house looking better than when they came.  We are so blessed!  This afternoon we had a rather impromptu pizza and movie night.  Well the kids were having so much fun in the yard we never put the movie in.  It was such a beautiful day and why not leave the mess outside

We started by making our own pizzas.  The kids made their own personal pizzas which went more smoothly than I expected.  Cooper is the only one cooperating with my photo taking.  If you look closely you can see a foot sticking up.  That is Caden who literally dove out of the way as soon as the camera came out!

All seven kids did a great job and really made very little mess!

Kaley made a pizza that looked like her Dad’s face  LOL

Caden and Brendan’s pizzas!

Kennedy and Reese discovered they could be friends tonight.  Kennedy is very mobile now (and tall) and is talking pretty well lessening the almost year between them.  They chased each other around the island screaming in delight as they found each other.  It was incredibly noisy but really cute to watch at the same time.  

Caden was heart broken that the movie wasn’t happening so Stephanie and Brendan stayed and we let the boys watch 20 minutes of Cars.  Kennedy wants to be wherever they are doing whatever they are doing.  She is definitely the tag along little sister.

We looked over and found the boys in this position watching the movie.  They are such sweet little friends.  And you should hear their conversations

It was a great night with great friends.

Anna and Ben’s Wedding

When we told people we were traveling to Wisconsin in February people’s first question was “Did someone die?”  The answer is nope.  This pure blooded Texan braved the cold to attend Adam’s cousin Anna’s wedding.  Apparently according to all his northern family it wasn’t even very cold that weekend.  Considering it has yet to freeze in Houston (the mosquitos are going to carry us all away in a few months!) a high that is below freezing sounded insane to me.  I borrowed winter gear and as promised there was an appropriate amount of heat everywhere and I was quite comfortable

It was a quick weekend trip but it was fun to get to catch up with all of Adam’s extended family we don’t get to see very often.  Oh yes, and did I mention we left the kids with KK?!!  Two full nights of sleep and no one cried or whined for 2 whole days.  Not even Adam when we got the C boarding group on Southwest

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.  Missing are the photos of everyone at the table (except me) trying to balance their utensils on their nose during the seated dinner.  I’m sure they will surface on Facebook!

Adam’s Aunt Susie is a photographer and grabbed a few shots of us.  It was a nice change from our usual balancing it on a trash can and using the timer

Liz and Hazel

Aunt Susie and Jim

Aaron and Kelly

The Nyholt Men

And of course the bride and groom!

Gram lined up to catch the bouquet

Adam’s parents dancing

Adam’s Dad grabbed the next two shots of us!

Aren’t I doing great at staying on top of photos this year?!?

Fun at the Zoo

These photos are from the very beginning of February.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Houston.  It was mid 70′s, not too humid and perfectly clear skies. We decided we had to spend the day outside along with 5 million other Houstonians.  You have to love the first beautiful day after our 3 weeks of rainy “cold” winter  We meet our friends Josh and Lesley and their clan, Jaden, Ainsley and Lucy at the zoo for a fun afternoon.

We parked literally a mile away and walked.  Adam might be a little impatient when it comes to looking for a parking spot

Caden and Ainsley are so cute together!

The little girls shared a stroller

The daddies with their baby girls

The Butcher children cooperated, mine not so much

Kennedy has a doll wagon she pulls everywhere.  She was obsessed with pulling our big wagon with the big kids in it.  Of course she only weighs 23 lbs so it wasn’t even budging but when we picked her up or tried to help her she pitched a fit!  She has most definitely entered the independent toddler phase.

Finally we gave in and let her pull the empty wagon.  She wore us down

I think Caden was trying to join the monkeys! He’d fit right in…

We ended the day with dinner in Hermann Park and the kids burning off their remaining energy reserves.

Strawberry Picking

Yesterday we went strawberry picking at Frobergs.  Caden has literally been asking me since the summer if it is time to pick strawberries yet.  It has been a great opportunity to learn about seasons and how certain foods only grow at certain times.  Last year I propped Kennedy up on pile of dirt to get a photo because she wasn’t sitting yet. Man how things change in a year!  This year she was into it.  Her little eyes lit up when I showed her the first strawberry.  It stayed in her bucket all of 2 seconds before she ate it.  This was the pattern of the day.  Kennedy’s bucket was always empty.  I gave up stopping her and just had them charge us for a handful more when we checked out. It was a fun morning and man are these strawberries delicious!  We will be going back as soon as this bucket is gone.

I tried to take her bucket away

We don’t love Kennedy more, Caden is just in this terrible phase where he hates to get his photo taken!  I have dozens of photos of him scowling at me or running out of the frame

And the cheese face…

I LOVE this picture.  These are my crazy silly kids!

ROAR!!!

I really will put up the zoo photos tomorrow

My Handsome Boys

I just ran across these photos of Adam and Caden from Christmas.  I can’t believe how much they look alike!  I even found Caden a little button up that looks just like Daddy.  I’m one lucky lady to have such handsome men in my life

How could I pass this little shirt up

I LOVE this one!  Adam is such a great Dad!!!

Check back soon for zoo pics!