Scenes From a Perfect Mother's Day

Cooper's and Penny's Mother's Day gifts to me.  

Cooper did a dance in his boots. Love this little spirit!

Penny ate yogurt.  Love this little face!

We enjoyed a quiet, relaxing day at home where I felt appreciated, loved, and so grateful that I get to be the Mama!  We hope all the Mom's in our life enjoyed their day.  Happy Mother's Day, especially to Ma-Mas and Nonnie.  We love you!

On the Days it Rains

As this storm blew in we...

Let the dogs inside.  Ralph has become terrified of storms in his old age.

Played with trains, of course!

(The cute smile is because I haven't yet announced that it is nap time.) 

Then, while the kids napped, I attended to my usual piles of P.L.A.P...

Paperwork...

Laundry...

And Projects!

I hope you are having a serene Thursday!

Where We'll Be This Summer

 In the fall, the kids will be starting at a new school.  We are excited to get into the new school, but the 3-day-a-week class was full for Cooper, so we opted to see how he does going five days a week.  Really I think he will get along just fine, but for the summer, I want to make sure we fit in a lot of easy-going fun!  We plan on taking advantage of my still part-time work schedule and all the fun kid things South Texas has to offer.  The idea is for our activities during the summer to be easy, cheap (or free) and of course FUN!  I'll be posting regularly through the summer all the fun things we find to do.  We started our fun kid activity tour this week with a trip to the Texas State Aquarium splash park.  We have a membership, so admission and parking for us and one guest are free every time we go, since our membership has already paid for itself with our trips to the aquarium earlier in the year. 

I highly recommend the splash park for little kids!  It is clean, well maintained, and perfect for small children to splash around.  It isn't that exciting for bigger kids, which was nice, since my little kids tend to get trampled at a lot of play areas we go to.  This was not an issue on this particular morning.  We were joined by my cousin Ashley and her little one, Charley.  Charley is not quite a year yet, but had a really good time too!

Penny getting more than her feet wet!

Charley is enthralled with the spewing water.

Cooper waits patiently for the water.

There it is!

On This First May Morning...

This morning as I was eating my cereal and gazing out of the breakfast room window, I spied a dolphin fishing for his breakfast.  Wanting Cooper to see the dolphin, I ran with him into the sun room to get a better look.  By then the dolphin had moved on and we were left looking at an uneventful bay.  Cooper said in an annoyed sounding voice, "Mama, I see Dooley, but Dooley isn't a dolphin, she's a dog!"

Maybe next time...

One Spring Weekend

This weekend we attended the CCGS Shrimp Boil, which was a lot of fun!  Typically in the past this event is during the week, and not at a venue conducive to bringing the kids along.  This year it was hosted in one beautiful backyard, where the kids could run around, play with friends, and jump on the trampoline.  It's always fun to watch the kids enjoy something they don't get to do often. (I am SO grateful, however, we don't have a good spot in our yard for one of those and us purchasing one is not an option...they make this mama nervous!)  I am always grateful for any chance for our family to be outside, and I think the kiddos are too!

Two good buddies enjoying some time on the trampoline.

We enjoyed watching the joy unfold...

Penny would have jumped all afternoon if I had let her.

Taking a break in the sunshine.

Four Years of Little Moments

Our big adventures are really built on our small moments.  Since we began our journey into parenthood, we have tried to remember to cherish these times.  I am so glad I have tried to capture some of them too. 

April 2012...Cooper slaps on his boots and goes exploring.

April 2011...Cooper is just plain happy to be by the pool.

April 2010...Cooper tests the waters of  Corpus Christi Bay.

April 2009...Cooper takes his first airplane ride!

April 2008...I discovered I have no pictures from this time (this one was taken in September).
We were waiting to meet Cooper, and for our photo-worthy adventures to begin!

Sometimes, on a Thursday, We...

Build a tent in the living room and camp out...

Blow bubbles in the front yard...

(FYI...Colored crayola bubbles are cool in concept only.)

Finish up lingering projects...

I finally attempted buttons...and proceeded to sew buttons and buttonholes on whatever seemed to need them.

Easter at the Ranch

We were excited this year to spend Easter at the Graham Ranch because Great-Grandma Graham and all six of the Graham great-grand kids were there!  Cooper and Penny had immeasurable fun playing with their cousins in the morning, while waiting for everyone to assemble.  Once the last two great-grand babies arrived, it was time for the egg hunt.  Soon the kids' baskets were overflowing, and pictures had been taken, so the kids continued their fun with a pinata and the slip-n-slide.

Trailblazin'

"You been ranchin' long?"

Egg hunt! 

Slip-n-Slide!

Taking a candy break after the slip-n-slide.

It was really special that Great-Grandma Graham got to be with all six of her great-grandchildren (and some of her children and grandchildren.)

It wasn't all about the kids!  The older generations had fun too! Great-Grandma stayed true to form by yelling "YAHOO!" while on her joy ride.

We relaxed on the porch through the evening as everyone went on their way.  The next morning, Cooper and Penny slept in a little (yea!) and woke up to filled Easter baskets.  Cooper's basket contained "the Dieselworks", which is a Thomas the Train set he has been wanting for months.  He ignored everything else in the basket, he was so thrilled by it.  Penny's basket was full of various ducks, as that is her absolute favorite thing in the world right now.  We stayed through the afternoon, enjoying the company of Ma-mas, Pa-Pa, Uncle Clint, and Aunt Peggy and Uncle Eric.  Such a fabulous Easter weekend!

The Easter Bunny found us at the Ranch!

Cascarones on Easter morning.

Penny, summing up the weekend...

Ready for Summer with Sewing

A little over a week ago I posted about my first big sewing project being completed.  I sort of skipped over the third project I had completed, which really got me excited for summer!  I followed this tutorial to create a new beach bag!  Truly my favorite part of the project was picking out the cute fabric for the job, but I did enjoy learning a few things, like how (and why) to do a back stitch and zig-zag stitch.  I still want to add a button to the front pocket, but I got a little side tracked by the curtains...

I hope my next  project will be warm weather related also...sun dresses for Penny!

Swim Season Has Begun!

Cooper started asking to swim several weeks back, but of course it just wasn't quite warm enough.  On Saturday, however, we felt the weather was nice enough and the pool temperature up enough to make it the first official swim day of the year.  Poor Cooper was down for a nap during the window of appropriate swim weather, but Penny (who had napped earlier in the day) got to test the water!  She squealed with delight and kept trying to wriggle out of our arms, as if she could swim by herself.  On Sunday Coop got his chance to swim because we went to a friends' house who has a heated pool.  Both kids had a blast but this first swim weekend pointed out two things: we need to buy a new float suit for Penny (the one we have keeps riding up into her face) and enroll both kids in swim lessons. Nothing needs to stand in the way of these two water babies!