Palmer's Super 4th Party

Well, you know your kid is a four-year-old boy when he requests a superhero party for his celebration.

Despite Rick and my complete lack of knowledge for any of the Marvel guys, we were able to pull off a pretty cute superhero party and encouraged all of Palmer's friends to dress up for an afternoon at the park.

The weather was perfect- a beautiful spring afternoon.

Unfortunately, spring also means a lot of allergens in the air and for the first time ever, Palmer had a complete allergic reaction to something (we have an allergist appointment scheduled in the near future).  His eyes swelled almost shut and tears were running down Palmer's eyes.  Poor Palmer was miserable and we had an emergency trip to CVS for some Benadryl.

Our poor little super guy tried so hard to have fun despite his allergic reaction.

 "My eyes hurt!"

Yes, I meant to take a photo of this cake *after* a piece was cut.  That's called ART, folks.

Speaking of disasters, here's an idea: Let's line up a bunch of four year olds and then arm them with a stick.  I'm just positive that if any candy falls out of a piñata, they will behave themselves and not all go running towards the swinging stick at the same time.

"Nobody ever lets us eat cake..."

Did I mention I forgot to pack forks?  Let's keep that between us...

Our super family.

Palmer's face more accurately describes the state of the party.

 Happy Birthday, Super Duper Palmer!!

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Ten Months With Grace

Our happy, happy girl (and one-take wonder!):

Ten-month stats:
Length: 27 3/4 inches (22nd percentile)
Weight: 18 lb, 12 oz (35th percentile)
Head: 43 1/4 cm (19th percentile)
Teeth: 2

We're so happy to see Grace move past the five consecutive double ear infections and emerge pain free with her brand new ear tubes.

Our sweet little patient before her surgery:

Once the infections subsided, I would say she is really starting to chunk up.  (However, we learned at her check-up that she is still pretty tiny and falls in the 20-30th percentile for height and weight.)


New Skills:

Climbing stairs: My mom and I took the kids to Zilker Park in Austin a few weeks ago.  The park has a lot of fun things to do, but Grace decided that was the morning she wanted to master stairs- scary concrete stairs.  Of course, our 10 month old has no idea how to get down the stairs...

Saying HI: If you listen closely, Grace will tell you "hiiii" from time to time.  And no, she does not say "mama".  Thanks for asking.

Likes:

Toilet paper: I gotta remember to keep that bathroom door closed!

Partying Hard: This girl hit South By Southwest a few weekends ago and went all in.  We had to wheel her out.

Bike rides with Palmer: We had our first family bike ride and I took a mental note to buy Grace a helmet asap. Whoops, poor second child.

Doesn't Like:

Bows: Someone once told me that you gotta "bow train" a little girl, meaning put a bow in her hair every day and she won't pull them out.  You may have noticed, I took this advice very seriously.  But sure enough, Grace is now at the point where she is pulling out her bows.  Nooooo!!!!

Happy 10 months, sweet baby Grace.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Life on the Slopes

Rick, Palmer, and I were able to sneak away to ski last week during Spring Break.  Ever since the cold temps arrived last November, Palmer has been quizzing Rick and me as to when we would ski again.  (I'm afraid we created another lover of the slopes.)

Rick found a break in his schedule.  We gratefully dropped Grace with Gram and PawPaw and hit the open road for Taos.

Last year, I enjoyed the apres ski life since I was still carrying Grace at the time.  Given my competitive and independent streak to prove to Palmer that "girls can ski, too," it was important for me to show Palmer that ole Mama's got it on skis.

One year older, several pounds heavier, and armed with stronger muscles, we saw great improvement in Palmer's ski ability from last year.

We decided to keep him in ski school for two full days.  At the end of each day, Rick and I enjoyed skiing the bunny hill with Palmer and were pleased to see Palmer learning the concept of "stopping" as opposed to last year.

A few of our favorite videos:

The timing of our trip worked perfectly because we happened to overlap with the dear Burrus family's trip to Taos.  Palmer loved spending a little time with Evie and Charlie outside of Dallas.

By his third day, Palmer was taken up on the mountain with a ski instructor.  Halfway down the long run, we were told Palmer complained of being tired and "ready for his nap".  The ski instructor ended up skiing the second half of the mountain *carrying* Palmer.  Sure enough, my kid was asleep in the instructor's arms at the bottom of the run.

One of Palmer's sweet instructors.  (For my note taking purposes, we liked Abe Metzenthin; 314 817 4234/Ametzenthin@gmail.com and Aidan Koch; 480-335-1958/Aidankoch@hotmail.com and are interested in booking them next year for further lessons.)

At the end of the trip, several people had one request: Palmer would like Grace to come next year.  Gram and Paw Paw would like Grace to stay home for "at least five more years" so they can monopolize her time during our trip.  Bath time at Gram's: 

We're so glad our baby girl is loved by all.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

The Snow is All My Fault

Listen, I just want to apologize to everyone.

You see, the northern and eastern parts of the country were getting blasted with frigid temps and lots of snow a few weeks ago.  My former colleague Kerry Sanders sent a message on Facebook asking for friends to send him an idea of where the most God-awful cold place to be in the US would be best to front his Today Show live shot.

I was a little cocky from my front porch perch on that particular 70-degree afternoon and I sent him this photo with a, "Sorry, I can't help you from Dallas today."

Well, lo and behold, I got what I deserved and Dallas was blasted with a week-long ice and snow storm.  Schools were canceled and in an instant, I was home-bound with two young children (amidst a big work project, of course!)

Despite our stir-craziness, Palmer had a lot of fun with the snow and couldn't believe we got snow and "we didn't even have to drive to the ski mountain".  Oh, my poor boy.

"Mom, come see me sled!"

Grace didn't even know what hit her:

Here's our version of the 596,429th Olaf built within the last week:

And a side note: Special thanks to Gram and PawPaw for taking the kids for 24-hours when I called crying (yes, literally) that I could not possibly get any work done with these crazies home and cooped up 24/7.

And when all else failed, we resorted to shopping the Pottery Barn catalog.  Apparently, the store's genius marketing works at an early age because Palmer flipped thru and told me that Rick and I need "a cooler bed" because our bed "hurts his feet in the morning". Um, this is the first I'm hearing of such a foot issue...

Okay, we can officially check off snow for this winter season.  Sun, where the heck are you??? Come out, please.

-Bethany