Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Honey, We Tricked the Kids!

The kids are currently sleeping in oversized walk-in closets in the new house.

Our remodel/construction project this summer is to bump out the roofline and transform these closets into their bedrooms.  The closets are off of a larger bedroom, which we turned into the playroom.

In the interim, both Palmer and Grace sleep in quite cozy "sleeping quarters" complete with a hanging bar for their clothes- think a closet within a closet.

Of course, these closets do not have windows, so the whole spring time change thing was quite irrelevant in our house: when you don't see the sun come up earlier, you just don't get up.  Kinda genius, frankly!

Rick and I have been amazed that the kids just went from their normal wake time of 7am to 8am.  Weeks later, they are still waking at 8am!  We keep pinching ourselves and have also kinda moved their bedtimes back a little now, too, just to help aid this new sleeping schedule.

I'm loving and enjoying our new leisurely morning routine because I know it's the last time we can do this for awhile.  Right now, preschool starts at 930am, but come next fall Kindergarten is going to be a rude awakening at 750am.  :(

And speaking of bedtime routines, I just have to share a photo from Palmer's room.  We were informed by Palmer that his best buddy in the whole world, George Monkey, turned 5 just a week after Palmer turned 5.  (Talk about a coincidence!)  Palmer was so excited all day about the sleepover he planned for George later that night.

All of the stuffed animals (and some airplanes and helicopters) had their own blanket for the sleepover.  Palmer slept on the floor right next to the birthday boy monkey, George.  I checked on "the party" about 10pm and a sleeping Palmer told me, "everyone loved the chocolate cake, mom!"

These are days of such sweetness!

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Amanda's Hill Country Wedding

It was a full-on family affair for Rick's sister, Amanda's, wedding down in the gorgeous Kerrville, Texas.  We are already in love with the hill country and were tickled to get to make a road trip to one of our favorite destinations for the weekend.

Palmer checking out those country roads in a country way.  (Real men wear pink.)

My birthday was the same day as the wedding, so I had one request in the morning: to go take bluebonnet pictures.  Forget that it rained all day.  My phone weather app TOLD me that it would be clear from 10am-11am.  It kinda was...And I kinda got smiles.

 

Rick and I were in the wedding along with Palmer, the ring bearer.  At one point, Grace was a candidate for flower girl, but we all decided it would probably be easier if she sat this one out.

Good thing because she hollered, "Hi Palmer, Hi Palmer!" when Palmer walked up to the front.  At which point, Palmer replied loudly, "What, Grace??"  (Insert my mom dashing up and out with Grace for the rest of the ceremony.)

To further help entertain the audience, Palmer used the ceremony to balance the two ring boxes on his shoes.  When he noticed people in the audience found him funny, he then balanced the ring boxes on his head, arms, etc.

At the reception, both kiddos loved the dancing, but especially Miss Grace.

She danced from the moment the DJ started the music until she crashed and went to bed.

Although she isn't big on people trying to dance "with" her, per say.  Ms. Independent.

 Party gal...

 Congrats, Amanda and Sam (and Elle)

-Bethany

Weekend Fun

In the interest of sharing pictures so this blog can be printed and saved as the children's baby books, I'm going to do a photo dump of a trip where I did not attend.

Palmer and Rick went on their first YMCA Adventure Guides campout at a camp on Possum Kingdom Lake.  

They had fun doing "dude stuff" at the camp and look forward to many more campouts with other little boys and their dads over the elementary years.  Most of the kids in their circle will be kids at the same elementary school, so it will be fun to see these friendships blossom.

The Cordells gave Palmer these jockey goggles years ago and Palmer made sure to pack them for the horseback riding!

 I found a ton of bullet shells in the dryer after their weekend trip...

 I'm sure these crazies caught a ton of fish...

Palmer and his buddy Ian got to do the drum during a ceremony:

Such a bummer when you get cactus in your pants...

Meanwhile, I had a girls weekend up in DC with Samantha.  We filled the weekend with eating, working out, walking, and more eating.  A pretty perfect sister weekend, I must say.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Easter Sunday Funday

We love Easter around here.  Between egg hunting in the morning, church, and the infamous neighborhood parade, it's a fun day for everyone.

To be honest, I kinda forgot about the whole "hide the egg" thing at home.  We did that growing up and it was so fun and when Palmer was little, I put his presents in his basket and then I just plain forgot he can hunt now that he is older.  A friend of mine mentioned it the other day and a light bulb went off, "Oh YEAH.  We hide the eggs at home, too!"  Whoops.

So, that we did.  Both Grace and Palmer had so much fun finding the dozen eggs we had (filled, of course, not hard boiled- gross!)

After a blustery outdoor church service in a tent, we headed over to brunch at the club.  Luckily, the sun came out right after our meal for photos:

This wall is always a fun favorite for photos:

Easter as we know it wouldn't be complete without the neighborhood parade.  Even though this hood isn't technically our home anymore, it's only a mile away and we still treasure the festivities and friends.

Scott Taylor's latest piece of work: The Trojan Bunny from Monty Python. (The poor ears hit a tree and came off mid-route.)

 The proud Taylor family:

Palmer and Rick's go-cart, the Go-Pro edition.  Palmer got a kid's GoPro and wanted to record the route.  Unfortunately, I looked at his work and he just took stills, not a video.  Next time!

 Grace prefers to watch from the sideline with her chalk and candy.

Such a full weekend between Palmer's fifth birthday and party and Easter, I was kinda dreading the over-scheduled days (mostly because we were all going into the weekend a little under the weather).  Fortunately, the weekend was perfect thanks to relaxing and easy time with friends and family.  We've all had way too much cake and candy, but it's a small price to pay for good times!

-Bethany