The last week of February

I purchased some kites when I was at the grocery store and we flew them at our favorite park, Spotts Park.  The park is located near Andy's work so we texted him so he could see us.  At first, Andy was very excited to see us.  He had co-workers in his office and they all watched the kids run around with their kites.  But later, Andy commented that it didn't quite seem fair that we were getting to have all the fun while he was working in the office.  He joked that maybe I should go to work and he should be the stay-at-home parent.  But I quickly reminded him that there are other tasks required from a stay-at-home parent (cleaning, errands, driving the kids around, etc...) so it's not quite as glamorous as it may seem.  Andy didn't seem convinced that was true.

 Audrey was thrilled to fly a kite.  It was her first time!

 Audrey took this photo.  I have been wearing my snow boots because of all the rain and mud.

 Houston Rodeo Trail Ride - Many commented on our dog, Rusty.  One guy asked "What breed is your horse?"  I think he meant dog. Matthew and I laughed.

 Matthew is washing dishes each night for lent.  What a good helper!

The week of Feb 16th

Matthew was out of school for Presidents Day on Monday and we spent most of the day working on his presidential poster for Calvin Coolidge. We watched a few videos online to learn about the roaring 20's. He practiced presenting and then took it to school on Thursday to present to the class. I was nervous for him all day! This type of project would have terrified me as a kid. He did an excellent job presenting and received a perfect score! We were so proud.

Matthew had a mardi gras parade at school on Fat Tuesday. There are a lot of New Orleans locals that live here now after Hurricane Katrina. I met a few at the mardi gras luncheon at church for the moms group. They brought delicious red beans and rice and king cake. I went to mass on Ash Wednesday. On Friday, we went to the fish fry at church. We were excited to go as this was my first one to attend. The kids ran around and played while the adults talked and ate without having kids interrupt. What a concept! I felt a little ill that day but thought it would go away. Later that night, I had a stomach bug and I felt bad the entire weekend. I think it was the same bug that Matthew had a few weeks earlier.

 On Sunday evening, Matthew and I went to mass and we went to a potluck at the church afterwards. Andy went to mass early in the morning since he gets up so early sometimes. Audrey was taking a nap so Andy watched her so I didn't have to carry her around at church while she slept on me, which is what she normally likes to do in church.

 Audrey's mardi gras mask

 Matthew's presidential project

Fish fry at church

The week of March 2nd

It was a productive week. I took Rusty to the vet for more tests, went to the dealer for a safety recall and oil change, and met a furniture company at the apartment to fix the broken couch leg from our move. Many of these items were on my to-do list for a while. I took Audrey to ballet on Saturday morning while Andy took Matthew to his first baseball practice. He will play on the school/church league with 2nd graders for coach pitch. We had to buy all new baseball stuff since it was buried in storage and easier to go buy all new instead of rearranging boxes.
We found out Rusty has Addison's disease and that's why he isn't eating his food. Andy has been urging me to take Rusty to the vet for a while but I just thought it was the transition that made him off his normal schedule. Rusty is normally 60 lbs but is now down to 47 lbs. We had a barium test with a series of x-rays to see if he had blockage in his intestines but that showed everything was moving along like normal. Thank goodness! We didn't want to have to perform surgery on him in his feeble condition. We were also concerned about cancer but the MRI showed nothing so that was a relief, too. The vet gave him pretnisone and a shot that we need to keep up every 25 days to get Rusty back to normal.

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The week of Feb 23rd

It's hard to believe that February is almost over. Rusty has not been eating his food lately so I took him to the vet to get checked out and they did a blood test and we are waiting for the results.
I bought kites at the grocery store one day and the kids had a blast flying the kites. We did it at a park near Andy's work so he watched us outside his window along with a few coworkers.
I went to the moms group meeting on Thursday and then out for lunch with a friend and previous coworker on Friday. I took the kids to an indoor pool on Friday evening. The kids loved it! We will be back there every Friday evening. Audrey is enjoying her ballet on Saturday mornings after a short stint of refusing to go.

Houston Rodeo Trail Ride - they rode right in front of our apartment

Matthew's good deed during lent- helping mom with the dishes

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The week of Feb 9th

The kids were happy to go to school to enjoy the Valentines parties.  Matthew wrote his name on all the valentines and taped Nerds candy to them.  Audrey followed and wrote an "A" on her frozen valentines and enjoyed putting stickers on them.  She was a busy bee working on them and we were so proud to see her write an "A".

Matthew was out of school on Friday for parent/teacher conferences.  His teacher said he was doing great and actually helping a fellow classmate get out of her shell.  He is reading above the class average and his grades are excellent.  

On Friday, I took Audrey to the doctor for her 4 yr old well visit.  She got her MMR shot so we were glad to get that one done given all the news about measles cases lately.

Weight 34.9 lbs, 43%

Height 40 in, 44%

Andy and I went out for dinner for Valentines Day.  We just relaxed over the weekend and didn't do too much.  We officially joined the church Sunday evening.  We also worked on Matthews presidential project due the following Thursday.  

Spotts Park- the kids love playing on the hill

Happy Valentines Day!

The week of Feb 2nd

Luckily, everyone was well this week. I went to the apple store to get my computer fixed--finally making it on my to-do list. Matthew had a good week and so did Audrey. I made cookies for a bake sale at church and the kids enjoyed helping make them and tasting them. On Friday night, my parents came into town and they picked up my grandma from the airport. We ate dinner and then the kids and I went to the movies while my parents went to the Gaither concert with Nana. Matthew was excited to see Nana. She couldn't hear very well and Matthew asked "how old are you?" And she said "I love you, too!"

On Sat night, Andy and I went to a St Anne's Gala. It was the first time we dressed up and went out together in a long time. We didn't know many people but we enjoyed meeting new faces. My friend, Kelly, let me borrow her beautiful navy velvet dress. During the day on Sat, the boys went to the dog park and then to Top Golf while the girls went to ballet, up-do hair appts, and nail salons before the big night out. On Sunday, we ate breakfast at a new diner that we loved and went to church later that evening.




Watching the new spongebob movie in 3D


Playing air hockey with Uncle Mike


Packaging cookies for the bake sale- the kids love to help.


St Anne's Red Carpet photo

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The week of Jan 26th

Just when I thought I had everything under control, then Matthew comes home Monday with a stomach bug. Andy was also not feeling well and on Tuesday they were both home
in separate areas of the apartment. Audrey wanted to stay home but I told her it was best to avoid Matthew so she wouldn't get sick. Thank goodness the rest of did not get that stomach bug!
I was finally able to drive around without using the map everywhere. Although, I got lost Monday evening trying to find the grocery store by our house. Audrey and I ended up at a Walgreens and we just bought a few items there. I left my phone inside and I thought I knew my way. This was the first time I drove around at rush hour so I blame it on all the traffic as I was a little flustered.

The week flew by. I went to the moms meeting on Thursday at the church and then to mass. On Friday, I kept Audrey home because we headed out of town early to drive to Victoria. Matthew got out early at noon so we left shortly after we got home and packed. Mike, Nanna, and Papa were so excited to see us. I ended up getting a sinus cold and slept a lot but my parents took over with the kids. We went to the annual sportsman expo on Sat where the kids enjoyed riding horses, fishing, and doing the zip-line. We went to church with Nanna, Papa, and Mike. Then we drove back to Houston in time to watch the super bowl. The drive was only 1 hour and 40 minutes. Andy made a delicious roast and then we went to bed early.




Audrey dressed up for picture day at school



Audrey riding a pony



Making rice Krispy treats

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