Weekly Recap: Jun 20-Jun 27, 2011

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Weekly Recap: Jun 13-Jun 19, 2011

CIRCUS GIVEAWAY!!

MONDAY

When we got home from the lake, I did some research into that house it was still on the market and the price had dropped even lower than what we had seen it for previously! We spent most of the day toying with the idea of moving.

TUESDAY

The first day of Summer, we had a torrential downpour. Since it was snowing on the first day of Spring, I've got a feeling that the weather likes to give it's last hurrah before the next season starts. This is what happens to our front yard when it rains:


I changed the day's event to McDonald's instead of Splash Island because I thought the rain would be an issue. It wasn't. It was hot, sunny, and blue sky when we got there. Oh well. The boys had a great time.



I looked up the house again and it had been taken off the market. DH was really upset about it for a couple of hours. We went to his work to pick up his pay check then he hopped on the computer when we got home to start the search. Found a good house right off of Cedar Creek Lake so we drove out there to take a look at it. It was built in 2006 and looked to be in good condition on the inside...3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 2 living rooms, huge kitchen and dining room and it came with a really cool entertainment center. The yard had a shed. The exterior of the house needed some work, especially the deck and skirting. But overall, a good house. The day ended on a good note.

WEDNESDAY

Went to Barnes and Noble at the Parks Mall for Kids Notes Storytime. Met a new member and an existing member. IT was pretty cool. After the performance, Jacob got to check out the instruments up close. He seemed more interested in going someplace to play, though. We chatted for a while then headed to the mall's play area.


DH found another home that was even better than the one off the lake. It's 4 bedroom, 2 full bathrooms, 3(!) living areas (one of which had a fireplace), huge kitchen and dining room, and 2 sheds on over an acre of land!

THURSDAY

I spent most of the day working on getting everything together so we could get the pre-approval we needed to submit a bid. OMG it was like a rectal exam! They want to know EVERYTHING! It also doesn't help when you're trying to care for two small boys and a certain DH keeps calling to see how things are going. My mom and I drove out to take a look at the place and I fell in love! I could definitely picture us living there!

FRIDAY

Finally got a pre-approval and got in contact with a broker to submit our bid. She informed us that since the bid period didn't end until Sunday at 11:59 PM, we probably wouldn't get an answer until Monday. Met another new member at Parr Park in Grapevine, but we didn't stay long as it was ridiculously hot. What happened to that cool-down we should have gotten from the rain? The boys still had fun and I always enjoy meeting new members.


Picked my sister up from her in-law and drove her to our aunts' house to visit. Since my aunts are Joshua's Godmothers, they had to give him a little present...he got a pair of sandals and a pair of shoes. We always love hanging out with them, and not just because of presents.

SATURDAY

Headed to the Parks Mall Barnes and Noble again, this time for the 5th Annual Kids' Fine Arts Celebration. Jacob got to actually play the instruments and he didn't do too bad! Met another new member (I know, it's getting crazy, huh?)


Then we headed to a birthday party for one of the boys in the group. There was lots of splashing and some great food!



DH got off work early and met us there. Since he hadn't seen the house we were bidding on yet, we headed out to Kaufman to check it out. We invited my sister's family to join us, as well. They all loved it, too!

SUNDAY

We went to DH's grandmother's church since we were under the impression that most of his family would be there. Jacob absolutely loves that church, so it wasn't too big of a deal when it was just us and DH's grandparents. We dropped DH at home so he could sleep and went with Tamara's family up to the ranch house that Oma and Opa (the kids' grandparents) live at. We got to see the horses, pick blackberries, and swim. They also fed us a wonderful dinner. It was a great time and I hope we'll be able to go there again!

Petition to add a new word to the dictionary

Post a comment here if you think this word should be added to the dictionary:

Mom-nundrum (mämˈnəndrəm)
n
A dilemma produced by having children. "She faced a mom-nundrum; should she attempt satisfy her growling stomach now and risk her meal being mostly devoured by her children or wait until nap time so she can eat in peace?"

CIRCUS GIVEAWAY!!

All Aboard! Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey celebrate P.T. Barnum's 200th birthday with Barnum's FUNundrum! You can win a Family Four Pack of tickets just by posting here! 


HOW TO ENTER:
Leave a comment on this blog post with your favorite part of going to the circus and your first and last name if I don't personally know you.

Legal type stuff:

Must be 18 years old to enter. Limit one entry per household, please. This contest is only open to North Texas residents who can attend the 7:30 PM performance on July 27th. Winner is responsible for parking costs (Parking at the AAC is $15-$25 depending on the lot). Photo ID will be required at WILL CALL to pick up the tickets on the day of the event. You won't know the exact location of the seats until you pick up the tickets. There will probably not be adjoining seats available for you to purchase. Deadline for entry is July 10th. Winner will be announced on July 11th at 3:00 PM. If the winner doesn't contact me by July 12th at 3:00 PM (Central), I will draw again for a different winner. Second-choice winner must contact me by July 13th at 3:00 PM (Central). Third-choice winner will have until 3:00 PM (Central) on July 14th to reply. If third-choice winner fails to reply, I will give the prize to the first respondent after I post on July 14th. 

Good luck!

Want to buy tickets? 

Performance Dates/Times:

DALLAS - American Airlines Center

Wed, Jul 27 7:30PM

Thu, Jul 28 10:30AM, 7:30PM

Fri, Jul 29 10:30AM, 7:30PM

Sat, Jul 30 11:30AM, 3:30PM, 7:30PM

Sun, Jul 31 10:30AM, 2:30PM, 6:30PM

Tue, Aug 2 7:30PM

Wed, Aug 3 7:30PM

Thu, Aug 4 7:30PM

Fri, Aug 5 7:30PM

Sat, Aug 6 11:30AM, 3:30PM, 7:30PM

Sun, Aug 7 10:30AM, 2:30PM, 6:30PM

FORT WORTH - Convention Center

Wed, Aug 10 7:30PM
Thu, Aug 11 7:30PM
Fri, Aug 12 10:30AM, 7:30PM
Sat, Aug 13 11:30AM, 3:30PM, 7:30PM
Sun, Aug 14 2:30PM

There is a military discount available to service members.  More information can be found at http://www.ringling.com/AmericaSupportsYou.aspx?&parentID=348&assetFolderID=35


Reading with Ringling Bros. is back again!  Kids from ages 2-12 can visit participating libraries and earn a free ticket to the circus by simply doing their summer reading! http://www.readingwithringling.com/CityHome.aspx?id=19178


Ringling Bros. is offering a free ticket to newborns!  Check out http://www.ringling.com/TextContent.aspx?id=11738&parentID=348&assetFolderID=352 for more information.

Weekly Recap: Jun 13-Jun 19, 2011

MONDAY

Spent the day at home. It's awesome to see the smile on Joshua's face when Jacob plays with him! Jacob built afort using two coolers, a stool, and a comforter. Joshua thought it would be a good idea to use the stool to pull up on and the whole thing came crashing down. The stool must have hit him in the eye because he had quite the shiner. I took this picture while he was taking a nap.




TUESDAY

Went to the Flag Day Celebration in Grapevine. Beautiful ceremony and free lemonade and cookies! Met a new member that was referred by Jehan. Afterwards, we walked around Grapevine Main Street with one of our long standing members before heading to the play area at the North East Mall to meet another new member. We had quite a few families from the group join us there and it was a great time! It's awesome that Joshua can actually enjoy the play area now. He was really moving!




WEDNESDAY

This morning, Joshua learned how to clap and he continued doing it all day! Grandma (my mom) came over and brought us pizza for lunch. The boys always love seeing her! We checked out one of the brand new spray parks in Irving. This one is at Southwest Park off Shady Grove between Belt Line and Story. The boys had a great time! This is one of the best spraygrounds we've been to. The only problem I have is that they have concrete, not rubber. Jacob was moving a little too fast (okay, he was running) and he slipped and hit the back of his head. He was fine, but I hate when they don't pad it when they have water. Regardless, it's free, so I can't really complain. Joshua met an adorable little 6 month old girl...Jessica better watch out! We'll definitely have to go again some time.



THURSDAY

Thursday nights in Downtown Fort Worth, they show a movie at the Chisholm Trail Parking Area. We had 4 families in attendance and it was a great time. They decided to "warm" the crowd up before the movie by playing the Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, YMCA, and I Gotta Feelin' by the Black Eyed Peas. With it being so hot out and then dancing around like that, I was totally exhausted and sweating bullets. Around 9:15, they started the movie...Despicable Me. This is a cute one that's I've seen a few times before, but it's one of those that are as entertaining for the adults as it is for the kids.



When we got home, both boys were totally passed out, but I think Jacob brought a little bit of Fort Worth home with him...check out those feet!



FRIDAY

We hit up Fritz Park Petting Farm when they opened and it was still cool out. Jacob learned that even though brown chickens and roosters look very similar, the chickens are the ones that lay the eggs since they are girls. We learned that boy peacocks are the ones with the beautiful tails and that girl peacocks are relatively plain and brown. We also learned that the petting farm has a goat the likes to jump the fence.




 Afterwards, we grabbed a bite to eat and then went to DAV Thrift Store to look for a bedrail and some baby gates since Joshua is starting to get himself into trouble. We didn't find the gates, but we did find a bedrail for $3 and we also found a great Father's Day present for my dad. Then we headed out to my parents' lake house about a mile from Cedar Creek Lake for the weekend. Jacob loves playing out there! My parents brought the nephews and the boys had a great time.



SATURDAY/SUNDAY

DH rode his motorcycle out to join us after work. We found an awesome house out there that we are considering getting. It's 3 bed/2 bath/1 car garage. It also has a playroom, a fireplace, and a storage shed! Best part is that it's listed at just $25K! It does need a new roof and the appliances need to be replaced, but it's a cute house and I could definitely see us living there. The bad part is that since it's an hour and a half from the metroplex, I couldn't logistically continue to organize the playgroup and we won't be able to hang out with all our friends nearly as often. We'll just have to see what happens. DH absolutely loves it out there and if he could find a job that pays well out there, we'll actually be saving a bunch of money over what we pay in rent right now.

You Gotta Fight For Your Right To POTTY! (Daddy Version)

This is dedicated to all the dads out there. Happy Father's Day!

You Gotta Fight For Your Right To POTTY! (Daddy Version)


You come home late from work and you just gotta go.
You beg your kids, "Please?" but they still say, "NO!"

Two hours in traffic after eight at work.
If they knock one more time you're gonna go berserk

You gotta FIGHT for your RIGHT to POTTY!

Your son caught you poopin' and he says, "NO WAY!"
That hypocrite poops three times a day!

Coming home late is such a drag
You step in the door and throw the white flag.

You gotta FIGHT for your RIGHT to POTTY!
You gotta FIGHT

You say you're tired, we say we don't care
Come on, Dad, you can be the fourth player

You stepped on something, "Dad, what's that noise?"
Ahhhh....Just another day in a house full of toys.

You gotta FIGHT for your RIGHT to POTTY!
You gotta FIGHT for your RIGHT to POTTY!
POTTY!

Weekly Recap: Jun 6-Jun 12, 2011

MONDAY

We hung out at home cleaning and what not. Jacob's working on learning some sight words. I'd love for him to pick up a few by the end of summer, but he doesn't seem too terribly interested in it. My sister was supposed to be induced this evening, but they ran out of beds and told her to call back in the morning.

TUESDAY

My sister called the hospital early in the morning and they said they had a room for her. My mom dropped my nephews (ages 5 and 3) off at my place and headed to the hospital herself. The boys and I headed to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens to play with a member of our group. They had a ball (literally) until a security guard informed us that balls are not allowed in the gardens because of the risk of them bouncing into the flowers and ruining them. They still had fun running around in the big field area and enjoyed a snack courtesy of our friend (thanks again!). As the temperature heated up, we thought it best to leave. We packed up and headed to the new BuyBuyBaby in Hurst. If you've never heard of it before, it's like a Bed Bath and Beyond for infants. And it should be, since Bed Bath and Beyond owns BuyBuyBaby. Unfortunately, they only had one style of Big Brother shirts in the store and they left much to be desired. So we shooted on over to the Babies R Us down the street and I found some cute Big Brother shirts on the Under $5 clearance rack plus they were having BOGO 50% off for clearance items. One was listed at $4 and the other was $2.25 (not sure why they were different). Unfortunately, they were 2T and 3T and had long sleeves. After trying them on the boys, I determined that by removing the sleeves, they would probably work out well so I picked them up. Hey, for under $6 for two shirts, I could do a little manual labor! By this time it was around 2:00 and my sister had been receiving pitocin for about 5 hours. She was 5 cm and completely effaced so we headed to my parents' house so we'd be closer to the hospital. I had the boys take a nap while I went to work removing the sleeves from the shirts. By 3:45, she was measuring 8-9 cm so I took the boys and headed up to the hospital. Apparently, that last bit of cervix was being very stubborn. After a few hours, the boys were getting restless so my dad took them back to my parents' place to play. At around 8:45, the doctor was getting concerned about the stress on the baby and basically said that if she wasn't completely dilated by the time they get finished with another woman's c-section, she would have to have one herself. at 9:05, my mom came out and told us they were prepping her for surgery. As she was getting prepped, she gave her husband the look of defeat. She did NOT want a c-section. He asked the nurse to check her one more time...she was fully dilated! At 9:35 PM, after 12.5 hours of labor, she gave birth to a beautiful, healthy 7 lb, 12 oz baby boy. They didn't have a name for him yet, but he was perfect.

 

WEDNESDAY

I spent my morning with my sister, brother-in-law, new nephew, and Joshua. My wonderful mother had taken all three older boys to play in their pool. Around lunchtime, I headed to my parents' place to grab some lunch and take over boy duty. I got a call...they decided to name him Adrian Javier. The nephews stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the night and I took my boys home.

THURSDAY

The boys and I went to Pantego's Bicentennial Park to play in the wading pond. It's one of Jacob's favorite playdate locations. We had lunch at CiCi's and went back to my parents' house to play while we waited for my sister and nephew to be discharged. My mom dropped me off at the hospital so I could drive them home and again, watched the boys, this time, it included Joshua (I know, I know, she's the best). We hung out at their house for a while before heading home.

 

FRIDAY

Exhausted from the insanity that was the past few days, I took the day to try and rest. I'm not sure why I was so tired, I'm not the one who just gave birth! Unfortunately, this meant I missed out on an awesome event. A local radio station was allowing people to go to a local water park at a crazy discount. Based on the photos my friend posted, it was definitely something I would have loved. Oh well.

SATURDAY

The Fort Worth Babywearers had their first ever DFW Parenting Extravaganza. The DFW Cloth Diaper Group showed up in full force and we had a pretty good number of members from DFW Fantastic Families, too! Jacob really enjoyed playing with the display items from Discovery Toys and I had a blast checking out all the local vendors. At one point, I had Jacob on my back in the Ergo, which was quite amusing.


SUNDAY

It's Pentecost...aka the birthday of the Christian Church. Our church asks the members to wear red on Pentecost every year so Jacob and I donned our Texas Rangers AL Champions shirts. We missed the breakfast they had, which is really unfortunate as the church's "Breakfast Club" does a great job. My little sister brought her new baby to get his birthday blessing and my aunts (Joshua's godmothers) got to meet him for the first time. We came back home and have just been chillin' all day. Did the dishes and the diaper laundry...nothing too terribly exciting.

Weekly Recap: May 30-Jun 5, 2011

So I've given up on the whole Super Saturday thing since I don't usually get to it until Monday or Tuesday :/ Instead I'll do a weekly recap.

MONDAY

We went to Memorial Day at Flagpole Hill where the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performed a free concert that was followed by a fireworks display! Parking was atrocious, but it was well worth it for this great event.

TUESDAY

When we got home from the fireworks, Jacob said he wasn't feeling very well and proceeded to throw up, so we stayed home all day Tuesday. He said he was feeling better, but we didn't want to risk spreading it if it was contagious. 

WEDNESDAY

Jacob was still feeling good on Wednesday, so we went to another free concert. This time, we saw Eddie Coker at Levitt Pavilion in Arlington. The pavilion has free concerts all summer long and Wednesdays are for kids!

THURSDAY

We love going to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History! Spent all day playing there and then we went to watch a friend's T-ball game and played at their house afterwards.

FRIDAY

We dropped DH off at work and then headed south of Fort Worth for a playdate. Since we were so early (an hour and a half), we stopped by Bicentennial Park in Crowley to play at their splash pad. The boys has a great time splashing around! We played at our friend's house for a few hours then headed to another friend's place before going to pick up DH from work. 

SATURDAY

One of our friends invited the group over to catch fireflies and snack on s'mores. The kids had a blast and caught so many fireflies!

SUNDAY

Worked the nursery and then we went to Bring Your Horde Family Festival at the Irving Art Center. We learned about gers, which are the type of houses the Mongols live in. We learned how to weave and how to make stamps. Jacob got to try out a mini trebuchet. It was so hot!! We managed to make it for 3 hours before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's house to play in their new above ground pool.