Halloween '19

This year we did full "purchased" costumes. Ryan was in Germany for work the week before, and we all know that Halloween is his thing. Life is so busy now. I just feel like I'm hanging on for the ride. It's so crazy, and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon.

We went to a Ward Trunk-or-Treat the weekend before, the kids wore their costumes to school and went Trick-or-Treating on Thursday, and we went to a Taekwondo trunk-or-treat the day after Halloween. It was "cold" (by Texas-standards, lol), so many kids didn't come around the neighborhood. Our kids were totally fine though. Must be that Colorado/Illinois blood!

Collin (10) as Draco Malfoy

Brennan (8) as Harry Potter

Ethan (6) as Albus Dumbledore

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardy

Katelyn (4) as Elsa

Found "her people" at the ward party, lol

I'm getting better at french-braiding her hair

She has been surprisingly patient with me

And last but not least, a blast from the past...
Mr & Mrs 80s

Happy Halloween!

Ethan is SIX!

Happy 6th birthday, Ethan! 

Ethan's birthday celebrations were spread out over the course of a week. We started on Sunday with cake (a Pokeball), birthday ice cream and presents (a water-safe remote-controlled car).

On Wednesday, his actual birthday, he had a special breakfast - a waffle with icing and sprinkles on top. After a full-day of school, he picked Kraft mac & cheese for dinner followed by soccer practice.

On Saturday, I took his friend Logan and him to Build-a-Bear, where they each got a Pokemon animal. Logan got him some Pokemon cards and a Bakugan ball. Then we went to McDonald's for lunch, and they played on the PlayPlace.

* * *

Ethan is still super friendly. He easily made a good little group of buddies here (Logan, Liam and Layne) when school started. He also has a good friend in his church class (Seth) who rides his bus and lives in our neighborhood, but he's in 1st grade instead of kindergarten.

He is still willing to try just about anything. He is a great little swimmer, played soccer again this fall and is enjoying all the fun of learning to read. He is exhausted each afternoon (6:50 am - 3:30 pm with only one 20-minute recess and one 30-minute lunch break would be a lot for anyone!), but hopefully he'll continue to adjust to that too.

He is still having quite a bit of trouble with potty-ing. As soon as Ryan left to move here in February, he started having accidents, and despite all my best efforts through the summer, I couldn't seem to get him to snap out of it. His teacher was very sweet though, and she has set alarms on her phone for him. When he hears her phone chime, he knows that means he needs to go to the bathroom. He comes home dry most days, but he has accidents if she forgets to turn on the chimes, which has only happened twice on Mondays. Anyway, I really want to gradually hand the responsibility back to him, but I don't think he's quite ready yet.

He is still very impulsive, and he really does just about anything that pops into his cute little head. I am struggling to teach him to think before he acts, and I really worry about him. A boy dared another boy to kiss Ethan on the bus this week (on the lips), and Ethan let him. He is just so scattered and aloof, I get so frustrated trying to keep him on task and out of trouble. I keep thinking he'll grow out of it, but now I'm wondering if it's just his personality. He's just so dang cute though!

We love our Ethan, and our world would be so much more boring without him in it. Keep smiling, my happy boy.

Happy birthday, Ethan! 

Beach Trip!

When you live in a place that doesn't have fall (aka temps under 90) until November, you can take a trip to the beach for Columbus Day in October. And that's just what we did!

At the end of my parents' trip to see San Antonio, we headed to Port Aransas (about 3 hrs away) on Sunday morning. It was a little rainy and windy when we got there, but we headed to the beach anyway. The kids collected seashells, tried to race the waves, and we flew Ryan's stunt kite.

After checking into our condo, we had dinner and then went for a walk along the beach. That's my dream kinda evening! We continued our seashell hunt, and the kids got their jammies wet (oops).

Monday was our full-day beach day. Ryan, Collin & I went for a run along the beach in the morning, which sounds far more ideal than it actually was. Ryan is so much faster and more conditioned than me, that he wasn't even a speck in the distance when I turned around after a mile. Collin got to the one-mile turn-around about a 1/4 of a mile before me, and was back eating breakfast before I returned, but nonetheless I have a goal to make us a family who runs together, so I'll keep working at it.

 After we all got back, we headed down to the beach. The water was insanely warm (I hear this is a Gulf thing - always much warmer than the Atlantic and definitely the Pacific). We body-surfed and rode waves. Ryan flew his drone.

We collected still more seashells and built a sandcastle for the books. It even lasted until the next morning! 

After lunch and naps, we headed to the pool where the water was unfortunately icy cold. We grilled hamburgers and following the Davis' (my sister's husband's family) tradition we learned last Christmas and had salt-water corn-on-the-cob. No other way to eat on the beach now! Delish. 

After another walk down the beach at sunset, we had ice cream for a treat and headed to bed.

Tuesday morning Ryan took the kids down to the beach while my parents and I started the cleanup and packup chores. I hate how this eats into your time away so much. They rinsed their sand off in the pool, and we headed to Corpus Christi.

We stumbled upon a great little outdoor seafood restaurant right on the bay. After walking around the USS Lexington and the fishing pier (lots of hermit crabs) for a bit, the kids tried calamari for the first time and had fried shrimp.

It was a great little getaway, and I'm looking forward to doing it again and again!

Grandpa & Grandma Came!

My mom and dad came to town this past week. It was a very busy and fun week!

SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS - Fri

Today was our first temporary blast of Fall, and we awoke to crazy wind, blustery cold and spitting rain. We had intended to do The Alamo and the Riverwalk Cruise, but after doing the Alamo, we decided we needed to find a warmer activity. So I texted Ryan (who was on a business trip in Germany), and he gave me the order in which to drive to each of the Missions of San Antonio.

The Alamo

The Alamo

San Jose

San Jose

We saw Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan and San Francisco. My mom and dad got out at Concepcion, we all got out for San Jose, and then only my dad got out for pictures at the others. Then we grabbed some Mexican for lunch, which was disgusting. Oops.

FALL FARM TRIP - Sat

The Crew

It was still cold and rainy in the morning, so we opted to wait to go to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon, like the rest of the city (another oops). After nap time, we headed to Hondo, about an hour away. My dad took Collin & Brennan into the corn maze, while my mom & I took Kate & Ethan to the slide, tractor ride, playground and trampoline.

tractor ride

playground

We met up and had kettle corn as a treat before the hay ride and picking out pumpkins. It was sunny and a crisp 70, and I couldn't have dreamed of better weather.

hay ride

PORT ARANSAS - Sun, Mon & Tues
The next day (after Ryan returned from his business trip), we headed to Port Aransas for three days to have some beach time, but that'll be in another post.

OPTIMISM CEREMONY - Wed

Each quarter the classroom teachers select two children (one boy & one girl) who exemplifies a certain character trait. The parents are notified that the child will be honored at an assembly, but the child doesn't know. Collin's teacher selected him to receive the positive thinking award, and the ceremony was right before I needed to take them to the airport. It was really fun to surprise him at school, and even better that Grandpa & Grandma got to come.

If you know my Collin, you know his teacher was spot-on in picking him! After the assembly, we grabbed some breakfast at my new favorite spot: Magnolia Pancake Haus. Then I dropped them back at the airport.

At the end of our busy week, my mom said, "Ok, now that I've seen the Alamo and the beach, I'm done with Texas." Here's hoping I can talk her into coming at least one more time to see the Riverwalk! ...and maybe her daughter and grandchildren.

We had a great time! Anyone else wanna come visit us? I'm getting better at this tour guide thing!

Weekend with Munah!

Another friend from Peoria!

Munah lives in Houston, but she was a student at Bradley when we lived in Peoria. Ryan was her home teacher and I was her visiting teacher, and we kinda adopted her as our own for her five years of undergrad in civil engineering. She has lived a lot of places since and so have we, but she made the trek over to San Antonio to see us last weekend.

She moved away when I was pregnant with Ethan, so she met him and Kate for the first time. Collin barely remembers her (he was only 4 when she graduated), and Brennan didn't remember her at all. Shortly after they met on Saturday, she asked if we had any video games, and you'd have thought she was a goddess from another world; Brennan didn't give her much space after that!

She drove over Saturday morning, and played video games while Kate rested. Saturday evening we headed into San Antonio. We actually hadn't done the touristy things with the kids yet, so this was perfect timing.

First, we went to the Alamo because you can't be in San Antonio and not see the Alamo, or so I'm told. Honestly, I kinda find the place pretty lame, but it's right downtown next to the Riverwalk - which I love - so it's kinda silly to miss it.

Then we headed down to the Riverwalk. We took the narrated boat cruise around the 2-1/2 mile loop, which Ryan and I hadn't ever done either. This was my favorite part of the evening! I've been waiting to do it for a while.

Last, we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, which was super fun. Every 20 minutes the robot-animals all freak out when a "thunderstorm" rolls through, and the kids really enjoyed it. And, honestly, the food was pretty good too.

On Sunday, Munah played a bunch of games with the kids before coming to church with us, having dinner, and then heading home.

She is such a big part of my memories of living in Illinois. She was a relatively new member of the church, and it was her first time away from home. It was my first time as a mom (Collin was born the day after Munah's 18th birthday), and we really did a lot of growing up together. Being with her again this weekend was just the best!