First day of Mother's Day Out

Last week, Pearce went to his first day of Mother's Day Out.  He will go every Wednesday from 9:00-1:00.  I really hadn't thought about him going this year, but found out a lot of my friends were starting to send their kids, so I started looking at programs in May.  After visiting several churches, I found this one that I loved!  Of course we were late registering and had to be put on a wait list.  I called all during the summer to see if a spot had opened up, but no luck.  Then a couple weeks before it was supposed to start, I got a call that a Wednesday spot was open and would we like it?  YES!!!!  That was a perfect day for us, too!  It was so fun getting all of Pearce's things together for "school."  GG sent Pearce this cute lunch box and Razorback backpack.  Daddy ordered Pearce his very first pair of real tennis shoes and he could not have looked cuter!
Mama got me the cute chalkboard that I painted and spent FOREVER trying to write on in my neatest handwriting for his first day of school picture.  I packed his lunch and backpack the night before.  For lunch, I packed a peanut butter sandwich, cheese cubes, apple slices, a sippy cup, and a little cookie :)  His backpack had to have a change of clothes and 3 diapers labeled with his name and another sippy cup.  I'm going to get his name monogrammed on his lunch box this week and I also need to see if I can get his name on his blankies.....the only problem is how to do that in a day so that he has them at night????

I woke him up at 7:45 so that he would have plenty of time to eat a good breakfast.  I fixed his usual bowl of oatmeal....which he promptly threw on the floor and then said "Lean up Mommy."  Thanks, Pearce :)  After we tried again with yogurt, which thankfully he did eat, I got him dressed and then outside we went for pics!

All the way to school, I talked to him about going to school and playing with his teacher.  He kept saying "Cool?  Cheecher?"  I knew drop off was going to be short and sweet, so as soon as we walked in, I gave him a kiss and then one of his teachers took him from me and the other got his backpack and lunch box and as soon as I turned around to leave, he started crying and saying "Mommy, Mommy."  I totally did not think I would cry, but as I was walking out of the building, tears were building up in my eyes.  I called Mom and just started crying to her.  Man, this little guy knows how to get me!  But as we talked, I felt better.  I knew he would end up having fun and he does have to learn that it's o.k. for me to leave because I always come back, but this was the first time leaving him for such a long period of time.  I was totally o.k. when I got to Starbucks and then to a quiet house at home :)   

When I picked him up, they said he did great and only cried for a little bit after I left.  He kept showing me the "tamp" on his hand that he got from his teachers.  It was fun looking in his lunch box and seeing that he ate most of what I packed him....actually, I'm assuming he ate it....could be that he threw most of it on the floor since that is what he's into these days :)  I am so glad he got into this MDO program and his two teachers seem so sweet.  AND....not gonna lie.....it's nice to have a few hours all to myself!

Our visit to Springfield, MO

A couple weeks ago, Pearce and I along with Ashley, Nathan, and Charlotte, drove to Springfield, MO to visit my dad's side of the family.  The last time we went was when Pearce was 8 weeks old, so he has changed quite a bit since then!  We followed mom and dad and actually made pretty good time!  We got there Friday late afternoon and boy, did everyone have a great time!  It seemed like all we did was eat and play....what's better than that?!

The whole crew!  We missed having Jen, Alexandra, and Robert, but it was so great to see my other two sisters, their kids, my cousins and my Aunt Mona and Uncle Gordon.  

Uncle Gordon trying to take it easy with all the craziness going on!

One of my sweet sisters, Missy with my niece Haleigh and nephew Jake.  Aside from Charlotte and Nathan, all of my nieces and my nephew are WAY taller than me!  It's hard for me to feel like their aunt when I stand next to them!

My gorgeous niece, Taylor with her boyfriend, Christian.  

Nathan thought Jake was the coolest guy ever!  Jake was so sweet to Nathan!

This picture cracks me up.  I will bet a million dollars that Pearce heard a loud sound outside and yelled "A-pane!"  

This was such a fun dice game we played...it was called Left, Right, Center.  Everyone would start off with $3.  There were 3 dice with either an L, R, C, or dots.  If you rolled an L, you had to give the person to your Left a dollar, R give the person to your Right a dollar, C-center, dots mean you don't have to give any money away.  Anyway, by the end of the game, two people are battling for the money in the middle.  It got very crazy by the end.  I never won, but it was sooooo fun!

Aunt Mona and Uncle Gordon have a huge backyard that the kids loved to run around in!

Sweet Nathan :)

Me and my boy :)

How cute is this picture of Charlotte?!

Charlotte played until she dropped.  Mama makes the best pillow!

Sisters...minus Jen...we missed you Jen!!!

Aunt Mona and Uncle Gordon have this cool theater room that all the kids loved!  

Mom and Dad's high school friends came for dinner one night.  It was so cute to see them together!

We stayed at Chuck and Abba's (my cousin) house and they have so many cool vintage things, like this pinball machine...

 And this little jukebox.  Nathan and Charlotte loved everything Chuck showed them!

While we were in Springfield, we went to Andy's to get ice cream.  This was Pearce's first ice cream cone that he got all to himself....he ate every single bite...and then he stole Mama's and ate that too!

We also went to Phelps Grove Park which is the park mom went to as a little girl and then when we would visit as little girls, we went.  I love that park!  It is so open and pretty and just tons of space to run around and play!

Aunt Missy brought the little ones these big suckers!

We all had so much fun visiting with our family.  Mom and dad left from Springfield to go to Wisconsin for yet another one of their little getaways :)  Ash and I didn't make quite as good time coming back without Mama and Papa helping to wrangle the kids....we sure had fun stopping to get snacks though!  Pearce had yet another ice cream cone when we stopped at McDonald's for lunch :)  Thank you Springfield family for such a wonderful time...we really are so lucky to have such a loving extended family!!

Visiting "Memaw"

A couple weeks ago, Pearce and I went to Dallas as a pit stop before making the drive to Springfield, MO to visit my dad's side of the family.  As I was looking through my pics, I decided "Memaw" had to have her own post :)  "Memaw" is actually Grandma to everyone BUT Pearce.  Whenever I say, "Do you want to go see Grandma?"  He will nod his head yes and say "Memaw!"  Even when he sees her picture, he says "Memaw!"  It is so funny.  Grandma thinks it's funny too and said she doesn't mind :)  When you see the following pictures of our last visit, you will see that Grandma doesn't mind a lot of things!

We got some great group pictures while the kids cooperated and then they were off tending to business as usual at Grandma's...

They start digging in Grandma's drawers and find all kinds of goodies....bracelets, hair brush, snacks, etc...  

Here Charlotte has found Grandma's box of bracelets and Pearce found her brush.  Usually there are Hershey Kisses in there, but I think they already ate them all!

So, now Nathan decides Grandma's freshly done hair needs more brushing :)  Grandma has the sweetest roommate who I'm sure we give her lots to laugh about....hopefully! 

We always have a nice time visiting Memaw, I mean Grandma :)  We love you!!!!

Austin Children's Museum

Last week, Christie and I took the boys to the Austin Children's Museum.  It was our last big summer adventure before Christie had to go back to school.  It was adventurous because we decided to take the Metro rail downtown...something we had never done....with babies!  Going there was really easy and it was just a short walk to the museum from the Metro station.  Coming back was a different story, of course!  We were going to eat lunch downtown and then decided that we would go ahead and go back to Cedar Park to meet one of our other friends for lunch.  I knew there was an 11:15 train, so we just took that one.  Well, what we didn't know was that it stopped one stop before the one we needed and another train would not come for another hour and a half!  So we were stuck with two starting-to-get-cranky babies on a hot day at a train station with no way to get back to our cars.  So, we had to call our friend Bessie who was going to meet us for lunch, to come get us...in her two door sports car!  We managed to squeeze the strollers in the trunk and I held the two babies in the back.  Adventurous for sure!  We really had a great time, though.  As soon as we got there, Pearce was off and running and exploring!  Ridley was happy to stay in a little toddler area, but Pearce was all over the place!  He found his three favorite things:  balls, buttons, and "tairs!"  I can't wait to take Pearce back!