An afternoon at the park

Last Tuesday, I picked the kids up from Mother's Day Out, & we headed to the local park for their afternoon snack. The kids love the park, & we don't take advantage of it enough.

Zane enjoying his orange.

Berkley LOVES the slide. (The big slide at that! Panics me!) She gets to the top & then reaches for help. Zane enjoying the jungle gym. And of course, Berkley enjoying the sand! Smiling Serious Berkley goes through stages with the swing. The last time we were at the park she was scared, not today. She was all smiles! Laughing Zane is almost big enough to get on the big swings by himself. He is in that "in between" height. Why is it that swinging is so much more fun when the big brother is doing the pushing? Thanks "bu-bu" for pushing me! Zane got in the "baby swing" so Berkley did her fit thing. This is the 3rd stage of it. (1st being falling to her knees, 2nd being hands in the air, & 3rd being gracefully falling to the ground making sure not to hurt herself. Notice she did get distracted before I snapped the picture.) I am glad we were able to take advantage of the park last week. It began raining Friday & did it ever rain! Our front & back yards are flooded! Then yesterday & today it has been freezing outside! (Literally highs in the 30's & lows in the 20's!) That's Texas weather for you!

Come on Spring! We are ready for ya!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Patrick turned 32 on January 28th. We celebrated here at the house with a cake & a home cooked meal with his parents. (Yes, I made him some chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, & macaroni & cheese. His favorite!)

HAPPY 32nd BIRTHDAY PATRICK!

A Wii fishing game with a Wii fishing pole! We were singing "Happy Birthday". Berkley gets SO excited! We love you so very much! And we hope you had a wonderful day!

House Update (Texture & Hardwood)

Okay, so our current living situation is getting out of control. The kids are getting really sick of not having their own space. Zane is constantly asking, "Why can't Berkley play in her own room with her own toys?" It takes all I have not to scream, "Seriously, do you think there is room in her own room for her own toys? 'Cause there's not!" (Notice I said it takes all I have NOT to scream, so I don't actually scream that at him. I do try to explain that there is currently no room in her bedroom for her toys so they have to share his room for playing.) We have all been battling sickness & have been cooped up too long lately. Needless to say, we are very anxious to get the new place ready & to be moved in!

The rock & brick work are progressing well. We are thinking they may be finished by the end of next week.

The texture was finished on Saturday.
(Here are the vaulted ceilings in the living area.)
Patrick loves to cook & is pretty darn good. He is so excited about the new stove & the beautiful rock archway above it. Looking into the formal dining room from the living area. Looking toward the front door, foyer, & study area from the living area. From the living area looking back toward the breakfast & kitchen area. The study This was taken on Friday of last week. Sunday the hardwood floors began being put down. Patrick was so excited to use this darn excavator. He seriously wants one. He has got to use it for 2 days now to dig the water lines. I am sure we would get a great deal of use out of one of these! (Get my sarcasm?) Taken today. The south side, west side, & chimney are done. We are really excited! After 10+ months in this rental home, we will really appreciate our new place. Zane asks everyday, "Hey, where's my new room?" And luckily, he is soon to find out!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Nana (aka Patrick's mom) celebrated her birthday on January 23rd. We all ate at a steak house & then came back to our place for cake & ice cream! Yum!

The kids found Papa Cassidy's boots & decided to try them on. Believe it or not, Berkley was even able to move around the house in them.
(And poor baby is gonna have mommy's crazy hair! Can you tell?!)

Walk & Bike Ride

Last week we had a couple of beautiful days here in Texas! The kids & I were finally feeling well enough one of those days to take advantage of the 70 degree weather! Santa got Zane a bike for Christmas & he was finally able to ride it!

And the blue-eyed Princess of the house grabbed her pink Princess cell phone & loaded up in her stroller to enjoy the ride!
This week the weather has gone back to being pretty cool. I think we are even expecting rain & snow a day or two. But the 70+ degree weather was wonderful while we had it & made me ready for Spring!

Pudding Anyone

Little Miss Independent insists on doing EVERYTHING herself! So here is her attempt at eating pudding with zero help!

Must admit -- Kind of cute!

Crazy kids

The kids were playing in Zane's room the other day & came out looking like this ...
Cuffed together & excited about it!

Her shirt says it all "Daddy's Little Monkey".
I am still not sure how they managed to get these buckets on their heads. It took me a great deal of time to get them off.

Hunting Buddies

Zane & Patrick have hunted every weekend for the last couple of months. Berkley misses them so much when they are gone. She wakes up asking for "Daddy" & "Bu-Ba". Here were some pictures I took when they returned last Sunday.

A happy little sister
This little man is a hunting machine, & he is so excited that deer season is over & bird season has began!
Berkley was glad to see daddy too!

With the temperatures being in the 20's this weekend, the boys stayed home. Zane has been pestering Patrick all weekend about "bird" season!