Get Well Soon

My family is notoriously bad about telling me about the general state of their health until well after the fact in the vast majority of cases. And I am not talking about an ingrown toe nail, or a runny nose. I mean little things like surgery, emergency room visits, and a hospitalization or two. While they are getting better I still never cease to be amazed. Like Monday when my mom tried to casually mention something about taking my Grandmother to the hospital on Tuesday for some sort of run of the mill procedure. Like an angiogram or a little angioplasty. Warranted due to calcium scores in what sounds like the mildly alarming range.

So I called my Grandmother bright and early Tuesday morning to harass her shamelessly about not telling me and get the scoop. She was woefully unhelpful at answering my questions that I would think everyone would want to know like "How long is it going to take?" and "Do they knock you out?" She did however provide enough fodder to keep me entertained - "They go in where? Are you sure about that? How do they get there from there? That's a long way from your heart. Let's hope they don't get lost or take a wrong turn." And of course she knew all about the lodging requirements - "If they find something you have to stay." :)

So come Tuesday afternoon I got the equivalent of tweets from my mom. At check-in. Still at check-in. Yep, still here. They are carting her off. Found the beavers. Putting in a stint. She should be in recovery by now. I think they misplaced her. And so on.

From all accounts she is doing great. And I know with a get well card like this one she should be all better in no time.

Mikey Likes it!

I tried a new recipe for pulled pork today. And boy was it YUMMY!! Talk about finger licking good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

The proof's in the pictures:

Just getting started on the first serving...

Practically licking the plate after their SECOND helping of EVERYTHING!

Definitely a keeper!

It's a POOL!!!

No, not that kind. No yet, anyways.


But we did get the boys an inflatable pool. We got it all blown up and setup in the backyard this afternoon. The boys dove right in.

Tested the water.

Splashed a little.

Then we turned the jets on and they discovered the built in sprinklers.

And the slide.

And we played.

And played.

And played some more (the little climbing monkeys!)

I think they liked the pool... :)

Quiet, innocent little morning stroll

It was just going to be a little walk around the block. A quiet little morning stroll. Or as quiet as it can be careening down the street on two wheels with your parents making Vrooming engine noises while you hold on for dear life, or laugh manically depending on your personality. :) That is until we saw them. The sprinklers. Because really who can pass up sprinklers? Just one trip through? You wanna do it again? Oh yeah... :)

Celebrating the 4th

We spent the 4th of July with friends and family. We invited everyone to join us at our neighborhood pool after lunch for a pre-celebration swim. I was a little nervous that it would be a mad house, but it wasn't bad at all. The boys were pretty conked out afterwards. After a short nap we joined everyone else for some playtime, hotdogs, homemade ice cream, and fireworks.

There was a spirited game of backyard spongy ball plastic bat baseball with kids and adults alike that had everyone cheering and laughing hysterically. Between the all out plowing over/tackling of base runners by an overzealous pitcher (Kevin), play yard obstacle evasion, base lapping, and slip and slide bases it made for quite a comedy of errors.

The game wrapped up at dusk just in time to start the fireworks. Luckily no one was injured, no fires were started, and no property damage was sustained in this years fireworks production unlike in previous years. Though relatively uneventful one of the first fireworks had the crowd ducking and diving for cover as some airborne fireworks veered our way heading at first for the crowd, then for the trees, then veering precariously towards my car. There was also a kicking over of spent fireworks into lit fireworks that could have ended very badly indeed had it been a bottle rocket or roman candle that had been there just moments before instead of just a plain firecracker as it ended up pointed straight towards the crowd.

The boys enjoyed some cheetoes for the first time and polished off a hot dog like pros. We put them down in the pack 'n plays to sleep around their normal bedtime so unfortunately they missed the ice cream, baseball game and fireworks. They apparently slept peacefully through the near sonic booms of fireworks going off all around them. Maybe next year they can join the crowd of observers and maybe even hold a sparkler of their own.

Happy 4th of July

The boys were busy at school last week. Not only did they make their footprint flag shirts to wear in their parade they also made these flags. Though I thinkConnor may have taken a bit of creative license. :)

Waterway Square

The kiddos were out of school today so after reading about the Waterway Square fountains up in The Woodlands recently we decided to check it out. It is amazing to me how much that whole area around the mall has taken off in the last couple of years. With the addition of the waterway and all the new shops it is practically unrecognizable compared to what it was when I lived there what seems like just a few years ago.

The children's area was smaller than I expected, and somewhat dangerous. The majority of the fountains in the children's area shoot straight up. That's all well and good unless you are 2 1/2 feet tall and keep chasing the water towards the ground when it disappears, and a little slow to recognize that that never ends well. The boys kept getting a face full every time the fountains disappeared and reappeared. To their credit after wiping the water out of their eyes they went on like nothing ever happened despite being practically drowned by the mini geysers on a regular basis.

Some Scrappin

I have been working on scrapping some of our adventures of late. Though you have probably already seen most of the photos already I thought you might like to see how they turned out.

I made my first foray into brag books last week and made a brag book for my mom of our trip.

And here are a couple from last weekend. I still need to finish Ryan's from Discovery Green Park, but I need sleep. :) Maybe another day...

On Parade

We had a special treat at work this morning - we brought the boys in for about an hour and let them run around. People's heads popped up like gophers over the cube walls looking for the source of the giggles emanating from the the boys as they romped through the hallways.

I got the boys off to school just in time for them to participate in the school parade. I didn't actually get to see it, but I can only imagine it was a lot like herding cats, or maybe more like a donkey with a carrot as I hear they had popsicles, too. Each class made their own shirts. The boys' class made flags with their footprints. I think they actually turned out pretty cute. Kevin got a picture of Ryan modeling his this evening.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the silliest baby of them all?

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, can you tell which baby is on this side of the wall?