First Grade Goes to the Aquarium

Yesterday was my first field trip in probably 15 years.  I was so excited! 

 

These four wild Indians made up my group--Jackson, Caleb, Apia and Gage.  Did I mention that they were excited??  We left school around 9:15 and arrived at a park in Preston Hollow around 10.

Everyone had brunch and then we let the kids run and play.

Shortly thereafter we arrived at the Dallas World Aquarium.  How fun are field trips?  It took a lot of planning, but I was so happy that I pulled it off.

  These two anteaters were the first animals we saw.  They are so ugly, but very interesting to watch!

Right across from the anteaters were the cutest little monkeys--and one even had a baby on her back.  SO CUTE!

We saw the Alligator...

and otter...

and we even found a baby crocodile, too.

The alligator probably impressed our team of boys the most, though. 
See him chillin' right behind them?

It was so cool feeling like we were inside a rain forest...that is, until I realized that a bird had pooped on my shirt!

Thank goodness our next stop was the dark part of the aquarium.  We saw tons of huge catfish, turtles and sting rays.

I think our favorite was the manatee, though.

Check him out--he was just floating around on a little boogey board:)

Everyone was a little surprised to see a scuba diver in this tank!

But he wasn't quite as much fun to watch as these cool sharks.

 

I don't think J liked this one sneaking up behind him.

The boys were not that impressed with the flamingos and were off and running before we knew it.

They liked watching the penguins much more, I think.  It probably had something to do with climbing on the rails.  What is it with rails and 7 year old boys?  It was like moths to a flame.  They had no choice but to climb up.  Everywhere. 

Aren't they cute?



By the time we made it to the end, Sandy and I were both exhausted!  We were patting ourselves on the back for not losing a kid, and trust me, that could have happened.  We called it a successful field trip, though, and the boys had a blast.

Happy Field Trip Day!

Love your Mama

My first mother's day with my mom was pretty close in this picture.  Not sure I showed her how much I loved her back then, but I hope I've made up for it by now!

Thank you, mom, for every long day and night you spent with a crying baby.  Thank you for all the cuddles and the sweet hugs.  Thank you for making my breakfast and lunch every single day for 18 years.  (I still have a deep love for cinnamon toast!)  Thank you for always being the room mom and volunteering at my school.  Thank you for bringing my shoe to school one day when I accidentally packed two left ones.  Thank you for teaching me how to be a good friend.  Thank you for never missing a game I cheered at or game I played in.  Thank you for always having my back!Thank you for teaching me how to cook and preparing me to live on my own when I moved to Austin.  Thank you for caring enough to surprise me on Bid Day at the Tri Delt house!  Thank you for giving me a gift every day for the 30 days before my birthday one year.  Thank you for throwing me my first surprise party when I turned 31! Thank you for being supportive throughout my three pregnancies and for taking care of our kids like they were your own.  You are a fantastic Gigi and they adore you for good reason.  Thank you for making me feel like I am one of your most treasured loves.  You are one of my very favorite people on this earth. 

She learned from one of the best.  I've heard that my meme was sometimes the only person who could get me to stop crying.  She's just got a very comforting way about her.  I love her so much and am thankful that my kids get to grow up knowing her, too.

Mother's Day dawned bright and early and these two guys were up and at 'em.  They delivered Starbucks and flowers to Memaw before she left for church.

So sweet--they make me proud.

The boys came home around 7:45 and brought me a very nice Toffee Nut Mocha.  The perfect way to begin the day.  Jared made blueberry muffins and they gave me some new jammies and a beautiful gold necklace.

My favorite gifts, though, were the ones that they made me.  Jackson made this cool card that says "My love for you grows and grows and grows." 

He also wrote me a poem called Just Because.  It goes like this: I love my mom, shall I tell you why?  Because she heels me right up when I have a skinned knee or a broken bone.  Because she plays sports like baseball, basketball and all well, pretty much every sport!  Because she plays video games with me like Madden NFL 25 and a lot of other games.  Because she is the best MOM every!  Just because--that's why I love her!

A few things about this poem are funny to me. 
1.  He's never had a broken bone
2.  I've never played Madden 25 with him!  I've played Wii plenty of times, but no Madden NFL.  Think this is a not-so-subtle hint??

 He was so proud of everything and I appreciated his hard work:)

No idea why this won't turn, but Lila made me a card, complete with a drawing of me and her on the front.  I love it.  She also said that I am the best at making spaghetti, Farmer's Beans, macaroni, green beans and noodles.  Looks like I'm pretty solid on at least a few things!

After breakfast, bathing a few kids and myself, getting everyone dressed and ready, we went out back for our annual Mother's Day photo shoot.

Our photographer captured some great shots!

I am loved by this sweet boy...

this fiercely independent little girl...

and their adorable baby sister.  What more could I ask for?

We met my mom, dad, Madison and all of the Hays's at Brio for a late lunch.  I was so happy to get to hug this sweet lady's neck!

Everything was going well for a while.  We had a nice waiting area outside and thought we'd be seated around 2:00. 

 

 

 

Well, 2:00 came and went and baby girl started to get hungry.  No problem--trusty mom got out the bottle, got it warmed up and we were good to go.  I even let Lila feed her until the hostess came and told us that our table was finally ready.  Hallelujah!

 



A full hour after we arrived, we finally got our room.  The girls were so happy with their flatbread pizza and lemonade.

We had a large square table, making it so easy to chat with Lyndsie, Scott, Jackson, Andrew...

Shelley, Warren...

Boom and Gigi.  We thought all was well at first.  The appetizers came and they even brought the kids' food.  Even baby Cameron went to sleep and I laid her down in her carseat.

I knew it was going to be a Mother's Day Miracle if I got to get without holding a baby.  And it would have been, if only our food had come!

But instead we waited.  And waited.  Finally, Jackson started writing messages on his kid menu that said, "Help! Need Food!" and posting it on our door for all to see.  An hour and a half later, around 3:45, our food finally arrived.  Insane.  I was totally rethinking my plan to go out to lunch.  I'm sorry to all who went along with it! 

I was thankful that we got to see our mamas, though, and the kids were thankful that they got to see these adorable baby ducks.  We learned our lesson.  There's no place like home:) 

I am so thankful for every single hug I got yesterday.  Jackson told me at least 7 times that I am the BEST mom ever.  I'm thankful for my mom, who has taught me so much about how to raise my own kids.  I'm thankful for my mother-in-law for raising an amazing man who I get to share my life with.  I've always adored how much he loves and respects his mother.  But most of all, I'm thankful that I have three little souls that call me mom.  They fulfill every part of my being. I was born to be their mother, and I love them more than they will probably ever know. 
 They are the treasure of my life. 

Happy Mother's Day! 

Days of my life

It had been a long time since we'd hung out with the Martinez crew.  At least a few years!  We have some really sweet pictures of the twins and Lila when they were babies, and just look at them now.

 

There were 8 kids playing the other day, but only 7 of them wanted to be in the picture:)

 

Poor Blaise didn't like it, but we snapped him before he ran away!  Judah, Levi and Jackson all played soccer outside...

 

while the girls preferred to stay out of the heat.  It won't be log before Cameron can sit up just like Elena.  Time goes by too fast!

Our angel baby was so sweet the other night and gave us all kinds of smiles.  We sent this to our friends in Kentucky who just had their third baby, too.   A very sweet Texas greeting.

Miss Peabody came to our house yesterday and was so thrilled about finding her glasses.  Love her.

"Mama, can you sit her in my lap?  I look just like a mom, too.  Right?"
I think they both thought it was pretty cool.



Sunday Funday

We played hooky from church today, loaded up our minivan and headed west.  We had someone very important to introduce to Miss Cameron Nicole. 

She's heard great things about Pa Hays, her great-grandpa, so she was all smiles when we sat her in his lap.

It was really nice getting to visit with Pa and Roxie.  Lila showed them how she is learning to read. They were impressed!

Jackson brought lots of his sports equipment and showed Pa his baseball and soccer skills.  Pa said he used to coach Warren's baseball team when he was 8 and 9 years old and none of those boys could play as well as J.  That made Jackson so happy to hear.  We wish that Pa could come watch the Cubs play! 

We had lunch at Olive Garden and then had to say goodbye.  It was a really nice visit.  We wish they lived a little closer so that we could do it more often.

 

We had to get back to watch dad play soccer, though!  It's been a while since he played in a soccer league and the kids loved being able to go cheer him on.  They were so cute hollering for him, Uncle Scott and Adam from the stands.

I think the game wore him out!  He was supposed to be playing with Cami.  She was chatting up a storm while I was folding clothes in the other room.  I thought they were having a great conversation.  Turns out it was just one way!  A few minutes later when all 5 of us were sitting on the floor, Cameron performed her first trick.  Our baby girl rolled over!  It was so cute--all four of us clapped and were really happy for her and she just had the biggest smile.  Meeting Pa Hays, watching daddy play for the first time AND learning to roll over.  A big day for this little girl and a blessed Sunday for us all.