June 2019

Bowling fun!

P.S. sign up for kids bowl free every summer!

And then we stopped for some fro-yo afterwards. Happy kids!

Beautiful girl <3

I've mentioned before that Wilson wakes up before everyone else. One morning I noticed something on his face... Then found a half eaten cookie on the table... then I noticed his little chair against the kitchen counter by the bag of cookies. What a goob! Lol.

We had told Wilson to go get some clothes on, since it was the middle of the afternoon and he was still in pajamas. Jacob was walking out the door for work, so I told him to come say bye to Dad. The kids love to wave to Jacob as he drives away. Right after Jacob walked out the door... Wilson came running out of his room butt naked. Then he climbed up the couch to look out the window and wave goodbye. Jacob had a great view. Lol.

The cutest little Darth Vader ;)

Concentrating so hard... look at her little tongue. Haha.

Always stopping to pick flowers

Running errands with these cuties. They're always so excited when I get the baskets that they can "drive".

Think of my Grandma Nicholas, GG as the kids know her, as we ate some Kraft spaghetti.

Everyone approved!

This picture on the left popped up in my memories on Instagram. 1 year apart. They grow so fast! And I love how they are posing the same way in both pictures. ...Only because Kayla tries to put her arm around him and he doesn't like it and tries to take it off. Lol.

How Wilson fell asleep one night. Haha.

Wilson fell asleep while eating lunch on the way to Texas. He kept chewing slower and slower and slower until he was out. It was cracking us up!

Jacob and I finally got a weekend away together. He had had to unexpectedly work the weekend before, so they gave him the next Friday off. And then he took a few more days off so we could get away. It was so needed! I had actually been having a really bad week. And I never get away from my kids. I've only been away from Kayla the night Wilson was born, and one other time when she slept over at her cousin's house. And I've never been away from Wilson. PSA: Don't wait 4&1/2 years to get away with your spouse. Way over due! And it was so so so good!! Anyways... we dropped the kids off with Grandma and Papa McConnell and then headed to San Antonio!

85 mph speed limit. Gotta love Texas!

The first day we spent downtown. We spent some timing during our honeymoon in San Antonio. And also for Jacob's BMT graduation (and his brothers). And a few more times aside from that. Basically we've got some good memories here and always enjoy coming back!

First stop was lunch at Mi Tierra! SOOO GOOD! Also, Tex-Mex sucks in Louisiana!!

We stuffed ourselves. Every bite was amazing.

And then after stuffing ourselves, we realized we didn't even touch the tortillas. No way were we going to let those go to waste. So, we wrapped them in some napkins and stuck them in my purse for a snack later. Not even ashamed. It was fun randomly asking each other all day... "hey, do you want a tortilla?"

Next up was shopping at Market Square. We found some fun souvenirs.

Here's a throwback to Mi Tierra and Market Square in 2014. Look at that prego belly!!

A treat after wondering around the mall.

Visiting the Alamo.

We always have to stop and at least take a picture. Lol.

2017

2013

And eat at Schilos!! We ate all the delicious food this trip!

Outside of Schilos

2013

I saw someone eating this when we were waiting for our table at lunch. I told Jacob that if I found it, I would buy it. Finally found a shop that sold them as we were walking through the market again to get to leave that evening. My mouth waters just looking at the picture!

When Jacob first met me, he totally thought I was Mexican. I've still never given him reason to believe otherwise ;) we joke that I'm half Mexican all the time.

We also took a day to go to Sea World. It was so much fun going with out kids. Hahaha. It was hot and we did a lot of waiting. We do want to go back with them though... but we really enjoyed it just the two of us.

Oh and we got soaked. Like, I expected to get a little wet...

And then Jacob was like, "let's go to a show." ...And then, "let's sit in the splash zone."

And then we were actually soaked. Like huge splashes from the orcas, multiple times. The water was freezing by the way. And so salty. Ew.

*It's Sea World... Don't be foolish like me... wear a swimsuit!!

We never dried off after that. Lol. ...But we did get some funnel cake, and it was so tasty! That was at least cool. Haha.

And we found some one to take a picture of us rather than more selfies. Haha.

We stayed at Randolph AFB for our trip. I was impressed with what we got for the price we payed.

Also, note my 10 hours of sleep. SO AMAZING!!! Hahaha. I average 5&1/2-6 hours at home, typically...

Leaving my babies was hard and gave me so much anxiety! I knew they were in good hands though. I still kept asking Jacob way too much if we should call them. Lol.

They had a great time with Grandma and Papa. And Grandma kept me updated with pictures... for which I was grateful!!

I missed them so much!! We spent our last day in Round Rock visiting friends. They offered to let us stay the night, but I really really wanted to get back to the kids. We left their house after 11pm and were back at Jacob's parent's house around 1am. I woke the kids up hugging and kissing them. Lol.

Janice had a turquoise ring that she had got from San Antonio (I think from when we were there for Jacob's BMT graduation in 2017). Recently, it was stolen and she was really upset about it. For Mother's Day this year, all of us kids went in to get her a new one. We searched and searched for a matching bracelet to give her as a thank you for watching the kids. The one we found turned out to be a pretty good match!

Kayla showing off her cute bracelet we got her! (And the fun headband, necklace, and bracelet she made with Grandma.)

We also got the kids a few of those pressed pennies that you get from those 51 cent machines. We like to collect them, so they were thrilled! And we found some cute little animal trinkets. An owl for Kayla - because whenever we talk about owls, Jacob always says... "who?", and she's finally caught on to the joke and does it with us now. Lol. And we got Wilson a little piggy - because he makes the best little piggy noises! (Kayla does too actually). We also found a little turtle figurine to add to my collection ;)

Had to make a stop at Gumbys before we left town to go back home ;)

Typical behavior ^^ when I ask for a picture from him. We got Jacob a B52 BUFF print for one of his Father's Day presents and it came in early. We got a frame for it while we were in San Antonio. Jacob and I were both impressed with how it turned out. I thought it was just a print on paper. It's a really nice canvas print though! So happy about my purchase from squadron posters!

And another Father's Day present. I don't know who's more excited... him or Wilson. Lol.

Sweet cuddles!! <3

Swinging at the park! We had fun playing with lots of friends!

Visiting the blueberry farm! Carter was so impressed that he could have conversations with and understand Wilson. It was sweet. They are cute little buddies!

Trying to get a proof of mom pic. Lol.

We brought home tons of blueberries, a bunch of blackberries, and some local honey. This was just ours, our friends picked a ton too! (And this was their 2nd time back this season.)

Cute friends <3

So proud of her hard work picking! Lol.

I found a cute little porg in my kitchen.

Making some jam with our blueberries and I realized it had been almost a year exactly (minus a week) since the last time we had gone! It's fun making traditions with friends!

He collects a bunch of his toy screws in a teacup and walks around saying he made Mac n cheese and pretends to eat it. I love my kids imaginations! Haha.

Silly kids playing under a table after our friend's baptism

I love these cute little friends!!

Stole this one from Holly! I am so grateful for our friendship with the Milligans!! Our kids get along so well (as do we. lol). They're always up for doing things together. And Eleena gets me! She's so understanding, always encouraging, and uplifting. I just hope I'm half as good of a friend in return ;P

Checking out a car show!

They had to get a good look at all of the engines... just like their daddy!

This is Wilson's favorite place to be!!

Kayla got some new headbands and was so sweet sharing with her brother. He loved it. Lol.

Father's Day... they all look so thrilled to take a picture...... :P

Always stealing my seat.

Cuddling each other under a quilt from Grandma Lazenby. It's our favorite blanket to snuggle up on the couch with!

Jacob normally works swing shift, but one day he had to go in for day shift and we ended up meeting him at Taco Bell for a quick lunch together. As we finished ordering and I went to grab my wallet, and the sweetest lady in line behind me stopped me and said she was going to pay for our meal. Her son was just about to finish BMT and she said she just really felt that she needed to pay for our food. It was such a sweet gesture. I had to hold back tears.

I'm constantly so impressed with this little girl! She built this lego fish all on her own, even searching through all of the yellow pieces for just the right ones. And then she built this scene from Mulan. She only needed my help finding some of the pieces. Maybe it's not that impressive, I don't know... Her mind definitely works different than mine (her and Wilson are both a lot like Jacob in that sense). I never cared about following a bunch of step by step instructions to create a specific lego creation at 4&1/2. I just grabbed random blocks, threw them together, and pretended they were something that they actually looked nothing like. Lol.

He's pretty creative with legos... he's just also still really destructive... you know with the things that I spent way too much time making after he begged me.... ;)

Also, note our lego organization. I initially just put all the similar colors together. Then Jacob was like,  "look we can use these dividers and make it more specific." The problem is I'm super anal about things going in their place... so now I spent way too much time dividing up 5 slightly different variations of the same color every time it's time to clean up after we pull the legos out. So thanks Jacob ;P

Checking out the sunflowers!

He loves scaring them, and they love when he scares them. Hahaha.

Pretty impressed with Kayla's photography skills

My favorite people <3

He was excited because it was time to go get the ice cream that I promised them if they would take cute pictures for me. Lol.

Worn out from too much fun!

This is about the most I do to put myself together... (for special occasions I'll even put eye shadow on. ;P hahaha) And even then it still doesn't happen often. So I always have to document it when it does. Lol.

Putting on Daddy's way too big socks

He did this puzzle all on his own! I find that impressive for a 2 year old.

We parked at Walmart, and then I told Jacob to move to a different spot for some reason. Wilson got to sit and help Jacob drive. Obviously he was thrilled. Haha!

So happy to hold Wilson's hand while he slept. He never lets her do it when he's awake so I guess she was feeling deprived. Lol.

Such a cutie!!

Starting out the fun while we waited for friends to join us at the park

"Mom! I'm superman!"

Proud of her curly hair after having braids in all day

She was excited to look like Mommy. My cute little mini me <3

We always have to stop and watch the trains when we go to Sci-port.

More lego fun. Super excited about her rainbow ice cream.

Such cute little pictures on some membership cards we have.

Kayla was pretending to be a horse. So many giggles. Lol.

It was way too bright the first time we went to the sunflowers. We went back again and gave it another shot with some better lighting. Also, the day after we took the other set of pictures, Jacob surprised me with a tri-pod. We've been talking about getting one since we got the camera 4 years ago and just barely got around to it. Now I just need to keep working on taking pictures in manual ;P

*Kayla took this

Of course the best one was taken by someone else. She mentioned she was a photographer. I did the settings though... so I'd like to think I'm getting there ;P 

I need to be better about giving myself time to practice. My goals are to work on getting lighting right and my people positioning/posing.

Ice cream for Kayla and candy for Wilson for taking pictures. Haha.

Watching Daddy load the back of the truck up

Our power went out during another crazy storm. The kids enjoyed eating dinner in the living room since the kitchen was too dark.

The wind got crazy!! It was another storm with a confirmed tornado touching down pretty close. Our neighborhood is full of big, old trees and so many neighbors lost limbs and trees. Luckily our power was only out for about 2 hours. Most of the neighborhood was out for almost 3 days!!

Last time we were at McDonalds, I witnessed a little girl pee her pants.... I know play areas are gross, but witnessing that really struck me. But I guess not really quite enough, because we ended up coming back. This time I brought hand sanitizer with me and bathed them in it after every time they even so much as looked at the play area...

Kayla and I had a really rough morning one day. When she finally calmed down and was ready to apologize she broke down crying. Bless her heart <3 I had to apologize too. We're both pretty stubborn and it causes us problems sometimes...

Bella and Grandma came to visit us!! Bella brought a cook book with her and wanted to try one of the recipes while she was here. I switched a few of the ingredients, but I don't think anyone was upset. Haha. I think it called for toast and I did pancakes.

Then we all went to finally see Toy Story 4!! Well Bella had already seen it, so we're glad she was ok with watching it again with us. The kids have been anticipating seeing this movie SO MUCH!! I'm only sad Jessie didn't play a bigger role in it. Kayla is so obsessed with Jessie!

Jacob and I took advantage of my mom being in town and went on a date. There's a German restaurant here in town that we are big fans of. I knew they were about to close for a few months for renovations... but didn't realize we made it on the last night they were open. So glad we went when we did. Haha! We can't wait for them to reopen!!

And then we went to see Men in Black 4. So weird, but Jacob and I both knew we wanted to marry each other after watching Men in Black 3. Lol. I don't even remember why... just that as we were walking to the car after the movie, we both had a really strong impression about it. So yeah, we've got a big place in hearts for the Men in Black movies. Hahah!

Watching a movie together as Grandma packed up to head back to Texas. Love these cousins <3

Sleepy boy!! Jacob did not want me to take Wilson away and put him in his bed. Lol.

Proud of the Jessie she colored

Freedom Fest at Splash Kingdom! Thanks to the Warrior Network for putting on another amazing event!!

We had such a great view. It was so nice to sit cuddled up as a family and watch the firework show. I love my people <3