Family at Heart

Wow did we have a great day today. Our neighborhood play group went to Wonder World. It’s an hour’s drive straight down the interstate. We had 20 people show up in all including dads, moms, kiddos, and guests. What fun we had! The generous gentleman at the ticket counter gave us a discount. Very nice.  We got our own train to ride through their wildlife park. Our tour guide told us some factoids about the animals that we were seeing. Then the train stopped and we were able to feed the deer. They were not intimidated at all and ate out of the kids’ hands. In fact, they ate so much that they lost interest and sat back down.  I’m not sure if they even bothered to come over to the train for the next round of visitors. After the train, we went up to the observation deck. Apparently a fault line causes the separation of the flat plains and the hill country. It was interesting to see flat land out of one side of the tower and hills out the other side. Cool! We paid for the train and the tower, so then we were on our own. We goofed around taking pictures by putting our heads through the cutout holes in the dinosaur and cave people wooden stand up things. I didn’t explain that very well, but pictures will follow I promise. Then on to our picnic lunch and just watching the kids have a blast. They ran; they played ring around the rosies; they played duck, duck, goose. So much fun. So that ends the first part of the day.

We had to stop for gas right after leaving the park. Hubby noticed my low air pressure light was on, so he pulled around to get some air with instructions for me to go directly to the tire place on Monday. But when he looked at the tire, he saw a screw in there So we flipped around and went to the tire store. I am the proud owner of four brand new tires, and it was only $500!!!! No really, it was on my list to do this week anyway. I knew the tires were getting worn, and Hubby had even mentioned a vibration. Well that is totally gone now, and we had a very smooth ride back to Austin. So I wasn’t upset at all about the tires. Now if it had happened after I had gone and gotten new ones, that would be a different story. A was on her best behavior at the tire place, and they had us out of there in about 45 minutes. Nice.

We kept our previous plans to go and see the new Dr. Seuss movie. It was great. A loved it. After that, we grabbed some ice cream. We had a very full day, and she is sleeping very soundly right now. It was so nice to have a family day that was uninterrupted with work. We hadn’t had one in a bit. I know that we all needed it. Yes a perfect day, screwy tire and all

I’ve talked about this before on the blog and certainly to close friends, but Hubby and I made the decision long ago that A would be an only child. I read a message board on Babycenter for Parents of Onlies. One of the mommas posted this lovely poem she had found. I just love it. Hubby and I feel that our family is complete, that no one is missing, and we are happy to be able to provide the kind of childhood and life for A that we always dreamed about. I also find that as she gets older, my thoughts about the whole thing only get stronger and stronger. Fortunately the frequent questions about if and when we are having another have decreased as she’s gotten older. I really don’t enjoy defending my family planning to anyone, and I always seem to leave those conversations feeling angry or hurt. I never judge anyone about their family size.  It’s a personal decision that I respect for everyone. I know that some people are meant to have many children, but I truly feel that I’m meant to have one. And I am eternally grateful for the one that I do have

I can’t imagine needing anything more than this….

My Only Child (by Teresa Shelton Bright)

On the day you were born,
my life was changed completely.
How could one tiny child transform my world
oh, so sweetly?

You brought back my childhood,
brought out the child in me
And gave me fresh perspective
on life’s priorities.

The world became brand new again
as I saw it through your eyes
and I learned to value each new day
as a gift full of surprises.

I know the life of an only child
is not always filled with ease.
You’ve had no one to borrow from,
share secrets with, or tease;

And yet, no matter what life brings,
you take it all in stride.
The strength of character you show
fills my heart with pride.

I never knew just how much love
a child would stir in me,
but in his grace the Father saw
and recognized my need.

For I was given just a taste
of perfect love, it’s true,
when God in all his mercy,
chose to bless my life with you.

We had a great playdate today at a local park.  We have some very creative mommas in that group, and we are happy to take advantage of that creativity   The kids put on little dinosaur feet, dipped them in paint, and made tracks on bed sheets!  A had a blast.  She ended up with a green shoe however when she put her foot in the green paint without knowing that her dinosaur foot had slipped off   Funny, and no harm done since it was all washable paint.  Couple making the tracks with some sand playing and it made for a great afternoon.  And the weather was perfect.  I LOVE SPRING.  We didn’t leave until 1:30, an all-around great park day.

After she was finished with her feet, she decided to make some hand prints.   Her color of choice – red!

I know I don’t have a large readership, but I just have to plug this new ice cream place that took Cold Stone Creamery’s place at Lakeline and 183 (for those of you that are local).  Our neighborhood group met there this afternoon for ice cream.  Our leader, M had called ahead to let the manager know that we were coming.  He says sure come on, we’ll give you guys a tour.  Cool   He gave us unlimited samples, showed us all around the freezers, showed us how they make their ice cream, and then he made us anything we wanted.  Most places give you a minimum during a tour, but not this place.  He gave waffle cones, the whole deal.  And the best part was that he was so great with the kids.  He talked to them.  He asked them what they wanted.  I love it when adults talk to kids like they are people.  I mean, from the time they can talk and communicate, it really is okay to ask them what they think.  The kicker of the whole afternoon – he didn’t charge us one penny!!!!!  We couldn’t believe his generosity.  He definitely landed some very loyal customers today.  And that ice cream was very good.  The apple streudel with graham crackers was just like eating apple pie   Thanks again to Zero Degrees Ice Cream Creations

Me: Daddy said that he will come and give you hugs and kisses tonight after he gets home from work. You’ll be asleep when he gets home.

A: But I have a girls only sticker on my door and Daddy’s a boy. He’s not allowed in my room.

Sorry A, I have a feeling that Daddy will be disregarding that sticker and that he’ll get his hugs and kisses anyway.  That girl is too funny!

We had such a nice, relaxing day together.  We just hung out, wasn’t in a hurry for anything, didn’t really have anywhere we had to be.  It was so nice.  I loved every second.  A of course couldn’t wait for us to go outside and hunt eggs.  We waited until after 1:00 hoping it would get a bit warmer.   It didn’t get warmer, but she didn’t notice at all.  She had so much fun.  First, I hid them outside while she impatiently waited with Daddy inside.  Then she and Daddy hid them for me to find, and of course she helped me find them   Finally she hid them by herself for me.  We had such a good time with those eggs!  We stopped to go and grab lunch with the promise of much hiding and hunting later.  I kept that promise, just inside this time.  We truly had a great day.  Thanks Daddy for taking pictures so I could take video.  I didn’t want to miss a minute.

Hubby got some funny shots of our kitty Gus playing with a plastic egg…

I hope everyone’s Easter was wonderful.  Now I’m planning on my next project with A — bluebonnet pictures

Well, my anticipation of the egg coloring was warranted.  A loved it so much.  She did last year too, but with each passing year, she is definitely getting more and more into every holiday.  I enjoy it ALMOST as much as she does.  Just watching her joy and enthusiasm is food for my soul.

After we dyed the eggs, she had the great idea to actually paint the eggs, so we did a little of that too.  I expect to be hiding and hunting eggs ALL day tomorrow and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Happy Easter everyone!!!!!!

This is my little creation…

A saw Ruby paint eggs in an episode of Max& Ruby, so of course she just had to do it too…

Yesterday afternoon after a picnic lunch with Daddy, we made plans to go to the park with our little princess friend.   She and A hadn’t played in quite a while, well before my flu nightmare.  We followed up playing with dinner at a great little burger joint that has a play area for the girls.  Daddy joined us there and that made it even better

A looked so sweet in her butterfly shirt.  I just had to put a picture of it on my blog.

This picture cracked me up.  It’s challenging to push your child high enough to satisfy her and then snap a picture that she’s actually in.  Her expression is priceless

Then today we headed out to the Oasis.  We hadn’t been there since late last year before they opened all of it up again.  It is really nice and, in my opinion loads better than it was.  I love going there, always have.  We had such a great time.  A was on her best behavior, and I think it was a great family outing.  I didn’t want to post the egg coloring in this post, so there will be two from today

A was practicing her reading on the menu.  She figured out the word “dip”!!!!!

The specialness of this child takes my breath away…

My two babies…

Pure sweetness…

She loved this great lion bench.  They have the coolest stuff to look at and explore.

Wow, we had a fantastic time at our little Easter party. One of the moms, K, really knows how to put together a party for kids. I have officially named her the Goddess of Easter Parties We had two different crafts (pictures below), great food, a playscape, an egg hunt, and goodie bags at the end. A had an absolute blast and so did I. I actually laughed with friends. It had been days since I felt that good. I was so grateful to be there and also to know that my sweet Hubby was on his way home. He got back after 7:00 and we met him at our favorite restaurant for dinner. Then we came home and called Ma G. I got some action shots of A during the egg hunt. I just got back from the grocery store where I picked up actual eggs for us to color tomorrow night. I’m excited for that.

This was A’s favorite thing about the playscape.

Probably the cutest Easter craft ever…

A enjoyed coloring her little egg, yet another cute craft.

This is my action shot of the HUNT.

And finally, here’s A enjoying the fruits of her labor, but it was more like enjoying the chocolate

Because A goes to school on Wednesday and Thursday, she gets to do school activities twice – once with the kids that go on Monday and Wednesday and once with the kids that go on Tuesday and Thursday. There are a couple of kids that go all four days so they get to do the fun stuff twice too. At any rate, we had to bring six filled eggs to school each day this week for their little egg hunts. I showed up both days with cameras in hand – video and digital In fact, A’s teacher kinda laughed at me when I walked in again today with my camera after just doing the same thing yesterday. However, I was so glad that I did because today the egg hunt was outside (it was a little chilly yesterday so they did it inside) and the kids had made bunny ears that they wore during the hunt. My pictures today were much better than the ones from yesterday, and so I am glad that I took that camera. Oh, and by the way, I took the good camera today too!

I had picked up a couple of packets of plastic eggs because I knew we had to send them to school and also to our neighborhood play group party. So on Tuesday night, A helped me fill all the eggs. Well that just got her started and we have literally been hiding and hunting eggs for nearly three days now. With the big neighborhood hunt over the weekend, the two hunts at school, and the hunt at the Easter party, she won’t even want to look at another egg on Sunday No, I think she will. She is enjoying every second. And I personally can’t wait to actually color eggs with her on Saturday night. Look for pictures from that too!

This is her beloved basket this year. She picked this over a Dora basket and that’s saying a lot. We found these adorable little eggs that would stand up. On Wednesday we filled them with Easter erasers. On Thursday, we filled our eggs with candy.

One of the few shots that I got of her face. A is so serious about egg hunting that she won’t stop to pose at all.

Opening those eggs is just too much fun!

And now for a silly face…

These sweet little creations are decorations in the classroom right now. I can’t wait for A to bring hers home. I love these. So sweet!!!!

These pictures are from today. The bunny ears were just adorable. I was so glad I took my camera

All the “bunnies” lining up for the hunt…

They had a beautiful day for an egg hunt. Just perfect…

I still can’t get over those bunny ears…

Probably my favorite picture from both days… Love my bunny!!!!!!!!