Happy Third Birthday Sawyer!

We celebrated Sawyer's third birthday on May 24th with a Thomas the Tank Engine theme. I would have had his party on June 7th, but that's the day that Tracy is graduating from high school. I didn't want everyone to have to choose, so we did Sawyer's a few weeks early. I think that it worked out really well.

Matthew, Jackie, and Kayla stayed at our house for the weekend. Jackie was my faithful sidekick during the cake decorating again this year. Thomas had tons of detail! I wish that I weren't such a perfectionist, but I just wanted to cake to be great for his special day. We finished around 3:45 Saturday morning. The look on Sawyer's face when he saw the cake the next morning made it all worth it!

This was how Thomas looked at 3:45 am Saturday morning.

The finished product after Lorne added the Rice Krispies treats, Mini Charleston Chews, and Twizzlers.

Sawyer was SO excited to blow out his candles!

We had the party at 3:00 so Lorne didn't barbecue this time. I bought the chicken salad, chips, and croissants, but I made everything else. I had kolaches, pasta salad, trail mix, punch, a fruit tray with fruit dip, cheese ball with crackers, cake, and ice cream. I always have way too much food, but I just can't help myself.

I love that I had a chance to use all my Longaberger, or Longancrapper as Lorne likes to call it!

Sawyer helped me choose the items for his favor bags. He had Thomas train whistles, Thomas stickers, a Thomas ball, Play-Doh, fruit snacks, tattoos, and a candy train.

Jackie, Lorne, and I made these train candies for the favor bags.

I also bought wooden trains for the kids to paint. They all had so much fun and were really concentrating. I bought paint and Velma grabbed some white T-shirts and sponge brushes and that worked out great! They were all unique and gave everyone a souvenir to take home.

It got really quiet while they were painting their trains.

Even Chloe enjoyed painting.

Jeremy seemed to have as much fun as the kids.

I put the trains on the porch to dry in time for everyone to take them home.

Denise came back over Saturday after she put her kids to bed and she and Jackie and I drank way, way, way too many margaritas!

Chloe is Fourteen Months Old!

Chloe is growing more and more each day. She is wearing twelve month clothes, but is also in some eighteen month dresses. She is getting more and more verbal. She still calls everyone Daddy, but she seems to be trying to say more words. She is making the sign for light and fan. I think the new ceiling fan in her room has increased her awareness of these two things.

She has also started climbing...ahhhhh! Sawyer didn't start WALKING until fourteen months, and Chloe is already climbing! I will never get over the huge difference between a first and second child. She is pushing the dining table chairs and climbing onto them. Sometimes she doesn't even move the chair first. She will climb onto the seat while it is still under the table. She also got into the wagon while it was under the pool table. I think she's trying to hide from Sawyer! She is also getting better at climbing onto the couch, much to my chagrin. She likes to try and surf on the top of the picnic table outside too.

Chloe Bug looks so cute in her ladybug dress!

I love those baby feet!

Chloe tried chocolate pudding for the first time this month. Looks like she liked it!

Sprinkler Fun

Lorne has had to work a lot of hours lately so I have been wracking my brain on what else to do with the kids. It occurred to me that I could turn on the sprinkler Mark gave Sawyer for his second birthday last summer.

The kids had a blast! They were a little tentative at first, but I think that they had a great time. I had on shorts and a T-shirt, but I went ahead and ran through the sprinklers too. I was soaked but it sure was fun!

Chloe and I are starting Water Babies on June 9th. We're doing it at night so that Lorne can stay home with Sawyer. Sawyer will get to do lessons on his own for the first time starting June 23rd in the morning. I've already been talking to him about how he will have to listen to his teacher and follow directions. The parents aren't allowed to be by the pool so I will have to watch from an observation deck. I really think he is going to do great, but I still have to worry. It's my job after all.

I have had quite a time finding a swimsuit for Chloe. She is so long bodied so it was tough. I took back two different ones and then Denise loaned me one of Sophia's. It fits great! I'm hoping it will get us through the summer. Jackie gave her a bikini for her birthday so I think that one will work out too.

They weren't too sure what to think about the water at first.

I thought it was so sweet how she squeezed her eyes shut.

I thought this was the cutest picture!

Hungry Girl Visits Dallas

I was honored to be chosen by Lori, my Weight Watchers leader, to be the Weight Watchers representative at the Hungry Girl cookbook signing at a Borders bookstore in Dallas. Hungrygirl.com is a great website run by Lisa Lillien. She started by sending out food related newsletters to friends and family and it has grown to hundreds of thousands of subscribers with e-mails five days a week. I have had her website as a link on mine since Aggiefamily.net began. My Weight Watchers leader is an ambassador which means that she represents WW at events throughout the Metroplex. I was so excited that she chose me! She leads six meetings per week so she had lots of people from which to choose.

I got to meet Lisa before the book signing which was really neat. I also stood behind a table with Lori and we answered questions pertaining to Weight Watchers. Our table was next to Hungry Girl's which was filled with free samples of Fiber One cereal, Fiber One bars, Vitatops, and Popchips. I brought the book and magazine in which I was featured. I also brought the flyer Weight Watchers printed of me when I was one of the winners in the 2004 Then and Wow! contest.

I was VERY self-conscious the entire time! I felt like everyone was watching me, even though I know that they weren't. I don't know how the Weight Watchers leaders do it on a weekly, even daily, basis. I kind of forgot about it after a while, but it was still intimidating.

Hungry Girl and I just prior to the book signing.

My Weight Watchers leader Lori. I have been attending her meetings since August of 2002.

I got a vertical picture with her after the book signing.

A Weekend of Firsts

We traveled to Mark's house this past weekend. He bought a house near Buchanan Dam. It is so beautiful! I am so proud of him and happy for him! I told him that most people don't have a first house as nice as his. I considered taking lots of pictures and posting them here, but I thought that wouldn't afford very much anonymity so I changed my mind. I think only family and friends look at my website but I guess it doesn't hurt to be cautious.

We spent the weekend with Mom, Dad, Mark, Matthew, Jackie, and Kayla. I was pretty nervous about the kids spending the night because the only other place they have rested their heads is Larry and Velma's house. My friend Kristy loaned us a toddler-sized air mattress for Sawyer and Chloe slept in the Pack n Play. Mark gave us his master bedroom so we had lots of space. Sawyer was my main worry and we never heard a peep out of him! I think it was because his uncles and grandfather kept him so busy! Chloe had trouble falling asleep Friday night, but Saturday was smooth sailing.

I was excited that it only took four hours to get there. We're used to a minimum of 5 1/2 hours to get to Van Vleck so this felt like a hop, skip, and a jump. We made it home Sunday in about three hours and forty minutes so that was even better. The kids did great in the car, just like they did for me a few weekends ago. That DVD player is a lifesaver! It takes Matthew and Jackie about 3 1/2 hours to get there which Mark said was one of the reasons he chose that location. It's a central spot for everyone.

Matthew's deer lease is really close to Mark's house so he and the guys went there for a while on Friday and then brought Sawyer on Saturday. Sawyer got to drive Uncle Matthew's truck, see some turtles, and deer, and get really dirty. I swear his white T-shirt looked tan by the end of the day.

Luckily Sawyer hasn't asked to drive the Tahoe (yet!).

Sawyer and Lorne helping fill Matthew's feeders at the lease.

I think Lorne said this was the pond where Mark kept trying to shoot the turtles, but ended up hitting the water instead. I'm guessing he was looking out for his nephew and didn't want him to be traumatized by the senseless extermination of harmless creatures! :)

Matthew brought his four-wheeler and Kayla's Power Wheels from the lease. The Power Wheels used to be Barbie but they painted it camo. It's pretty funny to see the tires because the camo is rubbing off and the pink is shining through.

Sawyer kept talking on the phone instead of driving which set Lorne up for numerous opportunities to remind me to "Hang Up and Drive!"

Even Chloe was taken for a spin. He had his arm around Kayla too but I couldn't grab my camera in time.

This pictures shows some of the granite that is in Mark's yard. Sawyer kept calling it the "mountain."

Even Chloe joined in on the four-wheeler fun. I think I aged ten years last weekend!

Sawyer caught his first fish so that was really exciting. Dad, Sawyer, and I headed to the fishing hole once it appeared that Sawyer was not going to take a nap. Dad put a cork, hook, and worm on his Cars fishing pole I bought at Target and cast it for him. It wasn't two seconds until that cork was submerged and he had a pretty decent-sized sun perch. Sawyer reeled it in himself. Once he saw the fish he said, "Let's catch a bigger one!" I took a video of it with my camera, but Lorne hasn't had time to upload it to YouTube just yet. He has been shopping for a composter for my Mother's Day present. I definitely want one, but I must admit nothing says, "You're a great Mom!" like a plastic tub of decomposing organic matter!

Dad and Sawyer no doubt solving all the world's problems.

Sawyer didn't stay this still for long!

Sawyer in action. He was much more interested in playing with all the sticks that had washed up on shore. I should have gotten a picture of that too.

Sawyer's first fish! I also caught a much smaller sun perch and Dad caught a barely-legal catfish. We decided to let them go back into the water to grow more. It's a good thing Mom was back at the house making hamburger patties to put on the grill!

Matthew and Jackie came a little later and Mark brought the four-wheeler. Mark took Sawyer and I on the four-wheeler through the neighborhood so that we could see the beautiful view from the top of the hill. It's just so different from up here where the land is all cleared and subdivided. This neighborhood is gated and the houses are built with minimal disturbance of the land as far as I could tell. I am always so impressed with my state when I travel to another region and marvel in its greatness. The tourist bureau is spot on when they call Texas "a whole other country."

Sawyer was an expert four-wheeler passenger by weekend's end.