It's time to Clean House

If you've been following me on facebook, you'll notice that we've been cleaning, rearranging, and removing clutter from our house since I quit my part-time job.  All of the things we've been working on have been on the to-do list, but we just weren't able to make time and frankly I was to tired most days to begin to wrap my head around what really needed to get done.

First, I had to remove all of the toys, dress up clothes and books from the room, closet and bedside table.  I lined baskets up the hallway and went to work last Sunday.  Once it was all sorted, I couldn't believe how much "stuff" fit into this little girls room.  On top of that, there were things that I had forgotten about stored in her closet that really didn't need to be.

Down the hallway - kitchen, stuffed animals, dress up, books and princesses.

Still in her room - Little People, Dupelos, and her castle

Okay, so once it was all sorted out, and I'd trashed the McDonald's toys and took a few items to the resale shop, I had to figure out what I wanted to do before I put it all back in.  I'd been thinking that a dress up area would be nice.  I mean, what little girl doesn't love to play dress up and pretend.  And it's not like we didn't have an overwhelming supply of dresses, bracelets, and so forth to work with.  So I made a trip to IKEA with some friends and picked up a bookcase that works for her room.  I am so proud, I even put it together all by myself, mostly because I was too impatient for Chris to come home.

I sewed loops on her dresses so now Maggie can just hang them from the low hooks we put next to the shelf.  And then sorted out her purses in one bin, her crowns in another, and her jewelry in another.  I need to return and exchange one set of bins for another one of the purple ones.  I bought two kinds not sure which I was going to like more.  Anyhow, as you can see below, Maggie is enjoying all of her fun stuff being easily accessible for her play time fun.

I do want to add one more girly accessory to her bookcase.  In two cubbies I'm going to have the purple bins, but in the other two cubbies, I'm going to sew curtains and put them on a tension rod.  Sort of like I've mocked up below.  I have another sewing project to work on first before I can get to this one.

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I've had a fun time working on Maggie's room and trying to make it everything a little girl would enjoy.  And since sorting and reorganizing she's played in it more each day since she can actually find her toys a lot easier.  So that's a big plus for me too.

Spring Break 2011 - Carlsbad Caverns

On Wednesday, March 16, we headed towards New Mexico to visit Carlsbad Caverns and then on to Ruidoso.  As we left West Texas I took a pic of our ever favorite red dirt.  Back in college, we would have red dirt everywhere - covering our cars, in our rooms, in our computers.  It was a constant battle to try to get that red dirt off of everything.  I remember getting caught in dust storms, not fondly of course, but I do remember it.  It's no fun having dirt everywhere, but it does bring back fond memories of our time in college and when we first met. 

Before heading out to the caverns we stopped in town to eat lunch.  We told the kids that because we were eating at the No Whiner Diner they had to be on their best behavior. They didn't seem to care since we had been in the car for quite a while at this point.  They were only interested in moving around, jumping back and forth between booths and so forth.

We made it out to the Caverns and I have to say the drive in was quite beautiful.  Chris & I both took a geology class back in college and I always think it's neat to see the "layers" of the earth as you can see here.  I mentioned the class, but I can't for the life of me remember anything from the actual class.  Just something about being able to read how the different layers will tell you about the earth during that time. Other than that, all the info's been dumped and replaced by kids.

Ranger Cameron

It was kind of chilly down in the caverns when we first got there, but after walking a mile it was nice to have it cooler.  There are some really amazing formations down there.  I know our kids enjoyed it because they have asked to go back.  Maggie will tell me, "I want to go to the caves.  It was soooo dark down there."  

Family pic!

The ledge the kids are sitting on had a steep drop, so I was standing very close by to grab a kid if they went over.

The caverns wore her out.

I'm so glad we took a detour to visit the Caverns, as I'm not sure when we'll be able to return.  I know that the kids enjoyed the experience.  I think we are planning to go to the caverns near Austin.  Even though they won't be as big as NM, it will still be something cool close to home.  I can remember going when I was a kid and the tour guides turning out the lights.  It was pitch black!  I think that might freak the kids out just a little, but we'll see.

Spring Break 2011 - Lubbock

On Tuesday, March 15, we were able to head up to Lubbock for a little bit of Red Raider time.  We had lunch at Spanky's, well we had fried cheese.  Spanky's was a standard for us in college although I did get burned out on the fried cheese back then.  Now it's a great treat when we get to visit.

Brady's first fried cheese at Spanky's.  He ate the whole thing.

We headed over to campus to let the guys go to a baseball game.  Anything to keep Cameron excited about baseball.

We stopped by the Alumni center to get a pick in front of the Masked Rider.  We have a family pic in front of the same statue from about 2 years ago.  I need to post that one for comparison on the kids.

They were drinking blue Powerade and barking like dogs to "Who let the dogs out."  

Go Red Raiders!

Will Rogers & Soap Suds

After the game, the Chris & Erik took Cameron & Brady for a walk around campus.  They went past Sneed, their old dorm, through Memorial Circle, and over to the Student Union.

Dogwood's framing the bell tower.

The girls went shopping instead of hanging out on campus.  First we hit a scrapbook store and I had way too much fun spending money.  I found Texas Tech paper, tooth fairy paper & brads, and all sorts of other cute stuff that I'll put to good use.
Next door was a resale shop and I found a few new (well to me) outfits for Maggie.  Cindy scored on a great jacket for Brady for next season - only $1.50!
Finally we went out to a metal works shop with some fun finds.  Since I had to think plane ride and not car, I had to limit my shopping, but I found something I think Chris will really like.

Jailed Maggie

So tired she fell asleep eating.  When Brady got in the car he demanded the apple to finish off.

We headed back to pick up the guys and swing by Raider Alley to pick up a new shirt for Chris.  We tried to grab a snow cone from Bahama Bucks, but the location we went to had a fire the previous day and so they were closed.  Cameron was highly disappointed by this turn of events. 

Spring Break 2011 - Go Fly a Kite!

On Monday, March 14, we headed out to the mall to get Erik's birthday present - a new Rangers hat.  He tried to slip in a Boston Red Sox hat, but Chris said not on his dime!

Erik, Brady & Cameron.  Texas Rangers fans.

Looking out the window at Lids

Then we went to Murray's to eat lunch.  They had all sorts of yummy things to eat, but what the kids liked best was Aunt Cindy playing "I Spy" with them.  Cameron thinks he's so good at this game, however when it's his turn, he's bad about looking at the item he's "spying" so we could guess fairly easily.  After our good lunch, we walked down a few shops to a cupcake place called Gigi's.  Who doesn't love a good cupcake.

Take a look at Cam's mouth, he lost his 2nd tooth on Sunday.

The selection at Gigi's was so good looking.  Maggie picked the princess cupcake, of course!

Afterwards, we decided to go fly kites in the park.  Our kiddos have been begging to fly a kite really high and we thought for sure we'd have really good winds in the plains.

Brady trying his hand at kite flying.

We only brought 2 kites, I guess thinking Brady wouldn't be interested.  Silly us, of course he was interested in what Cam & Maggie are doing.  Everyone shared pretty well though.

Chris was sitting here telling me this is such a relaxing activity and we should do it more often.  I think both the kites fell right after that.

You can always find a monkey in a tree.

They were playing hide and seek.

Brady loves to throw balls and I think we could recruit him for a little league team soon.

Chris also brought along a Junk Ball set (?), so he and Erik could act like they can hit a ball really far.  I did hit a few as well and it was pretty fun.  Somewhere in there I started playing catch with Chris & he was impressed that I could throw and catch the ball.  I did post on Facebook that it's kind of nice to know that I can still impress him with "secrets" about myself after knowing each other for 13 years.

We did get a bit warm at the park and needed down time to cool off so back to the house we went.

Even the big kids needed a break.

Chris offered to make his fantastic pasta for dinner so we ran and grabbed all the yummy ingredients while everyone was having a rest.  After we settled in for the evening, we watched Despicable Me.  Our kiddos love this movie and can quote quite a few scenes, so they were glad to share it with Brady.

Spring Break 2011 - Church, Birthday & Children's Museum

So we started out Sunday morning by going to church.  My kids did good for only one part, where the pastor called them up on stage to tell them about the Bible story.  After that Maggie was a wiggly child so I spent the rest of service out in the hall.  The people at Cindy & Erik's church were so friendly and stopped by to visit with all of us and introduce themselves.  I'm so glad that they have been blessed with such a good church family that takes care of them.

Chris was a popular man this morning.

Who could resist that cute face!

 Following church we went out to lunch at Dickie's, Erik's pick since it was his birthday.  This is a shot of him opening his card from Jeanne & David - a funny Simpson's one.  I pulled a card out of my stash of Thirty One cards, not even realizing the irony since it was his thirty first birthday.  Don't you just love how things like that work out!

Then off we went to the Children's Museum in Midland, which the kids loved.  The museum was fantastic because it's got all these really good interactive areas for the kids, but then had some interesting art pieces on the walls that were for the adults.   Chris & Maggie did a puppet show.  Erik & Cameron made masks.  I think all the kids played with a mini-golf game.  There was a vet clinic, a grocery store, magic shop, pizza shop & I think the favorite - a TV station!

Our trio on a turtle (statue).

 The train table was just a bit too tall, so Brady decided to crawl on top and Maggie followed suit.  What a bad example he is, teehee!

Engineer Brady

 Outside, under some canopies, is an area to dig for dinosaur bones.  So you can dig in this sandy dirt and find all sorts of cool treasures hidden away.  Cameron was gathering pieces to try to complete an entire dino, however we couldn't find the poor guys arms.  Neither Maggie nor Brady so much cared about the bones, they were more interested in the digging part.

Margaret Olivia!

The weather was so nice and the kids played so hard, it's a wonder they had any energy left for the next day.

Spring Break 2011

This year we decided to spend Spring Break taking a road trip to see friends and family.  Well, part of it was a road trip and part of it was a flying adventure.  So Saturday, March 12, we hop on a plane to Midland.  Cameron is a great flyer and can totally entertain himself.  Maggie was okay for the first part of the flight, but we had a layover in Dallas and she was not happy that we did not get off the plane at that point.  I don't like layovers either, so I understood her disappointment as well.

Getting our shoes back on after going through the airport scanners.

So our first stop was in Midland to see Erik, Cindy & Brady.  It was Erik's 31st birthday on Sunday, March 13, and since it's been a while since we've been able to celebrate his birthday together we just had to visit.  And it's been almost a year since they've moved out to Midland and this was the first opportunity we had to get out and see them in their new home.

Testing out Brady's doctor kit.

Brady has grown so much in the last year.  He's a super fun little boy.  It did take a day or two to warm up to us (totally understandable) and then he was calling us by name in no time.  I think the only thing that sort of freaked him out was that we tried to put all 3 of them in the bathtub together and with my 2 being so rowdy it was a bit much for the little man.  He was so easy going and happy to share his fun toys with Cam & Maggie.  He also introduced them to a new character and tv show - Chuggington.  

Oh boy do our kids have Chugger fever now!  Maggie kept saying the girl train was 'her Koko', so I'm thinking we might have to get her a train for her birthday.

Brady, Erik & Cam winding down for bed with iPods.

Brady & Maggie racing!

So that was just the first night, wait til you see what we did the rest of the week!

Saturday Morning Playdate

Since I started working, we don't have play dates quite as often. Saturday morning, however, we had our friend Nate G. over while his big sister went to a sibling class at the hospital. Nate was a perfect friend to have over because he's Maggie's age, but loves to also play with Cameron. We played outside, had a yummy snack, and did some art.

It's a race!

Buddies.

At this point I told Chris, just don't come into the living room you don't want to see it til I get it cleaned back up.

Thanks Robert & Emily for letting Nate hang out with us. He was a lot of fun!