Mother's Day 2014

I am SO very thankful to be the mother to these two sweet kiddos!  We had a nice, relaxing day including breakfast made by Daddy and Joseph, church, lunch, a trip to the pool and grilled out for dinner.  Couldn't have asked for a better day surrounded by my favorite people.  

Joseph was in desperate need of a haircut!!  

 Oh, Joseph!  

Ella stuck around for a few more!   

And, I had to get a picture of my first Mother's Day gift made by Joseph in school.  So sweet!

I wanna be like you!

There is a country song by Rodney Atkins called "Watching You" and the chorus is:  "I've been watching you dad, ain't that cool. I'm your buckeroo, I wanna be like you, and eat my food, and grow as tall as you are."

I heard this song earlier today and couldn't help but smile!  We are pretty immersed in triathlon life right now and although some of the days get long with Daddy training so much it all makes it worth it when I see Joseph (and even Ella) learning and watching from his dedication, motivation and accomplishments. I can't imagine our kids having a better role model and father to look up to.  I love that we are teaching our kids about our healthy and active lifestyles at such a young age.  Joseph often asks to "play triathlon" and loves wearing Daddy's helmet, drinking his gatorade, trying on his bike shoes and riding his bike around the cul-de-sac with Daddy as he leaves for a ride.  

Here are a few pictures of Joseph "playing triathlon" early one morning:

He knows always to start with the swim

Then he pretends to take his wetsuit off, put on his pretend helmet and bike clips and to hop on the bike (which is hilarious to watch because although he is just running through the house he runs differently to differentiate between the bike and the run and it looks like he  has a towel or something stuck in between his legs .)  

And then he puts his running shoes on and is off for the run!

Coming towards the finish line!  

Here is Joseph's biggest fan and she even got a medal after this "race" and wore it around the house all morning!  

And, speaking of Daddy's accomplishments, on May 3rd he competed in the CB&I triathlon (sprint distance) here in The Woodlands and came in 2nd in his age group!!!  He had a great race finishing in 58:04 riding over 22 mph on the bike and running 5:54 minute miles (his swim pace was 1:47/100 m which I guess is pretty great, too, but since I am not a swimmer that doesn't mean much to me!)  When he told me his run times I did give him a huge "WOW" though-that impressed me!  Not bad for an almost 40 year old!  He's amazing!!  Oh, and I should definitely note that after the race he went on a 75 mile bike ride!  I am sure most of the other competitors in the race went home to nap but it was his long training day to ride so he had to fit in!!  He did take Sunday off at least :)  

We were there to see the start and it was a beautiful morning!

Giving us a pose before getting into the lake!

And, they're off!  When I told Joseph that the starting gun may be a little loud he looked at me and said, "Well, mom, no guns at school."  Yes, you're right Joseph!  

I didn't get any pictures of Daddy on the bike or the run but we were able to see him during each part and he even gave us high fives as he was finishing!  

Joseph and Ella were more intersted in the bridge and the lake towards the end! 

We hung out at Northshore Park for awhile after so that we could hear Daddy's name get called and that he could receive his award.  THey had live music that Ella was loving-she wasn't dancing but would just stand in front of the stage and stare!  

Here he is waiting for his award.  

A little more than 2 months left until the big race and we can't wait to see how well Daddy is going to do!!

Wrapping up April

April was a fabulous, fun and busy month!  Here are a variety of pictures throughout the month that I wanted to include.  (As a side note, I was able to meet up with my dear friend, Katie, for the afternoon on April 13th and we were so busy catching up that we didn't get a picture!!  We had such a nice visit though and I just love seeing her and picking up exactly where we left off.  It just means that we need to get together again soon to get a picture!)  

Here is the rest of April...

Always a good time in the bathtub

April 9th

Easter Egg Hunt with the mom's group from church

April 11th

Joseph and his buddy, Bryce, playing at the indoor mall play area after a rainy morning at boot camp.  

Joseph and Ella are playing more and more together every day which is so fun to watch.  Here they are one morning just wrapping themselves up in blankets which caused an endless amount of giggles!

Anybody know where Joseph is??

Our fabulous neighbors, Mr. Brad and Ms. Kristen, moved on April 15th.  Although they didn't have any kids, they had two great golden retrievers (Jake and Ollie) who the kids LOVED!!  We played with them honestly almost every day and Joseph and Jake would play fetch forever!

Brad's parents live close by and would often come by with their dog, Boomer, who the kids also loved. Kristen got a few pictures of the kids with Boomer, too

He was always trying to hug Boomer.

Boomer is just Ella's size.  She loved Jake and Ollie but more from a distance but with Boomer she would get right next to him and just laugh the entire time! Now that they are gone we may have to get a dog since the kids miss them so much!  (Don't worry, we won't really, I'm not that crazy!!)  

Ella and her buddy, Jack, after boot camp on April 16th.  She seriously lights up when I tell her we are going to see Baby Jack and Olivia (his older sister.)  

I just love this outfit of Ella's so had to get a few pictures!

April 21st

Sweet girl!

She looks like she is up to something here!

Check out the feet!  Definitely an interest in shoes already!  She was in the middle of going to get her pink croc when I snapped this...at least both shoes are pink!

We returned the favor and had Eve, Olivia and Jack over for dinner on April 21st when Erik was out of town for the week.  Olivia took a bath with Joseph and Ella and they had a blast.  Joseph asked to take a bath with Olivia every night for the rest of the week.  

Sweet Ella asleep on the car ride home from storytime on April 24th snuggling with her baby.  The Easter bunny was right on with this gift for her!  She loves her baby!

Joseph had his first sleepover at our house on April 24th!  We watched Trace, Joseph's buddy from school, for the night so picked them both up from school, took them to Safari Stop to get their energy out and then they had a blast together at home.  The plan was for htem to share Joseph's bed but Joseph wasn't crazy about the idea at bedtime and asked to sleep in the guest bed so he did.  They both slept great though and had a fun time together!  

Fun in the bath!  We figured that these two boys would be a little rambunctious in the bath (which they were) so Daddy bathed Ella upstairs for the night-smart move!

Loving the bubbles!!

I was cleaning up from breakfast on April 25th and it got really quiet so I went to investigate and found the two of them sitting on the bathroom floor looking at books and playing nicely!  

Trying on Daddy's hard hat for me!  

With baby again!

We've been playing in the pool a few times this month already...the month really has been beautiful and we are enjoying it before it gets real hot!  These two are as happy as can be in the water!

Such a big girl! 

On April 29th we walked by the pool in our development to show Joseph where he'll take swim lessons starting in June and to get excited for the pools to open in May.  Snapped a picture of Joseph walking along the lake-such a beautiful day!

We just love where we live!

And, on April 30th we were back in the pool again!

And, then Ella decided to work out for a little bit.  

And, exhale! 

And, finally, to finish off April on April 30th I headed out to dinner with my girlfriends for our monthly night out.  We had dinner at Taco Yucatan at the Waterway and then enjoyed the beautiful night sitting outside talking and laughing. The four of us in the front row are pregnant and due in July, August, September, and October.  

And this picture is from our night out in March that I forgot to post-figured I might as well include it now!  

And, here are the girls that I was running with over the summer and in the fall...looking forward to getting back out there with them next fall!  

And, now we are on to May!!