Bobcat Bash

Last weekend was the annual Bobcat Bash at my mom's elementary school. It's their yearly fundraiser, and they really know how to have a carnival. The kids had a great time this year. Carly loves the bouncy houses and inflatable slides, and Josh was really excited about the train. I left early to pick up Jarod from work, and Carly and Josh stayed with Mama and got prizes, snow-cones, played games, and jumped to their heart's delight. It was a great time, and we're so glad that Mama treated us to the fun! Josh really loves trains, so this activity was perfect for him. Jack was a little less than thrilled, and when he saw me watching from a distance, he started crying. Poor thing.

Josh didn't want to attempt the slide, and it was probably best. There were some older kids that got wild while Carly was going down, and she snapped her neck pretty hard.

It was such a fun time, and the kids were very worn out at the end of the evening.

Park Days

While hanging out at my folks' house, waiting for the A/C repairman to get there, the kids and I decided to walk down to the park that's just a few houses down the street. It was such a hot day, so we didn't stay long, but I was able to snap a couple cute pictures of the kids. Josh and Carly love to swing, and get a lot of use out of our swing set in the backyard. Jack doesn't usually swing by himself, so he really wasn't too sure about it at first. I think he has the best facial expressions. He does a good freaked-out look, don't you think? It didn't take him long to get to this point. All smiles.

I swear Carly is going through another growth spurt. She seems so grown up to me!

Josh and Carly always tells us to push them higher on the swings. I thought Josh was sweet when he said "Mommy, I want to go high! I want to go to the sun!" He's saying "Cheese."

Avast Ye Maties!!

We've had a fun week so far. On Monday we took the kids to Zilker Park downtown to the Nature Center. They have a great free exhibit of different rescue animals, dinosaur fossil dig pit, etc. It was a great afternoon. The kids loved seeing the animals, and learning about them, and digging for Dino bones. We were on a time crunch and so we didn't get to see everything. Apparently, we missed the bird exhibit all-together. The kids were so cute all digging together, and I had a perfect photo op...unfortunately my battery was totally dead, so I didn't get any pictures. Good thing we'll be going back to catch up on all we missed.

The kids have also been exercising their imaginations this week. Josh and Carly have started to really enjoy dressing up and pretending. The last couple days Josh has been a pirate, and now that my camera battery is charged, I got a picture. Carly had put her pirate costume on from two Halloweens ago, and Josh wanted to do the same. His is much too small, though, so they improvised:

That is his Fishy/Mater cape, Mexican wrestler mask, green popsicle stick sword, and for some reason, to complete the ensemble, he had to be shirtless.

"ON GUARD!!"

Jack Talks

Jack has been trying out a lot of new words lately. He can say Mommy, Daddy, bubble, Nacho, thank-you, peek-a-boo, shoes, car, book, juice, Mama, Papa, Hi, Hello, Bye, phone, mine, NO, fish, dog, cheese, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. He's also started to make different animal noises, instead of roaring for every animal he sees. My newest favorite is his gorilla noise. He's such a fun baby.

This video was made on my dad's birthday, shortly before we left to have dinner at Chuy's, a great Tex-Mex restaurant. We spent the hour long wait in the car watching Veggie Tales, and then got seated in THE worst seat in the house. We were right in the middle of the walkway between the different rooms and kitchen. Of course, I was sitting on the outside and as my luck would have it, I got spilled on by one of the waiters carrying food. Two different types of salsa down my back. Oh yes, I was feeling glamorous! On the up side, we got our drinks and dessert for free, plus a free T-shirt, and 50% off the bill. I was just taking one for the team. That still doesn't beat the time we went to Claim Jumper in California and Damon managed to get our entire bill reimbursed...that was 7 adult entrees, and 5 kids meals, plus drinks and dessert. Note to self: take Damon every time we eat out.

PIZZA!!

For Carly's preschool field trip this month, I organized a trip to CiCi's pizza. The kids had a tour of the pizzeria, and made their own pizzas (put the toppings on). After the tour, they got to eat their pizzas and pretend to play the arcade games. It was a lot of fun. I think 10 in the morning is pretty early to eat pizza, though. While Carly and Jack and I were on the field trip, Josh took a field trip of his own to Jarod's work. It was the second time Josh had gone to work with Daddy, and he just loved it. He plays patiently with his cars while Jarod does his daily reports, and then he gets to ride the bikes out of the store for their outdoor display. When he goes I'm sure to dress him in his Harley shirt, and yesterday we spiked his hair. Everyone thought he was such a cute mini-Jarod. I think I need to put an end to these trips with Daddy so that he doesn't develop too great a love of motorcycles. I don't know if I could stomach my boys riding motorcycles. When we drove up to the dealership to get Josh, he was getting a ride around the parking lot. Handsome guys

Carly decided she needed a ride too. When she got off the bike, she told me that it was too fast for her, which is funny, because Josh says "Faster! Faster!" when he rides.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Jarod and I have been remarking lately how grown up our kids are getting. It seems like they don't have any "baby" left in them. Time for another! ;) Josh is such a fun boy. I'm amazed at the things that come out of his mouth sometimes. He is such a boy's boy. He absolutely loves trains, planes, cars, construction vehicles, etc. The other morning the first thing he wanted to do was put on his airplane apron that his Grandma Tess made him. I love his expression in this picture.

My New 'Do

If you remember from and earlier post

( http://valdiviesoclan.blogspot.com/2008/05/hair-cut-sagas.html) I've had some bad hair cuts in the past. Now that my last hair cut has finally grown out, I've decided to grow my bangs out, and chop off all my hair. I'm tired of having "mom hair" and I figure if I don't have the option of pulling it back into my signature pony tail/bun I'll be forced to style my hair. So, tell me what you think.