A couple of weeks ago we had a BERRY special visit! Grandma and Grandpa came for their Spring visit. They were here just in time for Strawberry picking and we were so glad they were here to help!
There were sooooo many berries to be picked at our favorite farm! Grandpa taught Cupcake how to seek out the perfect red berries. Grandma made short order of her box. 14 pounds later we stopped for a picnic lunch and some jumping on the air-trampoline. It was a super fun day at the farm and then a BERRY sweet weekend of Strawberry tarts, Strawberry bread, Strawberry Ice Cream, Strawberries on cereal, Strawberry Pie for neighbors....you get the drift. It was so fun to have them here for the berry picking adventure!
Cutie Pie just watched this year:
Grandma and Cupcake take a picking break for a picture:
Grandpa shows Cupcake how to get the perfect berries:
Sooooo pretty! There were bright red berries everywhere:
A group shot....Grandma was still faithfully picking berries!
A few weeks ago our sweet friends let us borrow their ball pit!
AWESOME!! Seriously! Have you seen these things? It's like old school Chucky E Cheese at your own house. Cupcake LOVES the ball pit and wants to play with it every time we go to our friends house. So when we got to borrow it for our house there was non-stop ball pit fun!
Of course after hours of screaming, ball flying, fun...Cutie Pie was wailing for her turn. Too bad sitting up is kind of a pre-req for ball pits. UNTIL Mama gets crafty. Two sisters in a ball pit? Crazy fun. I wish I had auto on these pictures. Screams, squeals, giggles, and joy...full on joy. I could have taken pictures all afternoon. Of course then there would be no balls in the pit because it kinda runs on Mom gathering loose balls and tossing them back in. Sigh. At least I got a mini-workout. Here is what I got when I asked them to slow down and pose:
In March we went to Houston for Cupcake to receive her birthday present from Gigi and Papa...her first trip to the theater. Naturally our Annie lover would best be suited to see Annie first on the big stage so Gigi went to work scoring FABULOUS seats in Houston's Wortham Theater. It was a special afternoon for three generations: Gigi, Mom, and Cupcake.
Of course when going to see Annie...you should wear an Annie dress, right?! If we had a dollar for each person who told us how cute Cupcake was, we could have re-gained the cost of our tickets and had lunch after. It was a hit! Here's Annie with Gigi:
Also, when we first entered the theater people were clapping and cheering and creating a fuss. Here's the scene we saw: Cupcake was sure they were clapping because the real live Daddy Warbucks was there. Yes, those are two bald men or Daddy Warbucks look alikes but NO...not the real one. They were in fact the secret service men for President George Bush Sr. and Barbara who were in the house for the show. I think it is pretty amazing that at age 3, on your first trip to the theater, you sit a few rows back from the former President.
During the show Cupcake did great. At one point it was very quiet and in anticipation for what was next Cupcake yelled out "Here comes It's a Hard Knock Life" everyone around us giggled. She also full on sang "Tomorrow" with the cast. I have a feeling this will be the first of many theater memories with my girls. Thanks Gigi for a wonderful afternoon!
I can't believe we are here....the first bites post. My freezer was almost cleared of the meals I spent last summer making when I began my baby food making. However, I somehow felt like it was still a long way off.
Cutie pie was R.E.A.D.Y.!!! In the week leading up to us caving on her getting real food she attempted to lick a pickle I was holding for Cupcake. Then she grabbed a pretzel off my plate one day at lunch and put it right to her mouth as if she was going to bite it. Then she's taken to pretend chewing while we ate. Soooo...it was time. She's been having the occasional breast milk slushie to get used to the spoon but her first real bite of food came on Saturday April 7th...just a few days before her 6th month birthday. Here's some visual recaps:
Pears puree was her first food:
She wasn't too sure about it...but kept opening her mouth for more!
Cupcake is such a big helper. She always wants to be the one to feed the baby. Cutie Pie was a great sport at the spoon shoving that took place in her first food experience. When it comes to her big sister she's fairly flexible...she loves her so.
I realized as I was gearing up for the 6 month picture that I never posted the 5 month picture. So....here it is. A little late. I'll post the 6 month one soon. Our Cutie Pie is growing fast!
We had a play date the other morning. If I'm honest, it was a Mommy play date. Sure there were kids involved. Sure said kids had fun. Sure the kids kinda set the pace of the day. That's just the stage of life. But really....it was a Mommy play date.
My oldest dearest friend of 22 years came for a visit with her two beautiful children. It's been a very long time since we've gotten to see each other and hang out. But....with your oldest dearest friend the time between doesn't matter. You just pick back up...where you left off. We've been friends since 4th grade. We don't need to do the math but lets just note that there is history there. We were also college roommates...so for a time in my life I knew what this gal wore every day, ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, when she brushed her teeth, and so on. Today it was much different than those days....we were chasing kids, feeding babies, doing laundry (both of us), going on a nature hike, blowing bubbles, cutting apples, eating lunch and all the while talking as if we keep in perfect touch. I think it's good for the heart to have friends like those. I think it's good for Cupcake to see Mommy have friends like those. She got a pretty sweet deal too though because she LOVED playing with B-man. It was a lovely day and I am so blessed to have such a special friend in my life. I love you! Thanks for coming to see us.
Oh...and pictures? Yes...Mom of the year did not get any before Cutie Pie went down for her nap. Eep. Here's one of her precious girl who is just a few weeks younger than Cutie Pie. Aren't her eyes stunning? And she loves to smile...just not when I was pointing a big ole camera in her face.Have you ever taken a picture of a 3 year old? Ought to be an Olympic sport. Add another 3 year old and there are no words. Just evidence.
Those were a few of 40 or so pictures. Here's the best of the lot:
Sunday afternoon we went to our friend's home for a cook-out and egg hunt. Sometimes in the middle of a moment it will occur to me that I am the Mom now....it's almost hard to believe. When the Dad's went out in the yard to hide the eggs and the Moms closed the blinds and kept the kids inside it hit me...I am a Mom. I won't be finding the eggs....we were responsible for those. I'm a real live grown up Mom who hides eggs for some kids...and some of those kids are mine. Whoa.
Anyway...as much as I miss the hunt and the thrill of each trinket in the found eggs. It's even more thrilling to see my little running around with joy to find her own eggs. Cupcake is not highly competitive. I'm not sure where that comes from because her father and I are...ummm....a tad competitive. She however is just happy to be doing something fun and has no need to win. We got a sense of that last year when she retrieved only 1 egg. This year she found more than 1 but not with a spirit of competition and rather a spirit of adventure. She didn't care how many she got but wanted to make getting each one an adventure. While other kids ran to grab the easiest ones first she wanted to jump off the porch, climb the rock wall, look under water tables......all in her dress. I seriously love this about her! It was adorable to watch and today her little legs are bruised from ankle to thigh but she could careless....they are not war wounds...they are fun marks :)
Here's the picture recap:
On the porch waiting for "go"
Ready, set, JUMP!
Climbing high! And later...she would bring me an egg now and then to add to the basket. Long after the hunt she was still giving the yard a once, twice, and thrice over and finding more eggs. You can get much past our Cupcake!
It's so gross the mere idea of typing it makes me embarrassed. But...this is the Crack Team Chronicles. We keep it real and debunk the 2.5 kids, white picket fence, perfection mentality. So here it is....
Several years ago, before I was Mrs. Crack, I lived in an apartment complex in a fun part of NW Austin. The complex was set up that 4 apartments opened up toward each other. Since I can talk to a tree, I knew all 3 of the other residents. One Easter I decided I would give each of them a Cadbury Cream Egg with a postcard flyer inviting them to our Church's Easter service. This was perfect because they sell the Cream Eggs in a 4 pack. Do the math people....that means one extra for me.
YES! SCORE! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the delicious treat that comes out only one time per year. They don't cave to greed like every other candy. Have you noticed that when we (if you are my age) were kids there were only a few kinds of Easter candy: Jelly Beans, Speckled Malted Eggs, foil covered Chocolate eggs, Chocolate bunny's....and CADBURY CREAM EGGS. Now...Easter is like Halloween but in pastel colors. You can even buy Junior Mints in Easter colors. I'm sure my Mother is thrilled. However, in a country struggling with obesity it's a bit much. The Cadbury Cream Eggs have not sold out...they do not try to be Cadbury pumpkins....Cadbury Valentines...or any other holiday that now seems to warrant a ridiculous amount of candy. I digress.
Back to the eggs. I bought the four pack. I got my postcards. I was ready to evangelize with the people I had borrowed salt from, complained about the bad maintenance men, or chatted with after work or while walking to the mail box. Then I got nervous. Sometimes when you invite people to church it changes things. Suddenly they feel like you are pushing religion on them...or you will judge them if they don't come. Then they avoid you...scared you will invite them again. Even though I wanted them to explore faith...I also had to open my door 5 feet from theirs and I didn't want things to get weird. I decided I would eat my egg for energy and then head out. What ridiculous thinking....
Then it happened. I unwrapped the foil. Why is it primary colors instead of pastels? Who cares? I smell the chocolate...I take a bite. OOoozzing cream drips down. Do I need to say more? Well...about 30 minutes later I had three postcards in the recycle pile and 100g of carbs and 88g of sugar in my belly. All 4. I ate all 4. In one sitting. Instead of evangelizing. Things got weird with the neighbors. Every time I saw them I thought about how I ate their egg and didn't invite them to church.
I have NEVER eaten a Cream Egg since. It's not because I got sick from them. Sadly. That would have been easy. Instead those eggs represent complete lack of self control for me. I feel like if I eat one I might just eat 4 or 6 or 10. Perhaps I'm like a recovering addict and I know it's better to not go there. But perhaps I'm just a little mad that my good intentions with my neighbors went down the drain with the chocolate yummy-ness. So each Easter I convince myself I don't need them, don't like them, don't want them. In recent years I've had to convince myself of that while buying a few for the Hubs who also LOVES the creamy eggs.
Then came this year. I thought about how we RARELY give Cupcake sugar, desserts, candy, etc. When a holiday comes around though, I do like to let her indulge and by indulge I mean a few pieces. So...when thinking about the 3 pieces (really that's all she got!) of candy that should be in her basket of course I couldn't imagine it without a Cadbury Cream Egg. So, here she is with her first and only Cadbury Cream Egg. She loved it. She downed it. She might be like her mama.....who,for the record...still hasn't eaten one since the fateful day when gluttony got the best of her.
From birth Cupcake had friends that were close in age that we were seeing regularly. When you are a new parent it's natural to find other new parents and get together well before your kids need "friends." Luckily Cupcake likes the "friends" we choose for her and many of those friendships are dear to us even today.
With Cutie Pie however, we haven't had as many "friends" for her. Really we've been lucky that a few of our friends with older kids have 2nd children that will be a great fit when Cutie Pie is a bit older. The closest "friend" she has now is 6 weeks younger than she is and lives about 4 minutes from our house. Dream! Right? We LOVE that even though we don't have as many play dates for her, she will have one friend who is close in age and proximity. They are sweet together and spent much of our Easter celebration sitting side by side, trying to hold hands.
It's too sunny. My kids refused to look at the camera. You see more of the neighbors house in this picture than ours. But...it's the reality of our picture taking these days. How about those roses? They are mine...and they cooperated nicely. :)
We hope you had a fabulous day celebrating the Risen King! We went to church first thing in the morning and so Easter baskets were not had until after church. Here's the action run down of our older bunny:
A look at the baskets: Cupcake came running in as fast as she could. Any hope of a little sugar around here is sure worth running for!Then she was so surprised to see the set up...pink, princess, and candy are all favorites.
She had to open each part...in this egg is a bottle of pink glitter nail polish:
Our littlest bunny spent most of the day watching though I'm guessing by next year we'll have two running in for their baskets.
I have carrot cake hang over and if I don't walk away from the Easter egg hunt basket I might gain two pounds during nap this afternoon. However, as a first Easter for Cutie Pie...and another one for the rest of us....it was a really special day.
Cutie Pie is a wiggle worm! While she sleeps best swaddled it's becoming the time to break that habit. She wiggles all around and sometimes ends up with her head where her feet were. I keep thinking if she rolls onto her stomach...even by accident she'll be stuck. So...we've started to swaddle with her arms out. Sadly she doesn't sleep as well. She does however still try to get her hands in her mouth like she has since we were taking her pictures in the womb!
Last night she fussed for a bit and realized we weren't coming in. So she kicked her feet up, stuck her hands in her mouth and hung out...for a couple of hours. Seriously? How did she not get sleepy? Today she's sleepy but in the meantime I clicked a picture with our video monitor.
