Ricky's First T- Ball Game

Ricky getting ready to hit the ball. His first time at bat.

Ricky in center field being coached by dad.

Ricky getting ready to catch a ball in center field.

Ricky getting to bat his second time.

Ricky hitting the ball - he did GREAT!

Making it to first and being coached by dad.

Still at first and still being coached.

Made it to second!!

We are so proud of Ricky II playing his first T-ball game. I do admit we were a little worried because hid attention span isn't more than 2 seconds and if he doesn't feel like playing than it's rough for everyone. Sometimes he just wants to be Ricky the "magician". I do have to say he did great. The coach has it where it's fair and everyone bats the same number of times and places each position at least once. Ricky first time at bat hit the ball, but wasn't really sure what to do from there so unfortunately he was out. While he was in the field dad stayed out there with him for a little bit coaching him and he did amazing. He was running after the balls and throwing them. His second time at bat he also did great. The ball flew and he ran to first - dad was at first coaching him in. While at first dad was coaching him to second. He made it to second. He did get a little confused on going to third. It's something we have to work on. Overall he did GREAT and we're very proud of him.
We did lose, but to our defense the other team seemed older and bigger. We think they were about 6 months older which at this age makes a BIG difference. There coaches had a win style ours had a lets play and have fun style. Which at this age I think is perfectly fine.
At this age they are so adorable and innocent. I can't wait till our next game!

Miller Outdoor Theater

Ricky on the train.

Us three on the train ride

Hana showing of her dancing skills

Ricky at the theater

A glimpse at what we saw

Hana showing off more of her dancing skills.


Today I took the kids to the Miller out door theater in the museum district of Houston. I have only one word - AWESOME. They put on theater productions for kids and adults and it's free. It was great for the kids. You could sit in the seats by the stage or you can sit on the grassy hill. That is where we sat so Hana and Ricky could run free. It was a little warm though. The show we saw was Swing, Jive and Pop. Anyway it's awesome and i'm looking forward to going back.
Afterward we rode the train that goes around the park.

Easter 2009

This year Easter was great. For the kids it started one week early with our MOPS egg hunt. It was Hana's first year to really get a hang of it and hunt down her own eggs. Once she found out the eggs had treats in them the game was on. They both did great and walked away with their fair share of eggs.
Their great egg hunt was at Windwood. Every year they put together a great Easter celebration for the children. Which includes an egg hunt, petting zoo, face painting, carnival rides, food and much more. They loved it. It was packed with activities. Later that day we went over to Aunt Vladys house, where the kids painted eggs. I think Aunt Vlady had a different vision in her mind than what actually happened. The kids had a blast painting the eggs but they didn't look anything as in the picture and at times it was chaotic. I think Vlady expected a more calmer controlled egg dying experience. I had to laugh because nothing goes as planned with a 2 and 4 year old. Easter day we decided as a family to just celebrate Easter with just the four of us. We went to church at our church, Trinity Lutheran and heard an amazing service. We came home and had Easter lunch/dinner which consisted of a spiral cut ham, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Ricky cooked the green bean casserole and it was amazing. The rest of the day we spent outside. Ricky and I did yard work while the kids played. The weather was perfect.
The Easter bunny did stop by the house and deliver a piano for Ricky and guitar for Hana which they were excited about. Also our wonderful next door neighbors Micehlle and Stephanie brought over some treats for the kids. Thank you!! We ended the day with movie night. We made a pallet on the floor, popped pop corn and watched Bed Time Stories. Hana was out in 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure my kids think that Easter is like Christmas.
We are very excited for this day not only to spend quality time with our family but also for what it stands for. We can't forget that this is the day Jesus rose from the dead and because of what he did for us we will have eternity with our families. For this we will forever be thankful.




Movie night watching Bedtime Stories

Excited about movie night

Hana and Ricky with their Easter toys

Painting eggs at Aunt Vladys

Painting more eggs

Hana painting her hand instead of the eggs

still painting her hand

painting eggs


I just really liked this one. She dressed her self.

The swing at Windwood Easter Celebration

Carousel at Windwood

Hana at the petting zoo with the baby goat

Hana zeroed in on the ducks "puff ball" on their heads. It was game on. She spent the day chasing them trying to get a hold of the puff ball. Extremely funny.

Ricky at the egg hunt.

Waiting for the go ahead to get the eggs.

Hana more interested in what's in the egg than getting the eggs.

Filling up her basket.

Train ride at Windwood

I had to put this one in here because they are so peaceful!!

MOPS Easter egg hunt.

MOPS Easter egg hunt. Hana finding eggs.

Ricky getting eggs at the MOPS easter egg hunt.

Laundry Revelation!!

Many of you know that laundry and full on grocery shopping are my two worse chores. I cringe at the thought of them. They both have so many steps.

Lets take grocery shopping:
step 1: clip coupons or go through the grocery ads for price comparison
step 2: make a meal plan for the week
step 3: get to the grocery store
step 4: load up your cart
step 5: unload your cart so you can pay
step 6: load your cart back up
step 7: unload the cart AGAIN - put groceries in the car
step 8: drive home
step 9: unload the car - this requires many trips to the car
step 10: put all the items where they belong
step 11: cook or eat them
Way to many steps for one chore

Now lets look at laundry
Step 1: get all the dirty clothes to the laundry room
Step 2: sort all the clothes out by color
step 3: put one load in the washer
step 4: move it to the drier
step 5: get it out to a place where it can be folded
step 6: fold
step 7: put it all up
step 8: repeat till it's all done

Way to many steps for one chore.
I have to admit my last load has been known to stay in the drier till it's laundry time again.

Today I discovered I don't mind laundry that much after all!!
I don't watch T.V. during the day, but do miss my afternoon talk shows.
Folding laundry is my time to watch T.V. I get all the laundry folded, even the socks (socks are another story. The matching game just doesn't work for me).
So you see it's a win win situation. My family gets clean clothes that they don't have to dig out of the dryer or find them all wrinkled in hampers and I get to watch some T.V.

YAY!! Completed the 5K Run Today!!

Today was the 5K run!!! It was AWESOME!!
First I have to say I was very discouraged because I was dreading on waking up so early. The race was at the reliant and started at 8am. Which meant I had to be at Steph's house by 6:15am. Well, first it was 7am than 6:30am than 6:15am, so I basically stopped talking to her till I showed up at her house because every time we spoke she would shave time off which meant less sleep. I did go to bed pretty early that night, but it seems like I woke up every hour - UGH.
Well the dreaded 5:40am came. I have to say that this early in the morning there is NO traffic. I think on a Sunday morning that early it was just me.
I arrived to Steph's house on time!!! Not in the best of moods I might add. Leah got there a few minutes after me. We all piled in Stephs' car and drove down to the reliant. We got there with 30 minutes to spare. Just enough to use the potty and down a "Rock Star" (an energy drink) I never had one in my life. I must say it did give me some energy but I will never drink one again before a race. It definetly didn't do me any good. I felt very bloated.
Running was me, Leah, Steph and Tara. This was my first, Leahs second, Stephs third and I don't know how many Tara has run.
It's weird because the closer it got to take off the nervousness started to set in.
Finally we all took off. There was a descent crowd but not to over crowded. I was not really concerned about time, my real goal was to run the 5K (3.2 miles) non-stop. Which i'm proud to say that I did accomplish my goal. Ran non-stop and completed in 28.27 minutes. My music helped me through half of it. Yes, there is power in music.
There were 2 hills which were not a nice surprise - UGH!
What I found interesting is that there were two water stations where volunteers handed you water if you needed it, but people just threw their cups on the ground. I was not expecting that and had to chuckle because I remember seeing this on TV. So, yes some things do happen in real life.
The biggest relief was when I saw the finish line! You start sprinting towards it and it's such a relief and accomplishment to cross it.
At the end they had all these free give aways, mainly food. There was everything you could think off - Chick Filet, Papa Johns, Pei Wei, Kolache Factory, Randalls, Crepes, Dessert etc..... which was all worth it for me. I didn't eat much just a few samples.
It was great knowing that we ran for a cause - brain cancer research. It was very touching because there were so many people that have or know some one that has been effected by this disease. Anyone can do this race. There were young, old, man, women and children. Hey I got passed up twice by fathers pushing their triplets in a stroller. In the end your time doesn't matter but that you came and did what you signed up for and that is, cross the finish line and support the cause.
This was an amazing experience and I'm looking to my other 5K runs. Hopefully in the fall i'll move up to the 10K runs. I have an amazing group of girls that are my support and we keep each other going.

Hana's 2 Year Check Up

Hana had her 2 year check up. She is a little one!! Hana is 33" tall, which makes her in the 25%. She weighs 24 pounds which is 15% and her head is 49cm round, which is 75%. Basically she's short and thin with a big head.....hahahahahahaha. Just kidding she looks very proportionate. She is predicted to be 5'3" tall in her adult hood. Her attitude more than makes up for her petite size.
We did find out that she has all 4 molars coming in at the same time. This is when I felt really bad she had earaches in both ears. We had no idea. She didn't show any sign of a fever or pulling at her ears. The only thing she did show was being extremely grumpy, but we're used to her being very touchy and grumpy. This was a very bad moment for me. I can't believe my baby has been in pain and I didn't know or do anything about it. There is no worse feeling as a parent than knowing your child was/is in pain and you didn't do anything about it. I'm happy to say that she is fine now.

The Houston Rodeo --- Yeehaww!!

The Houston rodeo comes to Houston every year. This brings some great performers to Houston. It's also great for the food, carnival rides and live stock show. Unfortunately this year I was not able to take my kids to the rodeo. I was planning on it but it just didn't happen. I feel a little guilty and bad because I was fortunate enough to catch two shows this year. None planned, just last minute because friends had tickets.
My first show was Brad Paisley. We went to celebrate Leah's birthday YAY!! It was me, Steph, Leah and Emily. We could all thank Steph for the tickets. Funny that none of us is a huge fan of Brad Paisley. I myself don't really know what he sings. I know I heard some of his songs on the radio but they didn't register. Half way through Emily has this great idea to leave so we did!! We ended up going to midtown and bar hopping. Okay I say bar hopping it was only two bars. That counts right? Anyway we had so much fun!!! I know it's a night i'll remember for a long time.

My second trip to the rodeo was to see Gary Allen. I really like Gary Allen's music - "Nothing on but the radio" is one of my favorites. I was very excited to see him and he put on a great show.
I do have to say that the traffic around the reliant center sucks! It took us hours to get to our tiel lot. I think we learned our lesson and are going to park and ride next time. We went with Liz and Mike who are two incredible people. We had lots of fun with them.