New House in San Antonio!

Well we made the official move a couple weeks ago to San Antonio however we have been busy getting settled in and haven't had a chance to write a post.

My parents and youngest brother got in last weekend. The boys started school this week. They seem to like their new school and teachers. We struggled to find the uniforms they have to wear but finally found some and they don't seem to mind wearing them daily. Becca doesn't have a school yet and asks daily if she can go to school yet. Hopefully we'll find her a part time school soon or maybe a dance class!

Unpacking is winding down. Just trying to get things hung on the walls and a little more organized. We are going to take family pictures this weekend so we can get Christmas cards mailed out next week. I've had several people ask for our new address so I wanted to include that here for everyone.

4047 Adair Bluff
San Antonio, TX 78223

Here are some pictures of our new home! It is a 5 bedroom plus an office (we use it for a playroom), 3 bathrooms, 2 car garage, 2 living areas, 2 eating areas and a huge back yard!! We've met several neighbors, most of which have young kids! We love the view of downtown San Antonio from the back of the house and are enjoying all the extra space this house has!! Oh plus it doesn't have mold like our last rental!! We sure do like it here but we do miss all our friends and family that live in Midland and New Mexico!! Our house is open to visitors, please come stay with us anytime!!

  Entry Way

Wall across from dining room.

Living room

Kitchen and eat in breakfast nook.

Dining room

Play room

Game room

Kaedyn- 11 months old

We are nearing the one year old mark for Kaedyn so I thought I'd share some amazing things about him. He began scooting and rolling at just a couple months old. He army crawled for several months and really began to master crawling at 8 months old.

At 10 months old he started pulling up to stand next to things and cruising along the couch. He has said "mama" and "dada" since he was about 5 months old but added "yaya", "diwin" (Dylan), "Aaron", "night night", and "Og" (dog) this summer to his vocabulary. Today he started saying "hi", "ank u" (thank you) and "aby" (baby). He now also goes from the coffee table to the couch and couch to the chair as he cruises along things.

He can open all drawers and cabinets plus turn on and of the tv with the remote as well as change the channel. He spends most days getting into everything, pulling it all out, and moving onto the next thing to destruct (or as we like to joke reorganize). He also tries very hard to keep up with his siblings and really enjoys when they play with him.

Starting at about 9 months he began eating table foods exclusively. He does have formula 3 times a day but other than that it is table foods and water from a cup with a straw. When I say table foods I mean he eats what we eat, there is nothing this kid won't /can't eat (Like his siblings).

Kaedyn sure does keep me on my toes. He is incredibly smart and I truly think he believes he is older than he is. I am hoping this next month goes by slow enough that I can enjoy his last month as a baby. *tear*

Here are some recent snap shots of my baby boy!

Re-organizing Command Center

At the entry to my kitchen I revamped our family media center a couple weeks ago by adding a wall calendar, chalk board, hanging files, and pin strips (before and after pic here).

Today I found and bought a basket organizer and hanging files to reorganize our command area on the counter next to our fridge. I saw this idea pinned a while back...each family member has a file, then i have a coupon/store card file, addresses/labels file, receipts, pending/needs filed, and a planning file (has empty lists and organizing ideas).

Organizing: Kids Drop Zone

Next up on my organizing list was to create an area the kids could store their back packs/diaper bag, shoes, jackets, and notes/reminders. Again I took to pinterest to help inspire me. With so many great ideas it was hard deciding which we liked most and would work input space. We started by visiting every furniture store to find a bench that would double as a place to store shoes. After several days we came across the perfect bench at Target on sale! We found four 8x10 frames and four wall hangers. I'd planned to order these paper organizers for each child to display in the frames but when I visited the Etsy site the shop was on vacation for a couple weeks so instead I asked a very talented friend of mine to make me something similar that I could print. She graciously said yes and had these amazing organizing sheets done in no time.

Each child now has a personalized organizer that is framed so we can use dry erase markers to keep track of notes, weekly activities, and monthly activities/appointments.

Once I'd printed them we put it all together. We picked up three bins at Target to slide on the bench shelve to hide the kids school shoes. We used an empty wall near our back door (which is where we enter from) to house our new drop zone. Here are some pictures that include a before and after as well as a couple full photos of the finished project!

Organizing: Family Media Center

With all the purging and organizing I've been doing I have been really wanting to streamline areas in our home. I scoured pinterest for some ideas for a family media center. There is so much inspiration on pinterest that it took no time at all to decide what I wanted to do. We picked up a chalk board, dry erase calendar, two hanging files, and a couple cork strips. We hung them all on the wall in the kitchen so we could keep track of mail, everyone's schedule, leave notes and reminders plus display some of the kids art work.

It really adds to our house while organizing us at the same time! Below is a before and after picture plus a full photo of the finished product!

More organizing and purging.

On day three I worked on cleaning up our master bedroom which had been a catching ground for all the extra things from the other rooms in the house. It took me most of the day to get the room picked up, laundry folded and put away plus clean up the master bathroom. I'm happy with it for now but plan to do more purging in those rooms plus our closet.

Reorganizing and Purging: Day 2

A long night with Kaedyn and Becca running fevers meant we couldn't go to the park with friends today. Instead I worked on getting the kids rooms cleaned and organized.

I started in Becca and Kaedyn's room and closet. I had purchased Becca a Tinkerbell room accessory kit on sale for cheap this summer. I used a couple bins from the kit to organize the toy shelf better and the three hook wall hangings to organize Becca's many purses. I also hung a few things of Kaedyn's.

In the closet I went through all the clothes. I was able to remove 7 boxes of clothes they'd out grown and I'd stored in there this spring. I cleaned up the book shelf and brought in another bin to organize some of Kaedyn's toys. Plus I moved a couple of Becca's strollers to the closet to open up space in the room.

I cleaned the walls, door/doorway, and and baseboards in both sets of kids rooms.

I forgot to get before pictures in the boys room but below is the after. They still had a couple bags from the trip I had to clear out, toys that we moved to the play room, I got 3 large bags of Dylan's clothes he'd out grown and hung his new school clothes. Then I went through the top of the closet and their dresser drawers organizing it all.

Their room didn't take me long but I did end up with a trash bag full of trash, not sure how they end up with all that trash in there. Also not sure how they can sleep with sand in their beds. :/ Eww!

Tomorrow I'll conquer my room, closet and bathroom. Which leaves the hall closet, laundry room, toy room, back yard and garage for the weekend and next week.

Reorganizing and purging!

After returning from our six week stay staycation in New Mexico I was on a mission to get our house cleaned up, organized and purged! I was afraid it was going to be a slow going process because I had a week full of activities to catch up with friends here in Texas BUT I ended up being stuck at home because Kaedyn and Becca have a summer cold. So I got busy yesterday on the center of the house... the kitchen, dining room, and living room!

In the kitchen I went through all the cabinets, wiped down all counters, cabinet doors, base boards, cleaned out the fridge and freezer, wiped it all down, bleached the sink, and wiped down the walls and doors.

I also went through the pantry, reorganized it, purged old stuff and added a few bins to help with lunch meal prep plus a bin for quick kid snacks.

In the living room I cleaned the base boards, cleared out old baby gear, simplified Kaedyn's toys, rearranged the furniture and wiped down the walls and doors.

Between our kitchen and living room is a little counter with cabinets which serves as our junk drawers, miscellaneous items, and displays pictures and cookbooks. I cleaned it all out and purged a ton of stuff!

Not much was needed in the dining room because it stays clean with us eating 2+ meals there a day. I did wipe the door ways and base boards plus changed up the decor I was displaying and wiped down all the furniture.

So all in all it was a very productive day! Three rooms down and five more to go. Jason came home and said I looked like the energizer bunny. ;-)

My girlie girl

Those that know Becca know that she is pretty much your typical tomboy but recently she has been showing more of her girlie side. She loves her babies an takes them and her purses just about everywhere we go. She has also been requesting that I style her hair every day, even accessorizing it with a bow or flower!

We recently went to a yard sale where she fell in love with a couple pairs of shoes. They saw how much she enjoyed shoes and broke out the princess dress up shoes. I let her choose one pair, which she picked the green high heeled Tiana princess shoes! She has worn them ever since, even insisting to wear them to go shopping. She says they are her "Mrs. Nicole FANCY shoes".... We have a friend here we've known for about a year that helps watch the kids from time to time and we go to church with, Becca apparently noticed that Nicole wears high heels and had been secretly wanting a pair for herself. ;-)

I love that she can be rolling in the mud, throwing a baseball one minute then playing babies with her purse and high heels the next!

Dylan's 5th Birthday!

Here is my sweet Dylan on the day he was born and just before his 5th birthday! My how time flies!

Here Dylan is on his big day. He began running a fever the night before so he woke up feeling under the weather and laid around all day. Finally after dinner he felt well enough to open one gift from the family. He was so excited to get Lego's but still not well enough to play with them. He and I put them together the following day while Ryan and Becca were at school.

The Friday following Dylan's birthday, with some help from friends, we pulled together a surprise birthday party for Dylan. He had been telling me he wanted a Star Wars Lego party for a while but I hadn't put much thought into it. A good friend of mine offered for us to use her house and her left over party supplies to put the party together. It worked out perfect...we told him we were going to the park and stopping by our friends to drop some stuff off. Instead he came into the house to find a fun banner and lots of decorations. The party food included all the Star Wars favorites including; JarJar Links (hot dogs), Chewbacca Cookies (teddy grahams), Yoda Soda (Sprite), Vadorade (Gatorade) and a few more!

I think he enjoyed his birthday to the fullest! He spent it with friends, riding bikes, eating food, playing games, and as the sun went down they played with glowing balloons and glowing straws (lightsabers). I still can't believe he is five years old and will be starting Kindergarten next fall but for now I'll just enjoy my sweet, loving, cuddling, caring, fun five year old boy!! 

My Mother's Day

Well with Jason's 6/3 work schedule he was not going to be off of work on Sunday for Mother's Day so instead we celebrated the Thursday before. Jason and I spent the day running errands and having a lunch date while the kids were at school. I also headed to Dylan and Becca's school a few minutes early for a Mommy and me tea!

Jason made a stew, rolls, and a strawberry pie I'd been wanting to try. Once the kids were home they gave me my cards and gifts which included a gift card to spend on myself, foot scrubs, and art creations. Dinner and dessert were delicious! The boys t-ball game was canceled because of the rain so we just enjoyed the evening all together at home.

Sunday, Mother's Day, was not so glamours with the kids and I going to church (where the boys sang a couple songs to me during a special little program), then hanging out at home together. The kids behavior was even a bit whacky but because we celebrated earlier in the week I was very grateful for my beautiful kids and husband.

I am very blessed to be the mom of these amazing four kids! I really can't imagine my life without them and I have them to thank for so many more things that have came into my life since being a mom, like MOMS Club!

Spending another Mother's Day far away from my mom, sister, sister-in-laws, mother-in-law and all of the other wonderful ladies in my family is difficult. I hope they all know how much I love and appreciate them! I can never repay them for all they have done but I can use all the things I've learned from them with my kids each day. I am blessed to have so many amazing women in my life! So to all the moms I know, thank you for all you do! I love you all!! Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I loooove my kids!

It's been forever since I posted on here but I downloaded the blogger app on my phone so hopefully that'll help me blog more often.

Anyhow, recently my kids have been testing my patients. I'm sure they are just eager for the summer but I'm eager for them to listen and behave. In an attempt to be more patient with them I've been spending lots of time just listening and watching them. I have found them saying and doing the sweetest things lately.

Sunday before church I overheard Ryan reading to Dylan, upon closer inspection I realized he was trying to teach Dylan how to read. He would sound out the word and have Dylan copy him then they would sound it faster until Dylan recognized the word. They were being so patient and understanding with each other! So sweet!

On Monday I was not getting around well because of some bad any bites I got over the weekend so I spent the day playing with Becca, Dylan and Kaedyn. Becca has really been into playing with her baby dolls. She covers them up, feeds them in the bumbo complete with Kaedyn's empty baby food containers, bibs, and spoons. She spends much of her time talking to her dolls. She would tell them what she was doing, sing songs, and reassure them that all was fine. She also does this with Kaedyn....when she is leaving the room she will say "It's okay baby I'll be right back.", upon returning she says "See I'm back.", and anytime she is away from him but in the same room she says "I'm right here baby, don't cry.". :-) Warms my heart to think of the great mom she will be one day in the very distant future.

Now I can't leave Kaedyn out and since he doesn't do much recognizable talking yet I thought I'd share some mile stones. Kaedyn has been babbling 'mama' for months but over the last month he began babbling 'dada', 'daddy', and 'yaya'. I love it because that means he wants/needs dad rather than me. Hehe! He has been consistently rolling since he was about 4 month old. That is how he follows his siblings around, up until this week when he started pushing himself onto all fours and crawling backwards. He hasn't figured out the forward motion yet but it won't be long. He is a little sponge that soaks up everything going on around him, he is learning so quickly and he is determined to keep up with his siblings.

I just love these kids! I love watching them interact with each other and I am looking forward to summer with them all!