Priceless

Baby oatmeal: $3.49

Baby applesauce: $1.09

Juice: $2.49



Letting the baby feed herself: Priceless

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

We're back! After a rough start (our plane was supposed to leave Houston at 1:10pm and didn't leave until almost 9pm getting us to our Orlando hotel after 1am) we woke up and reintroduced ourselves to nephews and nieces, some of whom I had never met! Then we got on a shuttle and headed to Port Canaveral where a ship was waiting. After getting on the ship and dropping off our bags, we immediately began eating which was a good example of how we would spend the majority of our time (either actually eating or thinking about it). There was a nusery that we dropped Kate off at so we could have dinner in peace. She cried at first but when I went back to check on her 15 minutes later she was almost asleep so I took that as a good sign. The next day we got to Castaway Cay which is an island that Disney bought. It was gorgeous and not at all too "Disney". They had the actual Flying Dutchman ship from Pirates of the Caribbean and you could get your picture taken with Captain Jack (I think this was Alicia's highlight). We spent the morning playing in the ocean and then after lunch we rented bikes and rode around. Poor Kate was so tired she feel asleep in the bike carrier! That night the theater put on Toy Story the Musical which was pretty cute and Kate seemed to enjoy it. The second island was Nassau which I was not at all impressed with. There was lots of shopping close to the dock, but it was mostly the same junk you can find in Mexico or the streets of New York. The beach was too far to walk to and we didn't want to get too far from the ship so we decided not to go (I heard from other people later that we didn't miss much). After walking around for a little while we went back to the ship and played in the pool. The fourth day we went back to Castaway Cay. Jason, Kate and I rode bikes around while Bev, my dad, Greg and Alicia went parasailing. Then Jason decided he was beached out so he took Kate to the ship for a nap and I went to the "adult" beach with my sibs. There was hardly anyone esle there and we swam and relaxed in hammocks and saw a (baby) shark and it was glorious! Before dinner we went to another show called Disney Dreams (I think). I wasn't expecting much but it was really fun! There were songs from lots of Disney movies and they threw confetti into the audience, blew bubbles (for the Little Mermaid song) and even made it snow on us (during the Beauty and the Beast song)! After that was our last supper, sniff, sniff. The next morning we disembarked and made our way as slowly as possible back to the real world. All in all, I think this was one of my favorite vacations. It was sort of hard with Kate, but it was so worth it and I can't wait to go again when she is a little older!

Happy Mother's Day!

The day started out great because Kate slept until almost 9:00!! And I woke up to a waffle breakfast, so that made things even better. And yes, that is a picture of a vacuum, which was my mother's day present. No, my husband is not a chauvinist pig, he gave me exactly what I asked for. I have been wanting the Bissell pet hair eraser for awhile but couldn't really justify the cost (since the old vacuum works just fine) so getting it as a gift seemed like a good solution. After church, I watched Masterpiece Theater's Jane Erye while Kate slept and then we had pasta for dinner, so the whole day was just perfect. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and future mothers!

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters!

Last week my sisters came to Houston to save me from a week by myself. Jason had to go to Alabama for work and I was dreading being by myself for a whole week. Then it dawned on me...I have two awesome sisters who would love to come to Houston for a few days! I was amazed that Janelle and Alicia could both come on such short notice but I was so happy they both could! We had lots of fun hanging around the house watching What Not to Wear and playing with Kate (she warmed up to them eventually). We also went to a park downtown that just opened up and checked out some new outlets close to Houston. I was sad to see them go but will see them soon because we are all going on a Disney cruise next month, yea! I am so thankful to have such great sisters who honestly are my best friends. Thanks for keeping me sane guys!

Kate at 7 months

Kate turned 7 months this week! And it seems like all of a sudden she can sit up on her own, drink from a sippy cup, and say "ma ma" (I really don't think she is calling me mama but it still feels nice to hear). She is lots of fun right now but it is also hard because she wants to follow me everywhere but can't get there on her own so I have to carry her. She has been eating baby food for about a month now and I think her favorite is sweet potatoes. It's hard to tell which is her favorite because I don't think she enjoys baby food very much. But she sure likes her juice! She also loves to go for walks, take baths, pull on George's ears, put EVERYTHING in her mouth and read books. I love you Kate!

Home Sweet Home

We finally are all unpacked and have turned in the keys to the apartment. Yeah! We have met some of the neighbors and everyone is very nice. Not very many babies on the block, but a couple in our ward has an 8 month old and live just a few houses away. George is adjusting pretty well; he seems to like having a backyard. And we love having a garage and not having to walk up 2 flights of stairs with a baby, carseat, groceries, etc. Here are a few pictures for now. We still have to hang pictures so keep that in mind when you see the blank walls.

Book Tag

My friend Jennie book tagged me. So, the rules are:
1- pick up the nearest book (with at least 123 pages)
2- turn to page 123.
3- find the 5th sentence.
4- post the next 3 sentences.
5- tag 5 more people.

Well, we are moving on Saturday so all my books are packed up. The closest thing I could find is a GQ magazine and there was an ad on page 123. I reversed the page numbers (went to page 321) and there just happened to be an article on Mitt Romney on that page. The 5th sentence and 3 after read:

"The morning before the January 15 primary, Romney stood in a high school gymnasium before 2,000 students and gave a meandering, embarrassingly unfunny performance that the traveling media generally agreed was his worst of the campaign. But when I asked a few of the students afterward what they thought, they were impressed.
'What did you hear that you liked?'
'The part where he said he was going to help Michigan,' chirped a sophmore with glasses".

There you have it. I will tag Bev, Janelle (since I know you found out my blogging secret), Alicia, Kasey, Alisa, and Emily (even if you don't have a blog you can email me your tag, and yes, I can count. I know I tagged 6 people).