Zoo Trip

Okay, so I have been a super slacker with this blog lately! When we got back from Hawaii, I went to download my pictures and realized I hadn't done it since August!!! So, I will be trying to post several months of outings in the next few days!

I had misplaced my camera during Tristan's birthday party, so I'll have to get pictures from family for that! It's like I am falling apart all of a sudden!

Anyhow, the weekend of September 6th we went to Fort Worth for Auntie Amanda's wedding shower. On Sunday before we headed back we went to the zoo with Coici Amy, Noah, and Jamison. We hadn't been to the zoo in a year and a half, so this time Preston really enjoyed all the animals! It was great to get to do something fun with the cousins!

My Baby is 2

These are not the best pictures, but I took mostly video with my camera, and I don't have everyone else's pics yet. I can't believe that my baby is not a baby anymore! We had a small family party last weekend since Saturday the 9th was his actual birthday. We had a blast! Tristan got to share in his celebration because we are having a big combined party over labor day weekend. I'll try to get some better stuff posted later!

Crazy Weather

Crazy is a very good explanation of the weather in the Texas panhandle. We knew that there would be some storms today, but this one came up on us suddenly with very heavy golf ball size hail!

Luckily, my kids are not scared at all of storms. Tristan said it looked like snow and wanted to go make a snowman. She kept asking me if the hail stopped and there was no thunder could she play in the rain? "Of course," I said. (We play in the rain all the time!)

Preston wasn't concerned at all except for one thing...the knocking sound. Large hail on your roof really does sound like someone knocking on your door, only it's your roof! He wasn't scared at all, he just kept saying, "Mommy, knock, knock...the door!" As if he was trying to say, "Can't you hear that!?! Answer the door!!"

We were very lucky, no broken windows and very little damage. Our siding, gutters, and even plants faired pretty well! Praise to the Lord for protecting us! Others in town were not so lucky. I guess it's a good thing that my trees aren't very big!

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More Alaska

Here are a few more shots of our trip to Alaska! Tristan is still talking about going back. We told her it will probably be a long time before we go there again, but she has some pretty good trips coming up in the near future! I keep telling Matt that we need to make a trip to New York (not so secretly I would love to take Tristan to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway!) In a six month span we will go to Alaska, Hawaii, and Florida. We need to get the other corner of the country! He keeps saying no, and he'll probably win this one!

As for the pictures...you can see how much we enjoyed "exploring" as Tristan called it! And, by the end of the trip, Preston was so tired that he actually fell asleep by himself in the chair during dinner! Bless his heart! We push them so hard, and they are really just angels!

Ice Cream and Formals

I was a little concerned about how the kids would make it for meals in the dining room on the ship. It's a four course event that takes about 2 hours. All in all, they really did great! They loved having ice cream almost every meal in the dining room! Preston was insistant on feeding himself. So, I had lots of ice cream stains to treat in the laundry, but who cares!

Two of the nights were formal nights. Preston just happens to have a tuxedo! It is still a little big on him, but I think he was the most handsome guy in the room! Tristan loves to get dressed up, so she wasn't a problem at all! Not to brag...but I think I have a pretty good looking family! Many more pictures to come soon!

Alaska

For those who don't know, this year is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. For years they have said that they wanted the whole family to go on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate. So now, years (and two kids) later...here we are! Matt and I did an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon. We loved it! With two little ones in the same room with us it was a different vacation, but wonderful just the same!

I took about two hundred pictures and don't have the ones from my sister and brother yet, so I am going to pace myself on what I upload! Tonight I'll just start with our embarkation day. We flew to Seattle on Friday the 13th. (We don't believe in bad luck!) We got in late and spent the night in a hotel. Preston had missed his nap on Friday, didn't sleep much that night and we were getting on the ship during his naptime on Saturday.

We got on the boat about half an hour before the rest of my family. (Sometimes having kids has its perks! With two little ones in strollers someone helped us with our luggage and we got to skip the giant line!) We started to unpack and settle in so I gave the kids some crayons and coloring books to keep them busy. I'm busy with the suitcases, Matt is looking out the balcony, and Tristan and Preston are playing happily. Then Tristan comes to me and says, "Look at Preston, Mom! He's coloring on the wall!" Little monkey!!! So, the top pic is Tristan and Daddy trying, unsuccessfully, to clean the crayon off the wall. Preston had been helping but I didn't get the camera fast enough. Our room steward got it off, but I was still very embarrassed. We hadn't even been in the room for an hour!

All the crayon excitement wore him out because he fell asleep during the life jacket safety drill. Daddy must be a comfortable bed because he slept all the way back to the room and missed the ship setting sail. Uncle Eric came down and watched with us from our balcony! Tristan loved the big boat!

Never let Preston play with your camera!

The kids and I just got back from traveling across the state for the past ten days! Our trip started on Friday, May 9th as we headed down to Fort Worth for our nephew, Jamison's first birthday party that was on Saturday. We rode the train at the zoo and had a great time!

For mother's day I wanted to go to the Ranger game. (Another reason why Matt married well!) So the four of us along with Grandpa (Matt's dad) and cousin Noah headed off to the game. It may have been the best weather for a ballgame that I have ever been to! It was amazing! We wore our matching jerseys that say Bartosiewicz on the back! I had wonderful pictures of the kids eating nachos, cotton candy, hot dogs, popcorn, and sodas! And no one even got sick! (Don't start e-mailing me on what a terrible mother I am...it was a ballgame!)

Monday Matt flew back to Booker, (someone's got to earn some money!) Tuesday I had school board training in Commerce. It's about an hour outside of Dallas. By the way, I've been elected to the school board!

Wednesday the kids and I took off solo to join my parents who were vacationing in San Antonio. Thursday we spent the day at Sea World. I had some great pictures there too!

On Friday we all headed over to the Houston area. My brother lives on Lake Conroe just north of Houston. He's been there a year now, and we've never been down to visit. It's about a 12 hour trip from Booker, and it just never seems like a good idea with two kids!

Saturday we all went out on the lake because Tristan wanted Uncle Eric to take her fishing! Preston, who understandably is exhausted by this point in the trip is not sure if he likes this rocking boat thing. I'm snapping away pictures of Tristan fishing, and he has a fit for the camera. Wanting to keep him from screaming as we are not the only ones fishing in the area...I let him hold it. I mean what could he really do while he is sitting on my lap? Delete all my pictures, that's what!

I'm in the process of trying to do some data recovery and see if I can get any of them back. But, I don't know how successful I will be! We did get some great fishing pictures with Uncle's camera, so I'll try to get those up soon!

Sunday we tried to relax and recover a little. Preston got to take a real nap in a bed! On Monday we came all the way home. All in all, we missed Daddy terribly, but had a great time. It is nice to be back home though!

Lemonade Stand

For quite some time now Tristan has been wanting to have a lemonade stand. I told her this summer we could do one at Aunt Stephanie's house. (She lives right across the street from the post office...it's a prime location!) Well, she really wanted to make one the other day, and I knew that all my family was coming over for dinner, so why not have one inside? It was terribly windy that day, so our kitchen had to do.

She juiced a few lemons which we added to a mix. She had the best time pouring cups and taking money! My floor is very sticky!

If you're ever in the greater Booker area and are thirsty for lemonade...you know where to come!

Tristan buries her brother

We have apple trees!! Yesterday while Matt was off being tortured by the Lions Club, the kids and I spent the day in Canadian (a nearby town) at the local nursery. Aunt Stephanie, Grandad, and Grandma came with us. We had a great day and bought two apple trees. They won't produce apples for several years, but we are on our way! This afternoon Matt dug the holes to plant them and the kids were a big help! We also bought a flamingo that Tristan has named, "Pagningo the flamigo". It has become her new best friend. She took it to church this morning and is sleeping with it right now. (Yes, I am talking about the plastic yard ornament!)

It was a very productive day, and we feel like we are getting closer to having the yard we want! I laid brick for the fence. I only have one more day left! I'm not sure if I've mentioned that I am laying the brick for the columns in our fence. You can see the one in the back corner of the yard in the pictures. We have six around the yard. I got three of them done last fall before the weather turned too cold. On the street side of the house there are three. We couldn't finish the fence until the columns were done, so finishing the columns means we can finish the fence!!! Hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to corral Preston! I am sure that when I finally finish I will get some better pictures posted!

Anyone thirsty?

As the temperatures have increased, we have increased our time not only playing outside, but also in the water. The Easter Bunny brought a Spongebob sprinkler, and Tristan plays in it at least three times a week. She would do it every day if the weather allowed. She also loves to take the hose sprayer and water...well, everything!!! Preston loves to splash and pour water from one container to another. It's all great fun, as you can tell! Tristan has figured out how to turn on the faucet by herself, but she usually only gets it to a trickle (luckily!) She showed Preston how to drink from the faucet, and I think they both thought it was one of the coolest things they had ever done! He gets soaking wet, but I don't care...he's having fun!!

Handsome first hair cut!

Being born completely bald has its benefits...you can be almost twenty-one months old before you need a real haircut! Aunt Stephanie had done a couple of trims, and I had trimmed up the back and over the ears several times, but it was finally long enough to have a real haircut. Matt was getting his hair cut on Tuesday, so we decided to squeeze Preston in there too! He just sat on Daddy's lap eating his fruit snacks like such a big boy! His new doo makes him look like a little boy!!! I'm afraid he's not going to be a baby for much longer!

More Easter Pics

I am ashamed to say that I hadn't gotten the pictures off my camera in a month! As I was going through them tonight, I just had to share these. Tristan has become quite the picture poser with her tent from the Easter Bunny. This is a nice change from the girl who didn't want a camera anywhere near her not that long ago! I just love the picture of Preston smelling the daffodils!

Egg Hunt

Here are a couple of quick egg hunt pictures. We had the hunt and Easter lunch at my parents house after church. This was Preston's first egg hunt. He was pretty tired and cranky, but after he figured out there was candy in the eggs, it became a whole new game! Tristan, as always, had a wonderful time!

Easter Pictures

It has been a very long time since Tristan would have her pictures taken at a studio. Her 1st birthday pics were very teary, and it hasn't worked since. Preston is getting to be the same way! We thought we would give it a try, and Tristan was a rock star!!! She didn't whine or cry at all! There was no bribing or begging. We did have to sneak some candy with Preston, but that's ok! I'm so pleased with the results that I just had to share them!

New Curly Locks

I'm a little late in posting, but the day after Tristan's first movie she had her first professional haircut! Aunt Stephanie has done a wonderful job of making little trims up to this point. I can trim bangs, and last fall I totally chopped her hair! It was terrible! Aunt Stephanie fixed my mess as best she could, but it had finally grown out enough to have Misty shape it up! Misty cuts my hair. Tristan was a little nervous, but was very brave and didn't cry at all! We celebrated with ice cream afterwards!

First movie

Last week Aunt Stephanie called and asked Tristan if she wanted to go see Horton Hears a Who! She said yes, although she was a little nervous about the theater. I told her that it would be a little dark, and she would need to be quite and not talk during the movie. To this she asked me, "What if I need to tinkle?" I told in that case of course she could talk, but she was still concerned that the theater wouldn't have a bathroom!

Daddy didn't want to miss this first, so he went along, and I stayed home with Preston. She loved getting her treats (popcorn, pink and purple nerds, and a coke!) I was told that she was very into the movie! She laughed and would say, "Horton, watch out!" when appropriate. I think she had a great time!

It made it a pretty late night, though and she fell asleep as soon as she was in the car! Now we just need to get the book!

Working Hard

Sunday was a beautiful day! Warm and no wind, which is very unusual for the panhandle! Matt needed to add a sprinkler head to our system, and it went well because of the great help he had! Preston loved throwing dirt everywhere and pushing the shovel around. It won't be long before we'll hire him out!

EZ Bake Oven

I am fully aware that Tristan is not eight years old yet (the recommended age for an EZ Bake Oven). But, she is very cautious and good at following directions! We found an oven on super clearance at Wal-mart on our way to Fort Worth a few weeks ago. We just couldn't help ourselves. She was so excited, and so were we! (It's fun to relive your happy childhood memories through your children!)

Uncle Eric came over to play, so we just had to make some cookies. Tristan was very careful, and they came out great! Preston didn't really care much about the baking, but he really enjoyed the eating! We haven't made anything else, but I'm sure that we will!