Happy Easter 2011

Hope y'all had a blessed Easter. My parents were in town, the kids were excited to have their Oma & Opa here for Easter. We had a great day! Here they are at our church after Mass.

Remember when you were a young girl and for special occasions and holidays you slept in rollers so your hair could be curly? Well Madeline asked me to put her hair in curlers so it could be curly for Easter. :)

Here in Texas they sell these confetti filled real eggs. I guess on Easter it's a tradition to run around and crack them on each others heads. Madeline couldn't wait to trick her Daddy. He was surprised! 

What, you didn't know I had a meeting with the President? Just kidding. For our Easter afternoon we went downtown and visited the LBJ Presidential Library & Museum. Here is the replica of the oval office during his administration.

Outside the library they had this huge fountain. Lets just say Stephen and the kids got pretty wet. But here's a nice pic of my parents in front of the fountain.

After the library we ate at the new Logan's Steakhouse near our home. Then we hid eggs in our backyard for the kids to hunt. It was a really nice Easter.

While my parents have been visiting we also took them out to the Oasis restaurant on Lake Travis. Here is James posing with some monkeys outside the restaurant.

They've remodeled the place since we last ate there over a year ago. They have this Starlight lounge where you can get drinks and appetizers and listen to a live band and dance.

We had a nice dinner with a view of the lake.

There was also a local egg hunt near our home sponsored by the Thunderhill Raceway and a local church. The kids had fun getting eggs from there.

Last time my parents were here we headed out to the town of Wimberley to shop at their antique shops. Well we headed out there again this time to visit this Pioneer Town. It's a replica of an 1800 western town. 

The kids playing in the local saloon. :)

It was really neat how they had it setup.

Opa found an ice cream parlor in Pioneer Town, so we had to stop and get some cones.

Wimberley also has some picturesque rivers and creeks. Here we are at Cypress Creek. The kids were dying to play in some water!

James being a typical boy was finding any large rocks to throw in the river. My parents leave tomorrow, they're going to stop in Santa Fe, New Mexico to sight see and celebrate their wedding anniversary. We're so glad they came for a visit!

This Week's Visit

Stephen said I've been neglecting our blog and not posting often. I guess I used to post more often, I've just been so busy lately. So I will try to do better. This is an extra long post with extra syrup (aka photos, Mickie calls it syrup on her blog) of what we did this week with my parents and Tante visiting. We had a wonderful time with them! It flew by fast!

Here is Madeline with Tante Freidl, my Dad's sister so Madeline's great-aunt. We're so glad she came along too. She brought gifts for the kids including this cute fleece vest Madeline is wearing.

On Monday Dad and Stephen headed over to Home Depot to get building supplies and tools to make a side fence/gate for in our side backyard. Stephen is tired of Penny digging holes in our lawn, she usually does it when we put her outside to go run errands. We have St. Augustine grass so it takes awhile to grow back or you have to replace it with new sod (no seeds are available). So the solution, to give Penny the sideyard to be in while we're out. We never use this area of the yard. We plan on putting a dog house back there, and maybe build a small sand box so Penny can dig in that.

Dad doing the work and Stephen making the faces.

Okay Stephen did do some work and help build it. :)

Penny, not so happy about the idea. But she's still got room to run and play while we are out.

Ta-da! It's done in one afternoon! Great job guys. Now all Stephen needs to do is stain it to match our other fencing.

On Monday early evening Mom came to help me with my CCD religious ed class at church. Madeline had her class and Christmas party and so did mine, except the Catechist I aide for wasn't able to make it to class! Yikes! Glad my mom was in town to help. We had hot dogs, chips, candy and ice cream for the kids while they watched a movie about the real Saint Nicholas of Myra (whom Santa Claus is based from). And what do you know, Saint Nicholas came to visit our classroom and brought bags filled with apples and goodies for the kids! Afterwards we made ornaments of the Holy Family. The class did great! Thanks mom for your help! I introduced mom to the class as "Mrs. Nix" and told them to raise their hands and ask her for help if they needed any. One boy responded, "Nix, so was that your last name before you got married Mrs. Spence?". Smart cookie.

On Wednesday we headed to the mall to exchange some clothes my parents bought Madeline for her birthday, they were too small! Madeline is actually pretty tall for her age, she's one of the tallest in her class. So here are Opa and Madeline at the mall. Madeline also made a Build-A-Bear with the birthday money she received from the Flinkerbusch's. And Tante Freidl bought her bear some accessories.

On Thursday, a week before Madeline's 7th birthday, my mom, James and I brought homemade cupcakes for Madeline's 1st grade class. Being so close to Christmas I make sure to always do separate birthday celebrations from Christmas celebrations for her.

Here we are passing out cupcakes. The class did a great job singing Happy Birthday!

Here's the birthday girl! Her teacher made her this hat, necklace and sign. She wore the hat all day and Madeline was so surprised everyone was wishing her a Happy Birthday, even other teachers and students in the halls and the lunch ladies in the cafeteria.

Here is another picture of her class and her teacher Mrs. Billo. Her teacher said she completely understands because her birthday is on the 24th.

James checking out the books in his sissy's classroom while the other 1st grade boys see what he's doing.

My mom took this photo of James. He can still go faster on his big wheel than his big boy bike. And he was waiting for Opa to fix his jeep. Doesn't matter if it's cold out, James is always ready to ride!

My mom took this photo of Madeline getting off the bus on Friday, the last day of school before winter break. She gave Christmas gifts that morning to her bus driver, her teacher and student teacher. And when she got home she said her bus driver gave her a Target gift card. On it he wrote that she was such a special bus rider and little girl. Last year Madeline received the best bus rider certificate and restaurant coupon. Ah if only her "best behavior" could extend to the afternoon and evenings when at home. ;)

James' jeep has been out of commission for a few months. Wasn't sure if it was the battery. So Opa tested the battery and found and fixed a loose wire. It's working again!

So that wraps up our whole week! We had a great time and were so thankful they came for a visit. Thank you Mom, Dad and Tante Freidl! They're at the airport right now heading home. Praying for a safe flight.

Wonderful Whirlwind Weekend

So my parents and Tante (my dad's sister) arrived on Friday night. They are visiting for a week. So this weekend we had lots of fun plans. On Saturday after we ran a few errands we headed out to Manor, Texas to Crowe's Nest Farm for their Christmas activities. Here is James saying hello to a donkey or a mule? (I can't tell the difference).

Madeline checking out the miniature horses.

My Dad with one of the donkeys or mules, they came right up to the fence as soon as we walked up.

Waiting for the hayride to start, we saw some American Bison and some Ostrich.

My parents :)

After the hayride the driver fed the Longhorns, I've never seen one this up close. They've got big horns!

Hook 'em!

Madeline sitting on a baby cow, and James checking to see if this one produces any milk.

James got a kick out of some of these goats willing to eat the leaves he was feeding them.

On Sunday we celebrated Madeline's 7th Birthday. I can't believe she's almost 7! She invited some neighbor friends and school friends. We went to a local jump house called The Jumpy Place. The kids had a blast! Oh and James is missing from this group pic because he was crying and didn't want to leave.

Everyone make a funny face! :)

Madeline with her cheerleading buddy Ashleigh and her BFF Mia.

Madeline with her Tobias schoolmates Ashleigh and Olivia.

After The Jumpy Place we all headed back to our home for some cake and ice cream. Madeline's hair is a mess from all that jumping! But she was excited to have her Hannah Montana cake!

Our baby girl.

She's excited about all her fun presents she received.

After cake and ice cream the kids were ready to jump AGAIN! So they jumped on our trampoline even though it was in the 50's outside!

It was a fun party, Madeline had a great time with her friends. After all the kids went home we got ready to have some family friends, the Flinkerbusch's, over for dinner. They were in town for their son's 50th birthday which we went to on Saturday night (I didn't take any photos). So for dinner I tried this AllRecipes Daily Dish Baked Spaghetti. It turned out super yummy and it was easy to make. Served it with some garlic bread and salad. After dinner we just relaxed and talked.

While we were relaxing my neighbor called to let us know the city of Kyle fire department was right around the corner with Santa. So we all ran outside hearing the loud sirens and seeing all the flashing lights. First stop was right in front of our street on our house corner.

They had elves on the fire trucks passing out candy canes to all the kids. It's so neat that they do this. Oh and these are the photos my neighbor Kristen took (since the ones from my mom's camera came out blurry). All in all it was a Wonderful Whirlwind Weekend!