A Trip to Austin, TX

We drove down to Austin for a quick 1-night getaway after Christmas. The kids love to stay in hotels and Derek wanted to see a few friends. 

We had lunch with Derek's little brother. 

We then met our friend for coffee. John served with Derek at Saddleback Church. 

We hung out at the hotel for a little bit and then we walked to the mall across the street to meet some other friends for dinner. Derek used to work with Rachel.

Needless to say, it wasn't the most exciting day for the kids. They had to be patient and entertain themselves a lot at the restaurants and coffee shop. They did great and we were so proud of them. Right outside of our hotel was a cupcake food truck so we rewarded the kids after a long day. 

We ate delicious oversized cupcakes at 8:30 pm in our hotel room! 

 

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then Derek and the kids went exploring near the hotel. I was suffering from allergies and a bad night of sleep so I took a nap in the hotel. Once we checked out of the hotel, we found a food truck park and ate lunch and drove around Austin to see some sights. 

Here is a fun family pic. It was our first attempt at a selfie with John. John was taking the picture, but he didn't realize he wasn't in the frame!

 

Karis' Birthday Party

Karis couldn't wait to celebrate with her friends! It took awhile for her to decide what she actually wanted to do for her party, but once she decided, she was super excited. She invited five girlfriends from school to the house on Friday evening for pizza, ice cream sundaes and a movie. Since she was now a big girl, I told her she could have soda at her party. She couldn't wait!

She asked her friends to come in their pajamas and she gave each one a tiara. It was like a princess slumber party but everyone goes home at 8!

Unfortunately two of the girls were sick that day and left school early. Karis still had a great time with her three friends. It was hard to get them to sit down and eat because they just wanted to play. 

After dinner, Karis opened her presents. She received a Shopkins board game so the girls played that for awhile. 

Then they made ice cream sundaes and we sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. 

We popped popcorn and the girls watched Cinderella III. 

It was a fun, stress-free party with very little work on my part. I hope all her future parties are this easy!

Visting California Friends

We were able to see a handful of friends during our time in California. We never can see everyone we want to because of time constraints and schedules. But we were thankful for those that we were able to meet up with. Here are pics of some of the people we visited:

Autumn and Karis have been friends since birth. She was excited to see her and they all had a great time together. 

Auntie Linda and Uncle John

Friends from our old small group. Karen helped me tremendously by coming over once a week to watch the girls for me so I could get a break. 

We had lunch with them in Irvine, our old stomping grounds.

We visited our old church and saw old friends and how much the church has grown. We had lunch with the campus pastor and his family. Here is a picture of the kids in the church lobby. 

Afterwards, we met Julie at Mocchilato so Julie could take the kids home while Derek and I continued to visit with friends. 

Derek hung out with Joe 

I went to Redondo Beach to visit my old roommates. 

Kyle's First Buddy

It's been fun to watch Kyle develop friendships at church and at school. I still remember Makena's first friend around this age when we moved to Texas. Kyle still plays on his own a lot in a group setting, but he has some sweet friends. His best little buddy is Joey. Joey goes to the same church and preschool. They live right down the street from us, his mom is in my women's group and Joey's big brother is in Kindergarten with Makena. Our family joined their small group for the summer so the kids all love going to Joey's house Sunday evenings to play. Kyle finally has a place to go with lots of boys toys!

Kyle used to ask me almost every day if we could go play at Joey's house. I explained to him that we don't just go to people's houses but we wait to be invited. Soon after, he would ask, "Did Joey invite me today?" I would then respond, "No, not today." He leaves it at that and then asks again the next day. My sweet boy!

Wrapping Up Our Summer

Summer went by fast! We had a great summer doing a little bit of everything. The first part of the summer was busy with playdates, activities and traveling. The second half was more relaxed and we spent a lot of time at home (playing well together!). The kids have grown so much closer to each other. Here are some pictures we took this month. 

Enjoying a birthday party with swimming, dinner and snow cones

We went to a couple birthday parties for Makena's friends. 

Daddy met us for lunch at Chik-fil-a

Lazy mornings on the couch watching TV

The girls mainly played with their Legos but every once in awhile they broke away and played with other things

Silliness at home

This is the way Kyle kept me from turning the TV off one day. He put the remote really high up so I couldn't reach it

A train ride at the mall

Back to school shopping

Dinner out -- pho and then slushies right after for dessert. Yum!

Taking care of little brother

There was no sleeping in this summer for this little guy. He typically woke up around 6:45 am every morning. The only other one awake at that hour is the dog. 

We swam several times at Miss Lindsay's house. We got to hang out with her the day before she left for school 

 We created a new craft area in the back hall for the kids

Karis is always hoping for mail. You could probably guess that on most days she is sad because Daddy gets all the mail. I told her to make a mailbox and then she and Makena could make mail for each other. She loved the idea so I helped them make their mailboxes. They spent the rest of the day (and the next couple of days) writing love letters to each other. It was super sweet! Kyle wanted in on the action too, so we made a mailbox for him and he received a few pieces of mail too!

Here are just a few cards Karis received from Makena

Here are a few cards Makena received from Karis

We got a swingset for our backyard! Most days were too hot to play outside but the kids were able to squeeze in some time in the early mornings.

We are looking forward to a little cooler temps. We are all a little happy and a little sad that school is starting next week!

Today's Pics

We have a standing playdate with Karis' preschool friends every Friday. Each week, someone picks a place and we hang out. It's a great way to keep in touch with school friends over the summer. Today we went to a friend's house for some wet fun (slip n slide, water guns, sprinklers and water balloons) and snow cones. The girls had a great time with their first experience with a slip n slide. And snow cones are one of Karis' favorite things. Kyle kept me on my toes by playing with the dog's water bowl, trying to stick his hand in the pond and going through the kitchen cupboards. It didn't leave me much time to chat with the other moms. Eh well, there's always next week!

You Can Find Us At The Tubes

One of the girls' new favorite places to go is The Tubes. It's inside a large church in a neighboring city and it's open to the public every day. It's like a McDonald's indoor play area on steroids. The structure is huge and it has lots of paths and other things to tire out little arms and legs. It's a guarantee good nap day when we go!

There's also a little play area for smaller tikes that Kyle likes to roam. 

Karis made a new friend the last time we went. I'm not sure how it came about. I think he just jumped right in and started running around with the girls. At first, Makena complained to me that "the boy keeps following me!" I tried to explain to her that he was a nice boy and a new friend but she didn't buy it. Karis on the other hand had lots of fun with him. It's unusual that she started playing with him because she usually has no interest in making new friends at playgrounds (plus she's in a "I don't like boys" phase). 

Karis is super outgoing and not shy around adults, but it's a different story when she's around her peers. I've been trying to figure out why. The only thing I can think of is that she was a late talker so it was hard for her in some ways to hang out with kids she didn't know. Most of the time they couldn't hear her when she talked to them because she spoke so softly. I'm wondering if she took that as a form of rejection. I'm trying to encourage her and teach her ways she can start playing with others but she doesn't seem comfortable being assertive and seems quite content playing by herself. I'm hoping she'll remember this positive experience at The Tubes and that it'll encourage her to make new friends the next time the opportunity arises.