Underneath And All Around

It has been a long while since I posted an update on our house building status. That's because there hasn't been much to tell. But, over the summer there has been some progress from the help of some friendly hire and the little bits of time Nick could put together to work on it.

 

 

Behold! It's not naked anymore. We are clothing it with gorgeousness.

 

 

Copper metal underpinning.

 

 

Wow! That house is tall!

 

 

Side of the house. Siding is getting put on.

 

 

Back of the house.

 

 

Tub shower installed in the kids' bathroom. We also have one other shower installed.

 

 

There are holes in my floor! Air conditioning vents.

 

 

Inside view of the front of the house. We have two more windows that need to be installed on the top but we had issues getting the right size and color ordered.

 

 

Front of the house.

 

 

Chillin' on the front porch.

 

 

Loving the window color: Sandstone.

 

 

As the warm season starts to wind down, hopefully Nick will have more time to work on the house. It won't be long and we will be hiring stuff out and moving right along.

 

 



Beach Bummin' On The Bolivar Peninsula

We usually like to travel often throughout the year. With recent events including our house burning down and the presence of our young baby girl, we basically have been home bound for the last several months. My husband has been dying to go somewhere, and finally we took the plunge and went on a little mini vacation to the Texas coast.

 

We stayed in a little bitty town called High Island, just a bit north of Galveston. It's part of the Bolivar Peninsula, and has great little beaches with no crowds (of course we were there during the week so that might explain the lack of people on the beach).

 

 

Ryder jumped right in to the water.

The first night we found a little local place to eat (not the best but it was food) and then headed out to enjoy a sunset on the beach.

 

 

Sabrina was loving the water too.

 

 

Totally at home on the beach.

 

 

The next day after breakfast we headed out for a morning of play. We enjoyed riding the waves and looking for shells. But after a couple of hours and obtaining some good sunburns, we decided to head back to the motel for lunch.

 

 

The motel we stayed at was a great little place. It was old but clean and well kept. They had a wonderful pool that we enjoyed several times.

 

 

After naptime/Nick's exploratory cruising, we went back out to have dinner on the beach. Here's Nick cooking our hot dogs on his spunky little fire.

 

 

Eating on the tailgate...er um the trunk...?

 

 

Sun-kissed cuties - and Mommy.

 

 

As always when eating at the beach, we were visited by the local seagulls. One had a bad eye and Nick was able to distract it and catch it. He let it go with a snack.

 

 

After dinner it was time to play!

 

 

Enjoying nature's lazy river with the low tide. Ryder's doing his Michael Jackson impression in the background.

 

 

Feel the salty breeze.

Nick went spotlighting later that night but didn't have much to report. All the critters were on vacation too I guess.

 

 

The next day we headed home, but took a very lazy pace. We stopped by The Anahuac Wildlife Refuge to see the alligators. Unfortunately we saw no alligators but were instead met with fierce deer flies that wanted to consume our flesh! At least that's how I felt about it.

 

 

There were beautiful swampy grasslands, despite the deer flies.

 

We enjoyed our family time at the beach and just hangin' out together somewhere new. I imagine we'll be back someday, probably sooner than later. Looking forward to our next trip to the beach!

 

 



Mickey & Minnie Combined Birthday Party!

Three years ago, I gave birth to our son.

 

Two years later on the same day, I gave birth to our daughter.

 

Now they share the same birthday, and therefore, the same birthday party.

 

This year was our first time to address the combined birthday aspect. We enjoyed Ryder's SpongeBob Squarepants First Birthday. We loved his Constructive 2nd Birthday. But this year's theme has been one of my favorites.

 

Mickey & Minnie Mouse!

 

It started with a festive invitation.

 

 

 



 

"Come join us at the lakeside clubhouse!"

 

 

Behold! A Mickey & Minnie party table!

 

We used dollar store plastic tablecloths for the table toppers and backdrops. (We painted the polka dots ourselves and the Mickey buttons are actually paper plates!)

 

 

Minnie/Sabrina's side.

 

Of course, what do you serve at a Mickey party? Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dogs!

 

 

Cupcake tower.

 

 

A close-up of the handy helper balloons my mom made. Now they are toys for the kids!

 

 

Donald Duck Bills.

(Okay I messed up and wrote "beaks" but hey, you get the point.)

 

 

"Goofy's Grapes & Stuff." Mickey inspired watermelon.

 

 

Mickey & Minnie oreo cookies.

 

 

Sucker favors.

 

 

Mickey/Ryder side.

 

My mom drew/painted the Mickey and Minnie. You can now see them at our local library!

 

 

Drink/gift table. I made the character party hats. They are sooo cute!

I got the pattern for the hats here.

 

 

Mommy and birthday boy!

 

 

The whole happy family!

 

 

As always, we have to have some kind of cool fun thing to do at the party. The first year, we had a fire hose spraying across the beach. The second year we had a slip and slide. This year, we had both.

 

 

The kids absolutely loved this toy.

 

 

Ryder hangin' with his friends.

 

 

Mmmm, yummy watermelon.

(My mom made the Minnie Mouse ears bows.)

 

 

Yea! Chocolate cupcakes!

 

 

Speaking of cupcakes....Ryder loved helping me make his birthday cupcakes for the party...

 

 

Pouring in the liquids.

 

 

He got to lick the bowl.

I love that smile.

 

All in all the kids' party was a great success. The guests played and ate and had fun all day.

 

The party actually took place the day before the kids' birthday. On their actual birthday, we went grocery shopping (lame). But, we took Ryder to see the new Planes movie. It was Sabrina's first movie at the theaters.

 

 

I couldn't resist, I had to get him the new Firefighter Dusty toy. During the movie he would fly it around.

 

 

Happy excited boy.

 

 

Sabrina enjoying her cupcake in her Minnie hat.

 

 

The kids have gotten another year older. It's hard to believe how much they have grown. They both had a great birthday!