Long Over Due!

On Saturday, Dan and I went on a long over due date night! Jason and Missy came over with the kids and watched Joshua for us. Joshua was so excited that they were there, that he didn't even care that we were leaving for the night.

We went to eat at this fabulous restaurant below. It is one of our favorite places to go. It is a mix between tex-mex and Salvadorian food. Really cool atmosphere and delicious food. It is sad, because everytime we go(which isn't a lot) we always say we are going to try something different, but end up getting the same thing we always get. Hey, when you know something is good, you stick with it, right?. This was really the only thing that we had set out to do but then we decided it would be fun to go...


HERE! This is a fondue restaurant. We went here for dessert! It was fabulous! We didn't know if we would be able to get in because it is the kind of place were you take your time and most of the time a reservation is needed. Dan called and he managed to get us a reservation for dessert only at 8:30. That was great, because it gave us a chance to walk around the Domain and window shop a little. I love the whole experience of the melting pot!

Yes, we took pictures of us enjoying the chocolate fondue! We ordered what they call the flaming turtle. Basically it is caramel and chocolate mixed together that they light on fire and then sprinkle pecans on top. It was heavenly!! They give you all kinds of "dippers" like, marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, pound cake, cheesecake, brownies, and rice crispy treats. These are all small portions, and you can order as many dippers as you want, but once the chocolate runs out, that is it, unless you are willing to pay for it again! We couldn't finish it all, but it was so delicious!

Dan enjoying fondue!

After our delicious dessert! We decided to go do a little wine tasting at a local wine bar. Vino 100 was a small, but nice place. We had seen it before, but had never been in. It was a great place to end our fabulous date night! We were able to try different types of wine and talk without being interrupted every 5 seconds! It was such a fun night! I wish we were able to do this more often.

A BIG thanks to Jason and Missy for watching Joshua! It was a much needed date and we had fun!!!

Just a Recap!

Sorry no pictures with this post! Just wanted to give a little recap of our weekend. On Saturday we went to my co-worker's house so Joshua and her grandson, Cormyc could have a swim playdate. She has a pool and has been asking if Joshua could come over and swim. Joshua and Cormyc had so much fun swimming. Cormyc was the dare devil and Joshua was the boss. Joshua would tell Cormyc where and how to jump in the water and Cormyc would do it. They both didn't seem to mind the roles that they were playing, so we left it alone. Joshua surprised me, because he seemed to be a little clingy to me and didn't want to do much in the water. The boy loves water, so I don't know what it was about that pool that made it so intimidating. He did not want to go under, and he did not want to slide down the slide. He wanted to hang on my hip and tell Cormyc what to do. Ha! None the less they had fun and we came home after two hours of swimming to take naps, but that is not what happened. Joshua did not take a nap, but he did really well later that evening(to our surprise). That night we had a family movie night. We had caught the tail end of Toy Story on the Disney channel earlier in the day and I saw that Toy Story 2 would be on later that night, so we decided we would watch it. We made chicken nachos and popcorn. Joshua loved the movie and ate mostly popcorn. It was a great end to our Saturday. On Sunday, Joshua slept until 8! Nice little treat for momma and daddy, I must say. I went to the grocery store while Joshua and Dan hung out and played. Then we met Aunt Lisa and Uncle Nic for lunch. They were coming back from a wedding in San Antonio and asked if we wanted to meet them, and of course we said yes. We have not seen them in a while so it was good to have lunch and catch up. After lunch they headed home and we went to Barnes and Nobles so I could get a book, that I have been searching for(which I found). We came home thinking Joshua would take a nap, to which he decided he didn't really need one again. You never know with that boy. The times you think he will take a nap he doesn't and the times you don't think he will he does. Anyway, we hung around the rest of the evening and grilled out for dinner. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. We have not had to many busy weekends, thus far, and it has been kind of nice.

Once again, I apologize for the lack of pictures in this blog. I haven't really been taking any lately, but I will post some on my next post for sure!!

Potty Training Is A Nightmare!!

The sleeping angel above is still potty training! Despite what I have mentioned in previous post, he is NOT fully potty trained like I thought. We had a minor set back a couple of weeks ago. Dan and I decided to just start back from the beginning like we did back in January. So everytime he tee tee's in the potty he gets 4 m&ms. It is seems to work! Here is the confusing part, he goes without a fuss at school. Has minimal accidents and is happy to go by himself. When he is at home, it is a totally different story. I resorted to facebook for other advice from parents and everyone had pretty much the same idea...reward system(which is what we were already doing). Some said that what clicked for their kiddos was putting them in underwear/panties at night and with a couple of times of being uncomfortable and wet at night, they clicked and got it and never had problems during the day or night. Dan and I thought what do we have to loose, we have tried everything else. So, we ditched the pull-ups as of last Saturday night and went straight for underwear! Only once, has he gotten up and said that "he was all wet" every other time it doesn't seem to phase him. I know that every child is different and they all eventually get it, but man I am so tired of watching the clock, fighting with Joshua to go to the bathroom and then washing loads and loads of underwear and sheets!! I know this is selfish, but it's the truth!! He has been doing well, this week, and when he doesn't ask for the m&ms we do not give him any. We have also started waking him up before we go to bed to potty, hoping that will help him not "drown" at night...lol! This is probably one of the most difficult and frustrating milestones yet!! I just wanted the world to feel my pain, which if you have ever potty trained, you do!!

No-Sew Blanket

Joshua has been using a Thomas the Tank Engine beach towel for his "covers" when he gets cold or just wants to snuggle. It was kind of cute until, my mother guilt(if that is what you want to call it) set in and I was determined to find him a "Thomas Blanket." A little friend in his class had a really nice, soft, cuddly one at school, but when I asked his dad where they purchased it, he said it was a gift, so he didn't know. Still determined to get this kid a blanket, I had looked online to see about purchasing one, but they were way too expensive. I thought maybe I can make one. So, with my wonderful Google capabilities I stumbled upon a site for No-Sew blankets. My first thought was how is that possible, but as I continued to read the instructions my "how is that possible" turned into "I can totally do this." So, I went and purchased the fabric and a pair of fabric scissors and in about 2 hours I had created this:

I measured a little over what I needed, so it is GIANT, but it works and it was easy! Basically you are just connecting two pieces of fabric together by tying the strips on the edge in knots. The fringe around the blanket is actually the ties. Like, I said it was super easy! I am so excited that I learned something like this! I love to try new things and this is right up my alley. I am very impatient, so using a sewing machine was out, well, and the fact that I don't actually own a sewing machine and anything that is going to take years to make is out too. So this little project was perfect. I really don't have a lot of patients when it comes to, well pretty much anything. Haha!

Here is Joshua enjoying his very large Thomas Blanket! He loves it and it is the perfect place to hide under during a game of hide and seek or peek-a-boo!!!

The Limeade Project

Dan got a hankering for a REAL limemade, so he looked up a recipe and went to the store last night for the ingredients(mainly just for the limes) because we had everything else. Like I said in previous posts, Joshua is interested in helping in the kitchen and this time it was Daddy's turn to have a little helper. I documented the process in pictures, of course!

The limeanaters! ha ha!

First you have to squeeze the juice out of the limes to make 1 cup, that's about 6 to 8 limes.


Rolling the limes produces more juice.

Joshua making sure it is right at the 1 cup mark!

All the limes Dan had to squeeze for this limemade

Then you bring 1 and1/2 cups of water to a boil

Once the water is boiling, you add 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar

You let the water and syrup mix together and let it cool until it has formed a simple syrup. You then add the lime juice to the simple syrup and mix. Then you mix together 8 cups of water and the syrup lime mixture. Mix well and then pour over ice and enjoy.

Unfortunately, it took a little bit for the simple syrup to cool down, so Joshua did not get to taste the limemade that he helped make, because it was his bedtime, but he did get to taste some today and he said it was delicious. This doesn't surprise me, because he loves to eat lemons and sour stuff doesn't really bother him. Dan said that the next time he is going to add more limes. It was tart, but not tart enough for these guys!

Surprise!!

On Sunday Dan and Joshua got quite the surprise when they were down at the park in our neighborhood. Dan took Joshua down to play in the morning while I was at the grocery store. All the swings and slides were way to hot to sit or slide on, so Joshua was just running about like a wild child. All of the sudden the sprinklers came on! Dan said that Joshua jumped with excitement and took off running around the whole playground hitting every sprinkler that he could. The sprinklers stayed on for a good 15 to 20 minutes. That was plenty of time to get completely soaked and enjoy a hot summer morning!

Look way towards the back of the picture, near the fence, you can see Joshua running around!

This is a better picture of Joshua having some sprinkler fun!


Here he is soaked from head to toe!

This picture kills me! Look how big he is getting! I can't stand it!!

What perfect timing they had to be there right when the sprinklers came on! ha ha! I am glad Dan decided to stay and let Joshua run through the sprinklers rather than leave when they came on. He said Joshua had the best time running all around that park and jumping through every sprinkler that he could find! I am so glad that the simple things make this little boy smile from ear to ear!!

Lake? What Lake?

We had a pretty fun weekend! We spent most of it with Jason and Missy and the kids. Friday night we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and set up the lagoon pool for the kids to cool off in at our house. Joshua was the first to test it out and he loved it, of course. The kids had a good time splashing and pouring water on each other.

After the hamburgers and swimming it was time for a little ice cream! Nothing says summer like an ice cream cone! These three kiddos have the best time when they are together. I am so glad that the girls love Joshua so much and put up with his craziness! It is really great to watch them "mother" him around. He eats it right up! Funny side note: Now that Joshua has eaten ice cream on the bench seat, he thinks he is supposed to eat his ice cream there everytime!

After a fun night of grilling, ice cream and a little Texas Hold'em for the adults. We decided to go to the lake on Saturday. Jason and Missy came over with the kids around 12pm and we set out to Lake Travis for some fun in the sun, or so we thought. We arrived at the city park ready to hit the lake. The park had a trail that led down to the water front where there is a designated swimming area. You can imagine what we looked like walking down the trail. Between the 4 adults, we hauled lounge chairs, coolers, bags and food, while the kids carried their sand pails and water toys. We followed the trail until it came to an open field. We were a little confused and then realized that the end of the trail should meet the water, but there was not any water. In fact the water was so low that you had to walk a good distance to even see the water. Dan, Jason and Dylan actually walked down to see if it was even worth staying and they actually walked where there should have been water. The rope that marked off the swimming area looked like a clothes line, because the water was that low. Even some of the boat docks were closed because of the lack of water.

After seeing what is in the above picture. We decided that it was best to not go swimming. We decided to go back up the trail and go make the best of the day at the park that was at the top of the hill. So, we hiked all the way back to the cars and drove to the playground and pavilion that we saw on the way down to the lake. We had a nice picnic and the kids played on the playscape. We were there for about 2 hours. It was so hot, but the trees provided some shade and the pavilion had a nice breeze blowing through it, so it was somewhat bearable.


This is the view from the road going to Lake Travis. I love the hill country! It is so pretty and peaceful out there. I wish we could afford to live out there.

Joshua enjoying the playscape.

Our little set up!

The pavilion had a look out point and this is part of the view that you get. It's not the best but I also do not have a fancy camera that can zoom in and get a good shot...lol

Today, we just hung out at the house and relaxed. Time to start another work week, but it sure was a fun weekend! We live so close to my brother, Jason, but we rarely get to hang out. So, this was a very nice weekend to get to spend some time with them. Thanks for hanging out with us guys!

When You Run Out of Paper...

...the next best thing is your body!? Yesterday on the way home from work, I gave Joshua a travel-size dry erase board that came with a dry erase marker. He wasn't in the best mood so I was trying to keep him occupied until we got home. He settled down and began to color on the board. He must have completely covered the board with the black marker, and then moved on to his body! I did not realize he was using his body as a piece a paper until we arrived home and he said, "momma look what I did!" I thought he would hold up the board but instead he held up his hand!

It was everywhere! On his lips, shorts, shirts, arms, hands and legs! I am pretty sure he would have been covered even more if the drive had taken longer. When we got in the house he immediately wanted his "artwork" washed off! Thank goodness it came off with soap and water. Silly boy! Next time, I will be sure to provide an alternative, like paper, so he will not have to resort to using his body...ha!!

A First over July 4th!

Since, work has been so crazy over the last few days it was nice to be able to have a 3 day weekend to relax. Our 4th of July was very low key. In fact I mentioned to Dan that it didn't really feel like the 4th of July. I guess it was because there was not going to be any fireworks because of the extreme drought that we are in. Even the public events were banned from having firework shows. On Saturday, we got up and went to La Grange to spend the day with my mom and Joel. They were visiting my grandmother, and invited us to come visit. My brother, Jason and his family were also there. Dan and I decided to just spend the day instead of the weekend, because it was only about an hour and half away and we didn't want to board Milo over night. We enjoyed the visit with the family and Joshua loved playing with his cousins and going on nature walks all over the land. The kids played in the sprinkler and ran around chasing each other, while the adults sat on the porch and visited. It was a very nice Saturday spent with family. On Sunday, is where Joshua attended his very FIRST movie in the theater! Dan and I had been talking about taking him for awhile, but didn't feel he was quite ready for that whole experience. Well, Joshua is now all about Cars, the movie. He saw it on TV and we now own the DVD of the first one! He loves it and wants to watch it all the time. So, we thought that he would just love Cars 2. So, we went back and forth; would it be worth it and if he would like it until we finally decided just to do it! We would go to the matinee, therefore it would not cost as much and hopefully be less crowded(which it was). Dan and I went into this experience thinking two things: A) we would probably not reach the end of the movie, because we would have to leave due to Joshua being scared or bored and B) us seeing the end of the movie with Joshua asleep in one of our laps. We arrived at the theater 30 mins before the show was to start. We wanted Joshua to get the whole experience, so we bought the tickets and Joshua got to hand them to the man that told you what number theater to go to. Joshua was so excited! He told the man "thank you" and waved "bye" as we walked to the snack bar. Joshua kept saying, "wow, look at all these lights and all this candy!" When we got to the snack bar, he stood on his tip toes and said, "popcorn, please." It was so cute! We actually ended up getting him a kid's snack pack, which came with popcorn, a drink and a laffy taffy rope. He could have cared less about the laffy taffy! All he wanted was the popcorn and lemonade. So, off we went to find our seats. We opened the door to the #17 theater and Joshua just stood there frozen! Dan actually had to take him by his hand and tell him it was ok and lead him to our seats. We decided to sit at the end of the row, in case we had to make a quick exit. Joshua really got into the previews and the music that they have before the show. He had a little trouble with the reclining seats, but he managed by just sitting on the edge of the seat. Joshua was doing a lot better than we thought he would be doing at this point. He was so happy eating his popcorn, and bobbing his head to the music and then the lights went down and the sound turned up, way up! Joshua doesn't like loud noises at ALL!! So, in my head I was prepared for him to start crying and freaking out, but he didn't! He just put his fingers in his ears and continued to watch the previews. He was being such a big boy! I thought we might just make it to the end, but I was wrong. About 45 mins into the actual movie, Joshua had seen all he wanted to see. He leaned over and asked if he could go home! He wanted to go home and watch the other "Cars" movie on the little TV. We totally understood, but tried to convince him to stay a little bit longer so he could see McQueen and Mater(his favorite characters from the movie). Well, it didn't really work and since he was asking so nice and was not throwing a fit, we decided it was time to leave. I was a little disappointed, but I knew it was bound to happen. It is alot for a little kiddo to sit there and be quiet for all that time. The previews lasted 15 mins, so you put that on top of the 45 mins of the actually movie that we watched and the time waiting for it to start and you have yourself what seems like an eternity in a child's mind. It was a great first movie experience and Joshua behaved wonderfully and far exceeded our expectations. The rest of our Sunday was spent hanging out at the house and trying to stay cool! I posted some pictures below of his first movie experience: (gotta have those memories).

In front of the Cars 2 billboard inside the theater.

He is holding McQueen and Mater in the picture below and saying "cheeesssee"

Enjoying his popcorn and not looking at the camera!

On Monday, the 4th we hung out at the house in the morning and then made a trip to the UT Co-op to look around. We thought it would be a nice little outing for the family. I think the last time we were in there, Joshua could barely walk, so this was a little different. We made our way to the "kid area" so Joshua could play and I could shop for a couple of new shirts for him(football season will be here before you know it). While, I did find some shirts, I wasn't really willing to give my left arm for them, so I settled on a pair of UT sweat pants for the winter that were on clearance and I only paid 5 bucks for them! Whoo hoo, what a steal! Anyway, we walked the drag and then we went and saw the new house that Dan's fraternity built. We were not able to go in, but we just drove up and stopped and looked. It is really nice! After that we stopped for some Amy's Ice Cream and then headed home. That afternoon we hung outside and set up the sprinkler for Joshua and grilled! Later that night we watched the firework show that they had in New York, which was really pretty. It was kind of nice, not having to hear Milo bark every 5 seconds due to the fireworks going off in our neighborhood, but it still wasn't the same.

So there you have it, as promised! Our 4th of July weekend and Joshua's first trip to the movies!!

Work, Work, and more Work!

My work is totally taking over right now. My other co-worker is on vacation since last Wednesday and will be out the rest of the week. So, I have been running our part of the operation at work by myself! Of course, we have had new referral after new referral, so needless to say I have not wanted to come blog at all! I sometimes get a chance to blog during the day while I am at work, but that hasn't been the case either. So, you will have to excuse the lack of blogging. We did have a nice 4th of July and I promise to try and blog about that here in the next couple of days. All I want to do after work is go home and sleep, and we all know that doesn't happen, so I have just put off the whole blogging. Like I said I will try and get our 4th of July weekend up in a few days. Joshua actually did a "first" this weekend and it was pretty exciting, so be sure to check back for that.

Ok, Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July!