Happy 3rd Birthday Ashley!

AshleysBirthday

Ashley is my brother Pete's girlfriend's daughter, but un-officially, she's my niece, cause she's cute as a bug and her and Regan love to play together! We went to Chuck E Cheese and had a great time, and then Pete, Jessi and Ashley came over so she could ride her new bicycle, and David smoked some chickens and had a good time hanging out at the house. Regan enjoyed having someone to play with since Riley always has Tristan over.

Father Daughter Dance

Regan's Girl Scouts had a Father Daughter dance and I SO wanted to be a fly on the wall!! I told Regan that she was going on a "daddy date" and she just gave me her look and said, "I don't go on dates with grown ups!" She told me she was nervous, and so was daddy! He wasn't sure about the dance part, and neither was she.

I think they both had a great time. David said he was surprised I couldn't hear the squeals all the way at the house whenever they played a Hannah Montana song, the girls would go crazy! And Regan and her friend ran to the dance floor (without Daddy's) to dance the electric slide! And the theme was Fiesta, they had a Mariachi band, and David said Regan asked him why they kept playing the same song over and over! She was in heaven since they served taquitos, beans and rice. And for pictures, she insisted David wear a nice, fake black mustache. Now I need to find a scanner, that picture is priceless! They had a great time and they came back all cuddly and are good little buddies now, so it was nice that they got to spend that special time together, and dad got a great peak into the world of little girls, Hannah Montana, and purple glitter hair spray!

The "G" Word!

Oh wow, I am SO not ready for this one! We've had some new people moving into our neighborhood, and one of them was a nice lady and her granddaughter, Kali. I got a call from her one day saying Riley invited Kali to church with us and she wanted to make sure that was okay. I'm fine with that, we're easy, we usually have extra kids with us no matter where we go, that's just our life! Kali has been on spring break this week so every day after school, her grandma said she was sitting and waiting for us to get home, and she would run right over and play until the sun goes down. So last night Riley drops the G bomb. Yep, Kali is his first Girlfriend. My little boy has a Girlfriend. HOW? He doesn't like girls yet, does he? I thought girls were supposed to still have cooties at this age!! Mom is in denial, can you tell?

Then this morning he tells me he had breakfast at Kali's house, uh, what? He was in such a hurry to go out and play that he ran out without eating and just ate with them. At lunch, Kali ate with us and I heard Regan telling them, "moms and dads are always yelling, so if you two get married, then you will yell all the time too". Great, so now my son is getting married, and I do nothing but yell all the time??!!

Man these kids grow up too fast. I was just looking at pictures last night of Riley when he was four and cut his hair so short I had to shave him practically bald and he looked like something that came out of a horror movie, with some ginormous alien skull, and now he has his very first girlfriend and going outside so he can lay on the trampoline and call her on his cell phone, and they email each other and it's so cute, and yet so disturbing, and I just can't deal!

But, she is from Louisiana, so all you grandparents will be proud!!

Crowe's Nest Farm

Crowe's Nest Farm

Today I went on a study trip with Regan's class to Crowe's Nest Farm. It's such a great place and we've been many times on several other study trips and birthday parties, but Regan didn't really remember much, so she had a blast today. First was a picnic lunch, then a short video about all the animals they have at the farm. Then we got to tour inside the barn, see all the snakes, geckos, turtles, spiders, and creepy crawlies (ick).

Hay ride time!! We had a fun hay ride, got to see some ostriches get fed and see some huge ostrich eggs and then we watched a mama cow get milked first by a machine, then by her baby. Then we walked around the farm and saw all kinds of other animals, turkeys, huge pigs, prairie dogs, goats, llamas and many other animals. They have a children's garden, a Fairy Wood and a Butterfly Garden, it's so neat out there and perfect weather this time of year!

And Another One's Gone!

Regan just told me yesterday she had another loose tooth, so imagine my surprise when she bit into her dinner and her tooth nearly came right out!! Three right in a row, it's so cute. The other two have started to grow back in, so now she looks like the cell phone commercial, more bars in more places!!

Happy Easter!

Easter

On Saturday night we went to church, Riley invited a new friend from the neighborhood and the church had a helicopter candy drop for the kids, they were excited about that. Came home and had pizza and passed out our Easter goodies.

Sunday morning I made brunch for Mimi and Papa, we had a ham, cheese and spinach strata, hash brown casserole, black beans, and a strawberry, grapefruit and sparkling cider drink.

Then Alex and the kids came over and we dyed eggs and then dyed more eggs. It was a fun day and the kids had a blast and aren't TOO hopped up on Easter candy I guess!!

We borrowed the Indiana Jones trilogy from the library so we've been watching those, the kids have been enjoying them, although Regan calls them, Indian the Jones, it's cute!

Blue October ROCKS!

So my first night out (alone) in a LONG time and my first live concert since Hootie and the Blowfish (wow, did I just show my age or what!) but it was so much fun!! Blue October is my favorite band, they totally rock live, the opening band was...interesting, totally weird, but fun to laugh at (think neck to toe, silver, body-hugging spandex)!! But the concert was great, and I realized that I am really getting too old for the live concert scene. Maybe in a different venue, but this was La Zona Rosa, it was crowded, which made me kind of dizzy, and maybe being a responsible adult and not a young partier, I just couldn't help standing there, looking around, and over thinking everything. I would see a couple, they would both be pretty drunk, I would be thinking, okay, who is the designated driver, did they park near me, and can I get out of here before them? I sound like a barrel of fun, right?!

The band was awesome, the songs were great, and I really did enjoy the show, and I would love to see them again, from what I hear, I would probably like seeing them in New Braunfels when they play on the river. So, thanks Melissa for my ticket!! You rock!! And my kids are really, really sick of all my Blue October cd's!!

Kenzie's Self Portraits

Conversation with Riley

Riley: Mom, I want you to adopt me a twin brother!
Mom: Uh, I don't think it really works that way, but why?
R: So he can go to school for me, and I can stay home and play.
M: Well, what about him, is he just NOT going to go to school anywhere?
R: No, he'll go to school somewhere else, and what we'll do is, he'll go to his school in the morning, make a fake a doctor's note that will say, "Please excuse so and so, his liver is broke" and then he will go to my school and show them that note there and spend the rest of the day at my school, and I will be off the whole day!
M: Gee, you put quite a bit of thought into this, haven't you? Too bad that if your liver is broken, you're pretty much dead.
R: Oh, well, I'll think of something else then.
M: You keep thinking, I'll keep an eye out for that twin.

Phil's and Amy's

HAD to take Kenzie to the famous Phil's Ice House! Best burgers in town!! It was kind of chilly and they had their doors all open so we were trying to eat fast, but man, those burgers are the best. Then went next door to Amy's, the kids had gotten $5 from Mimi, so I let them buy their own ice cream, they thought that was so neat, to pick out their own and pay for it themselves. Regan got a scoop of Sweet Cream with Nutter Butter's crunched on top, and Riley just had a scoop of coffee which was gone before he walked out the door practically. We sat outside and watched the kids play on the playground while we ate (froze) and I meant to take pictures, but it didn't happen. We were in a hurry to go pick Tristan up from school, and because we were so cold!! Kenzie liked it though. Yummy!!

Travis County Jail

Kenzie and I went to visit Daniel, in Travis County Jail. I hadn't seen him in over 4 years, and Kenzie hadn't seen him in over 5 years. He looks really good, he's in jail for tampering with evidence I think, apparently he had drugs on him when he was stopped by police and he tried to swallow them. He said he has a weak case and he might end up spending 2 years in jail this time. But he will at least be off the streets and warm. We had a good visit, typical Aldridge family visit, cracking jokes and laughing, I think the people around us thought we were odd that we were having such a good time! But we were so happy to see him, and see him looking so good. He looks older, hard to believe he's a 30 year old man and not my baby brother anymore! He's talking about going to the Dream Center in LA when he does get out, which would be awesome, so we're trying to see if we can get something worked out. But if anyone wants to see him, you don't have to be on a list, his day is Monday, from 6-9, and I think you can go on weekends, but not sure the times, but weekends are contact visits. And you can write him also, so if you want to write to him, email me for his inmate number, and DOB, that has to be on all correspondence.

Horton Hears A Who

We went to see Horton Hears A Who and it is SO funny!! It had all of us laughing, and I highly recommend it, I don't know who enjoyed it more, me or the kids. Okay, probably me. It was great! I will definitely be buying it the day it comes out on DVD.

Kenzie's Home!

Kenzie came home for a visit for spring break. We were gonna go to Houston to see her for a few days, but since her break is this week, we decided to put her on a Greyhound and have her come up here for the week. She got in late Friday night, we headed to Kerbey Lane for some loud, live SXSW music and pancakes!!

Riley and Regan spent the night at Tristan's house, and they had tons of fun! I think Riley got a little homesick since he called us about a million times while he was gone, but Regan, she had a blast with Tristan's little sister Megan. I don't think they wanted to come home, but they were glad to see Kenzie when they got here!

Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo

Carnival

What a day! I don't know about the kids but I am exhausted. We got to the Expo Center around 11:30 and got the wristbands to ride all you want until 5 for $15. It was me, Riley, Regan, Merissa, Tristan, and another friend Costa. Alex came out and met us for a little while too. It was great because most of the rides you had to be either 52" (which Riley was, barely) or 42" (which Regan was, barely) so they were both happy campers, and it was so nice not to spend the day saying sorry, you're not tall enough to ride that ride!! Riley rode every ride in the park, several of them multiple times. It was nice in the morning, it was overcast and there was hardly anyone there, no lines, a lot of the workers were letting the kids just stay on the ride and ride it over and over again.

Regan was so happy to be able to ride something, she didn't care what, the first thing she got on with Merissa was the one that takes you straight up in the air and the just drops you, and you should have seen the look on her face when it got to the bottom, about 3 seconds of abject terror, quickly replaced by the biggest grin, as she yells, "let's do it again!" It was so cute. There were a few times I got really nervous thinking of my babies on portable, drive-away rides that propel you at break-neck speeds, but they were just having so much fun.

Riley even rode the Power, the one where you have to pay even MORE money to ride, he, Tristan, Merissa and Costa rode it, it's 4 people on each end, you go so high up and I think they said you go like 60 miles an hour around in a circle. His face was priceless!! Of course, he wanted to go again, but we didn't. They rode so often, at one point, coming out of the Star Ship (the one where it's fully enclosed and the bottom drops out as you spin around in circles) the door opens, I see Tristan push Riley out of the way so he can run to the grass and hurl. The mark of a truly great day at the carnival!!

Then we went to the petting zoo area and saw all the goats, llamas, deer, there was a baby zebra, kangaroo and donkey, and the kids got to feed them, they were all so cute. We saw Elsie the cow, and Regan got to ride a pony. We got the yummy carnival food, ribbon fries, funnel cake, nachos, lemonade, delicious. So, a fun day, a full day, the kids are already asking me what we're doing tomorrow (uh, how about cleaning my house, which has been sadly neglected due to all our fun this week? No, darn.)

PettingZoo

Zilker Park

Zilker Park

Last stop of the day, Zilker Park to have our picnic and let the kids run wild. And they did!! There were clowns there making balloon animals and doing the neatest face paintings, (Regan got her face painted like a green sparkly puppy dog) and tons of dogs there to play with, the kids all had a blast. My friend Tammy met up with us with her kids, Angie, Abby and Andrew, and her neighbor Toni and her niece Adrian. The kids got snow cones, and played until they were pooped. Regan passed out in the car on the way home, and all of us were about wiped out!! I can't believe I'm saying it, but tomorrow is the carnival...

Hey, Cupcake!

At this point, we ALL deserved a treat, so we headed over to Hey, Cupcake! and fought the SXSW crowds (we're brave, I know). And wow, what a place, it's so cute, and fun, a renovated Airstream with a giant spinning cupcake on top, and they have the best cupcakes ever!! We got chocolate with vanilla icing, vanilla with chocolate icing, red velvet with cream cheese icing, they were all yummy. It's worth the trek, and we will be going back!

Nature Center

Nature Center

After leaving the gardens, we headed down to the Nature Center, the kids had fun looking at all the bones, skulls, teeth, pelts, and fur in the center, the huge bee hive, the microscopes, all the nifty equipment they have, it's very fascinating. Then we headed down to the dino pit and dug for bones and played in the sand. Riley got buried in the sand (gross) and they both climbed up on top of the dinosaur backbone.

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

We had a busy day today, Merissa spent the night, picked up Tristan early, packed a picnic lunch and headed downtown to the Botanical Gardens for some photo opps, met up with Melissa, Evelyn and Addison there. I bribed the kids, told them if they would be really good, let me take some good pictures, we would get some cupcakes!! I think they did pretty good. So here are the pics from the gardens today.

Texas Jumping Beans

Day two of Spring Break!! I stayed up WAY too late finishing a great book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) and SO enjoyed sleeping in again. Then picked up Tristan and Merissa again and headed for Texas Jumping Beans. The kids had a great time wearing themselves out while I got to sit and read Siblings Without Rivalry, I'm really desperate!! Anything will help at this point, I can't take the fighting, and if they're gonna be home for the next two weeks, I need all the help I can get at this point!

Spiderwick Chronicles

First day of Spring Break (yeah for sleeping in!) and Angie had spent the weekend with us since we went to dinner with the Corenblith's at Buca di Beppo's on Friday night, so we picked up Tristan, met up with Melissa, Addison and Evelyn at Tinseltown and watched The Spiderwick Chronicles. It was pretty good for a kids movies. There were a couple of parts were Regan came to sit by me. She had wanted to be a big girl and sit off with Angie by herself, since the boys were sitting by themselves, but it was short lived once the ogre showed up on screen. But they enjoyed it. Then we went to the library to stock up on library books for spring break and a couple of DVD's to hold us over for a while.

New Number Plates

Riley's new number plates came in, just had to get some pics of him, in PJ's, first thing Saturday morning, hair sticking up, excited about the new digits. He looks so cute.

Texas Animal Expo

Regan's project for this quarter was on animals that are found in Texas so naturally she chose the horse. Each week the teacher sent home a list of questions about their animal for the kids to research (is your animal an herbivore or carnivore? A live birth or hatched? Etc.) and the kids put all the questions into a book and decorated the cover, they had a really cute author page all about them with their picture on the back and everything. They also had to make a habitat for their animal and show where their animal lives. They had some really cute and interesting animals represented there. Regan was excited to read her book to all the parents who came to the Texas Animal Expo and show off her barn that she painted and the hay bale that she and I made together. She really enjoyed learning all about the horse and of course, now she wants one of her very own.

New Pets!

I bought some Hermit Crabs for Regan's class since they have been studying animals, and they get to come home with us for spring break. I will send them back to school when break is over, but for now, we are the new keepers of Spongebob and Superman. And no, we weren't just really boring when it came to naming them, they came with super cool paint jobs!! They're pretty funny, Superman can play dead for hours at a time and Spongebob likes to taunt the Black Angel of Death (otherwise known as our cat Ricky, who likes to perch on top of their cage and try to break in for some seafood).

Regan and Rex

Regan got to have a house guest for a few days. Rex, the chameleon. Her teacher, Mrs. Garwood, has a beanie baby chameleon that she has been sending home with the kids for a few days with a journal and the kids are supposed to have all kinds of fun with Rex the chameleon and then write all about it in the journal, and draw or put pictures of their time together in the journal. It's fun to read the other stories of where Rex has been and the good times he has had, and Regan has been very excited to have her turn to bring Rex home with us. So we had to have an action packed time planned for little old Rex. I made a little photo collage to put in the journal for her, so she can concentrate on what she's going to write. So far Rex was a cheerleader, practiced his flash cards, played with Ricky, took a bath in the baby bath tub, jumped on the trampoline, played Guitar Hero and then fell asleep with Regan. I wish all pets were so easy!