Cake Smash and Early Birthday Party

We had some family in town so thought it would be a good idea to have a little early birthday party for Elise. My cousin, Trista, made her a cake to smash and brought her fancy camera to take some good pictures of it. Riley helped too, and really got into the cake smash thing, since he said he can't remember smashing a cake for his 1st birthday! He's so funny.

Elise loved it, she would get a little cake on her finger and lick it off and keep sticking just that finger in the cake. She turned and got some icing on her toe and just cracked up laughing, it was so cute! Trista made her this cute little tutu also, so we got some cute pictures of her in that, with her shirt that says "It's My Birthday!"

She loved all the attention and we got some cute pictures!

Elise's Early Birthday

Camp Texlake

Another year of Camp Texlake! Regan looks forward to this camp every year, but I think this year, even more so. She finally aged out of the "no air conditioning" cabins, and this time we signed her up for horse camp! She was so excited to have a week of intensive horse camp.

After church we dropped the guys at home with Elise, put her down for her nap and then headed out to camp. It wasn't as hot as it usually is when we check in, so that was good! Got her bags checked, got her cabin assignment, and then she was ready for me to leave so she could get her horse on.

They posted pics on their website so I got a few good ones of her from the week. This is the camp she spends her cookie reward money on! They raised the price this year, most of the time she makes enough to pay for the whole thing herself, but she still paid $300 of it, so that's pretty good! A good return on those 1000+ cookies we sell!

HHS MCJROTC Camp

Those are a lot of initials! It's for Hendrickson High School Marine Corp Junior ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps?) Camp.  It was a week long, morning camp where he met other kids that will be in ROTC this year and they did drills and practiced their marksmanship and stuff like that. He really enjoyed it and it was a nice break from football camp!

He won a drill competition too, because he's in Sea Cadets also and already knew how to drill. So at the end of the week, they did a little graduation ceremony and I brought his friend Yash with me so he could see him graduate, and then I dropped them off at the movies to celebrate.

iFly Austin

We decided to reward Riley for his good grades this year (he ended the school year with all A's and B's!) and with it being Father's Day weekend, we combined it, and did a father/son indoor skydiving trip! This place is new to Austin, and they've been wanting to check it out, and they had a father's day special. Riley was very excited to try it out.

You check in, and watch the experts do it, they make it look SO easy! Then you go to "flight school" where they teach you the basics. Then you get suited up and get ready for your turn. You each get a minute of air time (if you jump out of a plane, it's less than that I guess) and then you get 2 turns. So you end up with about 2:15 in the air, but you can always buy more air time (of course!)

Riley was first, and he did great. The first time you just get flat and get used to it, and learn to stay in place and in form. The second turn, they have an instructor come in and fly you up to the ceiling! That was Riley's favorite part. Now he wants to go back and learn how to do tricks and flips. I took video of them going up, and pictures of them flying. We got a free DVD of their flight too, but I haven't watched it yet.

And then we went to Kerbey Lane for lunch, yummy. It's been a while since we've been there, and the kids love it. By then, Little Bit was awfully tired, so we headed home for nap time!

iFly Weekend

Regan's Birthday Dinner

Regan has been wanting to go to a Hibachi type place for dinner for a while now. She wasn't sure what it was called, but kept saying one of those places where they cook in front of you with a lot of fire! So, I found a Groupon for a new place that just opened in Pflugerville, so we thought we would bring her for her birthday dinner. She loved it!

The chef we had was great, he was very entertaining, and Regan loved him. He tossed shrimp into everyone's mouth (Riley was great at this, and he even tossed one from across the table and Riley caught it, everyone was suitably impressed).

At one point, he lit the stove on fire, and it made a big whoosh, and Elise completely freaked out! It was the funniest thing we have ever seen! People across the restaurant were laughing at her. She just sat there and shook her hands back and forth and her face was priceless. I grabbed her and she held on to me like she would never let go! It sounds bad, but it was really cute. She never cried, but her lip kept curling down like she wanted to. She came around and later one when he lit some more things on fire, she was much better with it.

Regan has had 2 of her horseback riding lessons that were her birthday presents from us and her Mimi and Papa, and she is LOVING them! The horse farm where she is taking lessons does horse shows, so she can't wait to get into one of those. Not sure what that takes, but I guess we have something to work towards.

And then we have just some random update pictures. Elise is doing great, she's really enjoying trying to crawl and pull up and get around on her own. She's so cute!

Court Update

Well, we had another court date this morning. I wasn't as nervous this time, but then they called me to the front too, and then I got nervous QUICK!!

We were the last case to be called before the judge, so we sat there and watched as several other people went before the judge, which was kind of nice because we saw all the things they were making other parents go through to get their kids back, and it was a lot.

Kenzie was a no-show. She texted me on Memorial Day from a new number and let's just say we didn't have a pleasant text exchange. She thought because "dad" was not on the birth certificate, that there was no way he could get custody, and she wants Elise back, whenever she decides to get her life straight.

Anyway, I passed her number along to CPS but no one has been able to get her to answer, so she hasn't been served papers. But she knows this is in court so she can't claim that she doesn't know what's going on. Very soon, they will just put her down as "abandonment" and move on.

Well, today, "dad" showed up with his court appointed attorney. They asked CPS several questions about Elise and her medical issues and Kenzie and if there has been any contact. Then they asked "dad" questions about his background, his drug issues, his violence issues, his arrest record, etc. He said he hasn't come to visit Elise at our house because he doesn't feel comfortable here. At first I was offended but then I realize, hey, if a violent drug abuser doesn't feel comfortable in my home, I must be doing something right :)

Then Elise's attorney questioned me, mostly about her health issues and if I was okay with keeping up with her scheduled appointments, and taking her to visitation. I really like this guy, and I think he's going to fight his best on Elise's behalf. The judge asked me if I had any idea where my sister was (I don't) and she was very nice. I know I used to be a CASA and go before the judge, but it's a whole other story being on the other side of it! I was so nervous.

We did find out that his fiance is in a CPS custody issue as well, so that will be for our benefit down the road. He's currently unemployed, and living in a temporary apartment that he even admits is not child friendly. We will have supervised visitation at a CPS location (again, this is great for us because he moved to South Austin, and he can't even make it to court on time, and I've been stood up by him so many times already). At least now this will all be on record. He will have to do a paternity test and then they will order him to pay child support. Then he will have parenting classes, I'm sure some drug/alcohol counseling, hopefully anger management or violence prevention classes. None of us are expecting too much on his end. We'll see I guess.

I tell you one thing, I would rather cut off both arms than let her go to him though. There is no life for her there. It would be a never ending cycle of poverty and drug abuse. "Dad" has no education, no job skills, already a violent record, the last thing he needs is a baby girl that has health issues.

Anyway, I just would like everyone to keep praying that the hidden will be brought to light, that the best thing for Elise will be done, and grace for me since we will have a baby for a lot longer than we expected!!

Pfluger Park

First official day of summer! I left the kids home to clean their mess and I left to run "errands" (that's code for pedicure).  It worked out well except Riley mopped the whole house with Listerine! I came home and it smelled really weird and finally figured out what he did, and he had to redo it all with vinegar!  And it wasn't the minty fresh Listerine either, it was the medicinal yellow one.

Anyway, he has a "girlfriend" now and a group of friends wanted to meet up at the park, so I said if they did a good job getting the place cleaned up, I would take them. Also, he had to be okay with me staying with the girls. He said fine as long as I didn't follow him around. Wow, it's come to that now.

So, Regan and I walked Elise around and let her swing, she LOVED swinging! She was laughing the whole time. Then we walked around by the creek and Regan wanted a photo shoot, and then we went to get Dr. Pepper Icee's and head home for church.

Not a bad start to the summer!

Here's the video of Elise on the swings:

 

School's Out Pool Party

We had a fun pool party to celebrate school being out. We got together with all our neighbors and met at the pool. I picked up pizza and watermelon and we had leftover drinks from Regan's party and another mom brought a cookie cake, yum! We had a good time, we were there for like, 5 hours. Elise had fun swimming in her bee, and she sucked on some watermelon, and I brought a blanket and she just laid around after we got her good and worn out! She went to bed early! But I forgot to take pictures until we were walking out the door.

School's OUT!!

I, for one, am very happy school is out! I have two baby helpers, so that's nice, and no getting up super early and getting kids off to school, and bedtimes, and all that. I know, it won't be long before we will be craving the routines again, but for now, I just want to sleep in and enjoy it! Here's pictures of the kids from the first and last day of school, to see how much they've changed in one short year. Riley for one, looks so grown up now!

Regan's 11th Birthday Party

Regan turns 11

We decided to have Regan's party a little early this year, usually being in the middle of June, people are already leaving for summer vacations. And since school isn't out yet (grumble grumble) we thought this would be a good weekend.

We started the day with breakfast at Cafe Java, her favorite (or our favorite) and then headed to the horse party!

She's been wanting a horse party for FOREVER so I found this stable near our house, and thought she would love it. A friend of ours from church makes the most awesome cakes, so I had Regan pick out her flavors and colors, and left it to Jennifer and the cake turned out perfect! Regan, and all the kids, loved it! And it was delicious, the kids all loved eating the "apples" and Regan saved the horse and the bucket of apples, she said they were too cute to eat.

The girls started in the barn and looked around at all the horses and helped get them saddled up, and headed to the covered arena to ride. The rode for almost an hour and then we went to the party room for cake and presents. Then they went back to the barn and saw some babies and just spent some time with the horses. Regan is very excited that Mimi and Papa are getting her a few horseback riding lessons for her birthday! And she can't WAIT to get started!

It was a great party, not too crazy, even if it was crazy hot, and Elise ended the day by falling asleep on dada. The party was right during nap time, and she was cranking up a little, but they both got a little cat nap.