Seeing the World at Sea World - Day 1

Last week, our family went on a vacation. It didn't start out as planned, but we had a great time as a family anyway. We planned to go to San Antonio on Wednesday, and stay until Saturday. But, Dave's grandfather passed away, so we went to Arkansas first. It was a sobering trip, but I was glad to pay respect to Dave's family by being there. The trip to Arkansas before driving to San Antonio definitely made for a lot of time in the car, but our girls were real troopers, all in all.

Saige "found her thumb" the day before our trip started. So cute!

 

 In Arkansas, we stopped to eat a little hamburger joint in a town called Hope. It was a great little place to eat and the downtown ambiance was really neat.

Dave and the girls were grooving to the music.

I wish we could have toured the home.

I thought it was really neat to have stumbled upon the home of a former president.

 

What trip would be complete without Lydia hurting herself?

 This goose egg turned into a black eye that is still not completely gone. She got this little bump after Julia and her were playing in a rotating chair. Lydia was evidently spun too long, and came out of the chair dizzy. She ran into a piece of furniture....

Sweet Thumb Sucking Baby

 Day 1 at Sea World:

The front of the park

We were so excited to spend time as a family in San Antonio. The first thing we did was visit the dolphin pool. Julia wanted to touch them so bad!

 

Shamu Show

 

Saige watched too.

We went to 2 shows on Day 1. The Shamu Show was good, and we definitely got splashed. The water was freezing cold! It helped us cool off though. We protected Saige with a blanket when the whale tale popped up to splash us. She still got wet, but we didn't want her face to get directly splashed.

Lydia loved seeing baby Shamu, and Julia wanted to be as close to the whales as possible. She decided that she wants to be a trainer, and work with the whales when she grows up. But, she's also been stuck on being a "hair styler" for a while. Before that, Julia wanted to a rock star. Whatever Julia ends up doing with her life, I know that her life will be interesting!

Second show of the day: Azul Show

It was a great show! I actually liked it even more than the Shamu show. There were synchronized swimmers, women riding beluga whales, extremely high high-divers, flips by people and other animals, trained parrot flights, and amazing dolphin tricks. I think the girls were too tired to truly enjoy the show. They kept begging for miniture bags of popcorn and bottled water that cost $3 each.

See the Beluga?

The whole time we watched these shows, I couldn't help but think about a show that Dave and I recently watched about captured animals attacking their trainers. Thankfully, we didn't witness this happening at any of the shows, but seriously, can you imagine? These people work with humongous, strong, wild animals. Those trainers are really brave.

Sea World has a fun place called "Bay of Play" where Sesame street characters hang out and take pictures and have shows. Lydia was so excited to see Elmo. We saw big bird right before heading out on the first day. What fun!

Word to the Bird

Please stay tuned for pictures and fun from Day 2! Blessings to you, Amber

Kindergarten

Well, I believe Julia's first day of kindergarten was an overall success. She said she had a good day and that she liked it, but she was pretty stressed to report that she was going to have to be in kindergarten for 100 days! I didn't have the heart to tell her it's actually longer than that. Besides, I don't really want to think about how many mornings I'm going to have do this either.
So proud of my little lady. (She might even ride the bus tomorrow.)
Love, Amber

30

Well, tomorrow is the day. It is the day that I kiss my 20's goodbye forever, and start my (gulp) 30's. Woah. I'll be 30. It's a little bittersweet, as I'm sure all of you know. But instead of focusing on the bitter, I'll try and focus on the sweet.
So, here goes nothing:

Maybe in my 30's, I'll...

...stop looking like a teenager, and start getting mistaken for a twenty-something,
...be more confident in who I am in Christ, and less ashamed of so many things about me,
...run a 10K, and then, hopefully, a half marathon. (Goal: I want to run a half marathon in Disney World someday.)
...Be an excellent realtor,
...make enough money to afford to take my family on several fabulous vacations,
...get out of school debt,
...dream bigger dreams and think bigger thoughts,
...be a more patient momma and wife,
...get on the Agent Leadership Council for Keller Williams Realty,
...go out on a few limbs to make a friend, or be a friend,
...spend more time with the Lord,
...have another daughter or a son,
...get my hair and nails done on a regular basis,
...surprise others with thoughtful gifts,
...learn to be more content,
...memorize more scripture,
...get up the courage to try sushimi,
...be more generous,
...read more books,
...remember to listen to my daughters as I watch them grow,
...go on a vacation with my husband, and without little's,
...fall more in love with my husband,
...be a better daughter, grand daughter, sister, and in-law,
...look more like a "Proverbs 31" woman than ever,
...re-visit Disney Orlando,
...take unimportant things less seriously,
...buy a lovely house that my family and I can live in for more than 2 years...

Wouldn't it be nice if I could do those things?

Some things I know will happen in my 30's:

-Julia and Lydia will become teenagers.
-I will change and grow a ton- just like I did in my 20's.
-God will surprise me and love me, just like He always has.
-Dave and I will continue to be learners.
-Julia and Lydia will finish elementary school and move on to Junior high. Saige will be finished with elementary as well.
-I'll keep writing my blog.
-My husband will turn 40.
-My parents will begin their 60's.
-I'll keep the goal that my girls know their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins even though we live far away from most of them.
-I'll enjoy as many moments in the next 10 years as I possibly can.

So, here's to 30 years lived, and many, many more to come. Happy Birthday to me.
Love, Amber

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Lydia on our bed in our last home

I downloaded my pictures from my iPhone yesterday, and I realized I had a bunch of pictures that I wanted to share. I felt like taking you all on a trip down our 2012 memory lane.

The girlies before school at Cornerstone Christian Academy. I miss CCA.

Dave and Julia fixing the pipes at the Sienna house. This was after we switched out the faucet- before we updated the flooring.

Dave trimmed the trees at the Sienna house a little.

Dancing at Sonic

 We had a fender bender several months ago on my to take the girls to school. When I took the van in to get an estimate, we decided to walk to sonic instead of waiting around at the car shop. The girls were chilly, so they danced until our lunch came.

Bowling at a Birthday Party

Ready to Go

 The older girls are natural little mothers. They play with all of their billions of dolls, mothering and undressing all of them.

Julia's church performance

 This performance took place days before I delivered Saige. I was worried I'd go into labor during the performance. For some reason, when Julia caught sight of us (Dave and I were there with Lydia, Dave's Mom and my Mom), she started making faces at us.

Next to last day of Pre-K

Goofy Lydia

Monkeyin' around

 Julia was climbing on the chick-fil-a playground inappropriately. Before I asked her to stop, I clicked some pics.

May 10th- the Day we went home from the hospital

Summertime fun

When my sister came down, we all headed down to our neighborhood pool on the Sunday afternoon that she was here. Saige and I weren't ready for swimming, so she napped and I watched.

Saige started fussing at Aubrey

 I may have put some of these on my blog before, but I love all these life happenings so much, that I wanted to put them on again. :)
Blessings, Amber

Up in Flames

Well, the good news is I didn't set the house on fire. The bad news is that I almost did....let me explain.

So, our kitchen in this townhouse is small, tiny and undersized. I'm almost positive most master bedroom closets are bigger. And, I'm not even exaggerating. Because it's so small, I often use the electric stove as additional counter space. This is quite hazardous because I also can not seem to pay attention to which burner I'm turning on. I turn on the wrong burner about 50% of the time....

Anyway, I started dinner this evening, and then Dave took over for the last part of it because I was feeding the baby. He did a great job. When I was finished nursing, I came out and Dave was getting all the plates prepped, including one for our little neighbor-girl who was over playing. I started to help him, but decided to turn on my tea kettle to have some hot tea with dinner. When I went back into the kitchen, I realized that I'd turned on the wrong burner, that my one and only oven mitt was partially on fire and that I was about to burn the house down. I grabbed a spatula and scooped the mitt off of the burner and that's when the smoke started billowing. Dave came in, thinking of the girls and closed the door to the kitchen so that they wouldn't breathe the smoke. But, our tiny kitchen filled up with nasty, chemical, worse than usual smoke super quick, and I said, "Why'd you shut that door, the smoke is going to kill us!" I had to get out of that kitchen because my lungs were really hurting in just that short amount of time. We turned on the kitchen vent, opened both garage doors, reclosed the kitchen door and I opened the front door. I felt awful when our neighbor-girl, Gwen, started coughing because of the smoke and fumes. But, the smoke started to dissipate, and Dave and I sat down to dinner like nothing happened. Of course, the girls couldn't be so polite...

Lydia kept saying, "Are we going to die because of the smoke? Will it kill us?" Then Gwen looked at me, looked at Dave and got up to "whisper" into Julia's ear, "Does your mom always switch on the wrong burner and almost start a fire like that?" Julia looked at her and said "No!" with some sass to back it up. Dave and I couldn't help but laugh. We all coughed a few times and then changed the subject to school and what not.

My slightly singed oven mitt



And, speaking of school, kindergarten registration for Julia is tomorrow. I'm stll in disbelief. Julia is very excited, but I'm overwhelmed. Lord, help us. On Tuesday, we will bring food to new parents, and on Thursday we will have friends over for dinner. This Saturday, we will make a daytrip to Galveston because we haven't been to the beach yet this summer. Plus, our regular crazy lives. It should be exciting times. 

On a side note, I'd like to let my readers know that I've stopped watching Felicity. The show started out with a fun story line about an innocent, nerdy girl who was starting college and beginning new relationships. Somewhere in the last few episodes I watched, the story line dissapeared, and the plot became extinct. The show was reduced to scenes that take place in the bedroom. I don't appreciate that. So, while feeding the baby, I'm back to checking my social media apps repeatedly and twiddling my thumbs. I really need to just grab myself a good book.

Anyway, I am so thankful that I didn't actually burn my house down, or injure anyone with my mishap this evening. (Just think what would happen if I did start a fire--there are so many townhouses connected. That would be terrible.) I'm also thankful for a husband who takes my mistakes in stride and just helps me instead of yelling at me for the stupid stuff I do. Thanks, Babe!  Also, thanks to you for reading about our craziness, once again. I appreciate it. -Amber

Confessions of a Drama Mama

I just watched a man with no feet qualify to run in the semi-finals at the 2012 olympics.That is so amazing! We've been watching a lot of t.v. ever since the olympics started. I try not to feel guilty that we end up in front of the tube every night, but I'm a mom, and I'm pretty sure that feeling guilty is part of the job description.

We went for a walk to a park near our house this morning, and Dave and I took turns jogging a little while the girls played. It was so hot outside though! The heat has made it really hard for me to want to go for jogs lately. But, I know I need to if I'm ever going to get into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I also need to keep the calories down. Usually, I'm a vegetables and chicken kind of a girl, but for some reason I've been craving things more like a cheeseburger with fries and a large coke. Um, wait...maybe a milkshake instead of a coke. Well since I'm day dreaming, I guess I'll have both. :) So, tomorrow, I've got grilled turkey burgers on whole wheat buns on the menu. Maybe that'll do the trick?

Anyway, I've always loved going on family walks because of the exercise and the opportunity Dave and I have to talk. But these days the big girls are old enough that they need to walk, and that makes things more complicated. The girls were complaining about the heat, and the walking, and I was really working hard to keep their "hearts happy" and their attitudes sweet. But, now, I'm the one who feels like complaining, and need to work on having a sweet attitude. I have a headache, and I'm ready for the peace and quiet that comes with evening. (Sorry to say, I really enjoy the time when my kids are in bed.) --That peace and quiet is one major reason why I go to bed too late on a regular basis. Unfortunately, though, it's not the only thing that keeps me up.

The other reason I don't sleep enough, besides watching the Olympics, is that I've also become addicted to a show on netflix. I started watching the show on my phone because I was bored while nursing, but now I'm all involved and I can't stop wondering what will happen next. --I usually only get this wrapped up in the lives of characters when I am reading a good fiction book, but this time it's a show that I want to stay up watching until 1:00 a.m. Usually, when I read, I NEED to know what will happen next. I always struggle with this dichotomy of wanting to be done with the book so that I can stop obsessing about fictional lives, and get back on track with my own, but I'm also always sad when the story ends. This time, like I said, it's worse because I'm obsessed with a show that lasts 4 whole seasons. Did any of you ever watch the show Felicity back in the 90's? That would be the show.

Also, I've been thinking lately, fanny packs should totally come back. I know they  look lame and everything, but I can't stop thinking how incredibly handy they would be. And by handy, I mean hands-free! How many times have I reached down to grab something with my huge purse over my shoulder just to have it fall to the floor and nearly knock me off balance? Sometimes it even knocks into one of my kids and narrowly sends the little one tumbling. I mean, I just need something that I can throw my wallet, keys and phone into that doesn't become one more thing to carry. (Aren't diaper bags, children, car seats, purses, and everything else enough to hold?) There's gotta be a way to bling out and rename the good ole' "fanny pack" and make them trendy again. I just don't know how.

Well, there you go, there's a few of my confessions. I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of any right now. Probably because I am tired, headachy and don't get enough sleep. -- Besides I wouldn't want to spill all of my juicy confessions right now. I'd love for you to come back and read the rest at another time. :)
Thanks for tuning in, Amber