9 months old

I'm nine months old today.  This past week I learned to crawl.  I didn't scoot or army crawl, just got up on my hands and knees and started to crawl forward.  Mommy's bracelet was my motivator.  

I still only like bananas and applesauce, and Mommy keeps mixing these other nasty things like sweet potatoes and carrots in with them.  I keep spitting them out, but she keeps on putting them back in my mouth. I can also down an eight-ounce bottle.  

I like to bounce in my bouncer and johnny-jump-up.  When I wake up from naps I like to sit up in my bed and talk.
My favorite toys are my spiderman chew toy and anything else I can chew on, especially brother's cars.  I love to ride in the stroller and be with my family.  I have started showing signs of separation anxiety when anyone leaves the room.
When I go to sleep my favorite lovie is my blue mini blanket/teddy bear.  I like to chew on it while Mommy rocks me to sleep.  Don't tell them, but I have Mommy and Daddy wrapped around my little finger.

My sister Boo makes me laugh like no one else.  

I got my two top teeth in last week and I have four total, but I have a new one this trying to peek through.  Mommy and Daddy are very sad that I am getting too big, too fast.

Mission U Too, Round Rock

The girls and I recently served alongside Mission U Too to feed the families of Round Rock.  We decided to help as our home school community outreach project for April.  The leaders youngest son was in the last first grade class at Shoreline, he's now 16.
Each Saturday they cook 200+ hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids who are attending Saturday school and the families near Hernandez Middle School.  LE fell in love and was passing out and stocking waters.  She would carry water for those whose hands were full with their plates.  Boo was a little more apprehensive and stayed by my side.  She has decided she wants to bake desserts as her contribution.  They each asked if we could do it each week.

making it our own

 One thing about getting to test drive this home before we actually bought it, was we know all of the home improvements we are ready to tackle.  First to go, this gravel walkway that stretches from the back porch to our shed.  All three of the kids got in on the action; rocks and green edging are gone.  Next up is to lay new sod and probably a flagstone path, but there are still some pins on pinterest that are causing a bit of a distraction on the final decision.  I am just glad we can finally drive the lawn mower across the yard, and no more fear of kids tripping over the edging.

Zilker Botanical Gardens

The girls have been working on their herbs badge for keepers.  We are beginning to make plans for our herb garden at home, but we decided to take a field trip with a few of our keeper friends to decide which herbs we want in our garden.
I am so grateful to great friends, who come alongside us on this journey.  It was a long day and I had so much help from little hands and big hands.

RRHOME

This month I am on the April Mom's Committee for our homeschool group.  We hosted a zumba mom's night out, an ice cream social, field trip to a behind-the-scenes look at the Dell Diamond, park day each Friday, community service project and our big event was hosting the presentation day.  Two of my close friends joined RRHOME with me last year from CC and they were on the committee with me.  It was a great month of events, but my favorite was the ice cream social.  There was twenty moms and we really got to know each other and share some of the best moments I have had since I joined the group 2 years ago.

behind the scenes at the Dell Diamond

This month's official home school field trip was a behind-the-scenes tour of the Dell Diamond.  I am quite sure I enjoyed this field trip more than the kids, but I know they had fun too.
We were able to visit the suites, the dugout, the locker room, the press box and was given our tour by Baseball Rob, the M.C. at the Express games.  Our group was so large we had to divide into two groups, eighty Moms, Dads and kids came.
After the field trip, we had a picnic with our friends at Old Settlers Park and finished off the day with a looooong nap.

Easter at Gigi's

True to Texas Easters, the weather was unpredictable and we had to rush our Easter festivities at Gigi and PopPop's.  R2 missed the fun b/c he was sleeping and heavy storms were on their way.  Duncan got some confetti egg fun in his place.  I put back five dozen cascaranas for Gigi's Easter egg hunt and not one was safe.  Gigi had tons of great hiding places in her garden.

homeowners

After five years of searching, and two years of renting this house, we decided the home we were in met all of our needs.  It isn't our dream house, but it is our home.  We closed on it today.

one big happy family

This month has been crazy, busy.  I mean crazy, busy more than it is typically crazy, busy.  We have traveled to the grandparents for Easter and we made a trip to Ben's parents for a family reunion.  Ben's youngest brother recently returned from Afghanistan and his brother.  He brought his family to Texas to celebrate his daughter's 3rd birthday. Tim surprised everyone and came in from California so the whole family could be together.  The whole gang was there except for Tim's girlfriend, Tammy, but it was the first time all four brothers were together in years.

last hoorah

It has been a sad couple of weeks on our cul-de-sac.  Our favorite home schooling friends have moved and it has been very quiet around here.  We hosted all three of the kids for the weekend while Mom and Dad loaded up the storage boxes and we had tons of movies, popcorn pizza and memories made.
We have been blessed with great neighbors before, but the kids really bonded with them and it has not been the same without them.  Each time the kids would call it a day, they all huddled together for a group hug, including R2.  It tore me up to watch them have one last group hug before they loaded up on Sunday morning.  I will admit, I was the first to shed a tear.