No Training Wheels!

This week we saw a picture of Tate's friend, Grant Bottorff, riding his bike with no training wheels. Tate saw the picture and said "I can do that." That day he and his little friend next door got out the wrench and were going to take the training wheels off themselves. After convincing them that raising them up would do for now, Tate still wanted to try. This afternoon, Jason took him out and took off the training wheels. After a long talk on "it's ok if you fall..practice makes perfect..don't get frustrated..you can do it", they were off. After about 30 minutes and no falls, he was riding by himself and even ditched the elbow and knee pads. Way to go Tate!!

Let's Rodeo, San Antonio!

Every year, the rodeo comes to town for 3 weeks. Since we have lived in San Antonio, we have grown to love the rodeo. It is such a Texan thing to do:) They bring in tons of dirt and transform the AT&T Center into a rodeo wonderland. They start with the rodeo and end with a concert. This year, we went on opening night with our friends, Julie and Colby. It was Extreme Bulls which means the rodeo, which usually consists different events, only has bull riding. The hope is for the guys to stay on for 8 seconds and not to get hurt. Then we took in some Pat Green.
Jason and I took Tate one night. He loved it. We watched about half the rodeo, ate nachos, cotton candy, and a funnel cake, and finished the night at the carnival. Can't get much better than that!

The morning drive with a 4yr old

As I was taking the kids to school this morning, traffic was terrible because it was raining and the CD/DVD player decided it didn't want to work, so we had lots of time to discuss our dreams from last night, what they were going to do at school today, when Nana and Papaw were coming... We passed by a big apartment complex and
Tate says: "That is a really big house"
Mom --" That is an apartment complex where there are lots of small homes all in one building"
Tate -- " I want to live in a compartment"
Mom -- "I bet you don't because usually they are much smaller than our house. Daddy and I lived in an apartment before you were born"
Tate--"Well, then, where did you put all the toys?"
Mom--Haha--"We didn't have toys then"
Tate-- no response--I don't think he could quite believe there was ever a house that wasn't filled with toys:)

Our little conversations, like this, always puts a smile on my face:)

Monday was a Funday!

* Tate watched the Daytona 500 yesterday and is totally obsessed with NASCAR again. When asked if he was a fan, he replied "No, I'm going to be a driver." I've been finding sets of cars "racing" all over the house.

* Maren is so ready to be potty trained. I had to make a Target run yesterday to get her some "big girl" underpants because she ran around the house naked almost all weekend. She is doing good for, all of a sudden, wanting to go potty in the potty. I'm sure it has nothing to do with then M&M treats she gets if she goes:) She loves her princess undies and keeps wanting to change them to wear a new princess. Whatever works!

* Tate and I had a discussion about President's Day. We had to clarify that he wasn't getting presents...he thought I said Present's Day. He knows that Barack Obama is the president, thinks he lives in a lighthouse and flys on US Airways. So we have a few facts mixed up...at least we got the president right!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a love-ly Valentine's Day filled with baking cookies, school parties, heart shaped waffles and pizzas, date nights, presents and lots and lots of candy! It's always fun to celebrate the day and enjoy each other!

The Wildcats

We had Tate's last basketball game. He enjoyed playing and is looking forward to t-ball:)

They picked up a new player in the 2nd half--Maren thought she was part of the team and wasn't too happy when she found out she wasn't

Our Disney Cruise

I'm so behind on posting these but I have finally unpacked and organized pictures which made posting these alot easier:)
We spent 7 fabulous days on the Disney Magic boat and had a wonderful time! Trip #2 is already being talked about (in 3 yrs). We went with my parents and sister and brother-in-law and we couldn't have enjoyed it anymore. If you ask Tate what his favorite thing about the cruise was, he will tell you "everything."

Some of the highlights were:
*playing bingo
*taking the kids to their activities--Tate went to the Oceaneer's Club and Maren went to the nursery for a few hours a day
*enjoying dinner at the adult-only restaurant, Palo
*relaxing on the balcony watching the ocean
*getting the drink-of-the-day
*seeing all the Disney character's around the boat
*shopping at the shops
*seeing the shows (although we only saw 2 due to complete exhaustion by the end of the day)
*exploring the ship
*no access to our iphones!!
*being able to sit and read a book
*ordering room service whenever we wanted
*exploring the port of calls--Our favorite was Castaway Cay
*getting a new animal via towel oragami in our rooms each night along with our Personal Navigator telling us what was going on the next day
*listening to the kids giggle about their bunk beds
*spending time with eachother

Getting ready to board the ship. Maren got a ride from Papaw

Setting sail and meeting Captain Mickey

Relaxing in the port hole

Formal night

Pool day--Maren loved the baby pool and Tate couldn't get enough of the slide

Maren loved meeting the princesses

St. Maaren's Orient Beach

Pirate Night--Tate fell asleep before dinner even came:(

Snorking in St. Thomas complete with pirate tattoos

Disney's island Castaway Cay

See you later, Mickey and Minnie!