Our Adventures with Ryan and Riley Cate

riley cate's spring program

riley cate (and her cousin brandon) sang beautifully (and loud) in the spring preschool program.  her favorite song was "chicken one and chicken two".  love this sweet girl!  only one more year of preschool for her, she is tiny, but is now officially a preschool "upperclassman".  ha!

splish splash {riley's waterpark birthday!}

we hosted riley's 4th birthday party at the waterpark with our closest family and friends
(minus our murray friends, who were sick, and very, very missed)!

it was a beautiful summer day, with lots of sunshine and even a (hot) breeze at times. 
riley reported that it was the best day ever.

{riley cate and her BFF sarah!}

{it is never too early for a cookie!}

{riley and her sweet friend grant!  they are 11 days apart in age, and have known each other since they were both 15 months old.  so sweet!}

{ryan and ben, sarah's brother, who ryan loves!  ben is also very into mario and has red hair.  could they have any more in common?!}

{mimi and pawpaw!}

{birthday girl and her daddy, floating in the lazy river}

{pawpaw and our sweet friend marley, who was rocking her sunglasses and having a great time!}

{trying to keep the candle lit, in the hot breeze!}

{birthday girl and mommy, in front of the super cute, mommy designed, vinyl birthday banner!  I sorted through 600 fonts before I found the perfect one.  is anyone surprised?}

{the sweet brother was so gracious, and was a great little mini-host}

{sand and sun}

{sand angel}

{the littlest guest, madison!  5 month old daughter of our sweet friends brad and kammy}

{ryan, riley cate and mason...  their parents were friends long before kids!  and now we could fill up a minivan!}

{ryan loves the giant pineapple bucket dumping water on his head.  his sister, not so much.  she runs when she hears it tipping over!}

{mason.  who looks 12 years old in this picture!}

{sweet siblings}

it was a great day, celebrating our beautiful daughter! 
thanks to everyone who came and made the birthday girl feel so special!

(murrays:  we expect a raincheck waterpark date later this summer!)

dare to dream: disney on ice

davon and I took riley to see the newest disney ice show, featuring the disney princesses in "dare to dream".  and the verdict, well, she loved it!  it was a great show with beautiful costumes and fabulous ice skaters.  on to the pictures!

there is a daddy back there somewhere behind all those pink feathers!

love, love, love how big their smiles are in this picture..  it was a super-fabulous day!

little miss priss with her rapunzel hair waiting on mommy to get her camera settings adjusted..

we stopped for lunch at pappasitos and enjoyed some yummy mexican food before heading home, and with full bellies and princesses on our minds, riley cate and I napped the whole way home while daddy drove. 

it was a great, great day!

easter at the lakehouse

we celebrated easter at the lakehouse this year, and while there was definitely a cloud of sadness from losing our meems, we enjoyed being together as a family for the long weekend.  being at home would have been more sad, and it was nice to be in a place that she had loved.
I did not even take out my real camera over those few days, but captured some instagrams!

we cooked the best crawfish ever (thanks dad!),
dyed easter eggs,
rode bikes,
played many rounds of mario memory,
hunted easter eggs,
ate popsicles,
dressed like princesses,
and the easter bunny brought too much loot again. 

he has a very giving heart and a weakness for mario and hello kitty, that easter bunny!

meems memorial service: my memories

I prepared some thoughts to share at meems memorial service today, and wanted to share them here as well, for those of you reading, as well as for my family, in the future.

10 things I want you to know about my Meems:

1. My Meems was famous for her spaghetti and meatballs. 
   She made 60 or more at one time. 
   She cooked her sauce for hours at a time with lots of pinches of this and dashes of that,
   and it always turned out perfect, but never quite the same. 
   There was a written recipe, but there must have been a missing special ingredient,
   because we have tried the recipe, and no one’s are as good as hers were.
2. My Meems knew more about football than anyone I know. 
   She was known during certain years to keep poster boards behind her couch
   with NFL bracket information, so that she could keep track. 
   She was the Dallas Cowboys #1 fan. 
   And not a fair weather fan. 
   In good times and in bad.  (And there were bad times).
3. My Meems smelled of Estee Lauder Youth Dew perfume all the time. 
   I never knew her to wear any other scent. 
   I never smell Youth Dew without thinking of her.
4. My Meems favorite ice cream was Double Strawberry. 
5. My Meems favorite type of food was Mexican,
   but always with NO cheese.  Not melted, not shredded, not any.
6. During my college years (and before),
   my Meems and Granddaddy’s favorite restaurant was Mr. Gatti’s pizza. 
   They frequented it, made friends with managers and staff,
   and even other patrons of the restaurant. 
   I went with them often in those years. 
   Everyone knew their name. 
   It was their “Cheers”.
7. My Meems went to “coffee” for years with her swimming friends after swim class. 
   She never drank coffee, and always ordered a diet coke. 
   Even after all those years, anytime she would reference “coffee with the swimming girls”,
   she would ALWAYS mention to me, “Well, you know I don’t drink coffee, I had a diet coke”.  Every time.
8. My Meems was a fighter. 
   She fought heart disease and cancer with lots of complications like a true champion,
   and with a smile on her face and a kind word for others. 
   She fought both times to meet my children, her great grandchildren,
   which was the best gift she ever gave me. 
   Her presence in their lives.
9. My Meems had no sense of direction,
   and was often looking for her car in the mall parking lot.
10. My Meems lived her life to the fullest, making her date of birth
    and now her date of death, seem almost “insignificant” in relation to her DASH. 
    The dash I am referring to is from the poem, THE DASH, by LINDA ELLIS,
    which I would like to share:
    
    
    I read of a man who stood to speak
    at the funeral of his friend.
    He referred to the dates on her tombstone
    from the beginning...to the end.
    
    He noted that first came the date of her birth
    and spoke of the following date with tears,
    but he said what mattered most of all
    was the dash between those years.
    
    For that dash represents all the time
    that she spent alive on earth…
    and now only those who loved her
    know what that little line is worth.
    
    For it matters not, how much we own;
    the cars…the house…the cash.
    What matters is how we live and love
    and how we spend our dash.
    
    So think about this long and hard…
    are there things you’d like to change?
    For you never know how much time is left.
    That can still be rearranged.
    
    If we could just slow down enough
    to consider what’s true and real,
    and always try to understand
    the way other people feel.
    
    And be less quick to anger,
    and show appreciation more
    and love the people in our lives
    like we’ve never loved before.
    
    If we treat each other with respect,
    and more often wear a smile…
    remembering that this special dash
    might only last a little while.
    
    So, when your eulogy’s being read
    with your life’s actions to rehash...
    would you be proud of the things they say
    about how you spent your dash?

Meems spent her dash well.
She had a life well lived.
She was a person well loved.
She will be greatly missed.

my meems

my precious meems passed from this life on thursday, april 5, 2012.

our hearts are heavy with grief, but we take comfort in knowing she is pain-free,
and has now been reunited with some of the people she loved most in the world.

a memorial service will be held on saturday, april 14 at 2pm to honor her life.

details in the beaumont enterprise obituary.

south texas state fair {2012}

we had a great time at the fair yesterday!  it was 80 degrees and felt like at least 95 on the concrete, but a fun time was had by all!  the adults enjoyed the food (crab burgers, shrimp on a stick, pork kabobs, ribbon fries, oh my!), while the kids enjoyed the rides (super slide, bumper cars, ferris wheel, and lots of others!). 

riley cate loved riding a pony (ryan declined the offer because "ponies stink"). 
it was $5 per ride, so I wasn't going to try and talk him into it!  haha! 

mimi and pawpaw came with us and rode all the rides that davon and I do not like to ride! 
(anything up high or that spins around in circles!).  pawpaw went through tons of "fun", "mirror" and "obstacle course" houses (ryan's favorite), even one with a tiny tunneled slide at the end (clautrophobia much?).  we spent about 4.5 hours there, and it really was a fun time!

now, keeping it real:  the pony mulch and extreme heat gave davon a migraine, I was also feeling sick after we walk/ran at least a mile to the car with the kids almost immediately after eating all the fair food (to get davons migraine medicine that was in the glove box), we made it home, davon went to bed and I took the kids to sonic to get a cold drink.  I agreed on a chocolate milkshake for ryan since I had said no to ice cream at the fair.  he took 2 slurps out of it, and then tripped in the garage and landed on TOP of his milkshake.  the milkshake didn't make it, and ryan was sobbing uncontrollably ("MY ICE CREAM...").  ryan got in the shower to wash off the fair dirt and now the chocolate milkshake (still sniffling), riley and I went back to sonic to get ANOTHER milkshake (sonic employees are thinking I am REALLY hungry at this point).  all was then well (with the kids, davon still in bed), and, in normal mommy of the year fashion, I allowed the kids to watch tv from 5:00pm until bedtime, with a short break for a cheese, crackers and fruit dinner and another bath.  whew. 
the upside:  everyone slept all night long.  we were all exhausted. 

the germaphobe in me is a tab bit concerned that one (or more) of us will come down with strep throat or pink eye (or heaven forbid something worse!) this week, because of all the germs and touching of objects and rides at the fair, but I am trying to let my kids "live outside the bubble".  most of the time. 

all in all, I would say a really good time.  after sleeping all night, no one even remembers any of the "unfortunates" from yesterday, they can only talk about how much fun we had.  and that was the whole point!  thanks to mimi and pawpaw for coming with us, and embracing the "crazy" that is sometimes our lives!  I wish I had some more of that fair food today...

spring break fun {2012}

davon and ryan have spring break this week (riley's is next week, but she has been at home several days this week, so she is one lucky girl who really gets two spring breaks!)

I took a couple of days off too, and we went to IKEA this week, and bought some fun stuff for a playroom remodel we are planning!  we also ate at lupe tortilla, one of my ALL TIME favorites! 

we also went bowling (those gutter stoppers really helped with my score!)... 
I even have a few bowling videos to post soon!

more fun coming soon!  my new tempurpedic mattress is being delivered later today!  yay!

be mine {valentines day 2012}

these were our valentine cards this year, and they were super popular!  ryan reported that he was the only kid in his class with his picture on all of his valentines and all the kids thought that he was "super cool".  (I wonder if he told them it was his "super cool" mom's idea?!). 

love him and his sweet sister!

I received lots of valentine artwork this year... 
I also made helped ryan make a valentine shoebox to collect his valentines.  I ended up glitter glueing the lid and covering it with valentine sprinkles.  it turned out super cute, and then ryan added the stickers.  (I couldn't very well give him the bottles of glitter glue and sprinkles, could I?)!

I love how on ryan's valentine card to me, his mother, he included his last name. 
like I might not know which ryan it came from!

I made the heart shaped oreo cakesters for riley's valentine party, and they were a huge hit!
 


happy heart day to you too!

we interrupt the blog silence...

with some 2011-2012 school pictures! 
(is it a little weird that I am the only one in my family now who does not have "school picture day"?)

Ryan, age 6, Kindergarten

Riley Cate, Age 3, Pre-K3

Davon, Age 35, First Year Teacher, Jasper ISD

I have to say, I believe my precious girl was a tad bit overshadowed by all those pumpkins! 
Even she has an orange tinge!

I have lots coming up to blog about, the silence has not been due to lack of activities
(or antics by the children), but rather a lack of time. 
Work is busy for both of us, and the kids are busy with school activities. 
We are gearing up for valentines, monsternation (even the girls are going this year!),
birthday parties for friends and family, and much more!

Stay tuned, lots coming soon!