Every 9 years or so.....

This is the first professional picture that Scott and I have had made together, just the two of us, since our wedding.....

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Since the State of Texas ruled that public school children can have only two parties a year (that's gonna make sure they get a better education and cure childhood obesity, ya know!)...we here at the Milder house have just partied all day!

Of course, there was the need for Valentine clothes...

Note that Thomas is missing from this photo...7 year old boys do NOT dress up for Valentine's Day. I did manage to convince him to wear a red sweatshirt.

This morning Mandy and I went to Grace's Valentine party where they played bingo, and ate ice cream.

This afternoon we all went to Thomas's party. Scott came home and helped out since I'm first grade room mom in his class. I am placing a picture of me teaching the first graders a game here on this blog since this will be the one and only time that will ever happen. God Bless elementary teachers.

Mandy had a great time at both parties. I can't even begin to imagine how much candy she's had today!

We made chocolate strawberry ice cream sundaes after dinner tonight. Spraying the whipped cream was the most fun of all!

Happy Valentine's Day,

Leslie

San Antonio

We are home once again. San Antonio was...well San Antonio. We did the Alamo, whose gift shop is always a favorite with the kids!

We also took them to the Bighorn Saloon. This was a big hit with Thomas since they had just about every known animal stuffed and mounted on the walls. They even had a map of Texas made entirely out of rattlesnake rattles. I thought it was kinda gross, but then again I'm not a 7 year old boy! BTW, the above bear was shot by State Representative Tommy Merritt.

Perhaps the most fun was the use of their new ipods, which we try to save for trips. They love them! We put tv shows and music on there and they watched/listened to them the whole weekend. Elvis on Thomas's and Hannah Montana for Grace.

Mandy has discovered Disney movies. Shw watched "Finding Nemo" all the way there and in the hotel watched "Peter Pan" for the first time. As you can tell, she loved it!


On the way home we stopped at the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco. The Rangers are a particular favorite of mine and the kids seemed to enjoy the museum as well. Thomas liked all the old guns and the newer forensics stuff. Me, I love their history. I mean, they're older than Texas for goodness sake! They were created by Stephan F. Austin! What true Texan can't love that??

Blessings,

Leslie

Catching up...

Well, given that I haven't had time to blog in an eternity...I'll spend this post trying to catch up! Grace and her kindergarten classmates celebrated the 100th day of school last Friday. They each dressed up like they were 100 years old. She looked ADORABLE!! She was so excited about her "old lady" clothes and accessories!

We have also recently had our own version of "Trading Spaces" in the Milder house. Thomas and Mandy switched bedrooms. This way she and Grace can share the Jack and Jill bathroom and Thomas has his own. Thomas and Grace both got new bedroom furniture and new bedding. Thomas now has a complete Rock and Roll bedroom. Not surprising given his affection for Elvis! The bed he chose is a loft bed with a futon couch on the bottom. His own couch and bathroom...I think if he had a refrigerator in there he'd never come out!

Grace has new girly furniture and horse bedding. Gretta came and spent the night the first night!

And...it's official....we have taken down the baby bed!! Woo HOOOOOO!! It was such a memorable moment I felt the need to take a picture!

That's right...all three Milder munchkins are in big beds! I was concerned about how Mandy would transition given that she has always been such a great sleeper in her crib. Why mess with a good thing...ya know. But she has done GREAT. She goes to bed in her "Big girl bed" just like she did in the crib. She doesn't even get out in the morning when she wakes up. She still hollers for Thomas to come get her!

In addition to a new room and a big girl bed, Mandy had her first haircut! I took her to Nana's house because I wasn't sure she'd sit still for someone she didn't know.

It had gotten so long in front that she was having trouble seeing. We didn't realize until after we had it cut that we couldn't see her face!She was so proud of it after it was all done. I ended up having to hold her for the actual cutting part.

The kids and I drove to Austin and met Scott this afternoon. We visited with mom at their apartment for awhile and then drove on down to San Antonio for the weekend. Scott has some sort of meeting here in the a.m.

Well, that catches us up for now! I'll try to post some pics of us in San Antonio tomorrow.

Blessings,

Leslie