"I gonna do it myself!!"

Bethany has certainly turned out to be Miss Independent. If I help her pull up her pants she will actually pull them DOWN and then pull them back up again and say, "No, I gonna do it myself!" If I try to help her wash her hands she says, "I gonna do it myself!" She even insists on buckling and unbuckling her car seat! I've had to get onto her for actually getting out of her seat while we're driving! She's a character but I love her sooo much!

Catch Up on Spring Break and Easter

Spring Break

We went to San Antonio during Spring Break to see family, get my eyes checked and have a mini vacation. It was so fun and the weather couldn't have been better. My eyes checked out good. For those of you who do not know, my retina in my left eye detached 9 years ago and I had to have a couple of surgeries to correct it. I have a cousin who is an Optometrist in San Antonio and he referred me to a really good Retinologist so I've been going back every year to San Antonio to get a check up on my eyes. Shelby even got her eyes checked for the first time this year. Thankfully, they looked great. She has really good vision. Our plans were to go to Sea World while we were there so we thought we'd wait to go in the middle of the week rather than the weekend to give the Spring Breakers time to go home. Well, we pulled up to the gates and guess what?! They were CLOSED!! Guess I should've checked it out before we went...They were open the weekend before but not during the week until a later date. I just knew the kids were going to be crushed. So, we decided to go to the zoo instead. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and the kids had a lot of fun (not to mention it was less expensive than Sea World!) They were really good sports about it, thank goodness. MiMi, PaPa and all of us also went to San Marcos and did a little shopping at one of the outlet shopping centers and we even rode a glass bottom boat! We also went to a Children's Theatre to see If You Give a Moose a Muffin. It was so cute! The girls really enjoyed it. We ate at some really good restaurants and had a really good time with family.

Bethany found a good place to sit and read while waiting to get on the glass bottom boat.

The view on the glass bottom boat. The water was so clear!

Bethany liked to climb on our backs while we were riding the boat.

Shelby wanted her picture taken with a Mariachi band on the riverwalk.



Bethany was saying "hi" to the big bear outside a chocolate store.

Bethany and PaPa waving to the boat that was passing by.

We liked riding the trolley downtown.

The ZOO!

Bethany and MiMi taking a break.

PaPa and Adam.

PaPa was the bird whisperer this time instead of me!

Beth and Shel loved feeding the birds.

Easter

After church we went to Grammy and Pap's and had a delicious lunch and an Easter egg hunt. It was a good day!

Snow Day!

We didn't get a whole lot of snow but what we did get the girls played in and had so much fun!

No More Diapers!

Bethany's potty trained! She's been wearing big girl panties for a week now. She tells us when she needs to go potty, too. I've worked with her a little along ever since she was a year old. It wasn't until recently that I really started working with her a lot on potty training. She just decided she was ready and took off. She's such a big girl now!

Workin' 8 to 5

Starting Tuesday I'll be returning to work full time. Excited? Yes. Nervous? Yes. Sad? Yes. I'm very thankful for the opportunity I've had to be a full time mom to my girls for almost the first 3 years of their lives but we've decided that Bethany's ready to socialize with children her own age and be in a structured school-type setting so I'll be starting a full time job on Tuesday. She'll start her first day of day care on Monday. Thankfully we found her a really great place to go to. I know she will have so much fun but it makes me a little sad that I won't be with her all day.
My new job is going to be a receptionist/file clerk at a doctor's office here in town. I don't quite know what to expect but I'm up for the challenge. The extra money won't hurt either!
Friday, Adam and I went to Kohl's, JCPenney's and Shoe Carnival to shop for work clothes. Let me just say I got some GREAT deals. I got 7 shirts for me and a pair of jeans for Adam for $51. I got about $460 worth of clothes at Kohl's for $150 PLUS $20 Kohl's cash. AND, I got buy one get one half price on shoes. I got a ton of new clothes. It was fun!
Anyway, tomorrow will be a big day for Beth. I've got her little bag packed. I can't forget to pack her blankie for her nap time...
Please pray for us all to have a smooth transition from me being at home to me working. I know that God has had His hand in this whole situation because of how every thing's worked out so far and I know He will continue to watch over us.

Memphis~Home of the Blues and Barbeque

So a couple of weeks ago we went to Memphis, just Adam and I. We stayed the weekend and had an ok time. It was cold and rainy the first day we got there so we couldn't do much site-seeing downtown. We did, however get to eat at Rendezvous again. I love, love, love that place. They have the best ribs around. We also took a tour of Sun Studios where Elvis first started his music career. It was a really small studio and we each had to pay $12 to see it and I thought that was a little much, but whatever. That night we wanted to go to the movies. On the way to a movie theater, we happened upon an actual drive-in. So we decided to go there instead. Pretty neat. The next day we went to Beale Street (before lunch). There wasn't much going on. We looked through A. Schwab and through Peabody Place. Peabody Place could've been really nice but there were only a couple of operating stores in the whole building! We weren't impressed. We rode the trolley downtown some and that night we went to a restaurant that had a live blues band. The band was really good, the atmosphere however was not! Enough said. Sunday we missed the girls so much we checked out of the hotel and drove home soon after we woke up. We brought them home some t-shirts and Shelby a snow globe and Bethany a bear. All the proceeds from the bear went to St. Jude's Hospital. Carson the Bear is named after a 3 year old little boy who is a patient at St. Jude's battling cancer. When we drove by that hospital and saw all the windows it made me sad to think of all those little kids who are so sick. God is watching over each and every one though. I do know that.

Here's some pics from our Memphis adventure:

This was the view from our room on the 14th floor.

Adam's being Elvis at Sun Studios. The mic is supposedly the actual mic Elvis used. We were told by the tour guide that one lady actually licked it. Can you say GROSS?!

Here we are at the drive-in. "CHEESE!"

Beale Street during the day.

A. Schwab General Store

Elvis' pink coat on display at Lansky's.

Shelby Learned to Ride Her Bike!

Last Thursday Shelby learned to ride her bike! She had been afraid to learn ever since we got her a big girl bike last summer. Adam did some studying up on the best way to teach a kid to learn to ride. He found out that if you take the pedals off of the bike and let the kid learn to balance by gliding, they will learn faster. I guess they feel like they can put their feet down quicker if they think they are going to fall if they don't have pedals in the way. After a few days without pedals, Shelby got the gliding down and so Adam put the pedals back on. She's riding her bike up and down the streets now! Another milestone reached. She's just too happy!