Last day of preschool

Brooks, Reese and Sloane with their preschool teacher Mrs Puglia.....

BrooksReese
Sloane and Brooks

Texas Weather

This is the time of year when the weather in Texas is crazy and unpredictable! One day it is beautiful and sunny, then next day it is raining and hailing with possible tornadoes!

Brooks, Reese and Sloane love to ride their bikes on sunny days...
Reese loves to draw with sidewalk chalk.
Brooks showing me his creation...
Sloane and her artwork...
Reese and Sloane were very busy covering the sidewalk with drawings!

A few days later, we had severe weather in our area. Just before bedtime, the tornado warning sirens went off and we moved everyone into our hallway bathroom. Brooks and Reese were comfy with their blanket and iPod Touches...
Sloane...

Brooks, Reese and Sloane were in the bathroom while we gathered up blankets and pillows. I love how Sloane is sitting on the toilet with her feet on our dog, Avery.
All settled in to wait for the storm to pass...
Luckily, we just had heavy rain and some hail. A few years ago when Brooks, Reese and Sloane were still in their cribs, we were hit by a tornado in the middle of the night. There were no sirens to warn us. Now we do not take any chances!

Rodeo Day and Girls' Day!

Brooks, Reese and Sloane recently enjoyed rodeo day at school. They participated in rodeo activities and made a cowboy/ cowgirl bandanna and riding horse sticks.

L to R: Sloane, Brooks and Reese
After rodeo day, Brooks was invited to a friend's house for a play date so I took Reese and Sloane to the nail salon for a "Girls' Day".

The girls each chose a color...
Pedicure!
All done! Pretty toes...
The girls played their iPod Touch while their toes dried....
After the nail salon, the three of us went to lunch together. Reese and Sloane loved having girl time with Mommy! I think we will do this more often. :)

San Francisco and Mother's Day!

Steve had to attend a work conference in San Francisco so we decided to fly up and meet him for the weekend. I was nervous about this trip because I had not flown for 5 years and Brooks, Reese and Sloane had never been on an airplane.

Our hotel was across the street from Union Square. On each corner they have a heart...

Reese, Brooks and Sloane with the Golden Gate Bridge Heart:
While Steve was in his last meeting, I ventured the crowed city streets with the Trio. This made me very anxious since there are 3 children and I only have 2 hands! Luckily, we weaved in and out of the crowds and stubbled upon a Disney Store! Of course I had to buy each of them a treat. :)
That afternoon, we rode the trolley down to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. The trio loved the ride!

Posing for a photo after our ride to lunch...
We ate lunch at a cute Italian restaurant with open windows. The weather was beautiful that day...
Later we walked past the Ripley's Believe It or Not...
A trip to San Francisco would not be complete without a visit to the Ghirardelli store for a fudge sundae!
The crookedest street in San Francisco
The next morning, we rented a car and drove out to the Golden Gate Bridge...

Brooks, Reese and Sloane could not stopping talking about the bridge!
Later, we drove up to Muir Woods to take a look at some BIG trees!
WOW...these tress are tall!
I wonder if the trees touch the sky?
Standing inside a hollow tree...


Tree hugger!
The trees were beautiful and enormous!

We spotted a deer eating literally 5 feet away!
Looking at the deer...

That afternoon, we ate lunch in Sausalito.
The view from our hotel window...
On Mother's Day, we walked around the city and spent a relaxing say in Union Square.
As always, we had an amazing trip as a family.

Muffins for Mom

Brooks, Reese and Sloane had a Muffins for Mom day at preschool in honor of Mother's Day.

Along with eating muffins, the children sang some songs.

We love our Mommies! This was a song similar to the "B-I-N-G-O" song but with the word "Mommy".
Getting ready to perform...
Sloane LOVED the muffins!

Here we are eating our muffins. Brooks, Reese and Sloane made me jewelry boxes and heart shaped pins as well as some paper flowers. It was so sweet...made me cry!

That afternoon, we flew to meet Steve in San Francisco.

1st airplane ride for Brooks, Reese and Sloane

Steve had a work conference in San Francisco during the week, so I flew with Brooks, Reese and Sloane to meet him for a weekend of fun. I was nervous about this little adventure because I had not flown for almost 5 years and this was the Trio's 1st airplane ride!

I was fully prepared for the 3 1/2 hour plane ride to San Francisco. Brooks, Reese and Sloane each had a backpack filled with activities and snacks. I also brought a portable DVD player and 3 iTouches.

Here they are just before take off: (L-R) Reese, Sloane and Brooks.
Little did I know what was in store for me during this flight! Sloane was not happy with any of the activities and wanted to do something new every 5 minutes. When things did not go her way she would scream and kick and throw a fit. At one point, I literally had to climb over Brooks' seat to get to Sloane. I am sure the people around me thought I was crazy...not to mention the fact that I was wearing a dress so I am sure I flashed some people!

Needless to say, it was a LONG flight!

Luckily, Steve was with us for the flight home from San Francisco. When we boarded the plane Steve gave me a "high 5" to celebrate that we had made it with our 3 children happy and ready to go! Well, we should have know better!

We sat on the airplane for about an hour and finally pulled away from the gate. Our airplane literally made a circle and returned to the gate! The captain came on the speaker to say that there was something wrong with the transponders on our airplane and they needed to be repaired! After another hour of sitting on the airplane, the captain once again spoke on the speaker to tell us our flight had been canceled! It sure would have been nice to know that information before we sat here for 2 hours! So the entire airplane evacuated and returned to the ticket counter to find an alternate way back home.

Steve waited in line for 2 hours! Once he reached the counter, our option was to fly to Los Angeles on another airline, catch a connecting flight at LAX, and then arrive back in Dallas at 5:30 a.m. Monday morning!

While he stood in line, I had "kid duty" with Brooks, Reese and Sloane. Here they are watching a movie in the terminal...

I posted this note on my Facebook Wall the day we returned:

Finally home after a long and exhausting experience of "planes, trains and automobiles"...sat on plane in San Fran for 2 hours...flight canceled...stood on line for 2 1/2 hours to get new flight...got luggage and sent it on another flight by itself....boarded a different plane at 12 midnight to fly to LAX...ran through the airport with 3 screaming and exhausted kids....took shuttle to another terminal to catch connecting flight to DFW at 1:00 a.m. (3 am Texas time)...landed at DFW at 5:30 a.m......dragged kids on Sky Link to get car...then drove to other terminal to get baggage!

So our poor children went through security 3 times, boarded 3 airplanes and were exhausted beyond belief on the ride home from San Francisco. Sadly, that is the main thing they remember about their trip. I think we will need to pull out the pictures and remind them about all of the fun things we did during our trip to San Francisco. I will blog about our adventures very soon!