Paige's Birthday Party

We had Paige's 5th birthday party this past weekend. It was great! We had it at Kreative Kidz in Plano - Paige picked "Princess and Knights" as the theme. They decorated the entire area and had costumes for all of the kids to wear. And then there were helpers dressed up as Snow White and Cinderella that organized games for the kids.


We did a little different this year in that I made her keep the guest list to 10 kids. The last two years she has invited her whole class and had 25+ kids at her party. She actually broke down crying last year because she had too many presents to open. Seriously? That gave me the big hint to tone it down this year.


Here are some pictures of the party...

The Miscellaneous Post

What do you call a post that has a mish-mash of stuff because you haven't had time to sit at your computer and upload pictures for over a month? You call it "The Miscellaneous Post".

I can't really put my finger on why the last month has been so busy. Some of it has to do with work and my obsession of not being able to "unplug" and some of it probably has to do with the Fall TV Season starting. Yep, that's about as lame as it gets.

So..in all it's lameness are some things to catch you up on...

1. Paige turns five this weekend! She is now into "Camp Rock" and "High School Musical".

2. Sara is talking, talking, talking. She has new words every day. And so far, no swear words. I no you may be confused by that but I'm pretty sure Paige had dropped "the f-bomb" by 16 months. (You think I'm kidding, don't you? Well maybe I am and maybe I'm not...)

3. Todd and I still don't know who to vote for although Todd has insisted we keep an Obama sign in front of the house. Our fun of the week was to put the sign in the front yard of our super-Republican friends while they were on vacation. Tee hee. Did I mention we took pictures?

4. Todd and I both refuse to login to look at our 401K balances again. I had a moment of weakness last week and regret seeing that I've lost 25% of the value of my 401K. Sigh.

5. The Chore Chart is a definite hit with Paige. Ever since we motivated her with cash ($5 a week), it's been easier to get her to do things around the house. Basically, $15 = 1 new Barbie. And Paige loves her Barbies. Her chores for this week are to pick up her sister's toys, stay seated at the dinner table for the entire meal, dress herself for school in the morning, help set the table, homework (she has spelling words each week, we practice them every night) and going to bed. Yes, we pay her to go to bed. She has to go without pouting, arguing and many nights we can even get her to walk herself up to her room without parental assistance - sometimes.

This is Sara loving her (well mom's) Chic-Fil-A fries. This kid cracks me up. (Yeah, I know, real safe having her sitting on the counter, huh?)



Here's Paige singing "The Pumpkin Song" for Halloween...

Here is a video of Sara talking and talking and talking...just like her mom.

This is a video of Sara on her Bounce & Spin Zebra - she got it for her birthday five months ago and is finally big enough to really get full use out of it - and she sure does!

Grandpa and Grandma Zagumny along with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Mandy got Paige this awesome princess scooter (and of course matching helmet and pads) for her 5th birthday - Paige loves her new scooter. The only issue is that Sara loves it too and wants to ride it with Paige. It's really not built for two if you know what I mean...

Paige loves anything that makes her feel like she's a princess - a carousel will definitely do that!

Little Sara-Bobeara after bathtime..

..and after dinner time - really, the bathtime picture should be after because we go straight from the highchair to the bath. We need to teach her that you don't eat food with your hands and play with your hair at the same time.

Our favorite Galveston vacation spot

In the last several years we have gone on a group trip to Galveston and each time we've stayed in the same house right on the beach past the Seawall.

We first went to Galveston with Paige when she was around 20 months. It was the first time she had experienced the beach and sand. She LOVED the water. She headed right out with no fear (now I had fear but she didn't).

We took her again a year later and she just played and played in the sand. It was such a beautiful and relaxing vacation (I was maybe 8 weeks pregnant and I slept alot while everyone was on the beach).

I emailed the owner yesterday to ask her how our favorite vacation home had fared after Hurricane Ike.

See for yourself...

This is the house in Galveston pre-Ike

And this is what is left...do you notice how the water comes up very close to the house? It used to be at least several hundred feet back...

And this is the front of the living room - I guess that's all that is left.

Lastly, here are some pictures form our two vacations to Galveston...