{4th of July 2013: Part 1}

This year wasn't your typical sunshiny 4th of July. We had days of rain the weekend of the 4th, and honestly I was a lil bum about it initially, but snapped out of it and enjoyed every minute of spending time with family and friends. This will be a 2 part post, but I wanted to capture all these special moment coz we are truly blessed to be sharing our life with all these wonderful people!

Our first 4th at our new home, and totally loving the patriotic buntings at our patio. Perfection!

Samantha had her first bike parade at her new school. Tito Nestor's flight from Baltimore came in early, and he was able to come see Samantha's school. Missed my brother, and it was so great to spend some time with him. Unfortunately, the parade was rained out, and they had to moved the event indoors and change it to a dance party.

Lil girl was having so much fun. She even told me that she had to go so she can hang out with her friends. Made me so happy that she's transitioning well to her new environment.

We had our first rainy Peachtree Road Race. It didn't scare our group and we were ready to tackle 6.2 miles, rain or shine.

Rain....we are ready for you!!! Trash bags and all.

It was humid, but all that matter was we have another Peachtree Road Race in the book. And, can we just chat on how awesome Ed is at taking race pictures? Me on the other hand, not too much :(

So grateful to have this time to just soak up some family time.  Feeling extremely blessed.

William has been looking forward to a return trip to the Korean BBQ restaurant. He was so excited to show his Tito Nestor his favorite food.  We also had my cousin and his fiancee  over, they were visiting from California and stopped by real quick to see our new house.

More adventures ahead for Part 2 of our 4th of July.

{Best Yard Helpers}

When we moved from a condo to our new home, we know that we'll have to allocate some time for yard work. Kids have been really into picking up sticks and weeds and loving their time outside. Hey, what better way to learn simple life skills :)

{Summer Camp Pancake Breakfast}

I've mentioned in here before how much we love William's summer camp. There's lots of focus on community and family. Yesterday, the 11 year old age group  cooked for the family pancake breakfast. It was their way of serving the community and was a great example to the younger age group like William.It was great to meet William's friends and their family. Perfect way to start the day.

{Houston: Enjoying the City}

What a memorable trip this was for the kid. They loved every minute of this vacation. They had a great time exploring new places but I think the thing that they enjoyed the most was getting to spend a lot of time with their cousins. Family time is the best!

Staying at a nice hotel was definitely much appreciated by everybody. William even made a comment that nice places, must cost good money. My son, the forever budget conscious (just like his Dad). The Westin we stayed at was conveniently located next to the mall and Target...sigh, my kind of location indeed! The hotel's signature bed didn't go unnoticed. The kids LOVED it! Even had their cousin Paige hang out with us for a view on our last day at Houston.

We very much enjoyed's the resort pool with a view of the city!

Granddaddy and Grandmommy are building their home in gorgeous neighborhood so of course the whole family had to check out their lots. The kids had so much fun just running around their lot.

Silly cousins hanging out.

The house plans looks great and we are looking forward to staying with them soon!

Houston boasts great Mexican food and it sure lived up to it's reputation. We had the best fajita and beans at Lupe's Tortilla. Thanks to a friend's FB message that we should check this out!

And their sand box area, is a hit with all the kids, as Ed and I cringed at the thought of of cleaning up after them. Somehow, sand just finds it's way everywhere.

Not necessarily a Texas thing, but Cracker and Barrel is always fun for breakfast. Here's William playing with Ed and Granddaddy.

Another highlight from the weekend was our trip to Houston's Children's Museum. Rated's as the number's Children's Museum in the Nation. So much to explore!

Superheroes in action at the museum.

The outdoor area features their flow works exhibit and was a great way for the kids to dip their hands in water and cool off a lil from the Houston heat.

{Houston: Grandmommy's Surprise Birthday Party}

The reason for our trip to Houston was to surprise my Mother in law on her birthday. And what a success it was. It's hard to keep a secret from her, but we all sure pulled it off. She was soooo ecstatic to see the whole family in their new home town. The grandkids came running to her for warm hugs.

Grandmommy loves her grandbabies, and she was so happy to see them.

We had the party at my in laws favorite steak house, Brenner's.  The steak was great, but my favorite was the seafood platter appetizer. The scallop almost take like butter melting in your mouth, and the lobster was seasoned just right. It was perfection!!!

Loved getting the kids all dressed up for the occasion.

It was a lovely night celebrating a special day for a special lady. Happy birthday Grandmommy!

{First Plane Ride}

I couldn't have asked for better travelers. The kids did well on their first plane ride to Houston for Grandmommy's surprise party. We talked about plane rides weeks leading up to our flight, and that helped a lot. They were very well prepared. We also loaded up our ipad with movies and picked up a new game for William's DS. The airplane is  not the place to set boundaries. Kids asked for something, they get it :) Before our flight, we gave them a heads up that there are several moments where they will be asked to turn off all electronic devices. When they heard it over the speaker, they were ready. Hooray for a successful first plane ride!

{2013 Father's Day Weekend}

We had a great time celebrating Ed this weekend. We also enjoyed family visiting and seeing our new home for the first time.

Donut breakfast for Daddy and giving him work shoes for his father's day present.

Family game of Rock Band.

The kids loved playing and snuggling with GG and Aunt Soni.

We also had fun shopping and making ourselves comfy(kids napping) at Ikea.

And we all very much enjoyed some good ole BBQ at DBA.

It was a lovely weekend filled with lots of love and gratitude for Ed, an awesome Dad and Husband.

{First Summer Camp}

I have to admit, I was extremely nervous with William starting Summer Camp. Camp, just sounds too big. He's been going to Primrose all his life so it was nerve wrecking to drop him off in one of the biggest camp in town. I should have not been, and trusted how my son's outgoing personality will just be fine. He had a big smile on his face at pick up and was so excited to tell me how his day went on our very short car ride home (Yipppeee).

The camp offers plenty of fun field trips and adventures. But, what I am loving more is there is so much focus on good deeds and God. We are not necessarily super religious...we are your typical Catholics :) We go to church and pray. His camp is managed by the Baptist church near us. I am loving how each week they have themes and Psalm for the week.  The first week, William said he had to memorize his "Song", and we quickly realized that he was saying Psalm.

This week is VBS for the camp. They've been focusing on the bible. He told us that they watched a movie where the guy lost his super power because his wife cut his hair.  We figured that he must be talking about Samson and Delilah :)

This week, I also had the opportunity to witness William's natural ability. People always tell us that this kid is special and has charisma. During picked up, he walked up to his friends and said..."John, Josh and Luke this is my Mom. Mom these are my new friends at school" One of the parent, witnessed it and was just impressed on how such a 5 yr old will think to introduced friends like that.

So happy that our lil boy is having a blast. He's very much enjoyed all his field trips.

Hooray for a great first summer camp!

{Mommy and Samantha's Bow-tique}

She's spunky and definitely is a challenge...but I wouldn't change a thing. I love my girl and every silly time that we share together.

{Brother and Sister Swimming Lessons}

Last night the kids went to their first brother and sister swimming lessons. They have taken classes the past summers but I feel like this semi private setting is really helping them better their skills The kids surely can't wait to be swimming on their own.

Ms. Kelsey is such a great teacher. She made both kids feel at ease and really interested. William and Samantha both had smiles throughout their session...and that smile continued with a dinner at McDonald's post lessons.

{Primrose Kindergarten Graduation}

Our superstar graduated from Primrose Kindergarten! It was so surreal to think that this was his last day at the center. He started going when he was just 6 weeks old and the teachers always felt like family.

The Kindergarten class prepared a program for the night. William never really told us the details. We didn't realized that he was welcoming guests as the class' Classroom Ambassador.

I wish we knew coz we missed the first part of his "speech"...."Good evening my name is William Culler"

William's friends.

Performing songs for the guests.

Receiving his diploma from Ms. Klamon.

And his premonition award. Most likely to become a millionaire and have a long and crazy story detailing how it happened. Definitely appropriate for my animated and outgoing child!

Class of 2013 tossing their cap.

Lil sister was so proud of William!

Our whole family couldn't be more proud of our Kindergarten. Grandmommy and Granddaddy made it to the ceremony all the way from Texas. And of course, Tita Susan wouldn't miss this lil guy's big moment.

We love you William! Looking forward to your bright future. He said he couldn't wait to graduate from college and be a smarty pant :) Us too buddy...and we will be there for you always.