NPDS Bike Rodeo

Since James is in the 4 year old class he was finally able to participate in the much anticipated Bike Rodeo at his pre-school. Mike and I got there early to help set up the "obstacles", which really just consisted of a chalk-drawn oval and s-shapes around cones. Fun was had by all and only one "crash" occurred and not until the very end. James is already looking forward to doing it again next year.

The kiddos making their way around the "oval"

James having a blast

James making his way around the cones

His face says it all

Hoelscher Twin's Baptism

This past Sunday we celebrated my beautiful niece and nephew's Baptism. They were absolutely adorable in their little Baptism outfits and despite Cece getting pretty upset with having water poured over her head, it went off without a hitch.

My brother and his wife with the adorable twins

Parents, babies, God-parents & Father Francis

The group after the Baptism along with James and Louisa

God-parents (Monica & Mike) with the babies

I had blankets made for the babies along with two cute little wooded crosses engraved with their names

UT Club

As members of the Plaza Club here in San Antonio we are allowed a free monthly meal from any other club that is a member of Club Corp outside of a 50 mile radius. Luckily we live an hour away from Austin where they have an amazing dinner club located inside of Darryl K Royal Stadium on UT's Campus. We try to make it there every month for our free 4 course meal and decided we would treat James to the club this time since he LOVES the "Hook 'Em Horns" as he calls them. As always the food was incredible and James had a blast. He couldn't get enough of the Longhorns everywhere. They even have an etch-a-sketch for the kiddos to play with while they wait for their food. We look forward to taking him back there in the future.

James outside of the club

The hallway to the elevators is dedicated to all the past Bevos...here's James posing with some of the Bevo artwork

James enjoying his etch-a-sketch (the child's menu was attached to the back)

James enjoying his freshly made beignets for dessert (notice the longhorn in the chair behind him)

School Olympics

Last week at James' school his teachers set up an Olympics day where they have various races and competitions to compete in. I couldn't resist checking it out and I'm glad that I did because it was really cute and everyone was a winner!

The crazy kiddos waiting for the competition to start

James all ready in his Olympics t-shirt

Relay race

Hurdles

Tug-o-war

James even beat Ms. Jackie in a race :-)

the kiddos waiting for their medals

James getting his gold medal

All of the little athletes

Popsicle treats after the Olympics

Mother's Day 2013

I had a very lovely Mother's Day this year and got probably one of the best gifts a girl could ask for. My day started with my 4 year old son bringing me my gift and I was very pleasantly surprised:

James and Daddy did very good this year :-)

 After a relaxing morning with my boys we got ready to head to church with my family and then headed down to the club for a wonderful Mother's Day brunch. After overeating all of the delicious food we headed home and all snuggled in bed watching a movie. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. I am so spoiled by my two boys :-)

 

 James enjoying his chocolate covered strawberries for dessert

 

 Carolyn, James and I

 

 James dancing with his cousin Louisa

 

Oh I almost forgot! James made a cute little Mother's Day gift for both his Nanny and Gigi. They were hand print mold ornaments. His hand was almost too big for the project, but they turned out super cute!





Mother's Day Program at James' School

The Friday before Mother's Day I was invited to James' school for a special snack and mother's day surprise. Apparently the younger and older 4's class do this every year for the mothers and I was excited to see what it was all about. I had a lovely time catching up with the other mothers and then was pleasantly surprised when the children filed in wearing flowers around their faces...absolutely adorable.

We were then serenaded by the kids with a song called "Flower Power", which as so cute. Here's a video of the song, but I warn you it is almost 3 minutes long.

After their program the children joined us for a lovely snack. It was a wonderful surprise and I absolutely loved it. I guess I'm lucky that James has one more year of preschool because that means I get one more Mother's Day treat at NPDS.

James and I

Our sweet place settings with our snacks

The gift bag given to me by James

The adorable homemade gifts given to me by James

Getting crafty

I was in need of a new wreath for the front door for the spring time and got some inspiration from Pinterest so I came up with this:

I used a foam wreath form and just wrapped yellow and white yarn around it. I affixed it to the foam wreath using a hot glue gun. I then just happen to find the felt flowers on sale at Michaels and found a felt letter B that matched the flowers perfectly...and viola, you have a cute and easy wreath!

James' Spring School Pictures

Here is a look at James' school pictures that he just had taken recently. It includes his full class photo. Ms. Martha and Ms. Heidy are the best teachers we could ever ask for and James really loves all of his friends in his class. I am just so sad that most of his friends are moving on to Kindergarten next year and he still has one more year of preschool. Hopefully he can make some really good new friends next year, especially since they will be the kids moving on with him to Kindergarten. We really are going to miss Ms. Martha!



My handsome little guy

James with his wonderful class

After every storm comes a rainbow...

I've been trying to figure out when and if I would write a blog post about this and decided since I like to make yearly booklets out of my blog I would like to document it for myself. As most everyone knows last August we experienced the worst possible thing that could happen to a parent. We lost our unborn daughter, Madeline, one week after my due date. I feared we would never get over the pain and grief that came with such a tremendous loss, but with each passing day the pain and grief did lessen. And even though I will always long to hold her and hear her laughter, I know she is in a better place. A place where no harm can come to her...she'll never know what fear, pain or sorrow are and for that I am thankful.

This past January we received some of the most wonderful news...I am expecting another child! We knew after we lost Maddie that we would want to try and have another baby as soon as possible. I could never replace her, but I knew that having another baby would make the terrible loss more palatable. We are extremely excited to announce that we are expecting another little boy in September 2013. Jackson Mitchell will be our Rainbow baby.

Baby-loss mothers have adopted this phrase to describe a baby that is born following the loss of a child through a miscarriage or still birth. In the real world, a beautiful and bright rainbow follows a storm and gives hope of things getting better. The rainbow is more appreciated having just experienced the storm in comparison. The storm (pregnancy loss) has already happened and nothing can change that experience. Storm-clouds might still be overhead as we continue to cope with the loss, but something colorful and bright has emerged from the darkness and misery...a rainbow.

So without further ado, here are the first pictures of our little boy, Jackson:

his sonogram picture and James' are almost identical (hopefully their personalities won't be the same...I don't think I could handle 2 James' ;-))

Houston, we have a boy!