Shopping and earrings

Saturday we headed out to the Tanger Outlet mall in Texas City.  I am trying to get a head start on school shopping.  Last year I waited until the last minute and the mall was crazy!  I was on the lookout for some good deals.  Caden is always easy.  He could care less what he wears.  Lol. He let me know I could just pick his stuff for him.  So, we split up and he went with Jimmy and I took Paige with me. 

It was a totally new experience for me.  This is the first time she has expressed any interest in shopping and trying on clothes.  We had so much fun trying on outfits and just looking.  I could have spent so much money!  This is also the first time she has wanted to wear jewelry.  We were looking at necklaces and stuff when she spotted the earring section.  Right away she wanted some.  I reminded her that she did not have her ears pierced.  "Then can I get them pierced?" She asked.  Yes!  Of course!  I have wanted her to get them pierced for a long time but she did not want too.

I was thinking to myself that she might chicken out, but today when I asked if she still wanted to go she said yes.  So after church my mom and I took her to Claire's.  I could tell she was a little nervous, but she was very brave.  The girl was very sweet.  She helped her pick out her earrings and before we knew it she was done!  She did cry a little, but it did not take her long to bounce back once she saw herself in the mirror. 

I love how they turned out.  She can't wait until they are completely healed so she can pick out different earrings.  Go Paige!

Austin fun!

This past weekend Jimmy and I had a kid free weekend in Austin with some good friends of ours.  None of us had been to Austin before and it just seemed like a good place to go and just have some away time.  We really just wanted a weekend to relax and catch up with friends.  

 Our friend Brandt had mentioned doing a Segway tour of the city.  He had heard they were fun and wanted to try it out.  Jimmy, Brandt, Denise and I were the only ones that wanted to do it.  The others thought it might be too dorky.  Lol.  So we split up Saturday morning and the four of us went on a 2 & 1/2 hour Segway tour of downtown Austin.  Yes, the helmets were pretty nerdy, but it was so much fun!  At first I was not sure what I had gotten myself into.  The segways were pretty intimidating during the training.  But after about 10 minutes into the tour we all got the hang of it and they were a blast.  We went to see the Capital, the famous bat bridge, the Briskel Hotel and several other places.  Our tour guide was great and I learned lots of interesting facts about Austin.  She kept it interesting and even took us to some places just to have fun on the segways.  Denise and I kept it pretty calm, but Jimmy and Brandt liked this part the best I think.  They could go fast and weave in and out of columns and stuff.  It was a great way to tour the city.

We went to a dueling piano bar and it was fun also.  The guys on the piano could play anything.  They took requests and made it funny.  We laughed and had a great time. 

Overall the weekend was wonderful.  The last night we ended up just sitting in the hotel lobby just talking and reminiscing until 2 in the morning.  We are lucky to have stayed friends for such a long time. We have been thru so much together.  I hope we stay friends and our children follow in our footsteps and become lifelong friends as well.  

Pedal, pedal, pedal!

This is just Paige's summer!  She is hitting so many milestones.  Yesterday Jimmy took the kids to ride bikes so I could get some work done.  He wanted to work with Paige on riding with no training wheels at a park by Tami's house.  It has a tiny grass hill that is perfect for learning to ride a bike.  That is where Caden and Brayden learned to ride also.  He said there we several nervous breakdowns, but she did it!  He kept having to shout at her to pedal, pedal, pedal!  Her little stick legs were working so hard.  lol After church last night we went up the the high school parking lot so she could show me.  She did great.  She is still very shaky and needs practice, but there is no turning back now.  The training wheels are in the trash!  Way to go Paige!

Cousin time

So far our summer has been pretty laid back.  Besides swimming lessons I did not plan anything else for the kids to do.  Aunt Amy has come to my rescue and has had the kids over several times while I am working.  Sam and Paige have really started to bond in a new way.  It has been great for all the cousins to have lots of time to spend together.  That is how I remember my childhood and I want our kids to be close too.  

Last night we made it back to the bike trail.  I had planned to do a scavenger hunt.  Paige was really into it.  Sam followed her lead and they had fun finding spider webs and other things.  Caden wanted to ride his bike so he did look for things but could not check them off on his paper.  Once again we ended a long walk with snow cones.  It was great fun.

Today we went to Amy's for lunch and then I took Sam with us to the library.  We had fun picking out books and then went back to my house to hang out a little more.  I am looking forward to lots more cousin time this summer and so are the kids!

Tooth fairy time

Paige lost her first tooth on Wednesday.  It has been loose for awhile now.  She would wiggle it a little here and there but made it very clear to everyone she was not going to pull it out.  That evening she was wiggling it and was showing me how she could bend it all the way down.  I knew it was about to fall out.  I told her to go look in the mirror and see if she could push it down the other way.  She went into my bathroom to use my lighted mirror and a few seconds later I heard a little girl scream.  Lol. It had fallen out when she pushed it the other way.  (Which might have been what I was hoping would happen). Lol. She was thrilled.  We were all super excited for her.  

I kept telling her what a big girl she was becoming. (Insert tears from mommy here). She was so pumped she asked me if I could throw away blankie!  I told her sure if that is what she wanted.  She said yes, but the closer it got to bedtime the more she change her mind.  We did not end up throwing him away after all, which is fine by me.  Let them stay little right?  

The tooth fairy was very generous and Paige got two dollars.  The tooth next to the one she lost is loose now, but she is in no hurry to pull it out.  And neither am I.  Stop growing up Paige!