Texas here we come!

We have actually been in Texas for almost 2 months now. As you can imagine, it has been a very busy time. We had a great drive down here. No major car troubles, no getting lost, no getting stuck in horrific traffic, no kids (or adults) going crazy sitting in the cars for hours upon hours. And no trouble getting to sleep in strange beds at hotels. The kids have never slept anywhere but home. It was indeed a big journey for them. I was very impressed with how well they all handled it. We also had a TON of help from Grandma and Grandpa (Brandon's parents). I don't think the trip would have been possible without them.
We did a lot of driving. The first day we drove from 5:30pm to 11:00pm. About an hour in the portable potty I bought came in handy when Corbin decided he needed to go number 2, and we were in the middle of nowhere Illinois. The best $10 I spent and totally worth it! The next day we headed out at about 9:00am and stopped for the night at about 10:30. We had maybe 2 short stops for food and potty breaks and if I remember a very quick stop just for another potty break. The next and last day we got on the road about 10:30 and got to our new home at 2:00. This day we had one quick stop for gas.
The kids adjusted to new bedrooms and such superbly. They actually slept really well the first week. They were sleeping in until almost 8:00! They are still sleeping fairly well. We are just back to Corbin getting up multiple times a night and being up at the crack of dawn for the day. Lily has officially stopped taking naps as well. Rowen misses going to preschool and playing with friends and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about preschool down here. It is completely different than anywhere I've ever lived. They elementary school in our neighborhood (and all in TX) have qualifications you need to meet in order to go to the preschool. We do not meet them. Its actually rather ridiculous.
In IL you had options on how many days you wanted them to go and whether you wanted a morning or afternoon class. And you paid the monthly fee. Simple. That's all there was to it. Here you need to meet the qualifications which in my option don't make any sense. And even though you are still paying a fee for the school I don't understand why it matters that you meet these "qualifications".

1. Child is homeless....no
2. Child is in foster care....no
3. Are active military....no
4. English is your second language....um no
5. You have to make under a certain salary depending on how many are in your household...we don't meet it.

So I said to the lady " my sons can't go to preschool then?" No ma'am, she replies. You know you aren't required to, she said. Well duh! Its just nice for them to get used to being away from me for a couple hours, to socialize with other kids their age and have some different fun that they wouldn't at home. I was completely baffled all day when I found this out. So now I need to look into private preschools I guess.

Other than the odd school situation, Texas has had its ups and downs. The weather has been pretty nice. Hot, and I know not nearly has hot as its going to be soon. And I have yet to feel the "dry" heat that people talk about, it is SO muggy. Yay for the pool. And the bugs... ughhh, I do not like bugs. And the grass is so icky. Not like in New England where you could run around all day playing in the sprinkler on nice soft grass. The water is very hard here. Now I know why I see so many water stores. Yes, we now go buy water and ice every week. The Brita just wasn't cutting it. I also need to get a filtered shower head. Its pretty gross to comb your hair and then when the combs dries see how white is is from the hard water. Plus my hair and the kids just feels so icky and its hard to comb.

There are many farmers markets I still need to venture out to. In a few weeks the farmers should be ready to sell their delicious veggies. They are about 6 week behind schedule due to weather. And Texas is very into sustainable local organic foods and that is awesome. I'm talking even the "dive" trailer food! I really like how nice everyone is here. And the greenery everywhere is very nice. I even go into downtown Austin by myself with the kids. Its a great city. Not crazy. The kids even know where we are when driving around the city. We passed an awesome donut trailer (Gourdoughs if you ever come to Austin you have to go here!) the other day that we went to with our friend Tony when he was here and the kids said "thats the donut place we went to with Tony". They also knew that the Dino pit (also awesome) at the Zilker Park was just down the road. I'll blog about that soon.

The kids are still trying to get used to Brandon being gone all day since he worked from home before we moved here. He's doesn't get home until about 30 minutes before bed time (unless he hits traffic then he he doesn't see them before bed or if he has to work late). So he's not home for dinner now and the kids always say "we can't eat without daddy". They are still confused. A few days after we got here we took a drive to Twisted Pixel so they could see where he goes to help them understand. They thought he was going back to IL.

My Jedi's in training. Have I mentioned they are obsessed with Star Wars. Corbin's face is awesome.

Rowen building his new Lego Tie Fighter ship. His reward for doing so well on the drive.

Eating cereal on the floor the morning of the big drive to Texas.

Corbin's new digger for doing so well on the drive.

All packed up and ready to become Texans!

I need to post more pics of us actually in Texas. The boys with their rewards was with the first couple days we were here. And the other ones are from in IL just before we left. So these pics are from 2 months ago. I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm blogging from latest to most recent so it will be a couple posts before I'm current. Hopefully in the next couple days I can get more posted.

We have a sad society if this what most kids know, or don't for that matter!

There's a new show called, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Its a new show premiering on March 26th. The past couple years (since having kids really) has made me 'nutty' as Brandon may put it, about the food we eat. I'm very much into getting as much organic, unprocessed food as you can. What we eat has a huge impact on our health and well-being.
I'm not trying gloat or anything about what we eat, but I don't understand how not giving your kids fruits or veggies, really ever, and how them not knowing what a tomato is, is OK!?

People say its too expensive. Yes, it can be. But there are specials every week at most stores on a certain fruit and/or vegetable. And you can't tell me that a bag of baby carrots is that much more, if at all, more than a bag of chips. I find them for $1.99. A bag of Doritos is at least $3.49.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Xto3KsY10

Come on, people!!!! Take a stop in the produce section one day, pick up an apple or something. Which I find for like $.39 to $.69. A candy bar is more than that.

Today is Daddy's Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!!!! Where does time go? Brandon is 35 today! I remember the days of a young Brandon and Melissa (17 yrs ago) still in the awkward stages of the relationship where it's all new and you have butterflies in your stomach. Ask anyone I went to school with, I knew that I was going to marry him. They say you know when you find the one and its true. And now we have 3 children and are a month away from our 9 year wedding anniversary! This sounds more like an anniversary post doesn't it?

Happy Birthday, Brandon. I love you! And so do the kids, very much!

Legos, snow and fish

Since Christmas, the boys have been very much into Legos and Star Wars. We got Rowen the Lego Star Wars video game for x-mas and that became the near end of his train phase. Which has now ended. It was a good 2 1/2 years of loving trains. He still likes them but doesn't play with them. Both boys are always running around the house shooting each other with blasters and light sabers, flying their Lego ships, pretending they are walkers and having their little Lego clone troopers and snow troopers blast each other.
We thought it would be a nice to go to the Lego Discovery Center before we moved with the new love of Legos. Well, it was not the best experience for them. There is not much at all to do there. They watch a movie that went over kill on the 3D and freaked them out. A Lego dragon ride that was not all that interesting. Then all there was left to do was look at sculptures. You could play with Legos but they were immensely filthy and after everyone just getting over being sick for 2 weeks we were not about to let them drive into that filth. It was $50 we should have spent on some awesome Legos that we could have had way more fun with at home. Now we know. DO NOT go to the Lego Discovery Center!
The best thing is they got out of it was having some pictures taken with big Lego sculptures.

We were finally able to build a snowman!

Lily has taken a big interest in the Lets Go Fishing game. You know, the game where the fish spin and open and close there mouths. She's been wanting to play it since the boys got it for Christmas but we always said no you are too little. Well, one day we caved and she sat happily and played it for a good 2-3hrs! I don't know why we just didn't let her try it in the first place. Its for ages 4 and up but she knows not to put things in her mouth. I mean, she plays with tiny Lego pieces so why not this. And she's actually really good at it! Plus, its great eye-hand coordination.

Get well popsicles

The kids all got coughs and little fevers on Monday night. It then led to the mud bums. Instead of Pedialyte (which is filled with colors, preservatives, and who knows what chemicals), I like to use Coconut water. It's excellent for natural hydration.
I used some to make what I call, Get well popsicles. I used coconut water, fresh banana, frozen strawberries, a splash of OJ and some raw honey. The coconut water is for they hydration amongst other benefits, while the banana helps to block them up, and the OJ and strawberry are for vitamin C and raw honey is like the magic sweetener full of health benefits (some kale or spinach would be great in here too). And they also helped to sooth their throats and cool them off from the fevers. (If you click on the highlighted words it will link you to some info on how healthy they are for you)
I also give them (as well as myself) spoonfuls of raw honey. They love it and ask many times during the day for it.

Snow time!

Its was actually 30 here one day, so we were able to play outside! Usually its just too cold and windy. I'm talking -20 with the wind chill. Its great to get some sunshine, fresh air and exercise.

Making snow-birds

Goofy Lily

Corbin trying ride up an icy hill.

I owe Corbin a cake

Well, I had my first cake disaster. Yes, it was a month late and I bombed. I decided on making Corbin an Excavator cake. I was not well planned and rushed it. We ate it though!