Weekend Visitors

We were lucky enough to have my Mom and sister Kara visiting over the weekend. It was great fun. It worked out well that Julia was off of school on Friday because we got to drive down to Granbury to see my Aunt Laura (who has cerebral palsy). After having a nice visit with her, we went out for dinner at Babe's. It was yummy! The waitresses did a line dance at one point and one of them held Simon, so he was asked to "dance" for the first time!

On Saturday, we ate at Mimi's (which was also yummy), did some shopping, went to Julia's soccer game, and then to our church "Trunk-or-Treat" & Chili cook-off (more pictures to come on that).

On Sunday, we went to church, played games, talked & talked, ate the ribs Nate made on the Big Green Egg (yeah, it was so good), and talked some more. In fact, Kara and I stayed up WAY too late, just talking and catching up. :)

It was a great weekend and I'm so glad they could come! We all miss them already!

*In case you're not sure, he's the one in yellow & overalls.*

{UPDATE: This is for Nate...don't they look scrumptous?}

Little Independent One

Liliana loves to do things herself! The other day I had gotten her some Cheerios "without milk" and after eating those, she wanted some more. Since I hadn't put the box back (yeah, the giant, Costco variety), she helped herself! I thought it was cute, so I snapped a couple shots. Later that same day, she wanted to make her own peanut butter sandwich. She was so careful not to get it on her clothes! She loves being a "big girl!" She's so cute!

Not long now

I captured it on film, well, digitally anyway! Simon up on all fours! He does this and then lurches himself forward. He's getting stronger and stronger all the time. He scooches and sometimes starts an "army crawl" to get things he wants. I think our baby will be very mobile, very soon!

Julia is 6!

I know, I know, it's been birthday city around here all month. It's so much fun though! Although we haven't had Julia's party yet, she did celebrate her 6th birthday yesterday. I can't believe it! She's grown so much and we are just so proud of her.

She began her day with, of course, singing from her Mom; she got cookies for breakfast (with her apple), and she even got to enjoy a little candy. It was her birthday, afterall!

Julia got to wear a hat to school on her birthday (because it's Red Ribbon Week)

Nate came home a little early and Julia got to open her presents from the family. She chose to have noodles for her birthday dinner. We all enjoyed celebrating together as a family! We're looking forward to the upcoming continuation of the celebration! Grandma and Aunt KK will be here tomorrow night, so we get to create our own birthday festivities this weekend.
We're eagerly anticipating the fun that is coming our way. Happy birthday my darling Julia!

Another year older!

I had my birthday last week. It was a great day! It started out with a surprise breakfast of Snooty Pig muffins (thank you Xela). They are so good (and, believe it or not, low fat)! Nate had been out of town the previous two days, but came home that day and took me to lunch. We got to go, just the two of us (thank you Lori)! It was such a nice treat. And I got to eat sushi...yummy! The whole rest of the day was spent as a family and it was perfect!

Adventures in Eating

Over the last couple of weeks, Simon has started down the path that expands his culinary world. That's right folks! We've started feeding him solids. He seems to enjoy sweet potatoes, and peas are okay once he gets past the initial urge to gag. :) Check him out!

One question for you...

What do you do with a scurvy pirate?

Saturday is a special day

A typical Saturday around here...Nate mowing, the girls playing outside (in this case, washing their bikes), and then all of us going to Julia's soccer game! Liliana fell asleep on the way to the game, so we put her in Simon's usual spot in the stroller and him in hers. He enjoyed taking her flip flops off and playing with her toes, which she slept through.

Julia loves soccer and is doing great at it!

Halloween Party

This past Friday night, we got to go to a Halloween party at one of our friends' house. It was so fun! The kids picked out costumes that we already had at home (Julia was a frog and Liliana was a "Pinocchio Princess"). I put Simon in a cute little turtle costume we had. He looked darling in it! Nate and I made up our own (he was a Russian sailor and I was a biker chick). :) The kids have changed their minds a few times, so we haven't bought (or made) costumes for this year yet. I'm hoping to get to that, and soon!

My contribution to helping with the party including making some of the food. I made the "apple bites," "vampire bats," and "Jack-O-Lantern cheese ball." There were all kinds of yummy, fun, Halloween-themed foods there. I thought there were some very creative dishes! There was even a Jello mold brain there. It was very realistic!

There was a pinata for the kids, full of CANDY, of course! All the kids got a good whack or two at it. They enjoyed that. Julia caught a toad in the back yard at one point. She loved that! The adults had a great time just visiting, eating good food, and watching their kids have a blast! One of the guys had this mullet wig that everyone was passing around and trying on. I thought Nate looked so hilarious in it!

Did I mention how much I enjoy Halloween? Happy Halloween everyone!

"Crazy Hat Day"

In honor of the letter "H, " Julia's school had "Crazy Hat Day" yesterday. The kids got to wear whatever kind of hat they wanted. She chose to wear her Jack-o-lantern bobble headband. And since she was wearing that, she, of course, had to wear an entire Halloween ensemble! She sure looked cute!

Playing at the park

We try to go to the park every Friday with our church playgroup. We meet and have a great time (the adults and children alike). This past Friday was no exception.

Swinging is so much fun! Julia was showing Lili how to "pump."

Simon enjoys the park too!

Having a picnic is always a great idea! Thanks Elena!

Julia found a caterpillar (of course).

And I got this huge spider off one of the tables...

I had it crawl on a stick, walked the stick away from the kids play area, and threw it!
Yes, Julia was proud.

I'm so glad it's finally beginning to cool down a little. It's finally in the 80s (mostly upper) for the highs and the mid to upper 60s for the lows. Yahoo! Bring on the 70s! I really want it to be Fall (it's my favorite season!)

What a cute boy!

I wanted to test another way to post pictures, and why not give you more of what you want to see anyway? :) Here's a little collage of Simon. He's such a sweetie! Notice in the bottom right picture that he's doing a little "push-up." He already rolls all over, getting where he wants to be, and has begun little backward scoots. He's working hard to get more mobile and Mommy is NOT ready for that! Okay, okay, it can be exciting to see them grow and learn, but sad at the same time. They grow up so fast! I love this little guy! He just absolutely melts my heart.

Liliana is 3!

Yesterday (October 8th) was Liliana's 3rd birthday. She was happy when she woke up, as she was greeted with a big "Happy birthday Liliana!" from me and, of course, I sang to her. Here she is, snuggling with her baby brother...so sweet!

She and Julia played outside for a while. She showed off her new age for the camera. They played nicely together all day. Julia really wanted her sister to have a great day!

Nate, the wonder-baker of our family, made a Care Bear cake and Lili loved it! She also loved helping him with it.

We invited some friends over for cake and ice cream and had a great time. When they got there, the kids danced around to some music that Nate said was a "Wright tradition." He remembers dancing and "running around in circles" to it every birthday! They all seemed to enjoy themselves and have a great time. Liliana also enjoyed opening gifts from her friends and family. Thank you everyone! We sure are glad our friends came to celebrate with us!

Happy birthday, my sweet girl!

All in all, it was a great day. Lili sure did love having her birthday. We wish you all could have been here to celebrate with us. Thank you for all the phone calls, well wishes & songs that were sung. You made her day!

Lili loves to sing! Here's one of her favorites for you...

The Longhorn Triathlon, Austin, TX

The kiddos, all loaded up in the car, ready for our drive to Austin for Nate's first triathlon.

Not long after we got to the hotel, the kids played in the pool & hot tub while the women talked and the men went to their triathlon "first-timers" meeting.

We all met up for dinner Friday night at the Pappasito's near the hotel. We had fajita platters, with all the "fixin's." It was yummy & fun to be with all our friends! I think there were almost 50 people there total.

Just hangin' in the hotel room.

Nate - checking out his triathlon packet...complete with swim cap, shirt, & other goodies.

The men rode to the triathlon site together early the next morning, and the women caravanned not far behind them (after breakfast). We had to park at the Expo center and catch a shuttle to the site. Here we are, with all our kids, waiting for the shuttle (which was a school bus).

After his swim, Nate came in for a kiss for each of his girls.

Nate, just beginning the biking leg (he's in the gray shirt).

After we saw Daddy get on his bike, we went to see & pet the Longhorn cow. Look at those horns! It was the "Longhorn Triathlon" after all, of course they had the real deal there!

At the end of the bike.

Waiting for Daddy at the end of the run...cowbells ready!

Coming in at the end of his run for a finish.
Nate's wave started 45 minutes after the clock started. You can see that he came in with a time of 1:35. He beat his goal time by ten minutes!

Nothing like a nice, ice cold towel to douse yourself with after you've just finished a triathlon!

We're all so proud!

Some of his buddies who did it too.

Our little longhorns.

Super cute longhorns!

Liliana and Simon zonked out at the end.

It was an amazing morning. I'm just so proud of my Nate. I knew he'd do awesome! He's very pleased, overall, with how he did. He plans to do it again. I think we'll both do one together in March. I think it'd be great fun! Now, if we can just figure out a way for both of us to train for it!


I wanted to include a few more pictures in this post. We stayed afterward and experienced Austin a little. We wanted to stay around and see the famous bats (one of the largest urban populations). Good thing we had good friends to wait around & explore with!


Yeah, if you can see anything, they are the bats.