Chad and Lex

Just a few photos from their visit.

We had a wonderful weekend.

Froberg Farms

We headed down to Froberg Farms in Alvin Monday.

For those of you who aren't familiar Froberg's is like a really big roadside produce stand where you can buy all kinds of fresh fruits and veggies that they have grown here locally. It is a great place to go for a little family outing. Erin and I and the girls all went last year when I was still on maternity leave with Haley and had a blast. I thought it would be a fun trip for Chad and Lex and their little ones...not too mention Haley. We lucked out cause their visit coincided with strawberry harvest. Right behind the main store they have several acres were they plant a huge crop of strawberries solely for people like us who want to pick our own. They give everyone a little black bucket and then set you free. It is a ton of fun walking around trying to find the very best one. There is alot of competition that arises to see who can find the biggest or the most oddly shaped. Obviously from the length of this post I am sure you understand that we had a wonderful time and that if you are in the area I strongly recommend the trip. Fun, fun, fun.

Plus you get to enjoy delicious strawberries...and who doesn't love the sweet fruit of a strawberry. Mmmmm.

Go now! 

Super Slammed Saturday

With the weather report showing temps in the high 70's for this Saturday, and with my brother-in-law Chad and his family in town, we decided to pack the day full of outdoor fun.

We started the day with a trip down to Surfside beach to dip our toes in the ice water and do a little beachcombing. ECLG and KA came along too. The kids played in the sand (Haley loved it), the boys did some fishing, and the ladies did our thing sitting around chit-chatting and combing the beach for treasures.It was a nice first trip of the year.

Around mid-day we packed everything up and headed back north to Pearland. We had an annual crawfish boil to attend. Our friends Matthew and Sarah, whom Justin and I have known since we started dating, were boiling up 73 pounds of crawfish plus all the fixings (potatos, corn, sausage) and we promised to be there to help eat. I do not eat crawfish, however my husband has become quite accustomed to their flavors and tries to convince me every time how delicious they are...I will not back down on this one! I did eat my fair share of sides though. The party lasted well into the night. In fact Justin and I ended up closing the place down around 11:30. It was a great time as usual and we are looking forward to next year and the 4th annual Wicke Crawfish Boil.

So, even though it was a slammed Saturday, it was still a great one.

Random Roundup

1. To all the other mother's out there reading this little blog of mine please speak up and help me to understand why my daughter will eat nothing but cheese. When we first moved to table food Haley was all about it. She would eat just about everything we put in front of her. However in the last few days, maybe even weeks, it seems like she is digressing backwards. All she ever wants to eat is cheese! I mean don't get me wrong, I love cheese as well, but it seems that maybe she should branch out a little. Maybe I am mommy worrying for no reason at all. Perhaps I should just brush this one off and buy another 10 lb block of cheddar?

2. Haley now has three teeth. Last weekend we started noticing the little tooth on the top right trying to poke out but it took a couple more days to really show itself. It is out now in all it's ivory glory. She already seems so much older and wiser. Did I mention that the new tooth is huge? It looks like an adult tooth to me. Sort of freaky but in a cute way. Ha.

3. There seems to be a major bottleneck in my craft productions and I am sad to say that it is my husband. I hate to call him out like this on the world wide web but it had to be done. I have several projects in the works (I have purchased all the required materials) however the first step in each one requires the commandeering of power tools. Don't be confused and think that I am scared or nervous to use power tools, I am not, and would love to do this step myself, however I do want to keep all ten fingers that I currently have. Does anyone have a solution for chronic clutziness? Anyway, hopefully this will be the public push that he needs to start my projects.

4. We love visitors. Justin and I love having company over and sharing our home with friends and family. This weekend Justin's brother Chad, his wife Lex, and their two kids, Celia and Keith, stopped in for a little visit. It is always extra fun when those visitors have never been to Texas. We have some favorite Texas hot spots that we take everyone too and this weekend was no exception. Thanks for Chad and Lex for making the trip down. We enjoyed the visit and hope to see ya'll again soon. I will post more on this later with pictures and details.

5. I saved $20 at the grocery store on Saturday using coupons. This may not seem like much to you savvy coupon cutters but to me it was amazing. It is already fun for me to watch the Kroger saving tick off at the end of the sale but then on top of that I got to add another $20 off. Granted it did take me several minutes longer at the grocery than it usually does (I had to stop and read the fine print on a few of the coupons while in the aisles) and I stocked up on some things that I don't always use, but I feel it was worth it. Side note...after grocery shoping I blew $40 at Carters on "must-have" attire for Haley.

Haley's Kitchen

Ever since Haley became mobile the most difficult task for me to get accomplished was cooking. She would open the cabinets, we put on safety latches. She cried at my feet, I yelled at Justin to come get her. She wandered into uncharted rooms, we closed doors. These solutions however were just a temporary fix to the real issue, needing Haley to be self entertained within my viewing area but far enough away that I don't squash her. After some brainstorming I came up with Haley's kitchen. We left one cabinet unlatched at my desk in the kitchen and filled it will fun stuff (bowls, koozies, empty coffee containers, wooden spoons, a deck of cards, some pictures, an Aggie rally towel,  some wire shelves, a reusable grocery bag, etc). She can open and slam the door as she please, take stuff in and out, and just be in control. She loves it.  I love it too but for another set of reasons. I love it because I can easily shove everything back in the cabinet and be done, it keeps her occupied just long enough for me to get dinner made or the pizza heated, and I can watch her the entire time. I know to some this may seem like something that is not blog worthy but to me it is...it has changed my life!

Happy Spring!!

Yesterday was the first day of spring and I couldn't be happier. Bring on the sunny days, the flowers and green grass, cooking outdoors with freinds, stuffed bacon wrapped jalapenos, trips to the beach, shorts and flip flops, cold beer, etc, etc, etc.

Random Roundup

1. Happy St. Patty's day. Not sure what it is about holidays but my mommy skills always seem to falter on these days. I didn't realize it was St. Patty's day till almost noon. Luckily Haley did wear green to school...but it was done completely by chance. I on the other hand got several pinches. The only thing I could come up with for dinner was peas. It was a pretty bad day. Maybe next year I will make a whole feast of green for her...or maybe not.

2. Justin and I got "free" tickets to the Houston Rodeo this past Tuesday to see Keith Urban. It was nice to get out of the house on a week night and spend some couple time. The show was pretty good considering how hopelessly bad the acoustics are in Reliant Stadium. I am not a devout Keith Urban fan but I was still able to sing along with most of the songs and embarass my husband. Before the concert we strolled through the livestock portion to see all the animal exhibits. They had one where you could watch an egg hatch which I thought was pretty cool. Justin and I always like things like that; walking around aimlessly, holding hands, and just talking about nothing. Reminds me what a great pair we make. Love you honey!

3. I started a new quilt this week. It is going to be for my niece Lucy. I made one for her younger sister Grace when she was born but I wasn't yet a sewing fanactic when Lucy came into the world. I have owed her one for a while and just never found the time. I was home alone Friday night and finally got the chance. It is going to be a bright and cheery quilt. Hopefully it will be something she will cherish for years. I will show you guys the comlplete quilt once it is done.

4. We had our first Bar-b-q of the season Saturday night. It was a relatively small crowd but we had a good time as always. Justin made pork butt which we had as pulled pork sandwichs...delicious. CELG and the Wicke's headed out pretty early which left it up to Kurt, Justin, and I to do all the drinking. We ended up staying up pretty late (past midnight-amazing) just chatting, drinking, and having a good ole' time. I can't wait for all the cookouts to come!

Buskirk Bloopers

I have been so camera happy since I got my new camera. I am constantly snapping photos! During this mania I have caught some really great moments...and also some not so great moments. This post is dedicated to those not so great moments. The ones that I typically like to sweep under the rug and forget about. The ones that bring out large amounts of mocking and ridicule from our friends and family. Here's to enjoying a good laugh on us...

She is even cute when she looks like this. Hehe. She has her mommy's photo taking face...I am so proud.

This one is just upsetting cause Haley didn't warn me. She sees poppy coming and not even a nudge or "hey mom watch out".

Hilarous. Too many funny things to count: I look like a complete bitch, I am unknowingly flipping off the picture taker, I am stealing cake from my crying baby, etc, etc, etc. Haha. Infamous.

Only picture I have of my husband crying. He says he got something in his eye but we were never able to retrieve it. He was probably thinking of our wedding day, or Haley's birth, he is so sensitive.

Love the scrunched up face. Again, how cute is my spawn...freaking ridiculously cute!

Hahahahahahappy Monday.

Random Roundup

1. I finally got around to finishing Haley's birthday thank you notes this week. I am only a month behind...that's not too bad right? I just edited a photo from her birthday and added a "thank you". There is a more personal message on the back with a tracing of Haley's handprint (this was a real nightmare with a 1 year old). I think they turned out how I had envisioned them so I am pretty happy. Stay tuned to a mail box near you.

2.I finally completed the craft project I have been working on...the one I have been mentioning for weeks now...a dry erase calender for my kitchen. I saw a similar project on a blog that I follow and the organized freak inside of me just had to make it. The project cost me a total of...wait for it...$0.00. I got the frame from my wonderful sister (who wants it back now), the paint marker I had, and the wall was already there. I did buy some new pretty colored expo markers but I am not counting that because I splurged and didn't really need them. Unfortunately I do not have any before pictures but trust me that it was not very pretty to begin with. 

3. I need to save money. Ever since I went back to work in May of 2009 I have been hassling my wonderful husband to stay home with Haley. Unfortunately we haven't been able to make it work just yet but I am confident it is going to happen in the near (365 days or less) future. Anyway, I have decided that in order to move the date up I need to take on a second career as a home economist (I think this term came from some lame talk radio show that Justin listens to). Basically I have to start clipping coupons, not shopping at Hobby Lobby and Target, eating out less, and conserving everywhere I can. It seems like an easy task in writing but it is really hard. I have tried other times in the past and never stick to it. I am addicted to spending money on unnecessary crap. I need help! I am looking for suggestions here. Any advice or words of wisdom would be great.

4. We spent our weekend alone doing a little spring cleaning. We cleared and prepared our all our flowerbeds. And when I say cleaned and prepared I mean completely gutted and leveled so we can put in more grass! Yeah for a bigger yard for Haley to run in...some day. There is something that makes me so happy about getting out the flip flops and tank tops and working int he yard! I love spring and summer.

5. This one is purely per the instruction of Justin. Sunday night dinner...Flintstones sized dinosaur steaks. Haha. They were actually just beef but the cuts made them look so ridiculousloy massive that it was almost funny. We had the gang over to help us devour these beasts. A good time as usual.

6. Friday we got Haley's first art project. Apparently in her new class they have art and crafts time. Last week they worked on letters H & I. How freaking cute is that?!?! Too bad I am not the one teaching her. We will chose to believe that they are just laying the ground work for the big lessons I have to teach her in the future. Hehe. PS..please try to ignore the fact that her name is spelled wrong on one of the pages. Let's just say I was a little irritated

Have a great week everyone!