Oh what fun it is to....play in the packing peanuts?

A large box filled with packing peanuts arrived and I took out the contents.  I then asked Jackson to take it to the recycling for me.  He begged me to please let them play in the peanuts.  My better judgement said to say no but for once, I wanted to be the "fun parent" so I made a deal.  You have 30 minutes to play in them all you want.  Spread them all over the floor but after 30 minutes you have to promise to clean up every single little morsel no matter how long that takes.  He took the deal and he dove right in.  Literally, he dove into the peanuts head first!  His little shadow wanted her turn in them too so we let her have a little romp in the box as well.  I laughed at how no one was interested as to what was IN the box as much as the box and peanuts it contained.  Funny how kids are like that!   

She thoght she was super cool doing what Jackson did.  She also liked them "raining" on her.

Jackson and Lincoln both had to head dive into the box like an ostrich with their head in the sand.  

Then they proceeded to dump the entire box out and make "packing peanut angels".  This is what happens when your kids have seen snow before but not in 3-5 years!  Haha!  It's the Texas-no-snow syndrome!  

Just before the timer went off, the neighbor boy walked in.  He got about 5 minutes of fun before they recruited him into helping clean up.  It took them at least 30 minutes of cleaning to pick it all up but they did it.  It was one of those "let it go" moments for mom and hopefully a lifetime of memories for them.

My little Texas staycation

The week before school started back in August, work had finally slowed down a little for Jason.  He was able to take a few days off and we needed a little vaca.  We only had a few days and we were headed to Louisiana anyway so we decided on visiting the casino at Lake Charles.  We had always been intrigued and the pools promised to be fantastic so why not!  No trip across Texas is complete without a stop at Buccee's.  Lillian was immediately in love with the "doggies" or beavers as it were.  

She picked up as many as she could hold in her arms and gave her daddy the "buy me this" eyes.  He almost caved before I put the nix on stuffed beavers in our car!  

The icee machines are always a hit when we stop here.  Along with the beaver nuggets (eww) and the beef jerky.  We also discovered a delicacy that can only be described as straight from heaven.  It's a honey butter croissant chicken sandwich.  It's like chicken and waffles but more buttery!  

We arrived at LaBerge and checked into the pool asap!  We didn't want to waste a moment and it was a good thing.  Turns out, it rained most of the next 2 days.  Not a heavy rain but a slow and steady drizzle.  

We took the Trolley over to the Golden Nugget next door just to walk around.  They have a beach area there.  

Even in the rain, these two couldn't stay out of the water or away from the critters.  They went crab hunting in the slow rain while I finished off my starbucks and worked up an appetite for lunch!  We ate well while we were staycationing!  

Crabs!  These boys can spot a critter from a mile away!

Since they couldn't visit the casino, they blew their money in the arcade.

Lillian looking out of her "penthouse" window!  haha!  

We had a few good hours to swim and float in the lazy river.  The swim up bar was a nice addition for the parents on the trip.

I won't lie, this was on of my favorite moments of all!  

But this one was a real close second!

Her first real "sand" beach experience.  She didn't like her hands getting dirty at all!

Her daddy would build a sand wall, she'd knock it down.  

Flashing the entire pool.  I told her she's a little young to be a flasher but she just kept on standing there in the window showing the whole rainy pool area her stuff!  Luckily we were 10 stories up so no one noticed!

It was a fun few days to mark the end of summer 2015.  When Monday came, it was back to school for the boys and a little peace and quiet around the house for mom and Lily!

Lamborghini Lover

Every.

Single.

Time.

We pass the dealership for these fancy cars, Jackson asks to go and look at them.  He asked his dad if they could get "dressed up" and go talk to the dealership about them and Jason asked why they'd need to get dressed up.  He said because then they'd think we could afford one.  He knows EVERY fact about them, how fast, how much, how many etc.  He's car crazy.

I stopped in on a regular Tuesday to talk to them and see if we'd deter business if we just looked around for a few minutes.  They were gracious (although I'm sure we're their worst nightmare).  They let us look around, they answered Jackson's questions and even let them sit in one of the cars.  Lillian picked out one that matched her blue dress.  She told her daddy its the perfect car for when she turns sweet 16!  

He was pretty happy about getting to chill in such a luxury car!

He was one happy 9 year old leaving that dealership and he told them he'd see them again one day when he's back to purchase his.  I sure hope he's right!!

Jackson is also obsessed with Tesla electric cars.  He knows every thing about them and never misses seeing one on the road.  I called the Tesla company and asked about a tour and the factory is in California but they have a store here in the Woodlands.  I set up a test drive for Jason and Jackson and they got to go and get all kinds of swag and test drive a Tesla.  It really does go that fast.  The guy let them "gun it" and they went 0-60 in like 3 seconds!  That was a really big hit also.  No pictures of that test drive.  Daddies don't do photos, they just go fast!

Closet Friends

About a year ago, I "met" this sweet friend online.  At the time, we had 2 things in common.  We both had infant girls and we both had a love for boutique girls clothing.  We talked every day on Facebook.  We went WAAAyyy beyond talking about clothes.  We talked like we had been friends for YEARS!  Our husbands joked that we couldn't be "friends" because we had never met.  We knew we needed to fix that.  Except I'm in Texas and she's in Arkansas.  Then this summer during our travels to Alabama.  I was headed home from a weekend in Nashville.   I mentioned it to her right when her and her family were traveling through Nashville home from vaca.  She had her husband TURN AROUND on the interstate and meet me for lunch!  And just as we thought, it was like meeting an old friend for lunch.  There was never a conversation delay and we picked up right where our last chat conversation stopped.  

Then 2 weeks later, we were going back to Texas through Arkansas and I told her where we planned to stop for lunch on Sunday.  That girl grabs her kids from church and meets us at the Cracker Barrel on the road home!  See that's what real friends do!  (Take that husbands!)  We still talk daily and have even been keeping the post office in biz mailing dresses back and forth like a shared closet!  We may have become friends over fancy little girls dresses but it's WAY more than just dresses!