Thursday, June 28, 2012

What will "it" BEE

Well the day FINALLY arrived. The day we found out if Baby Uh Oh was a BOY or a GIRL!

It was an amazing day from start to finish. Nona kept Tabor so we woke up early and drove to Amarillo. It was like a mini road trip/date. Once there we met Kenley at Stork Vision and she made sure everything was special and perfect. 

For anyone wanting to see their baby and/or find out the gender in the most fun and amazing way possible we HIGHLY recommend Stork Vision. It's nothing like being at the doctor's office and they will take the time to actually show you your new baby! It really is an experience we will forever treasure and remember!

Kenley came in with us and made us cover our eyes while the technician checked what Baby T was going to be. She wrote it down for Kenley and after she snapped this pic of us she ran out of the room and made a phone call.


Earlier in the week we had decided we wanted to have our parents and closest friends in Lubbock come by and open the mystery envelope with us. Well we are really blessed because our parents all decided to make it even more special. They kept Tabor, bought food, cooked dinner and even brought over a huge box for Monica's great idea. We were simply planning to come home, see whoever stopped by and open an envelope, but it turned out so much better. Like I said we are so blessed by our friends and family.

Monica had taken a box into a balloon store earlier that morning and asked them to wait on Kenley's call to then fill it up with either pink or blue balloons. 

Yes I made a cake. How could I NOT have made a cake? My husband INSISTED. Literally...I was having a rough week and it was supposed to be easy. Mix batter, pour in giant cupcake pan, ice with buttercream. BUT instead it came out raw because I was tired and I actually said I was going to serve it like that. Ty threw it away and made me start over. He helped me and I'm so glad that he did. Look how cute it turned out!


Seriously this was put together so quickly that everything was really simple. We bought honeycomb cereal and sixletts for the kiddos. There weren't many kids so that made it even easier. :-)


Peace o' cake actually had a groupon out that day and we took advantage and got cupcakes. This was last minute when we thought there would be no cake to serve but hey again it was cute and who doesn't love dessert!!


My mom put together a cute centerpiece with the leftover sixletts and a bee she found. That bee has been around for years. Ha! I can't believe we finally used it for something!


I put together a simple cute sign which last minute got moved inside because the weather decided not to cooperate.



The entire dessert setup. Hey it's been awhile since I had an excuse to bake (ahem or order stuff - I had a bad baking week ok! It happens!)



Finally the big moment came. Well more like thunder and water dropletts that made us hurry and start the revealing process! We didn't want to release the balloons in pouring rain! Here's the box that held the big surprise!


AND... they came out BLUE!


We're having another little Touchstone BOY!


Dad is obviously thrilled! We actually both are. We can't wait to meet our little Titus Slade Touchstone!


Here's a video of us finding out. Thanks Mon for the amazing idea! This was much more special than opening up an envelope! Thanks to our parents & friends for taking care of all the details too and thanks to Kenley for even making this day possible to begin with! This would not have been as special without you.


Meet Baby Titus at his 19 week sonogram...




Saturday, June 16, 2012

Dallas

Trying to catch up on a few events that I missed blogging about over the summer...

We made a quick trip out to Dallas to see Jet & Erin when we found out they would be there for a wedding. It was a warm day on Saturday while Erin was at her wedding duties we went for a walk in the Dallas arboretum.


After brunch on Sunday we even played at the mall playground with Tabor. Not sure who had more fun! It was such a cool playground! Everything was soft and squishy and we had fun watching Tabor run into things. ha!


This was actually the weekend before Tabor started walking! 


We had so much fun hanging out with the Thiel's! We miss you guys!


While we were in town we were able to stop by and have dinner with Ted & Kimberly (boo to not taking pictures!) we had such a blast with them! Tabor loves his aunt Kimberly and uncle Ted! We also spent the night and day with Kapi and we had dinner with the Campbell crew. We love love getting to be with family and it seems like we are never in Dallas long enough to see everyone! Glad we did as much as we did! Ty even got up early and went water skiing with Scott and Cliff! All in all a super fun weekend!


Mama can no longer get a Starbucks without also getting Tabor either a "cunkin pan" or "agua"


Tabor loved getting to spend time with his uncle Jet! Can't wait until the next time we see you guys!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Joyful Noise Music Class - flunkie

I've been looking forward to starting a music class that I signed Tabor up for a few weeks ago. They have classes for newborns and so I was excited to introduce him to his first music class. He loves to dance and sing. He claps to the beat and even learned how to snap along to songs. I was sure he would love this.

Well... yesterday was our first class and it was a total and utter disaster. There were about 10 of us in a circle and all the other kids sat in their parents lap while mine did everything in his power to escape the room.

We started with singing hello to every child. If I grabbed his arms to clap or feet to stomp he wiggled and pulled himself away from me.

When we laid them down and massaged them (yes they laid on their backs while we massaged hearts into their bellies or rubbed their arms) he was being pulled from his ankles with his arms outstretched and fingers clawing the floor as he tried desperately to get away from me.

When we put them in swimming pools and tried spinning them around he was balancing on his head out of the pool with his feet flailing in the air trying to get out.

When we held them and lifted them above our heads and to the floor - well this pregnant mommy had a 22lb weight that was fighting to get to the "ball" across the room. I have never been so tired in my entire life. It was the longest 45 minutes I have ever experienced and I PAID to go through it!

Tabor is not 4 months old anymore like some of the other kids in the class and he is not a kid that will sit still and let me massage him. I'm sure everyone thought he lacked discipline but I couldn't get on to him for not wanting to sit still or for not wanting to be massaged!! He's my kid! My personality couldn't sit through that either!

Every mom had a comment after the class. "we could try shutting the door" and "you must be exhausted" one even tried to make me a client by saying "you probably need a facial after that - I work for Mary Kay and I'll call you" well my responses are "maybe we could try switching kids for the class, yes I'm exhausted and here Tabor eat this Mary Kay card".

I pray they refund us our money. Otherwise Ty will be attending the class with Tabor or we will be losing out on some money because I can't and won't go through that again. If my kid isn't the next musical prodigy because he failed music massage 101 well so be it.


At least he can make a mess out of spaghetti and balance a spoon in his mouth:



He can shove an entire M&M cookie in his mouth in 2 seconds FLAT!


He can even remove his diaper and poop on the concrete before anyone knows what's happened.



Yes that's right! Tabor has his own unique talents!! :-) Music class can wait...

Sunday, June 10, 2012

2K & 5K Family Run

We ran in a family 5k today. You could choose to run/walk 1K or 5K so while Ty & his dad ran the 5K (woo hoo go men!) Tabor, Baby and I walked/ran the 1K. We had so much energy though that we made it 2K and did an extra lap.


The weather was beautiful and it was a lot of fun. The cause was Human Trafficking through Trinity Church which Ty and I learned a lot about while we lived in London, but never realized how bad it was even in Texas. Crazy how you just don't hear about these things! So we helped a good cause and  had a great Saturday morning. 


The men did really well on their 5K and I pulled (or pushed) all the weight on my team, but it was Tabor & Baby Uh Oh's first race so I guess I couldn't expect much from them.


Tabor had fun watching everyone start the 5K. There were other strollers and even dogs there so he was in heaven just watching and waving to everyone.


Here we are after the race. Mom is tired while Tabor couldn't get enough of crawling around on the grass, stairs and later playground. The race was in the Vintage Township neighborhood where Ty and I now want to buy a house ;-) We really loved it there! 


Kapi & Tabor after their runs! Tabor kept us all running after him long after the race was over.


The men. Tabor is in training for his first triathlon with Kapi & Trey - ha! 


Tabor had fun playing Tic Tac Toe at the playground afterwards. We ended the morning with smoothies, showers and naps. (Tabor napped after drinking most of my smoothie)


That was fun! I'll have to find another family run to sign up for! 

Friday, June 8, 2012

and a baker is born...

If you haven't tasted the apple cake I make...well you haven't lived. Angela gave me this recipe while we lived in London and oh my gosh... it is wonderful. 

My mom asked if I could make it for Ilka and the fam as a gift so I decided to train Tabor (as I'm determined that he'll be the family chef someday).

He was a natural. I handed him a measuring cup, the ingredients and read the instructions which he followed perfectly. ;-)



He checked the firmness of the batter before adding the apples and decided it was perfect.


He checked the taste...


a few times...


and after adding the apples...checked the taste a few more times (moving from one finger to his entire hand) until he decided it was perfect. I don't have a picture of the final product, but needless to say it turned out delish and Tabor is now a trained baker.


He even helped with the dishes. Next I need him to learn to make dinner! :-)