Compost Surprise

We started a compost bin a few months back.. and we have kind of neglected it just a little bit. Even though we haven't really taken the best care of it... it has been kind to us.... While snooping around in the beautiful vines, we have found 2 watermelons, one roma tomato plant, and one almost ripe cantaloupe. We think it's pretty cool.
"Mama look a WATERMELLON!!"

Winding Down...

It's officially summer, and things have been so busy around here that it sounded fabulous to have absolutely nothing on calendar... so we took Abby out of Karate and T-ball just finished! Now we'll be hitting the pool almost everyday and trying to do our best to relax. This is the summer before Abby starts Kindergarten and I want to just sit back and enjoy it.

Abby has really improved in T-ball.. her hitting is pretty much amazing and her throwing and catching skills are picking up as well! She is so looking forward to starting school.. she already has her Nike backpack all picked out.

McConnell is so easy and hilarious. The other day while driving to T-ball practice, there was a peacock crossing the road and Mac took one look at it and yelled "WHOA!! That's a big chicken!!" Seriously I laughed for like ten minutes and I think it's one of my favorite things I have ever heard come out of a child's mouth. He stills grunts and runs around the house like a crazy Man Beast.. and it's the best. (Don't you LOVE his shoe choice!)

Finnegan is growing up. He's getting a little less demanding, but he still definitely has hard days. One day I'll figure him out. As for now he loves to play on the couch, hit you in the face, and give you sweet kisses... the open mouth kind. He also loves to splash like a mad man in the bathtub and he likes to wave bye bye.

Aunt Jessica Dean has moved to Houston.. and that's so fun for us! She just got a nursing job here and we couldn't be more proud of her! She is hilarious, and the kids love having her around because she's so much fun. Thank goodness for some family living close to us!!

As for Mom and Dad. We are great. We are really looking forward to seeing each other each night before 10pm, nothing beats an open schedule!! We plan on completely re-doing our master bedroom... Ben will be building the bed and I can't wait!! So with the kids and getting stuff done around the house, we'll be plenty occupied!

Self- Portraits

I love these kids. Love 'em a lot. They do just about everything together and self-portraits seem to be their new favorite things.

Blue Bell

Blue Bell ice cream is arguably one of the most delicious brands of ice cream in the history of the world. We heard about their fun tours (and free scoop at the end) and thought, since we were heading to Austin anyway, we might as well take advantage. The tour was fun. Abby and Mac really enjoyed watching the machinery and the ice cream filling the buckets and heading down the line. They had this really cute video about the history of the creamery at the beginning of the tour, and when they asked for volunteers to be the "caboose" of the line, we gladly volunteered...so we got an extra scoop! Bonus!

Here's Mac enjoying his scoop - Summer Berry (soooo good).

Abby was in heaven and couldn't decide what flavor she wanted. She seems to be more of a sherbet kind of girl, so Rainbow sherbet is what she decided on.

Here we all are enjoying our tasty flavors. On that table we've got Rainbow Sherbet (Abby's choice), Summer Berry (Mac's choice), Groom's cake and Banana Pudding (Ben's choices), and Cookie dough and Pecan Pralines (Allison's choices).

Thank you Blue Bell for your delicious ice cream and fun tour. We'll be back again!

5 for the first

The birthday girl blastin the enemy.

Abby and the Sergeant.

Blastin' the enemy

Shooting Practice

The Obstacle Course

Finn loves to smile for the camera.

Abby and Mac playing with Abby's coveted birthday present ( a nintendo DS)

Can't believe my baby girl turned 5. Can't believe she'll be in full day kindergarten in three months. Can't believe how sweet and fabulous she is. Can't believe some of the outfits puts on herself... most of all I can't believe how much I LOVE her.

We threw her an Army birthday bash and it was pretty great. We had boot camp for the kids, complete with gun shooting, grenade throwing, and obstacle running. Abby was in 7th heaven. Ben played the role of Sergeant... the kids loved that.

Happy birthday Abby.. we are so proud of the beautiful wonderful silly girl that you are growing up to be. You brighten our days with your rhyming raps and your funny jokes. You are the sweetest most kind big sister to your little brothers, and you still give the very best cuddles. We LOVE YOU FOREVER.

Disneyland

DISNEYLAND!!! Our three day adventure in Disneyland was absolutely fabulous. This was the first vacation that our little family has taken, and it all went so smoothly and we actually got to relax and enjoy our vacation! Granny Dean, Grandpa Dean, Aunt Jessica and Uncle Gabe all joined us during our Disneyland time, and it was so fun. Not only were they all such great help to have around, they were all so fun. They each took the kids on rides, pushed their strollers around, carried Finn in the snuggle and gave those little kids anything and everything they wanted! Like I said.. it was fabulous.

Here we are at the infamous front gate of Disney. (minus Aunt Jessica and Uncle Gabe) Oh.. I failed to mention how gorgeous and perfect the weather was.... 65 degrees.. not a cloud in sight.

Mac and Daddy enjoying a ride in the cars. This was one of Mac's favorite rides.

Finn was a trooper. He was really sick before we left Houston, so I took him in just for a check up before we got on a plane.. well low and behold Finn was super sick... he had pre-pneumonia. Poor little man. He had issues breathing and sounded horrible, but after a few days of breathing treatments and medicine, he was doing just fine. Here he is waiting in the stroller for his Bro and Daddy to get off the car ride.Here is Granny Dean and I in the astro orbiter. Yep we managed to squeeze ourselves into a kids ride together!!!Granny Dean was also such a trooper! She had knee surgery awhile back, but she was keeping pace with us all along. That is until the third day when we decided she was hurting so much she needed a wheelchair.... and I am not going to lie.. the wheelchair was so nice, because we got to go straight to the front of each ride line everytime!!! Then after the third day we couldn't help but wonder why we hadn't gotten the wheelchair earlier!!

Abby was in heaven here. She loved seeing each character even though it seemed like we didn't see that many. Oh and the tiger face... she begged for it and yes why not... we're at Disneyland, and it's her birthday so let's give her whatever she wants. It was so cute on her. She's just so cute.

Here is uncle Gabe and Dad giving Abby ride of their own. This is in California Adventure... which was so fun.

Grandpa Dean loved holding Finn. Thanks Grandpa you're the best. Isn't Finn is sweet? Think he knows he's at the Happiest Place on Earth?

Here's Abby and Granny on the 3D Toy Story ride. It was so fun.. definitely one of our favorites.

The very best part was Abby's little semi-private birthday party in Disneyland. Granny Dean planned it all. It was so sweet and special for Abby. There was this loony dude named Pat. E. Cake jumping around singing while we all got to decorate our own cupcakes. Then at the end Mickey and Minnie Mouse personally came and gave all the children that were celebrating their birthdays hugs. It was more then we expected and it meant the WORLD to Abby.

This is so sweet and heart-melting. She really loves them.

Like Mother like daughter. We are so cheesy... but having so much fun.

Seaworld

The Wischmeier Family went on Vacation!!!! I know! I can't even believe it either! For Abby's 5th birthday her Granny Dean wanted to take her to Disneyland. (This has been in the making for the last year, so we were pretty pumped to finally have her birthday get here.) We decided to make it a week long trip, so we could do other fun things in Cali, beside Disneyland. We wanted to save going to Disneyland until the day of Abby's actual birthday, so our first stop was Seaworld. We have all never been to Seaworld... so it was pretty exciting!!

We got to ride some fun rides, see a cute sea lion show, hold sea stars, and most important... we got to see Shamu!!! Shamu was quite amazing. Actually there were three huge whales performing, and it was a spiritual experience. I was in awe of the beauty of the whales. Abby I don't think could really believe what was going on. She just sat there in awe as well. Mac really could have cared less, and I thought that was pretty funny.