It's a Girl!!!

My sister in law and her husband recently announced they are having a girl! They are due the end of August, so pretty soon we will have a sweet little girl in our arms! As soon as the pregnant mama makes it through the hot Texas summer, poor thing!

We don't have any baby girls in the family really, Tay is the youngest one I'm ever around and let's face it, she isn't so little anymore. The new baby girl will have her big cousin Maggie to play with, and if she's anywhere near as cute as that little Maggie we're all gonna be wrapped around her finger. I'm super excited to get to hold a sweet baby for an extended period of time. I can't wait to smell that sweet baby smell again, and hear that baby babble! It has been WAY to long!

The down side? Justin was right. He said she was going to have a girl, I said boy, and I'm telling you every time my husband is right and I'm wrong my life gets a little less rosey! But that's okay, I will drown my sorrows away with a little retail therapy, buying as many bows and cute dresses as I can find! We'll see how happy he is that he was right then ;)

This past Sunday I took my kids to the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. I have an Art project to do for one of my classes that includes a research paper on a piece of artwork so I thought the kids would have fun if they came along. When I looked at the Amon Carter website before we left I saw that they were having a Family Fun day Sunday that day also, although I had no idea what was involved in a family fun day I thought that surely that would just make it better for the kids! So when we got there they gave each of the kids a brown paper sack for them to put their artwork in and off they went...they had mobiles that the kids could make, picture frames for them to decorate, a jewelry table and a place where the could decorate sacks. They even had a snack table with free cookies and lemonade. Nicholas made about 6 trips to the snack table and this time he came back with 7 cookies!!! In this picture I had just given him my greatest 'mommy is getting embarrassed because you've eaten about 27 cookies' look, and he's saying "WHAT!?!?"..... They all had a blast though and at the end of a nearly four hour trip to the museum I had my painting chosen for my class, and the kiddos had three brown paper sacks full of artwork that they had done by themselves. And the best part? It was completely 100% free fun! Amon Carter doesn't charge any admission and there were no charges for the crafts. Or the 27 cookies....

Becky's wedding!

This weekend the kids and I went to the wedding one of my sister-in-laws best friends. It was really a cool wedding! You know those anal bride's that won't so much as let their groom take off their tie at a weddding? She was nothing like that. Kyle, the groom, was in his white t-shirt half way throught the reception. They were both super laid back and seemed like they just wanted to have fun! Their families are both incredibly nice and the wedding was gorgeous! It was at a place that just opened a couple of months ago in Colleyville town square called Village In The Piazza. It's kindof a Tuscan theme place with a beautiful chapel.

By now you should all know that the first thing my boys did was each find a girlfriend for the evening. Nathan got Misty a 20 something year old. She was his girlfriend at Azur's wedding too, and when he saw her walk down the aisle for this wedding his eyes lit up in the same way I remember my brother's eyes lighting up the first time he hung up his first poster of Cindy Crawford in a bikini! SCARY!!! He even remembered her name from last May. I'm not sure that Makensie would be very happy if she could see this picture, how about you? Then the reception comes and this cute little girl who is three (or "freeee!!!" as she said when I asked her) came and set her sights on Nicholas. Now she really is adorable, so I guess I don't have much to say about her! She danced with both of the boys all night,that little

Caroline, and Nicholas liked her a lot!

Oh well, my daughter hung out with me! I guess this is going to be the story of my life, my boys out chasing girls, and my sweet angel girl staying close to her mama....

So while the reception is going on they call out all the married couples to the dance floor for an "anniversary" dance. So

out they all go (Justin was working, that's why I say, "They all") and the deejay starts telling them if they've been married less than 5 ye

ars they have to leave the floor, if they've been married less than 10 years they have to leave the floor and so on....so the last couple standing is this cute little old couple (Becky's Grandparents) he is about 6'5" and she is just a little bitty thing. They had been married for 63 years!!!! Can you imagine?

Easter

This year's Easter was very low key for the Holcomb family. Taylor was with her dad this year (boo for us), so the boys and Justin and I decided to go out of town for the weekend. We went to Llano which is in the hill country kind of centrally located between Austin and San Antonio. It's a small town with a great feel to it. We have all been there before and love it so much! We went to a small church in town for their Easter service and it was like something out of a movie. Just the nicest people, and a choir that must have had a minimum age limit of 80. There is just nothing cuter than watching old people belt out hymns and then nodding off 10 minutes later during the sermon. I love old people...all of them (even the grumpy one's nobody else likes)!





When we left church we picked up some lunch and went down to the river for a picnic. The kids played and climbed around on all the rocks and threw sticks in the river. For those of you who have never taken your kids to the country, you should go, you will be amazed at the things they find to entertain themselves. Nathan and Nicholas are the best of friends anyways, but they get so excited to go somewhere new, and they are like totally different children when they are out there in the country.

Then it was time for the trip home which is always bearable because of all the Dairy Queen's :)



P.S. We even took flowers to my grandparent's grave in Waco on the way home which takes care of one more thing from my 30 by 30 list....see updated list to see what else I have accomplished...it's coming along quite nicely!

Makensie...I don't think I like her....

Meet Makensie. She is Nathan's "girlfriend". I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a fan. She's cute enough with her golden brown hair and outgoing personaity. Oh, she looks innocent, but she's after my seven year old and I don't like it!!!!

She came to his class birthday party on Friday night at Let's Jump. Her dad was really nice. He dropped her off, and she is sweet, too sweet!

A warning to mothers...the girls are all over boys at an early age these days! Look at her kissing my baby! And although it may look like pure bliss on his face, I see something only a mother could see. He is struggling, I think almost crying on the inside. He wants his mommy. He doesn't want some coodie girl kissing him and taking over his life! He wants to have Thanksgiving at my house and he wants me to do his laundry. He says that he isn't moving out until he is fourty because he'll miss ME too much! So sorry Makensie, go dig your female claws into someone else's son....mine is totally not interested....as you can see!

Oh and Corbin I don't appreciate your daughter in law comment after this picture! If you weren't 9 I would have kicked you right out of the party!!!

Oh Belize...How I miss you....

Justin and I went to Belize last July, just 8 months ago, and while we always enjoy our vacations with Kristin and Brian that one definitely left a lot to be desired! We stayed in a two bedroom condo on the south end of Ambergris Caye, a small island off the coast of Belize. It was not all-inclusive which we were used to, and I had never seen or been bitten by so many mosquitoes in my entire life! It was just an all around disappointing trip and I swore that it would be the last time I would go to that miserable island as long as I lived.....Fast forward to the weekend before last..... We went to Houston to this adorable little boys 2ND birthday party. His name is Sean (he's the one on the left) and he is Justin's cousin's baby. You follow? Well his parents were going with some of Justin's other family to Belize and they invited us ALL EXPENSES PAID!!! Now, while I wasn't a big fan of Belize this puts a whole new spin on it! Of course we went, without our kids, Matt (his cousin) said he would fly us all out but our kids don't have passports and there was no way we could have gotten them in time to go so with help from pretty much all of our family (thanks Gran, Big Pops, Uncle Matt, Mitch and Aunt Jena)we got the kids taken care of while we went for three nights and four days of heaven!


We stayed at Ramon's Village along with Matt, his wife Virag and son Sean, Matt's sister Kellie and their cousin Liz, Matt and Virag's friends also came Stephanie, David and their son Caden. We had a big group and a great time! The resort was fantastic the food was great, the drinks were even better, thanks to that lovely bartender pictured above Raul! We went on a snorkeling trip and swam with sting rays and even saw a shark and some kind of ginormous eel! Stephanie and I were scared to death to go but with a lot of, let's call it "encouragement" from our husbands we went and we were both so glad that we did! I am hoping that my underwater camera worked so I can post some pics because it was unlike anything I had ever done! We went fishing on the reef and Kellie caught the biggest fish (again!) that girl has some crazy good luck when it comes to fishing! We laid out drank lots and had a great time! Justin and I even went on our own little tour of the island and went to lunch at Captain Morgan's toured condo's that were for sale (as if we could ever afford one) and went to the Palyapa Bar which is out on the end of a pier and up a flight of stairs. It feels like you're floating on the water. Thanks Matt for taking us with ya'll on the trip, I take back every bad thing I ever said about that island, just goes to show everything deserves a second chance! I Love Belize and I miss it.....we are going to take the kids back soon!

30 by 30

On days like this ,around the first of spring, where the sun is shining and the birds are singing I always get motivated to do something. Anything really. I like to organize my thoughts and set some concrete goals. It's kind of like my own little New Year. I am going to be 30 on November 28Th 2010 that's only 632 days away. So I decided to make a 30 by 30 list like many of my friends have done. I think it's a great idea! For those of you who don't know what a 30 by 30 list is, it is simply a list of your goals and things that you would like to do that you have never done before. Things that maybe you have been putting off until a more convenient time. And although 30 is the new 20, there are definitely some things that I would love to do before I turn 30.


1.) Take Justin back to Montana on vacation (completed in October of 2009)
2.) Take my babies to Disneyland (Not Disney world)
3.) Get in the best shape of my life
4.) Find a church that I love
5.) Go white water rafting
6.) Swim with a dolphin
7.) Help a stranger
8.) Take dance lessons with Justin
9.) Take the kids to the pool without feeling self conscious
10.) Reach my final year of college
11.) Go on a vacation with just my mom and me :)
12.) Go to a place I have never been before (Riviera Maya in Mexico. It was an awesome trip thanks to my great friends and husband that were with me! So relaxing...)
13.) Read a book. And not Dr. Seuss... (I read Lovely Bones! Finished it on 3/26, it was pretty good...just finished Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella...this is a really light read, great for busy mama's! Who knew I would read so many books? Just finished New Moon and Eclipse)
14.) Buy a house
15.) Paint a room any color I want
16.) Cook dinner every night for a month (this is a biggie for me)
17.) Go put flowers on my Grandpa and Grandma's grave (we went on Easter Sunday which would have meant a lot to both of them since we always spent Easter at their house growing up because my Grandpa was a preacher...and a really good one! I love you both so much and miss you like crazy...)
18.) Teach my final two kids to ride their bikes (completed on Saturday March 7th and yes they both learned on the same day...Nicholas will not be outdone)
19.) Take Corbin and the kids camping
20.) Take Nicholas to kindergarten without crying (in front of him)
21.) Meet Justin for lunch when all the kids are in school. Just because we can...
22.) Buy a porch swing and sit on it
23.) Walk in the breast cancer 3 day
24.) Kick the boys out of the house and have a girls slumber party
25.) Spend a weekend with my grandparents before they move to Maryland
26.) Go get a Mani pedi with my daughter (did this the day before I went to Mexico, it was good mommy daughter bonding time ;)
27.) Pay off our credit card debt
28.) Take a yoga class
29.) Surprise someone with something they will love
30.) Kiss my husband on the top of Niagara Falls

I will keep you posted on my progress and cross things off the list as I accomplish them! Wish me luck!!!

You know what??? It's gonna be okay....

You know what? As you all know I have three kids. They are all very different and I love it! I am not at all one of those moms that needs everything to be perfect all the time. I don't have to have everything in place with all four of us before we walk out the door in the morning. I like to call it laid back, but some people may not think it's as positive as that.

The reason I thought of this is because this morning I did something with my son that is not very politically correct. Nathan, my soon to be 7 year old still sucks his thumb. When Taylor was a baby she took a pacifier and she was addicted to it. She didn't stop taking her "bippy" until she was about 19 months old when her Grammy taught me a trick to cut a hole in the bippy so when she sucked on it it wouldn't feel right and she wouldn't want it. It worked like a charm! She threw all her bippies away herself and I didn't have to do a thing (except cut a couple of holes). But when Nathan was born I was right in the middle of my "anti-bippy" stage. Taylor was 17 months old and going strong with her bippy and I just didn't want to go through that with him. So I din't allow him to have one...so he began to suck his thumb. Hindsight's 20/20 people don't judge me!!! I know now looking back that this was the worst thing I could have let him start doing. You can't cut a hole in his thumb and let him throw it away...what was I thinking? I wasn't thinking is the answer. If I had thought about it I would have recalled how my brother had the hardest time with the thumb sucking thing. I think he finally kicked the habit when he was about 8. Sorry Matt you know it's true!!! But Nathan looked so cute as a baby doing it, all curled up on my lap with his blanket. Okay you get the picture, I was a sucker. So here we are 7 years later.

After work last night I went to Walmart and got a finger brace. I put it on his thumb and I'm telling you that thing is not coming off until he finds something more productive to do with his thumb than suck it all day and night. Think of all the things he's missing out on...there's thumb wrestling, giving thumb's up for encouragement, they're good for twiddling when you're bored...the possibilities are endless! The unethical part of this is coming up, he wanted to know what he would tell his friends about why his thumb was in this big silver brace and I said what any good red blooded American mother would say...LIE! Tell them you fell off your scooter and broke it, tell them you fell out of bed, tell them you cut it with scissors, got stitches, I don't care! As long as that thumb is in that brace and out of your mouth I'm good with little white lies. Justin just laughed at me and rolled his eyes and off to school they all went.

So like I said I am no longer worried about doing things the "right way"! And I would argue that once anyone has three little kids reaches this same point I'm at at some point or another. Am I right Aunt LeAnn? Sorry to put you on the spot but you're the only person I know who has had three little kids at the same time :). I took the kids to CiCi's the other night for their school night and I let Nicholas wear the cowboy dress up outfit that their Aunt gave Nathan for his bday. It is too big for him, but I don't care. He wore it, chaps and all, and he loved it! I'm not your average Mom I guess but really is there a normal when it comes to parenting? Let your kids wear what they want to wear every once in a while, let them potty train when they're ready (trust me they will let you know), so what if they're in their crib longer than you thought they were supposed to be. Who makes those rules anyway? I chose to be wild and crazy and let my kids have some choices....and by the way I don't care what your Mom or in my case Grandmother say, you CANNOT have a child fully potty trained by the time they are one!!! LIARS!!!

My Brother

So I watched Private Practice on Thursday and was about ready to jump off a bridge by the time it was over... I bawled my eyes out! Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to watch it NOW!! I, like Addison adore my big brother and always have. He is my only sibling and I'm glad because I know I could never love any other person in the world in the same way that I love my brother, so I decided to blog about him and share a little of his greatness with the world (or the five people who read my blog)! Sorry brother it's the best I could do :)


My brother is one of the greatest people that I know. He was over this past Saturday for a birthday celebration at my house for his son's 9th birthday. He is no ordinary Uncle to my kids, he is Super Uncle. I can have all three kids hanging on me all day whining about pretty much everything but the instant my brother walks through the door it's instant smiles and although they are still all crazy, they are happy and crazy which beats the heck out of whining and crazy! My brother is 15 months older than me and has this unlimited supply of energy. If the kids want to go outside to play ball, he goes outside to play ball. If they want to wrestle, he's the first one on the floor. If they want to go down to the school and play basketball, they are in the back of his truck before I know it and gone. It's great!

I had this big dream, when I found out in the fall of 1999 that I was going to be Aunt, that I was going to be the coolest Aunt in the world. I was going to babysit and take my nephew everywhere and he would love me. Not just because I was his Aunt but because I was the cool Aunt who let him do whatever he wanted and I wouldn't have kids for years so I would just focus on him! God had another plan for me however, and 2 weeks after my nephew, Corbin, was born I found out I was pregnant. Taylor and Corbin are 8 months and 19 days apart in age and have been two peas in a pod since they were tiny babies. They are a little version of Matt and me and I love it! Matt and I always got along, he says there were a couple of years when we were about 9 and 10 that we fought but I don't remember that. Probably because he was so nice to me all the time and I was a big pain! But to me he was my best friend. All his friends were my friends and he was so good to avoid my friends. Except Jennifer in the back of that truck.....we won't go there. Anyways, he's a great guy, father,brother, Uncle, son and friend!!! Just wanted to say I love you brother, even though you think my blog is stupid and I use bad grammar and I spelled bartending as two words (which wasn't my fault, spell check did that) I am lucky to have you...

Love, Sister

Taylor's tonsils (or lack of tonsils)

Tay had her tonsils out this past Friday. She did awesome and was as brave as any 8 year old girl could be! They got us in and out in under three hours which I thought was pretty incredible! The horror stories that I got from random moms were almost as bad as I remember them being when I was pregnant! Anyone who has a baby (or is currently pregnant) knows what I am talking about. The women who tell you about their near death, horrible child birth stories. But I have concluded that stories are exactly that...STORIES!!! Her getting her tonsils out was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be for sure! Just like child birth, I think that the build up is the worst part, it is a lot easier than people make it out to be.


Taylor had a lot of visitors and got a whole lot of presents and attention! She loved every minute of it. She is also enjoying the week off of school...as am I :)

Happy Birthday Kathy!

Today is my mother-in-laws 60th birthday! On Saturday night we threw her a surprise party at Big Fish in Grapevine. She didn't suspect a thing (I don't think) and was really happy and excited that so many of her friends and family had come from all over Texas (and Arkansas) just for her party! For those of you who don't know her she is the one in the green shirt in the pic below. I wish I could look like that when I'm 60! We can all hope right?


My brother had a slumber party with the kids at his house so Justin and I got to go and relax and just have a good time with his family! Justin's family is all great, and I'm not just saying that, they really are! I think if I could pick any family to have besides my own it would be his, so I feel really lucky to get to be a part of the Condon and Holcomb families.

Happy Birthday Kathy! I feel so lucky to have a mother-in-law that I LOVE!!! I hope that you have a great birthday today!

Just as a side note: This is my sister in law, Azur, and her husband John and if you look really, really close you can see my new neice or nephew hiding under her hand there, she says the baby is the size of a large green olive this week so we will let that baby stay in there and cook a little bit longer...

Go Jazz!!

Okay so today was Taylor's 3rd basketball game for this season. She hasn't ever played basketball before and I have to say she is really enjoying it! She is on the Jazz and they haven't won a game so far...until today! It was a real death match, they were tied with the Cheetah's 4 to 4 when who else but my beautiful daughter goes down the court with a minute left on the clock in the fourth period and scores the winning goal! I was so proud I cried! Actually I just watered up and then made myself stop before I totally ruined the moment by embarrassing her. But she was so proud and it gave her immediate confidence! It is amazing what one two pointer can do for a little 8 year old girl! Good job Taylor and the Jazz!!!

I'm fine...I think...

I am not just plain old Christen anymore! Now I am a full time college student. I eased my way in with a speech class last semester and now I am taking 12 hours, all online! It sounds great in theory and I was really excited in that way that you get when you are doing something that you feel proud of and you just can't wait to accomplish it! I talked to my advisor, got my whole schedule worked out, went down to three shifts a week at my job and I was ready to go! I have this huge desire all of a sudden to get my degree, I want to make my parents and my brother proud! I want my husband and my kids to be able to live a better life because I contributed! Not that I don't bring home the big money from Chili's, but the bar scene gets pretty old after 10 years! I think to myself that now is the time...I have two kids in school all day and Nicholas is so low maintenance it isn't even funny. I do have a lot of extra time now that I didn't have before.



So class was to start on the 20th of this month. Our computer broke on the 19th, it was our only computer and that left me with no option on this first week of school than to go to the library. Now, the library is all fun and games when you're going with your kids for an outing and the NRH library is new and it is really nice! It has a great little play area for the kids and normally we have a great time there. However, when Mommy is taking three kids after school with a one hour time limit per card holder to be on the computer every day the library seems more like a sinking ship than a Wonderland of books, especially when you are a big person in a little chair in the kids area! I am not computer savvy and I couldn't figure out what the hell I was doing on the campus website. My children didn't help any, they were playing, but, at the library playing gets really loud, really quick! Before I knew it the librarian was over there Shushing my children and asking them where their mother was. I hauled myself out of that little bitty chair and went over right as my dear husband came to my rescue and whisked the kids off to basketball practice so that I could focus (and move upstairs to the adult area).



The next night I went to my Dad's house and he gave me a CPU he had that was extra and we tried our best but we couldn't get it to work. Justin spent three hours on the phone with the tech guys but had very little success! So today much to my surprise my Mom called and said she was going to buy me a lap top! I was so excited I could hardly stand it! I think she just got tired of hearing me complain day after day after day. I went and picked it up at Best Buy today, caught up on all my school work from the week and I am on my way to sanity! Although I can't say if that will happen or not...


Oh and the CPU works now! Two computers! Yeah!

Thank God for my friends!!!

Okay so last night four of my friends from high school and middle school came up to my work while I was bar tending...Michelle, Brittany (crutches and all), Amber and Sara. We met up because our friend Cheryl is having a baby shower Saturday and only three of us are going to be able to go so we all went in together on a gift and we wanted to collect money, sign the card, see what our creative friend (that would be Sara) had done with the package and of course have some drinks! Michelle's boyfriend Trevor also came out for the girls night because he's a trooper....




It was a dramatic night at the bar, mostly because I had no idea how much alcohol I had given anybody. I was way too busy trying to hear all of the stories the girls were telling, so I just served drinks and ran back over to them to hear all the latest gossip! I missed the girls Christmas party because I was sick so I had a good two months, if not more, worth of stuff to get caught up on! So, Brit left first, I don't even know what time that was. Then Michelle and Trevor left, after seeing one of the guys wet his pants at the bar because he was so drunk...bless his heart...if only my friends didn't have so many great things to say I would have cut him of about 20 beers earlier. But Sara and Amber being the great friends that they are stuck around til after we closed to hang out! We took some pictures, they had drinks, and I cleaned up. Man, I got the raw end of that deal...

I'm really way too tired to be blogging right now but I wanted to document the night where my friends saved me from going insane! Work is so much better when you have your friends there to make people wetting themselves and yelling at you for having to pay for drinks that they drank (gasp!) seem funny! Thanks to all four of you girls, and the brave boy, for coming up to see me last night! I had fun catching up with you and can't wait until Cheryl's shower on Saturday!

New Year...New Blog!!

Okay, well I'm going to follow all my friends leads and start a blog! After finding out that you could make a book out of it I was sold!

I have to say 2009 is looking pretty good, except for the devastating loss for the Chargers on Sunday! Now, people assume that I am a Chargers fan because we are from San Diego, however, a Chargers fan is not something I chose to be but rather something that was forced upon me by my parents and my brother. Matt is quite possibly one of the most die hard Chargers fans there is or ever will be...think Cheryl and Peyton Manning or Justin and chocolate shakes! We have also managed to convert Justin into as much of a Chargers fan as we can. It's difficult when every time they get to the playoffs they lose. Sorry Matt, there's always next year!

After watching that sad, sad game we came home from No Frills Grill with my husbands two college roommates John and Jordan and had a little post game party! We invited our friends Brian and Kristin over also and we just played Cranium and hung out. We rarely get together at our house like this because the kids are there and they are usually sleeping but they were so excited to see company walk through the door they could hardly stand it! They think that Big John and Jordan are the coolest friends any Dad could ever have and the fact that Big John is actually bigger than Daddy just blows their mind! It took about 4 seconds after he walked in the door and John had found the cookies on a stick that our 4 year old, Nicholas, had baked that morning and was so excited (see above picture). What could be better for a single 30 year old man than some cold beer and cookie on a stick? Who knew? I've posted an after shot also, it was taken about 30 seconds after the first picture and yes, I do believe he ate part of the stick also...

In other Holcomb news for the new year, I must announce that we are going to be an Aunt and Uncle again! Justin's sister and her husband are expecting their first baby around the end of August. We are so excited! Justin for some reason thinks that he knows the sex of every pregnant woman's unborn child (because he's guessed correctly twice in his life) and has announced that he is sure they are going to have a girl, so we will see, I mean he does have a 50/50 shot! We have an 8 year old nephew, my brothers son, so we would love a little girl and it will be fun to have a baby around again! Especially since we can send this one home with someone else!