The Present from Troy

I have 18 best friends. Yes. 18 of them.

And you know what? I have never met any of them face to face.

Sound weird huh?  To any normal person it would.... but we don't really mind what other people think. We bonded over a website called Baby Gaga. We were pregnant and going through so many changes that we needed to talk to someone.. enter Baby Gaga...  we were all due in July. Some of us met before our babies were due.. most of met after they were here. 

Either way, what a refreshment it was to know that I had other people to talk to about the many changes going on my life. As a first time mother, I didn't know what I was doing half the time. With the advice of other mothers going through the same exact thing made it easier. 

When it was a bad day.. they walked me through it.  When it was a good day... they cheered with me. When I couldn't get Joshua to take a nap.. they sympathized. We are able to talk about things with each other that we would never tell anyone else.. and without judgement. Decisions are supported, no matter if we don't share the same opinion. Respect is what we have for each other no matter what we are going through.

We formed a bond. A bond that can never be broken. A bond that hopefully we will pass onto our children.

So when our special month of July comes around every year, our babies names get put into a hat...shaken.. and pulled. We are each assigned a child to purchase a gift for. This year Joshua was assigned to Troy.

We of course love our Aunt Jen and Troy, they are our Texas family from New York.  .. haha... Jen does live in New York, but has family in Texas, so of course, I am always trying to get her to move here.

Joshua was so excited though and from the day I told him that Troy was sending him a present in the mail, we had to check the mail box every morning before school and every afternoon when we he got home from school.

When the box finally arrived, he was so excited!!

I wish I would have gotten this on video.. but his reaction was...

"Oh My Gosh!! Oh My Gosh!! What is it?".... he was excited even though he wasn't sure what he was excited about.

When he finally opened it and saw it was a box full of tools, he was super excited! He got right to work fixing all kinds of things in the house. According to Joshua, our walls needed to be repaired, the TV cabinet was falling apart, and that cardboard box needed the most work.. it was 'just broken'.

But wait.. there was something else in the box... a shirt. 

"I love it Mom!!" he exclaimed before even looking at it.

"It's my name! That's Joshua's name!"



                         


Jen and Troy could not have picked a more perfect gift for Joshua and we love them dearly for what they did for him.

They... along with my 17 other best friends will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Love you July Mamas!

Love you July Babies!

Seven On Sundays

1. Enjoying a Scooby Doo Ice cream cone.
2. Woody came to visit us today.
3. Buzz lighyear cant figure out how to put his gloves on.
4. Super Buzz to the rescue!!
5. This is not a bra, it's 'Paddintens' (Paddington's) diaper.
6. New Croc shoes.
7. Ready for the grocery store.

The Resort

This year, we planned out two vacations... our first... to a beautiful resort just north of Houston in a town called the Woodlands. I guess I should actually call it a 'staycation' because it is only 45 minutes from where we live, but actually when you pull up to the place, it is so secluded, you cannot tell that your are in a city.

This was a view from our patio. It was so nice to wake up, smell the fresh air and see the green.



 Joshua, of course, enjoyed a breakfast made especially for him by Mommy. Chocolate donuts and fruit!

The waterfall at the small pool was so beautiful.

The landscaping there was so beautiful, even a 2 year old boy couldn't resist picking flowers for his Mama.

This is the large pool at the resort, and the one that we spent the most time in.

There were so many turtles in the pond, all you had to do is walk by and they would crawl out of the water as fast as they could so that they can beg you for food.

At one point, Joshua was a little weirded out by their willingness to follow you and try to bite your fingers off.

Can you tell?? I was obsessed with how many there were.

Feeding the turtles..they ate good! All we had to feed them was Hawaiian King Rolls.. yum!

The Caddy Boy.

Flower Joshua picked for me.

You see those big green holes? That is a giant slide.. both Joshua and I went down them. I thought Joshua would be so scared, but he wasn't. He didn't even want to come out. I found him sitting inside the slide just giggling at all the water.

We also go into trouble for taking him down the slide, apparently he was not big enough.  BUT.. there were two ladies watching.. I can't help it that they didn't do their jobs.



Playing ball with Daddy.

The next Basketball superstar!!

The small slide, which is the exit to the larger green slide.

He loved the kiddie pool, it was just his size.

Laughing at the splash pad.

Taking a much needed break for lunch. He wouldn't take a nap though.. way too excited.

The view from my cabana chair.

He would much rather eat Mommy's California wrap, than eat his kiddie hot dog.

Hot dogs on a stick.. great invention.. haha.

They had treasure maps at the pools, which was really neat. On the backside of the paper, they had a list of 8 things that you would have to go around the pool and find. Like a fish sculpture on the wall, or a picture of a dolphin on the tile. It was a lot of fun. Each kid got a prize when they found all eight items.

Roasting Smores was my favorite. I remember doing this on the beach as a kid. My whole family would gather up, usually for a holiday, and although I enjoyed the food and family.. Smores were my favorite.

Joshua didn't seem to like them as much as me.. he took maybe three bites.



Until next time.. Woodlands resort.. we will miss you!

 Our next adventure was over to the Woodlands shopping center. We ate with Daddy at the Cheesecake factory, shopped at Pottery barn for kids, and spent almost a hour in Barnes and Noble. It was a great ending to a perfect vacation.

The vacation was short and sweet, but we made some memories that we will treasure always. We have also docked this as a annual place that we really want to come back to. Now.. only a few more weeks until my favorite vacation - The Beach!!