Texas Bluebonnets

April, 2012

Each spring, North and Central Texas are covered with wildflowers, especially bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.  Parents flock to the bluebonnet fields with their kids and cameras.  I think it's a requirement to be a Texas parent.  Just like last year, I had idyllic visions of my smiling son sitting calmly in the field of bluebonnets, smiling angelically.  Instead, these were our best shots of the day as we chased him around the field of flowers.

 

 

 

 

Here we go - sweet boy sitting in the bluebonnets:

Again this year, Tommy managed to get a pretty good shot of Mommy and Jack:

Finally, we didn't do a very good job of taking belly shots of me during this pregnancy, so this is one of the few shots you'll see - Mommy and baby girl at about 8 months pregnant:

Spring School Pictures

Spring 2012

A professional photographer comes to Jack's daycare twice a year and takes photos of each of the kids, complete with cheesy backdrops and props.  Last fall, I was really disappointed in the pictures.  I didn't buy any of them, and if you know me, you know that must mean they were pretty bad.  So when spring pictures rolled around, I really wasn't expecting much, but to my surprise, I loved them!  Yes, the boat and ocean backdrop are definitely on the cheesy side, but Jack looks so adorable that I had to buy all three photos (even though I think they are cropped versions of the same photo!).

I can't believe how grown up he looks, and his "Uncle Greg" shirt is one of my favorites!

My Little Worker Bee

February 2012

The frequency of blog-worthy happenings and pictures in the Mhire household always drops dramatically in January and February as another dreaded busy season rolls around.  2012 was definitely no exception.  Somehow, this year managed to be one of the most draining ones yet.  I worked 70-90 hour weeks from the second week in January through the end of March and even pulled an all-nighter at 7 months pregnant.  Not cool, I know.

If anything was good about those horrendous hours, at least most weekends I was able to work from home.  I would frequently spend most of the weekend holed up in my bedroom, taking breaks to eat meals and hug my boys.  I even forgot the extent to which my days were focused on work until my little 2 year old brought it home to me.  We had just finished breakfast on a Saturday morning and Jack grabbed his Winnie-the-Pooh "computer" and headed towards our bedroom stating "I have to work a little bit."  He headed into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.  When we opened it, this is what we found - just like Mommy.

Leave it to the toddler to remind me of what's really important in life.  Yes, that adorable face put a smile on mine, but it also made me realize that I needed to spend less time staring at the computer and more time hugging that little boy.  Now that I'm back to work after maternity leave, I have set a new goal to define the boundaries of my job a little better, know that I have to say "no" sometimes, and ensure that accounting doesn't consume my life.  While I want to have a successful career and get satisfaction from doing my job well, I don't want to look back and regret missing the everyday joys of seeing my kids grow up just to be sure an audit report gets issued on time.  It is uncharted territory for me, and I'm not exactly sure what the next year holds but I think its a step in the right direction.  Wish me luck!

Big Boy Bed!

February 2012

All signs pointed to the fact that that it was time:

1)  Jack had learned to climb out of his crib and, although it had lost its novelty, I was still a little nervous that he might fall while climbing out.

2)  Tommy's Mom was staging her house in Houston to sell and was ready to give Tommy the twin bed that he had slept on his whole life, as had his Dad before him.

3)  It was time to move the crib into the baby room and start decorating it for our new arrival.

So it was time for Jack to upgrade to a big boy bed.  Tommy's Dad met him in Houston to pick up Tommy's old bed and desk to move into Jack's room.  Since both of them had grown up with the bed, they were both so excited to pass it along to Jack.  Of course, we knew the theme of the room had to be the Disney Cars movie, so we went out to buy a Cars bedspread and a few accessories.  Cousin Lincoln graciously provided the cool rug.  After a few hours of hard work from Daddy and Poppy, the bed and desk were all set up!

 

Here's the little guy on his first night in his big boy bed.  He was so excited!

The first few nights went well, until he figured out that he could get out of bed.  The next few nights were a little bit of a struggle, with Jack coming out of his room more times than I care to remember.  I must admit, we used a technique learned from the Supernanny television show.  We took him back in his room once after that with hugs and a "goodnight, Jack."  The second time we were a little sterner - "time for bed, Jack."  Each time after that, we would just put him back in bed with no words.  Those couple of nights were extremely tiresome, but he eventually learned that he wasn't getting anywhere by coming out of his room.

Not too long after he moved into his big boy bed, Jack took a flashlight into bed with him one night.  A few minutes after we turned out the lights, we heard a shrill cry, followed by lots of tears.  Tommy rushed upstairs and asked what was wrong and Jack, still scared pointed to a wall of the room and said,  "There was a little boy in my room.  Over there!"  Tommy wasn't sure what he meant and was little unnerved.  He asked him if the little boy was still there, and Jack said no, and looked at Tommy like he was a little crazy.  I had an idea - maybe, with the flashlight turned on, Jack had seen his shadow.  Tommy turned off the lights and turned on the flashlight and asked Jack if his shadow against the wall was the little boy he had seen.  Sure enough, it was.  Jack was still a little freaked out, but we explained all about shadows to him and showed him that Mommy and Daddy had one too, he decided that his room was safe for sleeping.  For the next few days after that, we were pointing out our own shadows on the pavement as we walked into school, Max and Albert's shadows, and shadows of virtually everything else.  It's so fun to see his little mind working and learning.  He's growing up so fast!

Our First Christmas in Frisco

December 2011

After all of the Christmas celebrating we had already done, it was finally time for Christmas day.  We actually spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning quietly celebrating Santa's arrival as a family of three at our house in Frisco.  This was the first year that Jack began to understand and be excited about Christmas and it was so fun.  On Christmas Eve, we read The Night Before Christmas (and the Cajun and Texas versions) and set out our cookies and milk for Santa and carrot for Rudolph.  Do you think someone was excited?

Our Christmas tree was upstairs, but Santa left all of the presents with the stockings near the fireplace. 

Jack's main present on Christmas morning was a Rock and Roll Elmo, but as you can see, he had plenty of other goodies to open as well (Mom, Max and Albert helped a little :) ).

After we opened presents, it was time to clean up the house to welcome more family!on Christmas afternoon, we were joined by Nana, Papa, Aunt Brandi, Uncle Ryan and cousin Lincoln for more celebrations.  This is our cute little tree on the balcony upstairs:

We had a great time opening presents, watching the boys play together, and eating a delicious dinner.
Here's the whole group:

Papa made a cool Duplo tabletop to sit on top of Jack's play table.  So cool, and definitely a hit with our little builder, who got a ton of Duplos for Christmas!

We got Lincoln some Lincoln logs:

For dinner, Tommy made some yummy cranberry chicken, rice and salad and the McCarthy's brought a delicious Christmas cake.  Here we are with Baby Mhire #2.  It's hard to believe she'll be crawling around at Christmas time next year! 

Phew!  I think that is all of our Christmas celebrations.  Going back to write about them all makes me realize how lucky we are to be so close to all of our family and to get to see them all in this holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

Tennessee Holiday Celebrations

December 2011

From Louisiana, we headed east to my Grandma Rose's house in Jackson, Tennessee.  Given everyone's alternating holiday schedules, it is very rare that we all get to be together at Christmas with Grandma Rose, so this was a special time.  I love watching the boys with their Great Grandparents - I really cherish all of this time with so many generations together at once.  The boys loved snuggling with their Great Grandma Rose!

There's nothing quite like stepping into my Grandma's house.  From the moment I arrive, I'm flooded with so many memories of Christmases and Thanksgiving, delicious food, fun crafts, organizing buttons and coins, cousins dressing up in Grandma's clothes and just spending time with so many people who mean so much to me.  It makes my heart happy that my kids get to experience it as well!

As usual, the Christmas tree was beautiful, and very happy: 

 Here are the boys, concentrating while buried in presents.  It took them quite a while to dig themselves out!

Everyone always looks forward to Grandma's tradition of silly presents.  She has a boys pile and a girls pile and each person gets to choose a couple of surprises.  The little guys really enjoyed their chocolate Santas:

 

Katy and Tommy and I got some lovely sweaters and shirts:

Grandma Rose got a new TV, and one of the favorite toys of the day turned out to be the box from the television!

Grandpa helps the boys with their box fort

Peek-A-Boo

And finally, a few of my random favorites from our time in Tennessee.  I'm so glad we all were able to be together to celebrate the Christmas season!

Three generations of Heatherlys

Fun times with Uncle Ian

Great Grandma got Jack a fun Elmo bath toy, which he made sure to try out right away!



Christmas Cajun Style

December 2011

As has become our tradition, the weekend before Christmas, we headed to southern Louisiana for the annual Mhire family Christmas festivities. We arrived really late on Friday, so everyone was already in bed, but the first thing we did when everyone got up the next morning was open presents!

The boys spent forever playing with these cool rubber balls from Poppy and Gigi that lit up when they were bounced. They discovered they could get everyone to laugh if they put the balls under their shirts and you can imagine the hilarity that ensued after that.

 

Greta got a cool sous vide machine from Tom and a couple of cookbooks from us to get her started. I can't wait to taste her fancy new culinary creations!

These are a little out of order, but I wanted to be sure to show off the super cool PJs the boys got from Aunt T and Uncle Rob:

Last, but certainly not least, Poppy and Gigi bought the boys some cool Strider bikes, little 2-wheeler bikes with no pedals to help them learn balance before getting big boy bikes. Do you think Jack's excited?

Of course, we had to head outside in our PJs to give the bikes a try:

Later that evening, we headed to Tommy's Nanny Liz's house for the annual family white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with some cool gloves that you could wear and still control your I-Phone (a necessity for this phone-obsessed girl in cold weather), so I was pretty excited. With the addition of Noah and Murphy this year, there were so many little ones of the next generation around, so it was quite a lively night, but so much fun. Thanks to Brandi for taking all the pictures that day - somehow our camera didn't make it to the party.

Momom and Popop - the ones who stated it all!

Tom and his two lovely sisters, Nanny Liz and Nanny Melissa

And again with his kids...

Brandi and Ryan

The boys loved playing with their cool new cars!

 

And in the cool pack 'n play ball pit:

And with little Noah:

Here's one of all the girls and their kiddos - only one girl in the bunch!

Finally, with my two goofy boys, this was the best (and only) family picture of us from the night. Sigh...

After spending some time at the barn and hanging out with Poppy and Gigi on Sunday, we headed on to Tennessee on Monday after a short, but wonderful visit. Stay tuned!