Busy ... Busy ... Busy

Hi! Still here! ... We have just been busy with life. It all has been great, it just makes me sad that I have had to put the Blogging on the bottom of the to-do list.

We ended summer great. It really was a good Summer! We stayed busy pretty much every weekend, with either having visitors or going to visit somebody. I think each summer will just get more fun as the boys get older, with more activities that we will be able to do with them. Over the summer, we discovered that both Boys LOVE Splash Pads. Especially Walker. We went and visited a few different Splash Pads and played outside in the water sprinklers in the backyard as well. Along with "swimming" in the blow-up pool.

I had a few weekends with a few of my friends as well. I celebrated one of my High School Friends getting married. I went to her Bachelorette Party and stood at her Wedding in June. I was also able to have a weekend away with two of my good friends at Rockport in the beginning of August (went to the Butter Churn too MMMM). My Mom and Dad were generous and allowed us to stay in their camper. Nothing better than saving money while having a weekend away!

At the end of August my Sister Alisha, and her family came to visit us in College Station and we toured A&M Campus. Even though Matt and I live here, we don't get out and explore the campus often. Every time I see it, I just think it has to be one of the prettiest campuses. Sometimes it makes me wish I attended A&M, but I'm grateful I get to call College Station home.

I have been busy setting out for a new job opportunity, that hopefully will be permanent and will be able to elaborate on later.

Matt had a good summer too! He did summer school and when he was not working, he would take care of things around the house. There were many days where he would spend the day with the Boys as well, so that they wouldn't have to go to school. Walker and William are blessed to have a Daddy who loves and cares for them so much.

We are excited for Fall, Texas A&M Football (Texans too), Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And hopefully I will Blog about it all! :)

I almost forgot to mention too, that the Boys turned 2 in September!!! That is just crazy!  (I will follow up on a post about their Birthday and Birthday Party next)

Here are a few pictures of our summer ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... And I need to end on this picture

 

 

 

 

Summer 2015, you were good to us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

4th of July in Rockport

For the 4th of July, we packed up and headed to Rockport for a mini vacation. My Mom and Dad own a spot at a RV park there. It's a really nice place and it is sort of like it's own community where they stay. My Parents have met a lot of great people there the past year and I was so grateful that we were able to meet them, finally. 

It seems the boys always get sick at the most inopportune times. Days before leaving for our vacation, both the boys started running fever. Since we were going to be leaving soon for our vacation, I got them in to see the doctor right away. I figured they had ear infections, and I was right (Momma knows best) - On a side note, I learned that ear infections ARE contagious, which is obvious since they both get them at the same time. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME ... It was a rough couple of days before we left for our vacation. The boys were extremely fussy and I think this might have been the worse ear infection they have ever had. Not to mention, they were not sleeping. At all! I know they must have been in so much pain. But, by the time we had to leave on Thursday, I could see that they were starting to feel more like their normal selves. I'm sure it also helped that they finally got a full night of sleep. 

We arrived in Rockport later that afternoon, so we didn't do much that day, we just took the time to get settled in. On Friday, we went and ran a few errands to get some items that we needed and then went to lunch. My Mom and Dad took us to this place in Aransas Pass called The Butterchurn. Oh my goodness, y'all. If any of you are in the area, you HAVE to go try it. It's a buffet place, but it is so good! They only serve certain things each day of the week, but everything is HOME MADE and so delicious. When we went, they were serving meatloaf. I haven't had home made meatloaf in forever. It was delicious! They also have self served ice cream that you can put with HOME MADE cobblers. If I can't get my Blue Bell fix this summer, I sure am glad I had some of that. My Dad loves ice cream too, and he shared some with William (his first time having it), he seemed to really like it! Walker didn't want any of it. I know he would have like it, if he would have given it a chance. I think his appetite was a little thrown off from being sick, because the kid was not eating all that well the entire time we were there (which is not like him, what so ever). Before we left the Butterchurn, my Mom picked up a little flyer that said what days they serve which foods. Well, we noticed that on Saturdays (which was the next day) that they serve enchiladas and fried chicken (remind you, HOME MADE). So ... We had to go the next day too for lunch. It is so good, y'all! 

I love this picture of Walker on our drive to Rockport.

He is just sitting back, relaxing. 

Vacation already on his mind.

Pawpaw sharing his ice cream

William's reaction after he realized 

how GOOD ice cream is!

 

After the lunch, we went back to the RV for the Boys to take a nap and when they woke up, we went to the pool in Rockport. It was really neat, because they had a little kids' pool that had a splash pad that was apart of it too. Both Walker and William had so much fun. There was a little slide that they could go down too and once I took Walker down it, we had to go several times. He was worn out, and so was I! 

The slides ... I can not tell you, how many 

times we went down them. 

On Saturday, we celebrated Independence Day! That morning, we got up and walked around and visited a few shops at Rockport and then for lunch, headed back to The Butterchurn! We went back for nap time and then later that day, the RV park that my Mom and Dad stay at, had a Golf Cart Parade (something they do every year). While the boys were napping, I helped my Mom decorate their golf cart. My Mom is really creative and so for her first Golf Cart Parade, she decorated their golf cart like a Coo-Coo Bird. It turned out so good (I think Walker and William's favorite thing about their vacation, was possibly all the golf cart rides they took). After the parade one of the people that my Parents are friends with, had a crawfish bowl. We ate, drank and played washers. I think it was an awesome day to celebrate America! 

The Coo-Coo Bird 

How awesome is this Golf Cart Boat?

So cool!

Watching the fireworks with my Hunny.

The group. So thankful my Mom 

and Dad get to call them Friends. 

On Sunday (our last day), we had originally planned on going to the Beach, but with the bacteria levels being as high as they have been lately, I was a little too worried to take the boys to the beach. Especially with them getting over their ear infections and having their immune systems possibly being low, I didn't want to risk it. Instead though, Nonie and Pawpaw bought a little blow up pool that was similar to a splash pad too. It was really neat, and the boys had a blast in it! 

A part of me was also nervous to go to the beach, because when we tried to go last year (grant it, the boys were only 10 months old), they HATED it. We weren't on the beach for more than 5 minutes and we had to leave. Twice! I did not want to go through that again. So in the end, I think the blow pool, was the best thing to do! 

That little pool wore William out!

Even though we didn't go to the Beach, we still had a ton of fun. I was so thankful for the special time we got to spend with my Parents and I know Walker and William enjoyed having Nonie and Pawpaw all to themselves (that doesn't happen often). I told Matt that I think we should make it a yearly tradition, that we go to Rock Port every 4th of July. When the Boys get older, I'm sure they will love going to watch the fireworks over the Bay and spending as much time as they can at the Beach. 

Walker was sharing his finger lickin' 

cheeto fingers with Buster.

William going on a golf cart ride

 with Pawpaw

Heading Home :( ...

Also while we were in Rockport, I thought about how last year before we left (we went a few days after the 4th of July), we celebrated my Mom retiring (Happy one year of retirement, Mom), and the Boys (along with Emi), got Baptized. It's crazy how fast a year can go by. 

My chunky little babies a year ago

We hope you all had a blessed 4th of July.

Thank you to all who have served our Country.

Good Bless you all

Love, 

The Barone Family

SURPRISE!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!

On June 3rd, Matt turned the big 3-0! We didn't do much on his Birthday. I was able to get off work early that day so we went to lunch, the four of us, and then went back home to let the Boys nap and when they woke up, we blew up the swimming pool and spent the rest of the day outside. It was a nice afternoon. But little did Matt know, that I was throwing him a surprise party! ...

I had the help of my Mom, his Mom, my sister, Alisha and the help of his two sisters, Patti and Kristin to help me throw it for him. We all constantly emailed back and forth to figure out what would be the best to serve, and they helped with purchasing and bringing a lot of the items for the day of, so that I wouldn't give anything away to him before hand. We went with the theme "Thirsty and Thirty", it felt like a pretty good theme for my Husband. It was fun to plan the party for him, but oh my goodness was I constantly worried that he was going to find out before hand. I hated that feeling of keeping something from him and every time my phone went off, I was worried it was going to be somebody texting me to say something about his party. But, the surprise was not spoiled!

I had contacted one of Matt's friends that he plays golf with occasionally, and asked him if he wouldn't mind getting Matt out of the house the day of to go play golf so that we could set up for the party. Matt took the bait and the second he walked out of the house I started preparing for the party, and my Parents came in early to help too.

Once everyone had arrived, Matt was to arrive shortly after. He called me when he was on his way home and when he asked me what I was doing I just told him "nothing" and that the boys were being good just playing in their room. I didn't do the whole "turn off the lights and everybody hide" surprise, so when he drove up, he noticed everybody's cars and just figured something was up. But when he did walk through the door we all yelled "SURPRISE!!!". 

I was so happy I was able to pull this off for him, and we had a really fun night! I was so thankful for everybody who came and helped me pull it off.

Unfortunately, I did not take very many pictures. I guess we were all too busy enjoying ourselves. The only pictures I did get were of Matt walking through the door and of him checking out the "Flashback Board" Patti made for him.
 

 

 

The board did not last long though. Walker and William both enjoyed erasing it.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Sweetie! We love you!