10 Months Old

Matthew is 10 months old now so here's a look back in time.

Megan ~ September 29, 2008

Emily ~ October 6, 2009

The Starkes go to Galveston: Part II

Wow! Check me out! Your second riveting installment of the vacation story, on the same day!!!  And with a(nother) trip to the dentist in the way today too. Most of the rest of our vacation was spent at the beach. The pics on this post are mostly beach and they're from 3 separate trips down there too!

Miss Emily having donuts after her 15 hours of sleep!!

As I'm watching this, it looks like fun, but it also has "broken teeth" written all over it.

No children were harmed in the taking of this photo.

Another stop on the "Starke Favorites" tour is the candy store!!  It's LaKing's Confectionery on The Strand. It is an old time candy store and they still make almost everything on site.  They have tons of candy, ice cream, a soda shop and now a coffee bar too.  We went there every day on our last trip, for ice cream, but we only made it once this time. Emily has decided she doesn't like ice cream (as the doc says, "she's not a cow" and she must know cow's milk upsets her tummy.) so she opted for a giant lollipop!  The thing lasted two days before we chucked it. It was worth it just to get this picture ...

My family being silly.

After our trip to The Strand, lunch at Yaga's and goodies at LaKing's, that morning we packed up the circus and headed to the beach. The girls were SO excited. We set up camp and started building our sandcastle empire.

then it was time to splash in waves

then it was time to make "soup"

Then BUBZILLA attacked the sandcastle empire

(which really turned out more like a government housing project)

so we took Matthew (aka Bubzilla) to wash off in the surf.

He loved that the waves came up to him and kept wanting to crawl off into the Gulf.

I was not as excited about the seaweed and little clams he kept trying to eat as well as the jellyfish that kept washing up.  yuck.

After the fun the kids had at the beach Friday afternoon we decided to just do that Saturday. I'm glad we did because it was a great day and the kids had a blast. You can see the blanket in the background. We attempted to keep Matthew contained but it just wasn't happening. What genius thought taking a crawling baby to the beach sounded like fun?  Well, it was fun to watch but certainly a little difficult to handle.  I ended up putting him in the stroller and taking him for a walk up and down the beach. He enjoyed it and my feet got a nice spring spruce-up, thanks to the sand!! I finally had to take him up to the condo for a nap while James stayed with the girls. I got some down time and got to watch them have fun from the balcony of our place. 

The girls making cupcakes while Matthew eats sand.



Swinging in the waves!!



Uh Oh! Daddy splashed Emmy while swinging her in the waves.

Oh the horror!!!

That's not "vacation face" young lady. Buck up!

Megan letting loose and having a ball!!

James and the girls made a stop at the pool before heading up to our place for lunch. We kept everyone inside and resting for a couple hours before we went back down for one last walk on the beach.  We also stopped for a swim before we sent James off for Chili's takeout for dinner (and, ahem, beer). 

As gross as the Galveston beaches can be, I'm glad we have a beach so close to home. We certainly don't live 45 minutes from it anymore but at least it's a one-stop car ride away.  Besides, there's a lot more to Galveston than the beach and that's why we keep going back.  On our way home, we stopped in The Heights (Houston) for brunch with some friends. It was fun to catch up with everyone. We got home around 6:00 Sunday night and I think everyone, even the girls, were happy to be home.

The Starkes go to Galveston, Part I

I am doing this vacation post in multiple entries because of the number of pictures I have chosen to upload from the first part of our trip. We had so much fun when we went down to Galveston in August that we decided to try it again. We were even able to rent the same condo and the girls were so excited to be back in the same place.  The room with the two beds, one for Megan and one for Emily, was their favorite. I was a little apprehensive from the beginning because I knew it would be a little more difficult with a mobile Matthew but we really weren't in the condo that much, during the day.

We took the shortest route this time with a stop at Dunkin on our way out of town. Usually we like to drive through Pearland and see the old house and take the scenic route along Highway 6 but this time we just wanted to get there.

I think Matthew was comfy in his new car seat.

Matthew loves shoes so when you put them in the closet he goes in after them.

Megan loved the stools at the breakfast bar but having Emmy up there made me nervous, considering how often she falls and hurts herself.  :-)

We went to the Railroad Museum on our first day. We were anxious to see all they've done to rebuild after Ike hit in 2008.  The museum was absolutely destroyed by Ike.  What the hurricane didn't take, the storm surge did. What the surge didn't take, the mold did. The lobby had something like 8 feet of water in it and the rail cars in the back were just tossed around. The china displays were shattered. The model train display was destroyed. The "Ghosts of Travelers Past" statues (you'll see a pic in a minute) were tossed around in the water and destroyed. It was devastating to see the pics once they got back in after Ike.  They've qualified for $3 million in FEMA grants and I think the museum will be better than it was before Ike once they're done with all the renovations.

Megan being sassy saying, "Where's my dinner?!".

This is a caboose they run on a short line by the museum on the weekends.

I think it's closed because of road construction now. They weren't running it while we were there.

Ghosts of Travelers Past

I have a picture of James doing this from more than 10 (maybe 15) years ago.

Funny that we got the girls involved.

Megan loved the Gazebo.

She wanted to get married in it.

So she married me.

They were so excited to get to ring the bell.

We heard it during our whole visit and they kept asking where it was.

Megan wanted to pick the flower but we took a picture in stead.

I had forgotten how big Hibiscus grows in Houston. It's too hot and dry up here!

Yes, Matthew was there too.

All of my favorite people peeking out at me!

Back to the Gazebo for some Ring Around The Rosie.

After the museum we exited out to the Strand in search of some lunch. We came up empty because there just aren't that many places down there. Yaga's has been around forever and they had a 20 minute wait so we opted out. James went to get the car with Matthew while I ran around with the girls.  They were very curious about this red box on the street. They didn't quite understand what purpose a phone booth serves.  They sure did have fun playing in it though.

After driving through McDonald's, eating our late lunch in the condo and fighting over My Little Pony toys, we suited up and headed down to the pool for a swim. The girls have been talking about the "vacation swimming pool" since August and we were finally going!! This was also Bubby's first swim!!  He absolutely LOVED it.

After the swim, back up to the condo for a bath, a snack, and some quiet time out of the sun. Emily was asleep on the couch by 4:30. I couldn't wake her up for dinner (which we just ate at the condo - leftover delivery from the previous night and grilled cheeses).  I got her changed into her jammies and in bed, thinking she would come out and wake up but NOPE! She slept until morning, which was good since all they did the first night was PLAY and they were up very late. Silly girls!

It was a fun start to a good week.  I'll update with "the rest of the story" soon.  Good day!



My Lil Angel

The city hosts an Under 4 soccer league and they have teams for boys AND girls.  My first few years of soccer were on mixed, or co-ed, teams but I think this is WAY better.  This season they have 16 teams made up of 8 players, all 3-4 years old.  Really? It's a real "soccer factory" up here? Unfortunately it has been really cold for the first few games and practices but it should be close to perfect for tomorrow's game, which also will be the first game NOT at 8:00 am.  The coach is a moron who knows nothing about soccer and has great plans for his daughter to grow up playing the sport, on select teams, and the whole bit.  Maybe he should have learned the rules before volunteering to be a coach.  Just sayin'.  The assistant coach, on the other hand, played collegiate soccer and was in the Olympic Development Program (fancy for super select regional teams) so we are very happy to have Coach Sara on board.

The team name is the Lil Angels.  I think that's just cheesy and would love to see something a little more ... rugged ... or something. 

Megan is still my shy, timid little girl. She spends most of the games kind of following the other girls around the field. I know she can do it. She really is pretty good at kicking and dribbling but she doesn't get in there and get pushy like the other girls, like I know Emmy will when she has her chance at soccer next fall.  It's almost like you can tell who has big siblings by watching them play.

You can see Coach Marcus in the pic below ...

Like I said, it has been cold. Both Emily and Matthew have been super troopers though!

It really is a good thing they allow the coaches on the field. That's Coach Sara below helping Megan with a throw in. All the rules are the same but there's no off-sides and they don't keep score. Keep in mind I said "they" don't keep score.  James does.  I try but usually it's 8-5 or something crazy like that and I lose count. 

So far we have had one rain out, two 8:00 am FREEZING COLD games, and we missed a game over Spring Break because we were out of town.  Out of those 3 games, we have lost two and won one, or so our coach said.  Apparently he's keeping score too. It really is a lot of fun to watch and I think she's still enjoying it.  We should have a total of 8 games so, with the makeup for the rain out we should have 5 more to go. 

February - Getting Back on Track

February was another busy month around here but February brings the end of the birthday and holiday madness that is November - February.  We have a while to figure out Matthew's first birthday and I already have some ideas going but we have a few weeks before I have to worry too much about that.

In beginning of February every year the city hosts a Daddy Daughter dance for girls ages 4+. Since we couldn't quite figure out how to let Megan go without Emily we just broke the rules and James took both of them. They have about 4 different time slots available so they attended the first dance time, which was in the early afternoon for the youngest party goers. They had fun, for about 30 minutes. Apparently there was a lot of waiting in line for pictures, food, drink, etc.  I wish I had pics of the event but this is all I have to offer since, well, I'm the mom and I'm not allowed. 

One of Emily's classmates invited her over for a Princess Tea Birthday Party. Oh it was SO MUCH FUN. I felt so bad that Megan wasn't invited but I think it was good for Emily to have some time away from the big sister. You know, you would think the big sister is the bossy, overbearing one, and at times she is, but Em is so strong willed it often seems the other way around. None the less, she doesn't often get much one on one time with me so it was fun. The girls all wore princess dresses (or borrowed one from Hannah) and they had moms doing makeup, hair and nails. They also served tea and cupcakes. It was a really cute idea. There was even a surprise visit from CINDERELLA!!

The girls had their Valentine's Day parties at school, on Valentine's Day. It was a good way to spend my birthday. The parties were actually at different times so I was able to attend them both. Usually I'm running down the hall, pushing the stroller, as I hop from party to party and I feel like I miss so much when I do it that way.  Megan's class made bags, decorated and ate cookies, and played Valentine's Bingo.

I have no pictures of Emmy's party because earlier in the day they were playing in the church (it was a yucky day outside) and she fell. Again. She busted her lip pretty bad and, yeah, broke one of her two repaired front teeth again. Luckily, her lip hurt and her teeth didn't so we knew she would survive. She was having a hard time eating and just cried during most of the party. Poor kid.   

We took her back to the dentist and he said he would redo the repair FOR FREE but we just aren't sure we want her to go through all of that again. The sedation wasn't fun for her and she gave 'em Hell so they had to restrain her so that wasn't fun for us to watch. Fast forward about a week ... and she broke the other one. Fast forward another week and she fell again on Spring Break and did a real number on her lip again so I think we'll be going back for another look at the teeth. Megan actually took a spill a couple weeks before Spring Break and she broke the fall with her face. Her teeth seemed OK at first but now they appear a little discolored and, strangely enough, further apart?  So both of them are going back to the dentist. 

I swear they're going to call CPS. 

I promise, I didn't do it.

My poor girlies.

OH and on spring break Bubby also bloodied his mouth. If his top teeth were all the way in he might have broken them too. 

Or did I share too much and now you're going to call CPS?

:-)