Busy little Capras!

I can't even begin to describe the tremendous amount of stress that I've been under the past couple months or so! Gone are the good ol' days when I was actually able to accomplish the tasks I set out to do. Challenging and meaningful tasks. These days I get excited when I accomplish even the most simplest of tasks...like exercising, taking a shower, making the bed, getting the laundry folded and put away in less than three (or four) days and maybe squeezing in two minutes to check my email every other day or so. Yikes! What is happening??!! I feel like I'm losing control of what used to be really quite easy for me to handle! Like keeping the house clean, making grocery lists, keeping the laundry in check and cooking most of our dinners at home. Everything seems to be unraveling before my very eyes and it seems impossible to get it together! What's happened to me??!! I'll tell you what's happened to me! 3 kids - that's what happened!!! I wouldn't trade my kids for a clean and organized house and life for anything in the world, but I must say...I am feeling extremely exhausted and a bit overwhelmed!! It could be because Caleb has been crawling like a maniac all over the place for the past three months...or it could be because Kristin and Katie have started fighting more than they used to...or it could be that loading and unloading 3 kiddies into and out of the car is a mountainous task in and of itself! I just can't put my finger on it, but whatever it is - I'm pooped!!!

But enough of my whining!! I'm very grateful to have my hubcap and 3 kiddie-poos! Sure they all demand without ceasing, but I'd be so very sad if they weren't all in my life! So enough complaining! It's time to get you all caught up with our crazy lives!! ;)

First of all, Kristin and I started her 1st grade curriculum September 7th.  I'm not sure why we started so much later than we did last year, but it doesn't really matter I guess.  We're still scheduled to finish by the 2nd week in May.  I use the Calvert home school curriculum and I must say that I am SO much more pleased with the 1st grade curriculum than I was with the Kindergarten one.  It's much more interesting and colorful.  I've tried to include one cooking activity and one art project per week, but we've missed one here and there - since we've had so much going on lately, but we're slowly getting back on schedule.  

Kristin's first day of 1st grade!!

Kristin and her "Mommy teacher" :)

We begin each day with the pledge of allegiance and finding yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's date.

Kristin working on her first assignment of the new school year

Katie and Caleb didn't appreciate being left out of the 1st day of school picture, so they demanded a do-over the next day.  ;)

Kristin is all ready for her cooking activity - s'mores bars!

Me and Kristin get started

Kristin rolling out the graham crackers to make the crust

Katie always enjoys helping with cooking activities (and anything else kitchen-related)!

Of course the camera battery died at this point, so we have no finished product to show off.  :(  It ended up tasting okay, but it was a little too rich for my liking.  It was apparently not rich enough - because they were all devoured within a day or so.  Yikes - way too many calories!! 

So for each day of school, Kristin gets a sticker if she did a good job and tried her best.  She can save up her stickers to pick a place to go each week - like the playground or Sea World.  She can save up two weeks of stickers to go to Chuck E Cheese or buy a new book or coloring book.  Of course, she chose to save up two weeks of stickers for CEC for her first couple weeks of school.  Katie and Caleb get to partake of the fun without doing anything to earn it, so they're lucky that Kristin tries so hard in school!  Those little moochers!!  ;)

A mean game of table hockey at CEC - Jason and Caleb vs. Kristin

Kristin enjoying table hockey...even while losing to Daddy and Caleb!

Kristin is all ready for her first science experiment...which ended up being lame when it didn't work!

Waiting for something to happen... to no avail...

I don't think I mentioned it in my other posts, but after we got back from Jason's brother Joe's wedding back in August, Jason decided that he wanted to specialize in Anesthesiology doing Pain Management.  He'd been going back and forth with the idea since he first began his residency.  For some reason he finally made up his mind and began the application process.  It's a two-part process.  He had to apply to schools/hospitals that offer Fellowships in Pain Management and he also had to apply to the Air Force to get their permission/funding to do further training after residency.  It took a few weeks to complete both applications and it was a bit stressful getting a hold of all of the documents and transcripts required for the application process.  Fortunately, the stress was worth it - because he was invited to interview at Stanford the end of September.  It was an unexpected expense that we hadn't planned for (yay or 0% interest credit cards!).  He was only given a few days notice, so plane tickets were outrageous (which of course doesn't include hotel or rental cars).  I figured out that it would cost just as much for Jason to go out by himself as it would for all of us to all drive out there together...so we ended up making it a mini family vacation.  So we headed out to Stanford (which is in Palo Alto, CA) September 22nd after Jason got home from work.  Yes - the drive was long and horrendous, but I did the first 10-hour chunk of driving through the night, so all of the kids slept until breakfast time the next morning.  So the first half of the drive wasn't too bad (besides me being exhausted...with dark circles under my eyes...).  ;) We spent one day driving all the way through to Jason's Uncle Doug's house (which is 3 hours away from Stanford).  We ate dinner at a Greek restaurant while we waited for Uncle Doug and Aunt Gala to get off work and pick up their kids from school.  Then we headed over to visit for a while before heading to bed.  The next morning we drove 3 hours to Palo Alto to look at the apartments at Stanford (for residents, staff and employees only).  They were REALLY overpriced, but they were SO nice!  I don't really like the idea of moving back into an apartment after living in a house for the past 7+ years, but they were really more like townhouses with attached garages and the community felt really safe and cozy!!  And you could totally tell the people who live their are all spoiled living on civilian doctor pay (we even saw a couple of resident couples outside with their kids at the playground while they had maids cleaning their apartments!  Oh my goodness - are you kidding me??!!  I could not imagine needing a maid for a tiny two bedroom apartment!!!  Sheesh!  Oh well - I guess if you have money to spare.  I'm not sure what that's like, but I still don't know if I could justify a maid for an apartment even if I had money to spare!!!  Anyways - I'm glad we were able to go with Jason.  It was fun to look around what could potentially be our next home (for one year anyways). The training is only 1 year long and then we'd be off to Jason's next assignment - wherever that might be.  It was also nice to visit Jason's Uncle and Aunt!  We've never been out to their house before - all of the other Capras live on the East Coast (besides Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelly in Dallas).  They've always lived so far away from everyone - that we've never have a chance to visit them.  So after looking around at the apartments and surrounding area, we spent the night at Travis AFB an hour from Stanford - which looks like a really nice base (at least it did at night - we didn't see it in the daytime).  This was the night that I dropped our camera and broke it.  :(  I was taking pictures of Jason in his first suit (another reason the 0% interest credit card came in handy).  He was so excited about it.  The only other suit he has is the suit from our wedding!!  He has only ever needed to wear a uniform, so we've had no need to buy him a suit.  Anyways - I was really disappointed about breaking the camera - because we have no pictures to show for our trip (except for iPhone pictures - which definitely aren't as good).  :(  The next morning, we left REALLY early to make sure we didn't get stuck in traffic.  We got to Stanford an hour early, so we played around at the playground at the apartments until Jason had to leave for his interview.  It was an ALL day interview that lasted from 10am to 5pm or so.  Yikes!  The kids and I walked around a lot and looked in all the different shops and grocery stores while we waited.  The interview ended up going really well and Jason was really excited about it.  That night we drove back to Uncle Doug's to spend one more night.  The next morning we began our drive back to Texas.  Only we were so close to Disneyland...with just enough time to stop by the Disneyland Hotel and eat brunch at Goofy's Kitchen!!!  I just love Disneyland (I don't know why).  We didn't have time or money to go into the park, but just being at the Hotel made us feel like we were in the park.  We also walked in Downtown Disney  the Disney store to walk around and then we pulled ourselves away and began the horrendous drive back home.  We stayed in Arizona after 8 hours of driving and then we drove the last 12-13 hours the next day.
A week later we found out that Jason was accepted to Stanford!!  Unfortunately we've had to wait to find out what the Air Force will say.  The Board meets December 5th and we'll find out on December 16th!  I can't wait to find out!!  If they accept his application, we'd be moving to California July 1st.  If not, we won't find out where we'll be moving until February/March!  Eek!  I'm anxious to find out where we'll be going and I'm trying not to worry about anything.  I'm comforted in knowing that God is in control, so that makes it less stressful, but I'm such a psycho!  I'd love to know now!!!  :)      

The kids with Mickey Mouse outside of the Disneyland Hotel

Kristin taking her first test of the year.  I don't remember being so happy taking tests when I was little!  ;)

I need to post this and move on (since I'm SOOOOOO far behind), but I must say that I'm getting so aggravated with blogspot!  I don't know if it's just me and I haven't had time to figure out all the new updates, but nothing seems to be working the way it used to!  All of my pictures are messed up (with huge gaps) and I can't seem to figure it out!  So sorry for the mess!  And if you have any pointers - let me know what I'm doing wrong!!!  Argh!  Hopefully, I'll be getting another story/pictures posted on here within the next day or so (if I don't pop a vein out of anger)!!!  ;)

Last days of summer...

Before I get all caught up in the new school year with Kristin, I think I'll finish writing about the rest of our summer - so I don't get all behind...again.  ;)
So we really didn't do a whole lot the last month of our summer break.  We might have done more if Jason wasn't always working or if we had some extra money, but what can you do?  I'd love to have been able to visit Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim more, go camping, go to an Astros game and just spend some time with Jason.  Alas - Jason had to work the night shift for two weeks, so he was no fun (because he was either at the hospital working through the night or here sleeping during the day).  I hate the night shift!!  Apparently he didn't have as horrible a time as I did because he and his colleague decided to make their 2 weeks of night float an interesting experience (or at least appear that way).  Each night, they took a couple of pictures with Jason's iPhone and then Jason would then proceed to make a story about each night's pictures (turning it into a poster).  So they had one poster for each night and Jason made sure to hang up all of their posters on a bulletin board in the residents' room just to make the other residents jealous of all the fun they had.  Yep!  That's my hubcap!

The girls and I had a chance to meet up with some friends of ours a couple of times - once at our favorite playground by the commissary and another time for tea at Mad-hatter's.  It wasn't the most enjoyable experience - because we had all of our kids (my three and her three), but it was still fun!  

Our final two weeks, Jason was back to his normal schedule, but we didn't have any money to do anything.  Dang blast it!  We always seem to use up our savings whenever we go to Virginia, so there wasn't a whole lot we could do!!  We had no money to buy a tent or supplies, so we couldn't go camping. We couldn't go to Houston to take in a baseball game because we had no money for gas, tickets and a hotel.  We actually could have made it to Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim's house Labor Day weekend, but Jason's brother Mike already had plans to come down and visit us and a friend of his.  Although we didn't get to do all that we'd like to have done - we still had fun doing the usual: driving around wasting gas (which gives Jason and I chance to talk while the kids are all strapped in and watching a movie on the DVD player, spending time with Mike when he came to town and enjoying an interesting evening of BBQ and karaoke with the next door neighbors for Labor Day!

I also spent a few days reading a book called Scheduling for Christian Home-Schooling Families that my wonderful friend Laura recommended to me!  Thanks Laura-poo!!  Then I spent the last couple of weeks trying to come up with the perfect schedule for us to use on the weekdays.  It's coming along great!  I definitely won't be scheduling our weekends though - that would be a bit much!  I'd rather just keep the weekends open for adventures!! 

This is how I was greeted at the hospital when the girls and I stopped by for a visit - by a very bald Jason.  He and his colleague decided that it would be fun to shave each others heads with surgical clippers.  It must have been a slow night at the hospital.  Yikes!!  ;)


At the commissary shopping for the Resident BBQ we hosted.


Jason and Caleb (my two bald boys) at our new favorite breakfast place - The Egg and I.


Jason and our little cutie-poo Caleb


Me and Kristin


Kristin and her friend Carol on their way to our tea party at Mad-hatter's


Kristin and Carol are ready for their tea!


Kristin and Nora


We also went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Jason being done with the night shift.  He only has two more 1-week rotation of the night shift for the rest of the year!  Hooray!

Katie and Kristin at the Cheesecake Factory


Later that night, Jason and I went out for our 2nd bowling date.  Much to my amazement (and Jason's demise), I actually beat him!!!  Woohoo!!!!  It's the first time I've ever gotten over 120!!!  Jason usually gets a much higher score, but unfortunately for him he lost the plug in his bowling ball and it threw off his game!  But I still count that as a valid win for me - in my book!  A couple paydays from now, Jason is going to buy me my own bowling ball, so I can work on bettering my bowling score (and start throwing more consistently)!  Hooray!  And I'm getting my own shoes too!  Yay!  No more rental shoe cooties for me!!  ;)

145 to 142!!  Woot woot!  ;) Oh - and Jacob was Jason's new name for the day (I'm not sure what his thing is about not putting his own name on the board)... ;)



Caleb - a little over 6 months old


Aw!  He's so cute!!  :)



Out on our Bass Pro Shop excursion -


He's all dressed in his camo gear and reading to find some camping/hunting supplies!  ;)


Cute little Kristin is always up for a photo op!  ;)


About a week before we started school, my Mom decided (out of the blue) that I HAD to take the kids to Build-a-Bear and have each of the kids pick out their own bear, an outfit and shoes.  There was some kind of special going on, so my Momroo deposited money in our account and forced me to go!  What could I do?  Even with a special, Build-a-bear is pretty overpriced...I think anyways!!  The girls were overjoyed...and Caleb happily smiled at the wolf I picked out for him (just before he decided to gnaw away at the price tag until it was a useless lump of mush)!!  ;)  It's a good thing we went without Jason because we spent about 2 hours in there!!!  I almost went crazy!!  But it was still fun!

Okay - I have to jump in here for a second!  I do not know what is going on with this ridiculous blog entry of mine, but for some reason I can't get any more titles on the rest of the pictures I've uploaded!!  And it keeps leaving a huge gap between some of the photos!  What the poo?!  I've tried everything and nothing seems to be working!  I'm too frustrated to keep messing with this, so I'm just going to publish it as is.  Sorry!  Maybe I'll be able to come back to it later and fix it.
The rest of the pictures are of Jason's brother Mike in town (while he was here visiting a friend of his from college).  There are pictures of us when we went to a shooting range with Mike and a colleague of Jason's from the hospital.  The last few pictures are of the kids and then of the Labor Day BBQ we had with our neighbors next door - a night full of food, drinks, cackling and Jason dominating the karaoke machine...  It wasn't pretty folks...  ;)

Kristin, Katie and Caleb with their unstuffed animals


Kristin getting her Hello Kitty stuffed


Kristin doing the honors (for some reason Katie was too afraid to push the pedal herself to help stuff her own bear).


She happily took her stuffed bear from Kristin


Man it's a lot of hard work being the big sister!!  ;)  Kristin helps stuff Caleb's animal too!


He's very excited about Wolfy (the name Kristin gave Caleb's stuffed animal)!

Kristin dressing her Princess Kitty



Killing the kids' eyeballs as I try to get them smile for the camera with their new stuffed animals in the bright sun!

Mike and Fia waiting for another round of shooting

Caleb enjoying the thrills of the BX with his crazy sisters!

Blue eyes vs. Brown eyes 3:2

We're pretty sure that Caleb has turned to the dark side. Yes - it's true. He has betrayed me and his sisters and aligned himself with the likes of his Daddy! How you ask? We're beyond the 6-month mark and it appears as though Caleb has decided to go with brown eyes instead of blue! How dare he! Traitorous little milk hog!! ;) That's what I get I suppose. I told Jason that he'd never be able to beat out my blue-eyed genes. I thought that since everyone on both my sides of the family has blue eyes and since Jason's Mommy-poo and her family have blue eyes - that we'd beat out Jason and his Dad's brown eyes. Oh well. Lucky for Caleb, I actually like brown eyes! I just don't like losing... Well - at least I still have one up on Jason...I just hope the next baby takes my side!! If not, we'll be tied! ;) And no - that doesn't mean there's another bun in the oven...not yet anyways! ;)

Random Tidbits

I thought I'd get on here and write a little instead of waiting a whole month...or three! :)
So we weren't very busy in August after getting back from Virginia. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened - besides me trying to rid my house of junk, so I could get more organized before starting up 1st grade with Kristin. And Jason and I have taken up dating...with each other that is!! So far we've gone out about 3 Fridays in the last month! We've only made it as far as the bowling alley on base, but it has been so much fun! We love spending time with our little kiddie-poos, but I think it's important to spend a little one on one time with the ol' hubcap! Who wouldn't want to spend 3 solid hours with ME??!! I mean seriously!! ;) Oh! And Jason's Uncle Lou and Aunt Lynn were in town for a little bit, so we spent a little time with them as well - which was of course a lot of fun!!

Having fun bowling with Jason - even though I knew I didn't stand a chance of winning! ;)


He doesn't understand why I'm taking pictures. Come on! This is our first date in a really long time! Seriously! This is a big deal!! ;)


Obviously I'm excited about losing...because I was doing horrible!!


Jason has to look away from the camera - apparently this is the only way he can keep himself from closing his eyes. You'd think someone with an M.D. could figure out to keep his eyes open for a picture!! ;)


Hmph!!! I won't go so easy on you next time Jason (a.k.a. Edward)!!! You'll see!!!


Aunt Lynn and Jonathan with the girls at Sea World


Some crazy woman diver feeding the sting rays...Eek!


Out for some Mexican food with Uncle Lou and Aunt Lynn


Aunt Lynn with the girls


Katie isn't too sure about Jonathan - he looks too much like Jason's brother Jake (who isn't very nice to the girls), so Katie didn't trust him - even though he was nothing but nice to her. Poor Jonathan...


Katie with Uncle Lou


Sometime in the middle of the month, my Momroo felt like spending a little too much money at Gymboree, so she could send the kids some new outfits! It makes me feel SO bad when she does this sort of thing (especially when it isn't for anything specific - like a birthday, Christmas or some other holiday)! The girls were ecstatic about getting something in the mail though!



Kristin is very excited about getting new clothes!


And so is her crazy sister Katie!!


Aw...my cute little nerd girls!! ;)


We hit the mother-load!!! ;) Seriously Mamoo - this was too much!!! I mean - doggies with plaid matching travel bags? Come on!! ;)


Even bald boy gets some of the spoils!!


He looks adorable in all of the outfits! Good job Mommy!!!


Aw! They look like nerdy little school girls!!! How cute!! :)


Jason's brother Mike was also in town on a TDY from Oklahoma, so he stayed with us while he was here. It was nice having someone at the house for a few days - especially since Jason was working the night shift for 2 weeks. I hate being in the house all alone at night!! But it stinks that Jason wasn't home to spend time with his brother!! Mike did have a chance to go to the hospital and pretend to be a doctor with Jason for a night though! I had him dress up in some of Jason's old scrubs, so he could look the part (well - sort of...the hat doesn't really go with scrubs). ;)

Mike taking a "family picture" to make Jason jealous that Mike was stealing his family time. ;)


I also took Kristin to swimming lessons for 2 weeks in August. It was a tad bit lame though. She already knew how to do everything the life guards were teaching, so they tried to tailor something just for her, but it still didn't seem like much of anything. The nice thing about it though - was that since I was taking her to swimming lessons at our gym, I was able to check Katie and Caleb into the kid watch thing while I sat and waited for Kristin. That gave me a chance to catch up on some reading - something I never seem to have time for!! It was SO relaxing not to have to chase or tend to anyone! It's nice to get a little break every now and then!! The fun part was watching Kristin after the class was over. I let her run around on the Splash Pad after every class. She ran around like crazy squealing with delight! It doesn't take too much to amuse her - she's a lot like her Mommy...I suppose. ;)

Kristin thoroughly enjoying the Splash Pad


She was crazy!! She was running all over the place, dancing, skipping and singing to herself.


My cute little spaz... ;)


Cute little turd!


Jason and I both came home from work and gymnastics to find Michael hard at work in our kitchen cooking us a feast of homemade meatballs and sauce with pasta! Mmmm...yummy!! Was my kitchen a disaster afterward?? Of course it was!!! But it was worth it! Any day where I don't have to make dinner is always worth it!! ;)


I must step away from the computer for the time being to tend to my animals (er...kids) and then get some much-needed sleep, but I'll be back soon... or so I think anyways!!! ;)

Joe and Dillon get married!!

Well it appears my being "on a roll" didn't last for very long!! Man! I was really looking forward to getting caught up and staying caught up!! Oh well - I'll keep trying!! So this post is going to have quite a few pictures (no surprises there right?)!! I'd try to keep the pictures to a minimum if I could, but I just couldn't! There are too many people in Jason's family, therefore there must be too many pictures as well!!!

We drove up to Dallas July 24th and spent the night at Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim's. We flew out the next morning on a nonstop flight to D.C. Jason's Mom, Uncle Mark and a few of the kids came to pick us up from the airport in the stylin' 18-passenger van and we began our one hour drive down to Fredericksburg, VA. This is one of the few times we've actually flown out to Jason's parents'. We usually drive 26 hours one each way, but this particular time - we needed to fly because we had a wedding to get to! Jason's little brother Joe (who just turned 20 almost 3 months ago) was getting married! And to whom you might ask? None other than Dillon Mahoney! Lucky for her, she's now Dillon Capra! Haha! I'm just kidding! I think it's the other way around! We're lucky to have her! She's such a cutie!! We actually didn't have to get to Virginia right away, but we did have to leave right away (the morning after the wedding) to get back in time for Jason to be back at work Monday morning. :( Sniff sniff. I can't wait until Jason isn't in some sort of training program, so he can actually have more say in when he can take his leave!!

So despite the hours we saved by flying instead of driving - this felt like the shortest vacation we've ever had! I was so sad! The time flew by at record speed! I didn't even have much of a chance to spend any quality time with my Mommy-in-law!! We usually spend a lot more time with one another, but this time we didn't seem to have enough time!!! It wasn't like we had a whole lot we had to work on (being that we were the groom's family and not the bride's), so I'm not sure why we seemed SO busy!! Let's break it down shall we? ;) I know I say it every time, but I'm going to try to keep it short!! ;)

Day 1: Flew in, drove to Fredericksburg (while jabbering away in the van) and unloaded our stuff. Hugged and squeezed everyone hello and then left with Angie to go to her house and pick up some supplies while Dad Capra started up the grill for some BBQ. We picked up only the essentials: Efes (Turkish beer that Angie found at a Mediterranean market) and ingredients to make Cheese Borek (Turkish appetizer). We came back, made a deep-fried-splattered mess of the kitchen and wolfed down the borek (washed down with some Efes of course). ;) Mmmm...yummy! I miss Turkish food! We spent some time cackling while we visited before heading to bed. I should mention - that upon arriving, we barely saw even a glimpse of Kristin (who was attached at Joanna's hip at all times). ;) We missed the little wench, but we knew she was in good hands. ;)

Caleb meeting Aunt Angie


Day 2: Woke up to a yummy breakfast of egg and bacon sandwiches and watermelon (thanks to MomEE) before heading out with Jason, his cousin Doug (Uncle Jim's #2 kid who was on summer break from the Naval Academy), Jason's brother Mike (we're all familiar with him-kid #4) and Jake (Jason's youngest brother-kid #8). We stopped at Tropical Smoothie first (our most favorite smoothie place) and ran into Dillon and her Mom! We visited with them over smoothies before heading over to Walmart (for Mike and Jake to get fishing licenses and gear). Then we met Jason's sister Rachel and her hubcap Nate at Target before running over to Borders Bookstore (we were on the hunt for some good dancing DVDs, so we could all practice and be prepared for a Capra/Mahoney dance off at the wedding reception!). Our search was a success! We found a collection of 3 DVDs (Tango, Swing and Waltz). Although the instructor and her partner were a little on the cheesy/dorky side - we mastered all of the steps after a couple of sessions (that day and on the morning of the wedding)! Then we met Angie at the mall afterward and tried to help her find flower girl dresses for Tori and Anna. After we got home, all the older girls (Kristin included) decided to make their own restaurant and serve everyone dinner. They named the restaurant Shamu Bayou. Hahahaha!! It was cute. They set up tables, strung up lights and decorated the apartment back porch. They took everyone's drink orders and we were given appetizers of gold fish and chips before our dinner arrived (choice of pasta with shrimp or chicken with orange wedges).

Caleb spending a little quality time with Grandpa and Grandma


Katie with her cousin Anna waiting for their food to arrive


Kristin serving Aunt Rachel her food


Rachel and I (with Caleb hiding under my hooter hider) are ready to eat!


Day 3: Jason and I headed over to the local YMCA to exercise (while Katie and Caleb waited for us in the nursery). We headed back home for showers before Angie came by to pick me up for some shopping. We were out for a good chunk of the day (part of it looking for our bachelorette party presents for Dillon). On our way back, we checked on the kids at home before heading back out to meet Jason, Mike and Doug at the Fredericksburg Pub for a late dinner and a couple of drinks. It was good! They've built a lot of new shops and restaurants in Fredericksburg since we moved away!! Unfortunately for all of you - I forgot to take pictures!!! ;)

Day 4: Jason and I went to the YMCA and came back for showers before we all headed over to Chuck E. Cheese for a late celebration of Jason and my birthdays. We all ate some pizza and then paired up in twos. Everyone had the same goal - lots and lots of tickets (which were then used for a lot of candy and junk toys)! Angie then proceeded to buy 20 bags of cotton candy for everyone to share! I've never seen that much cotton candy in one spot!! After that, Jason got his haircut and we went back home to watch the kids play in the pool for a little while. Later that night, Jason and I went out to a Thai restaurant with Angie, Mike and Doug (we've had much better Thai, but it was still fun!). Then we came home to for some drinks and s'mores around the fire-pit.

Danielle and Caleb at CEC


Uncle Mikey introduces Caleb to CEC


Caleb and his Aunt Sarah


He never had a chance of avoiding Katie!! ;)


Jason gets serious about winning tickets ;)


Angie knows where to get the most tickets for her token! ;)


Katie and her Aunt Julia pair up


Kristin and her Aunt Emily


Tori and Joanna with cousin Darby at my favorite game at CEC (Deal or No Deal)


Mark and cousin Jack


Jake is all on his own with nothing but tickets on the brain


Anna and her Aunt Danielle


Me and Angie-poo taking a break from the craziness


The Capras have overrun CEC!!!


Jason and Doug get serious... This is no time for fun and games!!! ;)


Caleb looks pretty cozy with his Aunt Angie


Some crazy Capras trying to get every last ticket out of this machine


Kristin is overcome with candy-crazed joy!


Michael enjoys the feeling of tickets in mass quantities


Becky can't believe her eyes! 20 bags of cotton candy?!!!


Mike has never been so happy... ;)


Me and the boys (well - Sarah's head popped out of no where!!)


Jason doesn't look happy about something...maybe I was standing too close to Mike or something. ;)


Katie and Anna with their Grandma Capra


Jason's Mom in the pool with Julia, Katie, Caleb, Emily and Tori


Apparently Katie isn't afraid of the water anymore...


Kristin always loves the water, but it only took a couple of days of this and she was swimming all over the pool without a life jacket! I guess two days of intensive training is all it takes! ;)


Jake sports his beginning swimmer flotation device... ;)


Caleb enjoying the water...and all of the attention!


Doug, Jake and Mike (a really pale Mike that is)! ;) I hope Jake didn't break anything of value! Eek! That looks like it should hurt!!


Caleb with his Uncle Michael


Joanna, Danielle and Rissy


Caleb with his Grandma


Daddy Capra at the grill. Come on Dad! Not even a tiny smile??? Pretty pleeeeaase??!!


Jason and Doug at the Thai restaurant


Mike, Angie and me


Mike, Doug and Jason enjoying a little stroll across this oddly-placed bridge in the center of the tiny Thai restaurant. There was water under it and everything! It was cute - it just looked out of place!!


Kristin and her Aunt Joanna making s'mores


Day 5: YMCA. Showers. Dad picked up James and Tish (who had just flown in from Italy - where they're now stationed). Before they arrived, the guys went out to watch Harry Potter at the theater while I stayed home and got to work with Becky and Rissy on the sun-room and family room. We were trying to get the house ready for all of the visitors that would be coming over for the rehearsal dinner. We named ourselves the Texas Team - since we were all from Texas and the only ones doing all the cleaning!! ;) James and Tish arrived and I had a chance to visit with them before heading out to Target with Tish, Angie, Mom and Dillon (we were helping Tish find a top to go with her pants for the wedding). Afterward, Tish, Angie, Dillon and I picked up James from the house and met the rest of the guys (Jason, Mike, Doug and Joe) at the Fredericksburg Pub for dinner and drinks.

Mike upset that Jason and I were going to work out while he started in on cleaning up the garage


Jason butting in on Joe and Dillon's pose ;)


Tish and James...in his pirate shirt... ;)


Doug and Jason together again... :)


While I'm with Angie and Mike again! ;)


Day 6: YMCA. Showers. Jason and I went out to eat lunch at 5 Guys with James, Tish, Mike, Doug, Joe and Jake. After I got back, I realized my two Texas Team members (Becky and Rissy) were hard at work cleaning and their was no food in sight! I felt bad that they were starving, so I took them and Danielle to McDonalds to pick up some food to bring back to the house. I can think of a hundred other places that are a whole lot tastier, but it was close and cheap. Meanwhile, Jason, James, Mike, Jake and Joe's friend Michael all took Joe out skydiving to kick off Joe's bachelor party! Only Joe and his friend did the diving - while all of Joe's brothers cheered from the sidelines. Now that sounds like a fun idea for a bachelor party!!! It's too bad they couldn't have all went together...it's just a wee bit expensive! Me, Tish, Rachel, Becky, Rissy and Danielle all got ready and headed over to Dillon's friend's apartment for the Bachelorette party. We never heard what we were going to do, so we came over dressed pretty casual. When they opened the door, Dillon, her sisters and all her friends were in dresses and drinking wine! I felt so sloppy and under-dressed! Oh well - we still enjoyed some snacks and drinks while we watched Dillon open all her presents! The party ended within a couple hours, so we headed back home to wait for the guys to get back from their full day out. We picked up some snacks on the way and watched some of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The guys got in pretty late and continued their party around the fire-pit, so we all went to bed soon after that got home.

Bachelorette party (Capra girls): Sarah, Dillon, me, Danielle, Becky, Tish, Rissy and Rachel


I wonder what present (or what comment was made about the present) she's laughing about... ;)


Becky, Rissy and Danielle


Tish, Rachel and me


Day 7: YMCA. Showers. To make it up to Uncle Mark (for forgetting to invite him to the Bachelor party), Jason offers to take him to lunch, so we take him out to Buffalo Wild Wings. James and Tish also come along and we met Rachel and Nate there as well. We had some yummy boneless wings and high-tailed it out of there when we realized the guys were going to be late to the rehearsal!! Tish and I ended up coming along since there was no time to drop us off back at home, so we got a little sneak peek!! ;) They were going to have their wedding at a friend of the family's house. I had something totally different in mind when I heard they were getting married in someone's backyard! This house was gorgeous and the landscaping was beautiful!!! I'm sure all of Dillon's wedding pictures will be unbelievable (which only reminds me of how dissappointed I am with my own wedding pictures - poo!)! Afterward, we headed back home to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. Thank goodness our very own Uncle Jim (from Dallas) came in the night before to help put together the party plans!! He really is a good party-thrower!!! :) We enjoyed the rest of the evening surrounded by family and friends. It was great!

The happy almost-to-be-married couple


Jason getting started on his poses for the camera (minutes before the rehearsal begins)


Here's another...


And another... He'll just keep going if you don't stop him!!! ;)


Oh noooo!!! Mike and Jake are following in his footsteps!!!


Dillon and her Dad practicing their walk down the aisle


Look at those nosy boys - all up in Joe and Dillon's ceremony business! ;)


I didn't have a good view of Dillon and Joe from this angle (the bride's side of the aisle), but Michael's face in the background amuses me... ;)


Jason doing what he does best...stealing attention from other people (by noisily unwrapping a granola bar and eating it during the rehearsal ... ;)


Tish, Angie and me at the rehearsal dinner


Day 8: It's the BIG DAY!!! Joe and Dillon are getting married!!! ...but not for several more hours... So until then we moved the table out of the way and started practicing our dance moves in the dining room!! I wish we had pictures of it! Actually...I think Nate took some pictures! Maybe I'll beg him for some pictures and post them on here later!! We were all paired up and twirling around in formation (me and Jason, James and Tish, Mike and Danielle, Doug and Rissy)! It was great!! We practiced the Tango and Swing (because I thought Dillon said there would be swing music). Much to our disappointment - the music at the wedding didn't really go with any of the moves, but we still tried to do our best to incorporate what we learned!! Oh well - it wasn't time lost! We actually had a lot of fun!!! After getting all sweaty from dancing, Danielle and I took our showers and then headed over to a salon to get our hair done for the wedding. I am so mad though! I surprisingly loved my hairdo (something that never happens) and I have no picture of the back view!!! Man!!! From the front, it almost looks like I always wear it - which is the disappointing part. I spent $50 and it looks like I didn't do anything (from the front view)!!!
Anyways!!! The ceremony was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! Dillon was gorgeous of course! So far she is only one of two people I know that never seem to take a bad picture (the other person being Rachel)!!! Poo on them!!!! ;) It was one of those weddings you wish you had been to before you had yours (so you could steal all of the ideas for your own). It's a shame I had only been to two weddings before my own! I would have done it a WHOLE lot differently!!!!! Maybe we'll have to do a 15 or 20 year wedding vow thing, so we can have a do-over! ;)
Unfortunately, the reception didn't last very long. It probably lasted the appropriate time, but it honestly didn't feel like it lasted more than 30 minutes!!! :( That and I barely ate anything! I made a plate, ate a few bites and got up to use the restroom and when I got back my food had been taken away! Then Nate went and made me another plate, but I got up to dance with Jason for less than 5 minutes and my second plate was taken away!! I was SO hungry!!! It's no wonder my milk supply decreased!!! ;)
But besides that - everything was beautiful and I'm so very happy for Joe Shmo and my new sister!! He couldn't have found a more wonderful wife!! Congratulations you two little cuties!!!!

Becky and Katie are ready to get this wedding started!!


Doug and Jesse (Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley's two oldest kids who are out of the house)


Uncle Jim with Caleb (we miss our Aunt Shelley!!!)


Me and my Rachel-poo


The boys in uniform (Doug, Mike, Jason and James). Can anyone guess which Air Force member is wearing his uniform properly?? Hint: He's not missing his work badge or jacket-closing-device... ;)


Come on Jason! Don't ruin the picture!! Do you know how few pictures we have as a couple?! Seriously!! ;) And another thing...I wish you were just 2 inches taller, so I could wear some heals for once!!! ;) I love you bubble butt!!! :)


There! That's better...I suppose... ;)


James and Tish


Joe Shmo and his best man Jake doing their signature pose ;)


Jesse and her fiance Mike (congratulations!!!!)


Rachel and Nate


Our little Kristin-poo (where have you been this past week little girl??!!) ;)


Kristin and her Aunt Joanna (a.k.a. Bean)


The Dallas, TX crew!! Becky, Doug, Micah, Mike, Jesse and Rissy (Mark is missing because he had just left for the Coast Guard Academy!!!)


Sarah and Robert (her Marine-man boyfriend) ;)


Beautiful little Rachel-poo


Me and Tish-a-lish (and Caleb too!)


Waiting for the bride to make her entrance (Joe, Jake, Mike, Mike-Joe's friend)


James, Mark (Tony and Angie's oldest little man) and Jason


Joe and Jake watching Dillon make her way down the aisle


Angie taking pictures down the aisle


Jason being cute as usual :)


Let the ceremony begin!!


Singing praise songs


Exchanging vows


Dillon laughing after Joe pulls out a $20 bill (he was supposed to pull out his letter to her) :)


Both families (parents and siblings) pray over Joe and Dillon...


While Dillon's Mom sings a song


They sealed the deal!!! ;)


The wedding party


Parents with the bride and groom


A blurry family picture that I stole from Angie's facebook page


Me and Dillon


And now...I'm going to attempt the impossible...posting one more story before bed, so I'm thoroughly caught up on this whole blogging shmeal... We'll see...

Back-blogging July 2009

I seem to be on a roll!!! Sure my house is getting destroyed at a rapid pace while I waste the day away here on the computer (thanks kids)! But at least I'm finally getting caught up on this thing!!
So we spent the 4th of July weekend with Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley up in Dallas. It was so much fun (but when isn't it fun up there?)!! Jason was on call at the hospital on the 1st, so we were able to head up to Dallas the next morning when he got off of work. It's so much nicer when we get to stay longer than a night or two with all of the driving there and back!! 5 hours each way doesn't seem like much...unless you have kids in the car with you... Eek!!!
The first night we spent lazing around the house and visiting with the family. The next day we spent some time out on Uncle Jim's boat and had a BBQ and the next day (the 4th of July), we spent the whole day BBQing, swimming in the pool and being lazy! It was great!!

Uncle Jim with the kiddos


Poor Becky couldn't seem to get away from Kristin or Katie the whole weekend - she spent most of her time with them watching Sleeping Beauty and Thumbalina over and over, coloring and swimming in the pool). I'm pretty sure that Becky has a permanent twitch in her eye from going just a wee bit crazy!! :)

Kristin and Becky


Jason begins his weekend with a new set of temporary tattoos!!


They can't resist putting hundreds of tattoos on themselves and then showing their best manly poses. The only thing they love more is getting pictures of themselves! Sheesh... ;)


Jason always seems to enjoy posing for pictures... ;)


But he's not the only one... (Hey! Get my baby out of that mess!)


Mark, Caleb, Mike, Jason and Micah doing what they do best (embarrass Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley by letting the neighbors see them). ;)


Will it ever end??!! ;)


Aw...my little Caleb-poo...


Marissa and Caleb on the boat


Caleb, Aunt Shell, Becky and the girls are ready to set out!


I'm telling you...he loves the camera (a little too much)... :)


Uncle Jim taking the boat out onto the lake


Jason taking the jet ski for a ride


While me and Aunt Shelley have a drink...or two...


Our cute little Kristin


Me and Jason


Becky


It's too much fun for the boy - he has to take a break...


Kristin and her Uncle Mike


I don't know about him... ;)


Jason and Micah entertaining themselves


Aunt Shelley taking care of the boy


Becky and Kristin seem to be enjoying themselves


Katie watching from afar... She didn't seem to like the water quite as much...


Marissa and Katie


The kids' surrogate grandparents


Marissa trying to get Katie to have fun in the water


Jason being pulled along...


by Mike and Micah on the jet ski


Whoa! What the heck??!


Uncle Jim and Jason deep in conversation


Becky somehow escaped from the kids' little clutches!!


Me and Caleb back at the dock


Caleb and his Great Grandma Capra


Becky is stuck with Katie...again...


Jason teaching Caleb some jiu jitsu moves (I guess you're never to young to start learning) ;)


Oh Daddy - are you for realz?? ;)


Okay - I think that's enough for today...


Caleb approves of my 4th of July flag cake!


Becky and the girls at the computer watching Thumbalina for the thousandth time! Poor Becky! Little did she know at this moment that she would be spending the next 3 weeks with these monsters!! :)


On Sunday the 6th, we packed up the car and we're about to leave when Rissy joked that she was going to hide in the back of our car and come with us. Then I started thinking...we were going to be back up to Dallas in less than 3 weeks to fly out of DFW to go to Joe's wedding in Virginia... So why don't we just bring Becky and Rissy along with us??!! After 30 seconds of deliberations, we decided it was a plan and after a couple minutes of begging Uncle Jim, the girls were off and packing their bags. We had plans of some sort of 3 week bootcamp where we'd watch what we ate and exercised twice a day. Surprisingly we actually followed through with our plan and we all lost 6 pounds each!! It was SO much fun having them stay with us!! We worked out once in the morning and once at night (either using the treadmill, running the track or going to classes at the gym), we ate healthfully (except for the day we had a BBQ with some friends), we shopped, cackled and watched far too many movies. The time flew by (at least for me it did)! Who knows... Becky and Marissa might have been going crazy and were just too nice to say so!!

Jason was so excited to see that he and Mike's jiu jitsu team shirts came in the mail, he put it on immediately and requested a picture to be sent to Mike. ;)


Me and the girls


Our cute little cousin-poos


Kristin playing outside our favorite Burger joint Big'z


Katie clinging to the tree for dear life


Caleb wants to be in a picture too!!


Our poor little cousins were trapped in the girls' playhouse for a little too long... (Becky's eye is twitching again) ;)


Poor Becky went a little crazy and somehow ended up in a princess dress. :)


Becky climbing the rockwall at our gym...right before I did (it's too bad my camera battery died right after this picture...) ;)


The three weeks had finally come to an end and I spent the last couple of days getting all of our stuff packed and ready to go. We drove back to Dallas on July 24th, spent the night and flew out of DFW to D.C. the next morning on our way to Virginia for Jason's brother Joe's wedding!!! Woohoo!!!!! More on that later... ;)

Back-blogging June 2009

Wow! It's amazing! I'm finally getting started on posting something about what we did in June! This is getting pathetic!!!
Okay enough of that - we all know how horrendously horrible I feel about being so far behind in my blogging due to my extremely busy and hectic life. Three kiddies (and a demanding hubcap ;) ) can really take a lot out of you!! That and I'm just extremely slow (note: slow NOT lazy - there's a difference)! ;)
So anyways...where should I begin... A week after we got back from Disneyland, we headed up to Dallas to visit Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley Friday night after Jason got home from work. Have I mentioned before how great they are?? All of Jason's aunts and uncles are GREAT! Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley just happen to have the wonderful privilege of living 5 hours away from us!! ;) They're the best and they're amazing with the kids (a.k.a. our little monster children)!! They make a wonderful set of surrogate grandparents!!! Their real grandkids are going to be so lucky to have them as grandparents!!!! We went up to visit and celebrate their 3rd kid's (Mark) high school graduation and their eldest's (Jesse) graduation from college!! We spent the short weekend BBQing, swimming in the pool and cackling hours on end. Ah... it was so relaxing...

Jesse and her fiance Mike with Caleb


Jesse and Caleb


Jason and Mark doing yet another pose down...this time it's a pirate themed pose down! ;)


Trying to figure out who had the bigger bubble butt - I think Jason won... ;)


Family and friends over playing rockband without the actual rockband game...


The happy grads Mark and Jesse


Caleb is ready for his sparring match!! ;)


We got back home on a Sunday night and for the rest of the month it was the same old same old. Taking care of kids, cooking, cleaning, taking kids to appointments and gymnastics, going to the gym, going on playdates and running errands while Jason is hard at work (or at least he'd better be)!!! ;)

Caleb (almost 4 months here) working out at his gym. ;)


Kristin and her new cougar friend at the San Antonio Zoo


Kristin and her friends Carol and Nora looking at the alligator exhibit


Katie taking a look at the hippos from her stroller (where she is kept nice and contained)... ;)


Kristin enjoying the new hippo exhibit


Kristin feeding a lorikeet


Katie was VERY excited to be able to feed the lorikeets!!


Kristin spending time with an owl who wouldn't take his crazy eyes off her and watched her every move.


Katie with a goat in the petting zoo


Kristin also had her first gymnastics performance in June. Unfortunately Jason was on call the Saturday of her performance, so he missed it (and which also means I had to spend a lot of time chasing Katie and not being able to videotape - at least with any success). Argh!! One day Katie will figure out how to sit still...I hope... We had also signed Kristin up for soccer at the YMCA for the summer session, but after her first and only practice, we decided to take her out and put her in swimming instead (after we found out from the coach that all they were going to do the whole season was learn how to kick the ball). Kristin can already do that and pass the ball!! We didn't want to spend our summer out in this hot Texas sun for nothing!!

Kristin and her team meeting with their coach before they begin


Kristin stretching out


How the heck is Kristin that bendable??!! Yikes! I look more like the girl behind her when I try to do this stretch!! Sheesh!


More stretching...


Kristin working on her bridge


Kristin working on her handstands


Kristin and her pre-team class


Yay for Kristin!!


A random night when Caleb decided to go to sleep with Jason. Aw...


Kristin and Caleb


Katie doesn't want to be left out!!


Caleb keeping me company in the kitchen while I cook dinner


Jason and Caleb at Kristin's 1st (and only) soccer practice this summer


The rest of the month flew by and I don't have much to show for it!! I know we went to Sea World at least a couple of times, I started going to exercise classes at the gym (much more motivating than working out alone!) and we had a pajama party with my friend Cami and her little girls. Other than that, I don't know what else went on... I am so forgetful - which is why I need to stay more on top of this blog, so I can write things down as we go along!! Sheesh!

Jason and Caleb at the waterpark at Sea World


Jason and the kids at Sea World


Jason and the girls in the kiddie pool


Jason and Katie


Kristin happily flying over the edge of a lily pad...


Katie...not so much... ;)


Me and Caleb did most of the watching while Jason and the girls did most of the playing...


All done playing and ready to go eat some BBQ at Rudy's!!


Oh - I forgot! We also spent a good week or two looking into trading out our highlander hybrid for a minivan. We were mostly interested in the Honda Odyssey. I'm so tired of not having enough room in the car for 3 kids, stroller and groceries!! It's so annoying! I love our hybrid, but it just isn't big enough anymore!! Oh well - our plans were dashed when we found out that we'd only get $18,000 for it which pales in comparison to what we owe on our loan - $30,000!!! I decided that I needed to just suck it up and accept that I just have to live with a smaller vehicle. I went and ordered 3 new carseats (safe but narrow carseats that fit 3 across without any trouble). I got a great deal on them thanks to my friend Cami who let me know they were on sale!! She saved me at least $200!! Thanks Cami!!
I also went out and bought a smaller double stroller that would fit in the trunk better (without taking up all of the space). As much as I'd like a bigger car, I think we'll be okay for at least another year...unless we have another baby that is... Then there's NO way I could keep this car!!!
We didn't do much for Father's Day besides go out to IHOP (Jason's favorite) for breakfast after church. I got him a new outdoor furniture set for the patio - much cozier than the last one we had. It was sort of a combined present for my Mother's Day and his Father's Day presents. He works so hard on his garden all of the time, we should have something nice to sit on so we can admire it...while we sip on ice cold drinks. :)

Jason, Kristin and Caleb trying out our new outdoor furniture


Caleb (at 4 1/2 months) doesn't care much for his first taste of rice cereal. I guess we'll try again later...


There wasn't too much going on in June, so now it's time to get started on July. If I can finish that up - I can start writing about our trip to Virginia last week for Joe's wedding!!