Uncle Jakey

My brother Jake is seriously like a big kid. He has a blast playing with my kiddos and they love playing with him. One of their favorite things to do when he comes here is to go to the toy store. And the funny thing is that Jake usually ends up buying himself a toy as well as the kids. They also share a love of Legos and have gotten some really cool legos and fun memories of playing with them from Jake.

Lego time! We are definitely a lego playing family... Jake in "jail" Uncle Zach joining the fun with the kids.

This is the letter Jake left for the kids when he went to my dad's for the night.

Aidan was so excited to get the letter in the morning!

Bowling with Ashy

Bye Bye Uncle Jakey!

Hoppin Hippo

My wonderful friend Jada invited me to join her and her family at Hoppin Hippo. The kids love it there and since it was spring break Aidan joined us also, as well as Luke, Allie Lou, and Anna.

Ash and Aidan

Our awesome neighbors from our last house joined us and Aidan absolutely loves Allie Lou! Aidan playing with Leif.

Allie's brother Lukey, aka the cutest kid in the world.

Triple trouble: Asher, Lukey, and Aidan.

Ashy and Anna.

Aidan looking cute as usual.

Aidan playing with Allie Lou.

My Young Chefs

Groupon had a deal to get a 90 minute cooking session for $15 at the Young Chef's Academy so I bought a couple for the kiddos. They loved it! And I truly think they ate food there (and loved it) that they wouldn't have necessarily eaten ate at home. It was so fun! I can't wait to take the recipes they made and have them help make them at home!

Asher made bus stop sandwiches (biscuit dough, ham, cheese, and mustard (she wanted lots!)). They learned about school buses as a mini lesson before the began cooking.

Aidan make Ramen Shrimp Pockets and Stone Fruit Pockets. They were learning about Alton Brown as their lesson. The teacher said Asher did great with scissors. She does love cutting up paper and has for awhile now and I let her without fear of her cutting herself. She uses kid scissors, but she is just good at it too!

Eating her finished product. It was really yummy!

Eating his finished product. It was also great! The Stone Fruit Pockets had a great gingerbread "crust" that made it seem like he made a cobbler.

Happy 21st Zach!

My middle brother Zach turned the big 21 a couple of weeks ago. I was 10 years old when he was born. His mom Karen and our brother Jake were able to come to Texas to help him celebrate. I also think it's pretty neat that he spent most of his birthday weekend hanging out with family including his actual birthday hanging out with Dad. We all had a good time celebrating Zach! Love you bro!

Me, Pops, Jake, Zach, and Ash after a fun night of cards. Zach and his birthday cake.

Karen and Aidan at the Sushi restaurant celebrating Zach's birthday.

Trying octopus! He liked it!

Matt and Ashy.

Pops and Zach outside Pluckers.

Me, Pops, Zach, and Ashy having lunch on Zach's birthday.

Helping Daddy

Aidan was going to help Daddy plant the rosebush but then got an offer for a fun playdate. So Ashy stepped up to the plate and put on her gardening gloves and helped Daddy. They were planting a rosebush that used to be my grandmother's. It is well over 15 years old. I am not exactly sure how old it is, but after my Grandma Jeanne had it for many years it was planted at my dad's house when she passed away, our house when my dad moved, in a pot at Matt's parents house while our house was being built, now back to our new house for many years to come.

The baby belly is growing!

I have to start out by saying with Aidan I documented my belly monthly, complete with measurements, pictures, and how much weight I've gained. With Asher I tried to keep track of that somewhat, but definitely wasn't as thorough. With baby #3, I have made Matt taken a few random pictures, don't really know how much weight I've gained, and am really ok with that. :) I think I may have a couple more pictures, but here is what I have for now. 23 weeks and 3 days.

Max is growing

So far we think he's gained about 5 pounds. He weighed 37 pounds when we got him about 2 weeks ago and is now up to 42 pounds. He eats about 4 cups of food a day. He loves his compressed rawhide chew bones and blue rope chew toy, hates the Nylabone, can gracefully walk his way onto the couch (he doesn't jump - on people or on furniture), has a bedtime of about 9 (after that he doesn't want to do much and is mostly just relaxing on his bed), goes for walks every day, and is still the sweetest gentle giant puppy in the world. He still tries to chew on the couch and the kids toys must be put up or in their room or he has toy radar and they are in his mouth. He is an eyeful and still has to be watched constantly mainly due to the potty training in progress, but he is a great dog. He likes to play for a little bit but then nearly always follows it with a good long nap. Here are a few recent pics of Max this week.

Betty and Max the closest they had ever been. Usually they are giving each other a hard time which equals Betty growling at him and Max pouncing around and barking at her.

Asher and her big puppy.

The kids really do love him.


Team Chihuahua versus Team Max.


We have to "hide" the Chihuahua water bowl so only they can get to it because Max has to eat and drink from a raised food dish. It seems to work out well.

Max already taking up about half the couch. We at first tried to keep him off it, then decided it was one battle we weren't going to fight, especially since the other two dogs are allowed on furniture.

I Heart You Sushi

I have a love affair with sushi. I remember many years ago missing out on sushi because I thought it was gross.... I obviously hadn't tasted it and was mistaken! Nearly our entire family loves sushi now thanks to Mom starting us out on it mixed in with many trips to Nippons in Rockford, IL, and lots of sushi from HEB here in Texas. I literally probably want it every day. Not sure if it's a pregnancy thing or just because it's so yummy. Due to the fact that it is not exactly cheap, I don't eat it that often. But, when I do have it I am very happy. Today the kids and I went out to lunch with Matt and convinced him to go out for sushi instead of Jimmy John's (which I like to but not as much as sushi). How Do You Roll is an awesome sushi place near Matt's work where you pick out exactly what you want in your sushi similar to how you make your burrito at Chipoltle. I am eating cooked sushi nowadays due to baby boy in my tummy, so today I had shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, and strawberries topped with a crab mix, tempura flakes, and spicy mayo. It was delicious! The kids love it as much as I do and Matt likes it a lot too.

My delicious lunch

Aidan chowing down on shrimp tempura sushi with strawberries, oranges, and pineapple.

Asher eating her half of the sushi she shared with Aidan. They both finished all of their sushi. :)

Let's Swim!

Being that it was about 85 degrees out today it was good timing to start swim lessons. Aidan chose swimming over t-ball and was super excited to start today! When it was over he was actually sad he couldn't stay longer. He did awesome! He's always been a little apprehensive of putting his head under water, but today he went under for 6 seconds from what I could count which was great!

Giving his instructor a hi 5

Celebrating with a Sonic ice cream treat after class.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

The Buss kids (and me) love being Irish red heads. Happy St. Patrick's Day from my little leprechauns!

Maximus Chillaximus

Yes, call us crazy. But we are sure having fun being crazy! We purchased a 12 week old Great Dane puppy last night to be big brother to our Chihuahuas Fonzie and Betty. He is a sweet giant already weighing 37 pounds! His paws are almost as big as my hand! We had a fun time getting him in Temple yesterday and are still working on getting the right size water dish and the enormous crate he will need when he reaches up to 200 pounds. He did awesome his first night at home sleeping by my side of the bed cuddled with my sweatshirt. The kids love him and Aidan thinks it's funny when he chases Fonzie or chews on nearly everything! We already love you Max!

No - this is not Max! But, the breeders breed Chihuahuas and Great Danes which we thought was especially awesome. Ash loved the little puppies.

This picture doesn't do him justice, but this is Max's dad Thunder. When he stood up he was taller than Matt.


This is Max's Mom Phoebe.


Max was relaxing with Asher on his bed while Matt and I filled out the paperwork.

Aidan petting Max.

Matt carrying our big puppy to the van. He wasn't too interested in walking on a leash just yet.

We started with him sitting in the front seat on my lap but he was whining and obviously did not have enough room on my shrinking lap! So we ended up in the backseat of the van and he did great.

We stopped by to visit Matt's parents since we drove past Georgetown. Max did great meeting their Golden, Missy.

Max meeting Betty. This is how Matt said the conversation went: Max, "Hi, what's up?"

Betty, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Look at that cute face!

Max and Matt on his makeshift bed.

The doggy triangle. Max was resting and both Fonzie and Betty were trying to figure out how to get past him.

Max officially meeting Fonzie. I think he was sleeping.

Ash and Max this morning.