Ahhhhh . . . sweet summer memories

Look at my little blogger! Moll loves to sit at the computer and watch a video on Hollie's blog over and over of Miss Ky. She dances right along with her. I love how she's just running around the house in nothing but a swimsuit. Fun with the cousins!

Mike took the kids to visit his parents while I was doing the photography workshop in Santa Fe. They had so much fun with Grandmom and Grandad!

More fun in Alabama at Adventure Land! Just the boys got to go, and this was so special for Matthew.

And of course, no trip to Alabama would be complete without the trip to the beach! I wish I could have been there!

I love these sweet summer memories. But I also can't wait to see what sweet memories we have in store!

Fun, Fourth, Family, Fabulous!

I truly don't even know where to begin! This first picture is of Matthew on is last day of swimming lessons (last Thursday). It doesn't go with the rest of the pics, but I just think it's pretty darn cute! He is very proud of his accomplishments in the pool! We spent the 4th of July weekend at my cousin, Jennifer's. They live out in the country in a beautiful new home, and the lake is their backyard! It was such a fun weekend! I just love this picture of Molly--mostly because she's so stinking cute, but I also love the light at the end of the day.

Cousins--how much more fun can it be??

Justin--Jennifer's husband. I need to tag this pic of him on Facebook.

More cousins!

I just LOVE this picture. I haven't edited any of these, but I think I should crop it, tweak it a bit, and frame it.

Boys will be boys. Once one of them started "going" in the lake, they all had to do it!

This may be my favorite picture.

Aiden . . . look at that precious face! Is he happy!?!

Serious fun. Playing with sticks in the lake. Who needs toys?

Jenn and Aiden in the lake. (Notice Jenn's sun-in-her-eyes squint. This is the same squint I have seen at least a million times swimming with her since birth!)

This picture cracks me up! Caden has the same little sun-in-eyes squint! Same eye and everything! I love it!

Oh look! Gorgeous was there! This is Missy Britches not too sure about getting in the lake.

Oh, wait! Daddy's with her. Everything's fine.

Oh, no it's not! Get me out! My dad came to her rescue and got Little Bit all warmied up!

Love, love Matthew's jumping skills!

Molly wasn't quite sure about the fireworks. Back safe in Daddy's arms.

Matthew WAS sure about them! HE loved them!!!!

Alabama . . . A Blogathon

There have been so many things I want to post and I just haven't. So, I'm going back in time . . . but only 2 weeks. We went to Alabama to visit Mike's parents for Spring Break and there are sooo many pictures I could post. So what the heck? I'm going to post A LOT of them. Prepare yourself and get your scrolling finger ready.

So cute . . . Molly and Granddad.
We went out to Landmark Park for some big family fun they were having. Oh my . . . it was so fun! There was a petting zoo, tons of old-fashioned farm equipment, food, shows, crafts, it just went on and on.

One day, Mike and I took the kids to the beach. Grandmom (or "B-Mom" as Molly has named her) and Granddad live really close to the Florida beaches, so we HAVE to go everytime we go for a visit. Notice that Molly still won't actually touch the sand with any body parts. I think her little fingers on her left hand clutching her knee tell the whole story.

I love this picture (even if I didn't take it with my good camera) because you can see Mike and Matthew in the background. I may blow this one up and hang it in my bedroom.
I call this one "Head in Sand." I got the inspiration for the title from Andrea.

OK. Could there BE anything cuter? No. There couldn't. This is why I love my husband.

Big hugs from B-Mom.

This was amazing. We had a bag of goldfish and Matthew threw some to the seagulls. They started coming in really close to us and they would catch the goldfish in mid-air while they were flying. It was so cool! The kids loved it and so did we!

Now I want to point something out here. This was Day 2 at the beach. It was really windy and cold that day, but we had fun (it was the feeding the birds day). Well, notice that Little is walking in the sand with out shoes. Her actual feet are touching actual sand. She was so interested in the birds that she forgot about her hatred of the sand! It was priceless!

The night before we came home, we drove to Atlanta because we were flying back home from there. Mike has a cousin that lives there, so we met them for dinner. Matthew was so excited because he had cousins he'd never met before. He and Jonah were two peas in a pod.

Here's all the cousins.

I love this picture because it is just soooooo Matthew's personality.

My pictures are a little out of order here, but this is sweet. Mike took this of his mom and the kids while they were on a tour of the helicopter museum.

Back to Atlanta . . . Matthew has never, ever had his very own big dessert before. He was VERY serious about it. The boys thought they were SO cool.

This isn't the greatest picture by any means, but I had to put it in because it's the only one of me on the entire 8 day trip. I'm always the one with the camera. But this proves that I was there!
There is actually a long story that goes here. While we were in Atlanta Thursday night, we were staying in a hotel. Mike and Matthew went to the hot tub before bed, and Matthew ran all the way back to the room--he was totally fine. When he got back, I helped him get his jammies on and he went straight to bed. We were all in one room, and I was sleeping in a bed with Matthew. I noticed him kind of crying and moaning in the night and thought he was having a bad dream, but it went on for too long, so I woke him up. He said his foot was hurting. I couldn't tell anything in the dark and didn't think too much of it since I didn't remember him hurting it. The next morning when we got up, it was so swollen. He refused to walk on it at all (which was interesting going through the airport), so I took him straight to the doctor when we got home. We spent 3 or 4 hours at the doctor and then they E.R. because he had to have it x-rayed. They were pretty sure it was fractured, which, as it turns out, it was just a very bad sprain (still don't know how it happened). It wasn't getting any better, so now he is wearing an orthopedic boot for 4-6 weeks. I have to blog some pictures because it's pretty cute. I'm amazed at the fact that it doesn't seem to slow him down. He is still playing, doing t-ball (more pictures of that to come, as well), going to school, etc. He hasn't missed a beat. Including his Adventure Guides camp out with Mike.

Mike took these pictures with the point and shoot at the camp out and I'm so impressed. This one was Matthew riding on Mike's shoulders and Mike just held the camera up and snapped the picture. The A&M cap is on Mikes' head. (Please excuse the boogies in the nose--I'm too tired to photoshop tonight).

Mike took this one of their shadows against a wall with Matthew still on his shoulders. Way to be creative, love!

So that was our trip to Alabama (Florida and Georgia). Great memories for all of us!

Fur, Fun, Friends, & Family

My sweet dh has been home since last Friday and it's been wonderful! We've gotten to spend some much-needed family time together (and managed to argue less than 2 times--which is a success)! So, here's a little update on our past week or so. Last Thursday, Molly and Matthew were in their last morning of school before break when my car suddenly and inexplicably turned in to Petco. My body moved, as if propelled by an outside force, to the SPCA area and I found myself speaking the words "We would like to have that sweet kitty, please." Oh, there was a lot more to it than that, but that pretty much sums it up. So, on Thursday night, our little family added 4 little furry feet to our household. Matthew named her Ginger Bell--she's 6 months old and just as sweet and patient as I can imagine. The kids LOVE her, which was the whole point. Matthew has been asking for a cat for 2 years since the nightmare I like to call "The Psycho Kitten Fiasco" which is not an understatement, but would be an entirely different entry. Then, Matthew was a shepherd in his Christmas program. And it was just about the cutest thing ever. Have you ever seen a shepherd pick his nose on stage? Well, that's just what my little shepherd did, and I loved it! I know, I know. But I did! How funny!

Then Friday, we were off to Build A Bear with my friend, Tiff, and family. Oh, how fun! The kids all had a ball. Molly even picked out pink cowboy boots for her dog and is quite frustrated that they don't fit her, too! The other night, she wouldn't go to bed until we found the boots and they were properly outfitted on her dog. So funny--she has such a fashion conscience!

The weekend before, we had our family Christmas at my cousin's in Shamrock. Going to Shamrock is the high point in Matthew's life right now. He loves, loves, loves to go see his cousins. He would go every weekend if he could. It is also good that Uncle Joe has a big red tractor to sit on.

Matthew and Aiden having fun.
Molly being silly. (Side note: when Matthew was a baby, I always took his paci out of his mouth for pictures and now I don't have any paci pictures of him--which is sad because that was such a part of his little baby life. So now I always leave Molly's paci in her mouth--I know it's not the cutest, but at least I'll have pictures!)

Could they be having any more fun? I don't think so--pure love.

I have tons of Christmas day pictures, too, but it's past my bedtime, friends. I could have blogged about 100 Shamrock pictures. Jenn and Judy: I'll upload them to shutterfly and send you the link so you can see them all. Merry Merry Christmas!