Playin' in the pool

Our little kicker

We signed J up for his soccer drills/practice. He goes every Saturday for 45 minutes. They don't have games at his age, only drills- which is nice. It drives Rick crazy to watch Jonah kick only with his left leg and that he's using his hands. He is only 3 years old Dad-- give him a break!!!

Around the house

Well H is doing so serious army crawling- really she moves so quickly!!! And she is not able to go from sitting to laying on her tummy & from her tummy to sitting up!

Sleep is good......

when ELMO is around! H loves her some Elmo!!!

A new daycare = lots of crying for everyone!

So Rick and I decided it would be best to start the kids early at their daycare so they can get adjusted while I am still home, should anything go wrong. Not sure what could go wrong that the daycare couldn't handle, mainly it was so WE could get adjusted too!

So before their first full week of school, we took kids for short visits, walked around school, met teachers, etc. We took pics of them with their teachers, we created a book to read to to them filled with pics of their school, teachers, playgrounds, etc. We talked about it. We 'marked' down to the date on a calendar crossing out days until our first day of school. And you know what---- all that great stuff did us no good! We expected H to cry- good grief she is 9 months old. But we didn't count on J screaming and pulling on our shirts and US crying too! WOW- this was by far the hardest thing to do for J & H! He had a hard time since he's used to Mrs. Julie's (that is all he has ever known) and being home with me all summer and now going to a big school/building, with lots of classrooms, H is in another room, lots of new faces (teachers and kids).

The saving grace was the school has monitors in the office- so I could leave J & H crying with their teachers to handle (b/c that is what good parents do....I know that from the teacher side of things- much better for parents to leave and allow teachers to take over). So I would go in the office and watch on the TV's to see both of them settle down nicely (H settling much easier and faster than J). So by the end of the week- J is finally napping, eating, going on the big playground and riding the trike-- and then well the weekend comes!!! I'm glad we did this 2 weeks before I go to school- it was nice for me not to have to rush off to school and instead I could sit there and watch them for myself that they did stop crying quickly and have fun in lieu of the tears I had to wipe away as I left.

Their school has been amazing~ they call to fill me in, encourage me to stay and watch the TV's and really worked wonders helping J feel good and comfortable. So here's to a good school year with a new school for 3 out of the 4 people in this family!

"Waterpark here I come" ~ Jonah

Since we are going on 30 days of 100+ degrees temps in the area we are doing everything we know how to keep cool. We stay inside except to swim, run through sprinkler parks and only come out before 11 AM and after 7 PM. Fall cannot come early enough this year! To tell you how hot it is- even Jonah (the boy who LOVES to be outside all the time, says it's too hot and we need to go inside- just brutal)!

Broken Bow, OK (Beavers Bend State Park)- Day 4- coming home

Broken Bow, OK (Beavers Bend State Park)- Day 3

Our last full day at Broken Bow. Rick found us a great little cove and we headed out there in the AM for a nice swim, shell /rock collecting and snacking. We ventured in to the small downtown for a little go-karts (oh dear .....it was supposed to be for the kids, but really the adults got really into it), kids made some good pizzas and cookies and some caught on camera napping!

Broken Bow, OK (Beavers Bend State Park)- Day 2

We had a fun day- nothing really planned, just went with the flow of things. We did some sleeping in, driving around the park surrounded with trees and water, went swimming in the extremely cold river part of the park, had a picnic, rode the paddleboats while eating snow cones, took longs naps, played games inside the cabin, grilled out, had a campfire with s'mores and then some hot tub time for the adults! Love us some R &R with good friends!

Broken Bow, OK (Beavers Bend State Park)- Day 1

the lake

So we ventured out with the Flemings (4 kids under 4) for a family vacation- how brave! We rented a cabin, packed our cars with lots of food, junk, etc. and drove our 2.5 hours to the southeastern tip of OK for some fun and relaxing times.

It was a great cabin with lots of room to unload all our junk and not be too crowded. Jonah & Emma even had their own room. It was surrounded by trees and had lots of windows. We all pitched in to cook, clean, play with kids and even made time for just the adults- oh yea!

our cabin

the next Toy Story

Jonah and Mason livin' it up with their dress up clothes

WE love parks- especially ones that are new to us!

We found this awesome park in Allen and loved it- we will be back! It's a big thing because Jonah is usually "chicken" to get on big (crazy and twirly slides). We pretty much have to force him to do it and then he will love it, but it's just convincing him to it the first time! Then he's hooked! Now little Harper~ easy going girl- just laughs at Jonah and watches him like a hawk- he is enough entertainment for her regardless of park, home, etc.

Harper ~ 9 months

Happy 9 months to our pretty girl!

We are moving right along, almost to 1 years old! Oh dear!

Here is what Harper can do 3/4 of the way to hitting the big 1!

• weighs 21.5 oz (95th percentile)
• height is 29.5 inches (95th percentile)
• sleeping from 7:30ish to 7AM
• holds her bottle with one hand
• LOVES Elmo
• cries sometimes when you pass her off to someone else
• very good at self feeding
• repeating sounds back to us (like a conversation - back and forth)
• Likes to splash her face with water in the tub and pool
• Smiles big while on the swing
• pulls herself up to the living room window base
• much better at army crawling- lifting up her left leg
• using her left arm more- yea!
• eating table foods like: carrots, green beans, toast, biscuit, cheerios, crackers, banana, watermelon, pasta, eggs
• cries when she is separated from daddy & mommy
• everything goes into the mouth
• says "ba ba, na na, da da"
• when she gets excited- her arms flap like a seal and her face gets all squishy
• will sit and read / look at books for a long time

HaPPy 10.5 year Anniversary to US!

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary last October! But we had a big celebration with a 7.10 oz baby girl who arrived 2 days before our 10 year anniversary. Previously, I told Rick I wanted to do something big and well we did it big. So we are just now getting around to celebrating our 10 year with a nice dinner at Fogo de Chao in Dallas and a gondola ride through some canals. The gondola ride is to celebrate how we got engaged back in 1999 in Venice, Italy on a gondola ride on April 15th. It was actually a cool night with a breeze which is good considering it's been 100+ degrees everyday. We had wine and chocolates while we talked about the last 10 years and the many more to come!

Being a silly girl

~ Pretty girl ~