August 2011

August was HOT to say the least! We have been having record breaking high's and absolutely NO rain. Not a good combination. So we pretty much just stay inside or go to the pool or Sea World's water park. Jared has been working a ton and is on call at least 7 nights a month, which means he goes in around 5 a.m. and comes home around 7:45 a.m. the next morning with little to no sleep. Not fun! But we are getting there! Some of friends were going on vacation for about 3 weeks and so we watched their dog for them. The kids love wriggley, but we all decided we were not ready for a dog yet! Liam did enjoy his kennel though.



I pulled the warm laundry from the dryer and Liam wanted me to wrap him up in Lincolns bottom sheet. He just laid there all snuggley and warm, he is such a doll!


August 3rd rolled around which was Jared and I's 9th Anniversary! We went all out and took the kids to Chick fil A! They LOVE to play in the play area and then Jared and I can actually talk for a bit while they play. We always have fun no matter where we go. Later that night our neighbor watched the kids for a bit while Jared and I went out for Indian food. I can't believe it has been 9 years and 3 kids later already. I love him oh so much more with every passing year♥








Another little girl, Jessie, Avery's age moved in 5 houses up from us. Avery is so happy to have a friend that close. The girls have been going for walks with Jessie's mom and their two dogs next to our neighborhood in the "wooded" area. They made a fort so we walked up to check it out. Liam is in love with Snickers or "Nickers" as he calls her.





What better way to beat the heat than with Blue Bells Pistachio Almond ice cream!






Later in the month my mom flew in to be with the kids on their first day of school. She is so much fun and we all love it when she comes into town. So my little Avery has been wanting a cat for a VERY long time now and we are just not getting one any time soon, sooo my mom just got a kitten and thought it would be fun to bring Bandit with her. Honestly this cat was CRAZY!!! He was all over the place and all we did was laugh and laugh because he was so crazy. The kids fell in love right off the bat and Ave brought down her little toy dog carrier for the cat. It was so cute, she set it down right next to my moms and the cat jumped right in and started going crazy by flipping all over the place and attacking anything that moved. Avery was so excited that she decided to dress the cat up to match the carrier! Did the cat mind you ask? Not at all!!!

Thank you Liam for letting us all know that Bandit is a boy :0)

This moment was when I was REALLY happy that my mom brought her cat!

On the 22nd it was time to go back to school. Jared also started his week vacation and it was sooo nice having him home. He has never been able to take the kids to their first day of school before. School starts so early here, we have to wake up at 6:15 so we have enough time to get up and ready. Avery woke right up, she had picked out her outfit the night before and was SO excited. Lincoln did not want to get up, nothing out of the norm for him, but he was pretty excited as soon as he got up and dressed. I got their backpacks all ready with their lunches and it was time for some pictures since it was almost time to head out. That's when things took a bit of a turn. Avery went right out and posed for me! I couldn't find Linc anywhere!! Finally found him hiding on the side of the house with a not so happy look on his face. Jared had to get him and put him in the van for me or else we were going to be late.

Once we got there Ave jumped right out, Linc did not.

We first went to the kindergarten hall. It was insane with all the parents and I could see this was going to take forever. Kids were crying, parents were crying, teachers were going crazy. So I my mom and I took Ave to her class. It was so nice and quite. The teacher had a word search waiting for the kids on their desk and they were all quietly sitting and doing their work. My little Missy, oh how I love her and I can't believe she is in 2nd grade!

When we got back to Linc's class we found him sitting at his desk putting puzzles together. At least he wasn't crying, but he wouldn't look or talk to us. Poor kid was so scared. Liam on the other hand pulled up a chair next to him and started putting that puzzle together while he had a one sided chat with Linc. He was having a great time in Kindergarten and didn't want to leave. He makes me laugh!

The final bell rang and it was time to say goodbye. Lincoln still wouldn't look or talk to us so we gave him a hug and told him we would be waiting at the bus stop for him. It was so weird to go home to a quit house. As we were getting Liam ready for the day we were emptying his colostomy bag like usual and Bandit had to see what was going on. Liam wasn't too sure about this, especially when the cat saw his bag move and decided it was toy and wanted it!

We ran errands, went to lunch, walked through some model homes looking for paint ideas. I must say that it was so easy to only have one kid, but I was ready for them to come home by 3:00. We walked up to the bus stop and waited. I was hoping Avery and Lincoln had a great first day. The bus finally came up the street and I searched through the windows to see if I could spot them. Sure enough they were together waiving back at us! They both bolted off the bus with big smiles and lots to say about their first day! I miss them so much while they are at school, but know they are learning so many things. Liam and I play everyday and wait for the time to come when we can go and get Ave and Linc from the bus. I asked them what their favorite thing of the day was and Avery said playing outside, Lincoln said the bus ride home! Love them♥

As the week went on Avery did great and loved every minute being at school, except for the homework part. Lincoln had a hard time adjusting, poor thing. He wasn't used to being gone all day everyday, or getting up so early on a regular basis. When I asked him what I could do to make it better he told me, "Come with me".  Heaven only knows I would if I could. He had some tearful moments so we had lots of fun treats, kid days where Jared and I did nothing but dote on them, and lots of hugs and snuggles. By Friday he was doing much better and has had no issues  since Woo Hoo!!! I love you so much my Lincoln, you are growing up so fast♥ We had a GREAT August and were so excited to have Nana come and be with us, plus Jared's week off♥!

July 2011

Since I took about a million and two pictures in June, I laid off a little this month. But now I am wishing I hadn't. The kids were so excited for the 4th of July! Only this year Texas was in a serous drought and in most county's fireworks were banned. You couldn't even buy them or have little sparklers. So we started off the morning with a potluck breakfast with 7 families and a load of kids. It was so much fun and the food was Delicious! There were even some fun red, white, and blue dishes. It was sooo hot that day. Jared had to go into the hospital that morning to do some pre-ops, but then he was our the rest of the time. We were able to get a family picture, but I really slacked this 4th. I didn't make any cute bows for Ave or get any of us any kind of patriotic wear at all. It was just too hot.


Later that night we went to another friends out for a BBQ. The kids ran around and played in the water and had fun. When it started to get dark I was really missing any kind of fireworks. I missed the smell, the excitement, and the smiles that they bring. I did have a few boxes of pops and thanks to my brother a TON of those glow bracelets and necklaces for the kids. We connected them together making long ropes they could swing around in the dark. My neighbor Val brought out her camera and captures some very fun pictures. We had front row seats to an amazing light show! Not the same as real fireworks, but the kids had so much fun with the glow sticks I don't think they minded.






The next day the kids wanted to make cupcakes. So we made the biggest cupcakes we could and piled tons of whipped chocolate frosting on top and we also filled them with some. They also got their choice of sprinkles. They LOVED them and pretty much licked the frosting off and were done. I love these kids.









This month has been very hot, and with NO rain everything is turning brown. It makes me miss the green of Virginia even more. So we played in the pool with friends and had fun with our goggles! With the drought we can only water our lawn once a week on our designated day after 9 p.m. The kids were sad they didn't get to jump on the tramp with the sprinkler this year. But, every day that Jared had off we would head to Sea World to their water park. Thank goodness that's there, we loved it! I didn't take my camera since it was sooo hot I thought something would happen to it. I'm going to have to get a cheap one I can take next year.




It is so nice to have friends with pools! That also saved us from the heat this summer. I bought this little tube for Liam and he actually loved it. It was so funny watching him trying to get out of though! He was so proud of himself when he finally did♥









On the 23rd Jared had a work party out at one of his attending's vacation home. It took an hour and a half to get there, but when we finally did the kids had so much fun. I didn't bring their swimsuits, but that didn't stop them from swimming in the water hole! Our neighbor Rob pushed the girls on the boat, he is such a good sport. Jared and Linc also loved the boat.





Liam wanted "Thomas" to be painted on his face, the only thing was his face was too little♥ Diane ended up doing it free hand and he was so excited about it! He is such a doll baby♥






I would have to say that Liam's favorite thing was the zip line. As soon as he would get to the end he would turn to Jared and say, "Again"!






Ave and Linc floated out to the center on their tubes and I had to send our friend Scott out after them and bring them to the side.


So this "water hole" was so slippery to get out of. The kids and adults would slide down it and see how far they could make it before they fell. Ave and Linc loved it! And tried countless times to slide as far as they could.





We had Fantastic BBQ and were all exhausted by the time we made it home. We had a great time!
July was awesome! Looking forward to August :D