Guess Who?

They say everyone has a twin. I always take that to mean that half way around the world, there is probably someone who looks just like me. In this case, we didn't have to go that far. Check out these two pictures below.

Who does this little girl look like?

What about this one?

She is a dead ringer for Miss Lila. You might think that perhaps I dressed Lila up in an old timey dress and took a black and white photo of her. But you would be wrong. These are actually pictures of my mother! We just found them and have been so amazed at how much Lila looks like her. They could be twins!

Shake It Up!

Last week the kids attended Vacation Bible School at church. The theme this year was the Shake It Up Cafe. They had a cute little song that went like this...

"Get ready for God, shake it up!" They wore their matching t-shirts for the last day and did the little shake it up cheer for me, complete with arm motions.

They had so much fun and learned a lot about the greatness of God. I am very thankful that Canyon Creek had a program for kiddos their age. We all love VBS week!
Especially this mama.

She's so cool...

she's just gotta wear shades! Check out Lila wearing her big brother's sun glasses at the pool today.

Today we had a really fun swim party with my cousin Emily, her mom Susan and her son Riley.

It was the perfect day for a swim party--plenty of sun and the water felt great!


Karlie was there for most of it and Lila even let her hold her in the pool for a few minutes. Maybe she's coming around. Or at least taking baby steps.

Riley is two months older than Lila and they actually played ball together for a little while today. It was fun for her to have a playmate and we enjoyed seeing the kiddos interact.

While the little kids were in the baby pool, Susan and Karlie were watching the big kids on their rafts. J was on the gecko and Maddie rode in the baby float for a few minutes.

When we asked Lila how she liked the baby float, this was her response. Not a fan.

Not so for Riley--he loved his ride on the big gecko! Smiles all around for this happy little guy.

Father's Day 2011

We got a head start on Father's Day this year and scouted out these cool water guns at Target a few weeks ago. Jackson was so patient and even hid them in his room for a whole week. He never spilled the beans, even when quizzed by his daddy! We had a countdown all week and when Sunday morning finally rolled around, J was rearing to go. He couldn't wait to give Daddo his Super Soaker and to show him the other two guns that we bought for him and Maddie to chase dad around with. The only thing stopping Jackson on insisting that they run outside and have a water gun fight was the fact that monkey bread was waiting for them on the table. Yes, folks, monkey bread is that good.

Jared thought his new toy was really cool and pretended to shoot some water at Jackson with it. Little did he know that Jackson had already tested it out a few days before and left a little water in there.

Both of them were surprised when Jackson got sprayed in the face!

After breakfast it was time to go to church.

After church, though, it was time for their first water fight!

Even though Jared had the bigger gun, it kept running out of water faster than Jackson's. This delighted the little guy to no end and loved getting to soak his daddy.

That afternoon we headed over to the Hays' backyard for a swim party and cook out. Jackson took his water gun with him and sprayed everyone in the pool. In the face, sometimes. Lovely. You had to be on the lookout, that's for sure!

Maddie really had no interest in water fights, but she did get the party going by taking a big jump into the pool. Both she and J are swimming really well.

Jackson showed everyone his newest skill --swimming with his face in the water! The only stipulation is that he do it while wearing a mask. He does not like for his eyes or nose to get wet!

He jumped off the side and swam all the way to Uncle Andrew. Way to go, little fish!

Lila napped through the first half of the pool party and then just observed everyone else while hanging out with Memaw.

They watched these two munchkins jump, dive and splash all over the pool.

When she finally got her second wind, she checked out the backyard. I am pretty sure I overheard her telling Memaw how nice her yard and flowers look.

We got our dads the same gifts this year. New Rangers shirts and History of GHS Football books. They are both avid Rangers fans and die hard Owl fans, so we thought these gifts were perfect. The book was really cool--Jared and Scott are both in it a few times, as are lots of my dad's friends.

In addition to the super soaker, we got Jared this cool shirt. I wish I could say that we made the shirt and these are actually the kids' fingerprints. But alas, I cannot. The thought of doing a painting project with all three kids kind of makes my head spin!

After we were done swimming, it was time for the baseball game. Jackson had been talking about it ALL WEEK LONG! No joke, he had me write down the members of the two teams and discuss their positions as well. On the Rangers we had Scott, Lyndsie, Andrew (who missed our game!) me and Jackson.

On the Yankees we had Boom, Gigi, Madison, Daddo and Poppi. Their team photo was so much cooler than ours.

Memaw was the umpire, but when the Rangers needed a batter to fill in for Uncle Andrew, she stepped up to the plate. And got a hit! Way to go, Memaw!

We had such a fun time celebrating with our whole family. Thanks again, Memaw and Poppi for hosting us at your home.

Happy Father's Day

Four years and four months ago, Jared became a dad for the first time. While he was nervous about it, I had all the confidence in the world that he would make a fantastic father.

On February 17, 2007 Jackson was born and changed Jared's life forever. For the better.

Fourteen months later, Madison Reese came along and was welcome with arms wide open, too.

Nearly two years after that, Lila Grace entered this world and got to feel her daddy's strong embrace as he held her for the first time. She melted his heart then and there.

And now look at us:) We love you, Daddo! Happy Father's Day 2011!

Hope you have a terrific day. You deserve it.

Boom Pa's Birthday Bonanza

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. The kids and I decided to bake the cake...but no just any cake. We chose to make the Raines Family Strawberry Cake. My dad's mom used to make it all the time growing up and it was just the best thing you ever tasted. After not having it for many years, my Aunt Glenda brought back the greatness when she moved back to Dallas for a short time last year. But then she moved to California and we were without again. Never fear, though, the cake team is here! Jackson, Maddie and I are quite the triple threat when it comes to dessert making.

Jackson helped out with all the ingredients--he even measured out three tablespoons of flour all by himself.


Madison really wasn't so into baking the cake, but when she heard the mixer was about to come out she ran over! She did really well and didn't let any batter cover our kitchen walls.

But the best part was getting to lick the bowl clean. Even Lila got in on that action! She definitely approved and kept asking for "ma!"

And here you have it--our version of the Strawberry Cake! I was pleased, especially with it being our first time.

So we took our cake, ice cream, present and swim gear and drove over to Gigi and Boom's house. See that bandage on J's hand? Less than 5 minutes after we got there he got stung by a bee. Poor guy. It hurt like the dickens, but he was alright and even felt good enough to take a few pics with the fam.

I was so proud of Lila for staying in the picture without me having to hold her! Now to just get everyone to look at the camera. Baby steps...I know.

There was a little swimming. I guess these two ninnies were such fast little fish that my camera couldn't quite keep up!

After swimming and dinner it was time to have the cake. Before Boom could blow out his candles, though, Madison did it for him! Just look at her face!

So they all pretended together--thank goodness Boom is 58 and not 5. I'm not sure a 5 year old would have taken too well to a little munchkin blowing out his candles!

Happy Birthday, DAD!! We hope you had a great day.

Go Mavs!!

We were all pretty excited about the Mavs before Game 6 last night. Jared and Jackson got new shirts and wore them all day.

Looks like the shirts worked! Dirk played well (finally!) in the 4th quarter and the Mavs won! Who hoo!! We were all pumped about the win! We just may go to the victory parade next week.

Sweet & Sassy

Today was my first time to go inside a Sweet & Sassy store. Madison was invited to a birthday party there and was very excited about it all week long! We talked about everything that she would get to do there--hair,makeup, nail polish, dress-up, etc. Over and over and over again!

After she picked out her princess dress, she waited very patiently to have her hair and make-up done.

Three sweet princesses all waiting for their turn to be pampered.

She got her nails painted hot pink...

and her hair put up in a cool up-do...

and then it was time to jam to Hannah Montana! Actually none of the little girls would dance, no matter what we did to entice them. They were just so mesmerized by the older girls doing their dance moves. My last idea to get Maddie to bust a move was to bribe her. I told her that if she danced I'd give her a hershey's kiss when we got home. The girl was a dancing machine for the rest of the time.

At the end all the princesses got introduced at the end of the show and received crowns and certificates. Such a fun party!

Her Wedding

This is how Madison was dressed the other day when she was at Gigi's.

Wearing one of Gigi's fancy tops (it worked as a dress) and some shiny black heels! She said she was ready for her wedding. Her hair was all down and she had lipstick all over those sweet lips. Oh, my!

Tiger T-ball

Jackson began his baseball career on Monday night. Practice began with meeting Coach Patrick and all of his teammates.

After some stretching to get all good and warmed up, it was time to start practicing throwing and catching. Since Daddo wasn't there yet, Boom stepped in to play with J.

A few minutes later we looked up and saw Daddo walking across the field! He made it! Just in time to throw grounders to the J man. They practiced fielding using the alligator chomp:)


Jackson did good catching, throwing and fielding--it's amazing the difference a year makes.

Is this guy ready for some ball or what?

At long last, it was time to hit! Jackson squared up next to the tee, got his game face on...

and rocked that ball!

Then he took off and ran the bases like Elvis Andrus. I was so proud, and it was only practice. I am going to be going bananas when he hits it during an actual game!

At the end of practice it was time to choose a team name. Jackson suggested the Tigers and said that they could "roarrrrr!" All the other kids agreed that sounded like fun, too.

Gooooo Tigers!!!