8 years

This past Tuesday was our 8 year anniversary. 8 years! We went to dinner last night at Del Frisco's and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

So much has happened in the past 8 years. We've lived in 3 different cities, Jared went to law school and began his career, we had some kiddos and have made lots of great memories over the years. There is no one I'd rather "do life" with than him. Happy Anniversary, Babe!

A Must Read

I just finished reading the most amazing book. It's called Heaven is for Real and is the account of a 4 year old boy who got to visit heaven.

I had heard about it a few months ago and am so glad that I finally took the time to read it. Everyone should read this book! As soon as possible. It may just change your life.

Princess Playdate

This morning Chloe came over for a much-needed playdate. Before she arrived, Madison had already requested that they play dress-up. She had picked out her dress and was ready to go!

Chloe is a true girly girl, so she was all about playing dress-up. She chose to wear this lovely creation by Ariel and then both girls picked out high heels and purses. Madison got the Hello Kitty purse...not so sure it matched, but she loved the look!

As we were dressing the girls, Jackson was mysteriously absent. A few minutes later we figured out why--he had been furiously putting on his fireman coat and hat and had found all of the fireman accessories, too.

The whole time Lila just sat back in Maddie's chair and took in all the action.

Then she went over and found Maddie's new ruby red slippers...put them on and wore them around the house for the next 10 minutes. Too cute.

So glad that we got to enjoy a fun morning indoors with our good friends. Thanks Lindsey and Chloe for coming to visit. We had a really great time!

Tell me when??

Tell me when these two got big enough to hang out and become friends?

They love sitting in the recliner together...

telling each other jokes...

and watching cartoons!

Then tell me when my baby got big enough to carry around a baby doll.

She asks for her baby to repeatedly get swaddled in her blanket and then hugs and rocks her all over the house. Too, too cute.

Tell me when Miss Maddie May got big enough to ride a tricycle around our neighborhood?
Seems like just yesterday those short little legs were in a stroller. Wait, that was yesterday! Even though she can ride her trike, she does still prefer to be chaufeured around town.

Finally, please tell me when my firstborn got big enough to ask for the ipod and headphones so that he could jam to Jason Aldean?!

The boy's got good taste--I like me some Jason Aldean, too:) Rock on, brother man!

Wacky Wednesday!

With it being so darn hot outside, the kids and I have been cooped up a little too long! Jackson asks us to record the Rangers games at night so that he can watch them in the morning. Here he is combining two of his passions...

baseball and bacon!

The first zany thing of the week was J getting dressed in all of his ski gear--harness included! He had Maddie hold the harness reigns and then he ran around the house with her holding on for dear life! If I wasn't so afraid that she was about to do a face plant I would have taken a picture of that scene, too.

Today was the wackiest day yet, though. This morning I found Madison asleep underneath the bench at the foot of our bed. I did a double take because I thought my eyes were surely deceiving me! She had come down to our room during the night, crawled underneath there, and gone right back to sleep. If that's not wacky, I don't know what is!

Right after I snapped that pic of Madison, J said, "look mom!" and I turned to see this. I thought he had been busy coloring a picture, when in fact he had been busy putting all of the markers in his boxers. Hey, why not?

Right after I snapped "Marker Man," I sat back down at the kitchen table to try and read a story in the newspaper. I know, lofty goal. I had gotten through a few sentences when I heard Lila start hollering for me. I didn't see her anywhere until I checked underneath the table.

This little girl is loving hide and go seek right now! Just look at that grin.

Play Ball!

Last night was the end of the Tiger's T-ball season. Jackson was so excited all day and asked that I give him a countdown every hour until it was game time.

The first inning, he got to play pitcher.

He was super serious about his position...

and got to field 100% of the balls hit in the first inning! He'd catch the grounder...

then chase down the runner and tag them out.

Of course, in Small Fry T-ball, no one actually gets out. I was so glad that he just went along with this rule and didn't start hollering about how that player needed to go back to the dugout!

Then it was time to bat--J's favorite part of the night. He got his batting gloves on and got a hit that went all the way to right field. Go J man!

Daddo coached 1st base and Boom coached 3rd. Here's J with his eyes on the prize.

Pure joy right after he crossed home plate!

After the game was over, everyone shook hands...

and then got to do the Tiger cheer. Even Daddo got caught up in the moment and let out a big roar! Ha!

The Tigers had such a fun season and really did learn a lot:)

Jackson loves his trophy!

He even got to enjoy a nice, cold slice of watermelon after the game. What a treat! We all had so much fun cheering him on this summer. Can't wait for fall ball.

Tree House!

This afternoon the kids got a great big surprise. Memaw and Poppi had called this morning to tell Daddo that they had something fun for all the kids. So after going to a birthday party, we headed on over. Can you imagine their faces when they saw it was a real tree house?!

They were so excited and immediately ran up the stairs to check it out.

How cool! I think these two will have lots of picnics this fall in their new tree house!

Then after they eat, they can zoom down the slide a bajillion times:)

They both tested it out today--first Maddie...

then Jackson. Both loved it and highly recommended it to little sister.

So after talking it over, we decided that she should try it out, too.

I got to do the honors and we had a fun little trip down the slide. The kids had so much fun that they asked to stay and play once it was time to load up in the car. Memaw and Poppi were nice enough to grant their request. I'm sure they have slid down at least 34 times by now! What fun!

15 month check-up

Yes, I know, time is just zooming by! My baby is now 15 months old! How can that really be?

This morning we went to see Dr. Betty for her check-up. We put on her cute little dress, pink shoes, yellow hair bow and grabbed "little baby" before we headed out the door. At first she was a little apprehensive in the waiting room...

but very soon broke out with a big old smile:)

After she got her height, weight and head measured the nurse left the room. That let us have some fun and we put little baby up on the scale with Lila. Actually, I just wanted a pic of her on the scale--she was not so thrilled to be back up there!

Lila Lou is doing great according to Dr. Betty. She is running everywhere, a pretty good eater and sleeping well at night. She is talking more all the time and can say, "bebe, dog, ball, mama, dada, hi, this, yes, and gigi." She knows the signs for "more, please and my favorite, all done." She has not started saying no, but loves to shake her head no and giggle at you as she does it.

Here are her stats:

Height: 31 inches (75th%)

Weight: 19 lbs. 14.8 oz (5th%)

Head: 18 3/4 (90%)

Still long and lean, with a big noggin'! Just like her big brother.

Fishing Buddies

Both the big kids now have their very own fishing rods. They have practiced casting in our backyard and recently took them up to the lake. But they have yet to make it to a pond or the lake...for now, the hot tub is the fishing spot of choice!

After a few failed attempts to fish with Jackson, we have sort of given up on it for the time being. The kids have been just as happy to pretend fish in the hot tub. Go figure.

All I know is that it's a lot less messy and we can supervise this from indoors, while enjoying some nice A/C. Now that's a win for everyone!

Summer Camp

Summer Camp began this week!! Hip, hip, hooray!!

School ended 6 weeks ago and the kids were starting to go stir crazy. As was I. Summer camp arrived just in the nick of time! They had their first two days this week. Each day has a different theme and Thursday's theme was "Pajama Day." They were beyond excited about this! I must admit, I liked it, too. I got to cross off "pick out an outfit" from my list of things to do before we could leave the house. Gotta love that:)

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July came and went with a bang this year! We celebrated all day long with food, fun, sun and of course, fireworks.

The three musketeers all dressed up for the holiday.

My blue eyed girl showing off her American pride.

And my brown eyed girl rockin' some awesome red, white and blue sunglasses.

Daddo also got in on the fun and pulled out his American Eagle/American Flag shirt that he bought from Walmart last year. A $5 purchase and so well worth it!

This year we had some special guests from Alabama come to see us. Here are most of us before the pool party on the 4th.

Right as the pool party was getting started, Lila woke up in a sassy mood. Just look at those pouty lips!

Working the camera now! Too funny:)

Since I didn't get a pic with my dad on Father's Day, I made sure to do so when he walked out wearing this shirt we had made for him a few years ago. Lila was still chillin' in her shades. Such a cool cat.

We did lots of swimming, floating and sliding and had a very nice afternoon outdoors.

The two Ronny's were plotting something I'm sure while hanging out under the rocks:)

After a cookout at the Hays', we headed back to Gigi and Boom's for the fireworks show. It was 10:00 before it even started and all three kids stayed awake for the entire show. Even Lila was mesmerized for a while! Maddie is still talking about the finale and Jackson declared it "really cool!"

Happy 4th of July!