Carnival

Last night Jared went to the Mavs game, so we decided to head out to the Carnival for a little fun of our own!

First up, the cars. Jackson picked out this really cool blue jeep...

while Maddie chose the flower power coup.

Second up, the carousel. Gigi got in on the action with this one and both kids loved it.

Next, the "very bumpy" Alligator ride.

Then it was time for the Fun Slide. Now, last year at this same carnival this was the favorite ride for both of the kids. Jared took them and actually sent Jackson down first and then slid down with Maddie.

Suffice it to say that was not the case this year!

Both of them tried to bail on me, but I just told him it would be fun and we all zoomed down. I really thought that they would love it--not so much. Their faces say it all.

Oops.

Good thing the ferris wheel was up next. They both made a swift recovery and we all enjoyed a fun ride together.

Despite this look on his face, the ferris wheel was J's fave this time.

The final ride of the night was this big monster go-cart. Jackson got to drive it way up high and then back down again.

Little sister was literally scaling the rail she wanted to join him so bad!

All Aboard!

Since I got Jackson's old train out for Lila to enjoy, all three kids have been having fun with it. The older ones like to ride it around our house and love to take turns pushing each other.

Tonight little Miss Lila had finally had enough of being a spectator of this super-fun activity.

When Jackson hopped on to take a zip around the living room, Lila pulled up on the back of the train and began pushing him around!

After she'd taken big brother for a few trips around the kitchen, she made him hop off and give Maddie a turn.

It was so cute and Lila was really proud of herself! Our little girl is growing up so fast. Heaven help me when there are three of them running around.

Go Karlie Go!

This past Wednesday we went to cheer on Miss Karlie. Karlie is our babysitter and the kids adore her. She is a high school cheerleader, so normally she is the one doing most of the cheering. Last night, though, she was playing in her school's powder puff football game--and was the quarterback!

Madison put on her cheerleading uniform and I tried to teach her a few cheers. Guess Jackson got a little jealous because he also wanted in on the cheer action.

We practiced a few chants, like "Go Karlie Go!"

and then Maddie was on the move and ready to go to the game. The kids had lots of fun and we all enjoyed being outside. Karlie did really good, too, and had quite the avid fanclub!

Goodbye Lake, Hello Ranch

This past weekend was very bittersweet for me. My parents bought a Ranch in Denison a few days ago and it is so amazing. There is so much for everyone to do there and the kids are going to adore getting to spend so much time outdoors. Along with this purchase, though, they have decided to sell the lakehouse. And as much fun as we are going to have at the ranch, I love the lakehouse. So, Gigi and I decided that our family needed to spend at least one last time at the lake this past weekend and just soak it all up. We arrived on Friday afternoon and the kiddos were so excited.

After unpacking all of our gear Jackson and Maddie ran out back. I found them in the hammock...well, trying to balance themselves in the hammock, really. I was pretty shocked that they didn't flip over after about .3 seconds!

Lila decided to take it a bit easier and simply enjoyed the view of the lake from the back patio. She does take after her mama.

After checking out the temp on the hot tub water, I got a surprisingly sweet picture of these two.

Not 10 minutes later, though, I walked out into the garage to find that my two angels had literally tied up Gigi--aka Captain Hook! They were all role-playing and Gigi was Captain Hook, Madison was Wendy and Jackson was Peter Pan. This charade went on for quite a while and they loved every second of it!

The next morning Jackson found this lawnmowers and immediately went right to work. After that, we all got ready and headed on over to the ranch.

We immediately found a great spot to contain wild indians!

After we let them out for good behavior, Jackson and Jared took off on the four wheeler.

They lead the way, with Jackson hopping off at every gate to open it for us. My little worker bee never misses an opportunity to work, that's for sure!

There are horses, cows, llamas, a bull...all kinds of animals on the ranch. It really is so cool. We stopped at the lower pasture and got out to pet the horses. J cracked me up by insisting on wearing his helmet the whole time.

The horses were very friendly and came right on up to us.

My dad grew up riding horses and was definitely in his element!

What a pretty view.

After petting the horses for a bit, we rode on down to the river. The ranch backs up to the Red River. Jared gave J his first lesson on how to skip rocks. Jackson did really good on the "gotta find a flat rock" part, but is still working on actually making the rock skip.

After that, the boys did some adventure walking out onto this huge fallen tree. Jackson is such a nervous ninny about things like this. He was holding on for dear life to his daddy the whole time, but he made it all the way to the end and then back again without falling into the water:)

The whole time that we were down at the river, Madison was asleep on the Mule. Not very long after she fell asleep, so did Lila Lou. Oh well, the girls will just have to check out the river the next time we go visit.

Jackson and Gigi are really looking forward to fun times on the river this summer.

We are going to have so much fun four wheeling around...

and fishing too!

The Longhorns seemed to approve of us and came over to oversee the boys in their first ranch fishing expedition.

Although Jackson first chose to set up shop on the dock, he was still standing over the land. This is a vast improvement over the last time his daddy tried to take him fishing and he ran for the hills when a small boat went by and made the dock rock back and forth!

There are lots of ponds on the property, but this one is the closest to the house. Too bad we don't think there are very many fish in it...all the boys saw were some turtles.

But they gave it a good go and looked so cute trying to catch those fish.

We are looking forward to many more wonderful memories at the ranch, but this picture is how I will forever remember the lake. What. A. View.

Spring Break: Kid Style

Spring Break 2011 had a little bit different flare than in years past. No driving to South Padre or flying to Colorado either. Our week began with the cousin visit and the past two days we got together with some friends who are also out of school this week. Wednesday my friend Lindsey and her daughter, Chloe, came over to play. All the kids started out on the tramp and then moved over to the swings.

Chloe is going to be a big sister in a few months.

From the looks of it, she's going to be a great one!

While the kids were swinging, Sadie was busy messing with something in the flower bed. When we looked a little closer, we saw what had her so intrigued--four baby bunnies!

They are only a week old or so and are so tiny!

All the kids were quite intrigued, as was I. This is the first time we have had "pet" bunnies in our own backyard.

Madison and Chloe kept a close eye on them...

Maddie really wanted to make sure that they were ok!

Then today we headed out to Rockwall to meet The Pointer girls and The Martinez boys, and their mamas, at the park. The stroller crew said, "what's up?" and casually checked out each other for a bit.

Then there was a kid pow-wow on the blanket. Only Judah and Levi were not present for the meeting. They had much more pressing matters to attend to on the playground.

After some good fun playing on the train, it was lunch time. This is the best shot I could get of all 9 of them! There were tornadic winds every now and then and we were just trying to hang on to our hats and small children most of the time!

Cousins

My cousin Shelly brought her three girls to visit us this week. All of the kids are on spring break, so it was the perfect time. The last time they had all seen each other was two Christmas's ago, so they have all changed quite a bit...especially Miss Lila!

These five kiddos were on the go non-stop! I am shocked that I convinced them to hop up on the hearth and smile for our camera.

Maddie (almost 3), Hannah (5), Emily (7), Bella (4) and Jackson (4).

They played and played in our backyard on Monday afternoon. First they all jumped on the tramp for a while, then got down and played on the swingset. Then J and Emily had a fun game of soccer.

Boom made an appearance and the kids convinced him to be the goalie. They scored 9 goals on him and were so very elated.

Lila just hung out with the adults most of the time, but here she is playing so sweetly with Hannah. Love those smiles.