Mi casa es su casa

This past weekend my parents went to Mexico for a wedding.  My mom very nicely offered to let us invite some friends over for a swim party.  We honestly do not miss having a pool most of the year, but during July and August, I do find myself wishing we still had one.  We were really glad that some of our friends could make it.  Before they arrived, Lila found Gigi's reading glasses and a swim hat.  She told me that she had the glasses on, "so that I can see you better."

It was quite the outfit in which to greet our guests!

Maddie got to hang out with Chloe...

and Abby in the pool.  She palled around with Chloe for a lot of the evening and really enjoyed swimming with Abby, too.  It's so cute to see them being friends with one another now.

Not quite the social butterfly for the first hour, Lila preferred to eat ice poolside and just take in all the action.

She's perfected the pouty lip, that's for sure!  Sass-a-fras.

It was a very laid back evening, with most of the action taking place in the baby pool.

J man hung out in the big pool and played ball with Adam, Dusty and Justin for a lot of the night.  He loved pitching to Dusty and seeing if he could hit it with the green noodle.  J threw some heat, but I'm pretty sure Dusty got at least a few hits.

After swim time, we were all ready to dig in to the yummy food that everyone brought.  The kids were so well behaved and ate like champs. 

Look at how happy Lila was with a full belly.  Laid back with a big ol' grin on her face. 
Yeah, summertime!

We loved seeing all of you last night.  Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for letting us hang out at your casa.  We had fun.  Maybe not Mexico fun, but good family fun, nonetheless!

Painting their masterpieces

Earlier this week, the kids had had plenty of sun and TV.  I told them to pick a craft and get busy!

Not surprisingly, they all chose painting.  I love it that my little cowgirl can now join in on "big kid" activities like this.  And she cracks me up by needing to accessorize in order to do her best work.

Ways to Beat the Heat...

Wow!  Summer has arrived.  This weekend it went from being pretty warm, to just plain HOT!  As in 105 degrees every afternoon.  How are you supposed to enjoy the outdoors without melting?  I'm glad you asked.  We found plenty of ways up at Lake Texoma.

Get Boom Pa to buy you a new swimming pool and fill it up with seriously cold well water.  As in 46 degrees!  No worries, it does warm up in the sun, but it's mighty refreshing.

Spend lots of time swimming all over the cove.

Bored with swimming?  Get Gigi to play a little football with you...in the water, of course.

Listen to some of Boom Pa's jokes...in the water, as well:)

Sport your new hot pink shades and chill with Gigi.

Chill on the beach with your mamasita and a nice cold drink.

Tube around the lake on a beautifully calm morning.  (Yes, that's Lila in there, too!)

Get so relaxed on your tube ride that you actually fall asleep!

Let your mama take off your lifejacket and lay you down on a lovely beachfront palette.  Then enjoy a nice little nap with calming waves assisting your slumber.

And finally, have a seat under the shade and enjoy a cold one. 
Heat, I think we've got you beat. 
Now if we could just move the lake a little closer to our house, we'd really be set.

Old friends...and one new one, too!

This past weekend we were so excited to get to visit with some of our friends, Matt and Clare.  Matt and Jared are college buddies from Wake Forest.  Matt was one of Jared's groomsmen and they both sang in our wedding--The Prayer, better than I've ever heard it done at a wedding.  They are both awesome people.  They live in North Carolina now and it's been 5 years since we've seen them. 

So much has changed. 

We now have these three kiddos and they have a little boy who just celebrated his first birthday. 
We loved getting to meet sweet Mac!

Thanks again, Johnson family, for driving all the way out to our neck of the woods to come visit. 
We look forward to the next one--hopefully sooner, rather than later! 

All Star Game

The All Star game was today and our fam was so excited! 

They introduced each player over the loud speaker in their batting order.

"Batting third, #32 Jackson Hays!"

Jackson played a new position for most of the game.  We found out he's a darn good second baseman!

He was all ready to knock it out of the park.  No homers today, but he did good.

An action shot of Jackson running to second base.

Did I mention that it was 100 degrees today?!  We were burning up!  We tried to keep Lila under Gigi's big umbrella, but sweet girl was still pouring with sweat. 

The heat was tough, but the East All Stars prevailed with a big win over the West All Stars. 
The final was 24-13.  A decisive victory!  Each boy got a medal...

then they all lined up for a team picture. Jackson is third from the right--it's hard to tell because he's wearing eye black and sunglasses, along with the hat. 

We have had so much fun cheering him on this season.  For his final game he had all four grandparents, two uncles, one aunt-to-be, and us four.  That's pretty cool.  We love you, J!

Operation Overboard!

The big kids have been attending Vacation Bible School all this week.  They have loved every day and so has this mama!  That little 3 hour break?  It's been nice, I'm not gonna lie.

This morning they were all pumped up for VBS. Maddie was not feeling the camera, which is unusual these days, but she recovered by the time we got into the car.  No permanent damage done.

A mere 2.5 hours later, Lila and I were all ready to watch what the kids learned this week.  She got to sit next to Caitlin, who was also there to watch her big brother and sister.

Jackson is in the middle of this pic and in the middle of singing, "Oh, oh, oh, let's go! Operation overboard!"  He did all of the motions--I was a little surprised.  I thought he might be too cool for that stuff, but he wasn't:)

Every day the kids collected an offering and they raised over $1000 this week.  All of the money was divided between 4 different organizations and will be able to help out many kids in need.  What a wonderful thing to be a part of.  VBS, we'll see ya next year!

Girls will be girls...

Yesterday afternoon one of Jackson's teammates came over to play before practice.  Not five minutes after he arrived, Madison told me that she wanted to go put on a costume.

Of course, little bit followed right in her footsteps and a few minutes later these were the girls!

I think Tinkerbell may have grown a little bit since last Halloween!

Nothing lasts too long around our house, so pretty soon Lila was back into her jumper.  She took it upon herself to add a few accessories.  It's hard not to love this stage.