Cheering on Bubba

Lila Lou has really come out of her shell the past month or so.  Tonight at her ballgame she was very into entertaining the crowd, while she wasn't cheering on her brother, of course.

She gets lots of laughs whenever she puts on these silly glasses and she just eats it up!  She got Daddy's attention even though he was coaching at the time.

Good thing it didn't distract our favorite #32!  He played really well again and the Cubs won their third straight--still undefeated.  On the way home Lila said, "He hit that ball really far, mom."  I asked who she was talking about and she very emphatically said, "my brudder!" Little sister is watching, even though she does about 30 other things during the game, too.  Go Cubbies!

Smitten Kitten

I'm pretty sure a little boy in Maddie's class has a crush on her.  They were in class together last year, but she never got presents from him or anything of the sort.

Fast forward a few months and oh how his heart has blossomed for Madison!  The first two days of class she came home with these homemade crafts from Kyle.  Too sweet!  He also gave her a princess crown and ring that he'd won at Chuck E Cheese, as well as a few other small papers that he colored just for her.  Daddo told her that he thinks Kyle has his eye on her.  I think he might be right. Oh my, I'm not ready for this!

Catch me if you can

I think I may have lost my mind. For some reason, I have agreed to let Maddie do dance and soccer and let Jackson do baseball and soccer, AND let Lila do gymnastics.  Whew!  Just typing that sentence is giving me anxiety!  All of the activities began this week.

Madison loved her ballet and tap class with her friends Chloe and Hailey.  She has been begging me to sign her up for at least a year.  I am thrilled that she really enjoyed it.

 It was an added bonus to be able to watch Maddie on this live feed, even though the waiting room was so very hot and packed with about 20 kids and 20 adults.  Talk about a long hour!  Thank goodness my good friend Lindsey was there to keep me sane. 

Then yesterday Jackson's fall season with the Cubs kicked off.  He got some practice swings in first...

and then took a seat in the dugout with all the other Cubs.  They were excited to play some ball, but trying to not melt while they did it!  102 degrees is mighty warm.

He played 1st base the whole game and made some really great plays. 

He struck out his first time up, but got a double the second time.  Go J man!

The Cubs won 3 - 2...

and our little guy got the first game ball of the season!  We were really proud of him.

As if that wasn't enough action for Thursday evening, Madison had her first soccer practice at the same time.  Thank goodness Gigi and Boom offered to take her--they are lifesavers!

She had so much fun meeting her new teammates.

They practiced lots of ball skills...

did some kicking drills...

and had a scrimmage, too.  Go Angry Birds!

She loved her new water bottle, but probably not as much as she loved getting back into the AC!  She said her high for the day was playing soccer.  Her low was sweatin'. The girl keeps it real. Gotta love it.

This morning, it was Lila's turn for some physical fitness.  Her gym class started back up for the fall and she was pumped!  She talked about it non-stop all morning long.  She loved walking on the high beam...

jumping on the big tramp...

and getting in the pit.

Her favorite thing, though, was when we both jumped in the pit together.  Four times!  She laughed and laughed and told me, "Mama, yet's jump in the pit adin!"

Much to my surprise, she told me that she wanted to do the swing over the trampoline as long as I would push her.  She was grinning ear to ear.  It was a terrific first day of gymnastics and she can't wait to go back next Friday. 

Let's just hope I make it to next Friday!  I feel like a clown with about 10 balls in the air right now:)

Preschool Rocks!

Last week big brother started school, but this week it was the girls' turn!

Tuesday morning, Lila woke up with a big smile.  Why, you ask?  This was her first day of preschool!

She has been visiting NSLC with the big kids since she was itty bitty and it's finally her turn to go have fun there, too.

She was thrilled that her daddy said he would be able to go walk her into her new classroom. 

Since Maddie had been to meet-the-teacher with us the other night, she led the way into Ms. Kristy's class.  Lila followed right behind her--such a big girl.

We found her cubby with her sweet picture on it...

and then the girls went right to the sand table like moths to a flame.

She was having so much fun that she didn't have much time for goodbyes.  She had a great first day according to her teacher, which you know I loved hearing:)  She ate most of her lunch (sandwich, chips and yogurt) and laid down during nap time, but in no way took a nap.  Funny story about recess, though.  Her teacher said right when they got outside, Lila told her that it was too hot and she wanted to go back inside.  Ms. Kristy told her that they still had 15 more minutes and she should just play.  Apparantly little diva girl didn't cause a ruckus, but she really didn't want to sweat, so she just stood in the shade until it was time to go back inside.  She has just recently started telling us "I'm sweating, let's go inside," and I guess she wasn't shy about sharing her dislike for stinkiness at school, either!

This morning it was time to send Madison off for her last year of Pre-K!

I think she was a bit nervous this morning before we left, but by the time we got there she was all about school.

Right when we walked in the girls said hello to the fish...

then they headed down the hallway to class.

We think Pre-K is going to be an awesome year for Maddie!

She was one of the first kids there, so she got to choose her school supply basket (pink, of course!) and fill it with crayons, a pencil and glue stick.



Before we left she was already lost in thought about what she would draw for her first assignment.  The paper said, "This summer I..."  I just bet her drawing will involve some waves! 



Labor Day Weekend celebration

We spent Labor Day weekend with the Sierra Family and I must say, it was a long time coming!  We have been trying to get together for at least a year now.  Our trips kept getting cancelled for one reason or another and I was beginning to think it may never happen.  When I got the call from Stephanie that they had left San Antonio on Friday afternoon, the excitement started building.

Six hours later we welcomed them to our home and everyone was all smiles! 
Our kids range from ages 1 - 5 and they all got along great.

After dinner, we gave Caroline and Sam their long overdue birthday presents.  Lila was so excited to give Caroline the baby doll that she practically opened the gift herself!

Lila made sure her daddy got that baby doll out of the box right away and immediately told Caroline that she would take good care of her.  Thank goodness Caroline was more interested in the teapot than the doll:)  After we got the kids changed into pj's, we headed north to the lake.

The kids woke up bright and early the next day and were so happy to be there.

The three oldest took a dip in the hot tub after breakfast...

and then we went down to get on the boat.  Yay!

Sam was pumped to get to hang with his buddy "Jack"...

and the girls loved making sand castles and playing in the sand.



J man took a 5 second timeout from playing catch to take our picture. 
He's becoming pretty handy with it, I think.  Jared and I had such a fabulous time hanging out with Mike and Steph.  We met when the guys were in law school at Tech and have been great friends ever since. 
I just wish that we lived closer!



Madison was so happy to find a little baby crab in the sand...



while Baby Caroline was content to just eat some sand.  We did our best, but the girl liked sand! 
Sandy goldfish, sandy cheezits, sandy drinks--she had it all!

The kids had a short meeting with Uncle Mike and decided that Lake Texoma rocks.

We went home for lunch and naptime and then these sweet little girls got back up and played in the backyard.

There was goofing off with the slip n slide...

and riding around on the scooter, too.

These two rascals kept messing with me and thought it was oh so funny for one of them to stick their tongue out!

After some much needed baths, we cleaned up and got ready for dinner on the lake.

Love these little rascals.  We hope that this is just the beginning of lifelong friendships.

We took a boat ride over to The Point Restaurant and the kids got to check out lots of cool boats.

The next morning our gang was ready to hit the water again.  We took a golf cart ride down to the lake...

and were on the water in a jif.

Captain Sam did so good driving us around!

We had some beach baseball practice going on .  Love how the majority of the team is wearing life jackets even though they're not in the water.  Safety First!

These munchkins were starving by noon and so thankful for their picnic lunches.

After lunch, Madison asked if she could take our picture.  I am so glad she did.  I had the best time catching up with my good friend.  Love ya, Steph!

Then Jackson wanted to take a picture and Maddie hopped in it, too. 
Happiness is my family at the beach.  We just love it.

That afternoon we took the kids tubing.  The boys had a blast.  Soon thereafter it started losing air rapidly, so our tubing afternoon was cut a little short!

The next morning our friends left early to get back home.  The weekend went by way too fast!  We were sad to see them go, that's for sure.  To help lift our spirits, we took the kids on one last boat ride for the summer.  It's so hard to believe that it's really over.  Boo!

"Kids, what do you think about having to go back home today?" 
Something tells me that they would live at the lake if given the chance.  At least for the summer.