Lily's Week with MiMi & Grant

This summer, Lily spent a week at Mimi & Grant's house - all by herself! She was so excited to go & have them all to herself. They stayed very busy & (they say) they had a great time! :o)

Pool Time!

Motorized bumper boats! How cool!

Children's Museum

"Shopping" for ice cream - what else?

Feeding the ducks

The babies are so cute!

Aquarium

The shark train!

Looks like lots of fun was had by all! Thank you so much MiMi & Grant!!!

Just one question: Can I spend the week at Mimi & Grants?! hahaha

Sleeping Beauty

Lily has recently decided that a sleep mask is absolutely necessary for her to go to sleep. (Not sure where she got this idea, but I think Hannah Montana might be needing to find a different little girl to influence). All she talked about for DAYS was going to the mall & getting this sleep mask - and that she could be sleeping a whole ten minutes sooner if she could just get this sleep mask. (My suggestion was to turn off the night light if brightness was the issue, but my suggestion was quickly refused.) So after the third day of hearing nothing but a certain little girl begging to go to the mall, I relented and bought her one. For once in her life, she couldn't wait to go to bed. She slept with it for 2 nights & I haven't seen it since. Well, that was fun while it lasted!

The sleeping princess

Blue Bell Creamery

We took the kids to the Blue Bell Creamery for a tour (which Brian says he remembers doing when he was in kindergarten!). We all had a great time & Lily has a new career choice - after finding out if she works at Blue Bell she can eat as much ice cream as she wants!

Enjoying their ice cream after the tour

Paw Paw's

Getting a ride from Dad on the "wagon-horse" - Lily's riding in with her (water)guns blazing! :o)

Lily's Fancy Party Day

Lily's friend Addison decided she didn't want a birthday party this year - she wanted to go out with a few of her closest friends dressed to the nines! Lily was invited to dress in her finest & hit the town for a classy afternoon with Addison. They had lunch at the finest establishment in town - McDonald's, of course! (haha) and then went to have their fingernails & toenails painted at the nail salon. Lily came home super excited ~ and with BLACK fingernail & toenail polish! Very chic.

Aunt Julie's Lake House

Helping his Granny fish

The sunset view from Julie's deck

Out on the boat

Tubing!

Thank you, Julie, for a wonderful weekend!!!

Freedom Fest at Fort Hood

Daddy & the kids watching Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley!

Waiting for the fireworks

"WOW"

Jake was so cute watching the fireworks - he kept putting his arms up in the air & saying something that sounded like "BOOM! BOOM!" and then he would clap his hands & point at the fireworks. :o) Fort Hood puts on an amazing fireworks show & we were so happy we could enjoy them with Brian.

4th at the Lake

We were invited to spend the 4th of July with one of Lily's friends' family out at Lake Belton. We all had such a great time and are so thankful for our friends hospitality!! Unfortunately Brian got called into work last minute on Saturday & couldn't join us. :o( We made the best of the day without him and were able to meet up with him later in the evening for the 'Freedom Fest' on Fort Hood.

Staying cool in the trailer

Out on the boat
Jake's favorite spot on the boat - driving with Gordon!

Our "lookouts" - Lily & Ashlyn

I thought Lily would be scared to death to go swimming in the lake - Boy, was I wrong! She jumped right off the side of the boat like she'd been doing it for years & swam all over the place!

Lily & Ashlyn

Jake didn't know what to think at first, but warmed up to the idea of swimming pretty quickly.

Lily giving Mom a heart attack wanting to go faster & faster on the tube with Sharon!

Thank you Mary Kay, Tim, Gordon & Ashlyn for a great day!!!

Swimming Like Little Fishies

Brian had Friday off from work, so we decided to bring the kids to the local pool & hang out for the day. They both had a great time & swam like little fishies the whole time we were there. Neither one of them wanted to get out. The first time J went to the pool, he was a little unsure of the water, didn't want to be in it, didn't want to touch it and held on to me for dear life. It took him about a half hour before he started to get used to the water, but once he did, I couldn't keep him out of it! Lily is swimming so good this year and is constantly practicing her floating, swimming strokes and jumping.

"CANNONBALL!!!"

Mister Troublemaker

I walked into the bathroom yesterday & found J like this:

(with Lily's toothbrush, I might add)

Jake is just growing up too fast. He's getting so big & acting like such a big boy. He's walking everywhere & running from us when he knows we're going to take something away from him he's not supposed to have. He's climbing up on everything he can - he can climb up on the couch by himself (although he uses Zoey as a step stool most of the time) and is constantly climbing & standing on top of things he definitely should not be (like the toilet, among other things). He's already walking up stairs & attempting to walk down them holding on to something for balance. He's not talking yet, but he's really close - he points to things & makes noises that sound like the thing he's pointing at (ball, doggy, etc) and when Brian leaves for work in the morning he waves & makes a "ba, ba" sound that sounds something like "bye-bye". It just seems like all this stuff is happening way too fast - wasn't he just born?! Haha... We are having so much fun with him though and he has such a great temperament and sense of humor (most of the time). :o)