The Whole Crew

At the end of June my friend Treva Tribit (Treva Tribit Photography) was going to Stephenville to shoot a wedding. Since S'ville is our home town, she decided to do an afternoon of mini sessions at the historical museum. I immediately signed our crew up. My mom is always trying to capture all the grandkids in pictures around the holidays and no one cooperates. While they may not all still cooperate with Treva taking the pictures I knew we'd get some awesome shots. And we did! Treva got a couple of great shots of EVERYONE, some of just the kiddos and a great one of Mom and Dad with all the grandkids (notice my two girls are the two unwilling participants). She even captured one "real" shot of Abby. That girl managed to find a baby frog and quickly picked it up to show everyone. The other kids came running to see the frog and Treva snapped her magic. It turned out to be one of my favorite shots of the kids. It captures Abby's spirit and personality to a T!
Thank you SO much Treva Tribit Photography!!! You did an amazing job. Now I just need to convince her to do this again in the future so we can capture my husband's side of the family :-)

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Thrill Seekers

Our last day in Stephenville we decided to check out the local bounce house (on Friday's they have open bounce for $5 for those who are close and want to check it out). It was huge, but hot. Unfortunately they don't have A/C yet, just fans in the main building but that didn't stop the kids. Outside food and drink is allowed so we could have packed a lunch and brought that if we wanted.

When we first got there my two immediately ran straight to the back where the mother of all slides was located. They are FEARLESS. There wasn't an age restriction on this slide, but the children did have to be able to climb up the steps by themselves. If they needed any help, they had to get off. My two of course had no issue climbing up, but as they got to the top, Abby looked around and noticed she was higher than any other slide she had ever been on. Jake was first and loved the ride all the way down. Abby went next but got a little scared. However, Jake quickly showed her she could ride on her belly (feet first) and it wasn't so bad. She liked that and continued to do the slide over and over.

They also loved a big inflatable basketball set up but I didn't snap any pics of that (or miss Lily who was chasing the twins most of the time, there was a toddler area though she played in a bit).

The place also had a great rock wall tower thing that they loved. It took Jake a bit to master it, but he finally did and made it to the top several times. He loved repelling down the rope when he was done too. Abby never made it to the top and would get frustrated that Jake could do it and she couldn't. Never fear, I think if she has a bit more practice she'll master it too.

Such fun!

My Little Farmers

We went to Stephenville last week for a few days so the twins could get used to sleeping in the big beds alone and Lily in the crib at my parents house when we go on vacation next month. While we were there, we went out to Worthington Farms to pick blackberries. We did this last summer too and quickly discovered blackberries have thorns. So this time we brought our gloves and asked where the thornless blackberries were. I also picked out blue outfits so we wouldn't stain as much this year (I put them in white last year - idiot!).
The kids absolutely love this and I'm currently researching gardens so we can start growing some of our own food next year. They are going to be a big help I'm sure! Last year they ate half what they picked (and we picked 7 or 8 pounds!), this year they did much better and put most of what they picked in the buckets (still ate a few). Lily on the other hand ate everything that she, or my dad, picked. That girl had to have a blackberry in her mouth and/or hand at all times. It was really hot so we only ended up picking two rows worth, but we still managed to get 3 -4 pounds of blackberries.

I still want to get out there in May so we can pick strawberries. The twins LOVE strawberries (especially Jake) and maybe Lily will finally eat her first strawberry if she picks it. So fun and I'm glad this is turning into a yearly adventure for us.
BTW - I have a bag of blackberries in the freezer just waiting for me to make a yummy blackberry pie.

The Children's Museum in Dallas

I just LOVE this place and we recently got a family membership to this place. I had wanted one for a while, but things are expensive! However, when I found a deal for 50% off membership, plus tickets to the IMAX and State Fair I couldn't pass it up. I'm so happy we got this. It's a perfect place to beat the heat. Since it is a children's museum, everything is hands on. The lower level is designed for kids under 6 and the upper level for a bit older kids (but we still have a blast at the upper level too).

What could be more fun than a water room! Lily had a blast and found a big duck to carry around.

Playing with bubbles!

They have a dinosaur dig. How cool is that! Looks like the twins found some bones. Above the dino dig is a big pterodactyl skeleton looking down on you (but I didn't get a shot of that :-).

Entering a cave. My two will climb anything!

Learning about water sources and how to conserve water.

A cool display of land, water/ice and the life below.

Abby wanted to pet (and ride) this polar bear.

There's so much more to the place that I didn't grab pictures of. We had so much fun and can't wait to go back again.

Happy Birthday America!

We had a great long weekend and on Sunday we hit the McKinney parade and fireworks show. First up was the parade. It was at 1:30 and of course super hot, however, we lucked out with parking. We found a spot one block from the parade and were able to get a front row seat right were we walked up (10 minutes before the parade started :-). The parade was short (probably 15 minutes), but that's just long enough for our crew. They really enjoyed it and even got to see firetrucks this year (last year McKinney had ZERO firetrucks in the parade!).
The fireman is waving (and laughing) at Jake who is waving feverishly at every float.
The motorcycle guys really liked Jake and were trying to get him to make the rocker sign (I love you in sign language, ha!). We had to stop Abby from running out into the streets when the horses came out, she wanted to pet them, of course.

Next up, the fireworks! We actually got there early to partake in some of the activities they had for the kids (free bounce houses, etc.) but the lines were INSANE! I think we would have waited 45 minutes for one ride/activity and my crew is not a patient crew. So we did the next best thing...
Roll down grassy hills!
Oh my these two have energy. They RAN non-stop for an hour in this giant soccer field. They rolled down hills, chased Daddy, then rolled some more. By the time the fireworks were ready to start they had to be carried back to the truck they were so exhausted! The hill was too steep for Lily and so she just ran around in the soccer field. She still had a blast :-)

We brought tons of pillows and blankets to watch the fireworks in the back of John's truck. The kids thought it was awesome and that they were actually going to get to spend the night outside in the back of the truck. Ha, not yet, but maybe a camping trip is in our future.

The kids ooo'd and ahhh'd over all the fireworks. They loved them. Lily was scared at first though. I was holding her and then daddy took over. Soon enough though she realized they weren't going to hurt her and joined in on the fun. I just love this shot of she and John, even though it's a bit dark. I'll have to lighten it a bit.

We lucked out on parking here too and were able to get out and home within 30 minutes or so. It still made for a late night, the kids didn't get in bed till 10:30 or 10:45 (and no, they did NOT sleep in., they came walking down the hall at 7 on the dot).
This was the first year we did fireworks and I was so glad we did. They twins are at the perfect age and love everything about them. Lily really did great too and I can't wait to see them next year. The kids are already asking when they get to see booms again.

Feeding the Ducks

On Saturday, July 3, we decided to get out after nap time (or quiet time for the twins now that they've dropped naps :-) and head to the lake across the street to feed the ducks. The kids were so excited as we loaded up our bags of bread. John laughed at me as I pulled a bag from the freezer labeled "Bread for Ducks". I had been saving the heels of bread for the ducks since I don't eat them. With the animal lovers we have around here I knew we'd feed some ducks eventually and I didn't want to waste the bread we eat for sandwiches :-).

It was a bit cloudy and we weren't sure the ducks would be out in the evening. We drove up and didn't see any ducks at first. Then we quickly saw four ducks floating in the water. We headed over and started feeding them. The kids were so excited! Even Lily got in on the action and threw some bread. Abby kept running up to the edge and with the tall weeds, I just knew that girl was going to fall in since she couldn't see the edge, but somehow she managed to stay on land.

After feeding the first four ducks we say, we decided to walk around the pond a bit to find some more ducks. We soon found a few ducks sleeping under a tree. Jake started to creep up on them to scare them. Just like a boy. Abby quickly stopped that and tried to run up to feed, pet and carry the ducks. The ducks weren't impressed and quickly headed into the water.

We then saw a few more ducks just up the pond and a crane. Abby was really into the crane, but he kept his distance.

By the end of our feeding adventure, even the turtles decided to come and check us out. There were probably 7 or 8 turtles swimming towards us to catch the food the ducks missed.

The kids had such a blast. I need to save up some more bread so we can visit them again soon!

Fun with Friends

Last week we went over to a friends house to play on their new water slide. We were so excited, then all the rain came. We were really hoping everything would clear out by Thursday last week but it was still touch and go come Thursday morning. It was really cloudy, but all the weather reports said the rain should hold out until that afternoon so we decided to chance it and let the kids play outside on the new slide. I'm so glad we did too. The kids had a blast, although they didn't play long since it was a bit chilly they did play hard before we grabbed a quick snack and then headed inside to play a bit longer.

I'm so jealous of this thing. It's awesome! It sets up in just about 5 minutes and is a blast to play with. Lily hung out in the pool area and the kids all enjoyed sliding down the slide into the water below. I was hoping to grab one of these on sale at the end of the summer but Toys R Us is already sold out. This was a hot item this summer. Bummer :-(

They got cold quickly so we got dressed and played for a bit on the swing set. My two are literally monkeys! They can't actually "walk" across the monkey bars yet, but they swing and Jake can climb up on top. They would hang their until I came and got them down, thinking it was a fun game until Abby accidentally let before I got there and fell to the ground. She was a bit shocked but quickly came back around and ran off to play again. I am SO glad we don't have these at home. I know we'd be in the ER with broken bones for sure!!

New York City!

For my birthday this year, John surprised me with a trip to New York City to see a show on Broadway. Unfortunately we have been super busy and John has been traveling for work all over the world. So in order to squeeze this in, we opted to fly to New York for the DAY. We got to New York just before noon and decided to eat lunch and walk around time square until our show started at 2. It was a tough decision trying to decide which show to see, but after talking to friends and reading review after review, we ended up going to see Billy Elliot. I am so happy we did. The show was nothing less than AMAZING! The star of the show, Billy was a 12 year old boy with fabulous acting and dancing skills. He excelled in tap and ballet and the "sidekick" Michael was fantastic too. The boy playing Michael was actually in the original Broadway opening crew from Australia and was back for a bit.

After the show, we grabbed a few I heart NY shirts for the kiddos and of course a couple of hot dogs for the road home from a street vendor.

We had a blast and even though it was just for the day it was perfect. Thanks honey!

My Little Butterfly

Lily LOVES dressing up and one of her favorite outfits is a butterfly outfit we got from Addy. I have a feeling she will be a butterfly this Halloween. Such a cutie.

Happy Father's Day!

This is a little late, but better late than never! We had a great father's day and my kids are blessed with a fabulous daddy and grandpa's. This year, Abby woke up bright and early so we talked about making breakfast for daddy. We settled on waffles and went to work. I haven't make waffles in YEARS, but they are so yummy! After they were done, we went to wake up daddy. Jake had crawled into bed with him already :-).

I haven't make waffles in YEARS, but they are so yummy!

After they were done, we went to wake up daddy. Jake had crawled into bed with him already :-).

That morning after breakfast, the kids gave their gifts they made at school and church then after lunch we gave daddy his "big" gift. A digital frame to display all our wonderful pictures (since he's quickly running out of room in his office :-).

We had a great day and love our daddy so much!

Picnic Time

One of the most favorite things the twins love to do is have a "picnic". They will run and grab their basket, a blanket and food from their kitchen then set everything out for a picnic. They play this at least once a day. I just love watching their little imaginations at work. They have the funniest conversations on their picnics and make the most unique food combinations. They are too funny!