petting zoo

A few weeks ago, we met some good friends at a petting zoo. We had a fun time with only one child traumatized by a hungry deer. (Apparently Libby's shirt smelled a little too much like deer food.) It was nothing a little ChickFilA couldn't fix. :) (ChickFilA for the tears, not the deer)

old friends

Okay, so I've totally dropped the ball this summer. And, I uploaded these pictures in reverse order from when they actually occurred, but! I'm posting today!!

We had some wonderful friends visit a couple weeks ago. We knew them in Raleigh and we used to have a little babysitting swap back when both families were complete with 2 girls. I wonder if they would still swap with us now that we've added a rowdy little boy?! We've missed them terribly and had such a good time together.

We miss you again, D, R, and S! Next reunion, we'll have to come to you. :)

photo 49

Addi with sweet Baby Beckham. She would've sat still for hours holding him and couldn't describe him in enough detail to Bryan. Libby, on the other hand, couldn't wait to hold him and then could only stay still for a few minutes. But, she came home and insisted on re-naming Levi. "His first name is Beckham and his middle name is Levi, but we will call him Beckham!" Levi said, "Bee-bee" a few times and then could have cared less that I was holding someone else. I guess that rule only applies when I'm holding one of his sisters. We were so excited to finally meet Little Beckham and see how Big Brother Court was holding up (very well, it seems to me!) and can't wait to hang out with them again soon.

photo 35

Sweet Friends

This was an inspiring and captivating read.

completely irrelevant because I waited so long

I figured since we're halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas, about 2 weeks after Turkey Day and 2 weeks before Christmas, I'd talk a little about our Thanksgiving. It's just for memories sake, but we did have a wonderful holiday, so it's worth remembering.

Starting the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we were able to celebrate the 5th birthday of my college roommate's little boy. I still get tickled we are able to do things like that since moving to Texas! It was a super hero party. My girls were less than enthused about the theme, but they had fun anyway.

We left the party and headed to Rainforest Cafe to meet Holly. That was a first for me! I'd never thought I'd really meet someone I met online :) But, she was just as real in real life as she is on her blog. She has a precious family that includes 4 fun kids and her Chris. (I just love that she always calls him "My Chris" on her blog.) Thanks for the meeting, Smith family!

The girls didn't have school the week of Thanksgiving. We stayed busy on Monday, ate lunch with my parents and grandparents on Tuesday and celebrated Bryan's birthday on Wednesday. Thursday morning we got up and dressed the kids in their Aggie overalls (While we didn't really believe the Aggies would end up victorious, you won't catch us allowing our kids to be 2 Percenters (That's just Aggie lingo basically meaning Fair Weathered Fan (Appropriate as it would be for an Aggie joke, I must tell you I didn't learn to use paranthesis inside paranthesis inside parenthesis while earning my degree with an emphasis in English at A&M!))). We ate with my mom's side of the family at Black-Eyed Pea for lunch. The best part was seeing everyone. Levi got to meet some family for the first time and bonded with his great uncle.

After lunch, we hung out at my parents' house.

My kids were spoiled by grandparents and even got to spend a little time with my grandparents, Meme and Papa, aka Mean and Rotten.

My grandfather would have been perfect in the movie Grumpy, Old Men, except it's all an act. He likes to aggravate people and likes being aggravated even more. Addison is too sweet for this sort of game. She just smiles and doesn't usually retaliate. Libby is the perfect candidate. And, so Mean and Rotten and Libby Lu banter back and forth. He tells her she is mean and rotten, Meme always has to interject, "No she's not! She's sweet and precious!", and Libby claims that Papa is the original Mean and Rotten! This mean and rotten/sweet and precious talk has been going on since their first grandchild (me) was a little one. Libby has taken it to a new level, though, with actually nicknaming Papa "Mean and Rotten". On the way to her Christmas program yesterday, I told her Poppa wouldn't be able to make it because he had to go out of town for work. She asked, "Poppa or Mean and Rotten?" I clarified and she said, "Good! Don't let Mean and Rotten come to my preschool. My teachers will be scared of him and my friends will be scared of him and I will have to say, 'Don't be scared. It's just Mean and Rotten!'" The funny thing is, she always talks about him and tries to think of ways to aggravate him the next time she'll see him.

This is where the pictures end because I left my camera at my mom's house on Thanksgiving. I'm hoping I can get my hands on some pictures that were taken Friday. We drove to Tyler to spend the day with Bryan's mom's family. All of Meme's (Bryan's grandmother) daughters and their kids were there. Levi got to meet more people and tons of pictures were taken. We even got to meet Makenzie for the first time!

On Saturday, we were able to celebrate Gracie's 1st Birthday! Again, I was tickled that we could be there. The girls had a blast playing with Cade on the pool table. And Addi was in awe of the diamonds that lined the walkway to the house. They really were Christmas lights, but why ruin the magicical images a 6 year old has :)

It was a wonderful week and a great beginning to the holiday season for us. We are truly blessed to live so near many friends and family.

it's later

I never got a chance to come back and post pictures from our trip because I had a birthday party to prep. The birthday party's over and was such fun, so I'll post the trip pictures now and be back later (again!) to post party pictures.

A stop in Austin to visit Aunt Dee, "Ashaley", "Mawl", and Aunt Kathy.

Sea World


The water park at Sea World - I didn't get any good pics of the girls, who loved the water park, because Levi and I had to leave early (thanks, Julie!). It was just too hot for the little man. Everyone else spent the afternoon splashing around with our friends, the Gonzales family.

Sea World (day 2) - It rained, and rained, and rained! We had reservations to eat with Shamu after the show, but that was canceled. We were supposed to do it later that evening, but had to cancel that after everyone that had earlier reservations joined the later time...too many people!

After our lunch plans were canceled, we found an EZ's to eat at and even enjoyed customized shakes. Bryan had chocolate and cookies and cream and I had chocolate and peppermint. The girls chose plain ol' chocolate. Yum! (did the one in Dallas close??)

Nap time

The hotel we stayed at had fire pits to make smores each night. When it got dark, they showed a movie on one of the walls of the building.

Wildlife Ranch

We got a lot of pictures of different animals, but not a lot of the many animals that ate from our food. Except, this ostrich, who wanted to crawl in the van and head home with us!

The cave where my camera was dropped and stopped taking pictures, so we had to buy a picture to prove we tramped through a cave with 99% humidity in August. It was taken at the bottom of the cave. About 30 seconds later, Libby fell asleep in Bryan's arms and he had to carry her the whole 180 feet up to the exit and then the 87 miles out to our car.

Precious little friends...

was the subject of an email I just opened. It contained these pictures of Levi and Court.

The kids and I spent the day swimming at Court's Meme's (is that what you're gonna be called, Debbie?) house. We had lots of fun. In fact, the minute we pulled into our garage Addison asked me when we'd be going back. Before I could answer she asked, "Next Saturday?!"

My camera battery died just as we started taking pictures of the boys. I did get one or two but won't be able to get them onto the computer until I find a new battery. That means I won't have the cute picture I got of the girls sharing a raft while both wore their (inflatable) rings. Thankfully, Debbie also sent out a couple pictures of the girls.

Thanks Debbie, Larry, Ashley and Court for a wonderful day!

one of these i never like to do

i haven't had a chance to blog much. (i'm feeding the baby as i hunt and peck this keyboard right now!) so, you're gonna mostly get pictures today.

EASTER PICTURES (but i didn't get any of the kids in their clothes. i will though, near some pretty flowers, or something)

we've had our first "trampoline casualty" - ethan broke his leg a few days before easter while jumping, poor little guy

rise and shine, sleepyheads. it's time to hunt eggs on easter morning.

we had to wake the girls up pretty early so we could all be on our way to church by 7:30.

MY BIG BIRTHDAY SURPRISE - bryan arranged for a dear friend of mine from raleigh and her youngest daughter (who is absolutely adored by our whole family, but especially addi) to surprise us with a visit.

bryan took addi to the airport telling me he was taking her to breakfast for some "daddy-daughter" time. he didn't get a picture of her face when she saw salina. i know it was priceless!

i was a little out of it. bryan told me the present he'd ordered me was on the porch. when i walked out, addi and salina jumped out. i was so lost. i thought she'd met a new friend and the new friend looked so familiar. then diane walked out and i started to catch on.

salina "protecting" libby from zoe

LEVI'S NEW FRIEND, COURT - my friend ashley had her little boy a week ago. we were surprised how "grown-up" levi looked next to this new little guy.

i'll write a better post soon and maybe have more words than pictures in it!