October 2011 - Jeep trip to Marble Falls, TX

Ok, so Drew has wanted me to go on a Jeep trip for like forever......he finally convinced me to go in October. It was a lot of fun, pretty rough riding and the weather was nice. The kids enjoyed it, Shelby loves going "toeing on the rocks" something she made up on her 1st trip - still not really sure what it means, I guess it's just climbing around on rocks?? There were a few nerve-wracking moments, climbing up some steep rocks and going down them. I'm sorry, you just aren't meant to be in a vehicle, on a steep rock looking at the sky and this be fun. LOL We also learned that apparently Joshy sleeps better on trail rides then in the RV in his pack & play. The first day, he slept during most of our morning trail ride (about 1 hour) and then I tried putting him down in the RV for an afternoon nap. He was having NONE of that, which made for a very cranky little boy that night. The 2nd day, Drew suggested we just take him on both trail rides so we did and he took naps on both, go figure!! I do not know how he slept while we're going over rocks, it was pretty rough. But he did!! All in all we had a fun little family trip, it was nice to get away the 4 of us. I just realized that I don't have the pictures from our trail rides on my camera, will have to get from Drew's. Will update soon!!

Campsite - we enjoyed being in the RV.

Shelby is ready to GO!!!

"Oooh rocks....bet these might taste good."

Napping during trail ride.....it was dusty & bumpy, I have no idea how he napped!!

Shelby being a stinker.....she loves Jeepin'.

Headed home, riding in the RV back to McKinney.

September 2011 - Building the Swing Set

So, we finally got the swing set up in September....it was a little hot but not as miserable as the summer would've been in the 100's. The kids just love it and it's been great to have something to do outside in the backyard. Drew did an awesome job sorting all the materials & labeling them, which made it to find what was needed for each stage. He did a great job putting it together....it's a little bigger than I realized, but really, should I expect any less with Drew?? I think his motto is "Go BIG or go HOME". LOL

Ok, ready to get started.....

Base & level 1 are framed out.....starting level 2.

Level 2 & 3 framed out, working on roof.

Joshy really loves Daddy's tools....he loves to sit there & play with them.

Working on picnic table, still have arm to do for swings & ladders.

Most everything is done, need to get swings up, slide & rockwall on.

Guess I didn't get a final picture of the whole thing when done, will put one on another post!

Shelby's Birthday & 1st day Kindergarten

Ok, so rather than trying to put all these pictures in one long post, I broke them up into a few posts (see below posts). I think that was the problem I had the other night (and why I have all that whitespace in my 8/18 post, I have tried to delete it & can't seem to!!). I put way too many pictures and poor blogspot couldn't handle it! It seems this will work better.....it already has seeing as I got these posts on very quickly and the other night it was taking forever to type one sentence!! It goes backward in chronology, Shelby's birthday, then Joshua's and then some summer pics.

Before the party started, Shelby being funny girl. She was soooo excited for her party.



We had a bowling toss game to play, we used tennis balls and the kids really seemed to enjoy it!
We also had another game called "Pin the fin on the shark" (like pin tail on donkey). The kids seemed to have fun w/these old school games....hooray!



Princess cake....CRAZY story on this. I ordered it Wed. before Shelby's party, scheduled for 9am because party was at 10:00. Drew goes to pick up at 9:15 and they have NO cake for us. He talks to baker & confirms what we need and they tell him come back in 30 minutes. He comes home & tells me, I am in a panic. We have no cake???!!! But he assures me all will work out, that one way or another he will get her a cake. I just could NOT believe it. Then he goes back to get it, still working on it, so he asks to speak to the manager. Very calmly explains we have a party & little girl expecting a Princess cake, which I had ordered early in the week AND confirmed on Friday (when I went to order balloons). Long story short, the manager ended up giving us the cake for free and Drew made it back just in time as kids were arriving. Whew!! That is the 2nd year in a row I have had problems w/my cake being ready. Last year, different place, but same problem; I arrived and it wasn't ready. What am I cursed?? Drew suggested next year we order it for day ahead and just put in fridge until party. I'm seriously thinking that might be the way to go.




Shelby getting ready to hit the pinata!!
Thankfully we had a couple of older kids (our neighbors) and they were able to really whack that thing good to get the candy out. Drew was wondering if he'd have to step in & help because we didn't want to be stuck outside in the heat for long while the little kids kept hitting it. :) But Ayden got it going & then Tyler, our anchor, hit it real hard and all the candy came out.



My scrapbooker friend, Crystal, had the FANTASTIC idea of having the kids pose with the bowling banner, isn't it cute??!! SO can't wait to scrapbook this page!! Thanks Crystal!!



1st day of Kindergarten @ FCA....my baby girl is SO big!!! (sniffle, sniffle....boo-hoo!)