Welcome to Texas

James, Kacey, and Jaden arrived this morning bright and early.  This is Jaden's first trip to Texas and their first family vacation.  We spent the day visiting family and lounging around the house.

We are looking forward to our time together this week!!

Hip Mom Adoption Fundraiser

Our Hip Mom Adoption Fundraiser will kick off next week.  Be on the lookout for more details.  We are so excited about this opportunity!

Lots Going On

We spent the morning doing this...

And the afternoon doing this...

Another tooth gone and another day of fun in the sun!

It's Book Time

I took Blake to the library for a special Ronald McDonald program.  When we pulled up and saw his car in the parking lot, Blake asked if I would take his picture with it.

Ronald sang some songs, did some magic, and told some stories.

It was a funny program with a great emphasis on READING!!

Room 4 Two

We have officially moved both boys into their new room together.  I wanted to move them in before school starts and to give them time to get used to it before Brynn gets here.  I thought a little bit of change at a time would be better than all at once.

Blake was beyond excited to finally get to sleep on the top bunk.  Once he got up there and we turned off the light and walked out of the room, he called us back in to tell us he wasn't sure if he liked it.  When he woke up the next morning he told us how much he loved it now that he was used to it.

Barrett has been beyond excited to have Blake on the top bunk too... to the tune of him talking to Blake for 20 minutes after we put them to bed.  Even though Blake is already sound to sleep, Barrett still keeps talking.

Each night has gotten better as they are getting used to the fun of having each other in the same room.  I will be posting pictures of their old rooms and the things I am sad to see come to an end.

Family Outing

We went on a family outing to Ham's Orchards.  The criteria we had for our outing was that it had to be somewhere close and not much $$$.

We arrived close to lunch time.  We got our homemade peach and strawberry ice cream and ate it under the pavilion.  The breeze was blowing through and it actually felt nice, not too hot at all.

After our ice cream. we ate lunch.  We ate hot dogs and hamburgers at the picnic tables under the pavilion.

We did some shopping in the little store before we left.  We drove away with some new jellies and a peach cobbler.  Yum yum!

Hawaiin Falls

We cooled off at Hawaiian Falls again last week.

Blake and Chaney had fun doing tricks as they jumped in.

Barrett and Kinsley had fun running under the mushroom waterfall.

Carly arrived and we all took a break to eat lunch.

Look how sweet these little friends are!

 Another day of fun in the sun!

Big Brother Barrett

Barrett loves looking at pictures of his new little sister on the computer.  I got some of them developed so that each boy could have one in their room to look at.  Barrett studied Brynn's picture the full 20 minute drive home that day!

Barrett and Brynn... only 10 months apart.  We are praying that these two will be great buddies!

Workin'

While Daddy works on his set of wheels, the boys like to work on theirs...

A little twist here,

And a crank there,

And soon all three boys had their rides all fixed up!

Disturbing

This is something I have never given much thought to.  Now that it has been brought to my attention, it disturbs me!  It is amazing what goes on in other parts of our world that I never would have imagined.

E-Stewardship: Taking Responsibility from rick gregory on Vimeo.

Check It Out

Exciting news on our adoption blog!  Click here to check it out.

Sunday Snapshot

Looky, Looky

Who lost their first tooth!

He gave it a good wiggle and out it came!

He has another loose one right next to it... so he is sure to have a nice big gap soon!

We Finally Made It

Today we were finally able to use our season passes to Hawaiian Falls.

Barrett enjoyed playing and sliding in the kid's area, that is until the big bucket dumped on his head!  After that he was afraid to stray too far away from mommy.

The bucket didn't slow Blake down one bit this year.

He even got brave and rode a new slide.

He and Presley waited in line together...

Got their mats and headed up to the top...

And came sliding down!  Blake said "he didn't like it, but he wanted to ride it again".

He and Preston rode it together the next time.

We did our usual Lazy River floating, Mushroom Pool swimming, ate our picnic lunch, swam some more, and then headed home.

We had a blast and can't wait until next time... which might be very soon and very often to make up for lost time!

Just a Rockin'

We had dinner with the Duncans at one of our favorite places.

I am sure you will never guess where it was.

The weather was not too hot, and definitely not too cold.  After we ate we sat out and  rocked on the porch for a while.

These three boys sure enjoyed their rocking time!

Summer Afternoons

We have been enjoying our summer afternoons!

Children's Museum

Today we went out to the Children's Museum for a morning of pretend and play.  This was Barrett and Lydia's first trip to the museum.

Barrett was very busy the whole time!  I had a hard time catching him in the camera.  The airplane and pushing his grocery cart around were his favorite activities.

When the electric trains came on both boys stood still to watch.

Blake enjoyed the vet clinic and the mission control center.

They made mommy a pizza.

The fort is a fun place to play too!

We ate lunch and then headed home.  We had a great morning playing with our friends!