Busy Boy

While I was folding laundry today..... Gray climbed up and stole Sam's snack!! I kept wondering where he disappeared to. Nothing like chips and cheese dip for a 14 month old!

They say "It's your Birthday"!!

Well, sort of!! Blake turns 5 in two weeks, but his Mama Don and Papa were in town and gave him his gift early. Blake taught himself how to ride a bike without training wheels and he was ready for a new bike. He rode Tyler's whenever Tyler let him. This was a perfect gift for Blake. He went and picked it out himself. It is a Tony Hawk bike. He calls it "his trick bike". This is perfect for my extreme sports guy!! Mama Don, Papa, and Blake. Doesn't my Mom look so good?
Sam trying it out. Sam graduated from his tricycle to Blake's old bike with training wheels. He rode it down our very steep driveway and below is the outcome. Oh my Word!!!

Summerfest

Last Friday night some friends of ours invited us over for dinner and then to join them at Summerfest. Summerfest is a night that a local church here in Austin hosts every year. It was actually amazing. There were so many things for the boys and it was all free plus the food was at cost. It does my heart so good to see churches doing things like this in their community!!

This was a police SUV. I practically had to drag Blake out. He loved it. Shooting Hoops!!

Parker and Gray

These boys!! Gray and Parker are only 6 weeks a part and when they are together it is like having twins. They constantly take each others lovies and sippy cups. This day Lindsey was making a cake for Derek's Birthday and the boys were right under our feet. We stripped them down and gave each of them a whisk with cake batter on it. All was good until the cake batter was gone!!

Sweet Land of Liberty

Free Chapel hosted a Fourth of July bash out on Lake Travis. We rented a party barge and invited 50 people to come celebrate with us. We had a great time getting to know each other. I thought my boys were going to flip out they were so excited and they loved it. I think they want to live on a party barge!! Jason and Connor Collins braving the slide.
Sam was a little tentative. As you can tell, he was really enjoying the desserts.
Blake was in heaven. He was the first one down the slide.

Jax taking a ride on the cooler.
Go Tyler.
Wade, Kimberly, and Jax!!
Connor and Lisa Collins!!

I HATE Moon Sand!

I know hate is such a strong word and my boys are actually not allowed to say the word at all, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. Our moon sand kit was a gift from my dear dear sister, who only has a 1 year old and has no idea about the world of moon sand, play dough, and floam. She gave it to Tyler at Christmas, so that is how long I have been putting this project off. What was I thinking? All, I have to say is I will repay my sister for her thoughtful gift!!

The Weekend!

Our sweet friends, the Tison's came to visit us this weekend. They are friends that we met in seminary. Ben graduated in May and they are still in Dallas for a little while, so they made a trip down to see us. We had a blast. On Friday night, we ate at Iguana Grill which is on Lake Travis. It was good, but way too hot!! We were sweating and drinking water like crazy. On Saturday, the Tison's invited us to swim at there hotel, the Barton Creek Resort and Spa . We grilled out on Saturday night and then headed downtown for Amy's Ice Cream, a favorite in Austin, and we just missed seeing the bats. Lauren was glad. She is a little scared of bats. On Sunday, we had a launch team meeting, but then we met them at Hula Hut on Lake Austin. It was delicious. The time flew by and it was so great being with our friends. Sam, Knox, Blake, Tyler, and Boone. (Gray was in the stroller taking in the beauty of Austin.)

Boys will be boys!!

This was in front of the capital building of Texas in downtown Austin. The boys came up with this on their own. They wanted to create a war scene and they instructed me to take pictures of it.
Tyler and Sam fighting over who will shoot the canon that kills Blake and Boone!

Garage Time

The boys hang out in our garage quite a bit. We have a million things with wheels in there, tons of dress up clothes, and oh let's not forget our entire church. (including stage lights) Anyway, this was one day we were hanging out. Tyler and Sam were trying their best at the hula hoop. I have no idea what Tyler's face was all about.
*By the way, Blake was out hunting toads. I wish I had a picture of him, golf club in tow, as he would lift the lids off of every electrical hole in all of our neighbors yards. Lovely!!!

Sam I Am

Today I took Gray and Sam to the doctor for Gray's one year check-up. (Yes, the doctor said "Happy Birthday" to Gray, and then said "Oh a month ago". So I am not right on it. Whatever.) Back to my point. Sam and I read Green Eggs and Ham and I had no idea that this was the first time I had read it to him. I have read it a million times and especially to Tyler and Blake. I wish you could have seen Sam. Every time I said his name his eyes were huge and he was smiling. He really thought they were talking about him. So sweet!! Sam actually would never like Green Eggs and Ham, because of something else he said to me at the doctor's office. It went something like this:

Me: "Sam, do you like spinach?"

Sam: "What is it?

Me: "It's a vegetable."

Sam: "Yes, I only like bananas, brownies, cookies, and candy."

Oh my word!!!

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day weekend!! We went to church on Sunday, had a yummy home made meal, and then spent the day swimming.
A few weeks ago, Lindsey, Kimberly, and I came up with a plan to surprise the boys (our husbands, not our sons) with a day out on the boat. So, on Monday e made a picnic lunch of all their favorites, from the drinks to there favorite candy, and headed out on Lake Travis. Did I mention we had sitters? We had the best time!!!
Just the girls!!! ( I am addicted to Sunglasses. I don't go outside without them. Unfortunately for me I look like a raccoon at the end of the summer.)
Jeremy is such a wonderful Dad!! The boys adore him. I am so thankful for him!! Derek tubing!!

Camping 101

You all know I have four boys!! Well, I am sorry, but I am not going to camp. I don't camp. I like camping in hotels!!
So, what a great Father/Son bonding manly thing for the boys and Jeremy to do. A fun hobby just for them. Jeremy had his first trial run with the boys on Friday night. They were so excited! I have no idea what they did. (I was inside watching a movie) They slept out there all night. I loved seeing the boys so excited about it. Maybe next time they will venture out more than 30 feet from the house.

Slip and Slide

So, what in the world do we do in the summer? Kimberly, Lindsey, and I are always trying to come up with stuff to do. This week, we made smoothies and busted out the $10 slip and slide. The boys had a blast plus had a good serving of fruit and dairy (this is coming from a Mom that offers her children cereal for dinner when Jeremy isn't there for dinner. I love cereal nights!!!). We drank fruit smoothies, played a little, and then had lunch together. It was way better than cleaning your house...again..... for the 1000th time. Jax didn't so much like the slide or the slip part, but he did like the water spraying.
I love Sam's belly!!
Did I mention that we added dish soap?