Random This & That!

Piper had her last swim meet the on July 7.  If you can spot her she is smiling and has orange goggles on top of her head!  This was our only indoor swim meet!  By the end of the swim team season, she really loved it and wants to do it again!

 Sweet girl first thing in the morning!

 Asher and Briggs being silly after we sang songs at a local nursing home.  The director handed out little bags to our kids, which contained pirate patches.  Briggs is being part pirate, part snaggle tooth Wallykazam!  It's a cartoon he likes...

 Pirate Briggs said "Pirates don't like kisses.  Arrgh!"  After I asked him for a kiss!  He even gave me a pirate fist!

 Piper lost her fourth tooth.  Pulled it out all by herself without shedding a tear or screaming!

 Grammy came for an overnight visit.  We packed in some fun.  We had an afternoon movie day in which Michael put quilts on the windows to darken the living room and I set up a snack bar for us. Then the following morning Grammy painted with the kids; however, she was the most interested and ended up painting their projects for them!  Ha!

 Briggs has really loved Legos for some time now but he has watched the Lego movie a few times this summer and began receiving the Lego magazine in the mail each month.  Those two things have really peaked his interest and he's begun to build more intricate things like this car!  So cool!

 Emerson has been doing this at night if I give her a blanket.  It starts wrapped around her body and ends up as her pillow!  I am using her sleep sack more regularly though because that makes me nervous!

Playing with our cousins!

My sister and her four kids came to visit us for a couple of days!  We had fun and wore ourselves out!  Well, maybe I just feel worn out because that is a continually state these days!!  I only snapped a few pics!

 Chick Fil A customer appreciation day (AKA: free food) fell on one of the days they were here so we all donned our cow costumes, loaded our two mini-vans up, and headed to town!  And by costumes I mean, we taped spots to our shirts and wore cow ears!  Emerson was particularly cute in her cow ears!  She enjoyed some grilled nuggets! Yes, the cow ears look somewhat like a doggy or a lamb but they passed the free meal test!

We also took them to Sweet Firefly, our local ice cream shop.  I love this pic of Seth and Emerson! Love!  

We wore this chickadee out everyday with all of our pool trips!  Seth did get asked if he was Justin Bieber one time.  HAHAHA!  

 Seth took his GoPro to the pool and snapped a few fun photos!

Memories were made!  Love this family!

Emerson is 7 months old!

This girl does smile I promise!  But the serious face is definitely her thing!  She does not give away smiles freely to just anyone and if you receive one, then you must be special!  Her little personality is really beginning to show.  I do love this little stage.  We get more smiles, giggles, and squeals from her with each passing day!  She is babbling a lot.  I think I've heard an unintentional "ma-ma" and "da-da" here and there.  She's rolling all over the place!  And manages to get herself stuck under furniture quite often!  She scooches on the bedroom floors but not really in the living room or wood floors.  Her second tooth debuted this past month.  And she was introduced to carrots, zucchini, green beans, pears, crackers/bread, beans, chicken, peaches, and nectarines.  So far peaches and nectarines are her least favorite but she'll tolerate them when I mix with a banana. She's nursing four-five times a day.  And sleeping through the night with an exception of waking one or two nights a week for a feeding. I've resorted to the fact, she's not going to follow the "book" in that department like her siblings and I may be a little more tired but oh well.  It's just temporary!  Briggs still makes her laugh just by looking at her and Piper carries her around like a real like baby doll! Emerson definitely has the loudest voice of the three!  We're having fun in this crazy house!

Independence Day 2015

 Well actually, on July 3rd we began our celebration by visiting the Dallas Arboretum together as a family.  It was hot but overcast. The kids had a lot of fun and so did Daddy I think!  The picture above is them in a tornado simulator.

 Emerson took a red, hot nap!  Her little cheeks...

 On July 4th, Piper, Briggs, and Michael rode in the neighborhood parade on a golf cart we decorated together with the Wallace family!  They all had fun!

 Thanks to Kate for taking a lot of these photos!

 Emerson was really impressed with the parade!  :)

 Briggs had so much fun afterwards in the bounce houses!

Nora and Piper together!

 

 After the parade, we relaxed at home and played with neighbors, swam with our cousins and then for dinner Michael and I prepared ribs, asparagus, and apple pie!  Afterwards, we kept the kids up super late to see the fireworks.  Briggs was a little scared and Piper bored because we didn't watch them with the crowd!

The day wore them out!  

Trip to Oklahoma

Last week, we went to Oklahoma again.  This time, we stayed the entire week with my sister.  Piper attended VBS at their church.  It's always so nice to go to Sheryl's because it's easy, we're taken care of well, and I have six other people to babysit at any given time!  Ha!  

 Sheryl with nakey Emerson!

 Briggs and Seth in their pj's.  Seth let Briggs have a "sleepover" one night.  Briggs thought it was so cool to sleep in Seth's room.  These two had a lot of fun together!

 Piper had three swim lessons with Paige.  Piper loved it!  They worked on improving her strokes and diving.  Diving is going to take some time!

 While we were there during the week, so was my friend Chandra and her kids. Above, Sophia is holding Emerson.  And below, it's Lilly, Piper, and Sophia.  They were staying at one of their family member's houses too.  Chandra's three girls had swim lessons with Paige each day so it was fun for the kids to play together each day!  On Thursday, it was Chandra's birthday so Sheryl so sweetly offered to babysit all of our kids while we went to lunch!  I have the best sister!

 This picture of Briggs making Emerson laugh is a daily thing.  He's usually making some weird noise and getting right up in her face as he sticks his tongue out or opens his mouth really wide!  She always laughs so he will keep doing it!

 One of the mornings, while Piper was at VBS, I took Emerson and Briggs to see my friend Mendy and her girls.  Mendy has the best place because they have animals.  Briggs hates animals but I love exposing my kids to them because they are so city-fied!  I'm rolling my eyes as I typed that!  Chandra and her girls were there too.  We didn't tell Piper she missed out on this!

 Emerson liked the horses and chickens too!

 They had a family fun night at the church.  Briggs wasn't old enough to attend VBS in the mornings, but he was able to attend this fun night.  He wanted to paint the pony with his hands.  Who came up with this dumb idea???  That poor pony!!

 Uncle Trebor is the baby magnet and holds them in the most unique ways!  I love this picture because it makes me laugh looking at Emerson's expression.  It's somewhat saying "Help Me." and "What is this dude doing?"

 The girls and I built a fun fort out of sheets in Anna's room one night.  They went to bed around 10 pm and Piper did not wake up until 10 am!  First time ever!

 Originally, we were going to head home on Friday but southern Oklahoma had this monumental rain storm so I waited another day in case the Red River completely flooded and I-35 was shut down!  So on Friday, Sheryl and I took the kids to get donuts and paint pottery.

 Then that evening we went to a cool area in OKC called the Plaza district to eat some yummy pizza and ice cream!

We had a fun time!  Piper had a lot of tears when we left, which is typical.  That never gets easier. But we sure are blessed to have people to miss and cry about!