July 4th, 2014!

We had a wonderful July 4th this year! We always look forward to the Gryseels' party and to watching fireworks at their house. This year, we also spent part of the day swimming at Mary and Nathan's, so that was fun and relaxing. The girls got a little too much sun on their cheeks, but they were still ready to party at Mr. Tony's and Mrs. Laurie's that night!

Tony and Laurie even set up a photo booth this year! I made them take one family picture with me before they changed into their swimsuits and went swimming. I love a family picture! Granny got them these red, white, and blue dresses and they looked so cute.

More photo booth fun, after swimming.

Laurie and Tony go all out on fun activities for the kids, snacks, drinks, games, and food. The girls were in heaven - Capri Suns flowed like wine, all their friends were there, and they pretty much just were able to run around on their own. Such a fun night!  

Tony set up his "redneck water slide" again this year and Cooper and Kendall loved it. He even pumps water up to the top so there is a waterfall as they start down the slide. So fun!

 

The fireworks were a little too loud for Calli this year (we don't remember them bothering her as much last year, but she also hadn't had her tubes put in yet and the fluid drained out of her ears yet), so we went inside and were able to watch them out the window. It was such a great night and we were so thankful the rain held off so we could party! We love spending the day and night with great friends!

The Rest of June

We're well into July, but I wanted to post a few miscellaneous pictures from June that I found on my phone!

Waiting for the golf cart after church! That's one of the highlights of their morning is getting to ride with Mrs. Rosie!

We've had some fun beach days!  

My view from the porch several days this summer! We are loving the water slide!

I helped throw a Sip & See for Mary and Savannah in June! It was fun and we enjoyed celebrating sweet little Savannah!  

Mary had an idea that she wanted to do something to honor our doctor, Dr. Miller. She is wonderful and has been such a big part of all of our lives, that she thought it would be nice to show her how much we appreciate her! A bunch of us in LJ all go to her in Houston, so there was a large group of people interested, but when it came down to actually making plans, only about 10 of us could go. It was fun, though! We asked her to meet us at a restaurant in Houston, and we all went up and ate dinner together. Super sweet and I think it meant a lot to her. She has delivered so many of our babies!

I even got to hold Kristin's baby girl, Kate, and give her her first bottle during dinner! Love it!

Greg and Kathy watched the girls for us one night while we had a meeting. We got these pictures. They love going to their house!! 

Kendall had to say goodbye to a good friend in June. Her friend Emily from Kindergarten moved to D.C. and she is pretty sad about it. They had a birthday pool party right before they moved, and I took Kendall to it. Such a big girl and such big friends!

Splash pad after the library!

And, digging for rolly pollies in their matching dresses. I love my girly girls who also love to play hard and get dirty!

June was fun and now July is almost over! We are soaking up every day this summer, packing a lot in, but also spending lots of time resting. I love these days with my girls!

Exploring the Gardens

When we were at Pops' and Kiki's, we spent some time at the Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Gardens in Ft. Worth. Dad wanted to recreate a picture with the girls that we have of Alden and me and also of my Granny and Great Aunt, Wanda. I can't remember the year it was taken, but Dad has a picture of Granny and Wanda, sitting on this same column in front of the rose garden when they were little girls. So when Alden and I were little, he took a picture of the two of us on the column, and now we have one of my girls! So fun!

We explored the botanical gardens a little, and then went and spent more time at the Japanese Gardens. Lots of opportunities for pretty pictures!

We tried to get them to copy the monkeys - it didn't happen.  

I think they could have stayed feeding the fish all day!

 

 

Kendall loved this pathway through the water. So of course we all had to do it!

I was only a little nervous taking Calli across. Ahh!

We had such a fun day exploring the gardens! It got pretty hot, but the girls loved it and I think they could have stayed there all day! Thanks for a fun adventure, Pops and Kiki!

Funny Cooper

Our Cooper-girl is cracking us up all the time lately. I wanted to make sure to record some of the funny things she has said lately.

In preschool church this summer, the verse the kids are learning is Psalm 119:72: "Your words are worth more to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver." Over and over again they say, "The Bible is better than gold!" One day when Cooper was cooking with Randy (that's something else cute about Cooper - she is always in the kitchen when we are. We call her our sous chef because she always wants to help!), she was telling him all about Jesus. Jesus can do this, and Jesus is that. Randy said, "You sure do know a lot about Jesus!" and Cooper said, "Yeah, I do, because I have a Bible and the Bible is bett-uh than gold!" So precious!

We're still loving how she can't say words with "r's" in them. The way she talks right now is awesome.

We got to go see my Granny when we were in Ft. Worth, who the girls call Great Granny. Then, when we were headed over to Mom's, Cooper was telling us something she wanted to do when we got there and she said, "When we get to Granny's. Noh-mal Granny's." She was trying to differentiate between Granny and Great Granny but called Mom "Normal Granny." Randy said, "Oh Cooper, if you only knew." Ha! Love it!

One day during rest time, Kendall and Cooper ran in my bedroom, so excited about something. Cooper said, "We can read minds!" I said, "Oh yeah?" And she said, "Yeah! We did it twice at Gigi's, and now we just did it again!" I said, "Can you read anyone's mind, or just each other's?" and they both said, "Oh - just each other's." I said, "Well, I think that is a sister thing." and they just went back to their room smiling! I love their sweet relationship. Since then, Cooper said she wanted to do something one day and Kendall just looked at me and said, "I just read her mind again!" So funny.

Finally, just tonight, when I went in to check on Cooper and Kendall, Cooper was still awake. I hugged her and started to walk out of her room, but heard her saying something. I went back over to her bed and said, "What, Cooper??" and she said, "I just love you and wish I could ma-wy you, but you ah-wu alweady ma-wied." So, so precious! I said, "Well, I am, but I will always be your mama." So then she said, "Mom, when I gwow up and be a libwawian, and I wok at a libwawy, will you and Daddy still be my Mama and Daddy?" Ahhhhh!! I squeezed her and told her yes, and that we would come visit her and I would call her and she would always be ours. Then I told her about how when she is a librarian, she may be married, and that I am already praying for her husband someday, even though he is only 3 or 4 right now. She said, "I know how old he is! He is fo-uh, because he is Twistan! He is the funniest boy in my class at school. I have a crash on him." Uh-oh! Slow down, missy!!

Ft. Worth Trip!

We spent a great week in Ft. Worth the last week of June. As always, it was a good time of spending time with all our families and also a great vacation for Randy from work, so a great time for the 5 of us to be together a lot. We started the week off at Kiki and Pops' house on Sunday night, and the girls had to get in the hot tub right away! They wanted to show off what they had learned in swimming lessons.

We made a trip the next day to the Botanical Gardens that I will blog about later - lots of fun there and at the Japanese Gardens! I took this picture of Calli sleeping on a mattress on our floor for nap one day. I'm just so proud of how well she travels and how well she sleeps when we travel. She's come so far!  

Kendall reading to Kiki! It still hasn't gotten old, listening to her read. We are so proud of all she learned in Kindergarten this year! Kiki brought home lots of books from the library, and this time (because of Cooper's interest in being a librarian when she grows up), she brought the little gun that sticks the due dates on the books home! The girls had so much fun playing library!

Monday night was super fun. The girls got to go play with Granny while just the grown-ups went out to dinner to celebrate Maegan's 30th birthday! We went to a seafood restaurant in Southlake and used an "excursion" that Dad and Lisa had won in an auction. Basically, we just sat there and they brought out all the appetizers, entrees, sides, desserts, and drinks on their menu and we got to try them all! It was really fun and we were glad we were able to be there to celebrate Maegan's birthday with everyone.

Tuesday we went to Granny and Papas' apartment (or hotel, as Cooper likes to call it), and Alden came over and we swam all day! It was very relaxing, and fun to let the girls just play in their pool. Very nice! Cooper even had Granny holding her pizza for her while she chilled. Rough life!

 

 

Tuesday night, Randy and I headed to Dallas to a conference, so the girls spent the night with Granny by themselves! She took them to Chick fil A on Wednesday before taking them to Gigi and Peeps' house.

We enjoyed our conference a ton, and my favorite part was getting to meet up with one of my best high school friends, Jessica! We were at the church that she goes to, Watermark in Dallas, so I randomly messaged her and she was able to meet me for lunch one of the days we were there. It was so wonderful to sit and catch up and hear what God is doing in her life. Love and miss that girl!

 

 

Meanwhile, the girls were having fun at Gigi and Peeps' house. One afternoon, they even made cupcakes in a cup!

We met them there on Thursday night, and spent the day there Friday. Then, Friday afternoon, Mom hosted a Threaded Leaf trunk show at her apartments, so we helped with that. Michael and Noelle came and brought baby Haddon, so we were able to meet him for the first time! The girls were pretty smitten.

Saturday we packed up and headed back to Lake Jackson. It was a pretty whirlwind trip, but we loved getting to spend time with everyone there. Molly was especially worn out. It seems like traveling is getting to be too much for her, especially when we leave her at Gigi and Peeps' and we aren't there. She just goes nuts. We think it's old age. She may not be making many more trips to Ft. Worth - it may just be better for her to stay with our sweet neighbors. This picture cracks me up: she was played out!  

But then, once we got home, this is what we saw that night:

Happy girl to be in her own bed! As we all were!