Celebrating Baby Emory

This last weekend I got to help host Ashley's baby shower for baby Emory Gale. It was such a fun time celebrating with Ashley and her friends and family. Emory is already so loved and blessed. 

 

Mendy was the mastermind behind this shower but, I tried to help with a couple things. I made a door hanger that Ashley could use in Emory's nursery if she wanted. It was super easy, but very time consuming..just wrapping and wrapping thin twine around a wooden letter 'E.'

I also made a few printables and another blessing tree similar to what we did for Amy's shower.

The hostesses met Friday night to decorate for the shower and our big project and focal point was the balloon backdrop. I think it turned out so cute!

 

The rest of the shower was so beautiful and simple with pink and lace and burlap and E's everywhere. Mendy's fabric garland was incredible.

It was so fun to pray over and celebrate Ashley, Neil and Emory and celebrate with wonderful people.

Congrats Ash & Neil! We can't wait to meet Emory later this summer!

Girls Weekend 2013

Last weekend our playgroup mom's got to go to our lake house for an entire weekend getaway for Girls Weekend 2013! 

 It was such a great time of refreshment and fun together. Last girls weekend was only 1 night and I feel like we came back more tired than when we left. This time...2 nights was perfect. We had time to have fun and relax and sleep and come back refreshed! We left Friday night and had an uninterrupted dinner on the way out of town. 

I made shirts again this year and literally every other girl brought some swag. It was so fun! We got monogrammed towels and head bands and personalized cups and homemade sugar scrubs and swag bags full of champagne, masks, chocolate, candles...I mean, we spoiled each other.

   

The rest of Friday night was so fun just to stay up late, play some ladder golf outside, and laugh and catch up without the kiddos. 

 

The dads had the kids all weekend and had some playdates and donut dates and sent us a few pics. It was so cute to see them all having fun together...here they are at Mavericks all dressed up in Lindsey's real clothes and shoes.
 
Saturday, after an intense run, (these girls are runners...I am getting there...I have always walked our route at the lake but running was quite intense with the hills and everything) we just relaxed on the lake and took it easy. With the lake water down, we got creative to all get on the lake so we busted out the tube behind the paddle boat and took turns pulling each other across the cove.

   

These girls are so creative too..they all decided to have a spa night saturday night and I mean...my entire contribution was just bringing my nail polish..wah, wah, wah. They brought paraffin wax and masks and home made terry cloth head bands...I mean so thought out.

   

These pics are hilarious...

 

After a leisure Sunday morning, we cleaned up, got ready, stopped in Dallas for lunch and then let the dads play golf for the afternoon and fed and hung out with this crazy crew. 

 It was so good to be home :) 

Summer

Summer so far has been so much fun!  Here are a few pics from lately....

Ty has been joining in on playing dress up. Kinley has told me multiple times that I need to buy some costumes for Ty like Maverick has...but, we make do as prince charming and a cowboy sometimes...

 

This day he was the cow and I could not stop laughing.

Ty has been joining Kinley when she puts on shows too. He does not want to be left out of getting the attention.  Here she is showing us her ballet....and I had such deja vu this day of an old home video of Amy and Scott that we watch constantly where Amy shows off her ballet skills and Scott spins around and dances in a diaper.  If this wasn't so impromptu, I would have made Ty strip down to a diaper also for a true reenactment....next time.

Here he is trying to get into Kinley's play baby bed...

Ty has also been really showing off his personality a lot lately and he is really SO funny!  I find myself laughing all the time. He plays games and tricks and I feel like he may have his Uncle Alex's funny personality which is both amazing and terrifying all at the same time. (j/k Al) 

 

A couple of examples....In the car I try really hard not to let him fall asleep so, of course, he always pretends to go to sleep just to tease me.  He closes his eyes real tight and smiles so big with his paci in his mouth. He thinks he is so funny.

 

He also tries to put on a show during dinner all the time. He laughes and makes funny faces where his food falls out of his mouth and says "cheese" so big to where Kinley just laughs.

 Here is a classic cheese face: (don't judge me because he is sitting on the counter...I was right by him so there was only minimal danger)

In other news, I got a new summer haircut!  I had not gotten a haircut in literally almost a year...gross. And I am not big on selfies but, when I told Ben I was going to chop it he could not wait until he got home from work to see and requested a before and after..so, here it is.... 8 inches shorter and a little blonder.

 

We have been also doing swimming with Ms. Donna for the first 2 weeks of summer. It is so official. We drop the kids off at the backyard of a neutral location and stay out of the way while Donna works with the "big kids."

 

I LOVE that Parker has his arm around Mav in this pic. So sweet!

We usually finish off with a picnic lunch under the shade tree and its so fun!

On a more serious note...summer, and the lack of school and being tired from so much playing I think, has led to a few tantrums from Kinley that have taken me by surprise.  I really feel like she is getting too old for tantrums but, they have been massive and often...like 3 times this last week. Usually it is over something really silly...like this day it was about clothes. It is approximately 90 degrees outside and she wants to wear this....

Now, I am not big on picking out her clothes...that is not really a battle worth fighting for me.  I am totally open to her having her own style and not placing emphasis on what she wears being any measure of her worth....but, I mean, I feel like for the sake of her health and not having a heat stroke, I should at least attempt to change her outfit when she wants long sleeves and ugg boots outside during the summer. And when I ask her to change, she should be ok with it and understand and just change...But no, it was like world war 3 broke out. It's rough.  Eventually, I work as hard as I can to out stubborn her and she apologizes and takes her punishment...but, Ben and I sometimes feel she has lost her mind. I can sometimes see my future teenager and it terrifies me.

I am praying through this daily. I want to learn how to effectively parent and discipline an extremely strong-willed girl with a quick temper.  I pray for her to develop patience and a heart for obedience and pray that for myself as well so that I can be an example.

But, there are other moments where she is the sweetest angel daughter and big sister in the world.  She was begging for a family movie night the other night where we pop popcorn and cuddle on the couch.  We ended up starting the movie a little late and it was just ben, kinley and I because Ty went to sleep but, it was so.much.fun.  She just laughed and smiled and it was so much fun again.  I am praying for more one on one time and fun moments like that this summer to get us through this rough patch.  She is always sweet to Ty and to pretty much any other kid or adult...its just her attitude toward Ben and I that is tough sometimes. But, we are working through it. 

Other than that we are just soaking up summer as much as we can.  We had another trip to the lake the same weekend as Taylor Swift with the Harrisons and the Reads and it was a blast. 

This is uncle Alex giving a double piggy-back to Aunt Minnie and Kinley through the water.  He's so strong!

And Ty just opted to jump right in the baby pool with just clothes on...I mean, why not!?

Loving the long summer days and nights and looking forward to so many fun times to come this summer.