The 2nd trip to Pilot Knoll

Last weekend we returned to Pilot Knoll park in Highland Village (on Lake Lewisville) for another camping trip.
This time, Sean and Kylie had gotten a bike and trailer too! Their boys loved Jeff's so much- now they can all go at once! :)
Front: Sean, Back: Jeff


The "big kids" Shelby and Brady. Brady told his mom that Shelby was his best camping friend. :)



This time, there was NOT a burn ban, yay! So of course there was a fire with marshmallows and smores.
In the pic top is Micah, then Bryson and Cole. Micah is Kylie and Sean's nephew. He's just a little older than Brady and Shelby and he is a SWEETHEART kid.


Kylie, Jeff and Sissy


Smile boys!!!


Bryson and Cole are little buddies. Cole wakes up in the camper in the morning crying "Bryson!" Here they were watching Cars while we mommies and daddies enjoyed the campfire.


The mommies and the BABY boys!


Shelby decided to take her pants off. I'm sure this shirt would pass as a dress if she was a teenager!


Smores!!



We aren't sure what made them ALL decide to run around in their undies, but I wouldn't be surprised if bossy little Shelby told them to! :)
These kids play SO well together, it is amazing.


This is Saturday morning, up early to go to Thomas.


Buddy was so happy and excited.


Shelby is all ready, see her purse?


Later, down by the lake---more rock throwing!


I don't have any pictures of Mary, but she went this time. I think she will be a great camping dog, after a few trips. She LOVED the water and jumped right in to chase balls and sticks. She did not like being tied up but that's the rule!

Even the "big" kids loved playing Ring around the Rosies with the little boys.



Fun!


Our best attempt at a group picture. :)


Thanks Reisings! We had a blast yet again! :)

THOMAS!!!

Cole was REALLY looking forward to riding Thomas the Train. We told him about it one night last week in a desperate attempt to get him to lay down for bedtime. It worked, and it worked for the following 2 nights! :) He would lay that sleepy little head of his down at our mention of getting to ride Thomas this weekend.
I try not to make a huge habit of bribing my kids, but....Wait, nevermind...

So Friday we headed out for camping at Lake Lewisville with the Reisings again. Camping pictures will come later! This is the blog about finally getting to go ride THOMAS!

We got up and around and had to be in Grapevine by about 9am.
Arriving at the depot (in Grapevine, TX)


It was a chilly morning...the wind was blowing here even more than it was on the Lake!

A snapshot of daddy and the kids looking at the huge toy train set-up.


We were close to the front of the line and Cole was surprisingly pretty patient. The best part was seeing Thomas drive up while we were waiting.



We got a good seat on the train.


Cole really enjoyed it.









The conductor was dressed up authentically (The Reisings didn't have the same experience in their car, as we were separated) and came and asked Shelby for her tickets. She was keeping them in her pocket "in case" he asked for them :) She thought that was pretty cool.











This is her proud face :)



And just like that, the ride was over. It left a bit to be desired for us adults and even the older kids, but I think Cole got our money's worth :)





Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga CHoo CHOO!!!

Our little girl...

CAPTION THIS!!! :)

Destructo- potty talk

Today Jeff had to take the toilet off...again. He is getting really good at doing this- he can do it in less than an hour, off and back on! :)
Our sweet little son, in the past 4 months, has stopped up our toilet THREE times!
The first time, it was a mystery. We didn't know what we were dealing with- we just knew that our toilet had some sort of blockage. Jeff took the toilet off and found a long pointy-end comb stuck within the pipes of the commode.


After we found it, Shelby said she remembered Cole flushing it. We asked her to tell us next time something like that happened.

The second time, I walked into the bathroom as Cole was standing there looking down into a flushing toilet. I asked him what he had flushed, and he said, "Ummmm cup." Sure enough, the toilet was stopped up again. It was a little bathroom Dixie cup. Luckily I was able to plunge that one on through without taking the potty off again.


Now today, the third time, the toilet has been fixed. When the toilet was stopped up this time, we asked the kids if they knew what happened. Shelby said that Cole had flushed the blue BODY PAINT down there. They have this bathtub roll-on body paint, and sure enough, the blue one was missing. When Jeff removed the toilet he found the container lodged in there, just as Shelby had said.
It was one of these:

I can't even believe it went down far enough to get stuck!

Hopefully that is the last time for a while that Jeff will have to remove the kids' bathroom toilet.

Shelby's baggy

I have so many things I want to blog about- but can't find the time (or more precisely, the presence of mind!) to do it.
First off---
Look what I found when I got into my car after a dinner out Thursday night:


It's a bag of WEEDs!!!

I am an obsessive weed puller. When the kids are in the backyard, I am pulling weeds. And I am often frustrated that there are no weeds for me to pull since my dear handsome hubby takes such great care of the lawn. But a couple of weeks ago there were some to pull, and Shelby, who is exactly like her momma, was thrilled to drop everything she was doing outside and pull them with me. Oh, that great feeling of satisfaction that comes along when you pull the entire root system out with the weed---it's magical! Shelby feels it too! She exclaims, "Look mommy! I got the roots!!!"
The next day, she took this love for weeding to school with her, and after picking this big pile while out on the playground, she told her teacher that she needed to take them home to add to Mommy's pile in the backyard. So being the great teacher she is, Ms. Debby got Shelby a little baggy to put her weeds in.
I guess I had forgotten about them in my car until Thursday, when they were uncovered and lying on my front seat. I'm sure glad I didn't get pulled over that night and have to explain why I had a suspicious looking bag of dried weeds in my car to a police man...it might sound a little wacko.

My sunshines - Happy Monday!

You are my sunshine



My only sunshine...



You make me happy




When skies are gray!



You'll never know dear



How much I love you



Please don't take my sunshine away

Week Wrap-up

Let's do a WEEK wrap-up!

Worst part of the week: I didn't really stay on my diet very well.

Best part of the week: "Date night" / Karaoke with my Hubby on Wednesday night, then having good friends and sisters and mom to hang with and talk to.

Most random part of the week: Deciding to head over to Brides & Beaus for Millie's dress fitting yesterday.

People I saw this week: Coworkers, my mom & dad, Jess D, Carla, Millie, Anna

Something I wish I did this week that I didn't get around to doing: LAUNDRY!!!

Things that I am looking forward to this weekend: Relaxing and lots of family time! The kids are very excited about riding Thomas the Train tomorrow.

Things that I am not looking forward to this weekend: being gone and coming home to a messy house :(

Tell me about your week!