Saturday / Sunday Fundays

We had a busy weekend!

On Saturday morning we were out shopping for new living room tables- didn’t find any!

Shelby had a birthday party to be at so we rushed home and got all pretty for that.  Her first KINDERGARTEN birthday party! 

The party was for Natalie, a little girl in her class. 

After they bounced and got all sweaty, they went into the “girl room” for a dress-up and fashion show.

Shelby picked a white dress and insisted that she only wear WHITE (purse, lace shawl, gloves, etc) :)  and that she was a “wedding girl.”  She kept singing “Going to the chapel”

I didn’t have my camera but Natalie’s mom sent me some pictures:

There were 2 boys from Shelby’s class out in the hallway, and she kept going out there and chasing them trying to “Kiss” them.  Heaven help me!  None of the other girls paid a second of attention to the boys, I don’t know where she got that!!!

And here is the group of girls- only the birthday girl (sitting) and one other girl in this picture are actually IN Shelby’s class.  I think most of them go to her school though.

Saturday night we went to a yummy pizza dinner where we dined outside with my whole big family and BYOWine to celebrate Aunt Millie's 27th birthday.  If you’re in the mid-cities, Palio’s in Colleyville is VERY good- thin WHEAT crust and BYOB :)

Afterward we all headed back to our house for cake and to watch Tech LOSE  but at least we were surrounded by family :)

I finally remembered to take the camera out and dust off its cobwebs for our Sunday.

The day started out at 10:00 for me, because my awesome lovely sweet and handsome husband let me sleep in.  I really really love sleep!

But I did hit the ground running as we decided to go to the dog park for a while before our 2 birthday parties.

 

 

Both sides of the park were FULL of dogs.  I guess Sunday mornings are a popular park time for dogs!

    

Next, we ran home and got cleaned up and were off to separate parties.  Jeff took Coleman to a BOY birthday party with his best buddy Jackson. 

We girls got to our old neighborhood for baby Aiyla’s FIRST birthday.

The cake had her first year in pictures collage that I made for her invitation :)

 

Shelby, of course, found a friend to swim and play with

 

And this girl just cracks me up.  The towel goes straight onto her hair (all on her own!) as she shivers and drips from the pool.

Aiyla is still just the happiest and sweetest girl ever.  Just look at her smile!

 

She put her cheeto in her cake, then looked up at her daddy like, “Now what am I supposed to do?”

 

She figured it out pretty quickly :)

 

Shelby learned a new trick from her friend- climbing up on the pole and sliding down it. 

 

Jeff met us at that party and we headed up 35 to Lake Ray Roberts. 

We have the state park passes and Jeff really wanted to get use out of them and swim at the lake before it gets too cold.

 

The kids absolutely love it.

 

 

    

The beach here at the Johnson Branch part of Lake RR is very nice- sandy and shallow for a LONG way out.  There is plenty of room to safely play out in the water for the kids…see how far the boys are out there? :)  Right there was about waist-level for them.

 

That is Matthew out there with Cole!  We were so happy and lucky that on our short notice to have a cookout dinner there Sunday night, Jeff’s mom and sister/brother-in-law and Matthew could come!

There is also a big playground

 

where I watched the kids play while the hot dogs cooked.

 

 

   

 

My little Love Bugs:

 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful evening…and when the sun went down the mosquitoes QUICKLY chased us away but we will be doing this again!  I am so glad to have kids that love the outdoors!

Shelbyisms

 

As she plays with her doggy, she is telling Mary to drop the toy she has in her mouth:
“Mary!  Drop it.  Drop it Mary!  Mary drop it.  Mary!  S’RIOUSLY!  Drop it! “

Shelby and Daddy are in the car and she is wearing a damp bathing suit.  Being 99 degrees outside, Daddy has the air conditioner on:
“Daddy!  I am cold back here!  I am wearing a wet bathing suit!  What?! The cat got your brain?!  Turn the air off!”

We are all watching the Red Raiders game at our house.  There is shouting and the general game watching stuff.  Shelby goes up to Ryan very sweetly with her hands behind her back like she is shy:  “Ryan?  You said Oh My God.”  Ryan: “Oops.  Sorry Shelby”  Shelby:  “You can say Oh My Goodness.”

Fort Richardson State Park and Trailway

It was Labor Day weekend.

We packed up and headed out early Saturday morning to Jacksboro, TX for a weekend of camping.  The forecast was AMAZING for camping!

Somehow the Pecks and the Kerrs (aka Peckerrs) showed up at the park within 2 minutes of each other in 3 different cars!  After getting all checked in and picking the perfect site, we were set up within a couple of hours- we are getting good at this stuff! 

We headed out on our first hike of the weekend.  4 adults, 4 children ages 2,3,4 and 5, and one very good trail dog.

 

The kids had a great time exploring and taking pictures together.

What a cute little foursome!

The first part of the trail is kind of primitive and winds around/through a creek (which is very stagnant and mucky)

   

On the hike we saw a few deer, and a LOT of spiders.

We stopped for several photo ops (which the kids picked out!)

Cole wanted his picture on this big rock.

and Ashlyn found a nice tree she wanted to pose by :)

and for some water and rest breaks

 

The second part of the trail was much more paved and cleared- the kids were able to take turns walking Mary.  Ashlyn loved it!

This is Cole and Ashlyn holding hands…how cute are they?!

The camera was retired for most of the rest of the trip, but the fun did not stop!

After the hike, we spent time at our campsite- bikes, pool, toys, a dozen too many chairs- It looked like we threw up on our campground but we were stocked for fun! :)

 

We flew kites, played in tents, rode bikes, and ate good food. 

 

Of course there was a lot of relaxing thrown in.

On Sunday we had a hearty breakfast and headed out on a big ol’ bike ride on the trailway. 

We have 4 bikes, 2 trailers (one for each Daddy) and a tag-along on my bike. 

We went about 5 miles but it was a tough 5 miles for some of us!  The ground was mostly little gravel/rocks and was hard to pedal through at times.  We rode along a creek and to a lake and back.  On the way back we stopped at the “Fort” part of the area, where there are still buildings standing from when this area served as a fort in the 1860’s.  We were able to walk through the Hospital, the Morgue, and the Magazine.  The hospital was state-of-the-art back then and was very nice.

After that workout, we went to DAIRY QUEEN for lunch and then back to the campsite for naps!  Well, except for Jeff, who decided to ride the whole trailway (15 miles or so) while the rest of us rested.

Then that evening we went to the lake and the daddies and kids had a chilly swim.  The weather was warm but windy.

Both evenings cooled down for nice campfires and smores. 
We tried to play cornhole after the kids went to bed, but as usual, were told we were making too much noise after 10pm (the seniors across the park could hear the bags hitting the boards…REALLY!?!?!)  Of course it wasn’t bothering any of OUR sleeping children but whatever! :)  We are getting to know all the rangers at all the state parks with our noise violations!  I think in my next life I’m going to invent campgrounds for active families---where the kids sleep through normal noises and the parents get to have some fun at night…and no cranky adults are allowed! :)

One time while the guys were gone with the boys and Susan and I were sitting around at the site, a couple drove past our site then backed up and got out.  The woman said, “I know you’re gonna think we’re crazy but we just had to tell you how good you’re doing!”  She said that they used to be “THAT FAMILY” that came camping with SO MUCH GEAR (seriously it looks crazy to drive by our site!) and she said seeing our site made her smile and comment to her husband about just how much those mamas had to do to get everything ready to take our kiddos and families camping.  They told us to enjoy it because before we know it the kids will all be off and married like theirs are, and we will be driving around like them, reminiscing about these days.  It made us smile and remind ourselves that all this effort really is worth it!  What a nice little comment from a stranger can do to brighten your day! :)

On Monday we finally got a great packing-up strategy where we tag-team the packing with the daddies took the kids on a hike, and then the loading while we mommies took the kids to the park. 

What a wonderful family outdoors weekend it was!

Just Dance

I ordered this Wii game after hearing a couple of people who really like it for indoor “fun” exercise/activity.  I have done it some but who really really loves it is Shelby.  I thought when I ordered it that it could be something we could do together, but I had no idea just how much she would like it.  She has learned how to work the Wii and find the disk, put it in, change all the tv settings for the wii, and play it without any help and she does it every day now.  Basically there are a bunch of choices of songs, and you pick one and then mirror the dancing person on the screen.  That’s it!

Coleman likes it too, but he will ONLY do “boy” ones- more specifically, he will basically only do “Who Let the Dogs Out”

Shelby doing Jin Go Lo Ba

 

As always, Mary is right in the middle of it.

Shelby and the Camera

My little photojournalist.  Ha!

Daddy has been brining these little trinkets home from work, and my little hoarder Shelby LOVES trinkets:

 

Her Dollhouse:

Of course the zhu zhu pet:

And Buddy: