meet up with the cousins

My sister, Michelle, brought her kids over for the day Thursday. We headed over to the Myriad Gardens and met up with our cousin Emily and her two girls. We ate lunch and splashed in the pool. I got about 50 pictures and somehow Hope wasn't in any of them. We loved playing in the water, but not that you have to pay to park during the day now! I did learn Todd didn't mind getting splashed in the face and he was having a lot more fun now that he can move around more. Elle was just enjoying running around with Esther, Derek, and Ruby. Poor Corey wasn't feeling too good, but still made friends with everyone there. Can't wait to do this again!

todd @ 8 months

8 months! I can't believe it! And the past month has had so many milestones for Todd. He's into everything and is moving a lot more. He's started crawling and pulled up a few times.

He's moved on to some bigger toys. He's done with baby toys and usually wants what Elle has or to play in the TV cabinet.

His favorite ride is the wagon. He usually gets a nightly spin around the floor when Elle's trying to go to sleep or he's fussy. If he sees it he must be in it. But he also took a ride in this beauty at party.

He's eating so many fruits, vegetables, and snacks now. He loves table food and has worked so hard this month at picking up the food and getting it in his mouth! He also has his first tooth poking through so a quarter of a frozen waffle is a favorite lately!

Todd's becoming such a cute little guy! We love him so much and he is showing more and more of his personality. He even prefers Daddy a lot of the times now. He's such a blessing to our family!

send us your photos!

Nicole Whaley, our good friend from HUGSR days, recently posted on facebook that her kids Ella and Noah were picking a picture off the fridge and praying for that person at dinner. I loved the idea and we implemented it immediately. Elle is more excited about praying now and loves picking someone to pray for. (Thanks, Nicole!) We are still trying to figure out a good system to rotate through the pictures so everyone gets a turn. Here's just a few of our pics, but we need more and some need updating! Send us any photo you want on our fridge and we'll be praying for you!

our yucky week

Last Friday, I had food poisoning. Then Mops wouldn't eat for 2 days this week and kept getting sick. She wouldn't even take peanut butter or a cheese stick! Thankfully, this morning she finally ate her food and kept it down because I didn't want to have to go to the vet. Why?  Because during the night last night Elle got sick twice, which we think was due to a peanut butter sandwich she had at a friend's house.This morning she slept in until 10 and then spent a while like this watching the Olympics.

To top last night off, because we were nice and let Mops sleep on the couch because she was feeling bad she left us a present in the bear cubs room. Which I found while trying to change sheets as stealthy as possible so Todd didn't wake up. Needless to say, he ended up waking up. This weekend better be a good one because I don't know how much more of this we can take!

olympic break

We've been pretty busy this summer, but have been able to take in some Olympics. We went to a great opening ceremony party with themed food from all over the world. I didn't get to sample much as I woke up that morning with food poisoning. Also the reason for no pics. I barely made it to the car on the way there, but good company helped me feel better by the end of the night. The TV has been on waaaaaay more than it ever is in our house, but it's for a good reason... right? I've also gotten Elle to do a couple of Olympic crafts and activities. We did this salt/food coloring painting. Elle's didn't turn out nearly as neat, but, she loved playing with a dropper and food coloring. Then, I also had her do some toddler archery in the hallway, which I found here. I used the olympics sports page and letters she still has trouble with for Elle's target. Then I gave her a bowl of paint and an "arrow" (a pointer from school days). After a few dings in the wall I made the target bigger. (sigh) Live and learn!

Todd got into my bag and the monkeys in the meantime.

waco summer 2012 part 2

We should have called this summer the back to our roots tour. We got to reconnect with old friends on our TN/KY trip and we also got to see a lot of friends and family on the Waco trip. Thursday night we ate dinner with Josh, Carly, and Jonathan. Good friends we went to church with at Robinson. I don't have any pics because I had forgotten my SD card and hadn't had a chance to go buy one yet. Hopefully, Josh and Carly got some good ones and will send them soon. Elle and Jonathan were like two peas in a pod playing in the backyard, the house, the pool, and watching movies. We couldn't get enough of them so we met them for breakfast the next morning at Shipley's for donuts and kolaches. Elle insisted on getting this red donut!

Friday for lunch Chris' Uncle Steve, Aunt Gloria, cousin Stephen, and his daughter Mackenzie came over from Hempstead to visit. We hadn't seen them since we moved and they were so nice to come over to us. We had a great visit and lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, but I didn't get any pics of them either.

We got lucky and happened to be in town when a Philosophy Potluck was scheduled. It's a semi-monthly meal the department has at a student or faculty members' house. Chris went to one his interview weekend and it's one reason he wanted to go there. So Friday night we went around the block to the Clevelands  and got to see a lot of old friends. It was so nice to visit and of course you just feel smarter being in the room when they're all talking philosophy. It was also a little bittersweet since it will probably be the last one we go to since so many of Chris' classmates are graduating and getting jobs other places. Elle really enjoyed playing with Trinity and Nathan and some of the other kids. They even got Jessica and Angela to do a game of Mother May I.

Saturday morning we ran over to the Mayborn Museum so Elle could play. I now know to book more time the next time we're in town. Here are some shots of things Elle and Chris went to look at. Most of them are things I haven't been brave enough to go see. I'm hoping to use the pics to slowly desensitize myself like my friend Heather suggested. We'll see!

The Mayborn is a children's museum on Baylor's campus. They even have a degree program that runs out of it. Elle was having so much fun looking at everything and then when we got to the little city she was so excited to play!

Some how, the entire 3 years I lived in Waco I never went upstairs. I don't know why. Chris used to take Elle here a lot when there was bad weather and I was in class. They had been up there a lot, but I guess when he was describing it to me I didn't realize it had more playrooms. So, the upstairs was new to me and because Elle was so little before newish to her too. This tea party room was by far our favorite. I think I need one of these in our dream house. (Chris and Todd went to do boy things while we played.)

These cabinets have antique, child-sized glass tea sets and dishes that a family from Waco donated. So cute! Then they have etiquette rules written on the plates that are painted on the tables.

The giant bubble and water room was also fun. Chris waited until all the other kids left so he could play with the water table.

Saturday for lunch our friends Matt and Angela joined us at our house. They had to wait on us to talk to the new renters and then they helped us pack the car. Love them! Then on our way back to OKC my cousin Jace, his wife Randy, and they're little guy Owen met us in Ft. Worth at In-N-Out for a quick visit during dinner.

We didn't even make it to Baylor because of all the house stuff, but we'll probably go back in September for Chris' defense. It was brief, but so nice to see the people we did see!