Kayla Day Pictures

Our friend Jennifer Carlyle helped us surprise Kayla and the girls on their special day a few weeks ago with pictures of just the three of them.  I was so excited when she sent the CD to me that I found the girls had cooperated beautifully and every single picture was simply awesome!

 

We couldn't pick a favorite and we wanted to surprise Kayla with a canvas print of her and the girls...so we did the next best thing.  A canvas collage! 

 

 

 



Ladybug Anyone?

We go to see the chiropractor every other week.  It is routine for our family.  We even get adjusted in the same order.  First Keith, then Ava and Carli and then me.  Keith usually takes the girls outside to play and I take a 5 minute mental momma break and get all aligned.  The girls found a lady bug one day while out playing. 

Carli sure has come a long ways with her lady bugs...

 

Ava was as fearless as always...

 

Then again...Ava is just fearless...

 We finally convinced the girls to let the lady bug go back to her family and have dinner so we could do the same.

Smith Family Get Together

The first weekend in August we made our annual trip up to Aledo for the Smith Family Get Together.  These pictures are all from cell phones...they still are the easiest thing to capture in the moment memories with! 

On our way up, we met Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan for lunch at Rosa's.  It took the girls no time at all to warm up to Uncle Kevin.  They barely finished lunch before they were playing games and giggling constantly!

 

 

After a yummy lunch with good company, we headed out to Aledo for more family time.  It took the kids no time at all to get Uncle Doyle to sing some songs for them.  They listened intently but did not ask Uncle Doyle to teach them the songs.  Instead, they waited for us to get in the car and head home before asking me to sing them the fun songs Uncle Doyle has sang to them...and thus the earlier post.  Thankfully Uncle Doyle rescued me with videos so we could all learn the "Butterfly Song" and the "Dinosaur Song."

 

 

After some visiting the song books were brought out and the singing started.  Can I just say this side of our family can flat sing.  It was awesome.  :)  The kids did a great job staying in the main room and listening.

Carli was very excited when the song "Shout Hallelujah" was sung.  She sang right along with a big smile on her face!

 

Some of the second cousins...the older they get the harder it is to get a picture!

 

 

As evening approached we headed out to check into our hotel and go find some dinner.  We found a Jakes not far from the hotel.  Keith and I use to eat at the one in Dallas often when we lived in the metroplex.  It was still yummy!  All the kids insisted on riding with Grammy and Pa in their car every where we went that wkd.  Pa had to escort his girls back to the car to go back to the hotel for a  little swimming.

 

Grammy got some good pictures of the kids swimming and having a blast but I keep forgetting to get them from her!  Managed to capture a few on our phones before we called it a night and went to bed. 

 

Sunday morning we headed to church in Aledo. My parents got married in this church. There are still people there that remember my grandparents. I could still pick out the couple that use to sit behind my grandparents and would give us candy after service.  One of the ladies insisted on taking our family picture. It's kind of cool to see recognition register in peoples eyes when the connect who my Mom belongs too. 

 
It was a great weekend!
 

Cousin Day!

Last Friday we had a cousin day before Logan went back home to start 1st grade.  The girls were so very excited not only to spend the day with Logan, but that he got to spend the night with them too!  I wish I could have figured out how to have taken a picture at bedtime.  The girls insisted that Logan sleep in their room and Logan was quick to oblige since he needed to protect them.  So we dragged a mattress into the floor and we had a room full of kids.  They did great!  Slept all night and when I went in the room in the morning they might have been jumping on the bed...maybe...

 

We started our day out right at the donut store...pigs in a blanket, donut holes, sprinkle donuts and breakfast burritos...

 

After breakfast it was off to a fun morning at the Discovery Science Center.  The girls were anxious to show Logan the dinosaurs, Logan was very excited to get to see them!

And then we played...first we shopped...

Then we were firemen...

Made some silly faces...

Overcame our fear of the cave...

 



And found some fossils...

 

After we played ourselves out at the DSC, we went over to check out their annex full of science and math things to play with.  My favorite picture of the day is of Logan with the ball!

Ava intensely concentrating on cutting and Logan with multiple Logans...

The girls with their favorite Logan!

We met Keith at Chick-fil-a for lunch where we ate, played and had ice cream...

Ava was my only successful napper, so the older kids played hard in the water and continued to exhaust themselves...

 

Our cousin day ended with taking Logan back to his Daddy so he could go home.  Logan was worn flat out and fell asleep in the car.  The girls had an awesome day with cousin!  We all can't wait til we can do it again!