Payton's 1st Day of Preschool

Payton started preschool this morning! When I went to get her out of her bed, she held her arms out wide and put on a big, cheesy smile and said, "Look mom, this is how I woke up today!! I am ready for preschool!!" Oh, my was she ready! She was asking me every 2 minutes if it was time to go yet (an hour before it was time to go!) She was super excited about her lunch box and thermos! She very happily posed for adorable pictures and then practically drug me to the car! Look out preschool, Payton is ready to rock! (I think I am going to have to drag her to the car this afternoon...she won't want to leave!) Blake and I miss her already, but are way too excited for her to be sad!Putting her things in her "turtle" toteShe found her chair! These are her new teachers!! Ms. Tanna and Ms. Sarah!!

The Soccer Season Begins!!!

Saturday was the girls' first soccer games. Payton's was at 8:30, then we all (all the grandparents and us) came back to the house until Maci's game at 11:30. After the game we all went to Chuy's for lunch to celebrate! The girls had a blast! Payton stayed with the ball the entire game and even scored 2 goals!!! (1 was questionable, but we'll give it to her!) After her first big goal, instead of running back with the team for the next play, she came to the sideline where her fans were and gave each one of us a high five! It was hysterical! I guess next she'll be doing a celebration dance after each scored goal! We flagged her for excessive celebration! What a little nut! At Maci's game I was shocked at how much more intense it was this year than last! man, those coaches were serious! I was afraid it would make her intimidated and not like soccer, but she loved it anyway! Hopefully, she continues to not let them bother her! (Although her mommy was pretty bothered by it!) She was fabulous too! She made several great plays and even got to be goalie for a little while...her favorite! She was great at stopping those balls! It was extremely hot during her game...I think record setting hot! She was a champ though, and played hard till the end! They were stinkin adorable out there! Its going to be a fun season!

Payton's 1st Soccer Game This is Maci in a nutshell...she runs hard up and down the field with a huge smile on her face...I hope it stays there! Go get'em girl!!!!Alan deserves the "Father of the Year" award in my opinion!! He has devoted 3 week nights and every Saturday to coaching BOTH of the girls' teams!! They have no idea how blessed they are to have a dad that adores them as much as he does! The best part is, he LOVES doing it! I think he looks forward to it every day! That man is amazing and I adore him!Here is my little firecracker doing her thing...I wanted a picture of both my soccer stars, but she was hot and hungry, so this is what I got!!! Oh, my! I have got my hands full!! Hahaha!

1st Day of 1st Grade

Maci started the 1st Grade today. She looked great and seemed to be really excited about it. Alan stayed home and had breakfast with her. Then I put her on the bus to start a new year! We miss her already! I am praying that she her first grade year is wonderful! We love you, Maci!!!

Daddy giving her a few last words of wisdom!

Posing for mommy! 1st grade rocks!!In line at the bus stop.Off she goes...have a blessed day, my girl!

The Last Day of Summer!!!

Friday was Meet the Teacher at Swenke. Maci got all cutsied up to go and meet Mrs. Parker. She seemed really nice and Maci thinks she is really going to like her. Mrs. Parker is her favorite friend from last year, John's, mom! Fun! Well, after a wonderful time there, we went downtown to have lunch with Alan. We enjoyed some Freebird's and then had a grand ole time playing in daddy's office. He needed to get some work done, so we killed some time at The Galleria until we could pick him back up and take him home. At home, we got rested up for a super fun night. We started a tradition last summer of swimming and having dinner every Monday night with the Sarine's and the Stovall's. The Sarine's moved before this summer started, and we miss them terribly! So, the tradition has carried on a little differently this year. The Stovall's have joined us most Friday nights this summer at Ron and Cindy's new pool for a cookout and swimming. We have LOVE, LOVE, LOVED those Friday nights!!! The kids love seeing the pool "glow" so a few times we have let the fun go on until pretty late in the evening. This was a perfect way to bring the summer to an end! (Hopefully, we will enjoy a few more Friday nights with them before it gets cooler, but in case life gets crazy with school, we went out with a really great Friday night this last time!) Thank you so much, Ron and Cindy, for wanting us around! We love spending that time with you!

The girls before Meet the Teacher (Blake would NOT sit with them!)

Us listening intently to whatever Janet was saying... :)the crazy, goofy kidsAK having a little corn on the cobMaci is super cool with huge chips in her mouth!Allie Kate thought she was one of the big kids!Brayden-goofballBlake-oh, my!the "loving" sisters...hahaha!Playing in the "glowing" pool! Thank you, God, for precious friends!

Galveston Two Times??? Why not!!

Well, the Stovall's invited us to the beach again for a friend get together celebrating Brayden's 6th birthday. The Hamilton's and the DeLaughter's also joined in on the festivities. Aimee actually had us all out to her in-law's beach-club type property. It was pretty cool! I have to say, Alan and I are blessed with some of the most amazing friends (even if they are all Aggies!) I adored getting to spend that kind of time with them. We started as 4 married couples and now have expanded to 4 married couples with 11 wild and crazy kids!! Now that is a lot!!! The kids were amazing and the time we spent visiting and playing was awesome! I think we should be required to do something that fun at least once every couple of months! We played at the beach all day, had lunch by the pool in some really cool cabanas, enjoyed birthday cupcakes, showered off, had dinner at Fisherman's Warf off the Strand, and then ended at our favorite candy shop. I was really, really proud of my kiddos...they went without naps and stayed out until after 11:00pm without so much as a whimper. They were fantastic and had such a blast!

Blake is a beach loving kid apparently! He couldn't get enough of it! Lunch and birthday cupcakesJanet and her sweet Allie KateAllie KateCarsynAimee and her pretty girls!Jennifer and RyanPayton working hard!We adults had it rough...its hard work sitting around in the shade, rocking sleeping babies, talking, laughing and enjoying the breeze off the ocean while watching the big kids play their hearts out...I'm tired just thinking about it...NOT!!!Jeremy was trying to teach Alan the art of soothing small children to sleep......Alan had to hand him off to the pro to get him to fall sound asleep! (Me!)The guys and the babies after dinner.Our sweet big kids after dinner!Ice cream and candy...what more could a kid want after a full day of fun!!!

The rest of July...I am getting close to caught up!!

In July, Cindy and I convinced Alan to let his hair down a little and take the kids to Galveston for the day. (He's not normally a fan of beach-for-a-day type activities.) He graciously played along and ended up changing his mind about Galveston altogether. We got there in time for lunch, then took a "Dolphin Tour" around the harbor. I was really doubting the "dolphin" part of this tour when our captain turned around to head back...but not to worry, he found us dozens of dolphins on our way back in. SO FUN!!! Then, we headed over to Stewart Beach for the afternoon. It was extremely crowded, but man did we have a great time! The girls spent time making castles, searching for sea shells, playing on the boogie board, and even flying kites! They had an amazing time. I knew they would...it was Blake that totally surprised me. He immediately fell in love with the sand. He has NEVER palyed in dirt before, and I handed him a shovel. He took it and instead of puting in directly in his mouth (pretty standard for Blake) he stuck it in the dirt and began digging. Are you kidding me??? How did he know what to do with that dirt and shovel??? I tell you what, boys are 100% prewired to be boys, I will never ever be convinced otherwise. He was amazing to watch. God is pretty cool like that! Anyway, we all really enjoyed our time on the beach and then briefly showered off and headed for The Strand. We took in a fabulous dinner at Willie G's and then walked the strand a bit. Our final stop was our all time favorite candy and ice cream shop, LA King's. We indulged in both candy and ice cream and even got to watch a Master Candy Maker pull taffy. The girls were very in to that. On the way back to the car, Payton got to pet and feed a horse (she adores horses) that was pulling a carriage. We didn't get home until really late, but man was it worth it. Did I mention that the kids were pretty much angels all day...even Blake (especially Blake) without a single nap!

On the Dolphin Tour

These 2 always play so sweet together!My ALL boy little boy LOVED the dirt!!!My handsome husband was quite a trooper!Look at him throwing the dirt over his shoulder!He also loved getting to freely walk around.This little boy surely adores his Papa!!!Gorgeous girl hunting for shells!My adventure-loving child on the boogie board!Hahaha! She's so mad that we asked her to come back toward us...she was getting too far away...LOVED that mad little face!Dinner at Willie G'sAt the candy store watching the Master Candy Maker make taffy. Payton feeding a horse...big sister was too scared to do it, so Payton helped her out too!

We also had the awesome opportunity to meet up with some college friends this month. Marc and Kathy brought their new little bundle to Montgomery and Matt and Tara brought their new little bundle and we all got to eat and talk and laugh and play together! We love these guys and loved getting to spend time with them! We just had to get some pictures of our ever growing families! Boy have we grown! Just look at all those kids!

Tara, Aubrey, Kathy, Corbin, and meAlan playing with the girls on the oh so safe very old playground equipment!The dude just walked all over the playground while we talked and played together! He was a sweaty mess!Dare-devil!!My little beauties!