Fourth of July!

What an awesome Fourth! We spent the morning and early afternoon with my mom and Rick and then headed over to Jeff and Tammy's for the late afternoon and evening. Derek was very thoroughly worn out! YAY! I tried to get Derek to say "Happy Fourth of July" but the best I could get him to say was "FREEDOM!" Still pretty entertaining...

I pulled a Crocodile Hunter and caught this Texas Spiny Lizard in my mom's backyard. He chose the wrong woodpile to sun himself on. :) Of course, I marched into my mom's house (into her bedroom where the other adults were busy hanging a mirror) and announced, "Look what I caught!" To give her credit, she barely batted an eyelash when she saw me holding a lizard in the middle of her bedroom (I once had to pull a tree frog out of her toilet), but everybody flinched when the lizard wiggled, haha! Derek seemed especially disgusted, as you can tell from the picture.I'm going to have such fun with my kids! Just so you know, we let the lizard go back into the backyard...

So wary of that lizard!

Behold the coolest headband!

I get the biggest kick out of this...

Since I spend so much time behind the camera, here's a candid photo... only because I had makeup on. :)

Mitchell's attempt at the "Facebook profile pic." Pretty close!

Jeff BBQ'd the most awesome cheeseburgers for us and we ate a red-blooded American meal to celebrate Independence Day. Yum! They had filled up the inflatable pool just for Derek, too. He was so excited when he saw that pool in the backyard! He loves the water and has no qualms about getting his face wet or his head submerged. Funny little kid. After the pool and dinner, we all took a walk around the golf course. Jeff and Tammy tried to teach Derek how to ride on the cool Batman bike but he just wasn't getting the hang of it so we ditched it and just let him run up and down the "mountains" on the golf course. He loved it! We watched fireworks from the bed of Jeff's awesome truck (Derek talks or asks about "Papa's truck" daily; it's his epitome of coolness) until my prego bladder nearly gave out and we had to go home. Thankfully we left as early as we did though because there was some MAJOR traffic. My camera died right after the pool pictures, so I don't have any pictures of fireworks :( But these are just as fun...

Look at this little muscle man!

Kick kick kick!

Playing with Giga

He loved launching himself over the side into the pool. Never quite made it in one jump though so he ended up tumbling head first under the water every time.

Yes, that is a ball heading straight for his face...

YUCK!!

The pool is more...interesting...when Daddy joins in. :)

Mitchell tried to teach Derek to play catch. Derek was more interested in throwing. :)

Visiting Lanae and Logan!

David had to do some training away from home again, so I took a trip down to Del Rio to hang out with Lanae and Logan! Prior to arriving there, I stopped off in San Antonio to spend a couple days with my dad, TexAnne and Denise. We hung out at the hotel, swam in the pool and toured a HUGE nearby mall so some of their Apply stuff could get fixed. Denise was a huge help watching Derek and he talked to her constantly. I wish I had taken pictures of that part of my trip! Silly me. I set off to Del Rio on Friday morning and Derek instantly went from car trip angel to car trip demon. Every few seconds went like this...

Derek: "Momma!"

Me: "Yes, Derek"

Derek: "Mooo/Choo Choo!"

Me: "Derek, there are no cows, horses or goats/trains around here."

Seriously?! At least the "Momma, truck!" didn't come out til about halfway there. He really gets a kick out of spotting every single truck on the road (since we're in Texas, it's about every third vehicle on any given roadtrip). He was much better behaved on the drive back, but I digress...

Derek and Logan were having lots of fun in Walmart! Logan wiggled onto Derek's lap and Derek took it all in stride! What a great big brother he'll be!

Lanae set up the air mattress for me with lots of fluffy blankets and pillows. The boys thoroughly approved!

A laundry cupboard is a great place to lounge while you pick your nose or brush your teeth.

What a good "cheese!"

Logan wasn't happy when I opened the doors. He preferred them to be shut, haha!

Cousins!

Oh the cuteness!

Derek had a pack and play that I put him down to sleep in but, when it was time for me to go to bed, this is what I found nearly every night. :)

Lanae made a cake for a baby shower and the cake tops became a cake for us! YUM!

We still have no idea how Derek got into the crib...

Little boy chatter!

Derek loved Logan's cars. Luckily, they were both pretty good with sharing or distraction

No kisses please, Mother...

The "angry fish" face

Thirsty boys after a long, hot morning at the park. I just love the composition and color of this picture. Call me weird. :)

Copy cat-ing Logan! Quite often when Logan is asked to do or say something, Derek jumps right in and does it first.

One of the many belly laughs Logan does

Who knew this little boy was so funny?!

Hi Grandma!

One day, Lanae and I put the boys down around 1pm and they both woke up at 3. We had been up late the night before and the night before that hanging out and having fun, so we were both bushed. We couldn't fathom what we were going to do to entertain these boys for then next 5 hours til bedtime! Lanae suggested we take them to the pool which worked brilliantly til the pool closed at 5. Oh no! We still had 3 more hours to go! So, at our wits end, we opted for a pancake dinner at IHOP and dessert at McDonald's so the kids could run in the playplace. Thank heaven! It made for one of the more memorable afternoon/evenings of the week. :)

Oh Derek, you're so cute!

Lanae and I both thought this was a cool picture. :D

Honestly, this was quite often the current activity: fighting over the steering wheel in the yellow bubble. Pretty sure it was supposed to be a yellow car, but it seriously looked just like a bubble with windows and a steering wheel.

What a handsome kid!

Derek's first taste of cottage cheese. Mmm...

Bustin' a move!

Dance party! Michael Buble makes us sway!

Superman PJs, Potty Training and Ally's Birthday!

Another one of those conglomeration posts... :)

Derek got superman pajamas from Nana! He loves the cape but rarely wears the pants as they're a bit too long for him still. He'll grow into them, but for now he was just happy to have an excuse to stand on the couch and jump on his bed, haha!

Trying to get him to pose on the couch

Cute little stud!

What a talented kid! Hands on his hips (almost), jumping on the bed in front of his fan to make his cape flare AND saying cheese for the camera! Wow!

We're restarting the potty training thing and, since everyone needs to have potty pictures for blackmail purposes (read prom, 18th birthday, etc hehehe...), we've included these for your viewing pleasure...

My cousin Ally had another birthday party! Guess they're kind of an annual thing. ;) This one was held at a cool little place in Lewisville and all the kids had a blast! There were indoor video games and outdoor stuff like putt putt golf, go carts for little kids and big kids, and batting cages. Derek was in little boy heaven. Thanks for the invite Ally! I found one of our old cameras while unpacking and I let him lay claim to it. This kid loves to take pictures and he's getting very good at it. I have to find a charger for this camera before he can take any pictures with it, but for now he's content to yell, "say cheese!" and press the buttons, haha!

Saying "cheese." He looks so big!!

Gammy and Papa furnished an endless supply of quarters for Derek to ride this little rocket ship. Like I said, little boy heaven.

There was a huge bouncy house and an inflatable slide (see below) that Derek was immediately attracted to. I thought this was a cool picture since almost none of my other pictures of him in the bouncy house were usable... darn that mesh!

Aunt Amy was a great sport (and a great help!) taking Derek into the bouncy house and helping him climb up to the little bouncy slide (not to be confused with the big bouncy slide below). Thanks Amy!

Derek was a little nervous about the big bouncy slide, but the birthday girl showed him how it's done. Derek wasn't about to be outdone by a girl a little more than 3 times his age, haha!

Needless to say, he found his own way down...

Still shot of him tumbling!

Derek and Declan were fascinated with this huge elephant!

 

Mitchell tried very patiently to teach Derek how to putt putt. Derek was excited to swing the putter, but got tired of missing the hole, so he picked the ball up and dropped it in. Problem solved!

Aunt Valerie's Graduation

My sister Valerie has graduated! YAY! Congratulations Val! We had a big party at my mom's house to celebrate and had a blast. We had lunch with my dad and Denise at a great little Mexican restaurant nearby before the ceremony and were sad not to make it to the ceremony with everyone... toddlers and solemn, never-ending ceremonies don't mix though. ;) Here are some of the pictures we took at the party though...

Aren't we pretty?

HA! I'm still the tallest... barely. Mitchell doesn't count. ;) P.S. I'm 4.5 months here...

Derek just wanted to "brush" my hair while we waited for Mitchell to come take pictures with us

Val was such a trooper - she stood for so many pictures!!

 

The proud grandparents!

We are a funky family! :D

So sweet! Val and Papa.