Monday, July 29, 2013

Bubble Gun

Nana found a cool bubble gun at the store. Derek was thrilled to go out in her backyard and pretend to shoot the "bad guys." We were well-protected. Bryce was content to sit and watch from Nana's lap of luxury. :)
 
 Pow pow!
 
 A plethora of bubbles
 
 Perfect ammo for a three year old
 
 Happy as a clam
 
 Trying to shoot the camera
 
 Bryce was politely amused
 
Shooting the bad guys

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Racing with Bryce

Derek loves playing with Bryce. I caught them reading together on the couch this morning and then Derek started racing Bryce around in the car walker. We watched Emeri for a couple hours too and she climbed into that walker all by herself. She's getting so big!
 
 Look at those chunky cheeks!
 
 Derek is such a great big brother! I'm so glad he's sharing his love of books with Bryce.
 
Learning to like books
 
 Jumping in the jumper!
 
 She's not waiting to get her license to drive!
 
 Sweet brother time
 
 Vroom vroom!
 
Pushing Bryce around

Having fun!


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

First Flower for Mom

 This awesome storm rolled in but didn't dump a thing. Still a cool picture
 
Derek brought me a flower today! He said, "Here Mom, you can put this in your hair."

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Bryce Loves Fish

 Watching the stingrays at the Grapevine Aquarium

 Brothers!

 Fascinated

Megalodon jaw cast and a snack-size Derek

Monday, July 8, 2013

Peachy Keen

I blended up a can of peaches for Bryce today and half is gone. Bryce decided he liked peaches so much, he'd make cute insistent sounds between bites to tell me I'm going too slow with that spoon. I ran to get the camera and came back to find Derek seated in front of the bowl of pureed peaches feeding Bryce massive dripping spoonfuls and helping himself to bites in between. I love these kids and they are clearly keen on peaches.

 Love this shot with the cheerio on his tongue

 Caught!

 Shamelessly shoveling it in - can't blame him. Peaches are good. :)

Happy boy with a very full tummy

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Croquet

Tammy has been talking about playing croquet in their massive backyard for a while now. So, we all went outside to set up and play. And, of course, the boys want to come and they start hitting each other with the croquet sticks and it turns into a circus. Good thing I like the circus. It was blazing hot outside but we all had fun learning a new game and spending time together. Jared and Sereen have to go home tonight, so we're sapping all the fun out them that we can. ;)

Check out this VIEW! I love Jeff and Tammy's backyard. 

Only Sereen can (or would) rock a scarf in the Texas summer heat

 Aw.... young love. ;)

 Umbrellas channel your inner Downton Abbey and make you look and feel cool

Mitchell demonstrating the Common Style, or how-people-normally-hit-the-ball

Adventure Style (because Derek and sticks make a dangerous mix)

 Austin demonstrates Redneck Style (with lemonade)

 Here's Tammy demonstrating... dare I say it... Granny Style!

Playing the part of Sweet Southern Belles

 We all instantly became experts, critiquing hits and making recommendations. No pressure right?

At least your kids don't care how well you're hitting the ball. :)

Check out this sexy man in his security uniform! OW OW!!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Girls' Day Out

We went out for a Girls' Day today. It was AWESOME!! I, for one, really needed today. It was so nice to bond with my sisters (ok, some of them are cousins, but I don't care). We went to Sam Moon and then over to The Cheesecake Factory. It was so funny to see Tammy and Aunt Terri spend HOURS poring over jewelry. They were best friends in high school before Aunt Terri married Tammy's brother, Mike. Pretty cool! My habitual wear-no-jewelry-to-Sam-Moon-because-I-always-buy-something-i-want-to-wear-immediately backfired today - but I found a really cool Texas wallet. :)

 Shelley and Aunt Debbie - she's not even six (let alone sixteen) and she already wants to drive! Lol

We're so cute! Tammy, Grandma Allred, Aunt Terri and Aunt Debbie told us to go sit on our own. :) I don't think I've giggled that much in a loooong time. 

 Lanae was impressed with Loni's impromptu "spirit fingers." lol!

 Ally and Jenelle

 Liz and Angie

Me, Sereen, Liz and Angie!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Family Photos

We have been so blessed to have so many family members able to come together at this time. We have tons pictures of awesome family that didn't fit into a particular event, so I'm just going to do a conglomeration post. It's been bittersweet to have this much time to bond with family - I even met some family members that I hadn't met before! I just wish we'd been able to get together under different circumstances. Several people remarked that Jeff would've loved to see how well the big house held all 24 people and 12 kids. Not everyone slept here, but we all congregated here during the day. 

 Logan is getting some serious air!

 Ashley and Preston

 Caleb plays a mean piano

 Savanna, Kimmi and Bryce

 Um... yum?

 Bryce, Emeri and Savanna

 I just had to crop this one down. Love Bryce's unhappy face. LOL!
 Derek and Bryce loved Madison, Taylor and Ashley. They were MASSIVELY helpful with them the whole week, too. I wish they lived closer. They are such awesome girls. I hope my daughters are just like them.

Grandma was one of our rocks. She told us lots of cool stories about what life was like for her growing up, how/where she met Grandpa Allred and tons of other cool stories.

 My poor boys. We were so distracted catching up with family that we rarely got them in bed on time. It sure made them super cuddly though.

 We played a massive game of Scatter-gories (you have no idea how long it took me to remember the name of the game!).

 Derek is so cute!!

 I love this man!

 Grandpa and Grandma Wade, me and Mitchell, Derek and Bryce

 Bryce loved Uncle Mike. These two formed a really special bond.