Hangin' at the Crocodile Dock

Conleigh & Alex went to VBS at Hope Pres in our neighborhood. They each had a terrific time and saw all sorts of friends from school.

Check out our Zoo!

We love our zoo!
Campbell & Alex went to a camp this week that was titled, "Who lives at the zoo?" Although Campbell reluctantly went each day, when I picked her up, she was always having a great time.
TGIF! Babysitter tonight. Peter & I are going out for sushi.

Thankful Thursday

Mom & Dad -
I'm glad you are back in the good ol' USA!

Happy Bastille Day

One crazy hot summer, Saturday night. Hmmm. What shall we do? Let's go to the Austin French Legation Bastille Day celebration! Before heading to the museum, we took the kids to hip Congress Avenue south of downtown. We went to the Big Top candy store. The children were in heaven. Then we ate walk-up pizza (for the kids) and Mighty Cone (yum-a-rama for Peter & me). We finished that adventure with cool sno-cones for

the kids since we made them eat dinner outside in the 100+ degree weather.
Then we ventured to the French Legation museum. The vino really hit the spot. The kids got to run around the pretty grounds and got to watch jugglers, get balloon art and pinwheels that didn't move because there was no wind to make them spin.


We watched the kids run around the beautiful grounds, and we watched a bit of swing dancing. Then we stood and pretended like we knew the national anthem of France. Then, we called it a night. >
Happy Bastille Day.

Cool Cat Conleigh

LOVE...
LOVE...
LOVE HER LOTS!

Yankee Doodle Recap

Here are the kids showing off our star spangled cake!
Another shot of our cake.
Campbell jumping off the dock for the 100th time.
Conleigh & Uncle Kyle.

We had a great weekend at Cedar Creek lake. Uncle Kyle was the highlight of the weekend. The kids wanted to know where he was every second and enjoyed swimming and playing games with him throughout the weekend.



It was our first trip there without our friends the Lins, who are usually there with their 7 & 5 year olds who are obviously great playmates with our crew. I was a little nervous but the kids had a good time and actually entertained one another a bit.
Peter came down with strep throat on Thursday morning. Can you believe it? If we haven't been through the ringer with illness this summer, please tell me! Since he couldn't work on Thursday, we decided to go up to the lake that afternoon. Oh, about Waco, which is 1.5 hours away from home, Peter's dad called to say that the a/c was broken at the lake but should be fixed by the time we arrive FRIDAY. Ugh! We should have called before leaving home.
What to do? What to do?
We stayed in Waco. I never thought I'd do that again after my time working at Baylor. Anyway, the town has grown a lot, and all the kids needed was a pool at the hotel. We have come to grips with not being a family that fit in two queen beds in a hotel. We broke down and got a suite, so we had two queen beds and a fold out couch. It was perfect and really what we needed.

Pictures of the weekend:

Mommy and two of her ducklings.
Grandpa with his grandchildren


We spent Saturday swimming in the lake, boating, fishing, relaxing and playing. Then the fireworks began. The fireworks at the lake were amazing! They went on and on and on. We had a few, and I was glad to not have more. It was a show around the lake for 2+ hours.
Alex loved doing the sparklers!
On the way home today, Conleigh begged us to stay at another hotel. She is a traveler.

Independence

Independence day. When I think of the word Independence, I think about how the children in our household have changed regarding independence in the last three short years.

All three of our kids can dress themselves. Granted, it may not be an outfit I would have put together, but they can put on their clothes all by themselves.

All three of our kids do not need diapers (during the day) anymore. In the midst of diapering, you never think it will end. Now that those days are behind us, you realize how short a time it was and how the days just kind of faded away without a lot of acknowledgement.

Although they may not do so, all three of our children can follow directions. When they don't, it is because they make the decision not to. Not because they don't know what is being asked.

All three kids can bath themselves. We are still very involved with it to decrease the water level all over the bathroom floor, but they can put shampoo in their hair, soap themselves off and get out and dressed. I admit that we still take a decent size role in this activity. :)

All three children have friends that are important to them. I'm thankful that they would almost always choose mommy & daddy to play with first, but I am thankful that they recognize the value of their friends and are interested in spending time with them.

All three children can help empty the dishwasher.

All three children can help in some aspect of getting dinner on the table. Whether it is helping to prep the food or set the table, they can assist.

All three children know right from wrong and will try to do right most of the time.

It is staggering the level of independence that a 6,4, and 3 year old can show. I am humbled to their mom and hope that I can continue to teach them to be independent and loving children.

God Bless America on this 4th of July!