San Antonio, Days 5+

At the end of our vacation, we got to visit some very dear friends of ours who used to live in our town, but moved to San Antonio 3 years ago.  I hadn't seen them since they moved, but it was like no time had passed at all when we got together again!  We were only going to stay 1 night, but we were having so much fun, we ended up staying 2 nights!  We got to watch Fourth of July fireworks with them, and just do lots and lots of playing and catching up.  These are the babies of our families, Michael and Mollie, born just 4 weeks apart.  This was our first time to meet Michael, since they had moved away before these two were born.

 We had lots of fun playing at a nearby park one evening:

 Timothy and Ellie, born just 6 weeks apart.  Timothy's mommy and I were pregnant together, and these two were just toddlers when our sweet friends moved away.

 Their older daughter, Madeline, is only 4 weeks older than Mason.  And big brother Zachary is not too far ahead of them.  We have many memories of these two playing together when they were younger.  They picked up right where they left off:

 Even the daddies got to play together again too!

 All seven of our kids having a treat at Sonic the night before we left to come home...

Dear friends are rare and such a blessing from God.  It was such a special time, and we promised not to let three years go by again before our next time together!

The Big Girl Bed...

I always feel a bit of sadness when my little ones move on to the next "phase" in their lives.  It's just a sure reminder of how quickly they grow up.  So I was in no hurry to move Mollie out of her baby bed, and she was in no hurry to leave it.  But over the past few weeks, she has begun to climb out when she wakes up.  So instead of worrying about her hurting herself, tonight, my baby girl is sleeping in her big girl bed for the first time.  At first she wasn't real sure about it, but once we got it all put together, she was very excited.  Even Ellie was excited and wanted to jump around on it with her.  But she quickly reminded Ellie, "This is not Ellie's bed! This my bed! Go back to your bed!"

 Jumping on her new bed:

 ...And here she told me she is "swimming" on her new bed:

 What a big girl!

Little League 2013

Here is a re-cap (in photos) of Mason's fourth year of little league:

 Opening Day 2013

 Game ball:

 I love this picture because while Mason is batting, you can see Matthew at the pitching machine:

 And finally, the "Sisters'" fan club:

Field Day 2013

Mason's school held their annual field day a couple of weeks ago.  The events he participated in were the sled race, tug of war, and a quarter-mile run:

  This was the start of the quarter-mile race:

 He came in first place!  But he sure looked tired...

 I say this at the end of every school year, but I really can't believe another year has come and gone so quickly.  The kids are growing up too fast, and Mason is now about to be a 3rd grader!

Fun In The Backyard...

We spend a great deal of time playing in the backyard, and my kids never get tired of being out there.  Ellie is learning lots of new tricks:

They both love the swings:

The girls' favorite new trick is to hang from this bar on the swing, and then let go and drop down into the seat:

Mollie was actually the mastermind behind this...

I'm not sure why they both dressed themselves in their winter shirts...it was about 95 degrees outside:

While Ellie prefers to have her hair down hanging in her face, Mollie likes me to style hers a little bit.  This is her new favorite 'do.  She calls them her "buns", and many days while we're playing outside, she'll walk back into the house, and then moments later she'll return with a brush and hair bands, asking for her "buns".  

So much fun with these two!

Conversations With Ellie...

Ellie has a funny way of saying strange and unexpected things.  (I'm trying to document it all because one day, I know she will love looking back and reading it.)  Like the other day when she said to me, "Momma, I really love you...and I don't ever want to kill you."  And then tonight as Matthew was putting her to bed, he told her to dream about Olive Garden (because that was where we were going to eat the next day.) She replied, "Daddy, I don't really want to dream about Olive Garden.  I'd rather dream about scary stuff like monsters and ghosts!"  She's so silly...

My Girls...

Lately this sweet toddler is looking more like a little girl.

She really loves to climb.

And lately this spunky little girl is looking more like a big girl:

 She did this puzzle with minimal help from me.  She loves puzzles.

 Sometimes I wish I could just stop time.