Benetton

It's a United Colors of Benetton advertisement:

Or rather it's a photo from last week's beach trip.

July 4th

July 4th festivities included our neighborhood parade. Very cute to see all these kiddos deck out their bikes. I thought we did an ok job decorating our kids up but we were so put to shame by our friends, the Aitala's pictured below...




We topped off our evening in the tradition of fireworks.

A Month in Photos

Yep, we are still here. Since Mother's day, we went to California to visit family and celebrate my sister-in-law's graduation from law school, watched the girls' end-of-session gymnastics "show," celebrated Lily's 4th birthday, cheered Chris at his latest triathlon, remembered Mike (Chris' dad) on the anniversary of his passing, celebrated my birthday, attended Claire's ballet/tap recital and now we are days away from Lily's ballet/tap recital and Father's day this weekend. Aside from that, we have been swimming most every day. OH and did I mention Zane started walking in California?!!

Fun photos to catch you up...

California swim with Uncle Paul; Zane's first ocean dip

Little gymnasts (quite the posers, aren't they?)

Zane practicing his serious, disapproving face

Lily's 4th birthday was a "Messy Paint Party" which turned into sprinkler fun amid the insane humidity and heat. It was a Mess Fest - paint, sweat, watermelon, pizza, sprinklers, drippy ice cream cones, etc. I'm sure the parents appreciated the dirty drive home. Hey - at least the kids were worn out and ready for naptime!


Is our little man gorgeous, or what?!!! Still quite the charmer. My brother-in-law, Scott, met us to watch the triathlon. He was a massive help corralling my kids.

Go, big daddy! (blue shirt, Chris). Muggy and hot temps = snow cones.


Claire danced to "Where Has My Doggy Gone?"

Happy Mom's Day

Today was a great mother's day. 1) I didn't have to change any of Zane's diapers. and 2) I actually now have a photo of me and my children. Since Zane's homecoming we have yet to capture a pic of me and my trio mostly because I'm usually the one taking the pictures and also it's a monumental challenge to get the three of them sitting still at the same time. On top of that, we even snapped one with my mom.

In all seriousness, today was one of those heart swelling days of great joy and gratefulness that I get to be mom to Lily, Claire and Zane. It is my joy.

Catching Up

A week or so in photos:

Our neighborhood group of pals met up at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last week, two days after my wedding anniversary. Sweet timing as this is where Chris and I were hitched. I don't think I had been back there since the first year we were married. It was special to show my kids around this lovely place and share with them about our big day. Plus we saw a snake!

After the girls' ballet/tap class this week, a bunch of us grabbed lunch and went to a nearby park to enjoy this gorgeous weather before the Texas heat takes over. I love watching these girls play together. Many of them also live in our neighborhood. These kids are blessed with sweet moms that I have so enjoyed getting to know and call friends. It's encouraging to see friendships developing among our children as well.

This particular park has some of the best playscapes in town. However our little girls were more interested in searching for bugs and climbing trees.

Yesterday Chris skipped work and we went to SeaWorld. It is one of my favorite outings with our children. They are too dazzled for fussing and have these big goofy grins plastered on their faces all day.

Lily and Claire are adrenaline junkies. We have a hard time pulling them off this roller coaster. I think they road it 6 times yesterday. They waited very patiently in line so they could ride in the front!

Lily is a "no hands" coaster rider while Claire opts for eyes closed. Last time we took Zane to the Shamu show he cried. I think the volume freaked him out. This time he was all smiles.

I love this photo. I was glad to catch this sweet moment of Claire loving on Zane, without them noticing the camera.

Back home but too wired for sleep!

8 Years

Yesterday Chris and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. Our 8 years have been richly blessed with great adventures, both at home and in travel. Our greatest adventure has definitely been the growth of our family with 3 amazing kids. I used to think of God as a list of rules to obey but thankfully He has grown my understanding to see Him as the author of our great adventures. He has incredible plans for each individual, if we would just seek Him and His dreams for us - what a great ride He desires to bless us with!

In explaining what it means to have a wedding anniversary to our children, Lily's first response was to ask if I was going to wear my wedding dress. Of course I had to take a spin in it but here is what happened next:

Oh man...I could write a novel about these pictures.

Thanks (a huge thanks!) to my sister, Leslie, Chris and I enjoyed a rare evening out alone. It was a slice of heaven. I will leave it at that!

Strawberry Pickin'

We went with our neighborhood playgroup to pick strawberries last week at Sweetberry Farm. It's one of our favorite outings - they let you pick strawberries in the spring, blackberries in the summer and pumpkins in the fall. Plus they have goats, donkeys and horses in pens you can get up close to. However, Claire was not impressed with the volume of the goats.