Spontaneous Beaumont Trip

I never thought I'd love a minivan, but I doooo.  The kids think it's awesome too, but I'm not sure how long that will last... I remember being embarrassed of our big blue and white van in elementary school.  Anyway, Angie had to go get her car fixed in Beaumont, so she invited all who could come to join her at Mom and Dad's.  I was reluctant to drive the 5 hour trip solo, but I really wanted to go, so I asked Aubrey and Bitner if they wanted to come with me.  Win-win!  It was so nice and fun to have them join us on the road trip.  The kids were really good in the car, and I have to say I love the DVD player.  We only used it for half the trip, but it really helped.  We stopped once at Bucees on the way there and back, and Hazel was happy to take a pic with the famous beaver.  Grayson was not.

Once we got to Beaumont, we had non-stop fun with Grandma, Grandpa, and the cousins.  Our schedule was as follows- eat, play, activity, eat, swim, dinner, play, scripture story, bed.  Repeat 4 times.  The kids were in heaven.

Jumping World

Grayson didn't have any socks, so he wore some of my mom's, and they looked hilarious on his cankles.

Hazel got a little daring on the slide and diving board while we were there.  The first attempt was a pretty bad back flop, but this one somewhat turned into a flip.  We didn't let her try anything else backward, however...

The cousins are SO cute with Grayson.  I hardly have to do anything for him when they're around.  He's also fully entertained by Diesel.  One of our favorite Grayson quotes from the trip was when Aunt Natalie asked him who his favorite aunt was.  She usually makes all the nieces and nephews say Natalie, but Grayson had a different answer after thinking about it -- "Mine fav-it ant is a wadybug!"

I love when anyone plays with my hair, so I didn't mind Aubrey trying out some braids on me.  I love the bottom left... if only I could braid my own hair.  I can hardly do Hazel's.

 One morning we went to the new children's museum in downtown Beaumont.  It was so great.  Not surprisingly, the kids loved the grocery store, the dinosaur digging, and the doctor area.

Another day we went to Chuck-E-Cheese.  Hazel went one time with James, but it was a long time ago.  I'm not sure if she loved it then, but this time it was a big time hit.  She actually mentions it all the time now that we're home.  

Then we went to Panera and Ang snapped this cute pic.  I love how different they are but all so cute!  The best part about this picture is we had to wait for Grayson to put his arm around Miles.  His idea.

It was so great to bond with my sisters and my niece and nephew on our short little vacation!  I just love them all!

James's 31st

James also had a Sunday birthday this year, so we celebrated several times before the actual day.  The week before, James played Top Golf with some guys, and then on Sunday we had family dinner with the Palmer side.  Kaye made her famous chocolate cake.

The day before his birthday, we celebrated with some pool ball, burgers, and cookie cake.

That night we went to dinner at Babe's with the Thompsons.  Cassie and I saw a birthday song going on across the restaurant and we quickly told the server it was James's bday so he would have to wear the hilarious chicken hat.  Even though he didn't want to do it, he was a good sport and put on the well-loved (dingy) hat.  Look, he even brought out the wings.  Worth it!  Hazel loved it. 

Not only was the food delicious, but the atmosphere was pretty fun too!  They dance to a few songs like "Hokey Pokey" and did line dances every 20 minutes or so.  Luke and Hazel were all over it.

The night didn't end there... we headed over to get sno cones and to Home Depot.  Doesn't get better than that!

On James's actual birthday, we went to church, gave him one of his presents (a new camping chair, idea cred to the Maloufs), and ate dinner with some of Matt's family and my cousin Bart who was in town for a day.  We love this birthday guy!

July Fun

Of course, there's been plenty of swimming as things have been heating up around here, and we've had several pool ball parties as we do every summer with the boys.  When we're not out in the pool, we're with friends or at the library.  The kids have loved the summer reading program and the rewards that go with it.

Here we are enjoying our free whataburgers and later we got our free cookie dough from Papa Murphy's.  Not a bad deal just for reading!

They've also had special visitors at the library like Critterman and a magician.  We weren't thrilled with the hissing cockroach, but touching the python at the end was pretty neat!

Hazel did Princess Dance Camp again this summer at the Wylie Rec Center, which was just for 4 days, 1 hour each of ballet and a craft.  You can see her cute bun in the picture above.  She wore a different princess bow in her hair each day because her Aunt Natalie gave her a few more while we were in Waco.  Lucky girl!  

We've also watched a few Disney movies for the first time this summer, one of them being 101 Dalmatians.  They loved it.  Sometimes their cuteness is just too much.  Sure, they fight occasionally, I get frustrated too much, and one time I left Kroger crying, but most of the time they're just the sweetest things ever and I can't believe they're mine... like when I find them in these unprompted moments... 

when they have several chairs to choose from and they choose the same one,

and when I'm in the kitchen and I hear Hazel "reading" to Grayson,

and when I watch them hug each other every morning because they're so excited to see each other (the night is much too long),

my heart just melts.  I'm a lucky mama to have these two playmates everyday.

A Few House Updates...

James is always so good about doing my projects.  It's funny because we didn't think this house needed very much work, but we seem to be doing little updates here and there quite often.  It's kind of fun though because James and I do some things together.  For one thing, everything needed to be painted, and we've painted a lot, but there are still several rooms that need it.

Some of my favorite recent projects are:

the landscaping out front -

the white borders on the plain mirrors in the master bath (yep, I'm hiding in the closet because I couldn't get a good angle)-

and the media room, which is now a BYU, Cowboys, Mavericks (soon to be featured), and Rangers (also soon to be featured) blue room.  It's so fun!  

I actually help with the painting, but most other projects, I just pick things out and point where things should go.  It's funny because in Waco, Nat was laughing at how well trained James is with hanging things on the wall.  He didn't even have to be asked to duck his head so we could get a better look at what we wanted on the wall.  Now I just need to wait a few weeks before I suggest another project...

July 4th Weekend

Allen does a 4th of July celebration the weekend before the actual holiday, and we've never gone before.  This year the weather was gorgeous, so we had to try it out.  They had a dinosaur exhibit, which the kids loved, and they tried their first Dip n Dots ice cream.  Pretty special day!  It would've been even better had we stayed for the fireworks, but we didn't want to get the kids to bed really late two nights in a row.  Next year, we'll stick it out, especially if they have good live music because I hear these fireworks are the best around.  

Hailyn and Hazel (Bri came prepared!)

Then on actual July 4th weekend, we headed to Waco so we could go to Miles's birthday party on Saturday in Austin.  Waco was a great halfway point for us to stay overnight on the way there and back.  Hazel was all ready with her red, white, and blue!  

We love the Dunnings!  They took us to a new BBQ place, which was delicious.

Then they took us to see the bears at Baylor.  It was so fun for the kids!  

Unfortunately our trip took a bad turn, and Hazel got hives all over her body.  We still don't know what she got them from, but we had to leave and drive home instead of to Austin.  So sad.  At least she and Bella got a fun bath!

The silver lining in all of it was that Grandma Palmer's birthday was going to be on Sunday, and we weren't going to be able to see her for it, but we ended up being able to go to dinner with her on Saturday when we got back.  These kids love their Grandma!  They're so lucky to have her close! 

This picture was from the week before.  Happy birthday, Grandma Palmer!!

Father's Day

My parents came for Father's Day weekend, and we had a great time as usual!  Hazel and Grandpa spent a lot of time drawing bugs from her library book, and we played lots of games with the kids.

One new place we tried while they were here was downtown McKinney.  It's taken me almost 6 years to get there, and I don't know why.  We ate at a cute little diner and went in the cutest little candy store.

Just Matt and Bitner were in town from the Hayes 2 family, so we had them and James's parents over for Father's Day dinner.  I love that both sides of my family can get together and have a good time.  We have some amazing fathers in this family!

Nothing is sweeter than seeing my kids love on James and seeing him play with and love on our kids.   We love Daddy!! 

June Fun

We've had a great summer so far!  We go to the pool several times a week because why not when it's across the street?  Hazel had swimming lessons for the first time, and she improved so much in just 8 lessons.  She used to not even like water on her face, but now she swims all around the big and little kid pool with no floaties.  It makes me kind of nervous, but she loves it and it's great exercise!  Grayson isn't quite sure how he feels about swimming alone, even with his floaties, so we stick around the kid pool mostly.  Our neighborhood pool has been so great for both of them.

We've also spent a lot of afternoons in the backyard when it's shaded.

Zara and her girls invited us to the zoo one day, and we got to see a dinosaur puppet show.  I thought Grayson would love it since he's into dinosaurs, but these puppets were a little too large and realistic for his liking.

Sienna, Blake, and Hazel

My friend told me about the COOP in Frisco, so we tried that one day too.  The kids lasted several hours, so I'd say it was a success!

This place prides itself on cleanliness, so I wasn't too afraid of the ball pit.  I knew the kids would love it.