Monday, June 30, 2014

Sisters in June

Most of the sisters pictures from this month are in our Colorado trip post...but here's one that didn't make that post.

Both of our kids are pretty quiet wakers - as in they usually wake up, then play quietly in their beds (it's awesome, I know).  Evelyn can open the doors herself, but she'll still stay in her bedroom until we either go in there, or tell her over the intercom that she can come downstairs/our room/etc.  She does this even though we have told her repeatedly that she can just come out of her room!  On this particular morning, I was still in bed when Evelyn woke up.  I told her over the intercom that she could come into Mommy's room...
...or go wake up your sister instead...

Random June Pictures

"Look at me!  I'm up here!"
Our countdown to our trip to Colorado
Did she eat ANY of this?!
Lilly's first pigtail
(which she promptly tried to pull out)
Someone's ready to go to Colorado ("I'm sledding")
Amber took the girls to visit her Mom at school...Evelyn enjoyed the computer lab!
And the vending machines
Someone figured out how to sit up on her own today!
My helper for packing
Goofball!

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Kennedy's Princess Birthday

The day after we got back, one of Evelyn's friends - Kennedy - had her birthday party.  Here are some pictures from the fun!

Mmmmm....watermelon and strawberries
And cupcakes...
Evelyn's version of a slip-n-slide
All of the kiddos!

Cousins in Colorado

Yep.  This will be a long post.  Mostly because it covers 2 weeks of time, but also because it's so much fun to see the girls with their cousins and our family in Colorado.  The trip started out a little hectic.  Around 8:00 the morning we were scheduled to fly out (we were supposed to leave Corpus around 6:30pm), I got a text from Southwest saying our flight was delayed.  Usually not a good thing to be delayed that far in advance.  We had about a 2 1/2 hour layover in Houston, so I was hopeful we would still be ok.  As the day went on, I got texts delaying even further...15 minutes here and 15 minutes there was adding up to we were going to miss our connection.  We still had about 6 1/2 hours before our flight to Denver from Houston would take off, and it was about a 4 hour drive to Houston, so I started looking into renting a car to drive to Houston instead of risking missing our connection because our Corpus flight was late or cancelled.  Enter the best nanny ever, Amber.  She offered to drive us to Houston so that we wouldn't have to worry about renting a car/taking car seats - then she could stay in Houston for the weekend to surprise her cousin.  Enter panic mode of getting everything ready an hour early to get on the road to Houston.  We made it - and as we were boarding our flight the Corpus flight arrived in Houston.  It would have been super close, and we would have had zero time to change the girls into pajamas/potty/etc. in Houston, so we were pretty glad we made the decision we did.  And oh, how nice it was to fly without a layover for the first time in 6 years!
Evelyn watching our plane in Houston
One VERY tired Lillian.  She finally went to sleep about a half hour into the flight (we were about an hour past bedtime when we boarded).
Evelyn didn't sleep at all on the flight - but crashed hard as soon as we were in Grammie's car!
For the first weekend, both my sisters and their families were home.  Since we were all home, we planned to take family pictures on Sunday morning. 
I don't have the CD yet, but here's a sneak peek of the cuteness...
I'll post some more when we get them!
The first weekend was crazy with 18 people in the house (well, technically my younger sister and her 4 kids were at her house), but during the days it was crazy!  Lots of fun was had...
Frisbee golf
Playing with Maya
Playing on the playground...

Legos on the table with cousins
The biggest reason, other than seeing family, that we spent the two weeks there was so that Evelyn could take swimming lessons at the pool there with her cousins. 
Lillian hanging with Daddy during swimming lessons
Evelyn loved lessons - she is a little fish with no fear - which scares the crud out of me sometimes!

Cheeseball.
We also made it to family swim the night before Daddy had to leave. 


It didn't take her long to want to try out the slide in the kiddie pool

Another one of Evelyn's favorite things about this trip was my sister's dog, Maya.  Every free second she had, Evelyn would ask, "Can I go play with Maya?" 
On this day, she insisted on using her on leash to help Lisa walk Maya.
She also enjoyed playing outside every night...
This little cutie was my wake-up call every morning!
She also enjoyed a long line of cousins who would read to her
More swimming lessons...

Mommy enjoyed the s'mores in the fire pit...and evenings that were cool and not humid...and thunderstorms :-)
This was Evelyn's favorite teacher, Josh...she talks about him all the time
Just lounging while big sister swims
And cousin Kolbe...

And snacks...
Evelyn got to participate in her first sleepover with the big cousins
More snacks...
This day was not her favorite day.  I think 90% of it was because she was the last kid asleep at the sleepover (around 11pm) and the first kid up (around 6am).  I also don't think she really liked being where she couldn't touch and be in control (don't know where she gets that from).
Lifejacket day

This was about when I won the Mom of the Year Award.  I wouldn't let her come sit with me, I made her sit on the side of the pool with her class (and cry...sorry lifeguards, I remember hating those days).  Then I made her go off the diving board.
Before anyone calls CPS on me...she talked about going off the diving board for the rest of the trip - as in wanting to do it again - so I didn't scar her for life. :-)
Evelyn enjoyed watching the fish at one of the restaurants in my hometown
Lillian enjoyed her first experience with watermelon
And popcicles at the pool (that are as big as you are...)
Drinks at snacktime
The youngest 4...Evelyn, Heidi, Lilly, and Kolbs
While Aug and I went for a run one night (and tried to beat the storm rolling in!), Mike and Mom took most of the kids down to see a beaver that had been living under a bridge in Wray.
Grandad educated the grandkids on The Drive
We played in the rain...on several occasions


And formed a marching band...
Ate some ice cream cones...
I can't believe she tried this - the lilly pads in the deep end
Mommy why are you outside?  
My welcoming committee when I came home from a run one night.
Reading some books at the library
Cool evenings on the porch with more ice cream

Happy again now that they were back in the kiddie pool
Watching the storm roll in
Her bike skills definitely developed while we were in Colorado.
I guess when you get to ride your bike because it's not 100 degrees at 8pm, you develop your skills.
Morning reading after another cousin sleepover.
Reading with Gage
Big splasher!
Second-to-last day of lessons...she insisted on wearing her hat
They had tons of buckets and plastic balls and other toys for the kids to play with for most of this day.  Evelyn kept asking Josh to dump it on her head.


Lilly having...you guessed it...snacks!
The whole day was a little bit chaotic.  The former lifeguard in me was a little more tuned in than usual.  Praise God for that, because Evelyn went under.  Like for several seconds.  I started taking some steps toward the pool, and realized that not one of the 5 guards within about 10 feet of her were seeing her struggling to stand up.  She was actually where she could touch, but her feet got out from underneath her and she isn't strong enough of a swimmer to get herself back upright.  So I went in.  Fully clothed.
Sustained a minor injury (I think I scraped it when I dove for the last several yards)
Worse than the fact that a parent had to rescue her own child, fully clothed, while the lifeguards missed it...was that not one of them saw me come in - OR LEAVE the pool!  (for real?!)  The whole time, as I was walking over to talk to the manager, I was praying that the Lord would tame my tongue and that I could respond with grace and not in anger.  Thankful that He responded to that prayer.  I told her I hoped she would use it as a learning tool for her lifeguards and instructors, that they can never stop being vigilant when they are in the water or watching the water.  My sister and I also used it as an opportunity to tell them that they way we used to run that pool was better. :-)  (We just mentioned that we used to station a guard up during all swim lessons to be that extra set of eyes while the instructors were instructing...for situations exactly like this).  I was shaking from the adrenaline of it for about an hour (while we walked the mile back to my parents' house because, of course, we walked that day).  It really wasn't until later that evening that the gravity of it all hit me.  I fell asleep crying and thanking the Lord that He watches over her - that He had me on alert so that I would be watching her at that perfect moment, and that I could respond quickly.  To think of what could of happened about brings me to tears even now.  Gosh, I love that kid.  I can't even imagine. 

Sigh.  OK.  The next day was play day for lessons - and Evelyn took full advantage of her opportunity to be taken down the big water slide.  I kid you not, she probably went down that thing at least 15 times - maybe more.  And she walked up the 5-6 stories of stairs all by herself each time.

Poor Josh probably took her down 12 of the 15 times. :-)

All of the cousins who took swimming lessons
Ben, Gage, Katie, Gunnar, Heidi, and Evelyn

Some fun at the park the day before we would fly out

With slurpees, and Maya...
"I'm just reading some books."
Our return trip was just me and the girls.  The airline issued my Mom a security pass, which was awesome because she could help us get through security and to our gate.  It was such a blessing because we got to the gate just as they started boarding.  These two girls were awesome travelers.  I could not have asked for better!  Lillian slept most of the flight from Denver to Houston, Evelyn watched a movie so I actually got to read for a while!  We had a 3 hour layover in Houston, so after we ate some lunch, I got some coffee and started taking some laps in the stroller hoping for naps.  Lillian slept for a little while, but Evelyn - not so much.
This was on our flight from Houston to Corpus.  
Evelyn was actually laughing when I took it...even though she looks a little pained!
Dan picked us up at the airport.  Watching the girls see their Daddy after 10 days of only seeing him via FaceTime was the best birthday present.  
It took Evelyn all of 4.376 seconds to fall asleep in the car.  The sign of a good trip.