Dad Turns 60...ish!

Tonight we celebrated Dad's birthday by playing the best game ever...Catchphrase!!! We played girls against guys and well, we won't say who won because it's not important and whose really keeping track anyway, right!? Charlotte and Claire had a glorious time mooching cake off of everyone. I even caught Charlotte standing on a chair in the kitchen stuffing someone's leftover cake in her mouth as quickly as she could before she got caught! I don't know where she gets that sweet-tooth from!!! I just can't figure it out! Mom's cake was perfect payback (note her cake earlier in the month) and was as delicious as ever. The picture of our resident Monk, Scott, was actually him posing in the present I got my dad...a Snuggie (as seen on TV!) Everett hung out in his exersaucer and took as much in as he could handle. I think he's getting old enough to realize what is going on around him and...well...he might be a little worried.

Rainy Day Fun

Today the weather was dreary. Claire is so scared of the thunder! I tried to distract them by letting them do one of their favorite activities...painting with water. Today my brain actually worked, because I remembered a tip I once read in Parents Magazine. It said to cut a hole in the lid of a plastic top for the water bowl. Then they can dip their brush in without spilling the water! It worked like a charm. So, painting was much more successful than normal since they didn't decide to just dump the cup of water on the paper and be done with it. They actually focused on what they were doing! They are getting to be such big girls.

J's 30th

There are 3 things that J has always told me.

1. He is older than me.

2. Grandmother's house is more his than mine (he used that to get his way A LOT when we were little.)

3. His dog got hit by an oil rig.

Don't ask about number 3. At least I can smile about number 1 now. Now that he's 30!!!! He turned 30 on Saturday and we went to Bill and Waunels. The girls had a good time and as usual never stopped!

Friday

Michelle came over and we went for a nice (but hot) walk outside with the kids. Afterwards, her mom came over for a visit and played with the kids. We had a good time!

Friday Reunion

Grumpa's side of the family got together tonight at Chad's. Tomorrow is the memorial for our dear cousin Susie who passed away last year. She lived in California so now we are celebrating her life here in Texas. We were sad that Granna and Grumpa couldn't be there tonight. Here are some pictures. My favorite is the one of the kids at the picnic table. One of them is of our 3 sets of twins. My girls, my brother's twin boys, and our cousin Julie's twin girls. It was so cute!

Mary's New Baby

Our friend Mary just had a new baby on July 8th. His name is Brody and he and Everett are going to be buds! Brody's older sister is around the girl's age and they have fun when they get together. Here are pictures of the girls playing, Mary and Brody, and Megan and Everett. We had a good time and Mary is doing so great at home with both of the little ones.

Prayers for Grumpa

We are praying for Grumpa this week. He and Granna are in Houston at MD Anderson having a treatment done for his cancer. It is a very harsh treatment and it's going to be a rough week for him. We love him so much and we know how strong he is and we are saying our prayers for him. We can't wait till he comes home and gets to feeling better!

Michelle's Birthday

Tonight was Michelle's 30th birthday party and Everett was my date! He was so good and loved both Dana and Michelle. Doesn't Michelle look so natural with a baby!!!! I think so and Everett sure would love a friend soon!! Just kidding Michelle (well, kind of!)

School's Out for Summer!

Summer School is finally over (although it wasn't too bad...just half a day for a month) and now summer can officially begin! On our first day we got to go shopping with Megan. We went to Northpark and looked around and then ate lunch at our favorite mall restaraunt...Chick-fil-A. I'm so lucky to be able to get out and do things thanks to good friends like Megan, an amazing mom, and a trooper for a husband. I'm attaching a sign-up sheet if anyone else wants to go somewhere and push a stroller...it's a good workout (ha,ha!)

Mom's Birthday

We had a great time celebrating Mom's 60th birthday (I'm sure she doesn't mind me putting the number right???!!!) Uncle Bill and Aunt Waunel as well as Charla and her gang came over and we had a delicious dinner with a very yummy cake. I was going to make Grandmother's Italian Cream Cake for her but dad had other plans!!!

Our Newest Cousin

The Mitchell family has a new baby! This makes 9 grandchildren for Granna and Grumpa. The oldest is 5. My brother Chad and sister-in-law Sunny just had their fifth child and it's finally a girl! Her name is Megynn Marjorie Mae Mitchell. The middle names are for our beloved grandmothers. She weighed 7 pounds and is surviving life with 4 big (but little) brothers. Maybe she and Everett will be best buds since they both have an older gaggle of siblings to contend with. They can share survival tips. She looks so peaceful in the picture. What you don't see is the 6 children (including mine) who were circling her swing, pushing it back and forth, being told to stop, unplugging the swing, turning the knob to make it go really fast and then really slow, and then stop! She needs lots of sleep while she can get it!

July 4th

We had a wonderful time on our July 4th weekend! On Thursday we took Everett to the doctor where he had a great checkup. He is the 90th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. Kristin already wants to start training him for football. On Friday, we spent the day in Graham where Pa and Meemaw live at the lake. The girls loved all the attention from their cousins and Everett was ooohed and ahhhed over as expected! On Saturday we went to downtown Mckinney and ate at Spoons with Granna and then got to shop (our favorite thing!) We also made some flags and patriotic "cookies" out of graham crackers and enjoyed them with our cousins. Then we went and watched fireworks with our friends Joe and MaryBeth. MaryBeth brought glowstick bracelets which were a huge hit with the girls! The girls were a little nervous about the fireworks. They basically stuck to our laps and tried to pretend there weren't huge sparks coming out of the sky!! Needless to say, the girls were EXHAUSTED at the end of a very long (but fun) weekend!