brushy creek sprinkler park

on monday night the AC decided to stop working and it was the hottest day of the year - 105 degrees! tina and i took the kiddos to the sprinkler park after dinner. they had a BLAST! the girls were much more difficult to get pictures of than cj. kaetlyn and sam ran around and played while cj tried desperately to keep up... won't be too long!

serious planning happening here

sam in the water
trying to get them both in the same picture is almost impossible!loving life!!
the moon as we were leaving the park

galveston weekend

this past weekend we joined the mendelson crew in galveston for a weekend of swimming and family time. we had a great time. as always, the kids enjoyed the pool and beach. the grown up kids and dad enjoyed the reverse bungee on the seawall on saturday night. i wasn't so great at pulling out the old camera until sunday when we ended our fun time at the houston zoo. it was HOT and kaetlyn goes through like a bullet. it's hard to keep up with her as she moves from one animal to the next. i've located all the pics in the public web album, but here are a couple cute ones.

cj and jake

craig and kaetlyn

the cousins: kaetlyn, jake, dyllan, and cj

this is also a cute video of the kiddos singing and dancing in the car on the way home from the beach.

already getting calls from the principal!

last monday craig and i were eating lunch together (which is a rare treat) when i got a call from the school's director. she wanted to talk to me because she had to report that, 'cj is biting his friends.' and so it begins... LOL. the discussion went on that she thinks he is bored in the nursery and it is unfortunate this became problematic in the last week of summer when he would be moving to the one year old class this week. they wanted him to spend time with the bigger kids who get a little more stimulation to see if that helped. i told her whatever works! what's funny and what i told her is that he is not biting at home, so it is hard for me to help reinforce with him that this is not acceptable. sitting down a 14 month old for a talk doesn't work so well. i tried subliminal messaging in his sleep that night instead, 'cj... be NICE to your friends.. biting is not nice...' craig just laughed at me, but we haven't had any reports since, so maybe it helped!

storybooks

at the beginning of the month i forgot to include a funny 'kaetlynism'. when she was sick and complaining of a tummy ache we had a discussion about telling the truth: real stories vs. pretend stories. after a very long explaination from me about the importance of only telling real stories when something is wrong and not making up stomach aches or other potential issues, i asked her, 'so now does your tummy still really hurt?' 'aww mom,' she says to me, 'i think i ate a story book!'

cj's vocab

the little one is talking more and more every day! sometimes sounds like he's saying more that he actually can. he's getting inflection down, even if the soungs aren't quite right. words he knows: cheese, bubbles, up, hot, bath, hi, bye, uh oh, juice, mama, dada, baba (bottle), night night, kaetlyn (neh-neh), uh-uh (no.. and sometimes yes). he blows kisses, high fives, gives hugs and big sloppy open mouth kisses. loves dancing and music. such a funny happy kid... until he's not. he has developed quite a little temper, that cannot be cured through soothing. if he is pushed to the point of anger the will flail around on the floor and if you try to help him he gets more and more angry... so you just have to let him cry it out and then it's over and he's fine. funny little guy. can't wait to hear his statistics at the end of the month at his 15 month checkup. :)

phone uploads

pizza and brownies for dinner! YUM
watching baby einstein... tv for HIM!
rockin!!!
hats are fun
just wanted to add a few more pics from the last couple weeks that were taken from my phone:

hot!

most everyone knows that august is the hottest time of year. august in austin consists of 20 or so consecutive days over 100.. it's awesome. the hottest part of the day is right about 5 pm so when you're driving home from work the car AC can't keep up with the heat and you're sweating... LOVE IT! can't you just feel the sarcastic nature of these comments through the words that you read?? i think we're all ready for fall to begin. we have been busy for the month of august though!

the first weekend in august we went camping / riding at bud buddys with robbie, carrie, barbara, randy and aidan. it was HOT, but we had a lot of fun. the engine on my quad blew out, but it was good times. all of the kids (big and little) had a great time riding around. me and barbara took the kids on a night ride, stopped, turned off the lights, and sang, 'twinkle twinkle little star.' cj loves the quads he will ride and ride... one late afternoon ride settled him into a nap! here's kaetlyn ready to roar!

on tuesday, 8/10 - dad's 60th!!! - he decided last minute to come to austin to celebrate his birthday! me and kaetlyn made him brownnies, but at his request we did nothing else. megan came from waco to spend the night. it was nice to see them both and play with the kiddos. here are a couple shots from the BBQ restaurant we went to for dinner:



last weekend we went to the perkins' house to celebrate alyx's 15th birthday! omg - where has the time gone. admittedly i was not good about getting out my camera for this one. the kiddos played and we ate WAY too much... as usual.
this is a short work week for me - the kids' school is closed on thurs / fri for the switch to fall semester so i will enjoy a little extra time with them, and this weekend we're off to galveston with the mendelson kiddos, poppy, and megan. it will be nice to see them all again so soon. :)

summer is really almost over! september is filled with birthdays and back to the races!! bring it.

perspective

work has not been the happiest place for me to be these days, so i do my best to focus attention to the things that really matter... family, children, life, God. I am very blessed and try to remind myself daily. kaetlyn is my ultimate cheer leader. she gives me pep talks and helps me stay motivated. one morning on the way to school she and i were talking about my work troubles and this is the conversation that resulted:

me: i can do it. i can overcome, i can win!
k: you can do it mom! you can win the race
me: that's right, yest i can!
k: you can win the race, mom, cuz you're a fast runner!
me: i am a fast runner (chuckle), and i will win!
k: and you will get a trophy!
me: yes i will!
k: and you will give it to me!

another friday after work i asked kaetlyn for a hug cuz i had a hard day. she asked me what's wrong:

me: there's some mean people at mommy's work, they make me upset
k: (giving me a hug) aw mom, do you want me to kill those bad people for me mom
me: (laughing) no baby, everything will be ok... i love you

long week

last week was LONG. cj sick, kaetlyn sick, kati sick... and no time for mommy to be sick. i think we're coming out the other side of it now though.... thank GOD! cj was not feeling well almost the entire month of july. first was croupy bronchial infection then cruddy eyes, runny nose, etc. kaetlyn had a stomach bug in the beginning of july and then began complaining about it again last tuesday. i took her to the dr on wednesday morning and when all possible issues were ruled out, i decided that kaetlyn and i should have a fun day to ourselves so we went to see toy story 3.... i cried like a baby... i was so happy she was sitting on my lap and couldn't see the tears streaming as andy gave up his toys to go to college... oh boy! what is wrong with me?? LOL

me and kaetlyn holding hands in the movies

this past weekend was our last weekend at home for a while and it was a long one. wish my sore throat would go away! yesterday we celebrated jaxon's 4th birthday with the clemments' family. the kids swam and ate cake and had a great time. i hope the fatigue will pass, as this week at work is a busy one. it does end with a weekend at mud buddy's for camping and riding! HOORAY!

kaetlyn at the birthday party

cj enjoying the cake!!