Cousins!!!

This summer we've been so blessed to get some serious time with cousins. Cousins are like instant friends, ya know? Ya HAVE to love one another and you're guaranteed to see each other all your years growing up! Might as well make it fun, huh? Good thing we LOVE our cousins so stinking much around here!!

Here's some pictures for posterity

First...Eli and Mia came to visit for 5 days!!! Woo HOO!! How lucky are WE???

We tried to do some fun things, but took zero pictures. What's up with that? It wasn't until our last morning when we surprised the kids with a p.j. run to the donut shop that we remembered to take a few pictures.



















































THEN.....Tyler came to stay with us for 5 days! YAY! We had a blast!


A day at the creek trying to catch crawdads






Swimming pool



Library presentation from NASA...learning about gravity







Have you taken your kids to Cabella's? Such fun for cheap!!!

Shooting range where when they hit the target it gives a cool response





















There's also a cool fish tank area where they can see massive fish, turtles and stuff. We also LOVE feeding the fish out in the middle pond area. i don't think anyone feeds them because they go crazy when a fish pellet is dropped in! You can buy a handful of these for 50 cents. Don't forget to check out the stuffed wildlife on both sides of the store. One side is exoctic and the other is native Texan. There are HUGE deer mounted there...record holders for US and Texas. Very interesting. Last but not least...don't forget to get some amazing fudge before you leave!!

(I am thinking Cabella's should pay me for volunteerily posting that last paragraph!!)



Lastly, we went to the OMNI to see the dinosaur movie. However, when we got there that movie we sold out. We saw Adrenaline Rush instead. It was interesting, but man...we all got motion sickness from it!!! Good times!

A Man's Work

While the girls were getting ready for Cait's birthday party the boys participated in some manly work. Manly work usually includes tools of some sort and there is a risk of injury for sure. This is what makes it manly, you see!

Home Depot has a workshop (free) once a month on Saturdays. Great father and son time. Good when you throw in some Grandpa too!

Cait is SEVEN!!!

Those of us who are parents all have the same perplexing event happen to us. Our children grow up a little bit every year and it is both joyous and heartbreaking all at the same time. We're pleased to be there to see their growth, as they learn new things or meet classic milestones. But at the same time it pains us to see them change, to see their wings develop that much more, to see them grow one step closer to an adult and one step further away from that baby you loved at first sight years ago. Bitter and sweet. Joyous and full of aches.

Our baby girl turned seven. It seems so sad and sweet all at the same time. She is a delight. She is a joy. She lights up our lives and a room just by coming into it. She is sweet, loving and affectionate to her very core. She is so quick to forgive, especially her momma. She's the only one in the world to call me "momma," as her brother calls me mommy. Not sure how that even happened. She is an expert skirt twirler, jewelry accessorizer, eyelash batter, egg cracker, mess maker and smile inducer. She's our baby girl and we adore her and thank God for her!

We had a little birthday celebration for her this year. Her birthday was Friday, so we started it off by singing to her in her bed with her breakfast of choice...donuts! Next we went swimming with friends at church and they helped us celebrate. Our pastor's wife even made cupcakes for her and all the kiddos sang.










Next she put on her new birthday dress and dad took us all out for a birthday lunch at Pizza Inn (her choice).




From there we had a girlie day of a sweet new little haircut and mani's and pedi's at the salon. Fun times bonding with my girl! She ATE it up!!! She always begs for girlie days and for her birthday that's what she got!



Oh how I love having a GIRL!!!



Before




After



Later that night her cousins, aunt D and uncle RyRy, GiGi and Poppa all came in for a big celebration. GiGi had a birthday the day before Cait and D had a birthday two days later. So...we had one big celebration for them all. We went to Cheesecake Factory and all ate until we were sick. Then, we ate cookie cake for dessert (always D's favorite)...of course after the sickness wore off. That's the way our family rolls!


Birthday girls











Birthday dessert after they sang to her




They misspelled her name, but that's okay!



After cookie cake we opened a few presents. This girl is queen of the facial expressions!!!







Love those little hands...






She's seven...sigh...



Finally!!! A GIRL wii game!!!!



A coffee mug I made for mom



The next day we had a little party with family and a few friends. Kitties were the theme and we had such a good time!















Cutest Kitty Cat Cousins you ever did see!!!

c









Her birthday party dress...so pretty



Her dad loves her so much



Her momma loves her much too!!




















Games!!!

Mouse, mouse, cat (instead of duck, duck, goose)
This was FUN and so rowdy with BIG kids!!!












Next, D and RyRy taught us a game called "Cat and Mouse."
It's a chase game and yes, we played it in 125 degree temperature, but I'm pretty sure the kids didn't even notice.












D showing off her skills!!




Pin the tail on the kitten












Goofy Granpas!!!



Next on the agenda was sweets time! Cake and ice cream!!!!

Blake is such a sweet, sweet friend!!! And fun too!


They took the kitty bowls seriously! They licked up their ice cream!!! We were cracking up!!!











Cait is so blessed to have so many friends and family that love her! She had such a special birthday because of them!