What would you have done?

Last weekend we were at Incredible Pizza. Picture this. . . Caleb is playing some basketball game. There are 2 boys (brothers) playing on the 2 machines beside him. Standing in front of the machine beside them is the mother or grandmother of those boys. She is actually guarding a HUGE massive pile of tickets that is pouring out of the game that no one is playing. I was guessing there might have been at least 500 or so.

So I watch them for about 30 seconds and then I felt the need to tattle. So I did! When they came to fix it they still let them keep that huge pile. That slightly irritated me, but I walked away filled with accomplishment that I had served my civic duty. Actually I ran over to Chris laughing about what I had just done.

Fast forward about 10 minutes and I see those same people back at those same games and tickets are pouring out of the machine beside the one that was acting up before. So of course I tattle again. This time a worker guy runs over there and says no no no to those people, but I think he also let them keep the tickets too.

I happened to pass by them (no I wasn't stalking them) when they were at the ticket counting machine. The last number I saw was 2250 and they still had HUGE piles of tickets left to go. They probably had at least 3500-4000 in total. It was crazy!! There were lots of people watching them as they were loading them into the ticket machine. People were in awe as they were watching. So I did what any normal person would do. I told everyone around that they didn't win those tickets based on skill. They actually cheated and got them from a broken machine. No I really didn't. But I did think about it.

Texas and 4th of July

The kiddos and I spent 5 days down in Texas at my moms house. We went out on my sisters boat one day. The kids got to help their uncle drive the boat, fish and of course play in the water. Cali did great except when it was time to put on her life jacket. She HATED wearing that thing.

Most of the time the kids played in my mom's pool. Here is an action shot of Caleb doing a flip off the diving board.

Caleb loved doing flips off the diving board. He kept doing it over and over again.

Almost every time I go to Arlington to see the family my sister and I go to STUDIO MOVIE GRILL and eat and watch a movie. I LOVE that place and wish we had one here. We saw GET SMART. We were laughing out loud over and over. Steve Carrell is so funny. I am an OFFICE ADDICT!!!


Yesterday on the 4th we all had a nice relaxing day. We decided to skip the parade and slept in a little. Then Chris and I took the kids to see the movie WALL-E. We all enjoyed it and it was so cute.


Then Chris took Caleb and Caden to our neighborhood pool for a few hours. Our HOA always provide food and games for the afternoon on the 4th.


Then (like we did last year) we all went up to Kickingbird Golf course. You have to buy your ticket in advance and they only let in a select number so it wasn't too crowded. They had a decorated mini putting green set up for the kids. They had the driving range open and had a scavenger hunt. They provided hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, drinks and snow cones at reasonable prices. After dark we were all sitting in our lawn chairs and/or blankets on the 9th green to watch the fireworks show.

The kids with Zack and Ethan.

Cali doing her weird crawl.

Ethan and Caden cuddling during the fireworks. They are so cute together. I just can't get enough.

All in all we had a great July 4th!

Cali 6 months & Family Fun Night

Cali turned 6 months over a week ago and I am just now getting to it. At her doctors appt on Monday she was 16 lbs 10 oz. I knew she was slimming down a little. Now she is only in the 75th percentile. She is 26 1/2 inches long which is also 75th percentile. She is on the verge of crawling. She scoots herself pretty good and can almost do the army crawl.

She got 3 shots which really started to bother her a few hours later. Her legs were so sore and she was not her usual happy self. Shots have never bothered her before so I didn't think it would be a big deal to have pictures scheduled for the next day. I should have just cancelled the appointment. She was NOT in the mood for pictures on Tuesday and we actually got several shots of her pouting. I went ahead and got the one below even though she doesn't have one of her big smiles.

Last Friday we went to OC's Family Fun Night. The kids had a great time. They have tons of inflatables, pony rides, rock wall and free food. It was also fun to see friends that I hadn't seen since college. They also have an outdoor movie too.

Caden really wanted to ride the pony with the pink saddle. So we stood in the line for that one. Caleb ran up to us right before it was Caden's turn and I asked if he wanted to ride too. I thought he would say no, especially since the pony's name was Princess. However he wanted to ride it anyway and now I can make fun of him for it later.

Caleb also did the rock wall and he made it all the way to the top.

I just love these pictures of Cali and Chris.

Caden - my little Artist

Caden, my sweet little angel is going to be my creative one I think. She loves to draw. She usually draws Ariel, flounder and Sebastian but sometimes she branches out. Lately she has wanted to put every picture she draws on her door. Caleb never did that and I think it is funny. I am going to keep letting her do this until she doesn't want to anymore.

For those of you that don't know we have a visitor living with us for the summer. His name is Cody and he is technically my step nephew or as my dorky husband says "Cody is my wife's mom's husband's daughter's son. He is a student at OC and has a job here at Tinker for the summer. Anyway Caden just follows him around. She likes to sit by him in car, tries to get him to play hide and seek with her and color as well.

The other day we were in the car after leaving Caleb's baseball game and this is the conversation I hear from the back of the van.

Caden: What is that? (As she points to his neck.)
Cody: That is my Adam's apple.
Caden: Why did you eat it? (Loud laughter coming from the entire van)
Cody: Adam gave it to me.
Caden: Is he older than you? Is he older than my daddy?

Then lots of other questions about Adam too.

FATHER'S DAY

As with most Sunday mornings, we were rushing around trying to get to church on time. It was 7:50 in the morning (10 min before we were suppose to leave the house) and my hair was still wet up in a towel, Cali was still asleep, and I hadn't painted Caden's toenails (that I had promised the night before I would do in the morning if she wore the shoes I wanted her to wear) So Chris offered to help me out by painting her toenails. I said I can do it real fast, but he said "I will do it, how hard could it be." I was almost done with my hair and he was STILL painting her nails. I only griped once (hey it is Fathers Day) about how LONG it was taking him. Then as I am almost done he starts to paint her fingernails. WHAT???? I then starting yelling, why would you do that when we are running late. He said "she asked me to paint them." Well she asks me to do a lot of stuff, but we are really going to be late.

A few minutes later we are all ready to go, but I had to get them all together to take a REALLY RUSHED picture for Father's Day. I couldn't get Cali to even look at the camera, much less smile. She just woke up, hadn't eaten since 10 pm the previous night and was more interested in trying to eat Chris and Caleb's fingers than to look at the camera. We finally get loaded in the car at 8:17 - CRAP - church service started 2 minutes ago. We haven't been that late in a while. Oh well, better late than never!

Conversation in the car on the way to lunch.

Caden: Where are we going to eat?
Me: Carrabbas
Caden: I don’t want to go there, I want to go to Chinese Buffet.
Me: It is Fathers Day, so Daddy gets to pick.
Caden: Well, when it is sister’s day . . .

I have no clue what she said after that because I was laughing so hard.

FUN but BUSY SUMMER

I thought summers were supposed to be relaxing??? We have been very busy so far. Last week Caleb was at scout camp and he got to do BB shooting, archery, crafts, sports, nature hikes, fishing etc. He had so much fun and is already looking forward to next year.

Also our lives have been all about BASEBALL. He had his team pictures last week.

His season is almost over though. He had 5 games last week because he had a tournament on Saturday. We were at the baseball fields most of the day. (I was so impressed with how well Cali did all day. She only cried a few times.) This is their last season for machine pitch and next season they start kid pitch. This week he is at baseball camp and next week is VBS for both kids. Maybe I will get to sleep in a little in July.

When we haven't been at baseball or camps we have been at the park or swimming. Last week while Caleb was at scout camp the girls and I met some friends at the park. My friend Chrissey got a new camera with some cool features that she has been playing with so she took some cute pictures of the kids.

Here is a picture of Cali's first time sitting on grass. She is usually sitting on a blanket. I think she is trying to figure out what the heck she is sitting on.

Then she saw me and she was happy.

Here are a few more cute ones from the park. Caden and Ashlyn playing with sidewalk chalk.

We love having a pool in our neighborhood. Last summer we went almost every other day. Now with a baby it is a little more difficult. The first few times we went I just let Caleb and Caden swim since I kept forgetting to buy swim diapers for Cali. Her and I just sat in the shade and watched and she was totally happy or content for about 2 hours.

This past Friday was the first time Cali got in the water. She only fussed for about 5 seconds and then decided she was happy or at least curious enough to stay in the floaty.

After I saw what cool things Chrissey's new camera could do I played with mine some and I can do those cool color things too. So I took a few with the color accent feature too.

Tea Party with Daddy

On Monday night our church had the annual Father Daughter Tea party. Chris and Caden both had a great time last year and were both excited for this night as well. The girls got to have tea, princess themed snacks, put on make up, make crowns and purses, play kiss the frog, play musical pillows, get their fingernails painted and they got to take home a pillow that Miss Verna Lee Parker made for all of the girls.

Caden said her favorite part was getting to put on make-up. I am so blessed that I have a husband that enjoys having these special times with his daughter instead of looking at it as a chore.