Phoenix Thunder

The Phoenix Thunder is the local football team for the fire fighters and police officers. Last Saturday they were in the championship game and Ryan has a few friends that play on the team so we came out to watch. I was not sure how the kids would do being that the game did not start until 7:30, bedtime, so we came with re-enforcements........

......yup! Gummy worms and gummy bears. They were a hit with all the kids and kept them occupied until almost half-time.





okay daddy, I think I can fit it all in!

We made it until half-time, our goal, and it was the highlight being able to let them run on the field before going home. They had so much fun!

The orange posts were a hit with all the kids down on the field. I hope the refs put them back in the right spot otherwise the out of bounds lines will be a little off. :)

Playing at home outside before heading out to the game

Loves to model for pictures lately....as long as it is her idea!

It can be a challenge........

........to load and unload the dishwasher when this is the baby's favorite place to be.......



........and it can be a challenge to walk through your living room when your house already looks like this and it is only 9:30am. :)

Shaky Shaky Baby!

Don't worry, we are not actually shaking our baby, she is shaking herself! No really, this is Alexa's dance move that I have wanted to get on film since she was about 9 month old and I was finally able to before she stopped doing it. I remember even commenting about needing to get this on film at her 12 month post. This is so cute, she started doing this at about 9 months old and came up with it all by herself. When she would hear music or if the mood struck her right she would put her hands together and start shaking her upper body back and forth with a huge smile on her face. Obviously this was always done so spontaneously that I was never able to capture it on film. By the time I would get my camera she would be done, or would stop to look at me wondering what I am doing with the camera. My sister and I actually tried to get this on film the other night because she kept doing it during dinner but the videos were really weak. You can tell it was staged and no excitement. Well, at dinner last night she busted out with the "shaky shaky baby" as it was named by Kaylee a few months ago, and for the first time I had the camera sitting right in front of me at the table! I wish I had gotten it of her standing up to get the whole cute effect but I was just happy to finally get something on film. You can kind of tell the guy sitting behind her was totally cracking up the whole time. :)

Today we were............

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We hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day!

Here is Daddy before church with his favorite little sweeties.

We went to dinner that night with Memaw and Aunt Amanda to celebrate

Alexa checking out the funny kangaroo at the restaurant

Ryan-You are such a wonderful Dad to your little girls and we are all so blessed to have you!

Time for a post

I was looking at my blog and realized it has been almost a month since my last post. I figured it was time to update. I guess time goes fast when I am busy enjoying summer time with the kids. I knew I had a few random pictures on my camera and I finally stat down to upload. I had many days where I told myself I need to update my blog tonight, but the night would come and I was either just too tired or wanted to relax, or I would sit down and start reading other peoples blogs and before I knew it it was like 11:30pm and no time to do my own. Does anyone else ever do that? So here is a little of what we have been up to......

cooking....okay, so homemade popsicles but of course we HAD to use the aprons....






......playing dress up...


.......if you can't tell Lex loves when I put necklaces on her....

......then of course parades around the living room for the next few days after Mommy put out all the 4th of July goodies.....

......then enjoying lots of fun sister time...

...including sharing snacks together...

.....and lots of hugs.....

.....and finally what has been taking up most of our time is swimming....LOTS AND LOTS OF SWIMMING!! We started off at Hubbard and did three weeks of the blitz classes. We loved this place and Kaylee actually got to where she was excited to go to swim class. This is the girl last year who would not leave the step and so fearful of getting her head wet. I had no idea how she was going to act before we started class. The first few days she was almost a little panicky...luckily never full on tears...but as soon as I was able to bribe her into wearing goggles she had a whole new attitude and could not wait to go back. I think the biggest problem was that she just hated the water in her eyes. Yea Hubbard!

Then we ventured over here to the PV pool because unfortunately we could not afford to send her to the other place the entire summer....and I was determine to bombard her with swimming lessons so that she could finally learn to swim. She is loving all her classes and is always excited to go. Yea swimming!

I signed up Lex and I for a parent and child class while Kaylee is in her class so we did not have to sit and wait in the heat. She is really enjoying her class too and being in the water. With Lex being my child that is non stop movement, for the first few days of class she was practically jumping out of my arms just wanting to go go go....way different from Kaylee. I could let go of Kaylee in previous years and she would cling to me for dear life. Lex is finally calming down a little and getting used to the fact that I have to hold on to her, and that she can't just run all over the place like she can out of the water.

Aunt Amanda came to watch the other day and was very nice to take some pictures of us.

So this morning we just finished our second week of swimming at the PV pool and I counted and when Kaylee is all done she will have completed 11 weeks in a row of swimming. Do you think I am determined to finally have my 4 year old learn to swim??!!

At the PV pool each session goes for 2 weeks. On the last day it is more of a fun day and they have the big water slide on...which Kaylee could not wait to go on this year... and then at the end give each child a treat, progress report, and certificate. Lex even went down the slide with her teacher. I was not sure if that was a good idea at first being so little, but turns out she loved it....should have known....and then wanted to jump out of my arms after that to go again. Go figure! After the next two week session I will try and get their picture. Here are the girls below holding their certificates.