Wildlife Ranch

Robyn and I wanted to do something fun with Bryson and Emily so we took them to the wildlife Ranch. It's like an African safari that you drive through to see animals. I call it the air-conditioned zoo! It was about 100 degrees that day so I was thankful to look at the animals from the car. The kids had a blast and Emily fed the animals and the road lots of food! You have to drive 5 mph along the path so they didn't have to stay in their car seats and I think they thought that was the best part.

Emily was pretty aggressive with her steering so I had to make sure I was on the brake!

Bryson had such a tight grip on the steering wheel that his whole body would fall over when I turned the wheel!

Enjoying the sun

Emily loves to play outside. It's not as fun for me this time of year because it's way too hot to enjoy being pregnant outside!! Em got to go on her first boat ride with Anna's kids. My dad's friend Paul took us all out on his boat and the kids had a blast! They didn't even mind keeping their life jackets on!

Grandpa loves his grandkids :)

double trouble

The kids love to play in the wagon at mom and dad's house. My brother's son Bryson has been in town so they thought they needed to take Bryson with them. As you can tell from the pics, they all had a great time!

And the baby is....

I had an ultrasound today to check on the baby and find out what we're having. I found out we're having another girl!! :) I was very excited and Michael was too. Everyone seemed to think he was rooting for a boy but he really didn't care and couldn't be happier getting another daughter. I was really hoping for another girl so that Emily has a sister she can grow up with. It's been 6 months since we lost Rachel and some days are still very hard so we really needed this news to have something to look forward to. I think that Emily will be a great big sister. She loves to be around kids, even strangers! She seems really lonely when it's just her and I like to think that's because she knows she's not suppose to be an only child. She likes to feed her dolls and push them in the doll stroller. She and her cousin Callie both like to be little mamas so this baby will be well taken care of! I just hope she doesn't mind sharing her mommy since it's just going to be me for the first 6 months of the baby's life.

I'm not sure what this view is but hopefully she looks less like a monkey in person!

Profile view

Play date

Bryson got to come over and play on Monday. He had a seizure last Friday so Robyn has been very protective over where he goes. The seizure was caused by a really high fever but it scared all of us!! Robyn figured Anna and I had enough experience with sick kiddos that we could handle anything that happened so she let us babysit! He had fun with Emily and we really enjoyed playing with him.

This is how Emily gives kisses!

He really was having a good time. He was just mad because he didn't have his pacifier in this pic!

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th at Travis & Robyn's house in Derby, KS. Emily was quite the little fire cracker! She loved the fireworks more than I thought possible. Travis bought a pack of sparklers and she burnt all but 1 of them! She couldn't get enough of the sparklers and the fireworks. There are no restrictions on fireworks in their town so there are fireworks everywhere! It was amazing but a little scary when the fireworks didn't go where they were suppose to! Emily cheered them on and kept asking for more. I couldn't help but wonder how fun it would've been to see both of my girls enjoying the 4th. Rachel loved fireworks but she never got to see them as close up as Emily did that night. I imagine they would've fought over the sparklers but I don't think Rach would've gotten as close to them as Emily did! Emily is not afraid of anything which is very scary for mommy!!

Travis' little assistant. She got mad when she didn't get to help light them!

"Yeah!"

She was very cautious with the sparklers. She held them close to the ground and watched them burn.

Bryson didn't like the fireworks as much but they had fun together earlier in the day. Robyn bought them both these cute shirts! Thanks Robyn.

Trip to Kansas

Emily and Bryson are the closest in age compared to the other cousins. They're only 7 months apart. It was really exciting to see how much they liked each other. They were inseparable the whole trip. They even tried to get into trouble together every time we turned away! Emily calls him "Biton" and it's soo cute. :)

Little mama had to feed Bryson every chance she got! She'll be a good big sister.

Their favorite room was the computer room because of all the cords to get tangled up with. What are cousins for if not for getting into trouble with?

At the grocery store we got this cart with a car in front of it. The kids had a blast! Bryson took his driving responsibility very seriously!

Uncle Travis you forgot us!

Robyn and I went for pedicures and this is what we came home to. Travis was watching Grey's Anatomy (real appropriate for the kids!) and giving the kids a snack at the same time.

The weather was pretty rainy the entire time we were there. The first night was the only one that we got to enjoy being outside. Emily loves to play outside and it was a lot cooler than it is here so she could be out longer!

Bryson is all boy and he loved being outside with the bugs!

Emily had to call Callie and tell her she made it to Kansas! She loves to play pretend on the phone.

Em noticed that some of the rocks were out of the bed so she went to work putting them back. Travis even taught her how to pull weeds- she loved it!

"Oh no, I missed a rock!!"

After Travis left, Robyn and I packed up the kiddos and headed back to Texas. The 9 hr. drive was a lot for them! They took turns crying and Emily kept stealing his pacifier. She did like helping to feed him so that was helpful. It would have been a lot easier 20 years ago when we could've just let them roam around in the back of the car and play!

Crazy June!!!

I've been negligent of the blog lately and all I can say is it's been crazy! We went to Panama City over Memorial weekend, Michael left on June 9th, I went to Rome with my mother for a week, and now I'm in Kansas visiting my brother and sister in law. I have posted a lot of pics tonight and have a lot more to post.

Michael is now in the United Arab Emirates for a year. :( He seems to be adjusting well to his work schedule and new place. We get to talk almost everyday on skype and that makes it a lot easier. He got to play peek a boo with Emily and she likes to blow him kisses and say hi. It's really cute watching her interact with him. We celebrated our 6th anniversary on the 26th. It was hard to be apart for it. We'll have to make up for it next year!

Cousin Time

Cousin Bryson came to town so the kids got to show him a good time. We went swimming at Michael's parents house and took this pic of the kids. We were lucky that they would sit long enough for it!

Riding on the mower with grandpa has become the kids (& grandpa's) favorite pasttime! It's so entertaining to watch how excited they get to go up and down the driveway.

Crawfish Boil

On May 31st my parents celebrated 30 years together. We had a little crawfish boil for them with family and a few of their friends.

Matt Huckabee made the fixins for everyone. He did a great job and we can't say thanks enough.

My aunt Jen and her family were able to be with us from Iowa.