another lake weekend...

no mom, jack is not about to go overboard, just trying to be like the big kids!! :) i let go for just a second for the picture.

"i'd rather be lost at the lake than found at home."

this quote is hanging in our lake house it is SUPER cheesy yet so true for me, especially after a weekend like we just had. our great friends, the herridges, were able to come out to the lake and spend the weekend with us. it was wonderful!! we arrived thursday evening and left saturday night. brad is a pastor (a church outside of waco, tx) and mark leads worship at our church so everyone had to be home for church on sunday morning. actually the timing was great because we didn't have to share the lake with very many people on friday, since most of the world was still working. the weather was perfect and we had such a great time hang out together.

o and grant had soooo much fun together. o believes that grant might just be her husband one day so she is always excited to play with him.

brad and the kids swimming in the lake. how come kids can swim for hours and never get tired or bored??

jack waving on the boat.
(excuse my dress/knee blowing, so ugly!! but a cute pic of jack.)

i love weekends like these where i only have to drive an hour outside of dallas and feel like i am hundreds of miles away. i get to spend time with some of my most favorite people. and i come back refreshed and renewed. thanks herridges for making the trip!! we love y'all!!! :)

i have a new love...

**WARNING: i way over used the "!" in this entry. i apologize, but i wanted everyone to understand my enthusiasm for this product! ha! :)

and i must share it with you...

it is...

the sharpie pen!!!

most people who know me, know how much i love sharpies. seriously they are the greatest marker ever made. they come in every imaginable color, size, thickness, and they can write on EVERYTHING. i even use them to make home repairs. you know, a little scratch in the furniture, a sharpie in just the right shade of brown or black will fix that right up!! i have several drawers full of them, all organized by size, shape, and color- of course!! anyway, sharpie has just created a sharpie PEN!! yes folks, you can literally use a sharpie fore EVERYTHING now! it doesn't bleed through the paper, yet still has that great sharpie look and feel when using it.

i know i sound like a crazy person because of my excitement due to a silly pen, but seriously it is pretty darn wonderful! i can write notes, fill out forms, and make lists with a sharpie and it won't bleed threw to the next sheet of paper! as of now they only have 4 colors (black, blue, red, green), but i know sharpie and there will be an rainbow pack coming soon!! :) (i'll let you know when i spot them!)

so if you are at the store and sad that you aren't buying school supplies (like me) or if you are there to buy school supplies, pick up a pack (they aren't cheap, sorry!) and try them out!! i don't think you will be disappointed, well if you like sharpies! :)

reading with jack...

"ummmmm, which book should i read today?"

"i don't know, they all look so good?"

"this one looks good! yep, this is a good one. lots of pictures!"

"yay!!! (clap, clap) this was a good choice. just as good today as it was the last 100 times i've read it!"

at the little gym...

this summer i wanted to do something special with just jack. my friend mari and i decided that it would be fun to take our little ones to the little gym. jack and mc kenzie (born just one day apart) had so much fun and so did their mommies. i can't believe that it took me the entire summer to remember my camera. of course i brought it to the last class and the battery died in the middle of the class, typical!! oh well, here are a few pics...

jack and mc kenzie, little gym buddies

every class begins with a welcome song and the bells!!! jack loved to get the bells AND put them away.

jack spent the majority of his time "exploring" in the gym. he crawled (not walking, still) everywhere and i just follow after him.

another one of jack's favorite things to do was hang and flip on the bar...

(with some spotting of course!)

kenzie and jack played/climbed on the balance beam...

jack knew that class is ALMOST over when it's time to play with the balls...

he really had fun chasing, rolling, kicking, and throwing them.

sadly, this is when my camera died! :( each class ends with bubbles raining from the ceiling and then a good-bye song. the bubbles made jack smile from ear to ear and giggle! so cute!!

we are going to miss little gym, our wednesday lunches with mari and kenzie, mommy and jack time, and mr. forrest, our teacher. jack has brought some of his skills home though, on any given day you can see him in this position...

trying to do a forward roll all by himself. he really did LOVE little gym!! :)

summer fun...

o,j, and i have had such a fun summer together. we have been playing with lots of friends, swimming, going on playdates and lunchdates, and of course just hanging out at home some. we have had some fun time with our friends in the 'wacky wednesday' playgroup. here are some pictures of our most favorite playgroups from this summer...

thanks to misty and lilli olivia didn't have to miss out on the owen's farm experience. jack was feeling a little under the weather, so we were going to have to miss out on the fun, but sweet misty came to olivia's rescue and allowed her to tag along.

misty said o was kind of reserved, but she came home and talked nonstop about all the fun she had so i guess she did enjoy the farm. she loved feeding the goats and told me that she fed them from the cup rather than her hand because she liked that better. so olivia!! :)

not sure if the next gathering could be labeled as "fun" but it was memorable for sure. the 'wacky wednesday' group attempted to get all the kids together for a little photo session. not everyone made the session, but it is really neat that we have some pictures of these friends. we sweat A LOT and did anything we could to get them all to smile and look at the camera...

not a really all that successful at getting them to look and smile, but still a memorable picture!

of course there was a ton of bribery happening among the 3.5 year olds and their mommies...

olivia's bribe was skittles. she really did a great job, just a few tears, but overall she did great!!

next we were off to the dallas museum of nature and science (i think that is what it is called) at fair park. it is a really fun place with a super great children's museum filled with all kinds of things for the kids to experience. we had a great time playing with our friends and all the neat stuff.

jack loved the farm section and especially riding the tractor...

olivia and lilli had so much fun playing at the water tables...

olivia would NOT think about wearing the apron, "it's gross mommy!!"

and to cap off our summer we met at rylee and haven's house for a little end of the summer bash. the kids played in the backyard, in the little pool, and in the sprinkler. we all ate pizza and just had fun sitting around visiting.

olivia being brave and going in the sprinkler...

not always her favorite thing, but she is even smiling!!

jack climbing on the slide and playing with a ball...

he was LOVING every minute!!

ryan and olivia splashing in the pool...

kenzie and jack playing in the sprinkler...

kenzie loved it more than jack, but at least we got one picture.

olivia and i have been coming on and off to this playgroup since she was tiny. unfortunately she was in school for most of the get togethers, but this summer we have enjoyed getting to hang out once again. jack has really loved getting to hang out with the other babies.