Summer time is in full swing...

Just a few things that we've been up to in June...

Father's Day

"Spa" Birthday Party

Meredith' (our Godchild) Baptism

Bryan learning to write a "B"

Camp Thurman

Zoo Camp

Dancing School

Baby Doll Birthday Party

Love my girls...

So luck to have meet some amazing girls in high school, even luckier that they've turned into amazing women and we continue to be close friends even after 15 years!! We just took our annual girls trip and this year it was to Angel Fire, NM. We had a blast hanging out, catching up on the last year and celebrating Beth's graduation with her Master (Nurse Practitioner) and Sara's recent engagement. Cannot wait to see everyone for New Years Eve in Kansas City!!!

The Batenhorst's cabin where we stayed!

Shopping in Taos

Drinks at the Angel Fire Country Club

The B's had come up earlier in the month to get the place ready and posted pics of us from the past couple years (all the weddings!)

Surprising Beth at the airport with a congrats sign and stethascopes!

View from the top of the mountain before our hike down

Sarah, Beth and I on the ski lift

On the top of the mountain before our hike down

Water....

Patrick cleaning one of the sailboats

Swim lesson!

Worn out after visit to Hawaiian Falls

Seems like everything we've been doing lately involves the water! To start with Patrick has decided to take up sailing as his new hobby and over the past couple weeks has bought not one, but two sailboats. They're both small (one's a sunfish and only fits two people...the other is bigger and holds up to 900 lbs!) The larger boat needs quite a bit of restoration, but hopefully it will be done before the end of the summer.

The kids just finished up a week of swim lessons at Mr. Bryan's Swim School (aka Boompa). Bryan finally got comfortable in the water, he was very timid at first but I'm hopeful because that's how he started last summer and ended up fearless by August. Emma has just exploded in her swimming abilities. She can swim all the way up and down the pool, jump off the diving board and swim to the side by herself without anyone catching her. She even learned how to do a front flip in the water (flip turns are next :) She truly is a fish...she never wants to get out of the pool. At the end of swim lessons she told me she wants to swim for the rest of her life, which of course made the swim coach in Boompa very proud!! We're contemplating letting her try out the Novis division of the MARS swim team...just think swim practice two days a week might be a little much for a 5 year old, but I did four days a week when I was 7 so who knows maybe we'll give it a try.

We also decided to buy season passes to Hawaiian Falls this summer. We went out on opening day last Saturday and the kids loved it so much that we converted our day tickets to season passes. We went out again on Monday night and the most wonderful thing is that the kids are so pooped when they get home that they go to sleep in a flash!! (Patrick, half joking, half for real, thinks we should make a visit every night after dinner!)

So excited that the kids are loving the water as much as Patrick and I do...I'm sure the former lifeguards in us will make sure they learn to be cautious but still enjoy their time around the water!

catch up blog...

Been a busy couple of weeks but I feel like I would be neglecting if I didn't post a couple of pics on what we've been up to!

A friend from work got married this past weekend and Patrick and I went to the wedding while the kids spent the evening in Dallas with Grandma and Grandpa!

Last Friday night was City of Arlington employee appreciation night at the Ballpark so we joined my co-workers and took the kids to a tailgate and the game...unfortunately we didn't make it until the fireworks, kids got restless!!

A little out of order but Aunt Chelsey came to visit for the weekend of Emma's bday...it was a surprise and made my weekend to spend time with her!!

Emma's tball team (The Rangers) have played three games and have three more to go...she's loving it and is really a pretty good hitter!!!

Patrick and I spent a long weekend in San Diego without the kids! It was such a nice get away and we enjoyed lots of yummy food, catching up on sleep and some time in the sun!! Sadly though, we kept pointing out things to each other that the kids would enjoy when we take a family trip to San Deigo!

Emma turned 5!! She celebrated her birthday with a super fun, super fancy tea party at Chelsea's Tea Room and then we had a family pizza party at the house! Cannot believe my little girl is already 5, she never ceases to amaze me!!

Emma's Easter Party!

Emma's class had their Easter party this afternoon (a little earlier because they have a field trip on Wednesday and no school on Friday)! So fun to see how much she and her classmates have grown this past year...cannot believe they will be starting Kindergarten in the fall!!

Just a couple projects...

Well I think I've finally come to the realization that Patrick and I cannot sit still, we've always got to have a couple projects going on...but hey, I guess there will be a time and a place to sit still, just not right now! Here are a couple of Patrick's backyard projects that he has been working on. The playhouse is still a work in progress, the roof needs shingles and the house needs to be trimmed out and stained...but at least the kids can play in it now! The picnic table was a little afternoon project (actually he built it in a half hour) and he has made three more since then for a couple friends! It's the perfect size for the kids and now they beg to eat outside for every meal!

Just for fun...

Just for fun we took the camera to the FW Botanical Gardens this Sunday and with help of the tripod and camera remote snapped a few pics of the family!