Cameron and Laura visit

Last night my sister, Laura, and nephew, Cameron, came in from Atlanta. The kids were thrilled to see their cousin and we made the most of his one night with us! They are mainly in Louisiana to visit my grandmother, whose health is declining. It's hard to believe that Cameron will be 14 next month! He has turned into quite the athlete and was showing us all kinds of stunts. I really am so proud of him!

The 3 amigos with Jake sporting Daddy's football helmet from college.

Big Mama walked over(who knew that I'd love small town living and having my parents live 2 streets over!) and Cameron was surprising her with one of our lovely graveyard grasshoppers.

C-man showing off his back tuck.

My sister and the rest of the crew after dinner. We had to make it quick as we took them swimming afterwards.

Cameron doing a full off of the board

Oh she was thrilled that they were swimming after dark!

Jake doing one of his "tricks"

I hate that our visit was so short! Mom and I are headed to Panama City Beach tomorrow for a week with the kids. Matt has to stay behind and save his vacation days for our Disney trip in December. Wish he was going with us, but the memories we make at WDW will be worth his absence on this trip!

Play Dates!

With the "dog days" of summer upon us, we had a couple of play dates last week to help pass the time. The kids had a great time and were able to have some quality time with their friends. On Monday, we took our friend Peyton to Monroe and met Angie and Sarah Kate at the Children's Museum. Little did we know that the museum is closed on Mondays. So we went to Chuck E Cheese instead. They all loved it!

Tuesday we took Jake's friend Madeline to the movies and then swimming at Tech, along with Sarah Kate. It was a fun 2 days!

Before the movies!

Counting their tickets with the ticket muncher at Chuck E Cheese. LG takes this very seriously.

Jake, Peyton, and LG with Chuck E

Playing at the house before we left for the pool

Jake and his friend, Madeline. They had a fun day!

Fun in the Sun!

The month of July has meant pool time for our family. We have been at the pool at least 3 times a week. Louisiana Tech just built a new pool complex and it includes an indoor and outdoor pool. It opened in April and is just great. The indoor pool has 2 diving boards and a yogurt/sandwich shop is also housed within the new facility. it is very nice and we have thoroughly enjoyed our time there this summer!

LG with her good friend, Sarah Kate, soaking up some rays. At the pool, Jake is normally too busy for pictures. I do let him have a lot more freedom at the pool since he is a pretty strong swimmer.

On another day. The girls discovered these life jackets one day and are convinced they need them. Whatever makes them happy, right?

I think she was tired of pictures by this point!

And another time....picnic with Emma Bear(as I affectionately call her) and Sarah Kate, of course.

Last Friday Matt had just come in from a week long business trip to New Jersey. While his company car got new tires, he had to bring Papaw's truck back to Benton and we then went to the Boardwalk in Bossier to eat and shop for new school shoes.

Sorry, the flash did crazy things to our eyes and I just couldn't fix sweet Jake's left eye.

Tossing pennies and making a wish in the fountain.

When we got home, my mom's friend invited us out to swing on her rope swing and swim in her pond. This was a BLAST! The kids loved every minute!

LG and I hadn't planned on coming, but rode out there to see Jake and Bid Mama. But when she saw what was in store, Landry Grace stripped down to her panties and joined in the festivities. Thought this pictures turned out great.

And last Sunday at the Haddox's, it started raining cats and dogs. The kids decided it would be fun to play in the rain(again Jake was no where to be found when I pulled out my trusty iPhone....). We all have to play in the rain. It's good for the soul!

BIG NEWS!

Landry Grace earned this pedicure last week because....

She has quit sucking her fingers! To those of you who have finger or thumb suckers, you know this is a huge deal! And all it took was a piece of candy. Who knew?!! And her sweet Daddy offered to take her for a pedicure. She was SO excited. This probably won't happen again, but we had to treat her big time for doing such a great job at quitting.

This picture was supposed to be last, but instead it is first. it was taken before church one Sunday.

Getting her piece of candy for not sucking her fingers all day.

During nap time one day she went and put a sock on her hand to remind herself.

So now we are going on three weeks strong of being finger sucking free:). I could not be more proud of her!

Random

So in early June we headed to Marksville for a wedding reception of a friend. We took our sweet babysitter Chandler with us as they played Friday night while we went to the reception. On the way home the next day, we stopped at a great little drive thru safari in Tioga. They were celebrating their 2 year anniversary that day. This was a great little adventure and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Landry Grace, Jake, and Chandler ready to feed the animals

Before the wedding reception

Every Sunday evenings this summer we have been heading out to the Haddox's house for dinner. Their family is just precious to us and the kids are in heaven with all the animals that live there!

With my co-workers during one of our weekly eating meetings. So thankful to work with some great gals. They keep me laughing!

And here they are with new 'dos!

VBS

I absolutely loved VBS as a child. Loved it! This summer, Jake and Landry Grace attended 3 weeks of VBS. I helped with our church's VBS and my parent's church's VBS. Then my good friend, Sharon, invited us to attend VBS at her church last week during the evenings. The kids had a great time learning more about the body of Christ and what it is to serve him.

With good buddies Lawson and Peyton

Landry Grace with her good friend Cameron

Oh have mercy! This sweet sweet child was in my class all week and I just adored her. She kept us in stitches! Precious.

The theme this night was Swamp People. Only in Louisiana....

Sea World 2012

My mother in law takes us on a trip every summer. She is SO generous to do this and we always go somewhere fun! This year, we decided to go to Sea World in San Antonio since we'd never been. Matt booked the reservations at the Hyatt Hill Country resort in January and let me just say that this place was amazing. We really could have stayed at the resort and never left. The amenities are endless, including a 27 hole golf course, spa, 5 restaurants, a kid's club, family activities daily, s'mores every evening at 7 followed by a family movie on the back lawn at 8:30. They even provide the blankets and popcorn. Bike rentals, a playground, tether ball court, ping pong table, and jogging trail were at our disposal as well. Again, the place was perfect.

We arrived on Sunday and stayed 4 nights. We had 2 adjoining rooms and that worked out great as well. The original plan was to go to Sea World and Aquatica(the new adjoining water park) for 3 days. We ended up only going 2 days since Jake wanted to stay at the resort on the third day and do all the kid activities. Landry Grace and I went back on the third day and stayed at Aquatica until lunch and then came back to the resort.

All in all it was a fantastic trip. The kids really enjoyed Sea World and were awed by the animals. They loved loved feeding the dolphins, a must if you go! We probably won't do Sea World again, but we would definitely go back to the resort. Another tidbit of info, the resort was only 1 mile from Sea World.

The activity pool. There is also a lazy river that includes a "beach", plus an adult only pool.

Feeding the dolphins at Sea World

Our last night...enjoying some s'mores!

Our day at Aquatica!

Watching a show at Sea World, Azul. Loved trying to catch their reaction.

Making s'mores was a nightly thing for Jake!

The nightly movie. The lawn filled up pretty quickly once dusk came.

Hope you enjoyed the vacation report! Please scroll down if you missed the post below. I'm updating our entire summer.

Dance Recital 2012

And with a couple of weeks left before school starts, I decided to get productive and update my blog for the entire summer. It's a hefty task, but I'll get it done! The first weekend in June was Landry Grace's dance recital. This was her second recital and she loved every minute of it! The theme this year was "The Wizard of Oz" and LG was a groovy chicken from the opening farm scene. Oh it was so cute and we loved watching her perform, along with the rest of the dance company.

Being her sassy self in the above picture and her sweet self in the below picture.
The ending pose of her tap performance. So cute!
Jake had his own bouquet of flowers to hand to Landry Grace. He was so proud!
And with her friend Bella Grace.
We left early the next morning for San Antonio for our summer vacation with GiGi. Pictures and details to follow!