Kona Ice at the pool = Awesome!

After swimming in the pool all afternoon the Kona Ice truck was a welcome sight!  They cooled off with a frozen treat before we headed home.

We love our summer Sunday Funday!

swim, swam, swum

We have been having some fun pool days.  The kids love to try to catch the football while jumping off the diving board.  Watch out for Hayden, he throws HARD!

Gary had three balls flying at him at once.  It's hard to see, but they're cruising his way.  The neighbor next door has become a fun friend and so he was in on the football fun!

Gary was showing off his diving skills and so I decided to try to dive also.  I haven't tried diving in years.  

I was laughing so hard when I saw these pictures Gary snapped of me while driving.  I look like I know what I'm doing. LOL!  I'm not even that great of a swimmer, but my dive isn't half bad. 

Layla has been a great swimmer for the past 2-3 years.  She's confident and splashes around and I don't worry about her too much.  Hayden on the other hand acted like he could barely swim the first few times he got in the pool this season.  Gary joined him in the pool one time and showed him a few things and now he's a wild man.  He jumps off the diving board like a pro and swims to the side of the pool with confidence.  He's doing great too.  I have two little fish that both love the water.

 It's crazy how my days at the pool have changed.  I may have to buy some magazines to browse through while I sit and watch the kids.  The pool does have life guards, but I still like to keep an eye on my little swimmers, so I'm not sure if I could actually try to read a book.  It's early in the summer and I'm excited about all our fun days to come!

Happy July, their birthday month!!

Gosh I love these two munchkins.  

No one told me when they were born they would age.  I thought they would stay three years old forever. 

I love each of their personalities.  I love hearing their thoughts and opinions. 

I hope I'm not messing them up with my demands for a somewhat clean house.  

I hope they really do like my cooking. 

I hope when I retire they won't be embarrassed of the huge RV that will park in front of their houses to babysit my grandchildren. 

I hope they enjoy me as much as I enjoy them.  I get frustrated with them and they get frustrated with me too, but I hope we can still grow up together! 

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun Labor Day weekend celebrating with friends!  I love all these ladies and their families.  We got matching pj's for our weekend away.

There were 12 adults, 14 kids and two dogs.  It was quite the adventure!

The kids had a great time and there was always someone for everyone to play with.  I feel like all our kids get along great for there being so many of them!

We had tons of fun on the boat and the kids loved jumping off the dock balcony.

I love the lake we went to.  It was a pretty lake and for a holiday weekend it was not that busy. 

Thank you so much Natalie and Joe for inviting us to your beautiful lake house!

The Aquatic Center Adventure!

There is a fun little water park in our town and I didn't want the summer to end without taking the kids to visit!  I thought it would be more fun with friends, so I asked if anyone else could join us.  We decided on a day and then changed to another day due to rain.  It has been such a rainy summer.  

Yesterday we packed up our beach towels and headed to the Aquatic Center!  I was so excited about the fun day ahead with friends. 

We arrived and got all set up with chairs and we were ready to splash around.  I didn't know the kids had to take a swim test before they could go down the water slides.  This suddenly made me very nervous for Layla.  I knew Hayden wouldn't want to slide, so I wasn't worried about him.  Layla had to be able to swim the length of the pool without stopping.  I had a terrible mom moment and didn't think she could do it.  She proved me wrong.  So very wrong.  I was nervous and for no reason.  She jumped into the water and swam her heart out.  I was so proud!

We headed to the slides to watch everyone slide down!!  

I took my phone to the slides and took a few pictures of all the fun.

Sweet Molly!

Natalie :)

And Layla.

After all the slide fun Hayden wanted to go to the lazy river.  It looked so fun.  I left the group to take my phone back to our chairs.  On my way back to our friends I slammed my foot on a lounge chair and it hurt so so bad.  I thought "Oh how clumsy of me."  After taking a few steps I thought "What in the world, this hurts?"  It felt horrible.  I stopped and looked down and it was not a pretty sight.  

**STOP reading right here if you don't like feet.**

 (I don't like feet and don't think they should ever be photographed.) 

I'm about to post a picture of my deformed foot.  Yuck!

One of these things is not like the others. haha!

Natalie and I each took a picture to show her husband (he's a doctor) because we weren't sure if I needed to go to the emergency room for an ex-ray.  I've always known that you can't really do much for a broken toe, but this looked really nasty.  I couldn't imagine getting that deformed foot into a shoe.  After thinking and even texting our nurse friend Kara, Angie and Natalie decided to watch a You tube video on "how to fix a dislocated toe."  

We are sitting on our white lounge chairs and they are googling how to fix my toe.  It was a fun adventure.  I was in pain, but I couldn't stop laughing.  Picture me:  Laying on a lounge chair with a towel over my head and part of the towel in my mouth (i couldn't find a stick to bite on) and Erin and Natalie hugging me while Angie yanked my toe back into place.  We were definitely causing a scene at the Aquatic Center.  It was hilarious.  I am thankful for a really long line at the snack bar.  The kids didn't see a thing because they were standing in line for snacks!  

See how much better it looks!  My poor swollen little pinky toe. 

Who needs a hospital when you have Google?

We taped me up and headed to the lazy river!  I got myself and Hayden all ready to float the river and the lifeguards blew the whistle....everyone out of the pools due to thunder and lightening. 

 Seriously?!?!  

What a fun first trip to the Aquatic Center huh?  It was definitely a day we all won't soon forget!  

I love my friends.  Feet are gross and these girls touched my broken toe.  That's true friendship y'all!  Oh how I wish I'd gotten a pedicure before all these pictures were taken.  haha!  Oh well, this is real life!

We left the Aquatic Center and headed to an early dinner.  I wasn't going to let my toe stop us from having a fun evening.  We had a fun night and even headed to another pool.  All us moms showed the kids how to jump off the diving board.  It was a day to remember!

Today the foot is feeling better, but it's black and blue. I won't make your eyes bleed by looking at another picture of my foot. ;)  I have a limp and stairs are a bit tricky.   I'm sad I may not be able to work out for a few days, but I'm thankful it isn't swelling and seems to be fine now. 

What a crazy but fun day!

Independence Day 2013

Gary had to work on the Forth of July so the kids and I went exploring around town.  

Layla picked out an outfit for tonight so we had to go get matching jewelry.  

Oh the life of a 7 year old girl!

A Chic fil A trip is very necessary while shopping.  You know this!!

We stopped by Academy Sports and Outdoors because I miss it almost as much as Target!  We went to Target also, twice in two days.  haha!

The kids tried on hats and were giggling like crazy while I shopped!

The kids decided they needed to swim for an hour or so before dinner and fireworks.  It was raining, but our hotel has an indoor pool!

Layla wanted a photo of her festive swim suit!

We got dressed and took half a million pictures.  Half requested by me and half by Layla.  She's a little sassy diva lately.

After a yummy dinner, I ahhhem WE got a piece of cheesecake to split.  It was wonderful!

I love my little family!

We headed out to find the fireworks downtown, but we didn't think they would happen in the pouring rain.  We headed back to the hotel and on our way upstairs we saw a few pops of light!

This is an absolutely horrible picture, but if the kids are like me they will remember this memory for years to come.  We watched the fireworks from our hotel window.  It was so fun and we all had a great time and we were completely dry while all the other people were soaking wet!

We had a great day celebrating America!

I got to meet Courtney!

I have followed Courtney's blog for years.  I remember reading about her family back during a time when they were possibly moving to Texas, obviously when I lived in Texas.  I've read all about her sweet kids and doing so made me feel like I'd known them for real for ever. 

Well, during our adventures traveling with Gary this week we got to meet Courtney and Lauren today.  They came to our hotel and Lauren swam in the pool with the kids while Courtney and I talked for a few hours.  It was great to sit and visit with her.

I am truly blessed by all the blog friends I have and I love when internet friends become real life friends.  The kids love it too because they see the benefits of this blog!  We have friends everywhere!

our week in review ... otherwise known as the longest post ever

This last full week in June has been busy for us!  It has been packed with fun activities and late bedtimes all week.  I can't believe this week got away from me when it comes to posting our memories to the blog.  I am thankful for a quiet Saturday night at home with the kids so I can update!

Monday we took the kids to see Monsters University.  It was a cute movie and I'm glad Gary got to go with us.  The kids were so excited to have daddy at the movies!

Tuesday Gary left early in the morning for Austria.  He had a dealer event in Austria and I have to say I am a little jealous of his over seas adventure.  I don't think the airplane ride is anything to be envious of, but all the fun food and drinks look amazing!

Layla was trying to see if she could fit her little body into his suit case!

The pups watched daddy drive away and I couldn't help but capture the cute moment!

Tuesday afternoon was full of fun in the sun.  We knew the rest of the week would be full of thunderstorms, so we decided to have fun while the sun was here!

We looked over at Hayden and he was meditating.  We all just laughed so hard.  He is so funny and we found out he learned about meditating from a TV show.

The kids were all posing and this reminded me of Charlie's Angels!

The clouds rolled in on Wednesday so we all decided to grab lunch after Zumba class and then hit the bowling alley.

Mrs. Erin treated the kids to a Hershey bar, and Hayden stopped to pose with his.  Gotta love the cool bowling shoes!

Meanwhile in Austria Gary kept texting me photos of himself all week.  It looked like he had an amazing time!

I am quite jealous of this beer fountain.  Pretty cool huh?

Today's picture was the best of the best...this is the golf course he played!

It looks like a postcard!

We kinda had a post card moment here on Friday evening while eating dinner out with friends.

We saw an entire rainbow!  It was gorgeous and if you look closely you can see a faint trace of the double rainbow!

Today we swam with friends and splashed and played in the pool.

Hayden has been nervous and cautious so far this summer.  Today he busted out of his shell and had an awesome time swimming.  He was jumping into the pool and swimming like the fish he was at the end of last summer!

I am thankful Gary is coming home tomorrow.  Summer days get busy and long and I really enjoy having a break from the kids.  I enjoy chatting with Gary after we put the kids to bed.  When Gary travels in the states I get to talk to him multiple times a day, but with the time difference of 6 hours in Austria I haven't talked to him much.  We miss him BIG!  

How was your week?