Pretty Perfect

I had the honor of taking my sweet niece's newborn pictures last week. How on earth is an Aunt supposed to choose? We all love her SOOO much already. Can't wait to watch her grow. I know before we know it I'll be taking her 1 year shots :)

Something Pretty Special...

It's pretty special meeting your baby cousin for the first time. Somebody was super excited to hold her....and ended up holding her for probably a half an hour while she slept peacefully. She was so proud :) Ryan ran around like a mini tornado but was also excited to see "Baby Bwooke." He would point to her feet and say "toes!"


Giving Uncle Mike a taste of toddlerhood...


This is unrelated to baby cousins but a funny picture of Ryan the other day playing with his trains. He would lay down in the middle of the track and watch the train go around :P


And the nice bruise across his face is courtesy of a nose dive into the window sill...youch!

My beautiful girl...

or NOT!

Beautiful Baby Brooke

In case you missed me shouting it from the hilltops on Facebook....I'm an Aunt!!! I've been so excited for this precious baby to join our family. I must admit it was sort of strange to be on the other side of the situation...as in up until now I've been the one having babies. It was nice to ooh and ahh over the baby and then go home and sleep all night! :) Hey...I've paid my dues twice so I'm allowed to say that! Stacy and Mike are going to be WONDERFUL parents. I'm so excited to see my kids grow up with a cousin so close.

Let's Bowl!

Katie was invited to a bowling birthday party today for one of the boys in her class last year. I wasn't quite sure how bowling would go with a bunch of 4 year olds but it as SO FUN! She had a blast and we may have to go back soon :)



And a few of the rugrats...Ryan hiding in the closet and Katie posing pretty!

Workin' Hard For the Money

Katie has started a few chores around the house in the last couple months. I thought it was about time she took some responsibilities and also thought I could make it a good lesson about saving our money. She got to take some out and buy something of her choice :) Here are some of the "chores" Katie is doing...

1. Folds Her Laundry
2. Puts Her Laundry Away
3. Cleans Her Room
4. Helps Clean the Playroom

My 3 Babies

It was getting a little crowded in Ryan's crib this morning...


And a trip to the pool...by ourselves...for the first time. I usually have friends or family with me. Not this time! A bit nerve wracking with Katie off by herself and Ryan my little daredevil, but I did it!

Monkey On The Bed

Tonight after dinner Keith and Katie took off to the fish store and Ryan and I stayed home. Ryan was playing and I was decompressing as I'm sure you mom's understand. All of a sudden I realized it was quiet which is usually never a good thing, so I went to look for Ryan in his usual spot...the fish tank but he wasn't there. My room? I open the door and catch him mid jump on my bed :) Little stinker! He looks at me with those big baby blues and says "I jump on bed!" How can you tell this kid no??? I'm in trouble!

What It's All About

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We had a fun time with family and good food, appreciating all the blessings living in this country provides.

It was a quiet morning but after naps we headed up to Lake Conroe to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We had fun swimming although I never manage to get any pictures because it's an all hands on deck situation in the pool with Ryan who thinks he do anything his sister does and Katie who's a bit over confident with her new swimming skills and gets herself in trouble every now and then. But it was fun and a great way to beat the heat. Here a few of us are in our patriotic best!


Right before dinner Katie decided to brush her hair...with a comb. Then I heard from Grandma "Shannon...I think we have a problem." Yeah...she got it stuck GOOD! I have no idea what she did or how she did it but both Grandma and I worked on it a good half hour. Thank goodness we didn't have to cut it out!


Then came the food! Boy was it yummy! I made a flag cake and broccoli salad, but we also had potato salad, steak, corn on the cob, baked beans, bread and it was all good! Ryan's favorite was the corn on the cob....I think he nibbled every kernel! Katie had fun learning how to shuck the corn. :)


Grandpa love!


Then after we roused ourselves from our food coma we went up the road to the marina and watch the fireworks. Both kids loved it!

Little Lovies

Just a cute snap from the point and shoot this morning :)



Hope everyone is having a much drier holiday weekend than are! May need a boat soon!