Cousins Weekend

It's been so busy around here that I am having a hard time posting about all our summer activities! The little kids and I just returned from an awesome weekend at my parents' home in East Texas for our annual spring cousins' weekend (it was moved to the summer due to scheduling conflicts). As usual, the cousins all had a blast spending time together. On the agenda was an evening at Dairy Queen for ice cream and playtime, a morning at the local splash pad for water fun and a picnic lunch, and an evening at the movies to check out Cars 2 with a group of 18! It was a fast and furious weekend but we all lived to tell about it. :-) Here are some pictures of all the fun.

Kaitlynn enjoyed trying on her MeMe's reading glasses.

Here is proof that my Dad is building an "Ark" in the backyard swimming pool. Don't ask.

Kaitlynn, Connor, Renee, and Ryah watch a show before bedtime.

Fun at the White Oak splash pad!

These are Jeb and Alli's 3 little blondies with 1 of my own. So sweet!

My cousin Robin and I always enjoy these weekends. We were as close as sisters growing up.

All the kiddos had a great time at the park and splash pad, but their favorite part was probably filling up hundreds of water balloons and then having a water balloon fight.

All 7 of the little Morgan grandkids Sunday after church. Sweet cousins!

A great picture of MeMe and Grand Daddy with their 7 "grands" as they call them.

And 3 of the cousins have something special in common: Makenna, Ryah, and Connor were all born within 6 months of each other and will be entering kindergarten this fall! Crazy!

Finally, I couldn't end this post without mentioning Kaitlynn's new best buddy. She and her Grand Daddy really bonded over this trip. She is madly in love with him and followed him around like a little shadow everywhere he went. One morning he left to take Connor golfing and bless her heart, she just cried and cried for him. Luckily they were reunited at lunchtime and Kaitlynn was ALL OVER her Grand Daddy, showering him with hugs and kisses. I think this might be the start of something very special. :-)

At the Beach

We are right in the middle of our summer and having a GREAT time already! My friend Michelle and I rented a little condo right on the Galveston beach and we stayed for a few days with the 4 of our kids (her boys are Brady and Tanner). The condo was so cute and the kids just LOVED staying there! The bunk beds were a big hit.

After a long afternoon at the pool and beach, all 4 of these sweeties were exhausted.

Just look at this tired face. Classic!

My poor little point-and-shoot camera couldn't handle the salty, humid air so my beach pictures were all foggy. Too bad because otherwise this one would have been a keeper.

The 4 kids enjoyed some sidewalk races while they were waiting on 2 more best buddies to join us.

And finally they're here! Benjamin and Timothy joined us just in time for 1 more sidewalk race.

This is my FAVORITE picture of the entire visit. These 5 sweet boys have been friends their entire lives.

We loaded up all the kiddos and visited Palm Beach at Moody Gardens. It's like a mini-water park and it was so much fun! The challenge of the day: trying to get the kids to do anything without their goggles. I think the goggles are becoming a new permanent accessory.

Back at the condo after a long day of fun, these boys were definitely worn out. Gotta love summer trips to the beach!

More About Kaitlynn

I am sure enjoying our little 2-year-old these days. We had her 2-year checkup at the doctor today. She is 33 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile) and 30 lbs 7 oz (90th percentile).

Her hair is really growing in fast these days. I would kill for her hair color and style. I pay a lot of money for my hair and it doesn't come close! :-)

Kaitlynn is still quite the daredevil and generally has NO fear about anything. This is both good AND bad.

Her snaggletooth is really starting to show up in her pictures. If I thought I could get her to sit still, I'd take her to the dentist to get it fixed. Something tells me that won't happen for a while.

Almost overnight it seems, Kaitlynn is talking in complete phrases and sentences. She will carry on a complete conversation with just about anyone, but you'll need a translator to understand a word she's saying. (I'm still searching for the translator.)

She is a great sleeper and LOVES her crib. She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and usually takes a 2-hour nap each day. For this, I feel very blessed.

She is obsessed with electronic devices. She hasn't put down her "yo"(iPod Touch) since getting it for her birthday last week.

Kaitlynn is SO into her babies. She loves carrying them around, pushing them in strollers, wrapping them in her blankie, patting them to sleep, shushing them to be quiet, "feeding" them her snacks, giving them pacis, and carrying on conversations with them.

PandaMania

This week was Vacation Bible School for us and it has been an exhausting week! The theme this year was "PandaMania - where God is wild about you!" Panda bears and bamboo were everywhere. Connor and Kaitlynn were both able to enjoy the preschool curriculum while I was a crew leader of 6 awesome kindergartners. Over 600+ kids were enrolled in this year's VBS, so it was definitely panda-monium, ha! We're exhausted but it was a great week!

Sweet Sixteen

Happy Birthday to Kevin, who turns 16 today!

Is it just me, or has time started moving in warp speed lately?

Kevin will soon be starting his junior year in high school. He seems to be quite the sociable guy. He receives more texts in an hour that I probably get all week.

He recently obtained his driver's permit so he's all about driving lately. Luckily we have a few more months to absorb the fact that he's driving before he gets his actual license later this year.

He's still participating on the swim and water polo team at school, although he seems to have lost his zest for it. One thing he's very excited about is his new gig as a summer lifeguard. He definitely looks the part.

With Collin leaving for college soon, Kevin is about to become the big man of the house.

One quick story about this sweet 16-year-old: The other day we were hanging out in the living room with him and casually chatting about stuff. Jeff was asking about some of Kevin's girl friends (not girlfriends, ha!) and whether he had gotten up the nerve recently to ask any of them out. Two girls in particular seem to have caught Kevin's eye, but they both appear to be dodging his affections. We were kind of joking with Kevin about it, telling him that the girls "just aren't that into you" as the saying goes. Then Jeff referred to Kevin's dating attempts as swings and misses. But Kevin promptly replied, "They're not swings and misses, Dad. They're works in progress." Classic!

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

Two

For the past several weeks, people have been asking Kaitlynn how old she is and she enthusiastically replies, "Two!" (Although it sounds more like "sue" when she says it.) Finally the day has come that we make an honest girl of her, because today she is officially 2 years old.

I am in complete denial that our baby girl is 2. How can this be??

Oh, Kaitlynn. What can I say about you, sweet girl? You continue to bring SO much joy into this house. Every single one of us are in love and can't get enough of you. There is just something about you.

You are so headstrong and rebellious, yet often overly loving and affectionate.

You are quite the social butterfly and love being around other kids, but you want them to play YOUR way and you tend to be the playground bully.

You understand every single word we say, but we usually don't have a clue what you're saying to us.

Most days you are such a Daddy's girl, but other times you are all about your Mama.

You like to wear cutesy clothes and girly bows in your hair, yet you are just as rough and tumble as any ole' boy out there.

You have such a streak of independence but you are rarely alone.

You are surrounded by mostly male influences, but you instinctively cuddle, kiss, and swaddle your baby dolls like a natural Mama.

Your teachers and babysitters report that you are a model toddler who listens and minds well, yet I witness your stubborn defiance on a daily (hourly?) basis.

You act like such a big kid, but you will always be our baby girl.

Happy 2nd birthday, baby girl!

Double Birthday Celebration

Kaitlynn and Kevin both have big birthdays coming up this week. Kaitlynn will be 2 on the 14th and Kevin turns 16 on the 15th. Normally we like to celebrate their birthdays individually but our month is so busy that we were forced to combine them this time around.

Somehow I don't think either of them minded.

Kevin got to pick his favorite dinner spot, a local hibachi grill restaurant. Yum! I packed a PB&J sandwich for Connor and peanut butter crackers for Kaitlynn because I knew they wouldn't eat the hibachi food. And Kaitlynn wasn't in the best of moods but we managed to make it through dinner (barely, ha!)

After dinner, we came home and everyone swam for a while. We were killing time and waiting for Collin to get off work so we could open presents and enjoy cake together as a family.

Kaitlynn was in major meltdown mode by this point, as evidenced by the video of us singing Happy Birthday:



But all was right with the world again when she opened her first gift: her very own iPod Touch. Yes, I caved and got her a cheap used one because I was tired of her screwing up my iPhone settings. She calls it her "yo" which is short for "hello" which is what she thinks a phone is called. Now she has her very own yo and she couldn't be happier.

Kevin's favorite gift? A couple boxes of PopTarts. OK, I'm kidding. But he really was happy about them because I no longer keep them in our pantry. It was a special birthday treat, ha! Tomorrow I am taking him shopping for a new pair of Oakley sunglasses, so I think that's what he's the most excited about. :-)

Happy Birthday to our very Special K's!

2 Days with 2 Extras

Last Sunday night we had some friends over to eat and swim. All the kids were showing off their new swim skills learned from Ms. Glendy last week. The grownups and kids alike all had a great time. Well, except for this little sweetie...

That's Lily. She was sick. VERY sick. We just didn't know how sick until she had to be taken to Texas Children's Hospital later that night with 104+ fever and what turned out to be a nasty staph infection.

While Lily's Mom and Dad tended to her in the hospital, we kept her brothers Benjamin and Timothy here to play with Connor and Kaitlynn. It was 2 days with 2 extra kiddos and we had so much fun! The boys all had a sleepover in Connor's room and slept great.

They also had some playtime and TV time in their pajamas.

All 4 kids played SO well together. Connor couldn't have been more excited to have 2 of his best buddies here, and Kaitlynn woke up each morning talking about them ("Uh boyz?" she would ask right when she woke up, meaning "Where are the boys?").

I took a couple of car trips with the kids and they were so well-behaved with their snacks and drinks along for the ride. We also listened to a lot of music. Lately Connor's favorite song is "Higher" by Taio Cruz and we listened to it over and over in the car. All 4 kids were singing along and even came up with some choreographed moves! I laughed so much that I couldn't resist taking a quick video from a parking lot.



So what did we do to keep the kids busy and happy each day? Our typical summertime destination: a local mall and indoor play area for playtime and lunch. We visited 2 different malls in 2 days. I definitely get some crazy looks when I take this many kids together!

And as I've said before, you know it's a successful day when this is the scene in the car afterwards:

After all that fun, sweet Lily is thankfully on the mend and just as cute as ever!