Indian Warfare?

No....just face paint!!! Actually, according to these boys, it's pretty boring if you just keep it on your face! They turned it into body paint art!

riding his faithful steed, er, i mean, truck

the war cry



cornered--up against a wall






scheming...how do we get ourselves out of this mess?

by being completely adorable!!!

yes! it's working! our captors are letting us go!

grab your steed and head for the hills!!! ;)

Happy Independence Day!

Our 4th of July this year was pretty low key. We attended a morning parade--it still got pretty hot on us, though! The kids had a ball. We met up with our friends the Williams and hung out in their truck bed--what a great spot to see the parade go by! We absolutely cherish this country and the gift of our freedom. God Bless America!

the McKinney parade has definitely gotten a little bigger and better since the last time we saw it two years ago

Anthony's favorite part was the fire trucks...

they had some current ones as well as some old timey ones



the classic "lucas face"
look how red his little cheeks are

so Americana--

sitting in the back of a pickup truck in a Ralph Lauren t-shirt waving the American flag...

LOVE IT!

trying on a sun hat

now all he needs is a little hay to chew on

lucas enjoyed the horses the most

We are so thankful and so proud to be Americans.

We are so thankful for all the men and women who daily risk thier lives to fight for our country's freedom. Hopefully we can instill this same gratitude and love of country into our kids.


We came home for naps (well, the kids at least), and later we spent the evening with the Headleys for a nice dinner celebration! I forgot to take pictures, but dinner was lovely, and the flag cake was divine!

We we got home late but we still busted out the sparklers!
Anthony's first time doing sparklers all by himself--what a big boy!

Look at his face--he's so proud!

To Memphis: Meeting Reese and James' Birthday Party

Mid June we took a road trip to Memphis to finally meet baby Reese and to celebrate James' 2nd birthday! It was a short trip, but the kids had a ball. We love it here in Texas, but we certainly miss being near our families!

We were eating dinner one night and happened to look out the window--this is what we saw...a skid steer! Uncle Josh works in the landscaping business and was able to bring this baby home to my parents' house for all the boys to see! Anthony is REALLY into all types of trucks right now, so it was a fantastic surprise!

going for a ride with Dada



Uncle Josh just scored a million cool points!

One tradition the boys always look forward to is riding Papa's tractor! Well, actually, it's a riding lawn mower, but the kids think it's wonderfully exciting!

Anthony made it very clear--"I like the green tractor better than the yellow tractor (referring to the skid steer); the yellow tractor is too loud!"

Now, it's Lucas' turn to ride with Papa...he's waving "hi" to the camera.

thanks, Papa, for the special tradition

can't forget James! He loves it too!

I told Lucas to give baby Reese a kiss--can you see how he's cutting his eyes at me, like, "Are you serious, Mom?"

I LOVE this sweet smile!

handsome James pulls the wagon

Lucas loves playing with the rocks in the driveway

they enjoy having all this land to run around on!

a couple days later we celebrated James' birthday with a Thomas the Tank party plus swimming

lots of fun splashing around

what a fun whale pool!

the whole group of kiddos--anthony and lucas, james the birthday boy, and some neighborhood friends--taylor and lawson

anthony had a blast pushing this dump truck down the slip n slide

i took a break from the excitement to feed sweet baby Reese...

i ADORE this adorable outfit!

she's about 2 weeks old here

time for presents!!! the chaos begins...but it sure was fun!

sweet james getting ready to blow out his Thomas candle...i love that face--like he can't believe it's actually his special day.

Lucas is ready for his piece of cake!

(notice it's the normal "Lucas face"...i love it!)

Anthony was thrilled to sing Happy Birthday to his cousin

before we left the boys did a group hug in the bay window at my mom's home

this is their special spot to jump and dance around

Lucas adores James

one more picture of sweet Reese before we head home

a couple of quick movie clips of the boys' dancing in the window...James wasn't too sure about it at first

now they're all getting into it! i love how they watch and imitate each other...james copies lucas; james copies anthony; lucas copies james--too funny!

Happenings in June

Here are some pictures of what we're up to this summer...

If you look out the window REALLY closely, you can see what all the excitement is about...the garbage truck!!! It's one of the highlights of the day every Wednesday for these boys! :)

more bathtub mohawks

(or "hohawks" as Anthony calls them)

Anthony finds this fun and exciting--yes, that's underwear on his head!
At least it's clean--I think!

We went swimming in our friend Kayden's neighborhood pool

sweet friend Kayden

reading stories with Mama

it's too hot to go play outside these days unless we go early in the morning!

Anthony playing dress up in his fireman's helmet

we hosted our Community Group at our home at the end of June...

Audrey was the only friend that was able to make it (and her baby sister Elle--not pictured)

this was right before bedtime...

can't you tell they are SOOOO sleepy!!! ;)

what a great friend Audrey is, though

nothing but trouble--these two

(but I wouldn't change a thing!)

Lucas has discovered that he likes Oreos--very much!

Mario and I decided to have a date night "in" for our 6th anniversary, so the kids went out! haha! We got some local grass fed beef, and Mar grilled out our steaks--they were better than most restaurant steaks we've had! (i just got a picture of the food--forgot one of us!!!)

short video clip of Anthony dancing...he has 6 songs on this guitar, and he has a different dance to every single one! this one is our favorite! nice moves, sweet Anthony! we love you!