My new toy

When my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas last year, I told her that I wanted a new scanner/copier combo. Of course she got it for me...and it has been sitting in its nice little box beside my computer since then. We have had three straight days of rain so far with plenty more in the forecast, which meant no opening day soccer weekend and pretty much nothing else going on either. So I had some time on my hands, which meant I could clean my house or do my best to find something else that needed to be done. Needless to say, I have had this scanner/copier for months, and it was high time I got it out and learned how to use it...there wasn't much of a learning curve actually since you just put the picture on there and hit scan, so even my technology challenged brain could figure it out. Anyway, I decided to go back and scan some pictures of J from when she was my chunky monkey...not my tall string bean that I see today. Here are a couple of my favorites that I have come across so far. If you don't hear from me for a while I'll be sitting at my computer staring at picture after picture of my little angle hoping my preteen doesn't come in and try to kick me off!!!

Last slice of summer

I remember back in my school days, and in my mind it's not nearly as long ago as the actual years suggest, when summer wasn't over and school didn't start until after Labor day. My little one has never known that to be the case and figured her summer officially ended Aug. 25th. Luckily for her, Mike, Jen and the boys came to visit us of the holiday weekend, and we got in one last bit of summer fun!!!

The big boys (Mike, Joe and Cody) played golf and then went to watch the OU/BYU game at Cowboys stadium on Sat. I think Cody had a great time...the other two were a little (that's an understatement for Joe at least) disappointed with the outcome of the game. Jen and I got in some shopping and then rewarded our two little ones with Mr. Gatti's and a movie for making it through the day with us.

Sunday was Jaden's favorite day of the visit because A - no shopping and B- we got to go to the lake. She loves the lake or anything water related, and Mike's fantasy football draft was out at the lake this year. Plus as an extra bonus he had a friend who was bringing a jet ski and tube. Here are a few pictures of our day out at the lake (Joe was still mourning the OU loss so didn't come with us).

We were the first to arive, so the kids had to entertain themselves until the jet ski arived. They did a lot of swimming and floating around.

Cody helped teach J to skip rocks.

Jaden and Caden tried thier hands at sand volleyball.

It was hard so they decided to just play in the sand instead.

Then they had to get cleaned up!!!

Here is Jaden pulling the tube back on shore after an afternoon of riding behind the jet ski. They had loads of fun. A big thanks to Jen for getting on and pulling them around all afternoon!!!

Peace out from J on the jet ski...luckily nobody actually let her drive!!!

And that's it from our day at the lake...walking out of the water for the last time. I guess we're ready to see what fall has in store for us.

First week of school

Let me just start this out by saying that my girl is not a morning girl...wonder who she gets that from??? I think this is one of the main reasons she has been dreading starting school, well that and she has to take the TAKS test this year. It's not that she gets to sleep in during the summer. She still has to get up and go to daycare while I go to work, since my lottery retirement plan hasn't worked out for me so far, but for daycare she rolls out of bed, puts on some clothes and gets in the car, thus getting about 30 extra minutes of precious sleep. She loves the fact that she can eat breakfast after she gets dropped off at daycare!!! On school days, she has to get her breakfast in before heading out. She takes after her aunt Rebecca in that she doesn't like to eat right when she wakes up in the morning. She would prefer to be awake at least 30 minutes to an hour before actually having to look at food, but since she likes her sleep she is forced to not only look at food but try to eat it right after getting up. Doesn't she look so excited to be heading off to school for the first day?



After she eats as little of her breakfast as I will let her get away with, this little one crawls back into bed until her mean mommy yells at her to get her shoes on and her teeth and hair brushed. Then we come to picture time for the first day of third grade...another thrilling moment for J I'm sure. She is at least good about humoring me and posing for her picture, and so here we are on the first day...

She picked her clothes out for the first week on Sunday, because that also saves time for her in the morning, or saves her from me picking them out for her. This year I was proud of myself for just letting her wear whatever she had picked out and not trying to convince her that she had much cuter things in her closet that she could have chosen. This one has her very own since of style and her own ideas about what looks good, doesn't matter whether you agree or not...she is very confident in her fashion sense!!!

Below is her day 2 outfit. Took a picture of it so MamMaw could see what she helped her buy. Jaden was very excited to have some money to do her own shopping with and picked out and bought this shirt and shoes herself, so thanks MamMaw for giving her the chance to shop for herself, she had a great time!!!

Day 3 got a picture because she decided to wear her hair down for a change...probably because she got a haircut over the weekend even though I told her she didn't really need one since her hair is in a ponytail everyday anyway!!!

And since we did the first three days, thought we'd finish up the last day of our 4-day first week of school with a final picture...back to the ponytail of course. Every Friday J wears one of her school shirts, this years is our favorite so far. She was really excited when she saw it for the first time!!!

Anyway, her first week was good. She was glad to see all of her friends and really likes her new teacher so far. Hopefully it will be a great year and not go by too quickly cause my little girl is getting way too big way too fast!!!

Winding down the summer

We have had a whirlwind last two weeks of summer. Along with our vacation to San Antonio, we also managed to fit in a trip back home to Groom for my sister Karen's baby shower...we can't wait till September by the way to see the newest addition to the family!!!

Jaden has been watching her cousins climb PawPaw's trees the last several times we have been back home. This time she decided she was ready to try it for herself and was really proud of actually being able to do it (without breaking anything by the way).



She started with the smaller tree, just to see if it was something she really wanted to do. Luckily she had one of the tree climbing experts in Samantha to help guide her along.



She got a little more brave towards the end of the day and went for the big tree. She didn't get as high as Aaron and Samantha go, but she made it past the roof of the house and did a great job.

Devin had fun watching how high all the kids went.

Hope thought she was big enough to try it out too. Luckily for Sandie and Corkey she didn't get too far.

The kids thought the shower was a little boring, so Corkey set up their big water slide to help keep them entertained while the grown ups looked at baby stuff. The kids had a blast, and we didn't have to hear "we don't have anything fun to do." Although you never hear that at Sandie and Corkey's, they always have something fun for the kids to do!!!

Angie, Apollo and their kids came to visit us this week, and Angie and I took the girls to Six Flags for one last summer fun day. Here they are on Superman. J of course has her hands up, no ride is fun for her unless the hands are in the air. Angie is holding Samantha down just in case!!!

A little fun with Daffy Duck...he didn't make it long out in the 100+ degree heat so we were lucky to spot him and snap a quick picture.

Here is a picture of me and the girls finishing Tony Hawk's Big Spin. This was a favorite for J and Sam.

Here they are by themselves...with their hands in the air of course. They told everyone they rode with that they had to keep their hands up the whole time!!!

And here is the end of the day...they still had a little more ridin left in them I think, but I was tired and HOT and ready to head back to the house!!!

Hopefully it has been a summer to remember...I have the pictures to prove it if she ever doubts me anyway:)

Our vacation

Jaden has been asking to go to Sea World for at least four years now...I guess good things finally come to those who wait because she finally got her wish and we headed off on our first official family vacation to San Antonio. Joe and I are not big travelers but every now and then we like to do something to make the little one happy!!! We went with some of our friends and their kids and had a really good time, plus it was a great way to end the summer for Jaden.

We had just ridden this water ride, but J didn't think she got quite wet enough, so she took Jace down for a splash from the next group.

Here's Jaden and Jace with Shamu.

We got in a couple of shows in between the roller coasters...J's main focus...and they were really fun and entertaining. Even Jaden liked them after we pulled her away from the rides and convinced her that if you go to Sea World you actually need to see some sea creatures!!!

This was the dolphin show, Viva, and was our favorite of the ones we saw.

I had a really hard time getting a picture of the dolphins in the air...mostly I got pictures of the splash afterward...but did finally manage to get one.

Then of course we watched the show with Shamu called Believe. It was a pretty good show too. Jaden made sure we sat in the "splash zone" so afterward we were covered with really cold salt water...she thought it was hilarious. I would have liked it better if I would have had on some fast drying shorts, denim is not good for really cold salt water in case you were wondering.

Here is Jaden and her daddy on her favorite roller coaster. She road this one 5 or 6 times I think.

She got a little tired towards the end of day one...there was a lot of walking involved going from show to show and ride to ride. Luckily she had her daddy to give her a lift every now and then.

At the end of the day he was there to hold her hand and make sure she had a great time...that's what daddy's are for!!!

We spent our second day there in the water park area, but I didn't get my camera out for that. Our first official family vacation was a big success, who knows maybe Jaden won't have to wait another 8 years to go on the second one!!!

Just look at me now

Well, they are still working on the bottom teeth, but for now we have ourselves a beautiful braces free smile. The orthodontist took the top braces off and took out the expander. I had one happy little girl this afternoon...until the pain from the tightening on the bottom teeth took over anyway!!!

To Oklahoma we go

With a little girl who is playing soccer all the time and two big girls really into softball it makes it hard to find a time when we can all get together. The stars finally aligned this weekend though as Logan and Rikki had a free Saturday and Jaden's soccer game got cancelled. So we loaded up and headed to Oklahoma to get these sisters some time together!!!



There was plenty of catching up by the girls...I think J had a smile on her face the whole day, and also a lot of goofing around as you can see in these pictures.



J wishes she could take this one back, she says her eyes are bugging out too much!!!

Since I put that one of her up, she forced me to put this one on here as well.

And of course the big girls got into the act too.

Jaden thinks she's such a little comedian and Rikki doesn't notice the bunny ears.

She is teaching them some sort of weird finger game she learned at daycare.

And of course we need a picture of her with everyone who was in attendance this weekend...

Jaden and Bobbi...

Jaden and Poppy Joe...

Jaden and MeMaw...

and last but not least, Jaden and her sisters. Thanks to everyone for a great day and for putting this nonstop smile on my little girl's face!!!