don't die!

cari and chad  in the bean bag (cami is off to the left in the recliner)

this past saturday we had planned a whole day of activities

and we threw them all out the window to stay home.

we attempted to beat super mario brothers on the wii

and failed miserably!

we discovered that cari is quite the comedian while playing the wii.

she had us rolling most of the day.

it ended up being a great day and we surprisingly got a lot of things checked off our summer to-do list:

*we stayed in our pj's all day

*we had "christmas in july" by watching 2 christmas movies together and

*we attempted to beat mario

and yesterday
*we had breakfast for dinner and
*created a new game!

we are half way through the summer break and 

aspire to check off many more fun things off our list :)

i am going to leave you with a funny quote that happened on saturday...

picture chad trying hard to past the last level of world 8 while being chased by a huge fire-breathing bowser

cami being encouraging - "where there's a will there's a way"

cari confidently counters - "there's a will"
chad dies then yells out of despair, "no way!"
us three girls erupt with laughter!!!

dad...it's just a game ;)

swim lessons

cari spent this past week taking private swim lessons at our kyle pool.

in years past they have both participated in the group lessons,

but we decided to try something different this year because cami was not interested in taking any more swim lessons. she completed the highest level last year and she would just be repeating that same class or 

joining the swim team, which she has very little interest in doing.

cari can swim on her own, but we wanted her to learn some

new swimming techniques this year and then let this be our last year with swim lessons.

her instructor, nikki, was wonderful!

she is the actual manager at the pool and i was very impressed

with all that she taught cari.
 she was also very flexible with our schedules.

nikki was blown away when she realized

cari was only 6 years old.

she told me that she took instruction so well 

and was very mature for her age.

chad and i are very proud of cari.

it was funny to see her get so tired

after each lesson. she was worked hard

but enjoyed every minute of it!

she was disappointed that her time with nikki was ending.

after her last lesson, on friday, we stayed to swim

at the pool. chad surprised us and took off early 

from work and came to join us.

we were all smiles when he showed up :)

cari calls this her "snorkeler"

earlier that morning we got shipley's do-nuts (cari's fav color is red)

cami's fav color is orange and we had never seen a do-nut like this!

this is what cari spotted at the bottom of the pool before diving in!

needless to say, this got nikki out of the pool and rushing for a net :)
thank goodness it was dead!

happy 4th of july!



hope your 4th was as fun and relaxing as ours :)

random updates and thoughts ;)

my girls finished art camp last week...

i spent friday and saturday with my cousin...

we shopped at the outlet with our girls on friday

and then went back just the two of us on saturday.

i love her like a sister and miss her so much already.

my oldest daughter got the best smelling candle in the world...

it's called root beer float and we found it at bath and body works.

she has it on a warmer in her room and it fills our upstairs with sweet goodness ;)

it rained!!!

big news here in texas ;)

usa olympic trials have me moved me to tears everytime i watched...

we are all ready for the olympics to start later this month!

my children are very inspired to do gymnastics again 

after being glued to the tv a few nights this week ;)

cari even decided to perform for us in a leotard and several props!

she also got a retainer and started private swimming lessons.

her instructor said she is a very fast learner and 

i heard she is pushing her to do challenging things with great success!

tomorrow is the 4th of july!

hope everyone has a wonder evening watching fireworks :)

one day i aspire to have a beautiful collection of globes just like the ones sitting on this amazing 

rainbow color coordinated book shelf...sigh ;)

brave weekend

 we had an action packed weekend full of excitement, bravery, & impulsiveness!

we looked fear in the face and laughed :)

we stained cami's hair with koolaid!

she is now a fiery redhead!

we went to see the movie brave!

 i tried a new recipe...strawberry cake pie!

we fought through texas heat for the love of the watermelon thump parade!

 

 the kids were spun...

 twirled...

 whirled...

 as i watched in horror and prayed for their safety!

 they rode bulls...

 and held on without being thrown!

 they traveled through time warps...

 without throwing up.

 cari won a purple alien!

cami launched arrows to exploding targets to win a small blue dolphin!

it was a great and exhausting weekend :)

summer tradition...

we love watching movies outside in the summer.

it goes right along with swimming, vacations, and ice cream for us.

this past friday they showed the muppets in kyle.

i was still a little swollen from getting my wisdom teeth removed,

but i still managed to eat a little chick-fil-a ;)

we had several friends show up to watch with us.

we spread out, eat, chat, and relax.

the weather was perfect!

i hope to continue this sweet tradition for as many summers as i can :)

daddy's day

for father's day we decided to make chad a fun "back rub shirt".

we really had fun making this for him.

we used fabric makers to draw a little city.

the girls picked two of their favorite cars to use with his shirt.

we also found this retro mug that was perfect for my husband.

(well, actually chad found it and i bought it for him :)

does anybody else remember the x-files?

i remember feeling jealous of this show because when we were dating 15 years ago

chad would not take my call while this show was on ;)

the girls also made special cards for their dad.

he takes them to his work and puts them up on his wall.

can you tell that my husband is a drummer ;)

we gave him his gifts during a special breakfast saturday morning.

i made some yummy pumkin cream cheese bread :)

these were pretty cute...

the girls wrote stuff about their daddy...

it was funny to see how tall they think he is and

how little they think he weighs :)

sunday we went to church as usual.

afterwards, we ended up eating lunch at one of chad's favorite places

dickey's bbq pit...kids eat free on sundays!!!

they make it fun with a balloon artist and free ice cream.

it also helps that it is just down the road from our house :)

after lunch we visited chad's dad in luling, papa-doo.

we cooled off in the pool for awhile until we all went to see madagascar 3.

it was a pretty cute movie.

later that night, the girls tried out the shirt.

they had fun spending time with their dad on father's day!