Beachin' It

This year we decided to take a week long vacation - somewhere close-by, since the littlest A gets carsick.  We headed to Galveston and rented a house on the beach with some of our closest friends, the Fawcetts!

Once we arrived, it didn't take us long to hit the beach... the kids were so excited (and let's be honest - so were we!), that we let them go fully clothed...

Anna went right for the water and had no problems getting dirty.  Here she is giving you some "cheese"...

Avery had no fear of the water, but she wasn't a huge fan of the "mud"... this is where we normally could find her - IN the water!  And yes, that would be a Hanna Andersson dress that is in the ocean:

Avery & Lily 

The view from our balcony! Minus the blue trash can, it was perfect!

And our house for the week...

So remember how I told you that Anna wasn't afraid to get dirty (again with the "CHEEEEESE")... 

Yep... good times getting these kids (and their clothes!) clean...

Luckily we got everyone cleaned up... just in time to go back for more:

We really thought that the kids would get tired of the beach, but they were so happy! Here is Avery rocking her side-ponytail.  She was very excited about her new hairstyle. :)

How jealous are you that you can't squeeze those chunky little thighs everyday???

I mean really...

Family photo attempt #892:

And sibling attempt #3,000:

Thankfully we kept trying because this is one of my favorites! 

Hi Girls!

The Mr. was determined to build a sand castle (too bad the kids were determined to destroy it - notice Anna sitting IN the hole):

Daddy built Avery a chair which she was pretty excited about:

Once again, Anna in a hole...

Evenings after our beach days were really fun too - the kids loved S'mores night!

Feeding seagulls:

And just hanging around the house...

Thinking the kids would get tired of the beach (which they surprisingly didn't), we headed into town a couple of days.  First stop -  the Moody Gardens Aquarium.  Below is the best group shot we could get, and notice their cutie little personalized beach shirts...

(Delaney, Lily, Anna (Are you seeing a pattern yet??), Avery & Devin:

The Rainforest Cafe was outing #2 - they actually had a water ride through the restaurant!  Avery was not a fan, so she's busy looking to see what the heck is going on around her:

And the gift shop was surprisingly more fun than we expected!

We even enjoyed an adult night out (thanks to our awesome sitters who drove down)!

And I'll leave you with this one... These sassy little divas are going to keep us on our toes!

We were so surprised by how much we enjoyed Galveston - so much that we plan to make this an annual trip!  We're already gearing up for next year...

July 4th Recap

Great holiday weekend at the lake house!  

Anna testing the water...

Lots of swinging (with cousins Abby & Mac):

Sweet cousins!

(Charlotte, Avery & Campbell)

Bounce House!  It was hot, so they didn't bounce long!

Chattin' with Charlotte:

The lake was super low this year, so we couldn't get the boat out.  

Thankfully the neighbors let us borrow the paddle boat!

(Kaitlen, Ava, Zane & Avery)

This year, my mom's oldest brother, Tom turned 70.  We threw a surprise fiesta for him and suckered all the little ones into dressing up...

Abby taught all of the cousins the Macarena to perform for Uncle Tom:

Kate, Luke & Anna practicing their dance moves:

Anna LOVED her Aunt Cherene!!

It got a little loud with all of the maracas!

Happy Birthday America... almost a month late... 

Beau

A couple of weekends ago, we headed to meet Jannie's horse, Beau.  Avery has always loved horses, and Jannie felt like Avery was finally old enough to go for a ride! Avery was super excited to wear her boots, and Jannie brought along a perfect purple helmet to complete her ensemble....

Anna didn't make it too far - this miniature horse stopped her in her tracks! She loved to look and point at the horses, but she had no interest in getting much closer than this...

We finally got her outside, and she thought Beau's neighbor was pretty cool too:

At last they meet... it was love at first sight:

Watching Jannie warm up Beau:

Anna loved hanging with Pops!! She thought it was really funny to make horse noises, and thankfully Pops thought it was cute too (since it happened over & over & over again)...

There they go!

Little sis' new obsession...

Avery rode for a little over an hour, and she loved every minute of it! Beau was pretty sweaty after the ride, so Avery thought he needed a bath:

Anna wanted to "help" too... more with the bucket and rags than with Beau.  And this one has no problem getting dirty (unlike her sister!!):

We had such a fun morning and are so thankful that Jannie, Pops & Beau live so close!  I think we have a cowgirl in training!

Memorial Day weekend… a couple weekends late…

Avery had her 2^nd dance recital this year and performed again at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion. This year she danced to Jimmy Buffet’s “Take Me to the Island”… naturally, since it’s a classic ballet song. ;)  We’ll skip the part about how we thought we left her dance bag at home and how we managed to forget her flowers (Jannie &; Pops to the rescue!) and instead talk about how awesome she did. Dress rehearsal was a little rough for her class, but they figured it out for the show, and Avery did great!  I know how hard it is for her to get up in front of an audience (and this one was a REALLY big one!), but she didn’t miss a beat!  Here’s my little islander (although after the lei was wrapped around her head twice, we’re not really sure what island they were going for…):

And here she is in action:

After the show, we headed to dinner to celebrate Avery’s recital, Jannie’s birthday and thank all of the grandparents for coming to watch her dance!

Here we go with all the token shots…

With Daddy:

Mommy:

Deda:

YaYa:

Jannie & Pops:

Sunday, the Pratis came over to swim (and guess who is SWIMMING!!???)!  The weather was perfect, and the kids had such a great time in the pool!  

The crew, minus the dads:

Jack, Avery & Kyle:

We headed to our neighborhood Memorial Day party for dinner, where we ate too much, drank too much and laughed too much!  I’m pretty sure that Anna ate approximately half of the watermelon all by herself. Really wish I would have had my camera – she was double fisting the watermelon all night.  Avery loved playing with the older girls – at one point, she came up to me to say, “Mommy, I’m having lots of fun with the big girls… they really like playing with me.”

Yea for holidays! 

Ariel Party!

Since Avery is into all things "princess", we had an Ariel "Under the Sea" swimming party for her 4th birthday!

We were blessed to have lots of family and
friends celebrate her birthday with us!

Happy Birthday Avie Bug!

Avery is FOUR!

So, I ended up getting the token "cheeeese!" picture...

...but I'm sticking with this one since it captures your personality... sass-a-frass:

As I sit here to reflect on this past year, I type with a big ‘ole lump in my throat. This year has brought so many changes and so many milestones – you have grown in so many ways! The change from three to four has been huge. You are officially a big girl, and you love it… you love to be the big girl, the big sister, the big helper… You have gained a tremendous amount of confidence this year. Last Friday, Daddy, Deda & I brought cupcakes to school to celebrate your birthday with your class. 

Your teacher had you stand up on a chair so that everyone could sing “Happy Birthday” to you – she asked you to be the center of attention, your worst nightmare. You had a funny little smirk on your face, and you avoided eye contact with virtually everyone, but you climbed up there, and you did it! 

The biggest shocker came during your birthday party the next day… when it was time to do cake and sing to you, you said, “Mommy! I need a chair!” 

Speaking of school, you have learned so much in your new classroom. You moved up early to the 4’s class (in January), and you have just thrived there. You are challenged at school and happy when you come home. You are working on sight words, can count to 100 by 10s (with the help of your song) and to 40 by 1s, and you are writing your upper and lowercase letters really well. You love to ask me how to spell a word in the car and write it on your little dry erase board – or you will write a bunch of letters and then ask me what it spells!

Here you are with your teacher, Ms. Mirella:

Your desire for independence has grown as well. You like to do things all by yourself and only ask for help when you get really frustrated. You are shy, but very sweet. You are very, very sensitive – you get your feelings hurt easily. You love to laugh and learn new things – we hear, “Daddy, watch this… Mommy, watch me!” all the time! And you constantly crack us up… you were recently re-telling a story, and you exclaimed, “It scared Mommy out of her Heavens!!”

You love all things music – you always have a request when we get in the car - usually “Get Me Halfway” (“Meet Me Halfway”) or Lady Gaga.  You love to dance (when no one’s watching!), and we are always surprised with how many songs you can really sing.  It’s fun listening to your version of the lyrics too. :)
You have a love of fashion – you get yourself dressed each morning for school (thank you GOD for a uniform), and you like to change into a new outfit and new shoes after we get home from school.  And I wonder why there is always so much laundry!

You are an awesome big sister. You are a big helper, and you love to show Anna new things.  We hear you say, “Anna watch sissy!” quite a bit! You and Anna always give each other a hug and a kiss before bedtime, and it never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

Here are a few more things I need to document!!

Favorite things you say:
Hangabur (Hamburger)

Favorite colors: 
Purple, blue, sparkly & rainbow

Favorite foods:
Tomatoes, grapes, chips & guacamole, spaghetti, “white” pizza (cheese), donuts & blueberry muffins… oh and of course cookies, cupcakes and cake. Still milk and water only… we’ll see how long this lasts.

Favorite TV show: 
You have a new love for Sesame Street – particularly Elmo’s World and the Flying Fairy School.

Favorite thing to do outside: 
Ride your bike, your scooter, or most recently - play volleyball!

Favorite book:
Horton Hears a Who (and yes, we have to read the WHOLE thing every night)

Favorite toys:
DINOSAURS – crazy, but this started at school! Every day when I pick you up, this is where you are… and it is at the very top of your birthday list!  
Anything princess or dolly (dolls)

I cannot believe that this day, four years ago, I was blessed with a beautiful, dark-haired, blue eyed little angel. 

We love you Avie Bug – Happy 4^th Birthday.