Playing Catchup: Fishing

In July, Atticus and Vic went to stay at Lake Mathis, close to Orange Grove, where Steve and Janice have a lakehouse. This was Atticus' first fishing trip. They all had a wonderful time, especially Atticus! They went on Friday, and got up early Saturday morning to go on the boat into the lake to fish. Atticus got to drive the boat, wear his lifejacket, catch fish, swim in the lake, play with his dinosaurs on the dock, eat the fish they caught and most importantly, get lots of one-on-one attention which always means good behavior and special time with whoever he is with! Here are a few quick pictures to summarize his special weekend.

July Happenings

What a busy July we had! Here's a quick summary:

During the first week, the kids went to Camp Sonshine at Atticus' preschool. It was 4 days from 9-1:30, but I thought it would be nice to have a little mom break and good for Grace to try it out, since she will attend this fall with Atticus. They were exhausted by Thursday, but Atticus loved learning about the 4th of July and America that week. Grace, however, was the funny one on the first day. As soon as we got there and I put her Frozen backpack on her, she realized she was going to get to go to preschool that day. She was so excited to put her sippy cup and backpack in their places, just like Atticus. She was so excited that she did it at Atticus' classroom and then started to walk right into his room. The teacher knew her from seeing her all year and was so cute with her as Grace had this huge smile on when the teacher was talking to her. We got her squared away in her room, and had no tears the first day. But, every day after that she cried and cried for a couple minutes before calming down. Her teacher told me that she had a hard time wanting mommy when they would leave the classroom to go to chapel or outside, but otherwise did great. I think Grace is going to LOVE preschool this year!

Ana and Charley came into town for a little less than a week. It was so fun to do 4th of July with them and have an adult's night out to eat dinner and drink wine! We went to Cady & David's on the 4th for lunch and then after nice naps (we got to nap almost every day!), we ate chili dogs for dinner and then right before it got dark, we went to Vic's office to park and sit out to watch the George Bush Library Fireworks show. It was fun and the kids loved it. Atticus was sad when it was over and Grace just kept saying "boom boom!". On Sunday at noon, we loaded everyone up and went to the pool. The kids had fun, we had lunch at Fuzzy Taco's afterwards and then back home for naps and to get ready for a night out. We had our babysitter, Elena, come, and then we all went to Cafe Eccell to have drinks followed by dinner at Napa Flats. We basically just ate a TON of delicious food that night. On Monday, we had Kirsten come to sit, and we went to Messina Hof for a wine tour, which I had never been to before. More food, more drinks and we were home again. They stayed until Wednesday and then sadly left. One of the most fun parts of the trip was birthday presents! We hadn't seen Ana or Charley since Christmas so they saved all of our birthday gifts for in person. I got a Kendra Scott necklace!!! It's beautiful and something I would not buy for myself, so it is really special. Grace, on the other hand, got two gifts. The first was this teensy tinsey bathing suit from a Brazilian boutique that Ana shopped at. It is truly precious, but after Ana bought it, she said Charley was shocked and said they could not give Grace this suit. It is a little tiny, but still cute and while she might burn to a crisp if she wore it for long, it is perfect for playing in at the swimming pool at home. Ana was so embarrassed, but she shouldn't be - it was so funny! So, she bought Frozen sand toys as the 2nd gift! But the best part is....she taught Grace to "Strike a Pose" while they were here. And Grace will strike a pose anytime you ask her by putting her arm up and her hand on the back of her head. Funny girl! Oh and look at the adorable outfit below....it is one of my favorites ever! Melbo made it for Grace!

The next weekend, GG came in to watch kids while Vic and I took a super relaxing "us only" trip to San Antonio. Vic had meetings from Sunday to Wednesday and a hotel on the riverwalk, so when GG didn't mind keeping the kids, we decided to go. It was glorious. Vic had to sit all day in meetings, but we realized this was our first trip with just us since we had kids. We have been to Destin and to MLK weekend, but that was even to go with family or friends. Otherwise, we can't remember a time we have been with just us since before our little joys were born. So, we arrived Sunday afternoon, laid out at the pool and read, found a Mexican food restaurant to eat at, and then we came back and watched TV and relaxed in our hotel room. Sound boring? It was awesome. Over the next 3 days, we did the same. Every day, I would sleep in a little while Vic, of course, worked out and got ready for the day. I brought scrap- to do all day, while I watched Food Network and HGTV. About 4pm, Vic would be done and we would go to the pool for an hour to read and relax. Then, we would walk to dinner somewhere and then come back and watch TV until bedtime. So. Awesome. It really was fun and while I know GG was exhausted and ready for back-up (as I am each and every day at 6pm when Vic gets home), I know she had fun with them and was so thankful she kept them for us. They have so much fun with her and they love being with her!

So, we got back on Wednesday and GG decided to stay until the following Monday because Vic and Atticus were headed to Orange Grove for Atticus's first fishing trip Friday through Sunday. While they would be doing that, GG and I planned to setup the living room and scrapbook the entire time. Except for some naps and some Sonic drink outings, we did just that. It was so much fun. The funniest part was Grace staying up ALL night each night. GG and I would head to bed around 2 or 3 each morning and Grace just stayed up with us. I just knew if she stayed up that late, she would sleep late, but no. She was up 7:30 to 8:00 each morning. She just played and played with her toys all by herself or with the Iphone or Ipad the entire time. The kids are so different when they have one-on-one attention and she loved it this weekend. And I didn't even give her that much attention - she just took care of herself mostly. It was really fun! One day Grace will scrapbook with us! Oh and I didn't even get to mention that on those days after our San Antonio trip and before Atticus's fishing trip, we celebrated GG's birthday one night. By the picture, it looks like it was Atticus's birthday...he does love birthdays. And we also took the kids bowling. That turned out to be really fun. Atticus lasted the entire game, but Grace gave up about halfway through, laid down on the ground and played the Iphone for awhile. Before she did that thought, she was so funny looking for the ball as it rolled back underground and into our bowling ball holder thing (no idea what that is called!). And she was very independent to pick up her own ball to carry to bowl. She could barely carry it, and had to have help putting it up on the metal ball rolling helper thing (again no clue on my bowling terms). But, with the bumpers up, she and Atticus did a good job and had fun! GG was the hilarious one. I should first say that I am usually the worst at bowling, but I was having a random good day. GG was so funny when her ball would go straight into the gutter and I only laugh as I type this because she thought so too. Atticus helped her by putting it on the metal ball roller thing and things went better. But, it was a really fun day of bowling for the first time!

 And a few pics from our very late scrapbooking nights....Grace played, GG & I scrap booked!

I will tell you all about Atticus's fishing trip in another post. It was so fun to hear about!

GG left Monday and the following weekend, we finally had our great friends, Chris and Katherine and Olivia over - it had been so long since we had seen them! We even saw them again on Monday night. We just had a regular, relaxing weekend. The following weekend (technically the 1st in August), Steve & Janice came into town for the weekend. It, too, was fun. We had some bubbles and backyard time Friday night. On Saturday, we all ran errands then headed to Houston to Vance & Mary Meischen's house to celebrate their little grandson Colten's birthday. The entire Meischen/Hoelscher/Powell/Trackwell crew was there and it was really fun. The kids got to swim and hit a pinata and were well behaved. It was late when we got home, but the kids got to play a little more with Janny and Grandpa the next morning before they left.

We are already into August and have another busy month ahead with our camping trip (in a cabin!) next weekend and the dinosaur museum coming up for Atticus. Vic is taking a few days off as well and then we have scrap booking at the end of the month and the beginning of Sonshine School will start up. It has been a great July and we are ready for August....and then hopefully fall will hit soon and this heat will let up!