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!

Dinosaur Videos

So, as I mentioned yesterday, Atticus is into dinosaur videos. Check out these links below...

I took this one back in January right after he got into extinct and endangered animals. I love his names he used for the dinosaurs before he learned them better....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNSsRsTD1GA&feature=youtu.be

And this is the first dinosaur video he made and he was so shy. This was in June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYFHFc1wtg0&feature=youtu.be 

And this was his video from just the other day. This first one had his little sister interrupting him....it's tough to be a big brother. Notice how I tried to bribe her at the end with a fruit snack.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO9n9ZPZ7og&feature=youtu.be

And one day we will actually complete a video, but here is one on my phone that didn't have enough memory! It's pretty similar to the other one. I was so sad it stopped filming. But, it's still a fun memory. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgaBDcvpHy0&feature=youtu.be

Atticus at 4 years (well, 4 1/4th)

I never did a post on Atticus at 4 years, but now that we are 4 years and 3 months, I'll do a quick one:

• Weight: 47.5 pounds
• Height: 42 inches
• Passed Vision/Hearing! 
• At his 4 year old shots, I felt like a mean mother. I told him he was getting shots and we talked about how good they were for him and how brave he would be and he was 100% on board and not worried at all. Well, when that first one came, he gave me the most terrified look and burst into tears! Of course, we were holding him down so he could get the other 3 and even though the nurse wanted to be fast, he is so strong, it took a few extra seconds. I felt like I'd betrayed him so much, but after a few minutes, he was much better. Everyone had said those were the worst ones and I'd decided to not talk to him about shots until the day of and be very positive. Atticus is such a sweet, trusting little boy and I felt really bad that he was so shocked at how much they hurt. :(
• At 4, his deep love is still animals, but now it includes the prehistoric kind. Yes, he still loves dinosaurs and can eat, sleep and drink them.
• Atticus' favorite past time is doing setups of dinosaurs, and sometimes still animals. A common question I get these days is "what can I do with my dinosaurs?" meaning that he needs a new place to set them up or be creative with them. 
• Another cute thing is watching him talk about and do his own dinosaur videos. On youtube, you can find lots of dinosaur documentaries, which is what he first started out loving. Then, we came across some dinosaur cartoons, but now he loves watching dinosaur toy videos. It is amazing what people do for you tube. A person will take a box of toys, and for us, dinosaur toys, and pull each one out and talk about it. That is it. They just talk about the dinosaur and what it does and set it up and then move onto the next one. He LOVES to watch these. He is constantly asking me when it will be the weekend because he is typically only allowed to watch the computer videos on the weekend. And, then a couple of months ago, he decided to do his own dinosaur videos. He sets them up and starts and then gets nervous and puts them away. I like to do them with him, because he will do the "video" a little longer. I actually also videoed him one day and if you check tomorrow's post, I will have those uploaded.
• Sometimes Atticus is a homebody. He likes to go, but he LOVES to be home and play with his toys. 
• He watched dinosaur shows for a little while (Dino Dan and Dinosaur Train), but recently likes Bubble Guppies, which is what Grace likes. It is educational too and he is always quoting something he learned from it.
• His current favorite movies are the Night at the Museum series. They are, surprisingly, very PG. And he has told us multiple times that he "weally wants to go to the museums in London and Washington, DC".
• And he loves museums. We went to a little one here in Bryan, and since then, he is a fan. We took him to a couple during our Camp Erwin trip and he enjoyed those too. Although, I'm learning that for events like that, he thrives on one-on-one attention and dinosaurs/animals to look at, as opposed to all the other cool things museums offer.
• His favorite foods are go-gurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grapes and of course chocolate, and anything with icing. 
• Daily nap days are over right now, but he still loves his sleep. He is a good sleeper and will still come into our room early in the morning to crawl into bed with us. He just doesn't want to take naps often. So, sometimes he will just have quiet time in his room and ends up just falling asleep during that time. But, he is a good sleeper. 
• He loves to talk. And ask questions. He just chats all day long, if you chat back. He is full of questions and soaks up knowledge so fast. You have to be careful what you say these days because if it is semi-made-up, he will use it as fact.
• He really wants to please and be helpful. He is so helpful these days with Grace. And, I ask him to help her with things all the time just because I like to watch how he interacts with her. They are both getting to be such good buddies and she typically listens to what he says. I also think she is proud when he wants to help her play with her. But, I will ask him to help her wash her hands or put her toys away or the other day, when my patience was at its limit, I told them to go play in their room and stay out of the kitchen. He just tells her what to do and includes her and she loves it! With washing hands the other day, he had to get her stool for her and then help her with soap, and I heard lots of big sighs and "no Gwace, like this" when he was teaching her. It's so funny because he will be so serious telling her how to do something and then Grace will start doing it wrong and giggling, and then when he realizes she is giggling, he starts to giggle and then it turns not-serious and they are just trouble together. But, he loves helping with Grace and the dishes and vacuuming and any other "jobs" I need him to do.
• I just love him so much. He is growing up. Words I would use to describe him are: sweet, thoughtful (if he thinks you are still asleep, he will never wake you), helpful, smart, a creative thinker, cautious, loving (he will ALWAYS give me a kiss and a hug), hilarious, and excited to do new things, even if he thinks them over a long time or needs help doing them at first.
• Of course, he is a 4 year old big brother who has rough days like anyone else, but I am so glad he is ours!
  
  

Grocery Carts & Suitcases

At Christmas this past year, both kids were given a grocery cart and at birthdays, both kids were given suitcases. Atticus got a dinosaur suitcase and Grace got a Minnie Mouse suitcase. I think every kid should have a grocery cart and a suitcase. These two items get used so much at our house. They put their things in them to move around the house or store every single day. I've probably mentioned before that Atticus has loved suitcases and boxes for awhile because he is always looking for something to put his dinosaurs or animals in. He loves to pack them up "for a twip" or just to pack them up to move to another part of the house for a setup. Vic even brought home a huge box from the lab a few months back and although it has been gone for awhile, Atticus keeps asking when he will bring home another one. We colored it, and both kids and lots of toys could fit inside it. It was a great box. But, any kind of container, big or small, that comes through our house, Atticus will think he can use it for dinosaurs. Grace, on the other hand, currently carries around the grocery cart, with a variety of items. Yesterday, it had her two tiny Frozen plastic dolls, her paw patrol toys, all of Doc McStuffins and her doctor supplies, and some various kitchen items and a ball. She has started to do the same as Atticus and get them all out to set them up, but she will play with them the entire time to talking to them and herself in her little language she is doing as she learns to talk. And, of course, the best part is that they can push them around the house together and race. And the suitcases are the same way.

I asked the kids to pose for a picture, and this is what Grace did. She put her little arm out to Atticus and snuggled right up to him. She loves him so much!

And here they are again a little later when Atticus told me I could take a picture with all of his dinosaurs in his grocery cart. Grace, at that moment, didn't want a picture.

But, I highly suggest anyone with kids buy them each a grocery cart and a suitcase at some point in their toddlerhood!

A Few of Grace's Favorite Things

If I was clever and took the time, I would re-write The Sound of Music's "Favorite Things" song to include Grace's. She has some fun ones right now. I thought I'd document a few before she changes them up and moves on to something else.

1. Frozen. I feel like every other little girl mom in America to talk about this, but she loves Frozen. She still loves the movie and the songs and gets excited to see Ana and Elsa in any form or fashion. She says "FiFi" for Frozen and it has become her go-to word when she wants to be a part of the conversation. We can be talking and Atticus is telling me about something or answering a question and she will look at me and say "FiFi" as if she is also answering the question and is positive the answer is Frozen. She has 2 little plastic Frozen dolls that I bought at HEB a few months back and she has been carrying them around all week. And she loves her Frozen pillow and Frozen backpack and Frozen bathtowel. She just loves that movie!

2. She loves the color purple and sometimes, the color blue. But, mostly she LOVES purple right now and can pick it out anywhere and even says it well. She also prefers only the purple hair bow each day when we choose one for her to wear. And when she finds her purple horse or purple minnie or purple ball, she will hug them.

3. Hairbows. Yes, she still needs a hairbow in her hair at all times. That is just fine with me. Today, she even had a plastic headband on and she loved it.

4. Bouncy balls. This girl might be an athlete one day. She loves balls. She likes to play with them, carry them around, throw them, kick them, etc. It doesn't even have to be a sports ball, but any ball and any size.

5. Water. She only drinks water. Occasionally, she still drinks my iced tea, but otherwise she only wants water and she wants it all day long.

6. Shoes. She loves shoes. She has loved them since the first time I took her to the shoe store to buy sandals when she first started walking. I remember thinking it was so cute that she wanted to pick them out for me to try on her that day. But, it has not changed since then. The difference in Grace and Atticus, as far as shoes, is that Atticus had one pair of boots and one pair of tennis shoes for the last 9 months. Grace, has had at least a dozen pair of shoes/boots/sandals in the same amount of time. And she gets attached to them. In the fall, I bought two pair of stride rite - one pink and one gold. She just wouldn't give up on those gold ones a couple months ago even though they were too small and stinky and old. She wanted them every time it was time to wear shoes. She has slowly moved onto other pairs, but even putting her in a new pair is not easy. If she has not worn them before, I have to convince her to try them by asking her to run in them and show me how fast she is. Then, she decides they are OK. But, sometimes it takes a couple of times to even get to that point. And she also loves to find my shoes for me to put on or bring me her shoes to put on her even when we are just in the house. She loves shoes. Or boots. Or rubber boots. Or house shoes. The other cute thing is that typically when we come home from being out during the day, I will tell the kids to wash their hands and take off their shoes. She immediately sits down and lets Atticus take her shoes off for her. It is super cute to see her big brother helping her out. Oh and her first real word was also "shoes" (apart from mama or daddy).

7. Her pink tractor. She got this cute little plastic riding tractor at Christmas from the Jostes' and she loves it. She just rides it around the house all the time or sits on it to play or watch tv or pretend in the playroom. She loves it.

8. Singing and dancing. She LOVES to dance when she hears music on TV. She has recently gotten into Bubble Guppies for her cartoon and they do a lot of singing. She will come find me to join her to dance. She twirls and bounces but my favorite is that big smile with her hands in the air and one finger pointed up on each hand. She just boogies!

I"ll stop there but I just think it is so much fun to see her personality develop more and more!

Camp Erwin

I decided back in the early spring that I really wanted to take the kids to Sanger during Vic's busy week of working on the budget at work. So, the day after we got back from Fredericksburg, we re-packed and drove to Sanger - just me and the kids - for Camp Erwin. I will let the pictures explain our trip!

 Grace found her horse when we arrived. Mom got this at a garage sale maybe? It did not belong to any of us kids, but Grace loves it!

 We finally got to see Daddy's motorcycle. Grace was on and off of it constantly throughout the trip.

 One of the best things about going to Grandma and Pop's house is that they get to play with all of their toys! Most of these are from when we were growing up and some from when Pop was little.

 Among so many things we did that first night, we played on Pop and put stickers on his face.

 We made clay animals with Grandma.

 We played with little wooden buildings that Grandma had from her craft show days.

 On Tuesday morning, the 5 of us loaded up and went to the Fort Worth Zoo. Grace had kind of a cranky day. But, pictures must continue!

 I did enjoy pulling her hair back into pigtails and use the little plastic hair clips that Molly and I wore when we were little!

 This zoo had LOTS of animals - I decided my favorites were the hippos and the flamingos!

 Finally a smile on camera from Grace - she was just having a 2 year old kind of day. But, it was a great, hot, fun, day!

On Wednesday, we lounged around the house and then went into town with Pop. We ate lunch at "Chicken-Filet" and Pop bought new pink boots for Grace while GG bought new rubber boots for both kids.

 When we got home, we put on those new rubber boots to finally go out to see the goats. It had been raining for weeks prior to our trip, in Sanger and all of the North Texas area. So, when we arrived on Monday, Pop told the kid we needed to wait a couple of days so the ground could dry up before we played with the goats. Otherwise, we were afraid the kids would just sink right into that mud. On Wednesday afternoon, we finally got into the goat pen. It started out well for Grace, but she didn't last long. As soon as I wouldn't pick her up for something, she just got mad and couldn't get over it all night. Atticus, on the other hand, was very glad to be able to walk in the mud and try to catch the goats and play in the goat pen.

 

 While Grace and I went inside to work on dinner, Atticus and Pop headed out to what eventually Atticus called "My Ditch" to play. Pop said he was very leery at first of the water and mud and not sure about walking in it. But, slowly, Atticus got braver and braver to get into that water. When Grandma got home, Atticus wanted her to go with him, so he ran to the house to get her mud boots and brought them to her to join him. He LOVED playing in that water. Grandma, was a little nervous, one or both of them, would fall right in! By the end, Atticus had water in his boots and water on his rear (from squatting to check out the bugs and look for tadpoles), but he was loving this little adventure!

"Come on Grandma; just come in the water."

 The next day, we drove to GG's house to pick her up and met Ana in Frisco at a park that she told us "makes her want to be a kid again!" for lunch and playing. It was a great park, but boy was it hot! I felt so bad for Ana who was dressed so cute and had to go back to work after her long lunch. But, the kids played and played and had it been 20 degrees cooler, we could have stayed a long time! There was lots to do on this playground! Instead, after we left, we shopped until we dropped at a few stores in Frisco - like the amazing JoAnn's fabric and Mardel's! And then headed back home.

 That evening, Atticus spent the night with GG, while Grace and I came home to Grandma and Pop's house. Boy did Grace love having one-on-one time with us that night. So, earlier in the week, Grandma colored with Grace and Atticus. Grace had her little tiny notepad and her colors and throughout the week, she would spend time coloring. On this night, she and Grandma colored together at the table. She would also end up asking Grandma to draw things and would watch her. Her most requested item to draw? A squirrel. This is Grace's favorite animal right now. I'll have to blog that later on. And if Grandma took a break from coloring, Grace would say "Cuh-Cuh" instructing Grandma to get back to work!

 Her other hilarious moment that night was at the kitchen table eating dinner. Earlier in the day, we somehow got onto a game in the car called "where's Grace?" or "where's Atticus?" and they would close their eyes so tight until we "found them" or until they gave up and said "boo!". Keep in mind that playing a game like this in the car is not too tough; they are strapped into their carseats! But, what was funny was Grace's face! She would scrunch it up so tight! So, we played that game again while we were eating dinner. Her faces are above! That silly girl!

 

After we colored and ate dinner, we headed back outside to play on the shop porch, the flatbed trailer and chased bubbles. Grace was eating up this night of having all the attention to herself. We ended with a bath in the bathtub and a little Frozen before she was too exhausted to do anything else. And I just want to note that sometimes, we don't have to entertain the kids with anything expensive or creative - they LOVE to just play outside on all of the things that we do not have at our house. They love to explore and see what there is outside. 

 On Friday, Grace and I picked up GG and Atticus from GG's house and drove into Fort Worth to go to the Museum of Science and History. From early on, Atticus was in a tired mood. The museum was really good although it had some parts that were for older kids and not a lot in the animal/dinosaur exhibit, although the dinosaur exhibit was pretty neat. Atticus just kept looking for more that was similar to the little Brazos Valley museum in Bryan that we went to recently that has lots of stuffed animals and bones. But, this museum was also very good, but will be even better as the kids get older. The only picture I got was Grace above playing in the dinosaur dig. Poor Atticus - I thought we were doing a good job of keeping busy and giving the kids down time, but lack of sleep catches up to everyone after awhile. I was frustrated with him, but also sad for him.

 After we dropped GG off, we went back to Grandma and Pop's to rest until GG came to babysit the kids while Mom, Daddy & I went to Flower Mound to meet Ana and Charley for dinner at Jake's Burgers. The food was good and the beer and margaritas were cold. After dinner, I really wanted to extend the night a little...I mean - no kids! So, we went to this little dive bar called Daddy Rabbit's and played a little pool while listening to some really good and some really bad karaoke-rs sing. They played some "You don't have to call me Darlin', Darlin!" and mom played some serious pool, after lots of practice on her Ipad. It was a really great evening and the only thing that would have made it better was having Vic with us. :( We missed him!

On Saturday morning, Grandma watched the Grace while Pop took Atticus to Melbo & Pa's house while I went with GG and Rita to this fabulous scrapbook store that I have heard about for a long time, but not gotten to go to yet! And, it was great! It was called the Little Blue House and this sign above was too cute! It describes mine and GG's lives, when we are together! It was a lot of fun and I found way too many cute things to get to scrapbook with! Also, while we were there, Atticus was spending time with Melbo at her house playing on the Ipad but also searching outside for Bubba and eating lunch and visiting with Melbo. I was really glad he got to do this while he was there, because many times we get so busy, the kids don't get a lot of one-on-one time with everyone. And I loved that he got to also spend time with Pop driving over and back to the house. Atticus is in a stage of 437 questions everyday and as tiresome as it can get to answer over and over, it can be very fun to hear his little brain come up with questions and conversations!

On Saturday afternoon after Grace woke up, she decided to play on the piano for a little while. This piano came from our Memaw's house - who just passed away in February. Both kids love to play their toy instruments, so playing on the piano is lots of fun.

 Grace is instructing me to "sit!".

 Then Atticus woke up and joined us.

Lots of fingers playing on the piano!

 Then we headed over to Melbo & Pa's house to meet up with almost everyone. Ana and Charley couldn't make it that night. But, we did get to see Molly! We came to celebrate Daddy's 62nd birthday coming up the next week. Melbo had a puzzle out - she is the queen of puzzles. We worked on it for awhile - even Atticus helped. Pop had smoked some chicken and pork and GG made the sides and desserts. I did a lot of nothing, except work on the puzzle and eat that delicious food!

 Pop let Atticus help blow out the candle, which he loves to do!

I love this picture of Melbo and Atticus - she was trying to help him eat all of his green beans, (her favorite vegetable), so he could have dessert! What a kind Melbo she is!

On Sunday morning, we worked some of the goats so the kids got to play. Atticus was very invested in petting them and being gentle with them. Grace really wanted to feed them, but by the time she got feed in her little hands and got to the goat, there wasn't much left

Pop's plum trees are making lots of fruit this summer so he and Atticus picked a few.

They made another trip to the ditch after playing with the goats for awhile. But, this time, Grandma gave them buckets. Atticus really loved playing in "his ditch" and Grace did too, until her hand got dirty.

The fruits of Pop's plum tree labor.

On Sunday afternoon, the kids and I headed to Lewisville to see Ana and Charley. Their apartment complex was having a big swim party so we swam and played and ate food truck food for dinner. The kids had so much fun and after we played "don't you do that.....", Atticus would get brave and walk to different parts of the pool or put his head under water until he was really comfortable in the shallow end.

On Monday morning, we went to visit Stormy & Tabatha and Adley. Tabatha fed them lunch, they played with Adley's toys and then the best thing happened. Stormy and Tabatha were having a big load of gravel delivered to their house. So, Atticus and Adley played on the gravel mound until they were hot and tired. It was really good to see the McCuistions, even if just for a little while.

We headed to Melbo and GG's for a little while to visit, since we were leaving town the next day. Atticus and Grace played on the Ipad and IPhone for a little while.

And we did normal things you get to do at Melbo and Pa and GG's house: show Melbo our boo-boo's, play with Bubba the cat and check out Pa's shop. And while Atticus has always liked Bubba, Grace LOVES him. Bubba is pretty patient with the kids, although he would rather be taking a nap somewhere. Grace wanted to be around him the whole time and pet him and give him her sippy cup or watch him eat. She loves that cat. And I also got to not only visit with Melbo, but even got a picture of her smiling!! She smiles a lot, but rarely when I ask her to pose for a picture.

Then, we headed back to the house for our last night at Grandma and Pop's. So, after dinner, we had one more night to play with the goats. I have too many pictures, but I love love love these memories.

Snip needs a lot of attention...

I love the picture above and below because it's funny to see my kids standing in one of the same barns that I had lots and lots of goats in over the years.

And, sometimes when you have to go, you have to go. I love being in the country. My friend Jenna always said she wanted to live "where you could pee off your front porch" and nobody would see. One day, I hope we live in that place too.

On Tuesday, we loaded up to head home. But, first, we stopped at GG's house to let Atticus ride with her, and the 4 of us stopped at the Perot Museum in Dallas before we headed home. It was a really good museum. Lots to see and a great dinosaur and animal exhibit. It also had a great children's museum. The kids were tired this day, but they did good and I would take them back to the museum again.

Then, we finally got home. It was the best vacation, even though Vic couldn't be there. The kids were so well behaved, despite the fact that we never stopped going. But, also with all of our activities, I still felt like we got downtime to just hang out and visit. It was the perfect trip. I look forward to a week at Camp Erwin every summer!