Working on Landon’s 3rd birthday train party pictures… but just had to share this one in the meantime!  Love it!

The girls got free Hawaiian Falls tickets for completing their summer reading program, and Poppa came with us to share some fun in the sun! 

 

The girls worked really hard on reading this summer, so we really anticipated today.  We had a great time and did a little bit of everything!

This is my favorite set of pictures from the day.  Here are the girls waiting for Poppa…

And here he comes!  All four of us were cracking up!

Anna Kate made a friend named Skylar today!  They had fun playing in the “ocean” together!  I thought that was really neat.

Anna Kate finally faced her fears and did a water slide!

Noelle had a great time today just chillin’ and enjoying the waves!

 

Noelle tried this obstacle course/lily pad challenge.  It was super hard, but she had fun trying.  I love how Poppa is photo bombing this picture of Anna Kate, lol!

 

Sissy would wait for Noelle at the bottom of the slides, and that was just as much fun to her as going on them herself!  I just love these joyful smiles and care-free spirits! 

Poppa and Noelle really got some speed on this one… it definitely ended with a big splash!

 

Noelle ran into lots of buddies today… Zane and Noelle have grown up together, and it was so neat seeing him and his family today!  Noelle’s friend Chloe came later in the day, and they rode the waves together!

 

We were so proud of Anna Kate for doing the little water slide! When we put the pics on the TV when we got home, Rara said, “Anna Kate did that?” She was so proud of her. Yay, Anna Kate!

 

After Anna Kate faced her fears, it was Poppa and Noelle’s turn.  I thought they would get to the top and Poppa would have to walk Noelle back down, but there was no hesitation whatsoever.  She went all out and had a blast!!!  

Go Noelle and Poppa!

Shoe-ing off the bees, lol!

 

Sometimes the girls ask me to take their picture, and these are two of those pics!  🙂

You can tell everyone was having a great day!

Poppa finally talked Anna Kate into going up in the play land with him.  She was so scared of the bucket that would fill up with water and crash down over the play land.  It does make a really loud sound, but it absolutely terrified her.  Hopefully next year she can laugh it off!

 

Anna Kate finally faced her fear of the lazy river, and at the end of the day, she said, “I’m not scared of lazy rivers anymore, Mommy!”  Poppa helped her find all the “3”s on the side because that’s how deep the water is.  She thought those threes were there for her because she is 3.  He also made up a game of seeing who they could squirt along the way with the water gun, which distracted her from moving downstream.  This is a huge win for us, because now lazy rivers can truly be lazy (and relaxing)!

Bye bye scary bucket full ‘o water… see you next year!!!

We had the honor of visiting Mike’s grandmother, Inez Elizabeth, last weekend in Mineral Wells.  She is Mike’s Dad’s mother and the girls great grandmother.

These pictures radiate with joy!  Inez has not been doing well, and we really wanted the girls to get a chance to love on her!

She and Rose had a lot of fun together!  It was amazing how alert Gran Inez was this afternoon, and we were just so thankful for our special time with her!

Noelle’s middle name is Elizabeth in honor of her great-grandmother, Inez Elizabeth.  Gran Inez never took her eyes off of Noelle.  It was the sweetest thing… I could tell she was really admiring her, which was so special.

This is Mike with his sweet Gran!  What a blessed day we shared together!

*When we were driving home, Anna Kate was admiring all the pretty hills lining the road. She said, “Look how tall the world is, Noelle?” Noelle said, “Wow, the old ladies are really lucky!”

 

Payton had the cutest little puppy party last weekend.  Here’s Payton, Noelle, Anna Kate, and Avery enjoying snow cones after dinner!

 

Payton and Jackson are two very lucky little kids to have such a fun backyard!

 

Our three girls walked up to the play house just like this… so happy I was there to take this picture!  When we got to the party, each kid got to pick out a puppy from a basket to adopt, puppy treats (coco puffs), puppy vitamins (jelly beans), and a birth certificate where they wrote the puppy’s name and made the adoption official.  My girls held on to their puppies all night and have slept with them all week… such a neat idea!  Thanks Payton!

Rose loves a good cozy coupe!  If there’s one around, you know where to find Rose!

 

Anna Kate’s friend Avery played with Rose all night… it was so cute!  They truly became friends tonight!  So sweet.

 

Rose had so much fun at the party!  I love her little rosy cheeks!

I love when Mike gets to come with me to fun stuff like this (because I get to hang out with my man, of course), and because he always takes pictures that I absolutely love of the girls just enjoying life and taking it all in, from his perspective. 

 

Rose is officially a toddler!  I’m so happy for her, but she will always be our baby Rose!

I can tell she’s smiling for her Daddy in this picture!

I loved the way Gina decorated Payton’s party table!  It was really cute!

I love the way Payton is smiling at her momma while we were singing Happy Birthday to her!  We had so much fun celebrating with Payton at her puppy party!

 

Noelle had this creative idea one night to open up a lip gloss shop!  She dressed the part and applied the customer’s favorite lip gloss on them, for a monetary donation, of course!  She then wanted a picture of all her customers together, so she took this picture of us.  Mom and I were folding clothes and doing chores (so we look great, lol), but I’m posting this picture anyway because it made Noelle so proud!

Emily spent the night one night last week, and the girls had SO much fun!!!  They kept me busy for sure, but have beautiful nails and a lot of fun to show for it!

Can you tell!?!  Anna Kate slept on a sleeping bag in Noelle’s room, and they did so great!  I love all these happy girls!

 

Carson kicks off the 1st grade birthdays… I can’t believe these girls are already turning 7!  Hannah and Noelle wanted a pic inside the umbrella/mushroom even though you can’t really see them, lol!

Summer birthdays are so much fun!

I love the anticipation the kids have of singing Happy Birthday and getting a piece of birthday cake!  It’s so much fun!  Noelle’s Cheetos lips make me smile…

Noelle has made so many sweet friends this past year!  This is Kaitlyn who was in the class next door to Noelle.  These girls are all so blessed to have each other!

Happy Birthday, Miss Carson!  Oh, one quick story.  Carson invited Anna Kate too, but she couldn’t come because she was sick.  But… earlier in the week, when I told Anna Kate that Carson had invited her, she said, “Carson is the best Carson ever!!!”  It was so sweet.  I love how Noelle’s friends embrace Anna Kate when they come over to play.  At her party, Carson told me to tell Anna Kate to get well soon!  She is such a sweet and thoughtful friend!  Happy 7th Birthday, Carson!

 

I love Rose wanting to get in on the action (and Dad too)… so much fun!

 

We’ve had a blast watching the Olympics!  The girls dress up every night and do more flipping and jumping themselves than watching, lol!  Pond family fun, oh yeah!

Since last Saturday, Rose has been a very sick baby.  She’s had a low-grade fever and awful diarrhea, 5-7 times a day, even in the middle of the night.  My heart has been breaking for her all week.  Anna Kate got whatever Rose had on Tuesday, but hers was a little more serious, so we had to take her to the doctor.  She tested positive for blood in her stool, so we are still running more tests to figure out what’s going on with Anna Kate.  Our doctor is relaxed about the whole thing.  She said to keep them hydrated and wash hands constantly, so we’ve done our best with that. 

            

On a happy note, I had so much fun at Holly’s birthday dinner last weekend!  She’s always been such a special friend to me and my family, and it was neat meeting all of her friends in Grapevine and celebrating with her!  Happy Birthday, Holly!

 

We monitor YouTube watching with the girls, of course, but they love it so much!  In this picture, Noelle is watching a baby food challenge with some teenagers.  She could not stop laughing!  She looked up at me after I took this picture and said, “Teenagers are so loud!”  Noelle and Rose have such a special bond.  Rose really looks to Noelle for help and encouragement.  She trusts her like she trusts me, and it’s so neat to see my little mommy nurturing her baby sister!

 

Noelle gave Anna Kate a little lesson about a hexagon this week.  She got the yellow sponge on top of the board out of a drawer and did these diagrams all by herself.  I heard her in the kitchen using her “teaching voice” and making Anna Kate count to six, so I went to find out what she was up to…  it was awesome!  The last picture this week is compliments of Bekah sitting this close to Nolan, George W. and Laura Bush at the Rangers game.  Her stories of the night were hilarious… let’s just say she is a huge fan of the Bush family and was totally star-struck!

The girls and I have done a lot of reading this summer.  We’ve enjoyed snuggling up and getting lost in some really great books.  Our favorite was The Family Under the Bridge By: Natalie Savage Carlson but our most recent one to finish was The Cricket in Times Square By: George Selden.  On the very first page, Tucker mouse, one of the main characters, found a Lorna Doone shortbread crumb to nibble on in the subway station.  We looked up Lorna Doone cookies on the iPad to see what they looked like, and I promised the girls we’d go get Lorna Doones as a reward when we finished the book.  After each chapter, Anna Kate would ask if it was time yet, but the time finally came this week when we finished reading all 150 pages! 

The girls enjoyed the book and anticipating what the Lorna Doones would taste like.  We had fun with it… and I must admit, I did shed a few tears at the end of the book when Chester the cricket had to return to the country.  The girls were laughing at me, and I usually don’t cry at movies and things like that, but this was a really sweet little story that got me!  Maybe because we’re up against loss right now and saying good-byes.  Regardless, if you’re looking for a good, sweet read with your kids, I highly recommend this book!

Mrs. Paula had all her pre-k kids over to swim last weekend.  Anna Kate starts preschool the first day of Noelle’s school at the end of August.  She’s going two days a week and talks about it all the time!  She’s going to LOVE it so much… after Mike and I left the interview with Mrs. Paula we were both like, “Can we come too?”  It’s incredible!  Neatest place I’ve ever seen with such creative activities and positive attitudes everywhere.  I’m so excited for her!!! 

Mrs. Paula set up kid table and chairs in her back yard, and the girls loved that.  It’s all about the kids, and she knows how to add the smallest touches to make them feel so special!

Rose got sick this week (more on that later), so she and Mike stayed home while the big girls and I got to have a date.  We are enjoying summer so much and truly don’t want it to end!!!

Mrs. Paula has a creek running through her back yard behind her awesome swing set.  Her back yard is full of nature (and creatures)!  It’s a little forest right here in the middle of the big city!

We got to watch this beautiful egret search for food in the creek until it slowly flew upstream.

Anna Kate already calls this “her bridge.”  I wish I could be a fly on the wall over the next two years of her pre-k journey as her adventures unfold on this bridge!

Mrs. Paula thinks of everything!  Anna Kate is already begging to go to school!

You never know what you might find in Mrs. Paula’s back yard… and her salt water pool was a hit with the girls!  Anna Kate is so precious and content on the stairs.  I appreciate her just the way she likes it… it’s so much easier to watch her and keep her safe at this age.  She’s always been easy like that, which made our choice to have 3 really easy.

Anna Kate and Noelle were enjoying Mrs. Paula’s back yard so much!  Noelle said, “I wish I could’ve gone to a pre-school this cool!”  I said, “I do too!!!”  We just didn’t know about it.  One of my friends who has grade-school kids now mentioned this to me as an option when she saw me struggling to get all the babies in the car to go pick up Noelle from art class back in June.  I told her I didn’t have it in me to lug all that stuff up to school and back twice a week, and she told me about Mrs. Paula, her awesome warm meals for the kids, snacks, scrapbooks she gives the kids of their adventures, field trips, and how everything stays at her house… no more lugging nap mats and lunch boxes with baby in tow… we were sold!

I love watching Anna Kate make new friends!  She starts up conversation really well for a 3 year old.  She’s great!

The kids get to pick produce from Mrs. Paula’s garden for lunch… when we took our tour, the kids were familiar with lining up to try new herbs, etc.  She lets them help her grow everything and then eat it too!

She has these little wooden blocks in the play house (so simple) and she said the kids’ imaginations run wild with them.  She said they play like they are cell phones, plates… all sorts of things.  They go “puddle jumping” on rainy days, color in their journals outside on sunny days and on and on!  Do you see why Anna Kate keeps asking me if it’s time to go to school yet?

Noelle had fun meeting new friends at the swim party too… here’s her new friend, Anna.  They had a blast swimming together.  Noelle is super friendly too but more reserved (at first) than Anna Kate.  Once she gets to talking, she’s fine, but she likes for me to introduce her to new friends. 

I’m so proud of Noelle’s progress in the pool this summer.  She’s a little fish now!  Yay!

Anna Kate just fit right in and had so much fun tonight!  Mrs. Paula, on the right, is from Australia and has the most beautiful accent!  Anna Kate will hang on her every word, I’m sure!

Mrs. Paula grabbed my camera and started taking pictures when I finally convinced Anna Kate to come off the stairs and do a little kicking.  We were so proud of her… you can see that she was proud too!  The first of many new feats here with Mrs. Paula and friends!