Our Missionary Comes Home

In February 2011, our cousin Brittney left on an 18 month mission to Korea.  We loved hearing her adventures and seeing her grow.  Time has flown by and in August Brittney came home.  Her parents went to Korea to get her.  We were able to pick up her sister Ashley and surprise them at the airport when they landed in Houston.  Ashley was so excited to see her sister, it was so great.  The 7 of us got a few funny looks and questions as it was apparent from our sign, flowers, balloons and the excitement in the air that someone super important was about to arrive.  It was so fun to meet "our missionary" at baggage claim.


Luke is just excited to be part of the action



Eagerly Waiting

any minute now...

Sweet Sisters together again!



Welcome Home Brittney!!

Getting a Clue

We love our local library and always have fun at the summer reading program.  This years theme was "Get a Clue, at the Library!" and the kids got all sorts of nifty detective prizes, like this super stylish disguise.

This is the 3rd summer Michael has volunteered at the library.  Volunteering involves lots of hours of shelving books, but also being part of many of their summertime activities.  Since Michael is an "oldtimer", the librarians often ask him to be part of the activities. Normally he didn't want the rest of us around when he is working, but we couldn't resist when he was the puppeteer for a puppet show one afternoon.  And of course, we had to invite the cousins too, right?!

The highlight of the summer is always the party at the library in August.  There are games, food, bouncy houses and ice cream.  In the past Michael is usually in charge of a game but this year he was the ice cream man.  Luke was very impressed!

We love seeing friends at the party and doing all the games and activities.

Dallas

The first of August we had to do a summertime cousin swap.  Trevor and Alex had missed out on our earlier summer trip to Dallas, so we had to get another trip in before school started.  Michael drove 2/3's of the way, getting some freeway driving practice under his belt.  He did a great job...it's amazing how many more crazy drivers you notice from the passenger side of the car though :)

We got to spend a few days with my family, then Michael, Luke & I headed back to Houston while the other kids stayed and played a few more days.  So this year was not so much a swap, but letting Bob &  Cynthia "borrow" 3 more kids.  Yep, we are super nice like that! 

 

While in Dallas we did lots of swimming , playing, eating & talking, just not taking any pictures apparently. Cynthia even gave us girls new haircuts.  It was a super fun trip, never long enough! 

Double Digits!

Hayley turned 10 this summer - yikes!   I can't even believe my sweet baby girl has entered double digits now.  She is such an amazing young lady.  I love her creativity and wonderful, kind spirit.  She is a fantastic sister, especially taking such good care of Luke.  Hayley is a planner and is organized and detailed.  She loves Harry Potter, crafts, painting, and nail polish!  Just love this girl to pieces.  Of course, Hayley planned her birthday in great detail, from her favorite colored decorations, to the food and activities of the day.  Such a fun day!

Hayley requested homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, can't go wrong there!

Then we had the "other Hailey" over for a day of fun.  Hailey H. had moved to Katy earlier this summer, so it was great to get the girls back together again. Hailey gave her the perfect "Spa" present.  

After a morning at the Spa, the girls had some Chinese for lunch while watching a Harry Potter movie.

The evening festivities kicked off at 59 Diner with dinner with the Mangum gang.  Hayley and her cousin Mallory had a lot of fun sitting together. 

After dinner we headed home for presents and cake and ice cream. 

Hayley likes to look at cookbooks and had picked out an amazing cake for her birthday from Our Best Bites.  It's called the Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake, chocolate cake with chocolate mousse layered with Heath bits and topped with chocolate ganache and more Heath candy bits on the top.  Yep, it was as amazing as it sounds.  Did I mention what good taste Hayley has?!

Ice Cream is a serious business around here!

Happy 10th Birthday Hayley!!

The Power of a Number

Who knew 48 was such an important number?  Just ask Jake.  He has anxiously been trying to reach 48 inches tall for 3 years now.  48 inches is the magic height number for many exciting things for kids, including the YMCA waterslide!  Jake has been able to pass the swim test for a few years now, but alas, still wasn't allowed to go on that tempting waterslide until he reached the magic number.  So every summer he becomes a little obsessed, going through phases of stretching, drinking gallons of milk and anything else he can think of that might make him grow an inch or two. 

2012 was the long awaited summer of triumph.  Jake finally grew and by standing up very, very straight, was able to pass for 48 inches tall.  It was a momentous day as Jake climbed the big ladder, smiling as wide as can be.  He then proceeded to slide for the next hour, 20+ times in a row.  He was a little waterlogged by the end, but to quote Jake, "It was totally AWESOME!!!" 

Definitely worth the anticipated wait.

Unfortunately Jake's little shadow isn't quite 48 inches and definitely can't pass the swim test.  That didn't deter Luke from sneaking onto the closed slide one day and making almost to the top before I caught him!  I told him he couldn't go on the slide until he was 7, a number he understands. 

Guess what is Luke's new favorite number?!  

Take Me out to the Ballgame...in Style

Our good friends the Sjobloms were moving this summer and were given 4 amazing Astros tickets, right behind home plate.  They were so great and took Don & I along with them. 

We were in the Diamond level which has lots of perks, including free food! Another of the perks was the fantastic view, being right behind home plate. This meant we were on TV every time a batter was up so our kids could keep an eye on us from home...it also meant the kids (and the other 23 people in America watching the Astros this season, including Don's brother in MN!) could see us stuffing our faces with the nachos, ice cream and maybe just a few other great ballpark food...oh well! 

It was a great night, thanks so much for letting us tag along Matt & Brekke.  We miss you guys! 

July

July was such a fun month.  Matt's family came to join him for the last month of his internship at Shell & we had so much fun playing with cousins all the time.  They rented a house just a couple of miles away & it was so great. 

We started off the 7th with the annual 4th of July flag raising ceremony & breakfast at church. 
Trev & Michael's troop took care of the flag ceremony & the rest of us took care of breakfast :)

We headed over to Don's parents later with Matt's family to celebrated the 4th  together.  Hayley made our 4th of July Flag Strawberry Shortcake -so good!

Granddaddy was the favorite of the day, flagging down the ice cream truck passing their house.  Who knew those musical trucks actually contained frozen tidbits of pure joy.  The kids were in heaven. 

What would the 4th of July be without a fun water balloon fight?!!

A few days later we all got back together for a birthday dinner for me and my sister-in-law, Jen.  It is so fun to share a birthday with her. Not sure why the only picture we got was of our husbands eating our birthday cakes, but we were there too!

While Matt and Jen were here, we ate lots and lots of Blue Bell Ice Cream.  So of course, we had to take a trip up to Brenham to visit the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory together. Cousins and Blue Bell, it doesn't get much better than that!