Having Fun Helping Others

Friday we went with Maddi's dance group to Feed My Starving Children. We've wanted to go there as a family but have never been able to go so I was so happy when the dance group organized a time to go. Not everyone from the dance company could make it, but here is the group that went.

We all had so much fun and in the hour that we packaged the food, we packed 83 boxes which is enough food for 49 children to eat for a year. They showed us pictues of children that have eaten the food and it's amazing how quickly they gain weight and get healthier. They said 18,000 children die everyday ages 5 and under from starving. Unbelievable!

This is Maddi with Emily. She was taking class at Nouveau last year but in another dance company. This year she'll be in Maddi's company and Maddi is so excited to have some younger girls. There are 2 other girls her age this year too!

Maddi got to do the chicken formula, veggies, and also the soy and rice scooping. I opened the bags and got them filled and then Cade weighed them and added or took away rice as needed. We are all looking forward to going back again.

A Bunch of Wild Animals!

I found some pictures from the backyard campout. The wild animals were jumping with glow necklaces to burn off their last bit of energy before retiring to the tents. It was a warm and humid night and I was so happy to sleep in the house in the a/c in my bed instead of the tent.

Jack has a great looking going, huh? The kids came in our house and came out with all kinds of things with lights or that light up. They found flahlights, a finger light, ear lights, a hat with a light, the light up glasses, glow sticks....The kids really enjoyed the campout but they are now plotting against the dads and want a "real" campout next year, as in not in the backyard. We'll see what comes of that.

I think we had 3 more doves/robbins this year nest above our front door this year. I lost count and can't remember if they were all doves or if there were some robbins too. This momma dove and her babies made a huge mess and they finally flew away and Brett took down the nest and cleaned it all up. I'm sure we'll have some more baby birds next spring/summer. Ugh...

They are kind of creepy how they are always staring into our house. I guess they thought we were pretty interesting.

My sweet little punkins at the zoo. I cropped Maddi out because she was giving me a grumpy face, and frankly, I'm so tired of that grumpy face this summer. She is either very sweet and happy or she's not so fun to be around. She was hot and tired of waiting for the dolphin show. It was a high of 83 that day, very little humidity and beautiful. Not to mention we were inside in the air conditioning. I told her she better hope we never move back to Texas because she will DIE in the heat. Seriously.


I bribed Maddi with a mint for a smile and here it is. She'll be 10 in October. When do the bribes for pictures end???

We all LOVED the dolphin show. Dolphins are so CUTE! Emalyn totally watched it all and got so excited when they would jump out of the water.

Little chunka watching the big kids on the playground.

A very sleepy lion yawning. Every time I see lions it reminds me why I'm so freaked out by cats. They are just really big cats and they are scarey!!!

Next stop was petting the sting rays. Maddi says she pet at least 1,000.

Cade petting the rays. We got the admission with 3 extra things. Maddi picked the dolphin show, Cade picked the sting rays and we were going to see the butterflies, but the line was too long and we had to leave so we rode the carousel. It was Emalyn's second day in a row on a carousel and she seems to love them.

Of course we had to stop at the Primate House before leaving. I love the look on this guys face!

Pitching and a Pop Fly

I found these pictures of the last baseball game of the season. It was actually a scrimmage with the boys a year younger than Cade that played on their team last year. Cade got to pitch a few times this year but I was never there when he pitched because I was taking/picking up Maddi from dance or teaching a class or something like that. I finally got to see him pitch this game and he did really well. He pitched one inning and struck out 2 batters.

The first game of the season a pop fly came to Cade and he pretty much ran away from it. Really, he let the 3rd baseman run back and try to catch it instead of Cade getting it. I'd run away from a fly ball too! Here comes a pop fly....

And he didn't run away, he got in position and he caught it!

You can see the dust coming out of the glove here. Well, Brett told Cade he'd take the whole team for ice cream if he caught a pop fly this season. So....

Here is Emalyn sleeping at McDonalds....

While the baseball team enjoys ice cream! Cade was quite proud of himself and the other boys were happy to get some ice cream. Funny thing was 2 days before at their last regular season game, the team made a double play. The coaches told them if they made a double play this season they would take them for ice cream. It was like deja vu being at McDonalds having ice cream celebrating for baseball.

Enjoying Summer

We have not been good about taking pictures since we got back from vacation. These are from the day after we got home. Emalyn started crawling at the airport and was showing us her skills when we got home. She looks so proud, doesn't she?

We didn't get any head on shots of her crawling, but here she is on all fours. She's a little crawling maniac these days and is pulling up and exploring our un-babyproofed house!

Maddi and Cade were so excited and proud of their baby sister for crawling. I say it all the time, but I'm so thankful that they love having a baby as much as they do. She's lucky too because she has them wrapped around her little fingers. If she wants something, they are right there for her and give her whatever she wants.

Emalyn has some serious baby-flex! She has fallen asleep a few times in this position. Her foot is right next to her ear! She's basically in a pike position sleeping. I see dance/gymnastics in her future if she keeps this flexibility.

Since we've been back, dance is just regular practices, baseball and swimming ended the week we got back and now the kids are just enjoying summer. One of their favorite things is their new trampoline! We got it for them for as an early birthday gift. The kids helped Brett put it together the day after we got back.

After the kids had a few minutes to jump on the trampoline it was my turn to show my mad trampoline skills. Nice action shot. I'm so low to the ground, but I think I was doing the seat drop swivels.

After all Brett's time and effort to put the thing together, he had to show his mad skills too! We were laughing at how "safe" trampoline are these days. We used to sit on the sides (no covers for the springs by the way back in the day) and our friends would try to bounce us off the side. Now you're in a "cage" and can't jump off or bounce friends off or anything. As a parent, I like it better these days, but the unsafe days were sure fun as a kid.

In other news lately:
Cade tried out for the club swim team and made it. He says he will go to practice, but he's not doing the meets. Ha ha. I think he's just nervous about it and I hope he comes around and decides he wants to be on the team because it would be so good for him over the winter. The boy is like a fish and needs his daily dose of water.

We are done cranking his expander. The orthodontist said it worked so well it's the best he's seen it work on a child in a long time. Cade was so great about making sure we cranked it morning and night. The boy loves to follow schedules and have routine in his life. The gap between his front teeth is enormous and next week he'll get braces on the front two teeth to push them together. That will make room for the side teeth to grow in and then once they're in, they'll put braces on those teeth too. He's going to look like such a big kid with braces!

Emalyn had physical therapy today and I was thrilled that the therapist said next week will be her last session. She said a few weeks ago that she still saw about a 5 degree tilt in her neck and she was still pretty tight in a few spots. This week she was much loser and she said her head tilt is gone. Yeah! I see babies all the time now out in public that seem to have torticollis and are all crazy with their head in their car seat. Brett and I were looking back at some pictures and were saying "bless her little crooked head".

We've had lots of fun lately with going to the movies, going to 6 Flags, "camping" in the backyard with neighbors, swimming, playing with friends, eating lots of popsicles and ice cream and enjoying summer time. I'll be better about taking some pictures soon, I hope!

Last Day in OBX

Our last day in the Outer Banks started with a wild horse tour for some of the group. Maddi chose to do the horse tour over parasailing and she loved it. Maddi, Zoe, and Grace were the only "kids" who went and they look like they are having a great time!


Some of the wild horses they saw...



When they got back Mike made omelets for everyone. Mike loves to cook and he even showed Maddi how to fry eggs. She made her own fried eggs a few times while we were there. After everyone had a full belly, they went for some geocacheing. I didn't go on this adventure either, but they all had a great time.

One of their geocaches lead them to the shopping we had gone to the day before. Everyone stopped for some ice cream to refuel. Cade really enjoyed his time with Grampa.

Everyone was hot and went for a swim after the geocaching.

Unfortunately, we didn't get many pictures of Emalyn with family members, because she has/had some major separation anxiety going on. She is happy as can be if we are in the room with her but if someone else tries to hold her she is not having it. She did last a little while with her Grampa before she decided she was done and wanted mommy/daddy back. Such a stinker!

I didn't put any of the pictures here, but Brett and Cade went crabbing and when they went to put the crabs back in the water, there was a rattlesnake! Creepy! We ended the night with another silly session. Maddi and Grace were posing with their silly headbands.

Some silly cousins...

The kids were trying to solve Mike's brainteasers. They actually did a pretty good job.

Grampa and Texas Grammy used Maddi and Cade in their fishing skit. Alex came up with a jeopardy game with we all had a lot of fun playing. It was a very fun week with the McDonald clan and lots of good memories were made. We left bright and early the next morning to catch our flight. It was an easy flight and we were home safe and sound. We loved the Outer Banks, and I'm sure we'll be back there again soon.

OBX Day 4- The Day of a Thousand Pictures!

Day 4 in Outer Banks had many, many pictures which took me forever to weed through, so be warned...we were going to go on a historic tour of kittyhawk and some gardens, but with such a large group, trying to make a decision is nearly impossible, and we ended up doing our own things. Maddi, Cade, and Zoe stayed with Grampa and Texas Grammy and most of the rest of us went shopping and had lunch out.

Emalyn was very happy to get some Tex Mex food and a margarita for lunch. Wait, that was her mommy that was so happy, but she was happy about something! I love her two bottom teeth in this picture.

Cousins!

Siblings!

Grace and Emalyn were very curious about this pink winged horse!

We had a great time shopping and eat lunch and returned home to find the kids had a great time with Grampa and went crabbing! The kids were poking and playing with the crabs with straws.

Those poor crabs...although they did get released back in the water before too much torture.

One of the crafts one day was window clings. They are proudly displayed on the sunroom door.

Later in the day we headed to the beach. Emalyn LOVED playing with the wristband from our neighborhood to ride the trolley. Her first beach trip was a success. The girl loved the sand and the waves!

Love this picture of the cousins.

Time to try out the water and waves. The waves were really big and fun this day and the water was nice and warm.

This is Emalyn screaming with excitement as she watched the waves coming in. Her whole body tenses and gets excited when she sees something she likes. So fun!

Ha ha. I love this picture. You can see that the waves were about to knock me and Emalyn down. I think we stayed in more shallow water after this.

I am so glad Emalyn loved the ocean so much.

I nearly lost my swim suit many times this day. The waves were so strong, but so fun!

Cade with the skim board, Becca and Grace jumping waves, and Maddi and Zoe boogie boarding. Every one was having a great time.

My and my sister in law Sara. We had a great time that day in the waves.

Maddi girl catching a wave.

Cade and Maddi both catching waves!

I think Grace was tackling Becca and choking her at this point, but Becca doesn't seem to mind. Such a wonderful Aunt!

Texas Grammy with most of the grandkids. Sara and Colleen are in the background.

Emalyn was checking out the sand on her toes.

My chunky little beach baby. She ended up getting some color this trip and you can see her tans lines in her fat rolls. LOVE IT!

The most easy going, happy baby ever!

Here comes the water....

Brother Cade putting some sand on Emma's legs. Right after this, a wave came and knocked Emalyn over. She was fine, I promise, just a little scared. It FREAKED Cade out and he started screaming "NOOOOOOOO!" He made me promise that would never happen to her again. Cade is folling in the footsteps of his "Safety Dude" Dad!

An attempt at a family beach picture.

It's hard to see, but Emalyn is still all smiles watching the waves.

After the beach and dinner, the kids still had some energy and we went for a walk.

A bunch of goof balls!

A bunch of monkeys climbing trees!

Sweet Maddi girl!

Ha ha. They didn't want Will to get out of the stroller, so they put him in the tree in his stroller.

Double Trouble. Will is Joel's payback for all his craziness in his younger days.

We wanted to run around on the green on the golf course but Brett would only let us on the edge to take a picture. Something about golf etiquette...

Girls dancing around.

Me, Maddi and Grace showing off our skills...

After the walk, it was time for some sparklers on the deck!

The safety dudes (grampa and Brett) were in charge of the fire.

Some cool pictures Brett got with is new toy, I mean camera!

It was a great way to end another great day!