Cousin Fun Day 1 & 2

Cody, Katie, Paul, Benton and Quinn stopped for a visit while making their way from Montana to Pittsburg. After they spend a few weeks in PA, they will go to Myrtle Beach. We will miss seeing them in Myrtle Beach by one day. Bummer! They will stop here again on their way back to Montana from Myrtle Beach so we look forward to seeing them again. The kids had been waiting for their cousins to get here all day. They got here after 6:30 on Friday night and as happy as we all were to see the Stanley Family, I'm sure they were just as happy to get out of the car after 3 days of driving!

Maddi and Emma were very interested in Quinn. Quinn was very interested in playing and throwing the baseball.

We had some Chicago style pizza waiting for them to eat and then it was play time outside. So sweet and cute!

Brett wanted Cody to take a look at Cade's pitching and then the kids threw the ball for a while. Cody said Cade pitches just like his Uncle Todd (something with how he releases the ball), which is funny because he looks just like him too.

While waiting for the cousins to get here, Cade filled some time making water balloons, which were a big hit.

Katie is showing off her wet shirt after Brett and her had a little war.

Daddy helped catch Cade so Maddi could attack him. After some more time outside, we called it a night and sent the kids to bed. It worked out perfect that Benton slept in Maddi's trundle because those two love to talk before bed and sleep in late in the morning. Paul slept in Cade's trundle and those two crash out quick but are up at the crack of dawn.

Saturday morning the kids played the Bean-boozled Jelly Bean game they bought at the Jelly Belly store. There are two beans of the same color and it will either be a good flavor or a nasty one. For example, the white ones were either coconut or diaper wipes, the yellow was either banana or puke, brown was chocolate or canned dog food. Look at the anticipation on their faces...

Maddi and Paul must have had a nasty one because they are spitting it out!

Maddi with the little ones talking to Cocoa. Cade had a baseball game at 10:00, so we all went to cheer for Cade. They won the game, it was the first game of the playoffs.

After baseball, it was time to cool down at the swimming pool. I wish I had taken some pictures of Emma and Quinn at the baby pool. Quinn was LOVING it!

After swimming, Brett had scheduled a little pitching practice for Cade's travel team with Cody. The boys on Cade's team all thought Cody was royalty since he played in the minor leagues. Paul got to participate at practice too and from what Brett said, it was a great practice and everyone really enjoyed it. Emma and Quinn stayed home and played in the water and Maddi and Benton spent some time making more water ballons.

Little princess who wears swimsuits all the time decided to wear a costume to play in the water. What a goofball! Actually, I was getting stuff ready for dinner and had Katie take Emma potty. After she went potty, she took Katie into the basement and showed her the bin of costumes and had Katie put this costume on her. Miss Sassafrass!

Emma has never played in the water like this, she learned from little Quinn!

More hugs!

Quinn wanted Emma to wear a hat..

...but it didn't stay on long. Seeing this hat reminds me, Brett asked Cade to play golf with him and Cade said no because he doesn't want to wear a softball hat. Ha! Brett has been trying to convince Cade that it's a golf visor and not a softball hat, I don't think he's convinced :)

Now Emma's learning to throw a football with Quinn...all while wearing her dance costume. lol

Another hug that turned into...

...a tackle!

Poor Quinn is crying and Emma isn't sure what just happened.

Apparently Emma thought it was quite funny.

Dinner time!

Quinn wanted to swing but once Cade started pushing him, he got scared. Poor baby!

Cade to the rescue!

Trampoline fun.

I'm so glad I got to see my little brother :)

These kids were going 100 miles an hour all.day.long. Where do they get the energy?

Aunt Katie and Miss Maddi. Katie kept offering to make a trade for Maddi. Benton even wanted to trade Paul for Maddi. Maddi is not available, she's a keeper for sure. I tried offering Emma for free, no trade. We never did work out a deal, so we all have our own 3 kiddos :)

We had gone to a friends and played with the water balloon launcher, so we got one for Brett for Father's Day. It was so much fun!

The balloons were going about 5 houses down the street.

The spectators.

The launchers. And then the launcher broke! It snapped on Cade as he was shooting it and it popped him, and it hurt, and that was the end of the water balloons.

Until they decided to make more...

Something was very funny here.

This was a new idea, water balloons on the trampoline.

They loved it...

...and Brett loved taking about 60 pictures of them (no lie)!

Then they decided to eat them?

It all ended with water balloon fights. Maddi's face cracks me up.

It's funny here too!

I'd say the kids had another great day together!

Emalyn Lately

This girl is a riot. I keep saying that the Kelly Clarkson song "Stronger" is her theme song. It says "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and if Emma doesn't end up killing me, I will be one seriously strong Momma. Emma really is a very sweet girl (I know you'll be reading this one day, Emalyn) and in so many ways is such an easy child. But...in some ways she really pushes my buttons and makes me crazy! That's what 2 year olds do, right? I think the biggest issue is that I am strong willed and know what I want and Emalyn is apparently a chip off the old block and is also very strong willed and knows exactly what she wants. The problem lies in when we don't want the same things :) She has a mind of her own, for sure. This is one of her outfits she came up with and insisted on wearing. She was so proud of herself. This leisure suit is one of her favorite things to wear when she has to wear clothes, not her usual leotards, costumes and swimsuits. We were going to the gym and she wanted to play on the mats so she had to wear socks. The shoes have been in my closet in a bag to donate because they don't fit anymore. Definitely not anything I'd dress her in, but sometimes I just have to go with it. I'm pretty sure I would have NEVER let Maddi out of the house looking like this. I'm also pretty sure Maddi NEVER dressed herself, she's just not opinionated like that.

She was so proud and was posing for pictures. Oh Emalyn Faith, thanks for the laughs and entertainment.

Emma is still super shy but at times she will surprise us and really come out of her shell. This mom, Megan, has been trying to talk to/play with Emma the whole baseball season (her son is on both of Cade's teams). Finally at the last regular season game after party, Emma decided to be friends with Megan and went over to talk to her and sit by her.

Emalyn loves to spend time outside and her new thing is to take her snacks and/or meals outside to eat at the little table under the swing set. I always feel so bad for her that she's out there all alone, but she keeps asking to go out there, so she must enjoy it. I can remember Maddi and Cade sitting out there together and it makes me sad that Emma doesn't have a sibling close in age to do those things with. It doesn't seem to bother her in the least, so I guess I won't let it bother me. At least she has Cocoa to hang out with.

Some other funny Emalyn things: *She loves to climb in the car and carseat by herself. One day we were driving to a baseball game and when we were almost there she said "Mommy, my's carseat isn't buckled." I realized I never buckled her in after she climbed in it. I think I need to teach her how to buckle herself!
*She is getting so independent and wants to take her lids on and off her sippy cups when we fill them up. She also loves to help Brett get dressed in the mornings if he's still home when she wakes up. She will take the lids on and off his contact case, pick out a shirt for him to wear and just talk with him as he gets dressed.
*Emma loves her schedule. She always asks me what we are doing each day (just like her big brother) and she likes to talk about the schedule of events as the day goes on. She has recently started asking me "what time?" Like if we are going to Rush Copley, she'll say "what time Mommy?". I know she doesn't understand time, but she knows it means something to her schedule.
*She always wants a pigtail in the back, probably because it's getting warmer. She used to be so good about letting me do whatever I want to her hair. This girl is taking away all of my control :(
*I love when she uses the word "sometimes". She seems to use it a lot, whether she's talking about her babies or her schedule, it comes up and it always makes me smile when she says it. She is just talking like crazy in complete sentences and full conversations. It's so cute.
*She's learned the power of "please". She loves to play doctor with Bubba and Sissy and they don't always want to play. (shocking, right?) When they say no she says "Please, please play doctor (or whatever she wants)". It's so sweet when she does this so she almost always gets what she wants.
I know there are more, but that's all my brain can think of right now. This is why I have to write these things down, but they will be forgotten forever if I don't write it down. We love you little Emma, even if I do think you're trying to kill me at times.

Father's Day 2012

I have seen so many cute things on Pinterest and when I saw this cake, I knew we had to make this for Brett. I showed it to Maddi and she really wanted to do it herself. She loves watching Cake Boss, Cupcake Wars and other shows like that, so this was right up her alley. I ended up baking the cake because Maddi was at a birthday party and then went home to play with the birthday girl for a while after the party, but Maddi did all of the decorating. She did a great job and was very proud, as she should be. Cade was really excited about the cake too, even though he didn't really do anything to help with it.

Maddi made the cake on Friday and we hid it from him until lunch time on Saturday. We decided to let him have it early because cake is always better when it's fresh :)

Brett with his 3 little ones who made him a dad (and a man, right Omie? ha).

Sunday morning, Cade had a baseball game and then we made our annual trip to Texas Roadhouse. The pictures this year didn't turn out so great, partly because of the littlest subject, partly because of the sun, and mostly because I only had my phone camera. Oh well, there's a picture with each of the kids with their eyes closed.

We had a great time celebrating Brett, who is an amazing father. He loves his children dearly and they each love him back just the same. I am so thankful that my children have such a loving and kind dad who teaches them how to treat others by his actions. Each of the kids have a special relationship with Brett and it's so fun to watch them interact. We are all very lucky to have Brett in our lives.

We ate ourselves sick of rolls and other goodness then came home and watched our wedding video. We recently had our videos transferred to dvd and thought it would be fun to show the kids parts of it. I always miss my daddy so much on Father's Day so it was a great way to see my dad and relive some memories of him. After some down time and a nap for Emalyn, we ended the day at the pool. It was a great day celebrating Daddy Brett.