July Outings

July 10th, Happy 5th birthday to Lexi! She woke up to a room full of balloons and a new princess bike. What more could a girl ask for?
Dad helped make her birthday cake. She requested a strawberry cake with strawberry icing, and strawberries on top, Dad made all her wishes come true.
Tasted as good as it looks!
Lexi's birthday was on a Sunday this year, so we headed off to church. She wore this princess crown the whole day, and most days since. On a side note, Matt brought these matching dresses for the girls from Vietnam, they've been a hit.
Alexis had her birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese this year. I highly recommend it as a party spot. Definitely worth the money to show up and have the whole party taken care of, and everyone had a blast.
With a July birthday she has a hard time tracking down friends in town. Luckily for us Gwen & Harry, and Bradley & Sammy were around. We missed our Williard and Evans friends, among other school friends we've lost connection with. We'll have to work on that in years to come.
Pizza and cupcakes all around!
Dad even showed up for a little bit of Chuck-E-Cheese birthday fun.
Mom and the birthday girl.
Lexi got to keep as many tickets as she could grap out of the air, that was a good time.
Lexi referred to this life sized Chuck-E balloon as 'her man' and danced with him for days until he deflated.
The city of Austin does a free concert series called Blues on the Green. There are about 10,000 people packed into Zilker park, which provides a fairly intimidating traffic scene, but a great time if you're willing to brave it.
We met up with some of Matt's work friends, it was a fun group! The blur in the back is Alexis covering up our friend Myranda's head. Can't get that girl to hold still to save her life...or take a picture.
What could have been a nice family picture...
Even if she can't pose, Lexi did a pretty good job of taking our picture.

July has been a hot month, with lots of trips to the pool. We've been enjoying every minute though!

Blog Hodgepodge

The summer is moving right along, as we are enjoying it as much as we can!

My mom and dad came to town last week for my Dad to swim in the national senior Olympics in Houston. This is my Dad rockin' his medal! It was awesome to see him swim and let my kids have a great visit with JoMama and JoPapa.

Lexi being silly at the swim meet, waiting for JoPapa to race.

While in Houston we visited the aquarium, which also has a white tiger exhibit.
Cute picture of Rikki rockin the diver gear.
Rikki, Lexi, and Brooklynn crawled under the sting ray exhibit for a better view.
Matt and Brooklynn petting the stingrays. My mom and Dad are there in the background too.
We've been hitting the jump houses to beat the late afternoon heat. I posted this picture to showcase the super cute dress Brooklynn is sporting. My super talented sister Amanda sent matching ones to my girls, and they both pull them out of their drawers as a first pick after all the laundry is clean. Thanks Amanda!! Your little girl is gonna have the best mom and be the cutest dressed little one around!

This is our new friend Rylee. Her mom and I struck up a conversation at Safari Champ, and have fast become good friends. We took a trip to the Waco Zoo a couple weeks back and the girls had a great time as always!
Another Waco Zoo picture. On a side note, my sister Rikki moved in with us in May. It has been so great having her here! She is so wonderful with my girls and it's nice having another adult around to chat with and help me out during the day. She has been working full time at Kohl's, but just had an interview at the hospital yesterday. She'll be working for a year, and then get back into school next year when she decides which medical job she is gonna go to school for.

Most nights look like this in Lexi's room. Full day of fun, and a sleepy girl!

Looking forward to Lexi's 5th birthday Sunday, her first day of school on August 23rd, Brooklynn and I getting some one-on-one time this Fall, a cruise to Cozumel with my sister in November, Christmas with the Hall's, and Matt's last semester of school starting in January. Tons to get excited about in the next 6 months.