Summer Vacation(s)

We are off on our summer vacation!  It's beach time for the Fishers in Cancun.  The last time we were there, it was to attend a friend's wedding over 7 years ago.

When we get back, I get one day to unpack, wash clothes, re-pack and head off to visit my familia in CA!  So excited to see my little Benjamin and my other peeps.

The fun does not end there.  When we get back from CA, I get 1 day to unpack, do laundry and re-pack for our road trip to Branson the very next day.  It's gonna be a busy month, but I'm looking forward to it!  Yay, summertime!

A Birthday Celebration

Since Matthew's birthday falls during the summer, we either celebrate during our summer vacation or in California with my family.

This year, we kept it low key and very laid-back (read easy).  He got to invite his neighborhood friends for some jumping fun at Urban Air.  Then we went back to the house for pizza, cake and a sleepover.

Michael wasn't able to join in the on the celebration because he had a soccer practice that he couldn't miss, but at least he was able to be there for the sleepover.

Mark had lots of fun playing at Urban Air.  He wanted to hang with the big boys on the Warrior course but he was a little too young still.  He was not happy about it.  Fortunately there were other things that he could do.

Like jumping into the foam pit.

And shooting hoops. He's waiting for his turn in this picture. Fortunately, it was not crowded so he got the run of the place.

The birthday boy getting ready to run off to join his friends on the Warrior's course.

Group picture.  I tried to get Mark to participate but he was too busy playing with his frisbee. 

So, group picture without Mark.

This was pretty much what happened when I tried taking pictures with Mark.  He thinks it's hilarious to make these faces...

Pizza time!

Then cake time.  I made it easy for myself by just getting him a mini bundt cake and a variety of little bundtinis for the others.

Happy birthday, baby-cakes!

Ten

My baby turned 10 today and it kinda of snuck up on us. I can't believe he's double digits!  We are inviting some of his friends over and heading off to Urban Air for some play time and then we are coming back to the house for pizza and a sleepover.  It's gonna be a long night!

Happy birthday to you, my baby #2.  I love you to the moon and back.  I am so proud of you and your straight As this year.  We can't wait to go get you a TV!

On June 15, 2005 we were blessed with another baby boy.

He was quiet and mild mannered for the first year and was content to just sit back and watch his big brother.

When he turned two, he started to talk a little more and was as sweet as can be.  

On the third year, he got sassy!  The sweet was still there underneath, but he found his voice and boy did he share when he was not happy.  His tantrums were epic!  I will never for the rest of my life forget our battles over pants.  If his pants didn't fit right it was World War 3!

On the fourth year, we moved back to California for a short time and he had a little bit of a tough time adjusting, but eventually did.  He went to pre-school there and had lots of fun.  We discovered another little quirk in his personality - he is terrible with names.  We would ask him who he played with and instead of saying a name, he would point to his friend and say, "this guy."

When he turned five, we moved back Texas.  And he reached a huge milestone - this is the year that he got to go to Kindergarten! Not only that, he got to ride the bus with his big brother to get there.

Year six was probably his biggest year yet. We had lots of fun traveling to St. Thomas and California.

Year six also brought another big change for this little boy. He became a big brother! He was not happy at first because he was not looking forward to being the middle child.  We tried to convince him that it was so great that he will be a a big brother and a little brother.  His most memorable response was, "Well, Kow-Fu said being the middle child sucks."

And on top of that, he lost his first tooth this year.

On his seventh year, we took our first trip to Hawaii together with my parents, my brother and sister and had a blast! He went snorkeling for the first time!

This boy turned eight while we were visiting our family in California in his Texas shirt.  He loved the birthday boy button we got him.

Then year nine came in a blink of an eye.  This year, we found out the he made it into the Quest program at school.  And he got straight As for the whole year.  We are so proud of him!

I can't wait to see what year ten will bring. Happy Birthday, my little monkey.  You are one special little boy and no matter how old you get, you will be Mommy's little baby for always!

Water Park

We spent Thursday afternoon at Dove Water Park.  It was so nice because it's small and has a great shaded toddler area for Mark.  It also has a couple of slides for the two older boys. And most importantly, it was not crowded when we were there.

We picked up lunch and brought it to the water park to eat in one of the cabanas - yay shade.  Then the boys were ready to play!

He loved going down the mini waterslide.

And trying to figure out how the water table works...

The bo-bos joined him at the toddler area after they were done playing on the bigger waterslides.

Then we rested for a little bit before getting ready to head home.

We had such a fun day! I'd like to take them to Hawaiian Falls sometime this summer because they all loved the water park so much.

Swim and Soccer

My week is going to be filled with meetings with vendors for the Spirit Shop and SAGT Board.  A little background.  For next year, I am on 3 boards (EIS PTO, Dawson PSTO and SAGT).

I will be chairing the Spirit Shop Committee for EIS, the Welcome Committee for DMS and Students Programs for SAGT.  For the past couple of months, I've had a dozen our so meetings related to these things and have not had to scramble for childcare because M works from home.  Not the case this week.  In addition, Michael has soccer practice every day this week.  Yikes!

But we will find time to swim!  Mark is a little water baby!  He wants to swim any time he is awake.  And we've had no less than 2 swim-related tantrums yesterday.

He tried on my hat and liked it.

So he wore it swimming.

Which I am so happy about because he won't wear any of the hats I bought him. This will be his swim hat from now on.

Later that evening we took Michael to soccer practice on a team we may consider moving him to.  While he practiced, Mark and Matthew ate their very healthy dinner...

It was so hot and I know it's only going to get worse.

Sun and Swim

Summer time is here and we all smell like bug spray and sunscreen!  It's been such a fun weekend of swimming and more swimming.  Mark loves to be out in the pool.

On Friday, a friend invited us to her year end bash and it was awesome.  She had a bounce house trampoline, dunk tank and the game truck set up along with her pool and the soccer goal, of course.  The boys had a blast!  They didn't want to leave.

They swam, but only for a little bit because there were so many other things to do.

Mark played in the trampoline for a little while.

 There was a game of soccer.

They spent a lot of time at the dunk tank.  Everyone wanted to get dunked!

But their favorite thing at the party was this slide.  Sarah set out a hose so it was wet and fast. All three loved it, but Mark loved it most of all because he spent more than an hour on this thing.  So fun.  After a few sangrias, some of the moms also enjoyed some sliding.

We swam some more on Saturday.  They boys wanted to go to the neighborhood pool so we did for a little bit.

Then we took the boys to dinner at Cafe Italia.  They love it there.  They always order the calamari and the chicken piccata.

Michael was super sweet to me this evening.  He gave me kisses and even agreed to take a picture with me.

M took Michael to soccer practice on Sunday and the other 2 decided they wanted to go out and swim.

He loves the goggle, but he loves wearing it on his head more.  Love that cute little face.

A popsicle break...

Then later that evening, M took Mark to pick up the Gs fro the airport so I made myself this and sipped it outside while the other 2 boys watched a little soccer on our patio. Yum.

Then they wanted to swim. I told Michael that I was going to sign Matthew up for a swim team.  Michael said, "What?! he's slower than me and I'm a slow swimmer." So of course, they had to race.

Michael showing off his diving form...

I predict more swimming fun in our future!