Summer Days

The trampoline and the water hose.....

Is there anything more fun?

Chicka Wow Wow

Korley has her own little language. She mispronounces a lot of words, but don't try to argue with her that she's saying it incorrectly--you'll never win. (See "twisty spinny")

Lately, she has been watching a couple of movies that she has retitled and unless you know what she's asking for, you will never figure it out.

She refers to "Alvin and the Chipmunks" as "Chicka Wow Wow". There is one line in that entire movie where one of the chipmunks says, "bow chicka wow wow"--so, it only makes sense to her that this is what the movie's called.

Also, she likes "The Jungle Book". However, she calls this "Hey There, Secily". Secily is our dear friends' little girl and Korley thinks instead of singing "Bare Necessities" that Baloo is singing directly to Secily.

Ah, three-year-olds--so much fun!

A Week's Worth of Stuff!

I'm long overdue for a post. I got back to Lubbock Sunday after being in the Metroplex for over a week.

Again, I'll tell most of it through pictures--and warning, if pictures aren't your thing, skip this post--there are a lot of them!!

Last weekend was supposed to be my 15 year high school reunion. Unfortunately, it flopped and was cancelled, but we did get together with two of my favorite Wylie Bulldogs, Ryan and Tim.


Actually, Tim is a youngin and graduated a year behind me. So, here is the official class of '94 reunion pic. (We're doing the Wylie "W" sign--it's like a gang)


For our "reunion", the guys went and played golf and the girls went for mani/pedis and to see "The Proposal". Then, we all met up and went to dinner at Joe T Garcia's. We had a great time!




Jeff had to go back to Lubbock the day after the "reunion" and I stayed in the Metroplex with the girls. Our 9th wedding anniversary was on July 1. We had to celebrate apart. :(

I stayed in Dallas because Landry had horse camp all of last week. Landry loves horse camp and loves getting to be among the horses and barn animals for a week. (side note.....I don't get it)

Anyway, her "rodeo" was on Friday. Jeff had come back into town at this point and we all went out to watch her ride in the rodeo.

Korley was there......and was hot.

Daddy was there....and was hot.

PopPop was there......and was hot.

Brady was there......and was hot.

Gigi was there......and was hot.

Korley enjoyed playing with the goat.....who was also hot.

And, she enjoyed playing with this little boy......who is explaining to Korley how hot he is.

Here is Landry riding Jett. True story--Landry is not hot. Seriously, I don't know how the child stayed out in the Frisco heat all day, every day, but she did and didn't complain about it at all.

The day after camp was the Fourth of July. (another side note--wouldn't it be nice to move the fourth of July to a less hot day? Say the fourth of May? Then we could have the fourth of May and Cinco de Mayo back-to-back? Let's start a petition!)

Anyway, Landry had spent the night with an old neighbor friend the night before, so it was just Jeff, Korley and I together on the morning of the fourth. We went to the parade in my in-law's neighborhood. I was expecting a small little parade with a bunch of kids riding their bikes, but it was actually a really neat and fun parade!

Then, after the parade, the country club across the street had bounce houses, a band, and a bunch of family friendly stuff to do so we went to the party for a while.

That afternoon, we went to Glenn and Jonnie's house, who is Jeff's brother and sister-in-law. Unfortunately, I have no pics (shame on me!), but we had a blast swimming at their house and grilling GREAT food!

The evening of the fourth, we went to the Anderson's house and then on to watch the fireworks in Frisco. We were so happy we got to see them on this trip, even though it wasn't near long enough!

Jake and Korley sang "Jesus Loves Me" together. So adorable and funny.

We spent a lot of time waiting on the firework show to start.

The kids waited patiently for a while....

And then created their own entertainment.

Then, Jeff showed them how to do the "robot".

Then, Landry showed us how it's really done

Then, Jake showed us how to breakdance. He's got some sic moves.

And, Korley was clearly unimpressed by all of this.

LESLIE!!! HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY!!!

Today is Leslie's 30th birthday!

Leslie is my dear blog friend, whom I have met a couple of times, but knew her long before via blog.

Here's what I love about blogging......

One day a long time ago when I first started blogging, I was bored (and may or may not have been at work) and was looking for an interesting blog to read. That's when I stumbled across Leslie's. Her post for that day had something to do with "Alias", and I knew that we must have been kindred spirits. I heart Alias. She hearted Alias, too.

Anyway, I started reading her blog and vice-versa.

Then, like a year later, my sister who had no idea who Leslie was began working with Leslie at ACU and they became friends. (However, Linds, she was MY friend first!) I met Leslie in person for the first time when I visited my sister in Abilene. Landry and Kaitlyn also got to meet and have a play date. They were fast friends and Landry even called Kaitlyn on her next birthday to wish her a happy birthday.

Don't you just love the coincidences of blog world?

Leslie's super thoughtful husband, James, planned a fun idea for her. He sneakily got a hold of all of the blog owners in Leslie's RSS feed and asked if they would participate in dedicating a post on Leslie's birthday to her so that when she logged into Google Reader for the day she would see a number of posts dedicated to her. What a fun idea--I was so happy to participate!

So Leslie, have a WONDERFUL 30th BIRTHDAY!!!

HAPPY 4th!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

I have so much to post, but no time. It will have to wait until Monday!

Have a great Independence Day!

Trifecta

What a week.....

Ed McMahon. Farrah Fawcett. Michael Jackson.

Ed McMahon. I suppose after watching the tributes about him this past week, he was most revered for being Johnny Carson's sidekick. I will always remember him as the man who was supposed to bring me my Publishers Clearing House winnings.

Farrah Fawcett. I was still a small child during the Charlie's Angels days. By the time I was old enough to "know" Farrah, her acting career was pretty much over. I knew her as an "old lady" (now that I'm as old as I am, I realize she wasn't that old!) that posed in Playboy, and a nut that made a fool of herself on Letterman.

However, out of sheer boredom about a month ago, I watched her cancer documentary. I'm glad I did. Not only did my perspective about her change, but my insight to dealing with cancer changed. I have had many family members lose their life to cancer, but I have never seen the horrific pain, sickness, and agony that the patient goes through like was shown in her documentary. I have a whole new respect for those fighting cancer.

My opinion of her as a person also changed. Instead of appearing like the loon she was on Letterman, she was eloquent and articulate. The journal entries she read gave an insight into what her personal struggle was with cancer. I also boo-hooed like a baby when her son came to see her for the last time. If any of you saw it, you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't see it, I can't explain it.

The other thing I learned from the documentary......Jaclyn Smith at any age is incredible stunning.

Michael Jackson. This, of course, was the most shocking death of the week. Say what you will about Michael Jackson--we all know he had some serious issues, especially in the last 15 years or so. But, probably like a lot of people my age, when I think about MJ, I think about Thriller. I think about the silver sequined glove and socks.

Thriller was my very first cassette tape. I think I was in 3rd grade when I got that tape. We didn't even have a cassette tape player in our house. My parents had to get an 8-track adapter to even play the cassette. I have no idea how much a cassette cost back in the early 80s, but I guarantee you we got our money's worth times 1000 out of that tape. For what seemed like years, I remember everytime we got in our black Ford conversion van (complete with mini-blinds, velvet drapes, and plush shag carpet) we would tell our dad to "punch in the tape and rewind it". And then we'd anxiously await for the first two low-note synthesized beats to "Beat It".

Good memories....

Father's Day

I realize I'm a few days late in posting about Father's Day, but what else is new?!?



We did have a really good Father's Day weekend. Last weekend at the Science Spectrum was "Critterfest". They had all kinds of zoo-type animals on exhibition there, which was right up Landry's alley, so Jeff took the girls. I guess this is the only time people in Lubbock get to see any animals other than horses, cows and prairie dogs because it was PACKED with visitors! But, the girls did have a great time and got to see a tiger nearly maul his trainer, which disturbingly entertained Jeff.



We went BACK to the Science Spectrum on Saturday so the girls could ride the elephants, camels and ponies. They didn't have time to do it when they were there Friday, so we took them back Saturday to strictly ride the animals. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, but it was a cool experience for them--particularly Landry.



After church on Sunday, we spent the remainder of the day at the pool. It was a perfect pool day and we enjoyed every minute of it!



Landry, Korley and I are so blessed to have Jeff in our lives. He is such a fun and loving daddy to the girls!




Happy Birthday to our other favorite dads in our lives.

My dad....PopPop.

Jeff's dad....Paw Paw.

Twisty-Spinny

As I was getting Korley ready for school this morning, she told me that she wanted a "twisty-spinny".

Huh?

I've never heard her use this phrase before and I didn't know what she meant.

However, if you know my daughter at all, if she asks for something and you're not sure what it is, you BETTER find out! She's not going to let it go.

I'm wracking my brain....

twisty-spinny, twisty-spinny.....

Do you want a pretzel?

Nooooooooo!!!! TWIS-TEEEEEE-SPINNNN-EEEEE.

Okay.

Aha. Maybe she wants to play. So, I pick her up and spin her around.

This only adds to the level of her frustration.

And mine.

Then, she starts pulling at her hair and saying she wants a twisty-spinny.

Me: Oh. Do you want me to braid your hair?

Korley: Yes. A twisty-spinny.

Phew! Crisis averted.

Team Edwards Hall

Have I ever mentioned that I was the black sheep of the family?

Probably in more ways than one, but what I'm referring to is college.

My mom, dad, brother, and sister all went to Abilene Christian University.

Me? I was a rebel. By the time I turned 18, I was ready to leave Abilene and spread my wings. I was ready to venture far from home, to see other parts of the country--which is why I chose to go all the way up north to Lubbock. :)

Anyway, since I grew up in Abilene, ACU was definitely a part of my childhood. We always attended football games, basketball games, Sing Song, etc. I also went to many ACU summer camps, which I have very fond memories of.

So, when the opportunity presented itself for Landry to get to go to an ACU camp, I was more than thrilled for her to go!

This past week she went to the Kidquest camp and had a GREAT time! My sister, Lindsay, was gracious enough to let Landry stay with her and get her to and from camp every day.

Anytime I ask Landry what her favorite part about camp was, she says, "Everything!!!" I'm so glad she had a great experience.

Lindsay and Landry took their picture in front of the Edwards Hall dorm. Landry's representing the Edwards and Lindsay's representing the Hall. :) (For those of you who are furrowing your eyebrows in confusion, Hall is my maiden name.)

Landry asked us tonight if she could go to ACU for college. Sure!! But, Jeff and I should have started saving for her college before we even met each other!!

Jeff, Korley and I went to Abilene last night so we could be there today for the camp's closing ceremonies and to pick Landry up.

Fortunately, we were able to squeeze in a trip to Cajun Cones....mmmmm, so good!!!

Beware of the lemon line and green apple flavors......

Landry singing one of the songs she learned this week at camp.

Landry had told Lindsay earlier this week that the "Willie the Wildcat" looked different than the one she had seen before. This is Willie, circa 1985ish with Lindsay. They have this picture hanging in the campus center. As far as I know, the wildcat still looks something like this.

Apparently, they don't let the camp use the "real" Willie costume, but (open air finger quotes) Willie the Wildcat (close air finger quotes) made an appearance at the closing ceremonies......

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of him, but he was pretty much facing the kids the whole time.

Wouldn't it have been more cost-effective to let the camp use the real Willie costume than to reincarnate John Candy and put him back in his Barf costume?

Plethora of Pictures

Little chit-chat, lots of pics......

Last week we were in Austin with our friends, the Andersons. We had a blast together and the kids got along great!

We did a lot of swimming.....




We went to San Antonio one day to go to Sea World. It was stinkin' HOT!! But, most Texas schools weren't out yet, so it was a nice day to go as far as the crowds were concerned. (FYI, my kids DID have shorts, but they got wet before this picture was taken and they were drying out on top of the stoller.)




This is a pic of Landry when she was 3 and we took her to Sea World for the first time. This was her reaction to seeing the dolphin show.


Cut to 4 years later. Here's Korley's reaction.....slightly less enthused.


On Thursday, we left Austin and the girls and I went to Arlington to Pop Pop and Gigi's. Jeff had to go back to Lubbock to work.

Korley spent some time blowing bubbles.....



Man, that kid's cute!


Landry spent some time playing with Lulu's dog, Norm. Baxter is smaller than Norm's whole head.


Korley got to go swimming with Uncle Buzzy.....


On Saturday, we went to the FW Stockyards. The girls and I had never gone down there before to see the cattle drive, and we thought it would be a fun Saturday outing.

The girls got to ride about $7.75 worth of fake horses......

and a real horse (ok, pony), too!

And, to round out the theme, Landry got a new horse costume.

Blogiversary!!

Today marks four years to the day that I started this little blog!

I don't really know how long I planned on blogging, but I never dreamed I'd still be blogging after four years!

Anyway, happy blogiversary to me!

We've had a really busy week. We've been in Austin on vacation with our friends, the Andersons, all week. We've had a lot of fun--done a lot of swimming and went to Sea World yesterday.

More about all of that later when I get back home and have more time to blog.

But, I'll leave you with a pic of the crew.....

The two big ones are golden--never a peep out of them or problem to be had. Not even a minor argument between the two.

The two little ones? Watch out.....

Let's just say that there were moments that the big ones were tattling because the little ones were ganging up on them and "being mean".

Yes, they might have sweet faces, but these two are t-r-o-u-b-l-e! :)