Sidewalk Chalk

July 4th

Poor Will was sick on the 4th of July so we didn't really do much to celebrate this year. The only time we left the house was to take Will to the doctor. He had 102.5 fever and complained of a sore throat so I wanted to make sure he didn't have strep. The test came back negative so it was just a virus. It just lasted a few days and thankfully he's all better now :) Aubrey still wanted to wear her red, white & blue and make the flag cake that we had talked about. We made the most of it, had a fun day and are so thankful to live in this country!

VBS

Aubrey loved every minute of her week at Vacation Bible School in June. This one was located at the church where she attended preschool for the last two years so she was very comfortable there. She also had three girls from her preschool class in her same VBS group. We've been listening to the CD in the car for the last couple weeks and I think our whole family has all the songs and hand motions memorized...

Dallas

Me and the kids spent our second week in Texas visiting my family in Dallas. Robert had to fly back to VA to get back to work. I was glad we got to spend more time with family and see a few friends...

We met up with one of my bffs, Amy, from high school at the mall. The kids had some some playtime in the play area and then we headed to the food court for lunch. Will, Aubrey & Noah playing iphone games together.Aubrey & Will posing at the mall.

We went to this fun sprinkler park by my grandmother's house a couple times.

Another trip to a different mall. The kids each picked out an animal from Build a Bear, Aubrey got a unicorn with a rainbow fairy dress and Will got a puppy with boxers and a Baylor t-shirt. Aubrey named her horse "Penelope Pony" and Will's is "Pal Ruffy. " We also checked out the cute turtles and ducks swimming around.

We stopped by Jenny's house for coffee one morning. We got to see cute Emma who is 14 months old now. I also had a night out with Jenny & Jessica one night after the kids were asleep :) So fun to visit with my college friends.

Amy, Carole with Charlotte, me and Laura -- 3 best friends from high school. All of our families got together for dinner at James & Carole's one night. Read Carole's post about our visit here. I love these girls!

Aubrey loved getting to hold baby Charlotte!

Will and Aubrey were showing my grandmother a game on the iphone. Will became a little obsessed with the phone on this trip. We let him play with it on the airplane and on our road trips, so he kept finding it in my purse throughout our trip... Since we've been back, I've been hiding it from him to break the addiction

We saw my cousin Amy and her family at my grandma's one day. My aunt and uncle cooked out and we were all entertained by watching the kids play. Here's Will watching a little Thomas the Train with Cooper.

We were glad to have at least a short visit with Aunt Ashlee & Uncle Aaron , especially to meet adorable baby Zoee for the first time.

Me with Ashlee & Zoee at Carole's house.

Aubrey with her sweet cousin, McKellee.

Aubrey (with a pony on her head) and my grandmother.

Aubrey & Uncle Tim.

I can't believe this is the only picture I got of my sister! She and Aubrey were doing some yoga together.

Grandma, Aubrey and Nana out at dinner one night.

Thanks for a great visit everyone! Aubrey & Will are still talking about all the fun they had on our Texas trip.

Austin

We only had about a day and a half stop in Austin, on our way back to Dallas. We drove into town on Saturday afternoon and were able to meet up with the Connells, who had just gotten back from a 1.5 year stay in China! We had a delicious dinner at Chuy's and got our Tex-Mex fix -- it was great to catch up with Tommy & Ruth and let the kids play. We also got to drive by and see their awesome new house! After that, we headed up to Round Rock to spend the night at my friend Felicia's house. Aubrey and Kendra were so excited to sleep in the same room and use Kendra's trundle bed for the first time. There was lots of giggling and talking until about 10:30 when they finally fell asleep! Sunday morning, we got to go to our old church and see the new building. It was wonderful to be back and it just felt like home... We got to have another quick lunch with the Connells at Texadelphia and then headed over to visit some good friends & almost daily park buddies from our last house -- Aubrey & Will loved seeing the girls and we got to meet baby Trevor for the first time! We also drove through our old neighborhood and showed the kids our previous house. Luckily, our next door neighbors were home and the kids played together in the playroom for a while while we caught up. Sunday night, we stayed with the Ellistons in their rental house. It was so nice for them to let us stay with them, considering the fact that they were just about 2 weeks away from a big move to Dallas. The kids loved playing and swimming with Caroline. Monday morning, we made the drive back to Dallas for a few more quick visits before Robert's flight back to VA. We would have loved to see many more friends in Austin, so we hope to make another visit around Christmas. We love you and miss you Austin, Texas!

Houston, part 2

We got to spend a wonderful day with Gigi in Katy! The kids loved swimming in her pool and both took several rides on the dolphin floats she got for them. They also made great friends with Gigi's pets -- Miss Kitty and the two dogs, Max & Peanut. We had a delicious lunch, the kids colored, played and had a ball!

I don't get too many pictures of both kids smiling, too bad the lighting is a little funny here.

Gigi had some cute animal cups for the kids and Will called his "Monkey juice."

Aubrey's sweet dolphin ride. She also found a real frog swimming in the pool and thought that was the coolest thing ever.

"Peanut" was very interested in what the kids were doing all day.

Every time we go to Gigi's, Aubrey likes to find the big gorilla that was her Aunt Shannon's.

Gorilla, Gigi, Peanut & Aubrey.

Surprise, surprise. Another one of Will making a funny face...

Gigi was headed out of town and we were only in Houston for three days, so we didn't get nearly long enough of a visit. We are all looking forward to Gigi's nest visit here in VA. Thanks for a fun day, Gigi!

5.5

She has already been telling people that she's "five AND A HALF" for a little while now, but today it is official! It is sad for me to know that she will be closer to six than five when she wakes up tomorrow. :( We usually do a fun half birthday outing, but today was busy with church, a neighbor's b-day party and Father's Day so we'll go out to lunch or for ice cream tomorrow. Also, another milestone...Aubrey lost her first tooth while we were in Texas -- she loves showing off the new gap as soon as she sees someone. And now her other bottom tooth is loose! I wonder how long it takes before her big teeth will come in? We love this girl so much, Happy half b-day, Aubrey!

Houston, part1

We had a great time catching up with Robert's parents in Houston. We hadn't seen any family since December, so the kids soaked up all the extra attention they were receiving from everyone.

Playing skee ball in the kid's zone at Westside Tennis Club. They both got pretty good at it!
The owners of the tennis club have 7 monkeys a zebra and a couple wallabies???

We spent a lot of time swimming and going down this slide over and over again...

Here's Will trying to slow himself down with his hands and feet.

Silly boy!

We were all excited about all the good Mexican food available in Texas. YUM!

Playing at the Lego store at the Houston Galleria.

This is from our first flight fromVA to DFW. The flight attendants were so nice to the kids -- as soon as we walked on the plane, they asked if the kids wanted to meet the pilots. Will was being either shy or grumpy, but Aubrey was super excited about it. Then the flight attendants brought the kids warm chocolate chip cookies and some other snacks. :)

Playing outside at Grandma Pam & Grandpa Isaac's house. These two make my heart happy!

Will & Grandpa reading a bedtime story together.

Also at the Lego store. Out of all the Legos, Will picked out a sword & shield as his belated b-day present from Rob's parents.

We really did enjoy every minute of our time with family and can't wait until they come and see us this fall!