Troy is a 1st Grader!

Our Troy boy is in 1st grade! He definitely looks older than his kindergarten picture. He's excited for the school year. His teacher is in our neighborhood and we couldn't be happier that he got her. 

Breakfast on the first day of school. Ben took him on his first day and met his teacher. Liam is already  talking about what he is going to do in Kindergarten next year.

August Happenings

FHE on faith. The boys loved this game. Ben caught all of us. I tried to catch Ben, but he smashed me onto the couch. Haha. I don't know why I thought that would work. 

School supplies got me excited and I let them do watercoloring. They look so serene right now, but after this picture, it got pretty crazy. Till next year.. 

Michael and Troy finally got to play together a week before school started. They spent every day together. I made them read to each other when Liam and Katelyn were napping, before they played on the computer. They didn't like the idea, but then they were so cute laughing at the stories together. 

I loved that Michael got just as excited when Ben got home, and tackled him with the kids.

My brother Jason came to visit this past week! It was great getting to talk to him a lot and letting the kids get to know their Uncle Jason. They are sad that he went back home. I should have taken more pictures. But on one of the days we went to the park. 

Nothing like brownie batter...

Ring-around-the-rosies is one thing that will always happen when I am babysitting. 

Cousin Time!

Oh my goodness, it was so fun to have these girls and their cute kiddos visit. I have a huge smile on my face just looking at the pictures. 

The first day I got to see them, we went to the beach. SO hot. But definitely worth all of the fun. 

Sarah, Lindsay, Me (Katelyn below), Stephanie and Camille (with Max)

And we can't forget Aunt Colleen! 

She is the ultimate grandma, playing with the kids more than any of us. She is on the right with Liam. She helped him come near the beach and play. He still gets scared of the beach. He was in the water and playing after about 30 minutes. Yay Aunt Colleen!

Another day, I can't remember when... we went to Camille's pool. There are really only so many things you can do with a ton of kids in Texas in the summer. 

That night we had dinner at our house. It was really fun to have the men there. Ben grew up with this family and thinks so highly of them. Not to mention, we just have so much fun. 

I really wish Lindsay lived closer!! It was so fun to see her!

Her daughter, Kelsey, was hiding when they were trying to leave, and Liam said, "Mom, she is not there! Don't make her leave!" Haha. 

Katelyn and Grandma.

A photo that I obviously didn't tell anyone that I was taking. 

Brynlee and Troy. Just 1 month apart. 

Dean is a little younger and thought it was so funny to walk in the picture. He immediately asked to see it. I loved getting to laugh with these kids! 

We drove up to see our old homes that we had lived in when we were little. This was my mom and dad's first house. They had been living in a smoker's appartment, so this house was a dream to my mom. I can't remember if I was born right before they moved or just after. In all three of their homes, they stayed in the same ward. Wards were a lot bigger back then. (Geographically)

We went to the Galleria. My mom hadn't been here in years. 

Family is here!

My Uncle Dean and Aunt Colleen live in Houston. My cousins, their daughters, came to visit this week! We went to the beach, hung out and had dinner at their house and then swam at my neighbors pool the next day. My kids were in heaven.

I may spell some names wrong... In this picture is Liam, Layton, Troy, Tyler, Eva, Kelsey and Maddy.

Millie and Katelyn were so cute. Katelyn followed Millie everywhere. 

Troy, Liam, Maddy, Millie, Katelyn, Kelsey, Eva, Dean

Grandpa/Uncle Dean got home and the kids formed a line to do flips. Haha. 

My mom came to visit as well this week! We went to the Children's Museum today. I think the pictures are sufficient to show how much fun the kids had. 

Astros Game

Ben was given tickets, really good tickets, to the Astros game last Saturday. It turned out to be a really exciting game and the kids had a great time. 

First time having cotton candy. I think they approve... they ate it in less than 30 seconds.

We also found a huge play area that is free! The kids loved that. We hit that up before the game, since we got there an hour early. If you want to know why, you should ask us how long we sat in traffic for the last game we went to. Anyway, this was awesome. We were sitting very close. Ben has better pictures of the actual game. It definitely made us bigger fans of baseball! Go Astros!