6 months - July 31

Such a fun month with this little guy!  Just a few days after his 5 month birthday he easily got his first tooth and the second tooth was just a week after.  He constantly has anything and everything in his mouth, he is grabbing out for anything in our hands, and his favorite (and Caleb's too) is when Caleb gets close enough (which is frequently) and Davis will grab a handful of Caleb's hair.  They both just laugh!  Davis squeals like a dinosaur, makes all sorts of noises, and entertains himself (and us) with his crazy noises.  He smiles ALL the time.  We feel like with Caleb we had to try a little bit to make him smile but Davis all you have to do is look at him and he gives the best smile!!!  Davis' 6 month appointment is this week (his stats will follow).

Summer Supper Club

We have changed up our Community this summer and enjoyed 4 wonderful weeks of "Summer Supper Club."  We have had yummy pizza from from Urban Crust (Smith's choice), Mi Cocina (Gummelt's choice), and Asian Mint (Grundy's choice).  The below picture was taken after dinner at Mi Cocina!

This week was our turn to plan the dinner.  We love hosting in our home, so we made pizzas and had a fun Minute to Win It game night.  We had so much fun planning the evening and even more fun with our Community playing these silly games.  We missed you Cary and Cori!

Our 1st Place Winners--Karen Karesh Klan (since they are sadly moving to Waco in a few short weeks) 

Our Second Place Winners--The Dragon Slayers 

The 3rd Place Winners--The Monkeys 

And the hosts for the evening--The White Winnings 

The score board 

Let the games begin...Keith BLEW this game out of the ball park in "This Blows" 

The beautiful pregnant Laura (Brock is due next week!) had a tough time blowing up the balloon because of her lung capacity these days

Stacey is full of plenty of hot air

This is surprisingly harder than it looks as Craig found out

Brad is "Facing the Cookie" and tried to wink it into his mouth

Keith is trying the Keebler Pirate - definitely Haaaarrrrder than it Looks.

Caryn is playing "Nut Stacker".  Lots of jokes here but none appropriate

Kristin's look of focus stacking the hex nuts off the chopstick

Yes - that is Spiderwoman (aka - Kristin).  She dominated the "Bite Me" game

Caryn takes her turn.  She did very well for just having twins

Given Laura's pregnancy, Brad took one for the team and was better than expected.  He was by far the best guy that tried it (also the only guy)!

Stacey's game face while playing "Sticky Balls" where you try and get as many marbles stuck on tape at the end of the table.

Laura showing off her "Sticky Balls" skillz.  Insert Joke Here.

Stacey enjoyed "Junk in the Trunk" more than anyone expected.  The goal here is to shake as many ping pong balls as possible out of an empty tissue box.  Here's a quick video of Stacey showing off his moves.  Yes that is his wife Caryn cheering him on.  WARNING - This video may not be appropriate for small children, women who are pregnant or might be pregnant, or those prone to seizures

What a fun night!! Love these people!

6th Year Anniversary

We celebrated our 6th year of marriage last month (the day we headed to Horseshoe Bay), so we postponed our annual staycation in a hotel. 

Friday night Julie's parents and grandmother came in town to visit and give us a night away.  Caleb LOVED having his Mimi, Papa, and Great-Mimi in town and thought it was the biggest treat.  On Saturday morning we went to the Galleria and explored the mall with a stroller, a wheel chair, and an energetic 2 year old.  This was a sight to see!  Once we got both boys down for a nap, we were ready...

We were incredibly blessed to receive a gift card to stay at the Crescent and enjoyed our night of luxury.  Great Mimi and Julie's Mom came down to the hotel to see how beautiful it was (plus they dropped us off so that we could save $30+ and not pay to park the car at the hotel). 

We got bored within the first 30 minutes in our room-which was the goal.  We watched TV, read, walked around the shops near the hotel, enjoyed watching the elegant wedding guests arrive, explored the hotel, had a yummy dinner at Palomino, went swimming, turned the a/c down really low, and SLEPT IN until 9 am!!!

It was a wonderfully perfect way to celebrate our marriage-relaxing, remembering, and reconnecting.

This is the yummy treat from the hotel

The next day Mimi, Papa, and the boys came to pick us up and Caleb loved the escalator by the shops. 

This is a picture of Caleb and Daddy playing on 2 air mattresses.

Thanks Mimi, Papa, and Great-Mimi for sacrificing your weekend, sleeping on an air mattress, for loving on our boys, and making this wonderful weekend possible!  Caleb loved his time with you all and that is the best present in the world!

A Week in Austin

Julie and the boys headed down to Austin for a week, so that Caleb could take swimming lessons.  Not only did we have a great recommendation of a wonderful swim instructor, she was very affordable, it was a 5 day class (an hour a day), and it was a great excuse to spend an extended time in Austin seeing people we don't normally get to see during our whirlwind weekends. 

The week was packed from play dates in the morning, to swimming around lunch time, to visiting friends in the afternoon, and swimming with Mimi and Papa in the evening.  It was fun and we look forward to doing it again next summer!

Lori got to meet Davis.  She was a bridesmaid in our wedding and pregnant with a little girl due in October

Our Second Annual Mother Daughter Dinner.  Every month my mom goes out with some wonderful ladies that are my friends from high school's moms.  So when I come in town they are so generous to plan their monthly outing to accommodate my schedule.

Here are the moms: Erin, Mrs. Winter, Andi, Mrs. Davison, Alissa, Mrs. Jones, my mom and me.

Our plans to meet Kristen and her sweet kids at the park for an early morning play didn't work out this time, but Caleb enjoyed the heat at 9 am! (Love his "lifegarden" whistle!  Caleb was so attached to the "lifegardens" at the pool and looks up to them).

We met Susan, Emily, and Charlie at Chick-Fil-A, an indoor playground this day.  Susan was a friend of mine from my life guarding days/hostessing at the country club/high school.  They moved back to Austin from Dallas a few years ago and it was great to catch up with them.

Due to some fevers, only I got to visit with Vicki (a friend from Stanford). 

Christalyn holding Faith, such a great big sister, babysitter, and great with all the little ones.

We took a cousin picture TJ (6), Davis (5 months), Christalyn (almost 8), Faith (15 months), Sarah (almost 4), and Caleb (almost 3)

Can you tell the boys LOVED dressing up?!? 

And so did the girls.  (which suckered sweet Mimi to buy more pictures). 

We then celebrated with a corn dog and an evening swim. Love these kiddos and wish we could have spent more time with them.

Even Great-Mimi joined the fun with a corn dog poolside

So...on to the reason we went down to Austin...SWIMMING!  Caleb loved swimming and wore his goggles to whole ride to the pool (despite being fogged up and not being able to see)

This was the second day of swimming and showing off his "shovel" hands

Thanks to Papa, I was able to sit with Caleb, help him on the side of the pool, and cheer for him in the water.  Papa was a HUGE help and watched Davis so that I could give my full attention to the swimmer. 

This is the look of fear on Day 3.  Ms. Pam was such a strong love, very warm but gave them the sternness that they needed to overcome their emotions.  The first couple of days were really hard (more so for me) to see Caleb (and the other little ones) cry and not want to go swimming but by the fourth day he was jumping in the deep end and swimming to the ladder, jumping in the water, turning around, and swimming back to the side.  Her whole goal was to teach them how to survive if they fell in.  By the fifth day he was swimming around Ms. Pam and passed!!  It was a great week and we are so glad we did it!

Turning around and swimming to the side of the pool

The reach...it is a little tough to see them trying so hard under water to reach the side of the pool and the relief/excitement when they get it! (I guess that will be said a few more times as they get older and we watch them try, fail, get hurt, want to give up, then succeed.)

Papa probably could have taught Caleb the same things Ms. Pam did.  Thanks to his years of life guarding, swimming in high school, teaching us, swim teams, his patience-it was great that Caleb had Papa to help practice in the evenings.  It was the reinforcement that he needed!  Thanks again Papa for everything. 

 Daddy came in town on Friday night and Caleb couldn't wait to get in the pool on Saturday morning to show Daddy all that he learned.  Caleb is swimming to the steps all by himself!

Daddy sitting on the side of the pool watching Caleb swim with Ms. Pam

What a fun week-Thanks to Ms. Pam!  On Caleb's last day of swim class, Caleb had his Fan Club there.  Mammy we appreciate you driving so far to come see our boy swim.  That meant so much to us that you would show your support.  Sorry we couldn't not have spent more time with you.

Silly boy wearing 4 hats 

Thanks Mimi for a great week. I was a little anxious about not having Daddy around to help with the kids but I appreciate all the work you did to bathe, feed, calm, and give constant love to us during the week.

Thanks again Papa for ALL you did-when Mimi was at work you really stepped in and helped us out SO SO SO much.  I could not have survived the week without you.