Adler's Princess Party

 Adler turned four in September......FOUR!!!  She is such a spunky, independent, sweet, cuddly girl.  We love her to pieces and she makes all of our lives so much sweeter.  So when she asked for a Princess Party, we had to comply.  It was all she asked for so we went ALL out.

My mom made these adorable frilly purses as party favors.

It was a party, so we had to have food, punch and cake, of course!  That gorgeous castle cake was made by my cousin's wife, Amie.  Is she talented or what??

The day before the party, Owen and Adler helped me decorate their fort for the party.  It was pink and frilly!

 

 The highlight of the party was when Princess Madison made a surprise appearance! She brought with her princess wands for all the girls and read a sweet book called, Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?  Let me know if you want to book her for your next Princess Party, because she was amazing!

The girls also decorated their very own princess mirrors.

Owen was thrilled that some of his friends were at the party to keep him company.  I'm pretty sure this was the only time they all were sitting still. 

Swinging with Uncle Brian

The adults were kept busy playing washers and this awesome Jenga game, made by my brother!

 Lining up for the piñata, because a party just isn't a party unless there's a piñata!

Adler, Ella and Carly

Princesses Adler and Madison

 The party was a success (but I'm secretly hoping next year she'll want to have the party somewhere else)!  The only thing missing were our Nevada friends, whom we've become so used to partying with.  You were missed!

College Station

 We are having a blast being back in Texas and living closer to Aggieland!  We have tickets to take Owen to his first Aggie Football game in November, but we traveled to College Station in September and celebrated the Aggies' game against #1 Alabama.  We lost, but it was an awesome game and we didn't go down easy.

 

For those of you that don't know, the Aggies hold a midnight yell practice at midnight the night before every football game.....think of a giant pep rally on steroids.  This particular yell practice was the largest in school history with over 50,000 people in attendance and was aired on ESPN!  It was amazing.

Even though we didn't attend the actual game, we took the kids up to campus, saw the crowds, felt the excitement, and did a little tailgating.

with Lissette and Brian

This is what happens when you take a 4 year old tailgating.  Don't judge us.

Then we went to Micah's parent's house to watch the game in air conditioning with Noah.

No trip to College Station is complete without fishing with Pop!

 

That same weekend we also helped Madison celebrate her 20th birthday.  Yes, I feel very old now.

August Catch-up

The last month of summer was packed with all kinds of fun activities.  We finished up almost everything on our Summer Bucket List and had a blast in the process!  I absolutely LOVED my summer with the kids!

 We visited the Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery with my wonderful friend Alyssa and her cute kids.  Blue Bell is one of the best things about being back in Texas (and also probably why we've gained a few pounds since being back)!  If you've never had Blue Bell Ice Cream......I'm so sorry.  The creamery was great fun!

 Micah and I both took the kids on separate "dates," and for Owen I took him to play Laser Tag!  It was way more fun than I imagined and I'm sure we'll go back!  Afterwards we went and ate our favorite summer treat......SNOW CONES!

The kids at the top of Mt. Bonnel, overlooking Lake Austin!

 We took a 2 day trip to Ennis to see my Granny.  She was thrilled to have us and fed the kids as much sugar and candy as they could possibly fill themselves with.  The kids also treated their GG (Great-Granny) to lunch and a movie.

We toured Inner Space Caverns, which we all found interesting and "super cool."

For Micah and Owen's date, the boys went fishing!  I love this picture of Owen doing what he loves.

At the end of our girl date, Adler chose to eat cupcakes at her favorite food trailer in Austin, Hey Cupcake!

We ended summer with a bang!  The day before school started, we went swimming and ate more snow cones!

 Here's the official first day of school pictures!  Owen started the first grade and Adler started going to Junior Pre-K three days a week.

I absolutely adore Owen's first grade teacher!  She tutored his in reading this summer, which made the transition to first grade really easy.  He's doing well in school and seems to enjoy it (although the homework has not impressed him).

Adler is also doing well in preschool.  She's making new friends and is enjoying her school days.  Although she sure does like staying home with me 2 days a week!

 

We're Back!

I have had several complaints about our blog not being updated in several months, so after thinking about it, and thinking some more.......I decided to try to pick it back up.  Even though I'm not working full time anymore, life still seems super busy!  But this blog is a nice journal of our life, so here we go again!

I'm starting off where we left off, back in August.  And August can pretty much be summed up with TAHOE!!!!

 Micah has been traveling back to Tahoe regularly this year, but this was my first time back since we moved.  We spent lots of time with friends and most of our time in Tahoe.  We were there for 11 days, most of which Micah had to work.  So on the weekends we stayed at friend's houses down in Carson City and for 5 weekdays we stayed in Kings Beach. 

 

It. Was. Wonderful.

My lovely friends enjoying a beach BBQ!  I miss my ladies!!

Owen and Ryder were reconnected and didn't miss a beat.  Ryder spent the entire week with us in Tahoe.

The kids had a blast at the beach!  While Micah was working we went hiking, played mini golf, explored Kings Beach, and best of all visited with friends!

 More friends!

 I hope we can make this an annual trip back to our former home! 

There's so much we miss!

More of my ladies!

JULY

How is July OVER???  This summer is just flying by.  We have only 3 weeks left until Owen starts the first grade and Adler starts preschool.  But I can honestly say we have thoroughly enjoyed our summer and experienced as much as possible.  Here's what we did in July.

We had a couple of great rain storms and the kids had a blast playing out in the rain.  Now the kids expect a "rain walk" everytime it rains. 

We found a few shaded parks to visit regularly.

 The kids finished up summer swimming lessons and were able to show off their new skills to Grandma!

We attended an Austin Aztex soccer game......a minor league team here in Austin.  Other than it being extremely HOT at this game, we had a great time! 

We attended Nature Nights at the Wildflower Center.  The theme on this particular night was Birds of Prey and we saw all kinds of interesting birds in person, plus we enjoyed a bunch of other kids activities available that night.

 Here are the kids digging for fossils at the Nature & Science Center.

 Now we welcome August as we are off to Lake Tahoe for some cooler weather and visits with our Nevada family!

Live Music

I can't get over all the live music there is here in Austin.....even for kids!  I've had a great time exposing the kids to different kinds of concerts and music.  Adler especially enjoys all the music.

This was a kids show at Central Market.  Here we're watching Joe McDermott perform, who has become the kid's favorite.  They've seen him twice already in concert and own 3 of his CDs!

This was a performance by a Singing Zoologist at the library!  He sang songs about all kinds of animals and insects.

This was our second time to attend the Art Park in downtown Austin.  This time we knew we had to rush down to the art tent as soon as the performance was over in order to get the kid's faces painted!

Wow!  The artist did this in about one minute each.  I need to hire her for Halloween!

Adler asked to be a princess!