Watching Daddy

Whenever John David hears a lawn mower outside he gets so excited, and runs to the big window in the family room.



He starts laughing and pointing.



And then he stays there and watches Daddy until he's done mowing the front yard.



Then he goes to the back door, or to his bedroom to watch him mow the back or the side of the house. It's so cute to watch him get so excited to see his Daddy.

Flashback Friday

This is my Daddy's first grade class at B.F. Grady School in 1946. It was kindergarten through 12th grade back then. All of my brothers and sisters also attended B.F. Grady, but when we went it was just kindergarten through 8th grade. This building has since been torn down, and a new school has been built. For some reason my Grandma used to always write names on the front of her pictures instead of the back. Bet you can't guess which one my Daddy is!

You Make Me Smile

Our sweet Sarah lost her other front tooth. I love that sweet smile! Especially with the missing teeth. (Pardon the orange gum.)



Now she's anxiously awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy. :)

The First Day of School

Today was the first day of school.



Another summer gone. I can hardly believe it.



As always, it is bittersweet. While I love having them home with me, I also love having a routine, which is something we can't seem to keep during the summer. And I'm so ready for some cooler weather.



They were a little nervous this morning. And they weren't too crazy about a photo shoot so early in morning. It was sooooooo humid my camera lens kept fogging up.



But somehow I managed to get a few cute shots of my beautiful fourth grader. How did this happen? It seems like she just started kindergarten!



And here is my adorable first grader. I think she was more nervous than Katie. I can hardly stand all of the cuteness!



As I was walking them to their classes, we ran into Emma and Lily.



John David was feeling right as home.



Katie turned around, waved, and said "Bye Mom." Like I was going to leave John David there with her. Funny girl.



I walked Sarah to her class. No tears. So proud of my big girl.



Aaron and I were both anxious to find out how their first day was, so we both went to pick them up. Katie had a great day. She really likes her teacher, Mrs. Sheridan (who we already knew because her daughter Emily was in Sarah's class last year and they became good friends). She also gets to change classes this year, and is looking forward to that too. She also found out that she made the elementary chorus, and is looking forward to that as well. She has such a beautiful voice. We're so proud of her.



Sarah really likes her teacher, Mrs. McKeivier, who lives just around the corner from us. She has a few friends from last year in her class this year too. We're looking forward to a great year!

A New Park

We found a new park in Lake Charles last week off of highway 14. So I took the kids there for lunch today and let them play afterwards. It was perfect timing because it was very overcast, so it didn't get too hot, only two other people were there, and it never even rained.



They loved the cute little splash area.



Then they all went over to the playground area and had a blast over there too. We will definitely be going back to this cute little park.

Flashback Friday

Here are three pictures I found of my parents while going through my Daddy's stuff back in June. Aren't they cute? I'm pretty sure this one was taken first.



I think this one may have been while he was bishop, which would have been in the 70s.



This one would have been a few years later.



This one was taken in 1988, just before my oldest brother left for his mission. I am grateful to have been blessed with two wonderful parents!

Meet Marco

Tonight we went to the Trahan's and Alfred gave Sarah a turtle. She named him Marco.



Why is it just Sarah's pet? Because Katie wants nothing to do with it.



Alfred told her that there is just one rule with her pet turtle, which is that she cannot kiss him. He said he once saw a little boy try to kiss his turtle and the turtle bit him on the lip and wouldn't let go. So glad he shared this story with Sarah because I know she would have tried to kiss Marco.



She was so excited. She must have thanked and hugged Alfred at least ten times.



John David was pretty interested in the turtle, but surprisingly, he didn't try to pick him up.



Finally, a pet she can play with.



This is one happy girl!

Summer Fun

We spent the morning at the waterpark today.



John David loves the splash pad, but he has a time limit at the waterpark.



It seems that he can't be happy there for longer than a couple of hours. He's so much like his Daddy.



The girls were happy to have some friends there to play with. It's always funner with friends. And it's even funner to share nachos with friends at the waterpark. I wonder who enjoyed the nachos more......



........Katie...............



.........Sarah.........



........or Lily?



We love summer!

Eighteen Months

Our sweet little man is eighteen months old today. I can't believe it's been eighteen months already. He weighs 28 lb. and 6 oz., and he is 33 inches tall.



This little guy loves his daddy, and wants to go with him wherever he goes. He won't go into nursery yet, so Aaron takes him with him on Sundays and he says he is always so good and just follows him wherever he goes.



He's still just as busy and curious (leaving a trail of destruction everywhere he goes) and loves to be outside.



He also loves to climb. And he loves his binky too.



He made his first trip to the ER back in May when he got cellulitis from some kind of spider bite. Since then we have also found out that he is very allergic to mosquito bites too, so we have to watch him very close when he's outside. And as soon as he gets a mosquito bite, we immediately start him on benadryl to help keep the swelling under control.



He loves to go "bye-bye" with whoever will take him. Okay, not just anyone, because he is at that stage where he doesn't have much to do with strangers.



He likes to make us laugh, and just recently started making this cheesy little face when he's being silly. He is such a sweet and happy little guy, most of the time. He has started to throw tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. He will help clean up toys and put stuff in the trash when we ask him to. And he loves to help put away the laundry. If I don't let him help, which I was hesitant to do in the beginning, he gets mad. So I let him do it and follow him and help him put things where they go. It's the cutest thing. He doesn't say nearly as much as the girls did at this age. He likes to grunt and make noises mostly. I think that is normal for boys. Here are some of the things that he says:

Mama
Daddy
Katie (Dayde)
Sarah (Rahrah)
Maw Maw
Paw Paw
Bubba (his bear)
light
night night
love you (ub ou)
no no (with lots of finger shaking)
please (peas)
bye bye
hey
hello
ball
binky (deede)
eat
dog
woof woof
moo
out

He watches us all very close and likes to imitate things he sees us doing. Our favorite thing to see him imitate is on Sundays when they sustain people for their new callings. He is a little delayed and usually raises his hand when they ask if anyone is opposed. It's so funny! He brings so much happiness to our family, and we all just love him to pieces!

Super Saturday

Today was our last weekend that we had free to spend with the girls before they start school. So Kent and Johnice took John David for the day and we took the girls to Lafayette.



First stop was Build a Bear. Amy had given the girls and John David gift cards to BABW for their birthdays. The girls had a hard time trying to decide which bear to pick, but Aaron very quickly picked out a brown bear for John David. After stuffing and washing them, the girls named their bears and we filled out their birth certificates. Aaron named John David's bear "Bubba", Katie named her bear "Ashley", and Sarah named her bear "Lindsey". And because of a cool promo they were running over the weekend, the girls both got these cute tote bags for free. Then we went to Incredible Pizza for lunch.





We saw the cutest little monkeys there. And after lunch, it was time to play. We had a blast bowling...................



............racing......................



...............bumping.........................



.............shooting.......................



...................and golfing.



We made lot of fun memories biking on Route 66..........



........almost being eaten by a whale.................



..............being abducted by aliens.....................



................and making friends with a dinosaur.



We played lots of games.............



.............and got lots of tickets.....................



.............so we could trade them in for lame awesome prizes.



We just enjoyed having fun together.



But all good things must come to an end. So after we had spent all of Daddy's money were all completely exhausted, we headed back home. On the way home, we stopped at the "Chateau des Cocodries", also known as the alligator house, in Jennings.



And we got to hold this baby alligator named "Bubba".



He is only 11 months old. Isn't he cute?



Sarah sure thought so. She couldn't keep her hands off of him.



She let this cute guy hold Bubba, but only for a second before she was asking for him back. And I held him for a second too, but she wanted him back again. Katie wanted nothing to do with him.



But this little girl would have brought him home with us if they would have let her.



She is our animal lover, and says she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. So glad we got to spend some time with these two sweet girls before they go back to school. Love them to pieces!