The Tough Times Make You Stronger: 4th of July, Dave Matthews Tradition, and Uncle Jay's Visit!

We had a GREAT July!

Too bad it took me til OCTOBER to write about it! :(

And I cant believe its been three months since these pics were taken....

And this was 15 months ago!?

We had the Ragans and Oglageos over for some swimming and grilling and then we headed for a last second trip to try to see fireworks :)

Whitney and I had fun fancying up her nails :)

Love these girls :)

Pinteresting :)

LOVE.

Whitney a bit of a nervous Nelly around things she believes MIGHT be unsafe. She's cautious, which I like, but Im always proud of her when she tries something she was initially fearful of. Sparklers were a big hit this year!

And GBass surprised me and rocked the sparkler gig, too!

We caught some pretty cool fireworks in the car on the way home :)

Summer sleepovers are the best :)

These besties have so much fun, playing til the crash, and then waking up early and cracking up and singing and laughing all day. And we all love that Faith LOVES to go to church with us! She kept asking if it was time to leave for church yet :)

Have I mentioned how much I LOOOVE five-years-old? She is just the coolest little girl I know. LOVE her.

Princessing is hard work.

One of my favorite mornings of the Summer. We did NOTHING special or exciting, but the kids had a blast playing nicely together all morning.

Oh look! The garbage man!

And more Summer sleepover full of giggles and fun and besties!

Natalia looks like she is wondering WHY in the WORLD we have 4035 toothbrushes lol

THANKS Aunt Ger!!!!!!

The tooth fairy got quite a workout here in August and September! Whitney swallowed her tooth by accident so the tooth fairy made sure she was hooked up anyway :)

And of course we spent some time at the House of Mouse!

Stop. Growing. NOW.

This was right before we tried the weather simulator. We've never tried it before and figured it was relevant to our lives since it shows hurricane winds, etc. Well. No. These two sweet children screamed their lungs out. Whoops.

And the tooth fairy excitement continued....

I love sleeping baby pics.....

....but I LOVE that he wakes up HAPPY even more :)

Boys at the train table. Girls doing puzzles. Yep. Life is good!

Does it get better than our freshly bathed, pajamaed babies reading in the rocking chair before bed??

For real. How could anyone ever doubt that there is a God when there are sunsets like this??

The Ragans and Basses continued the annual DMB tradition and trekked to Tampa to see our favoritest (ok, so its really on Dallas and my favorite band....Eric and Dave go along because they are awesome husbands) bands play!

Dave's face when he realizes we arent, in fact, going to see Skid Row. Sorry, Dave!

Better luck next year!

2013

2014

And my favorite Aunt's favorite friend was at the Dave Matthew's show, too!! What are the odds!? She was right behind us as we pulled into the parking lot, and shouting my name ("Katie! Katie!!!") across the row :) Love that Aunt Carole!

2013

2014 (apparently I stand weird...a lot)

Even though Dave Matthews let us down with a crummy set list, this girl and I always have a great time!

And have been known to spread the fun to those around us......

Except....maybe........that girl. Thought she was our friend by the end of the show.

LOVE.

And DMB brought the rainbows :)

And I found Pitbull at the show!

....and he's WEIRD! lol

....and ALL mine.

2013

yeah, not gonna happen....2014

Dave Matthews:

Eric in the car:

And because DMB and an early-morning, ill-advised trip to Denny's wasnt exciting enough, Eric and I woke up at the crack of dawn and picked my brother up at the airport!!!

My mom was supposed to be surprised by his arrival, but during the sleepover the night before (because my parents watch our kids ALL. THE. TIME, rarely saying no.), Whitney said something like, "Uncle Jay is coming tomorrow. But Im not supposed to tell you." Bwahaha. Dont tell Whitney any secrets, folks!

(And remind me NOT to let so much time pass before I blog this stuff because I KNOW her exact words and the exact scenario is SUPER funny, but it was three months ago....and....well........my mind can recall song lyrics from 1991, but can not remember two weeks ago, let alone three months ago.) :(

Nevertheless, surprise or not, we had a BLAST with Uncle Jay in town!

Great weather and pool time, some great food, and breaking in Mac and Gramps' new putting green!

And I finally got this guy to sit and relax....for a minute. :)

One of my favorite Weezies to date :)

Eric and I got a sitter for the kids and got to enjoy an adult dinner with my parents and brother. Such a treat for us!

And because he's such a nice guy, we were able to sucker Uncle Jay into a Disney day :)

We've never met Pooh or Tigger, so it was fun that both kids LOVED them!

Uncle Jay and Grady traded reading materials for a bit.

It was another GREAT visit and we were sad to see him go. We are excited that there is "a 52% chance that he will be here for Thanksgiving!"

Whitney and Grady with Goofy and Mickey:

Whitney and Grady with Tigger and Pooh:

More Tigger and Pooh:

Right before school started, I took this little lady Back-to-School shopping. She is such a cool kid and I really didnt think Kindergarten would hit me as hard as it did. But it did. She isnt a "baby" anymore....and she is almost out of the "5T" clothes....no more "T for Toddler" on her clothes?! STOP GROWING!

And she decided she didnt want bangs anymore....so we've been sweeping those bangs back for months. Isnt she the cutest?!

We did a bunch of dog-sitting this Summer, and Whitney LOVED it! She loved everything from the cuddles to the walks to feeding them! She was SOOO ready for a pet....(more on that later...)

I get all sappy and teary-eyed when they are snuggly and cute and happy and giggly at bed time. Mommying is the BEST.

Ms. Libby and Whitney are BFFs. :)

And this cracked me up. Oh, Grady Bass. Since potty training is CLEARLY not on your radar, we will stick with diapers. But when stuff like this happens......

...Oh, My!

I just cant help but tell ya that you wouldnt have these issues if you would just use the potty!!

...but I suppose then I'd lose those sweet changing-table moments where we get to talk and laugh and sing and be silly.

I know you wont go to college in diapers.

(will you??)

Grady pulled a plastic pool wine glass out of the pantry and helped himself to some water from the door in the fridge. Cheers!

After we dropped Libby off at home, we headed to our favorite Disney staycation spot for a little "Back-to-School, End of Summer" getaway with my parents again!

This is one of my happy places. (though July is not a great month...we will stick with April going forward).

LOVE meeting up with friends on staycation, too!

The 2pm thunderstorms kicked us outta the pool a few times but the cabana saved the day (and made it easy for Whtiney to be the first one back in the pool when the warning was lifted!)

Best. Gramps. Ever.

Its like a toddler/preschool frat party.

The view from the suite at the end of the hallway.

Couch cuddles with late night Disney channel and Gramps = Happy Grady

Grady Bass resisted his pack-n-play the first night......but loved every inch of our bed.

Happy place.

Grady's happy place :) Relaxing in the cabana with some Disney channel and milk and a fan. :)

...and, of course, his Mac :)

We hit up Hollywood Studios for their Frozen Days and it was awesome! Once again, Mac and Gramps spoiled the kids, buying Grady his very own monorail! He lovessss it!

...he did NOT love handing it over to pay for it. :)

Mom and Dad,

THIS is just a small fraction of the excitement and fun you buy these kids (and us!) when you renew our annual passes every year. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! It is truly the gift that keeps on giving!