Houston trip 2012 - Part 1

Kevin, my brother, competed in his first Full Ironman in May. Of course we wanted to be there to support him, so Thursday morning at 4 am we headed out of Great Bend Kansas, onward to Oklahoma City.  We left that early so we could let the kiddos sleep. They both do pretty great in the car, though Cohen wanted to be out and about after a while.

Mom and I in the wee early morning. We look a little ghostly!

Lyla heard us all getting around and didn't want to miss a thing so she woke up at 330 with us! ;) She was excited!

 The crew in the back!

I knew that with traveling with the kiddos I wanted to be able to stop and see a few things (I had never been to Oklahoma before) and let the kids stretch out.  So our first stop was the OKC bombing memorial! Beautiful place and I'm glad I got to experience it!

The kiddos and me!

We had packed lunches so we headed out to a outlet mall and at lunch in the grass! A little shopping later (and a new coach purse (: ), and we were on the road again.  We drove to Denton, Texas and found a hotel that had an indoor pool so the kids could swim! We also ate at a really good restuarant called the Green house. If you are ever in Denton, you must eat there. It was so good!

Cohen's first time in a pool! Overall, he liked it!

My little fish! At first she threw a big fit about going in the pool but once she was in, she had lots of fun!

This would be her showing off her muscles. Isn't she strong?

Next up, onward to Houston!

Sleep over and dress up

Our nieces didn't have a sitter for a few days so they got to come spend a few days with us and Lyla had her first official sleepover! And overall, it went great! ;)  Lyla was BEYOND excited that her cousins were coming over!

We got each of the kids a blow up pool this summer - this one and then a larger one for Lyla. We got Cohen's all ready for our sleep over because I couldn't find the air compressor thing to blow up the big one. And I barely had enough air to blow up Cohen's!

 

 

 He likes it! And now - anytime it's up and out he crawls right over to it and dunks his head in! Ha!

 We had a busy day on Thursday. We had Cohen's 9 month appointment, then went to lunch at McDonalds (I can't believe I actually ate there) and then we were off to get our nails done! The girls said they loved it but they were SO serious about the whole thing! 

The girls in the back. They were super excited to sit back there!

 

 And this girl was just EXCITED that Abi and "afery" were with her!

 

So after the appointment we headed to the hair school and got manicures. Lyla picked red, Abi I think was pink with sparkles(?), and Avery got blue, I think!

 This guys just hung out! ;)

 

 

 The big hit of the whole 2 days they were here, was this tunnel. They chased Piper through it, read books in it, watched TV in it and of course fought over it.

 

 And this guy just went with the flow and followed the girls everywhere!

 Prior to laying down for the night, Lyla through a huge fit because she wanted to have a sleepover. She didn't quite understand you actually have to sleep at a sleepover! She could have stayed up til 2 am if we let her! Night owl!

 Sisters!

 Dress up occurred often! Lyla just forgot the clothes part!

 Ly loves her cousins!

 More fighting occurred over who could hold Cohen!

We also colored, watched the movie Hop, ate popcorn, read a million books, played outside and they helped me cook! I told Sean I could definitely have 4 kids. Sean told me his head would spin off if we had 4 kids! Ha! :) None the less, we loved getting to have our nieces over and I know Lyla enjoyed the time.

Love you girls!

My girls - and boy

 I just love these kiddos and LOVE being an aunt! Since I first became their aunt, I've always called them my girls! We got to have our first sleep over and Lyla was in high heaven. While they were back we took some pictures in rompers that their grandma had gotten them!

 My sweet nieces - This little girl is a spitfire and Lyla looks up to her! She loves with Abi and "Afery" come over!

 This girl was my first niece and made me an aunt for the first time!  She's getting so big and so mature and I just love her!

 And this girl has my heart forever! I love her!

 Abi loves Cohen and enjoyed "babysitting" him while they were here!

Lately

Apparently, I took a little blog break! Most days I thought about blogging, but for some reason, never did! Lots going on lately! We have been busy swimming most nights, working on the house, and just staying busy! We are finally heading to the lake for the first time this weekend and I'm so ready! 

 Lets see...here is a little project I did the other day! I've been looking for canisters for my kitchen for a little while. I got some vinyl to add and I love! Cheap and easy!

I have been trying to do quite a few DIY stuff for the house and slowly, but surely things are coming along! We just finished putting laminate down in my office area, which I'll blog soon! That's the biggest project, next to painting, that we have down so far.

 This guy is getting big and is close to turning 10 months! He's finally starting to self feed more, but is picky! He will eat puffs now without a problem and will chomp down on a whole banana. But if you cut up a banana for him, he refuses to pick them up! He also gags on most foods we try that aren't purees!

 This little girl is becoming a sass! I'm not quite sure where she gets it from! However, she can still be sweet as can be! She says her mommy is her favorite and I just love that! :) She loves the water and every day after nap asks to go to the pool!  Sean is training for a few triathlons so we've been going to the pool quite a bit!

 So hard to believe she will be 3 soon! We are having a "You are my sunshine" party and I'm excited to start planning!

 Pointing - his new little thing he does! He's a screamer and we hear "eh" a lot!

 And he loves balls, balls and more balls.

 He has also started walking with things. Plus, I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but right after our trip he started true crawling. And now, he's just the quickest little thing! My baby is getting big! :(