Kara and Randy

I CAN NOT believe my baby brother and baby sister are graduating from high school this year! I still see them as the 8 year old little kids that they were when I graduated and left home. I'm so proud of both of you!

My sweet boy

is growing up WAY TOO FAST!!!

Kailyn let us borrow her walker. This was our first time to test it out!

My little gardner...

Madison brought a watermelon seed home from daycare awhile back. I set it in the window and would randomly water it. One day it just started growing so we went to Lowe's and got a planter for it. Madison and Trent planted the watermelon seed in the planter (along with some basil and cilantro) and set it in the backyard. Hopefully we'll have us some watermelon soon.


Madison with her watermelon seed still in the cup


making sure Trent is doing everything just right


Cooper had to crawl over and get a little dirt for himself


One PROUD little girl!


makin sure it has enough water

They have now planted two strawberry plants too! Her swing set is covered in fruit. I'll have to get a picture of it. Madison goes out every night after dinner and waters everything.

The Red Wagon, The Red Diamonds & The Ducks

This has become an evening routine...most nights after dinner we load up in the wagon and go on a walk. Cooper LOVES going on walks in the wagon. The longest one we've gone on was 45 minutes and we never heard a peep from him.

Madison loves to go on walks to feed the ducks!




After we feed the ducks she always wants to go touch the red diamonds. Our neighborhood is still 'under construction' and we have several roads that aren't finished out yet. At the end of each of these roads are these red diamonds. For some reason, she loves them. Since I had my camera with me (from feeding the ducks) I asked her if she wanted her picture taken with the red diamond. She was real excited.


Then she always pulls her brother home!


and even stops to get his toys when he throws them down. She's such a sweet big sister!

Thanks Grammy & Papa for the red wagon! We love it.

PROUD Momma

The other day Madison was coloring at her table. She's been into making grocery lists lately. She'll tell me she's going to make a grocery list and then she'll spend the next few minutes asking me what we need. Usually her paper is filled with the squiggly lines that all kids do when they pretend to write.
The other day she said I'm going to make an A. I didn't really pay attention and then she came to show me. It was PERFECT. I was shocked. I haven't really worked with her on writing her letters. After that we started practicing the letters in her name. This is the third time she's written it. I'm very impressed. She's not even 3 yet! Her S is backwards but other than that I thought she did a GREAT job! This is a proud momma moment! :)

Michael's Graduation

Michael graduated from Hardin Simmons this past weekend...after 7 years! We joked with him that Randy and Kara were going to graduate high school and beat him through college but he didn't let that happen! In his defense, he did work full time all the way through. I'm excited that he finally graduated because he has moved closer to ME!!! He moved to Bedford and his apartment is only 30 minutes from my house (with minimal traffic)


Madison played musical laps during the graduation ceremony! Both of the kids were so good. I was thankful for that.


7 years coming! He's officially a graduate!


Madison did not want her picture taken!

until she got to sit on the horse...


Picture Time!!!


siblings!


Mom's family (Dean is hidden behind Grandmom)



Dad's family (Papa is hidden in the top picture behind me)


Papa and Nanny with Michael


Dad and Mom with Michael


Randy & Carson- They said they did not plan to match! :)


Cooper finally gave in...he was SO tired!

He didn't even wake up when Michael put him in my car! He's OUT!

We (both families...mom's & dad's) went to eat at 5:30! We had 20 people plus Cooper so it took awhile. The kids did well considering how long we were there. It helped having lots of people to help me out! :)



I love how Cooper is looking right at the camera, as if he knows how to pose. As many pictures as I take of him, he might actually already know how to pose. :) Nice smile, Michael.

It was a quick trip! We left Saturday morning to go to Abilene...did graduation stuff all day/night and then we came back home Sunday morning. We were home by noon so that we could spend some time with Trent since we hadn't seen him since Wednesday.

Our last night with Trent...

for 3 days! Trent left for his State Track Meet today! The meet is tomorrow and Saturday! We are not getting to go this year because we are leaving for Abilene on Saturday because MICHAEL GRADUATES from HSU!

We spent our evening in the backyard! Cooper managed to find his way to the edge of the blanket to eat grass. He was very interested in it.





Madison had fun playing on her swing set! This was in between playing soccer!




Then she played a game of baseball (inside) with her Daddy! I love the baseball uniform; heels and panties! Check out that belly!

CAN YOU BELIEVE

that my BABY is 8 months old!?!?! I CAN NOT! In 4 short months he will be ONE! Oh my goodness I think time continues to move faster and faster!




Our sweet boy is growing up so fast. He's changing so much and becoming less and less baby. This past month he:

-He started eating yogurt melts (I still break them up because they are a little big)
-He's added yogurt to his list of foods. The doctor wanted him to start eating it everyday because of all the antibiotics he's been on due to his ear infections.
-He was given mashed potatoes and some whipped cream by his daycare teachers. Don't think that will happen anymore. :) I was not happy about the whipped cream. I love her so I forgave her.
-He started drinking 8oz bottles (still every 3 hours)
-He loves to clap. He claps anytime he gets excited. Everyday when I walk into his daycare room he gets a smile across his face and claps and claps and claps. It makes me SO happy!
-He laughs and laughs and laughs, especially at his funny older sister
-He says da-da all the time *Everytime he says da-da Madison will say "ma-ma" to him. I guess she's trying to help me out. He just looks at her and smiles and starts saying da-da over and over. It's cute to watch.
-He gets in the crawling position but still hasn't crawled
-LOVES to hold your hands and walk
-He can stand and hold onto things. He stands outside of his exersaucer and plays with the toys on it.
-Only takes one nap for the most part. He usually sleeps about 2-3 hours. He still takes a short second nap on the weekends for the most part.
-Just started crying when someone else wants to hold him. He doesn't do it all the time. Before now, he'd go to anyone as long as someone was holding him and talking to him.
-He has some teeth! He has 3 completely in and 2 coming in. He has his two bottom ones (in the middle) and he has his top side tooth all the way in. His two front teeth are both poking through but still working their way down. His teeth are CROOOOKED! I've never seen crooked baby teeth!
-He has had two haircuts! He got one right before Easter and then Trent just recently cut it again. I don't know how we're ever going to fix this boys hair. It's a mess!

We are very blessed with a very happy, smiley baby. He's so easy to take with us (except when we want to go out to eat...then he's into everything...or makes a huge mess with his cheerios) and loves to be around people. Everywhere we go people talk about his smile. It's so contagious. I hope he continues to keep the joy that he has. I hope he continues to smile everyday and the simple things.