Swimming fun

 Came across these pictures when editing tonight and had to share. These boys are loving the water this summer, as well as the watermelon!

Joshua is fearless and LOVES the water! 

BIG change from a year ago!

I know they're 11 months apart, but sometimes it's easy to think they are more like twins! They do everything together... or should I say, Joshua copies EVERYTHING that Ryan does and follows and repeats him all day long! 

Mother's Day Weekend

 Mother's Day in our family is really more of a "weekend" than a "day." Usually we alternate staying in town and getting to see my mom and traveling to see Jeff's, but this year we had the best of both worlds... we stayed home and Jeff's parents came to us! Saturday was a special treat because Debra, my mom, Kelley and myself got an entire day free of the little ones to shop and eat out, just us girls! It was a great time (though we took no pictures to document the occasion)!

 On Mother's Day evening we braved the restaurant crowds and celebrated with my side of the family.

At dinner, Ryan was a hoot! He was very energetic and entertained by the humor of Uncle Mike and Aunt Lauren. I love these shots of his laugh and smile!

My little man

Ryan gets a little excited about making toasts and we often have to do cheers over and over and over again, per his request!

Just for fun, I took one with the glasses off... 

this boy is getting old, quick!

J-man loves his Grandma! 

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!

Ryan was in the mood to have his picture taken, 

so I took advantage!

Mommy isn't the only one in Mother's Day pictures

We were so happy to have this sweet couple together with us that night so that Lauren could interview in Houston the next day! And even better, she got the job and will be able to enjoy her summer a bit more with that to-do checked off her list!  Congratulations "sister"!!!

Adding to the Family

For those of you that don't know, my brother got engaged in March! We are so thrilled for him and excited to welcome Lauren to our family. Lauren is from Kansas City, so we were thankful that her family came to TX in April and we were able to meet them and celebrate the engagement with them and some of their great family friends who hosted a fabulous evening for all of us!

The Happy Couple
(Taken on Mother's Day)

The party was at a beautiful home in Sugarland and though Joshua was sick and had to stay home with daddy, Logan and Ryan were made to feel right at home and had a great time!

Beautiful property!

 A special toast for the happy couple

 

The happy couple- delicious cupcakes!

The kids liked the cupcakes too!

 

 

Ryan was willing to share!

I love this picture... Mike and his boys

My boys were introduced to the concept of karaoke

Lauren's niece Sadie, dancing

 

 

The happy parents

 

Lauren's girls

Only the little ones braved the cold water temps...

This is Ryan, wanting me to swim with him.

He looks so disappointed!

 The two fathers with the host of the party

Sadie knew what karaoke was all about

Which of course meant my boy would want a turn

 

They didn't have most of his requests on their playlist (as we don't listen to a lot of radio music) so he went with God Bless America. We need to do some practicing following the yellow words on a karaoke machine, but he was very proud and did a great job! 

Ryan discovered that they owned a riding mower for their property... and somehow he conned a complete stranger into driving him around in the midst of all the fun! :-)

Building Bears

 Thanks to a very generous adoption present when things were celebrated in the new year, our boys were able to experience Build-A-Bear for the first time! This was not an endeavor I wanted to take on one Saturday when the mall, and this store in particular, is overflowing with people, so my mom and I saved it for a nice, quiet weekday afternoon and that was the best idea ever!! We were the only people in the store and enjoyment was had by all...

(excuse the picture quality... they're from my phone!)

Filling up their bears...

Feels just right!

Bath time!!

Joshua with his police dog "Jeremy"

Captain America Bear! 

Hook 'Em the basketball-playin' Koala

An attempt at a group shot!

And what's a trip to the mall without a carousel ride?

Our finished products, home safe and sound!

Update: Logan is SO proud of his creation, sleeps with it every night and takes it everywhere! Ryan knows the Koala is his, but aside from that he's still pretty find sleeping without anything in particular and Joshua loves his dog, takes ownership over it and gets excited when he joins him in the crib at night! Pretty much how I would have expected for each of them!