Reading Nook

While the kids were gone at Grandparents Camp, I had 2 projects on my list. Project #1 was to clean the house from TOP to BOTTOM (mopping and baseboards included). This was such a boring project, but I really wanted to be able to do it with no interruptions and to be able to enjoy it for a WEEK without it being "messed up" again. Loved every minute of it!
Project #2 was to turn our downstairs closet into a reading nook. A couple months ago, Brent and I reorganized our big closet upstairs and put in more shelves to help do this. We cleaned out the closet downstairs but never got around to painting and transforming. Not as easy to do with 3 little ones running around. So, while the kiddos were gone, I thought I would finally finish the project and surprise them. On Tuesday, I painted the whole closet and some cubbies Brent had made awhile ago. On Wednesday we went to FBG so I didn't get anything done. On Thursday, I took the cubbies to my friend, Donen's, house and we distressed/stained them. It was a lot of fun doing that with somebody rather than by myself. She is more of a pro at it than I am so it was fun. Then, Thursday afternoon, Brent and I hung cable cords along the wall to hang art work. We also hung some other things and put everything together. I LOVE how it turned out. I really hope we get great use out of the space!!

                                   BEFORE                                                                               AFTER

Painted a Gray color

Cubbies painted a mustard yellow color

Donen and I distressing and staining the cubbies

All done with the stain/distressing. LOVE

Organizing the area

AFTER!!

Hideout corner

6 Years Old!

6 Years Old! Using 2 hands to hold up how old you are!! That is a BIG DEAL! My sweet Ezra turned 6! How did we get here?! I can take myself back to the day this little boy made me a mommy and changed my life forever in the best way possible! Seems like that wasn't 6 years ago.
I love this boy! He is such a sweet, tender hearted little guy. He loves his daddy, hunting, fishing, baseball (well, anything sports), swimming, riding bikes and building legos. He is such thoughtful little guy. Very interested in how things work. Asks lots of great questions and is just a smart guy!

Here is his birthday interview:

1. What is your fav color? Red
2. What is your fav toy? Legos
3. What is your fav thing to eat for lunch? Turkey Sandwhich
4. What is your fav TV show? Lion King 2
5. What is your fav outfit? Black shorts and Under Aromour shirt (workout clothes)
6. What is your fav fruit? Grapes
7. What is your fav game? Football
8. What is your fav snack? Goldfish and Raisins/ cheesestick
9. What is your fav song? This is my comandment
10. What is your fav animal? Deer
11. What is your fav book? Super hero book
12. Who is your best friend? Emmanuel (cousin) and Bexar
13. What is your fav cereal? Fruit Loops
14. What is your fav drink? Sprite
15. What is your fav holiday? Christmas (because it's God's birthday)
16. What is your fav thing to do outside? Play Baseball
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My blankie and puppy stuffed animal
18. What is your fav thing to eat for breakfast? Waffles
19. What is your fav desert? Chocolate Chip cookies
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Hunter for Bucks

For his birthday, we headed to Fredericksburg. The kids had been in FBG already with Brent's parents. They had grandparents camp this week. They spent the night from Sunday to Friday. They did a lot of fun things. 12 cousins in all!! Elynn even stayed for a couple nights. So, Wednesday, Brent and I met up with them at Jellystone RV park. They were going to swim, play and campout overnight. It was such a cool/fun place to go. The not so good, but great at the same time, about the day was it was raining and chilly. So most of the swimming was in the hot tub. Here are some pictures!

Blowing out his candles

Little E

The crew in the hot tub

Cousin Andrew and Elynn

Cousins Andrew and Emmanuel with Elynn

Playing pool, fuse ball and grilling out!

Big Girl

My baby is getting SO BIG! After getting home from Colorado and having slept in a bed with me all week, she wanted NOTHING to do with her crib. So, we ended up taking it down and turning her room into her big girl room. She was sharing a room with Emersyn, but was still in her crib. Elynn is a talker and talks herself to sleep so the girls stayed up a lot later than they should talking. After trying to decide what to do about Elynn and her bed. We decided to give a big girl bed a try but in her own room. It has been GREAT so far. She loves it. Emersyn likes having her room back and she goes to sleep a lot earlier. We figure in a year or so, we can try having them share again. But, no rush.
This is the first time in about 6 YEARS we haven't had a crib up in the house. Feels kind of weird but great at the same time. Things are getting so easy lately and I am really enjoying it all!!

Colorado

Every year we head to Westcliffe, CO. Brent's family has a cabin in the mountains. We loaded in the car after Ezra's Championship swim meet, Saturday the 29th. It is a 13 hour drive to the cabin, so we try to drive 8 hrs the first day and then the other 5 the next. Our goal was to stay the night in Amarillo. I remember going last year when Elynn was younger and it was a harder trip. She 'cried it out' a lot in the car because we couldn't really do anything else with her. She was so hard to entertain and just wanted to be out of the car or held. So this year, I was praying it would be a little bit better of a trip. It was the best trip ever. The kids did AWESOME! In that 8 hr period, we stopped 1X for dinner and potty, got back in the car and drove about 2 more hours to our destination. No crying/screaming/fighting or complaining! When we told them we were going to stop, they even said, "don't stop. Let's keep going till we get there." ha! The same thing happened on the way back. Super easy/Fun road trip!!
We stayed in Colorado from Sunday to Friday afternoon. We lacked a lot of the regular crew this year. So, this year it was Opa, Oma, Our family, Brent's brother, Brian, brent's sister Melanie and her family, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Mary, Adrian and his girlfriend.
The weather was amazing. Cool/cold with afternoon showers the whole week. We were able to hike and camp in the mountains with Ezra and Emersyn while Elynn stayed behind with Brent's parents, sister and brother-in-law. Emersyn and Ezra even hiked up 2.5 miles on a trail to a lake at the top of the mountains. They loved camping in a tent and wanted to stay 2 nights. The day we came down from the mountains, it was July 4th so the little town was having a parade. We arrived just in time for the parade, with even a few minutes to spare. So we loaded up on coffee and baked goods and watched a cute parade. That evening the guys went fishing while the girls stayed back at the cabin. We all met up at the lake later that night to watch the fireworks that were going off over the lake. Such a fun day. Friday was another fun filled day. Most of the crew went to this great stream to catch more fish. When they were satisfied with the amount of fish they caught, we headed back to the cabin to eat lunch and pack up. We love Colorado and hate leaving, but are so thankful we are able to go every year.
Such a cute thing..Ezra was super sad to leave. He was crying so hard and kept saying, "it just makes me so sad to leave. I love Colorado. I don't want to live in the city. I want to live in the wild!" All Brent could say was, "I know what you mean, bud." I am sure that is the same feeling Brent has often. Ha!

Texas Weather..

Our first pit stop in NM.

The view from the cabin!

One lake we went fishing at

It rained a little while we were there. Then had a TRIPLE rainbow!

Our camping spot in the mountains.

Brent caught the first fish of the week!

Hiking to the lake at the top of the mountain

The lake at the top of the mountain. That little dot you can kinda see is Emersyn

The kids fell in LOVE with these dogs at the parade. They kept asking if we could get one.

This dog's name was Elin.. like my Elynn!

Part of the crew for the parade

Small town parade.. of course someone is riding a longhorn

Colorado weather..and this was a warm day!

Getting ready for the fireworks. It was chilly.

My girly girl LOVES the outdoors too.

Cleaning the fish they caught

You can't tell, but this was a little herd of 5 HUGE Elk bulls.

End of our crazy June

I feel like I can breathe a little easier now that June is over. June was such a crazy month for us. We were super busy with Ezra's tball, swim team and him being in the hospital with Meningitis. We also had the girls in swim lessons and Emersyn is doing gymnastics. When I am writing this, that really doesn't sound like a lot, but EVERY DAY..
June ended up really good in spite of our busy schedule. Ezra placed 5th overall in his age group with swim team. That was for our whole division, so like 20 kids! Pretty good. He was one of the youngest. I am pretty sure my children are part Fish! Emersyn started swim lessons in the middle of June, maybe, and she is swimming all over the place. I really didn't think she would be swimming until she was a lot older because she had such a fear of the water! One day it all clicked and she hasn't stopped. Oh and Elynn. She.Is.FEARLESS!! She jumps in, goes under, kicks to the side, dives for sticks like she is 5. I cannot get over it. I love it but at the same time its pretty crazy and you cannot take your eyes off of her! Here are some pictures.. I have a video of Emersyn and Elynn swimming so I will try to add those too.

Championship meet

His crew!

Ezra's end of the season party

Emersyn swimming on her 1st day of lessons!