Fort Worth Trip

This weekend we went to Fort Worth to see Clay, Robin, Noah, Jude, and our newest nephew, Luke! We always have such a wonderful time visiting with their family and I loved meeting little Luke. I realized last night that I never took a picture of him! How awful!!

Friday night Clay, Clint, and the big boys went to see a Rangers game. This was Jack's first baseball game and they had a great time! Thanks Clay and Clint for taking all the boys somewhere so Robin and I could just hold babies without chasing older kids!

Saturday was Noah's 4th birthday and Clay and Robin had a party celebrating Jude's 2nd, Noah's 4th, and Luke's birth! Lots of friends came to play in the water and eat awesome cookie cake.

Saturday night we all went to eat at On the Border. It was the most relaxing meal I think I've had in months. Seriously!! Sydney actually slept through the whole meal (usually she has to be held at supper or she'll scream) and the boys all behaved so well. We ate outside and they had ceiling fans and a light breeze. It was wonderful!

Also, on Saturday, Robin and I went to an amazing fabric store that carries designers that I can't find in stores around here. I bought some Amy Butler fabric and a Sew Serendipity pattern. I'm about to make my first dress for myself. We'll see how this goes!

5 Months and Other Adventures

Sydney Kaye is five months old. I don't know what's harder to believe...that five months have passed since I gave birth or that I have to go back to work in three weeks?? Reality is setting in, people.

At five months, Sydney:

• thinks rolling is stupid and unnecessary. She's done it once and didn't see what all the rage was about.
• thinks sitting is awesome! She can support herself sitting for a few seconds and gets better every day.
• thinks eating solid food is terrifying. She cries with every bite and half-chokes on most bites. She thinks I'm trying to kill her.
• thinks sleeping is the best. She sleeps 13 hours at night and takes three naps during the day.
• thinks Jack is awesome. She would much rather him talk to her than anyone else.
  

As I have said a thousand times before, she is such a sweet, sweet girl. I know one day she will be too busy for me and will think I'm ridiculous, but I'll hold on to these days!



Other happenings:

We have been blessed with wonderful friends in the Carnes. Seth and Becca have two boys, Ethan and Asa, that are the same ages as Sydney and Jack. Jack and Ethan are great friends and play incredibly well together. We went to the zoo this week. Becca, Sydney, Asa and I almost melted, but Jack and Ethan didn't seem to notice the heat! Jack got bit by an emu...Alexandrians beware!! We also saw a 3 1/2 foot snake that WAS NOT IN A CAGE!!! We alerted the zoo employees and they caught him. If you have a fear of snakes, I'm so sorry that I just scared you away from the Alexandria Zoo.
We all loaded up in the Carnes vehicle last week. Here's what a family of six would look like. Whew!!

Ethan had a lot of fun...I promise!



Jack and Sydney on the train


Jack and Ethan riding an elephant

Asa sleeping away!

The boys (with Becca in the background) driving the jeep

Sydney is not thrilled with this whole excursion.


Also, as I've written earlier, Jack only takes a nap once or twice a week. We've had to have a little compromise, and it's worked beautifully!! He sits in the chair in his room for an hour. I put on some music and he "reads" books to himself. He's so cute! I took this picture from around the corner because I didn't want to disturb his (and my) reading time.



Also, Jack is shaving. Don't worry...it's an off-set spatula. Doesn't he look like a small teenager with his towel around his waist? Precious.


Whew! Sorry for such a long post, but we've been busy having fun this summer! We're headed to Ft. Worth to see Clay, Robin, Noah, Jude, and Luke. I'll take a ton of pictures and update you next week!

Smocking

Yep, new crafting obsession. Smocking! You can buy "Ready-to-smock" items on Ebay for fairly cheap. I bought a bubble suit for Sydney that will fit her next summer. I can't wait to get busy on it!

My pastor's wife smocks and taught me how using a bonnet first. Doesn't Sydney look so precious?? It was raining this morning, but once it clears up I'll take her outside for a better photo shoot :) Oh, and no I didn't smock the dress...just the bonnet!

Happenings

What's been happening? Not much....that's the beauty of summer. I've set the alarm less than five times in the last five months.

Beautiful.

And, it's going to get ugly in five short weeks. But let's not talk about that, okay?

Last week Jack went to the dentist for the first time! He did absolutely amazing. I was beaming from ear to ear as each hygenist came in and said, "Wow. He's awesome!" His teeth looked great and he doesn't have to go back for six months.

Me, on the other hand......I've never had a cavity in my life. And now I have five. Dang pregnancy. I'm glad we went ahead and forked out the money for dental insurance, because otherwise these cavities would be $1500 to get filled. Ouch!

I've been working on the living room little by little. It's the one room in our house that I don't feel like is put together well.

1. Our rug is falling apart and WILL be replaced by the time Syd is crawling. It disgusts me.

2. The (free) loveseat was covered by my great-grandmother's quilt and looked a little too shabby and a little less chic. I replaced the quilt with a tablecloth from Target. I'll put up pictures after I make a couple of pillows.

3. The curtains have been redone, except for one.



4. The lamp next to the couch has been broken for a year or more. It's just there for looks. It needs to be replaced/fixed/whatever.

5. Jack and Clint broke a plate in my plate rack, and I found these two at Tuesday Morning for $2 each!

I'll keep you updated and post pictures of the living room once I'm happy with it!


And here's a picture of Sydney playing today. She is so bubbly, don't you think?

Soooo much better!

Next time we buy a house (if ever), remind me that a living room with four windows equals a lot of time and money. Thank you very much.

So, this is a side window with curtains I made over a year ago. At the time, we couldn't afford to buy four matching curtain rods, so I bought those little white cheapo rods to get us through. However, those little white cheapo rods, although they say "heavy duty," do not hold up with drapes. Just so you know. The curtains were crooked, awkward, and I dealt with it for a year and a half.

This weekend I found four matching curtain rods for $55 at Hobby Lobby! Clint graciously hung them for me this weekend and I'm in the process of fixing the curtains one window at a time. I decided to buy the rings because they are easy to deal with and I can slide the curtains open and closed.

Today I ironed, rehemmed, and resituated the first curtain, and Voila!!


I LOVE it. So much more modern and clean looking. Target only had one set of rings in the store, so I can only get this window done for now, but I'll update with a picture of the whole living room once they are all complete. Oh, and you can also see that I repainted the living room. The awful gold is gone and a nice neutral in its place. Awesome.

4th of July Weekend

Blogger hasn't been letting me upload pictures...so I'm trying again!

Clint was off on Friday because he had to work Monday, so we enjoyed a long weekend together. Sydney has been sick with a bad cough and then a double ear infection. So, Clint and I took turns doing fun things with Jack while the other rocked, held, sang to, and snuggled Sydney. Poor thing cried for three days. This too shall pass, right? The doctor warned me that she will struggle with ear infections her first two years of life because she has very tiny eustachian tubes. I asked if there was anything I could do to prevent them, and he said, "Move out of Louisiana." HA!

Here is Sydney pre-ear infection. Check out those thighs. She is my doll!


Friday Clint kept the kids while I did a little shopping around town (darling husband of mine!) We met for lunch at Chick-fil-A then just hung out at home all afternoon.

We took J and S for a walk. Jack is so proud to ride with her in the wagon.


Saturday Clint and Jack went to see Thomas the Train movie in theaters. Jack LOVED it!


Sunday we went to church, ate BBQ with the Carnes, and went to a 4th of July party with the singles at our church. Ha! Seriously, Becca called and asked if we would go so Ethan would have someone to play with. We had a great time!

Here are the 4th of July pictures...I had to post all of them because I think they are hilarious!!


This is the best one we got:


Sydney's not happy. Jack looks on lovingly.



"Hey! She hit me!!"


"Finally, one of me all by myself..."



"HOLD ME NOW!!!"