Alice's first time at the beloved splash pad. I once again wasn't sure if she would like this activity. Lots of high energy, noise, running, and cold water but I was doubting in vain. She adored it. She played with cousins in the river.

And laughed on the water stairs.

She loved putting her hands in the waterfall.

And climbing on the rocks.

She had such a good time and we are going to be making lots of trips this summer to the splash pad!

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! I am now 25, a whole quarter of a century, and my sweet husband made sure that this landmark occasion didn't go by without a little fuss. He got me and he got me good, I never saw it coming. He very sweetly told me that he was getting up with Alice and that I was to just relax and sleep. That in itself is an awesome present but after he finished feeding Alice at 2 in the morning he stayed up till 4 in the morning with over 1000 feet of streamers and caution tape and covered the living room in a labaryinth of crisscrossing tape. I couldn't believe my eyes! Then he went one step further and hid my presents in it all. I had to crawl and search all over and it was such a treat. Such a grand gesture and it made my 25th birthday one to remember! Later that night we had super yummy pizza and got to eat super scrumptious from scratch cake at Angies house(I forgot my camera. So mad at myself) with whipped cream frosting and berries. it was so good. Then I got to watch cute internet videos and eat my weight in delicous pomegranite sorbet. Best birthday ever!

We have toys, balls, stuffed animals, a back yard, a dog, rattles, books, and all sorts of fun things to keep occupied with but what does Alice prefer above all those things? Trash! She adores bottles, bags, paper, wrappers, she just loves it. I think she loves the noises it makes. Well today the funny girl was trying to climb up my recycling bin and ended up pulling it down on top of herself. Did she cry? No, she very contently played with all the papers that had ended up on her lap. I took this picture and she didn't start complaining for another 10 minutes. She is so silly and such a princess, she is going to just do what she wants.

HA HA HA! I love these kids and their adorable little booties! Wait I've seen this before....

Happy disco daddy day!!! Jude has for some reason given Derek the name Disco daddy, I think it is actually supposed to be a form of "this go daddy" but it sounds like dosco daddy and it is so cute. Derek LOVES bacon, so I thought I would get him a gag/intriguing fathers day present. He got chocolate covered bacon! Angie and I made it and it looked really cute as a matter of fact. We crumbled the bcaon and melted down the chocolate and put it all into little heart molds. It turned out really adorable. And it wasn't that bad. It was the saltyness of a chocolate pretzel only much more intense. The kids loved it and everyone had at leastone heart. It was a really funny way to tell our men folk that we adore them and are so greatful for all the hardowrk they put into our families. We love our daddies!

Having a yard is fantastic. It was much work and much time and much money and it was worth it all! My kids have a safe place where they can play as free as they want. We have sprinkler parties, throw balls, chase games, blow bubbles, draw with chalk, and have all sorts of fun. Jude just loves to wander around in the morning which is nice for mw when I am trying to catch up on house work. A lot of the time Jude just wants me to be there. He doesn't want me to be involved in what he is doing though so i can sit there and read or relax with Alice while Jude gets all his outside energy taken care of. It is so wonderful! here is a cute video of Duckets trying to get Alice to play with him and Jude just loving it!

Park

So it happens to be international picnic day this last Saturday! We had such a good time going to a splash pad slash park combo. Angie and I made a wonderus brunch picnic that not a single kid would look at because there was too much fun to be had. All of the kids couldn't wait to get wet. It was sofun to watch them run and play. While the boys played us girls couldn't resist going to an open house across the street. We had such a good time playing house and deciding what we would do with our homes, once we have them. We had a grand time. International picnic day done right!

Alice being a super cute in the tub! Watch out for the suprise ending!

Kids can be so silly. Alice and Jude were taking a bath and Jude felt that everyone needed to have numbers on their heads. It was the dress code for this evenings bath time. Anytime Alice would move and her numbers would fall off Jude made sure to help her out and get the numbers back up. Funny kids, Funny games.

Splish Splash Alice in the bath! She is starting to really enjoy it now that she can sit up and splash. Her blue gray eyes are so so beautiful!

Having a good day with Jude at the splash pad. Tati came to play and we had such a good time splashing, running, jumping, and getting some gorgeous summer sun!

Alice was just entranced by all the big kids in Texas. She wanted to be so big and play with all the kids. I think it inspired her because one day, all of a sudden, she was standing. I made a really big deal about it and that sealed the deal. She is now the stander girl!

This post also doubles as her 8 month post. Caught her standing up in her crib and had to take pictures. Jude had to come get in the pictures to. He isn't allowed in the crib but he was so enthusiastic about it that I had to let it slide.

Happy 8 months beautiful girl!!!

I call this our incepsecation! Our vacation within a vacation(a inception plug for anyone left in the dark. Go see the movie!)

More random fun, shopping, trying on clothes, eating, bouncy house.

We were very sad to leave our Texas family. We had a wonderful time and made some wonderful memories.