babysitting

seems like time is going by so fast- this week is almost over and I have not even posted once about last weekend. i had the opportunity to have both nayeli and karyna overnight for the first time... well, not the first time for nayeli, but first for karyna. i was REALLY nervous as she was newly weaned. i envisioned some very worrisome moments - i guess i assumed she would be very unhappy and would refuse the bottle. silly me. that happened not a bit. she was perfect - ate well, went to bed well - it was not stressful and tons of fun. I also got to watch both she and nayeli interact together - as you can see they explored toys together. karyna, by the way, has great eye coordination - she could actually follow the balls as they fell through the cylinders on this toy.

party all weekend

seriously pat - thanks for having us over




we rounded out the full weekend at pat's - wow - what a party


- they know how to do it right! those burgers, by the way steve, were awesome (pat's recipe, but steve's grilling) - the glider was a good buy - loved it - need to go to yard sales with pat more.

- and the kids made new friends at the fence - eric blew us away with career considerations - mel, tell him no

saturday night live

as the weekend continued, a highlight for bud and i is always having kids at our house

- and we love all of it

- and they love getting outdoors now in the backyard - which, by the way, bud is working hard at cleaning up so that reagan can actually come over too - including planning a special blanket for her to sit on in the yard - a work in progress and motivation for bud.

the kids loved swinging, playing at the fence, playing ball, racing cars and finally... sleeping

pre-pool opening

saturday - hit a couple garage sales, run errands, take some printed materials to molly who is visiting at sue and jack's.... beth and rob are also out visiting - along with jayla and jorga - full house at the hargrove's - is anybody going to work in the garden? my money is on austin catching rob - and WHAT was in the creek that commanded so much attention?

made it

everyone is posting about rick's graduation - and i will be no different - keeping in chronological order - party and eat - then go to graduation - and here is another pic of the man of the hour and his fans

before you can graduate

this really should be a photo session posted somewhere other than just as a stream of pictures on the blog, but these pictures reflect the BEFORE graduation of our extremely accomplished and very much loved
rick. and these pictures reflect the best of family - the having fun together, whether it is running a race with a sibling, following around the kids who run themselves, playing games with the toddlers and babies, peek-a-boo, tag, riding boats,



and every variance you can consider - this was such fun - good weather, food, family - fun! for everyone. nick and allison give karyna fun, running becomes a regular past-time for many, although rick and bob avoided it... bob takes multiple pics of barb - this is only a small sampling, walking in the good weather and holding babies is popular, as is watching them crawl through the grass, nick catches his breath from his races, molly and bob kind of like each other, the youngest two try to get to know each other better, bud blends in with the sunlight, nayeli enjoys the slide, grandma brooks enjoys the babies and all company, more climbing, running, playing.... and all this before the big event of the evening.

happy birthday

happy birthday to nick and molly - 28 and 26 today.

so ... what did i remember today?

i remember 3 birthday parties every year around or on your birthday - one for nick and his friends ( which molly and katie attended also)- one for molly and her friends - and then, of course the family party. add to that two sets of cupcakes for your classes - we baked for days.

i remember having parties in the back yard, in the house - at ceasarland - games that involved carrying eggs in spoons around a yard, scavenger hunts, dress up games,

i remember special birthday cakes and half-birthday gifts

i remember shopping for gifts from your dad - before they became so 'unique'

i remember smiling an awful lot- yeah - good times.