Thursday, June 23, 2016

May

May was a WET month here in Texas. The wettest in history I believe. Luckily there were still some pleasant days to play at the park. Leah loves to hang like this, and she will find all sorts of funny ways to do it.


Emmy has phases where she wakes up a few times in the night. A sticker chart and bribery are usually my best bet at getting back on track. Emmy was picking out her "reward" for sleeping through the night for awhile.

Just a typical day in the life...which sometimes means faucets running when they shouldn't be, and children on the counter when they shouldn't be,

We had lunch with some other moms from church one afternoon. It was at a fun Mexican restaurant with a playscape for the kids to use while we ate. 


May was a busy and big month for us. Nate was promoted to Major, and the kids and I attended the ceremony. We were a bit of a circus, but it was great to be there as a family.

 I'm always so proud of him. He does the right things for the right reasons.


We "celebrated" that afternoon by taking the kids to Thin Air. 

Summer time = s'mores and pizza on the grill

Our good friends were sealed in the San Antonio temple during May, and Nate and I were able to attend. 

Leah notices EVERY time we drive by the car wash, and I have to reassure her we are not going. (We could really do better at the frequency we wash our cars.) I think she's remembering this particular experience.

Goofing around at Jimmy John's one evening


I had a wonderful Mother's Day. I was served this delicious ham and egg and cheese omelet in bed.

Natalie made me my very own pinata!

 It actually took some real effort and a little while to bust it open. It was a big (but fun) mess.

 I had been looking forward to May for a lot of reasons, and one big one was my girl's trip to San Diego with my Ohio friends. This was dad's first day with the kids...

They certainly have a good time when they're with him.

I first flew into Las Vegas and was able to get some frozen yogurt with these friends I love and miss dearly. 

The next morning Kiki and I drove to San Diego. I loved having hours to just chat with her and catch up. I could have done it for 10! We picked up Monica and Kara from the airport not long after getting into San Diego.

One of our first adventures was historic Old Town. I could have used some of this stuff to help us celebrate Fiesta in San Antonio!


This was the best Mexican food I'd ever had. We were entertained by birds who kept swooping in too close for Kiki's comfort. 


Nothing beats the beach. I could stare out at the water forever.



This was our view from the back patio of the home we rented. It was really beautiful.

Seaport Village was a great place to spend a morning. No need for a real plan or destination, just beautiful scenery and my favorite people.

I was glad when Annie got into town so that I had someone to be weird with.


Annie got to spend her birthday with us, so we made sure to make it special.


I had to do a little convincing to get these girls to do a Segway tour, but I think they're happy we went for it.

I felt like I had the biggest goofy grin on my face the whole time.




There was a neat event going on nearby that had the coolest and cutest stuff. We stopped in and did a little shopping.

We all loved this market.

Coronado Island


Sunday morning it was just me, Monica, and Kara. We explored Balboa Park.



Meanwhile, Leah was ready for her mama to come home. Nate always does such a fantastic job when it's just him and the kids. 

I loved Leah's fat little feet squeezed into these little dress up shoes.




The other thing that made May such a fantastic month was my trip to Utah for my mom's wedding. I got to meet my sweet nephew Gregory for the first time. 

My mom's wedding was beautiful, and they snuck it in during the couple hours of good weather that day. I'm so happy for her, and we are excited to get to know Mike better.











This another "meanwhile when mom was gone" picture.

Jansen and Natalie had their first piano recital. They have been playing for less than a year, but have made so much progress. I truly love hearing them practice, and I did not expect that.


I took Leah and Emmy to the zoo one morning before our annual pass expired.



The school Sock Hop was a big success, and Jansen seemed much more into it than last year.

Leah loves to try and store everything and anything in our pockets.

Proof of our wet month

My friend Tori took this picture of our church after a huge storm.

Emmy was sweetly scratching Leah's back.

"Look Mommy, I driving!" She loves to grab this part of her highchair and pretend she's driving.

And also in May...Leah turned 2! We had a really busy week, so we waited till the weekend to celebrate our little nugget and let her open presents and have cake and ice cream.

 When Leah eats something she likes she says, "So nummy good!"
She loves to run from me and say, "Momma come get you!" 
When we drive down small hills she exclaims from her carseat, "Woohoo downhill!"
And my personal favorite, although I have no idea where it came from is "Okay, let's do it!"