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we didn't go to kemah again today, but i had to share this picture.  i didn't take very many pictures of our vacation because i wanted to soak up every minute of it (aka i had 3 kids to chase and it was 198* outside).  here's the scoop of the entire weekend though ...

we arrived thursday evening at a secret hotel.  my parents had gone to houston thursday as well, but none of us were invited.  we were to just meet them friday morning so we could all go to kemah together.  we're not dumb.  so we went thursday evening to avoid friday morning traffic from home to houston.  my sister and bro did the same exact thing.  so we were all within miles of each other in another city and had no clue.  bahahahaha!

so friday, we met at the hotel we all stayed at together and then headed to kemah.  we rode rides.  and rode rides.  and rode rides.  waited 50 forevers for the train.  slurped up some icees.  stood in the misters.  found any air conditioning we could find.  ate lunch at some buffet type place.  walked through the aquarium.  fed the eels.  played in the splash pad.  then headed back to the hotel 6 hours later.  we swam.  went to dinner at some mexican food place who stole the name of our favorite restaurant in the history of restaurants.  then swam some more.

saturday, we ate breakfast at the waffle house.  be still my heart.  those pecan waffles were amazing.  we swam some more.  and then headed to a fun place down the road to play 198* putt putt, laser tag, climb rock walls, bumper cars, bumper boats, and all kinds of other games.  we spent lots of money and had lots of fun. 

after that, we were all exhausted.  my parents came home with us and the sis & bro went home.  they're party poopers and couldn't handle any more of this.  it was a GREAT weekend.  it was one of those "i need a vacation from my vacation" vacations. 

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a super fun {HOT} day in kemah with my family.  i'm in love with family vacations.  and ferris wheels.

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i love when my girls make friends.  especially when i also get along with their mama.  this is our friend, G, with the girls after jumping off the diving board at swim lessons this morning.  G was in school with karsyn and i have also become friends with her mama. 

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we absolutely love swim lessons.  but not as much as i like this girl's figure.  how cute is she?  i wish i had the body shape that she does.  and color.  karsyn actually told her "mykah, i am sorry to tell you this, but you were born brown."  i about choked on my food.  "you were born brown and me and jaxton were white."  kills me.

anyway, they have done an amazing job at swim lessons.  karsyn is extremely good at it.  and mykah is really getting the hang of swimming.  she's surprised me this time.

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there are no words to express how much i love this boy.  he is an absolute joy.  he's such a good baby.  so content, for the most part.  so happy.  and loves to play.  i couldn't ask for anything better.

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he's just not so sure about the grass.  the way it feels, anyway.  i love how he lifts one leg to keep the grass from touching his tiny little toes.  but those darn hands go to pulling, then the grass ends up straight in the mouth.  one of my favorite parts of being a mom is seeing my children experience new things.  especially when those new things trigger their senses in funny ways.  he is a ticklish little guy, that's for sure.  and everything ends up in the mouth, no matter what it is.  oh how fun it has been to experience raising a boy.  there seems to be something new every single day. 

and i love it.

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Our "Little Granny" went to be with Jesus today.  I can say that my life was blessed when I met her.  She was a strong little lady.  She knew what she wanted and she told you what she thought.  I was able to witness some big changes in her life the short 10 years that I knew her and I will miss her terribly.  I'm very thankful that my children knew their great grandmother.  That's a blessing in itself.  She was 93 years old and she lived an abundant life. 

What makes this day hard is that my sweet mother-in-law is in the hospital.  She will be unable to be at the funeral, which is a feeling that is unimaginable.  I'm holding onto the fact that the last time Lola was able to visit Granny, they had a good visit.  That's the memory she'll have of her.

This picture is the day she met Jaxton.  What a sweet, sweet memory.

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it was a donuts-at-the-park kind of morning. 

our summer has not exactly gone as we expected.  i wanted to have a plan.  a very detailed plan.  one that we actually stuck to.  one that included lots of summer activities.  and nothing has gone as planned.  david has spent lots of days with his mom, which has lead me to be a single mom more often than i ever imagined.  we make the most of it, but the kids are really starting to miss days home with daddy.  i think that is one reason we love summer so much is because we get to spend more time with him.  and they know it. 

to change it up a bit, we decided to get up, go grab some highly unhealthy donuts, and head to the playground.  it was a nice change of scenery, i do believe.  and much needed. 

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we are slowly introducing jaxton to real food.  for some reason, i've done things different with him than i did with the girls.  i think it's because i'm older.  maybe that sounds dumb.  but to me, a 24 year old mom does things different than a 32 year old mom.  makes sense in my head, anyway.

back to the food.  we have chosen to do everything almost by the book with him.  he has had only formula for quite a while now.  he didn't have cereal or baby food until he was closer to 5-6 months.  and at 9 months is now entering the world of table food. 

first up ... diced pears and carrots.  he's still working on picking things up with his fingers, but he's getting the hang of it pretty quickly.  this particular meal, i ended up using a fork to feed him because he couldn't quite figure out how to get it all in his mouth.  he ate it up though!  no problems at all.

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i love my boys.

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i love a downtown view.  i love the old buildings, mixed with some new ones.  i love the sounds and the smells.  i know, i'm weird.

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my sweet, sweet husband surprised me with a kid-free trip to downtown houston for our anniversary.  we LOVE the downtown scene.  no matter what downtown it is, we love it.  downtown bryan even does something for us.  he made plans for my parents to have all 3 kids and booked us a room at the magnolia hotel, which was NICE.  it's definitely a different hotel than we've ever stayed at and i could very easily get spoiled to staying there.

we went to an astros game, walked around downtown, ate some delicious food, and just enjoyed each others company.  time alone where we can actually have a conversation was heavenly.  and we made ourselves slow down when eating so we could enjoy our meals. 

it was a very nice, much needed time.  it's so hard to believe that we've been together for 10 years and married for 8.  i feel so OLD.

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this was my view when i drove up after spending a few days in mansfield with david's mom.  i'm not sure who was more ready to see me home!

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Eating healthy is a topic that consumes my mind constantly.  Not just eating healthy really, but BEING healthy.  I really WANT to be strong and healthy so that my children will follow my lead and be strong and healthy all of their lives as well.  I want them to learn what it means to take care of our bodies.  With all of this on my mind, I still struggle daily with making healthy choices.  I have good days and I have bad days.  I also have REALLY bad days.  I'm also an emotional eater.  A stress eater, really.  So with the stress of having David's mom in the hospital and him being gone a lot, I've eaten a whole lot of really bad food.  Then, I wise up and eat good again.  Then, something else hits, and I eat bad again.  It's constant and something that I'm not proud of.  Learning to be healthy is the hardest thing I've ever done, other than being a parent.  It's hard to make healthy decisions day in and day out when you've done nothing but make bad decisions for years. 

I'm trying though.  And I'm not giving up completely.  AdvoCare has helped tremendously and keeps me going.  I want to be the person who has succeeded and helps others find the same success. 

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here's another work in progress.  trying to figure out what exactly i'm going for here.  i'm loving the colors.  yellow and aqua can now be found in several places in my house.  i wanted the top of these shelves to be filled with globes of all different sizes and colors.  i have 2.  so until i can find more, i improvised with frames and birdhouses.  random.  but i'm liking it.  it fills the space nicely.  now to get the nails out of the wall, fill holes, and touch up paint.  making a house your own home is hard work!

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i'm always trying to find new things to keep the girls entertained.  simple things.  cheap things.  and things that will last longer than 2 minutes.  every spent hours planning something or a lot of money buying something new, and it lasts all but 2 minutes and they are ready to move on?  that's a mommy pet-peeve of mine.  it is.  drives me INSANE. 

paper on the dining table, however, lasts DAYS.  karsyn is big into writing these days, so she decided to copy my chalkboard letters.  this paper lasted quite a while.  when we're done filling it up, i'll add some more.  they like to draw on it just about every day.  adding new things here and there.  then we are able to look at things, laugh at things, and talk about the things they've drawn while we eat dinner. 

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i need to post pictures of our new house.  it's been a slow process.  we moved in.  then it was the last week of school and all that entails.  then we went on vacation.  now we're unpacking from vacation.  david's mom is in the hospital.  and we're trying to catch up with life.  i've decorated here and there.  it's a different style of house from what we had before, so i'm trying to see how it's all going to come together.  one of the first things i had to do was to find a spot for my chalkboard.  there's no walls above my dining table now, so i had to find the perfect spot.  this little wall is between the living and dining rooms and i am loving how this spot has turned out so far.  maybe one day that dresser will get a makeover.

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yet another picture of my sweet boy.  this laundry basket kept him contained for a short while.  a very short while.  but he loved it.  i forgot how to entertain a baby!  why buy toys when you already have a laundry basket.

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this boy.  oh my goodness gracious.  he absolutely makes my heart flutter.  look at those eyes!

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These are some girls who are glad to be home and ready to get back to our new summer routine.  I'm hoping the happiness stays! 

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i'd say it was a successful vacation ...

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as a family, we competed in the color run this morning.  it was TOUGH doing this with small children.  i'm pretty sure i carried mykah for 3 of the 3.2 miles we trucked along.  she even managed to pee her pants before we even finished the first mile.  yep.  peed her pants.  she had to go and there was no where to go.  so, my recommendation for anyone wanting to have a 4 year old compete in a race ... make sure they go potty BEFORE you start!  we both smelled like pee by the end, but we made it.   can you tell mykah had fun?