Happy Father's Day

Wayne got to spend lots of time with his babies Father's Day weekend. I was actually gone on a girl's crafting retreat Thursday through Saturday night. I had so much fun, but I did miss my sweet family (actually, I had LOTS of fun!). On Sunday morning, we started the day by loading up in the car before Daddy woke up, and we drove through Einstein Bagels to get Wayne is favorite breakfast. I wasn't able to give him is main gift (framed program, ticket, and pictures from the Mavericks game 3) because it wasn't ready yet, but we did give him a smaller gift. I made him a mini scrapbook of pictures of him with Nathan and Charlotte. I was so happy that he liked it because I worked hard to find the perfect pictures AND make it as "manly" a scrapbook as I could :)

After opening gifts and letting Daddy sleep in, he and Nathan went to Lowe's, stained the swing set, and then we all went swimming. Nathan has been taking swimming lessons, and as you can see, they are paying off! He was so scared to put his head under water a month ago, but now he has no fear and swims like a fish! He can swim from one side of the pool to the other!












While I was gone, Wayne took such good care of his babies. Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world. We love you more than you could ever know!

Go Mavericks!

Not only did Wayne take Nathan to the World Series, but he also took him to Game 3 of the NBA finals. What a lucky boy! Nathan was so excited to put on his #41 Dirk Nowitzki jersey. While the Mavericks were in the playoffs, Wayne watched every game, and Nathan was right there with him cheering them on. In fact, he yelled "Dammit" several times while watching a game...Wayne, you've got to pay attention to what you're saying!

On the day of the game, the boys both took a good nap and then let me take pictures of them. As you can see at the end, I was trying to take a cute picture of Nathan just by himself, but the little stinker kept making silly faces!









Congratulations to the Mavs for winning the whole thing! They are the 2011 National Champions!

Lakehouse Playdate

Two weekends ago, my friend Erin, invited us to spend the day and night at her lake house. The timing was perfect because Wayne was going to be out of town that week. I was smart about my planning though...I had Nathan and Charlotte spend the night with Mama and Papa Monday night (the first night Wayne was gone). That way, I was able to have the house all to myself (which never happens) get packed, clean, and catch up on some good TV. A night well spent! Then the next morning, I picked up the kids at Mama and Papa's house and hit the road. Alison and her two kids, Lauren and Trevor were there too. It really was Heaven because it was all about the kids having fun and no responsibilities...well, we had one responsibility (making sure everyone stayed on dry ground, but at least there wasn't any laundry or dishes to do).

The house was great because we had our own rooms, and the back yard looked out onto the lake. Erin also set up two pools (one for the bigger kids and one for Charlotte), a sand and water table, plus there was a swing set. If Nathan could design the perfect day, this was it...playing outside, getting dirty, eating whatever he wanted, being with friends, and not having to clean up...sounds good to me!

After playing outside for a while, we took a lunch break, and then headed back outside for more of the same. The kids also got to enjoy a drumstick for dessert.















We knew naps wouldn't work so instead, we set up a movie (Gnomeo and Juliet). And then it was time for more "Outside" time." Nathan and Trevor races on the different bikes, but what Nathan really loved, was Suzy's princess ("frincess" as he would say) 4-wheeler. Suzy showed him how it drive it and then he was off!








The day was great, but the night was a disaster. For dinner, we had a pizza picnic on Erin's pontoon boat. Afterwards, the kids were exhausted. We got their teeth brushed, pj's on, books read, and in bed by 8:00 (actually, I think it was more like 7:00). Lauren, Suzy, and Nathan went to bed early. Alison spent two hours trying to get Trevor to bed while Erin, Charlotte, and I stayed up talking. I finally got Charlotte to sleep after Alison came in to join us. The three of us were able to talk for about 30 minutes when we saw that Nathan was awake and had snuck out of the room. I spent another 30 minutes trying to get him to go back to sleep, but in the mean time, Charlotte had woken up in the pack and play. I finally got both Nathan and Charlotte to go to sleep by laying down with them (that was the end of my night of visiting with Alison and Erin). I found out later that while I was asleep with Nathan and Charlotte, Lauren woke up...along with Trevor and Suzy. Lauren and Trevor kept each other up. Erin moved Suzy to her room, but Suzy kept her up asking why she couldn't sleep with Nathan and Lauren, and on and on and on. Long story short, Nathan and Charlotte went to sleep with me in bed with them. Suzy eventually fell asleep with Erin, and Trevor and Lauren only fell asleep when Alison finally packed them up and took them home at 4:00am! She said they fell asleep in the car and then slept from 6 until 10 the next morning. BAD NIGHT!

So apparently, Nathan, Charlotte, and I had the best night's sleep... next time, I'm just going to have Nathan and Charlotte start out in my bed :)



Who would have thought that this sweet girl could be so difficult?!

A Day in the Office

I always joke with Wayne that we have "Big Wayne" and "Little Wayne" living in our house. Nathan wants to be just like his daddy! He copies things Wayne says and does. And is definitely his shadow. If Wayne says, "Mommy, would you fix me a glass of water?" Nathan will say, "Yeah Mommy, we need some water." Mostly cute...can be annoying....

So, since Wayne is always working in his office, Nathan spends a lot of time in there too. Usually he'll just bring some of his toys in and play on the floor while Wayne works. Well, just recently, Wayne got out our old laptop along with some preschool computer programs that my sister had given us and set up Nathan's own "office" area. He loved it! When he says he needs to do some work in his office, he can now read with Dr. Seuss or practice letters and numbers with Elmo...but most importantly, he can be like Daddy :)

Memorial Day 2011

Memorial Day weekend was our first time to really swim! Nathan couldn't wait! The water was still a bit chilly for my taste, but of course, Nathan didn't care one bit. And Wayne said he got used to it after a while :) Last year, Nathan ended the summer as a wonderful swimmer. He really had no fear at all of the water, loved to jump in, and and swim from one side to the other. This year, I was a little frustrated...I kind of expected him to start where he left off, but he only wanted to swim with his floaty or with us holding him. Even then, he was about to strangle us because he was holding on for dear life! He definitely did not want to put his head under water or even get his face wet. We have got some serious practicing to do :)

Charlotte, on the other hand, loved the water. She was so relaxed! Along with swimming, we also cooked out, relaxed, and really enjoyed our 4 day weekend!

Nathan and Charlotte With Their Cousins

Two weekends ago Wayne's brother, Stuart, and his family came to visit and to help celebrate Wayne's 35th birthday. Nathan was beyond excited to get to play with his 4 cousins: Logan(6), Landon(5), Lexa (3 1/2), Layton (1). We played outside while we waited for everyone to get here...Nathan was pretending like he was a monkey living in a tree :)










They're here! Layton, Logan, Lexa, Landon, Nathan, and Charlotte. As soon as they let us take a group picture, they went straight to playing! They were all so sweet to each other, and Nathan loved playing with Baby Layton. He's a few months older than Charlotte and is walking/running all over the place! And every time, he sat in the high chair on the floor, Charlotte made her way over to help eat the scraps :)












The next morning, Wayne went to work (they came Sunday through Tuesday), Stuart and Helen played golf, and Tiffany and I spent the morning getting all 6 kids and ourselves ready to go to Gattitown. Stuart and Grandmother were going to meet us there for lunch. Gattitown is kind of like Chuck E Cheese but better. They have a pizza and salad buffet, and a huge room with games, what the kids loved most! What I really liked about Gattitown is that you don't have to keep up with tickets. They are tracked by your playing card. And the room where you eat is like a big theater where kid movies like "Tangled" are playing.

The kids had an absolute blast! Afterwards, we came home and had them all lay down for a nap while Uncle Stuart supervised, and Tiffany and I did a little shopping at the mall. Then we swam, cooked out, and celebrated Wayne's birthday with a Batman cake that Nathan picked out :)
























Here are Nathan and Landon in their matching pj's that Tiffany and I got them. We had so much fun, and Nathan was really sad when everyone left :( We are going to have to make sure we get together more often. We love you all and miss you already.

Happy Birthday Wayne! You are a wonderful husband and an amazing father. We love you!