Awesome Day with The Wilsons

A very dear friend, Loy Wilson, and I decided that we would beat this Houston Heat by letting the kids exercise their demons in the warm humid air, by ganging up and throwing the kids in the kiddie pools. We had an AWESOME and fun day!

(From left: Jacob, Addie, Lillian, Peyton, and Loy who was fiddling with her camera)
Beautiful Peyton

Lilly with her "Bitter Beer Face"

Gracie...eating something...

Playing in the pool

Peyton and Gracie, who were pretty happy around each other...

Morgan and Ivan...who were also pretty happy with each other

The girls feeding Ivan. Morgan is the best helper. She came in, grabbed a kid, and started taking care of 'em.

Beautiful young lady...

Sprinkler Time! I was so glad that Gracie got a chance to play with Addie, Jacob, and Peyton in the sprinkler. Before they came along, Gracie didn't know what to do with a sprinkler. These awesome kiddos showed her how.

Swinging the two-year-olds...
First smile I have ever seen on Lilly this big. She had SO much fun! "I didn't even know she had teeth!"
Morgan and her little boy...
Popsicle time!
I hope that this day will be repeated numerous times this summer. It was a WONDERFUL treat to have a good day with good company and fun times. And it was 104 degrees outside!

My Kiddos

I was so proud of these photos. There is no greater purpose in my life than to be their mother and Casey's wife.

Beauty Shop Day

On these record setting HOT days in Houston, the girls and I are desperately trying to find things to do during the day.

So we put on the 50's music station, got out the rollers and nail polish and had a "Beauty Shop Day".

It was awesome!

Pre-Haircut

Curler time!

The Finished Product!

Ice Cream Visit with Nana and Poppie

Last Friday night, we all went and ate at SuperBurger with Jackee, GranJack, Nana, and Poppie. We came home afterword and had ice cream together.


Lilly was inseperable from Jackee's hat...and Jackee.



Ivan and GranJack are pretty close too...



Poppie was pretty entertained (he snoozed on the couch after ice cream).



Looking at a book with Jack.



Lilly's hat...

Counter Sippin'

Miss Lilly sits on the counter
that's where Momma found her
Sipping her smoothie away...

No matter how thick,
there she would sit,
Sipping her smoothie away.

What a great way
to start the day,
Sipping her smoothie away.

Like Momma or Like Daddy?...You Decide

Happy Ivan

Picnic in the Yard

Playing out in the yard is one of our favorite hobbies. On this particular day, Lilly was asleep and Ivan and Gracie enjoyed a wonderful evening outside.

These two are nearly inseperable.

Gracie Blur...

Louie, the babysiter

Loving on the Louie

Infant Instincts

(Not Ivan, but I thought the picture was cute!)

Yesterday, Casey and I took the girls swimming in the neighborhood pool. The girls got in the water and we left Ivan in the car seat to watch. After a few minutes, Ivan seemed upset that he wasn't in the pool with us. So, I got out and grabbed him and put him in the pool with me, diaper and all. I was surprised to find out how much he loved being in the pool and how little it freaked him out. Now keep in mind, he is only 3 months old, and can barely hold his head up. While I was holding him in the pool, I noticed that he was virtually swimming! He was kicking his legs and keeping his head out of the water when it would splash in his face. I was amazed that he knew what to do. I got such a kick out of it that I wanted to see truly how comfortable he was in the water. I had read once that babies have instincts that cause them to float in the water and stay still and calm until they are pulled from the water. This is the reason that they drown if they go into the water face down so quickly. They can't roll onto their backs because they are lying still. But if you put a baby face up in the water he will lay very still, close his eyes and take very shallow breaths. So I laid him in the water, face up and watched him float all by himself in the water. AT THREE MONTHS! I was so impressed. I couldn't stand to do it for very long. Mommy instincts take over very quickly and you have an overwhelming urge to pick him up, hold him tightly and get him out of the pool. He had so much fun! We got him home, gave him a shower, and he was so wore out, that we couldn't get him to finish his bottle. Yay!

Roadtrip to Odessa

Our journey to Gran's funeral in Odessa, Texas began with making cakes the day before we left. There was to be a reception after the funeral that Friday, and I volunteered to make Grannie's famous white cake and chocolate cake. Gracie watched...

We left at 5 on Thursday morning, the 21st of May. The girls slept some. Ivan slept nearly the entire trip. He barely left his car seat. We were so proud of them all for being such troopers.

Near Abilene, after being in the car for 5 hours straight, we decided to stop at a roadside park and have a picnic. The girls ran around and played with toys while I fed the baby and Casey made lunch. We put a blanket on the picnic table and let Ivan lay out to kick and play. This was really awesome because we didn't have to worry about getting them filthy in a McDonald's and they didn't have to sit still. They just played and ran their energy out. It was really nice.

At the reception following the funeral, I got to see some long lost family. My Casey got to meet nearly all of the rest of my family, and so did my girls. There was sandwiches and cake and LOTS of kids.


Here is one of my favorite people, Aaron Gregory. He wanted to hold Ivan so badly and patiently waited his turn. I only hope Ivan will be as good of a guy as Aaron is:




Nana, Poppie, Jackee, Me, Casey, and our three kids:




Just about every Harvey that could be found:




Lilly and some precious "Nana" time. The girls were begging to get to spend some time with Nana. It was a horrible, not to mention busy week, and they were very confused.




Jaime was a great help to us. We had left the girls for two days in her care all by herself. She did AWESOME! Also, she spent much time helping me with the girls during this trip.




Nana and Poppie came to visit us at the hotel after the reception. The kiddos were supremely happy about this.




Everybody was wore out. We all started winding down and relaxing. Ivan was so happy to be out of his car seat. I calculated that the poor kid spent almost 30 hours in his car seat in a span of a week. Poor Baby!

On the Saturday following the funeral, we had made plans to visit some of my Mom's family that we don't get to see very often. This included a VERY awesome visit to my Great Grandmother, Bea Moseley's apartment. We wanted to get photos of the kiddos with her because how many of us can say that we have sat in our Great-Great Grandmother's lap? I would wager that not many have.

Saying goodbye to Jackee and Jaime before the long trip back home.