August 29 - I Love My Dimpled Munchkins

Backyard Pool Fun

Chillin' with Uncle Jay

Jules actually put Luke in the basket then jumped in herself!

Mmm, yummy!

Kemah Boardwalk Fun

Snow White

Luke loves his bottle!

Tired Little Man

August 26 - Birthday Girl

Happy belated birthday Julia Bean! For her special day, we did our first annual mommy/Julia adventure to Schlitterbahn Galveston. There are several toddler areas but Julia proved she was a mini-mommy with her declaration "I want to go on the big slides!" So, to the big slides we went. We did three big raft rides (we had to wait 20min in line for each, she did great) as well as the whitewater river ride...5 times! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures since we were in the water the whole time, but I can assure you it was a blast. We celebrated that night with her favorite dinner (mac 'n cheese) and a birthday brownie.

On Saturday, she had her birthday party at the JumpNJungle (bouncy house place) and it was a lot of fun. Julia insisted on carrying her babydoll (Sienna) around the entire time. All of the kids had a great time bouncing around, and then we chowed down on pizza and cake. Opening presents was a little overwhelming (at this age all of the kids like to "help") but she was showered with many gifts. Special thanks for everyone who came to the party and helped out, as well as all the wonderful gifts. Julia has been having fun playing with her new dress up clothes, dolls, Barbie, toy dog (named Princess), crafts, books and so much more. Thank you everyone for helping make her day so special!

Uncle Jay came in town for the party and it was fabulous seeing him. In addition to bouncing around the 'jungle' with the kids, we went to the Kemah Boardwalk over the weekend. It was extremely hot, but he was a trooper and took Julia on several rides. We also went to the pool and had fun swimming around with the kids. He also helped J.D. install a new toilet (sorry bro..you probably didn't realize you'd be working on this vacation). We really appreciate all your help!

Here are some birthday pictures, enjoy! I hope you are all having a great week! And once again, thanks to all for making Julia's day super special. She is still talking about how much fun she had at her birthday and she is having fun with her new toys.

I also have some cute pictures of the kids to post this weekend, so check back soon for more your dimpled munchkin fix.

Kids climbing up the slide

Mmm..Pizza

Choo Choo Train Cake

Cake!

Lots of Little Helpers Helping with Presents

August 9 - C.C.

Somehow in the last few weeks I've gone from 'Mommy,' to 'Mom,' to 'C.C.' I have no idea where she came up with 'C.C.' (I'm fairly certain she doesn't realize those were my initials growing up) but she insists on calling me that. I asked her to please call me 'Mommy' since that's my name but she just giggles and says to me 'No silly, you are C.C." Now when I pick her up from school she runs down the hall to me shouting "C.C.! I had a great day C.C.! Look at the picture I did today!"

In other Julia news, someone asked me recently how her potty training was going. I guess I never updated the blog because she has been potty trained for quite awhile. She stopping wearing pull-ups during the days around the end of February/early March and hasn't worn them at night since the end of May. Our little girl is quickly growing up! She also picks out her own clothes, dresses and undresses herself, brushes her teeth, goes to the bathroom alone (she likes privacy and doesn't want us in the room), feeds Amelia every day and loves to open the back door to let Amelia in or put her outside. She is quite the little helper!

In Master Luke news.....he kind of took a step on Saturday. We were at a fun festival at LOBO (where Julia takes gymnastics and ballet) where they had a bouncy house, clown, face painting, all sorts of fun activities. Julia participated in her first cake walk and while she didn't win, one of her gymnastics friend's won some cupcakes. I was holding Julia's cupcakes and Luke took a step forward and launched himself at the cupcake. The little dude actually ate some frosting before I could fully wipe his hands. He loved it! Then today, we were at LOBO yet again (Julia was in her ballet/tap class, which she loves) and he took 2 steps!!! So exciting!! He is also now officially sitting at the dinner table with us. He was able to get out of the highchair and it quickly became a safety issue. I lost the straps during our move and thought he would be fine without them..however he's decided recently he likes to stand while eating (no joke). He doesn't love being strapped in tight to the regular chair on the booster seat but he's getting used to it. I know Amelia is very excited about this change, she has better access to his scraps.

He loves the stairs!

Library Fun

My Dimpled Munchkins

August 5 - We Are Family

Just a quick blog post to tell everyone about our fantastic evening today. Julia sang 'We Are Family' throughout dinner and then we had a dance party in the family room. We boogied to 'We Are Family', 'Get Down Tonight' and 'Stayin' Alive.' After her bath, Julia insisted on wearing a tutu under her pj's, gave me a huge hug and kiss (unprompted!) and told me how much she loved me. Then she wanted to 'keep dancing' before our bedtime books.This was just one of those nights I'll never forget. I love this girl!