Well, I think I'm going to give this a shot again...

Alrighty...we'll see how long this lasts but I'm feeling guilty about not documenting my children's lives so I'm going to try to start blogging again!  It is summer after all and I have nothing else to do, right?!

These photos are a little out of order but I don't remember how to fix it.  Oh well.  

After school got out June 7th (seriously, who has school a week into June?  AISD does.)  the kids and I drove to Dallas.  That story is after these Colorado pictures.  We came back on a Friday and that Sunday, Father's Day, we packed up our car again and drove to Durango, CO.  This time, Daddy came along!  We had such a great time in Colorado.  The whole drive, Emery kept asking when we were going to be in Colorado and when we were going to go hiking.  She loves the mountains almost as much as her daddy.  We enjoyed hiking, swimming, and lots of eating.  There's this fabulous little organic farm by the condo we stayed in that had a little grill  you could order food from and also had eggs and cheese for sale.  I had the best burger I have ever had there and David had a delicious steak salad.  They also had these adorable little goats named Polka and Dot.  Emery got to pet them and give them some sweet Emery kisses.  Here are some pics from the trip.

about to go on our first hike in Durango

our first hike got cut short by a little rain shower

We went to the little farm up the road when we had to stop hiking

kissing Polka and Dot

Smiling for a picture

trying to get both kids in a picture

worn out

our little hiker

hike take 2 - this time Emery was in the backpack

Emery enjoying being carried this time

We hiked to the river and put our feet in.

posing with daddy

This drive isn't too bad!

sweet boy

Durango was so much fun and so relaxing.  We wished we could have stayed another week...stinkin' weddings.  David has one pretty much every weekend this summer.  

Like I said, these are out of order...As soon as school got out, I packed the kids up in the car and bravely drove to Dallas all by myself.  They were so good in the car...it took us 8 hours including stopping to eat, but we made it with very few tears.  Emery made me dance to her IceAge theme song on the Ipad like 15 times in a row until my arms were about to fall off but it kept me awake and kept a smile on her face.  The people driving by me must have thought I was crazy but I'll never see them again so I'm not too worried about it.  We got to Dallas safely and had such a great week with my sister, Sarah, and her family.  I wish we lived closer to my sisters and their kids.  I wish my kids could grow up around their cousins like we did.  We'll just have to make frequent trips!  We swam, went to splash pads, parks, and played in the baby pool at their house.  The week flew by way too quickly and then we had to head home.  I was sad to go but happy to get home to David.  The kids missed their daddy (in fact, Emery would yell, "Daaaaaadddyyy" when Miles would get home right along with her cousins) and I missed my hubby.  

Swimming at Sarah's in-law's house

at a splash pad

standing on his own!

swimming at the Durham's again

Sarah and Elle

Elle!

Swimming in the baby pool

Luke watching sister and Elle

sweet cousins

passed out when we hit the road to go home

celebrating my boy's 1st birthday!

We had such a good time in Dallas.  We just might have to go back for another week this summer!

The rest of these photos are recent photos that I have taken with my phone.  Emery is such a sweet girl who loves to play pretend these days.  She is constantly saying, "mommy, let's 'tend' you are the sister, I'll be the mommy, brother is the monster." or "you be the queen, I'll be the princess, brother is the king." or "I'll be Captain Hook, you be Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Luke is the crocodile."  She usually follows one of those sentences with, "say okay."  Especially if I'm not listening and haven't responded. This happens like 100 times a day.  I am not good at playing "tend" people.  I teach math.  Let's sit down and do a puzzle or count the dots on dominos or something (which we did in Durango and turned out to be a pretty fun game!)  I have to stay busy with other games or snacks or playing outside so that I can stay sane.  I love that she has an imagination but I can only handle so much "tending."  

here's my sweet girl showing off her long hair

Daddy took her to the movies

Luke sporting his new Toms (Thanks Gigi and Grandpa!)

Playing with sister's necklaces...

He loves necklaces...

Today we went to a splash pad with some friends.  This is Jackay and her precious granddaughter, Logan.  Logan is younger than Luke by about a month I think but has way more teeth, is walking, and probably out-weighs him by 5 pounds!  She's so cute with all those rolls!  It was fun to see them today!

We got home from the park and Emery and I headed to Jump-N-Jive to have some fun with my cousin, Bryana, her daughters Lilly and Daisy, as well as my other cousin's daughter Kailey who is in town visiting.  The girls had a blast and Bryana and I got to catch up.  It's so nice having an older child to entertain the younger ones!  I didn't get any photos though...

When we got home Luke woke up from his nap and Emery was worn out and wanted to lay down on a pallet on the floor.  I gave Luke a little snack while I cooked dinner and they enjoyed a little Bubble Guppies episode.  Thank goodness for Nick Jr. and Disney Jr.    Emery thinks those shows are "movies."  She loves them all.  I'm just happy there's a show that sings about "mighty math power!"  Yes!  Makes this math teacher's heart so happy.  Every time they sing the song, she turns to me and asks if I have mighty math power.  I love it.

Shortly after taking these pictures, Emery realized Luke was sitting on her pallet and she pushed him off against the wall.  It pretty much ruined his night and he was cranky until he went to bed.  Poor guy. He loves Emery so much and just wants to be close to her all the time.  She just doesn't get it yet.  Pretty soon, he'll be big enough to keep up with her and I know they will be the best of friends.  Hopefully, he'll love playing "tend" as much as she does so momma can have a break!

Well, that's about it.  I think that pretty well catches you up on what we've been up to.  David's shooting weddings all summer and this momma is trying to keep these two cuties busy so that he can edit all day long!  Emery usually watches a movie in David's office with him in the evenings after Luke goes to bed.  David has two computers side by side on his desk and she calls one of them her "puter."  She knows how to pick movies on Netflix and everything on her own.  She is always assuring us that she's watching nice movies.  Tonight, they went to Hastings to rent a movie and right when they were checking out Emery asked David, "you like naughty movies, right daddy?"  That's awesome.  Now the Hastings guy thinks David is a perv.  That girl is hilarious.  Good night!