Oh Man!

I am almost too embarrassed to even post anything! Has it really been over 2 months since my last post? That is so bad! I don't even have any pictures to go with this post...just hoping to redeem myself a bit and play a little catch-up!
Our summer was so busy. We have never had a summer quite like that before! When it was time to send the kids back to school I thought "Wait a minute...where did our lazy summer days go? Where was our break and our relax time?" We were on the go from the day school let out, always shuttling kids to activities, camps, beaches, malls, movies, swimming pools, friends houses....the list goes on! I never seemed to remember my camera though. EVERY TIME when we would finally get somewhere I would think "Oh Man...seriously? I forgot the camera again! I finally gave up when the first thing I packed was the camera, for our trip to South Padre Island. When we showed up I went to get it out and take some super cute pics of the kids on the balcony with the ocean behind them...but wait, there was no battery!! Are you kidding me? I spent that night being mad at myself and then threw in the towel and gave up! Shawn reminded me that vacations are still all sorts of fun without a camera! (What? Does he even know me at all?? I'm sorry I don't understand what you just said!) I wasn't convinced but decided to go along with it anyway! Wouldn't you know it?! Shawn was right! It was fun...we had a blast!! No pictures to show for it but we made great memories anyway!
Summer ended just as busy as it started with Shawn taking a week long trip to Puerto Rico for ""work"" (that gets double air quotes from me!) My mom, dad, sister Carly and niece Cami came for a visit. That was sooo much fun! Then there was a mad dash to Walmart and Target for the school supplies that I put off buying! And of course I waited until Tax Free weekend to do school clothes...so we spent our last summer weekend in the stores with crowds and crowds of people!! Super fun! Actually now that I am typing I am remembering that after our extremely long Friday and the massive amounts of shopping bags that came through the door...the kids were sooo good and sooo helpful in making the day go smoothly that Shawn and I took them out to a nice dinner. (ya like how Shawn just sneaks in there for dinner...he was not around for the shopping, he always makes sure to have a "busy" day at work on back to school shopping days!) It was kind of an end of the summer/have a great school year dinner. The kids got all dressed up in their new clothes and shoes, they all did their hair (believe it or not, I didn't even tell them too! I was thinking it and was going to tell them but they beat me to it!) The excitement got the better of them when I told them where we were taking them! We went to Maggianos! One of the best restaurants ever! On the drive home from dinner we saw one of the coolest lightening storms I have ever seen. It was like a postcard!
Last but certainly not the least was my getaway...Shawn is wonderful and thought it was important for me to have a week to just relax and play before the crazy fall traveling starts for him. I went to Seattle and had the best time! I relaxed alot, played some, chatted with my mom, dad, brothers, and sisters non-stop (even pulled an all-nighter talking with my mom!), visited with friends, doted on my 2 super cute nieces and of course no trip to Seattle is complete without a trip to Monroe for the car races! One of the funnest I have ever been too! :) THANK YOU Shawners! It was just what I needed!
So no pictures to show...you will just have to take my word for it! It was one of the busiest, non-lazy summers ever and we had a super fantastic one!!!

A ton of swimming pictures!

We spent most of the day on the 4th swimming at our friend's house. John and Ticia were out of town and they were super sweet to offer up their pool to us for the weekend...which was soooo much nicer than our community pool! :) Also...their pool and pool area is gorgeous...it made for great pictures! Here are all the fun pics! ENJOY! {the rest of the 4th was spent watching and doing fireworks, good food, fun friends and lots of laughing!}

this was Tyson jumping in like a homie! :)

Austin got in trouble {I don't remember why} but he had to sit out of the pool for a few minutes...I just thought he looked too cute sitting there so I snapped a couple of pictures of him!

turning noodles into pretzels

some random pics

Kyler and Kailee were taking a break from chores to do some dancin'!

At Kailee and Austin's swim meet. It was outside and it was 108 outside! I was sooo hot! We were all trying to keep cool by putting ice on the ground and rubbing our feet over it! We probably used most of the ice in our cooler for trying to keep cool!

Tyson all hot and sweaty! He was so funny...he was shaking his fists at the sky and saying "Curse you global warming!" :)

Austin striking a pose after his first swim!

Swim Meets

Austin after winning 1st place in the breast stroke...we were up top in the stands...
Kailee after her fly! I honestly don't understand how they do it...I barely start doing it at our pool and I give up after a couple strokes...that butterfly is hard!!!

Kailee & Austin had their 3rd swim meet this morning. It was a long one...they had to be there at 7:45am...we came a little later....and didn't get home till 1:25pm. Whew! The Katy Tigers won!!! We have won all 3 meets!! YEAH! Kailee and Austin are doing awesome! They have improved sooo much from last year! It's so fun to see them compete with themselves to beat their previous times on the different strokes. Austin's best time and his favorite is the breast stroke and Kailee likes freestyle. Today they competed in all the events, 50m freestyle, breast, fly, and back, the individual medley, the relay medley and the freestyle relay. Austin got 1st place today in breast and 3, 1st places last meet. Kailee didn't get any 1st places today cuz they had her racing with 15-18 yr olds...but we were EXTREMELY proud of her cuz she kept up with all of them really well!!! She did get 2nd place on her backstroke!! She was happy cuz she can keep up and she has earned at least one of every ribbon so far this year 1st thru 8th place!! They have two meets left and then the season will be over at the first of July. We have had alot of fun and I am glad they have too. Living in Katy, I am all for any indoor sport they want to participate in! Sitting in a chlorine filled, slightly humid natatorium beats outside in the 100 degree heat any day!!! :)after winning in the breast...he didn't even realize he had won until he got the ribbon!waiting for ribbons...he sits exactly like Shawn
look at that awesome dive!!!

I just have to share...

I am a proud aunt! I just had to share these 2 super sweet pictures of my nephew Jake with you. I have talked him up and I wanted to show you how darling he his! He is Adam and Mary Kathryn's newest addition. {hope you don't mind MK} Here he is...Since I am bragging about all the cutie neices and nephews I have...here is a pic of all of them! I snagged some of my favorite pics from their blogs!Alexis 5 {Adam and MK}
Hailey 4 {Adam & MK}Chloe 1 {Adam & MK}Landon 3 1/2 & Kailyn 2 {Kendall & Brad}
Cameron 1 {Carly}Mia about 7 months {Alli & Johnny}
and one more little guy on the way for Aaron and Sabrina!!

Our first day of summer....

Warning: Lots of pictures!
So we wanted to do something fun to kick off our first day of summer! The kids decided we should go to the beach! We all love the beach, mostly {to be perfectly honest...I always liked the beach as a kid and teenager...in my older age and as a mom though I have become a tad bit paranoid. Being worried about little fish nibbling at my toes and being so stressed about it, swimming is no fun has made being at the beach all about a chair and an umbrella for me! Call me crazy but I enjoy swimming in a pool where I can see the bottom and will know ahead of time if something is coming towards me to get me! Also, watching my kids have zero fear of the water and just go running head first into every wave and heading further and further out to sea makes for a not so relaxing day at the beach! So I actually took one for the team on this outing! I did get my feet wet and then had a good time in my chair, under the umbrella watching the kids have fun...and whenever they went further out than I liked instead of watching and holding my breath, I closed my eyes and just went to my happy place! I think that our family will require many more trips so that my kids can enjoy childhood and hopefully won't have this same crazy paranoia I do!! Lucky for me and the kids, Shawn doesn't have even the slightest crazy paranoia I do!}
Kyler was racing the waves into the shore...this is the direction I like! :) ...towards land!
Kyler is always a great sport about posing for the camera for me! Oh, how I wish all my kids wanted to sport their cheesy grins and still have every moment captured on film!
This sweet smile came after threatening to take pictures of him while he slept if he didn't give me some beach shots!
Kailee and Shawners...we went to Stewart Beach in Galveston. The beach that Shawn usually likes to go to is still closed from damage and unsafe conditions from Hurricane Ike...so we went here instead. I liked that there were bathrooms and showers to rinse off in! {Shawn is all about ruffin' it and makin' do with what you've got or what you can find...me, not so much. So this was a good beach for us...he thought I was having unreasonable expectations to ask for a bathroom nearby!! I know...asking for a toilet instead of sand and a piece of kelp is such a demand!}
splashing in the water with your brother...what could be better!racing the waves and each otherTy loved laying down and letting the waves crash into him!Kailee...she had a lot of fun...her and Austin swam way out! I don't know how far I was in my happy place!There was alot of this...brothers hanging out in the waves having fun and chatting with each other! There is something really neat about watching the kids get along so well because they have this love of the beach!
Austin just chillin'Seeing how far they could dig down to find the little sand crabs that make the little air bubbles in the sand! :) They never did find one...but they dug deep looking!This is Shawn patrolling the beach towards the end of our trip. We saw 2 dead jellyfish on the shore. We were close to the lifeguard station and there were about 15 people that went for jellyfish stings while we were there. We decided to end our trip a little earlier than planned because so many people were getting stung. It seemed to be happening all around us so we thought, better stop before our luck ran out!While we were drying off and getting ready to go Tyson said he couldn't leave without making a sand angel! Thank goodness for those showers!