July and August

July and August was full of fun and swimming. We tried to get in all of our summer fun before school started.

 A look at our deck and all the beautiful flowers that Zack planted.

Water gun fun!

Sweet sister time!

Enjoying some much needed rain with umbrellas.

I walked into the living room one day to see the girls watching TV like this in their matching dresses. There is nothing sweeter than seeing these sister moments.

Swimming in the backyard family pool.

I walked into Claire's room after her nap to see her standing. She started cruising around furniture at 10 months old.This is Claire at 10 months old. 

Here is one of my favorite pictures from Padre in July. It did not make my last post so I thought I would slide it in here. 

This was our first time to take Carly and Kate to a movie. Carly did pretty good, too. We saw Despicable Me 2. It was so bright that they were having a hard time looking at me and smiling.

Claire trying on Hannah's helmet. As you can see she was not a fan. Sorry Claire!

Helping me make a chocolate cake. Such great helpers!

Zack fixed our wagon, yeah! Claire's first time in the wagon. They were all loving it!

We went to a park with some of the Tate cousins. Can you tell they are hot? Wow! From left to right: Carly, Ryleigh, Aubrey, Ellee, Kate, Tate holding Hannah, Isabelle, Laci holding Claire and Ian.

We followed it up with Bobo China's. One of my favorite restaurants in Grapevine. I have lots of memories of eating there. We don't eat Chinese that often with the girls because there isn't a lot they like. However, they ate very well. Here is Carly and Ellee.

Here Claire is enjoying some chinese noodles. No, she is not eating off the table! That is the high chair they had at the restaurant, which I cleaned before putting food on it.

Kate and Aubrey

After all that fun Carly crashed on the way home.

Claire enjoying spaghetti with the sauce for the first time.

She loved it!

What a mess!

One Saturday we took a family walk at a nearby park. Afterwards we saw that a church had food and crafts set out as an outreach to the community. So, we joined in the fun!

Claire fell asleep on the walk. Sweet girl.

What a great way to reach out to others. Look at all those people!

Claire and sweet Hannah Kate Dunkle. We were trying to capture a picture of them smiling together, but as you can see it was a little difficult.

Claire's 11 month pictures.

In August we we went to my sister Lori's house to celebrate my nephew, Tate's birthday. While we were there Carly was playing upstairs. I told Zack to go up and get her because Tate was about to open up presents. Just as he got to the top of the stairs he saw Carly leap across a chair and table with a blanket over it.  Due to the space between the chair and table Carly fell all the way to the ground knocking out her front tooth! We think that she might have hit the side of the table or chair on her way down. Apparently, Carly thought it went all the way across. You just hear Carly screaming and crying and then Zack is walking down the stairs mouthing to me that she lost a tooth.  He didn't want to cause a commotion because Tate was opening presents, but it was too late. Brett helped ice Carly's mouth while Zack found the tooth upstairs. I was in the middle of feeding Claire food.  The whole tooth and root came out. So Zack made some phone calls to our dentist and our friend Clint Spencer is also a dentist. Zack also sent them pictures of her mouth. They both advised us to just leave it out. We were lucky that it all came out and there was no part of the tooth lodged up in her mouth. We were suppose to monitor her to make sure there weren't any other complications. She also busted up her mouth pretty good and she ended up having quite a few ulcers inside her lip. Carly is a rock star though! Pretty quickly after it came out she was asking for cake. Even though it looked like she would be in a lot of pain with her mouth she hardly complained at all over the next couple of days. She also got excited about having the tooth fairy come since she had seen the Tooth Fairy come multiple times for Kate. I was thankful that it was not worse, but Zack and I were both a little heartbroken. I even shed some tears over it after she went to bed. She is too young to be losing teeth. What does this mean for her future teeth? She was our baby that did not like pacifiers or bottles and was suppose to have flawless teeth. What would this do to her smile and teeth? However,  it has now been awhile and her missing tooth has just become part of who she is. I am thankful it wasn't worse.

Here it is. I am glad Zack found it!

Did the tooth fairy come?

Yes!

Carly's new smile!

During the months leading to Kindergarten I noticed Kate changing and doing things like a big girl. We went to the playground and this is what she wanted to do. Draw and color.

When we went to the Library Kate sat with all these books and just sat and read instead of playing with the toys.

Then, this happened. Kate went to spend the night with her cousins Aubrey and Isabelle at Isabelle's house. I had told Lori that Kate would love a french braid because Lori is really good at braiding hair. Well, when I picked Kate up the following day Lori asked, "I noticed when braiding Kate's hair that she had cut it. When did Kate cut her hair?" I was like, "What!"  I had not been aware of Kate cutting her hair. Then she showed me the spot on her head where it was clearly cut by a child. When Lori asked Kate about it while braiding her hair Kate just got quiet. So, while we were still in the parking lot I started questioning Kate and she all of a sudden started crying and saying she didn't do it. However, about that same time I looked on the floorboard by Kate's seat in the van and this is what I saw. A good amount of hair and scissors. She then admitted she had done it on the way to meet Lori the previous day. She said her hair was bothering her. Kate got some natural consequences on this one. She seemed really bothered and upset so I knew I didn't need to do much. The scissors were in time out for awhile.

You can see where she cut it on the side. Lucky for Kate her hair is curly. You really couldn't tell when her hair was down and curly. You can see the remorse in her eyes. It has been awhile since that happened and it has not been a problem. Nobody can tell either.

Here is Gracie. She is my parent's new Wheaten puppy. We dog sat for them for a couple of days this summer. She is so cute and all puppy! 

Zack took the girls to a new splash park and playground in Dallas. They had a blast! Such a good Daddy!

Yummy snow cones!

Stonebriar Mall play area.

One Sunday after church we came home and realized that we didn't have the house key on us and the garage door was locked. So, Zack cut off the door knob. We recently replaced it. Luckily, we had an extra door knob here. For awhile it was just a hole on the bottom because we still had the top lock. It was a little humorous.

Carly was so tired one Sunday that she fell asleep during church.

Zack cleared off the deck so he could repaint it.

Looking good!

Claire getting her own Mcdonald's food. She loved it! A special treat for us.

Kate and Carly pretending to be babies like Claire. I remember when they too wore this bib.

Sweet sleeping moment of Claire.

We bought this fun pool for the girls to play in. Ask Zack how much fun he had putting it together and taking it apart.

Making brownies with Aubrey, Ryleigh, Carly and Kate.

We went to a new place called Kid Mania in Plano with some friends. It has a variety of climbing areas and slides for kids. Carly got a little overwhelmed at times, but it was great for Kate's age. It is like a huge maze and if you get to the top it can be hard finding your way down.

Kate, Carly, Kyla and Kinsley. This is right before we left and Kinsley was tired. Her face cracks me up!

A play date at Kamara's house with some childhood friends.  We went to school with Abbey and April(The Moms) from elementary all the way up to high school. Lots of memories!

We had a great couple of months! I have some more posts to make very soon!