Sugar & Sprinklers

Despite my detailed and specific list, I never know just what they will come home with when I send Michael and Ella to the grocery store together.  This time it was mini cupcakes with sprinkles on top that she apparently spotted from all the way across the grocery store.  Daddy is such a softy!  :)  

The great thing about having a tempting dessert for Ella...she is sure to eat ALL her dinner and every last bite of her vegetables so that she doesn't miss out on that yummy dessert!

What better way to clean off all the cake and icing than a run or several runs through the sprinklers!

A break through for Easton

On Saturday we headed to Austin for my nephew's 5th birthday party!  Such a big day for him!!

His party was at the pool and we had a blast!  Including Easton!  I was thrilled about this because all summer Easton has been extremely timid around water and really doesn't like it.  

At Hutson's party he was really coming around and having so much fun all by himself in the shallow beach entrance.

When we were home on Sunday, he even got into the baby pool and played around.  It may not seem like a big deal, but based on his normal reaction all summer long, this was a big accomplishment for him and we were so happy!

While in Austin, we managed to sneak in a yummy dinner at one of Michael and I's favorite places...Hula Hut!

I'm back!

After 2 weeks of no blogging, I'm finally back!  For the first time EVER since Ella was born, there is a 2 week period where I have less than 20 pictures on my computer!!  It's been an unintentional break from my computer and camera, but work has been busy so I've been focusing on staying caught up with the necessities I guess!  

I found these from 4th of July and others that I took this weekend. Easton has been crawling up onto the couch by himself and he and Ella just love to wrestle and play with each other up there, in addition to cuddling and watching TV...

night night, Ella...

Girls Trip - Fredericksburg Wineries

I just got home for a wonderful night in Fredericksburg with some great girlfriends!  I was in charge of the camera and pictures for the weekend and since Megan Brown has already prepared a great blog about our overnight wine trip, there is no point in duplicating!  Just check out the link below!  What a fun trip that we hope to continue annually!

Girls Trip - Fredericksburg Wineries

Much more than the beach and pool...

While in Corpus, we did much more than just the beach and the pool!  We stayed busy with some of Ella's favorite games....Pretty Pretty Princess and Ocean Bingo!

We were excited to take Ella back to Cole park since it had been 2 years since we were there and we remembered how much fun we had and what a neat park it was.  We talked it up to her and she couldn't wait to go to the "big park" but when we drove up this is what we saw!

It was completely torn down in order to be re-built in the future.  We felt terrible and she just kept asking, "where'd the park go?" Luckily it is right next to a pier so we still had fun walking around.  We took the kids to another tiny park nearby but it wasn't anywhere near the same. 

And one of the best parts of the entire weekend was finally getting to meet our cousin Kaede!

These two are future basketball players for sure! :)

Easton goes in for the steal....

I'll leave you with Easton's big toothy smile that he likes to show everyone these days....

Just the 4 of us for the 4th!

A week before the 4th of July, we confirmed that my Aunt's condo was available so we took a last minute trip to Corpus for the weekend.  It was a very quite, stress-free weekend and we had lots of good quality family time with just the 4 of us!  

Easton kept scooping and eating the sand and then following any and all dogs that walked by!  We all fell in love with this adorable black lab puppy.

Ella did a tiny bit better with the sand during this second trip to the beach, however the pool was still by far her favorite!  Such a brave little girl letting her Daddy throw her in every direction and even doing back flips!

Easton is still not a huge fan of the water but loves walking around and throwing anything he can find into the pool.

Ella didn't mind using her fishing net to fish everything out!

And I think her favorite part was the late night swims with Daddy!  I had to take the picture below from our balcony since Easton was already asleep!