HOT-klahoma!

Last night, our family got back home after a 10-day vaca to Oklahoma. Somehow, we managed to plan our trip to fall smack in the middle of one of the worst heat waves in recent history. The highest temperature our car recorded was 111 degrees. Yuck. Basically, we spent 10 days inside, and we were still hot. However, we did have a great time seeing family! We spent a couple of days in Alva with Andrew's mom. Andrew and I went to college, met, got married, and started our lives together in Alva, so it was also fun to re-visit some of our old stomping grounds. Plus, we got to eat at Taco Mayo....Colorado Springs should really get one of those.

The kids playing in front of Nonni's fan.

Sitting pretty!

My big boy.

At Taco Mayo!

After spending some time in Alva, we headed to Enid to see my parents and grandparents. While in Enid, we were able to briefly see a good friend of mine and her kiddos who are super close in age to mine. Here are all of them....

....and here's Karen and I!

We also had several family get-togethers. Here are a few pics from one in particular....

Sadie and Pa-Paw (my grandpa)

Parker and Poppy

Cousins Cortnee and Brooke swinging Parker

Cortnee and Sadie playing

Everybody hanging out

Parker and Pa-Paw

Great-grandparents and great-grandkids

One day we went to self-serve frozen yogurt shop called Cherry Berry. Gotta say....it was so yummy and a blast!

Mom getting some White Chocolate Mousse....it was uh-mazing! 

Cortnee and Brooke

Andrew and the kids

Parker picked out everything that he wanted on his....

....while Sadie was just glad to get some of her own.

The kids and I.

Andrew's dad was able to come over and visit us while we were in Enid! The kids were so excited to see Grandpa, and Parker was especially excited about his new cowboy gear that Grandpa got for him.

Grandpa and the kids playing with Sadie's new bubbles.

Then it was time for water balloons because, as I already mentioned, it was like an oven outside. The kids were pumped!

Playing with Daddy

Daddy and daughter

Parker and I

Getting Grandpa!

Four Straits

Eating ice cream

Saying "bye" to Grandpa!

The day before we left we got to spend some more time with Nonni!

Bye, Poppy and Grandma!

4th of July!

Yesterday was the 4th of July, and we had a great time with some family members who were in town over the holiday weekend! Andrew went hiking/camping with the guys, and the ladies and kids stayed closer to home. Somehow I didn't manage to get many pictures, but I did snap a cute one of the kiddos....

....and I love this one of me and the kids!

This little piggy....

So anyone who knows Sadie very well knows that when it comes to growing hair, she doesn't seem to be very good at it. However, at long last, her hair is finally long enough for pig tails! Well, it's not really long enough all around her head, but I can at least pull some of it up. It's so cute I can hardly stand it!

She seemed to understand that it was really special and "big girl" and didn't even try to mess with them....VERY unusual behavior for her.

Side view....

....and from the top.

Of course, Parker couldn't be outdone and had to have a picture taken of his head, too.

They are growing up so fast!

Weekend fun

This weekend has been pretty warm, so Andrew set up the pool in the backyard yesterday for the kiddos to play in.

I'm not sure that Sadie knew what was going on since she was still so young last year, but she was excited for whatever was coming!

Parker knew what was coming and was definitely excited!

Look at the fun set-up Daddy came up with!

Sadie getting in the pool with some help from Daddy.

So much fun!

Little fishies! 

Shooting water guns at us.

Follow up swimming with a backyard picnic and resting time for the kids/movie time for Mommy and Daddy, and it doesn't get much better than that! And just for fun, here are a couple pictures of the kids from today. They both love playing dress-up and spent quite a bit of time this afternoon doing just that. Here is Parker, the Superhero (sometimes he even calls himself "SuperParker")....

....and Sadie wearing, well, a little bit of everything. Dress, skirt, pilot's hat, backpack AND purse, and of course the big "cheese!" look/smile on her face. What can I say -- she's a child of much personality!