Caroline turns T.H.R.E.E.!

Anyone who lives in this house knows that Caroline LOVES Ladybug Girl!!  Her birthday party theme was inspired by the Ladybug girl books who feature a little girl who is usually forced to make her own fun.  Who does she become?  None other than LADYBUG GIRL!  Ladybug girl saves ants in distress, jumps through shark-infested puddles and even skips along the dark, twisty tree trunk - all by herself!  It doesn't matter what anyone says, Ladybug girl is definitely not too little!  I couldn't sum up my "big" 3 year old any better and wanted to celebrate HER with this very special day!

 July in Texas is REALLY hot!  There are not too many options outside to have a party and because we do have a pool, we had a pool party for the 3rd year in a row.  It might be repetitive, but there really is no better way to entertain a bunch of toddlers!  We had a great time and shared this special birthday with so many special friends!  We loved having everyone over to party!

 For party favors, we gave bug jars with live lady bugs!!  Grami and Pop Pop had the pleasure of filling the jars and had quite a fun time "wrangling" all of the little creatures.  We had them everywhere!!  If you're ever in need of live lady bugs, you can order 1500 of them on Amazon!  They're cheap and delivered quickly to your front door!  :)

 The Slip N Slide was a big hit!

Grami and Pop Pop were able to join us all the way from Colorado!  

3 YEARS OLD!!

15 months!

My baby is not a baby anymore and I am just going to have to keep reminding myself that!  Cooper had his 15 month check up a little while ago and had to get some more of his shots.  He was such a trooper and stayed strong with his big sister by his side!!  She insisted on holding his hand and kept whispering that it was going to be all right.  What a big help!  Cooper is not quite walking, but close and not really talking either.  He is still such a content little boy, but it starting to get frustrated because he can't quite get or express what he wants.  We are working on these and hopefully will be walking and talking in no time!  Here is where he ranks:

weight:  25 lbs.  9 oz.  (62nd percentile)

height:  31.75 inches  (66th percentile)

head circumference:  50 cm  (98th percentile)

He is still my precious and sweet little boy who loves to cuddle!  I just love it!

FLORIDA

Wow!  We have been SO crazy since May and I'm honestly not sure where the time has gone.  We had a contract on our house, frantically found a place to move, decided to build a house and then the buyers backed out.  So now we have decided to continue with the build process, but have gone back to square one with selling our house.  Whew!  With all that being said, I am just now posting about our annual Florida vacation!  We went to Panama City Beach over Memorial Day weekend, like we have done for the past 2 years.  We had a great time and it has been so much fun to see the kids grow and enjoy it more and more.  Cooper was only 7 weeks old last year so to say that it was a challenge is an understatement!

We had an early morning flight Friday and headed for the airport at 5:30 am.  We got everyone checked in, through security and seated on the plane when they came on the loudspeaker announcing that there were mechanical problems and everyone had to de-plane.  Well, traveling with children is not an easy task, so we decided to let everyone else get off first and then we would follow.  Once we exited we found a line wrapping around the gate with people trying to rebook tickets.  Needless to say, we were at the end.  With the very unorganized manner and two children pulling at both of our legs, Josh spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone only to find out that there were NO flights anytime soon that we would be able to get on.  We were willing to fly into somewhere else and then drive, but being a holiday weekend, we had no luck.  Our last option was to get in the car and just start driving... SO, after 5 hours at the airport, we took the bus back to the parking lot, got our car and headed out on a 13 hour adventure!  The kids did GREAT and were amazing, but our favorite story is where we were sitting in stopped Dallas traffic {15 miles from our home} and Caroline says "Daddy, I don't know want to sit in this seat anymore!".  We all had a good laugh and told her she needed to get comfortable!  All I can say is I do not know how our parents managed car rides with OUT iPads!

There was LOTS of swimming...

LOTS of beach time...  {with unfortunately little pictures}

LOTS of fun...

and most importantly, LOTS of good family time!

 We are SO glad that cousin Maddy joined us!!  She made the trip truly special!