Swimming with Daddy!

Friday night there was a huge storm to the West of us. We didn't get any action here, but it caused an incredible sunset! Everything outside had a orange/yellow hue to it. It was so cool! Pictures didn't capture the look in the air, but I did get a nice one of the sky:

While I was taking pictures, Chip was supposed to be getting Lily ready for bed. Apparently, she did not want to go to bed. She just wanted to "relax a little and read her book." They looked cute sitting there together, so I wanted to get some photos:

I told Chip to smile since he looked so sad while I was trying to capture a cute father/daughter moment. . .

and this is the stupid smile I got! I told him to keep smiling like an idiot and I'd put all the creepy pictures up on my blog . . .

that didn't stop him. :)
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Yesterday morning we went to my Mom's. My Dad was there and Lily got to play with Grandpa. He taught her how to kill bugs outside with his leatherman. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that! :)

After her nap, it was so warm and humid out so I told her I'd take her back to the swimming pool since she has been dying to go all week. Just as we were about to leave Chip came home and decided to join us briefly before he had to come home and study. He is taking Anatomy/ physiology this summer, so he is way busy studying!!

Lily has her ring and is ready to hit the pool. Notice the top-notch job I did applying sunblock!

Did I mention it was humid? My camera fogged up! I can't wait till the spring storms leave and it is just nice and hot without the humidity!

No baby pool today -- she wanted to go straight into the big one, so we put her little floaty suit on. It doesn't work that great, but it gives her some buoyancy so she can try to kick and swim some without being so attached to us.

There were a few people there, but we lucked out that it wasn't too crowded. Usually on the weekend cars are parked around the block at the pool (of course it was already 7pm). We can walk since it is just right down the street.

Trying to get her to kick and "swim". She was more into it the other day when we were there. But we'll keep working on it.

I love swimming!! She eats a huge meal afterwards and sleeps great! Last Tuesday when we were there she took a 4 hour nap afterward!! Yeah pool!

Girls Only!

This morning Lily and I were going to head over to the pool, but then I got an e-mail that all the little ladies were meeting to play at Courtney's house so we headed over there to join in the fun.

Here they are enjoying a picnic of cookies and strawberries. It is impossible to get a good photo with all 5 of them.

From Left to Right (clockwise around) -- Emily, Ashely, Hannah, Lily and Elise.

Emily and Lily playing in the wagon.

It was a fun morning with our friends and out of the sticky heat. I can't wait for the clouds to go away so it will be warm, but not humid. I can handle that! :)

Storm Shelter

Last night we had some severe thunderstorms that had the threat of producing tornadoes. It was a pretty big storm and was headed right towards us. Since it was still early (only 7pm) and we had time before the storm really hit we decided to head over to my parent's house and hang out in the new snazzy storm shelter that my dad built into their garage. It is pretty nice -- hardwood floors, patio lounge chairs, TV, phone, and the air conditioning is supposed to be routed into the room, but the vent wasn't working right so it did get a little warm in there.

Lily is telling Tony the cat to "shh". Poor Tony did not want to be in that room and he especially hated it when Lily arrived and was a little to loud and crazy for him.


Watching the weather on the TV. "It's Pete!" is what Lily yells out whenever she sees the weatherman Pete on the TV. The only downside to being in the room is that you miss out on the good storm outside!! I wish there was a way to include windows in a storm shelter!

Tony desperately wanted to escape. My Mom's other cat Maggie hid and didn't have to hang out in the safe room with us. We just left our cats at home to fend for themselves. :)

Chillaxing

The storm went right over us without any issues. Apparently they thought a funnel touched down south of us in Plano, but I drove through there to get to Gymboree this morning and there wasn't a single tree branch down. The worst of the storm hit to the West of us where an old apartment building lost some of it's roof. That was it. But it was on the news all day -- so it makes me feel better about the weather here if they think that was a big deal.

My Dad missed all the excitement. He was at a HOA meeting and had no idea what was going on. But he came home after and got us dinner and then made some popcorn. Lily was loving the popcorn!

She ended up hogging the bowl.

Another big thunderstorm came through this morning/afternoon to the south of us. No tornado threats, but Lily and I got an awesome lightning show on the drive to Gymboree. Lily really likes the thunder and lightning. I hope that doesn't change. We didn't really get any rain here, but 15 miles away in Dallas they had over 7 inches of rain between the storm last night and the one this afternoon!! That is crazy.

Fun With Friends

This morning we had our friends Lori and Hannah over to play. It was lots of fun, as usual. Then the four of us went over to Peter Piper's Pizza to meet some more friends for lunch and play!! Lily just wanted to play, so it was a challenge to get her to eat her pizza. We compromised and she ate a bread stick. Also, notice the pink sparkly Minnie Mouse shoes? I have a feeling these shoes and her many necklaces and bracelets are going to be the must have fashion of the summer. When did she turn into such a mini diva girl?

Riding with Hannah (in the front -- not sure who the girl on the right is. she just hopped on for a free ride).

Lily did really well with the skeeball today! She actually got most the balls up into the big gutter hole instead of them just rolling back to her. Of course you get zero points for the big gutter hole -- but she is improving!! :)

In the above photo, from left to right -- Lily, Hannah, Lori, Cole, Donna and Diego.

Running back with a ball that got away!

She really wanted to ride the horsey, but wouldn't let me put a token in to turn it on. She was perfectly happy sitting on the still horse!

Lily and Hannah on the dancing game.

Patti & Emily and Pam, Lilly and Tyler were also there playing with us, but I didn't get any good pictures of them. It was a fun and exhausting afternoon. It got super crowded though -- It is a much better spot in the winter, you have the whole place to yourself! :)

A Busy and Fun Weekend!

We have been so busy the last few days. We had a jam packed weekend planned for Eric and Kristi!! Sunday morning, Eric and Kristi went to check out a local church and Chip had to go into work. We had initially talked about driving an hour north to Oklahoma and going to the casinos, but we were SO tired and worn out from partying at the concert the night before that no one really had the energy for that! So we went to lunch at MiCocina for some Tex-Mex food and then went to see "Land of The Lost" while Lily napped (my parents came to hang out while Lily was sleeping). It was the first time Chip had been to a movie since I was pregnant with Lily -- he was so excited!!

Eric & Chip outside MiCocina

Lily LOVES Kristi. Poor Kristi was enjoying not having to push a stroller or constantly have to be tending to a kid (since her kids, Colton (who is almost 8), Garrett (who is 4) and Jenna (who is a month younger that Lily) stayed at home with their grandparents. But it was more of a vacation for me, since Lily demanded Kristi push her stroller when we were shopping, and hold her hand and get her in and out of her car seat.

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Then Sunday night we drove about 25 minutes to the nearest Cracker Barrel!! Eric and Kristi had never eaten at a Cracker Barrel, but had heard all about it and wanted to go -- of course, Chip and I never pass up an opportunity to eat at the Cracker Barrel!

Sitting in the rocking chairs outside the restaurant.

Lily loved the rocking chairs -- she was kinda making me nervous since she was rocking so furiously.

After dinner, Lily rocked and danced outside while everyone else was shopping and checking things out -- of course I had to take photos!

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Monday morning Chip and Eric went golfing and Kristi, Lily and I spend a much needed relaxing morning at home before we ran to the mall to return some things and then get lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Once Lily (and Eric) were napping, Kristi and I went shopping some more nearby at the Hobby Lobby, Toys R Us, and the outlets since she needed to get some gifts for her kids and parents. Once everyone woke up we headed over to Frisco for the RoughRiders baseball game. The RoughRiders are the Double-A team for the Rangers. They were playing the Arkansas Naturals (Double-A team of the Kansas City Royals). It was fun and so easy since Dr .Pepper Park, where they play, is only 15 minutes away!

Lily and her BFF Kristi.

Dr. Pepper Ballpark is a really nice little stadium!

Of course Lily had to wear 5 bracelets and her 2 new necklaces that Kristi bought for her! One has a little charm that says "BFF". It is super cute since they were so close all weekend.

Lily really wanted to play with the peanuts, but I told her she had to eat her chicken first; so she crammed a whole nugget in her mouth.

Peanuts were another food, I didn't want her to eat until she was older because of the choking hazards. She didn't eat too many, but she had SO much fun opening them. She was an expert peanut opener -- I didn't even show her how, but she got them all opened and then loved throwing them on the floor.

We had great seats, just 4 rows up from the Naturals dugout.

Poor Kristi -- Lily had to sit on her lap for most the game. But Kristi was a good sport and Lily had so much fun with her!

Cheering for the RoughRiders!! Lily caught on to when you were supposed to yell "Charge!" It was SO cute!

One of the mascots, Daisy. Lily loved Daisy, but didn't want to get too close to her. She was excited when Daisy waved to her here.

Chip bought her a Daisy doll and she loved it!

We even got up on the big screen a few times, but I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of that!

The game started at 7, but still wasn't over at 10. So we left in the middle of the 8th inning since Lily was starting to get kinda tired and slap-happy.

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Eric and Kristi left this afternoon, but we all went out to IHOP this morning before they had to get ready to go. Lily and I had a birthday party for Ryan and Cole at the neighborhood pool, so she wasn't too bummed (yet) about them leaving.

Lily at the pool. We hadn't been to the pool yet, but it looks like we will be living there this summer. She LOVED it. There are actually 2 pools -- a big normal pool, and a smaller 1 1/2 foot kiddie pool. We spent the first 2 hours in the kiddie pool with most her friends. She is not afraid of the water at all. She kept wanting to dunk her head under (I think in an attempt to drink the water -- so gross) and sit on the bottom of the pool. It is great that she is so comfortable in the pool, but I have to watch her extra carefully since I'm not sure what she is going to do next!!

After awhile she wanted to go into the big pool, but I told her she had to wear this flotation suit! I didn't think she'd want to wear the water wings (and I was right), but she was willing to try this. It didn't keep her up all the way, but it helped some. She was SO cute in the pool, I wish I was able to take photos. I was actually teaching her to swim some, I'd lead her by the hands and she would kick! It was awesome. I finally had to drag her out of there, kicking and screaming at 1pm -- after we had been in the pool for nearly 3 hours!! She didn't even want birthday cake, "I need to go swimming pool!" is what she said. She is napping now, and hopefully it will be a long nap! She was all tired out after such a fun, busy weekend and so much swimming!!