August Fun

Waiting for the ice cream truck...

Playing at the park

Wearing some pink clothes she got from my parents' neighbor Alexa. This girl LOVES pink!

Laura's employer had a family extravaganza event complete with a catered lunch, bouncy houses, slides, trampolines, cotton candy, snow cones, live entertainment, games and more. The kids had a blast! I only got a few pictures, but the slides were by far the favorite!

Eye doctor

We had a checkup with the eye doctor this summer and the good news is that although his eyes aren't aligning perfectly yet, they are much better and we can discontinue the patches. Yay!! His vision still seems unaffected at this point, and we had a little fun trying on all the different glasses during the exam.

Camping Trip

At the end of July, Conor and Daddy went on their 2nd annual summer boys camping trip. This time they went to Iowa where they met up with Adam's younger brother Clint and his son Carsen. These were some of the relatives we rekindled with on our road trip earlier in the summer, and Adam and Clint had spoken of trying to get together more often. This presented a perfect opportunity for that to happen. The campsite was right along a lake, and although the weather was a bit chilly, the boys had a good time hiking, fishing, making s'mores, and cooking over the fire. Hopefully this can become a new tradition.

T-Ball 2013

Conor played t-ball for the first time this year. It was funny to watch the 4 and 5 year olds chase after the ball like amoebas and forget to drop the bat and run to first base after they hit it, but Conor really loved it. He especially liked to play first base and really got a sense of pride from his accomplishments. We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa able to come watch most of the games and Laura made it a couple times too. Conor was happy to have a cheering section each week.

Riley liked to cheer him on, eat sunflower seeds, and play catch with her own princess ball and glove between innings.

Action shots...

Riley also liked to spend some time at the park before games while Conor practiced with his team or afterwards.

Proud to show of his end of the year ribbon...he can't wait for next year!

Some more from Shane & Ashley's wedding

Found another set of pictures from the reception and the hotel the next morning...

 Getting tired....she refused to dance with Daddy, but was ready to lay on his shoulder when she got sleepy

 Our kids rarely fall asleep in the middle of a party but both kids were crashed before the night was over, so we spread them out on beds made out of chairs and they looked pretty cozy.

 The morning after...

 All that energy came right back when it was time to swim in the hotel pool :)

Shane & Ashley's Wedding

On July 13, my cousin Shane married his beautiful bride Ashley, and they asked Riley to be the flower girl. First we had the rehearsal at Ashley and Shane's home in the country. My other cousin's son, Cruz, was the ring bearer. They both seemed a little hesitant at first, but warmed up fairly quickly. 

The day of the wedding, we went to get her hair done all fancy. 

Before....with the flower girl pin she got from the maid of honor, my cousin Nikki

During

And after...She loved being able to dress up like a princess in her pretty white dress and fancy new sandals. She was a little nervous about smiling for the pictures at first, but warmed up once she found some familiar faces in Cruz and Nikki (and who are we kidding, we bribed the kids with lots of candy!) 

After pictures, we took a break at the hotel but didn't have enough time for a nap. When we returned to the golf course for the ceremony, she had a mini-meltdown and "I don't wanna do this" moment, but we got through that in time for a short limo ride then a brilliant grin as she walked down the aisle confidently! So proud of her and Cruz.

Congratulations Ashley and Shane! We wish you the best and thank you for including Riley in your big day.

Proud parents of the flower girl :)