Lots of Photos!

We have so many great pictures right now that I'm going to let them do a lot of the talking in this post. Left is one of a few pics from Father's Day and below is the watermelon face I mentioned in my last post. Very similar to the 'hey that's anything other than breast milk' face that we saw each time we tried a new solid food. But, we are making great progress on that front and she eats a lot of the foods that we eat now - even with no teeth!

Before the first hair cutDuring - she loved having a personal Dora the Explorer video to watch - she thought it was funny and she's so expressive!And after - with hair so neat and 'big girl'-like In the pool with Papa Uncle Mat came to Austin to run with Papa Just precious... LOVE the gummy grin!!! Into everything - killing time at Jake's guitar recital I love that cute baby!! the sweet sleepy face that looks up at me in the morning... a visit with Grandma,great Grandma,and cousins puppy love the scrunchy face grinfavorite bedheads

We are having fun this summer. It's been SUPER hot in TX - many days in a row above 100 degrees. We've spent a lot of nights at the pool and days at the movies.

Jake performed really well at his guitar recital. He played so badly in practice the day before that I thought it would be a disaster but in the back of my mind wondered if he had my 'pull it off at the last minute' gene and it turns out he does! I'm glad his first recital was a success - we didn't get any really good pictures but will try again next time.

Jake and Sydney had a fun week in Jamaica with their Dad, Felicity and Bryce. You can see Sydney's braided hair to the right. She missed Bria tons, but they were inseparable last week before Bria left this past weekend for a sleepover camp. While they were in Jamaica, Martin booked us a night in San Antonio at a great hotel and arranged for his family to keep Kiley so we could see Wicked. It was a fantastic show and a wonderful getaway - thank you, love!

We had a good Father's Day. We were HOT at Jake's first LaCrosse game, but then got snow cones and had some time to cool off before dinner at Pappasito's with my Mom and brother, and dessert and gifts at Mom's house. I have a hilarious photo that I'll have to scan in for next time.

This past weekend we had our family reunion and it was fun but too dang hot in Blanco TX in an unairconditioned pavillion all day Saturday. None of us felt well on Sunday - truly recovering from the heat on Saturday - but then on Monday, Jake came home from camp in the morning with a 102 degree fever and was diagnosed with the flu. I think that tamiflu is a wonder drug, as he hasn't run a fever since about 5 hours after his first dose and is 100% Jake today when he didn't move most of yesterday.

I will finish this with a Kiley update... she is so totally mobile now and still so much fun. I can't believe how much her face has changed (right is a picture from Feb.) and how much older she looks now. She is standing on her own now for enough seconds that you can count and know she's really standing and it's not just an accident :). She claps with her hands together - she was clapping her fists together weeks ago but now really claps the palms of her hands. She waves; today she was downstairs and the kids were up and she was waving at them and dancing back and forth and laughing. She doesn't really have stranger anxiety, but shows a preference for me - especially when she's tired. She reaches for me when I come in the room and twice she's said something that sounded like 'mom' while reaching, but I think it's coincidence. She does 'talk' quite a bit and often she is silly and giggly. We're trying to feed her when we eat. She likes starches and is not thrilled about green veggies but she has had broccoli, eggplant and green beans. She eats bananas and apple sauce, sweet potatoes, squash and carrots, spaghetti, bell peppers, cherries, pretzels, and crackers.

We'll have more pictures soon - Stephen (Martin's brother) and Sarah are getting married this weekend and then next weekend the kids and I are off to Galveston with my girlfriends (Jill & Kristi) and their kids - three Moms, two teenagers, five elementary kids, and a baby in a condo for three nights. Wish us luck!!!