Summer!!!

I can not believe we are in an almost draught. I received an email yesterday asking us to ration our water use. Crazy. I guess this was a great summer to get a pool. The big news around our house is that ALL 3 girls can swim! Seriously, it took Claire & Meg exactly 2 weeks to learn to swim and it took Emma 3 weeks. Emma is so cute - we are working on her technique. She does a little doggie swim halfway across the pool. But, she's moving. We are working on her using big arms all the time. Meggie is a fast little swimmer and likes to go long distance. And Claire, well, she has got it down pat but she loves to hang on to my neck most of the time... :)

Contruction has started on our new garage/office/bath addition. Dan will be so happy to have his own little house. He's already talking about the couch and tv he'll have in his new office. I'm guessing this is so he can have a place to run and hide when the slumber parties start. I can see it now. He'll come into the house to cook for everyone and then he's out! Peace out.... little stinker.

We've had 1 big dissapointment in this whole construction process so far. The pool builder somehow did not communicate to the concrete guys what I wanted the deck/kitchen floor to look like. Very frusterating because I spent hours and hours researching how I wanted it all to look. Now, we are going to have to lay a stone over our kitchen because they screwed up the concrete in the kitchen by laying jacked up expansion joints all over the place! Ok - so I will be so ready for this to be over.

We are hoping for the whole backyard to be done by the beginning of September. Right in time for Claire's 6th birthday party. 6..???!???? We will be pool partying fools in September! :)

Here's a pic of his new garage...



Just love this pic with Nana and Pappa:


We went Lake Travis for a short little vacation and the girls went on a boat and tubing for the first time. Tubed behind a pontoon boat, but it was plenty fast for the girls. They laughed and had so much fun. We got them on a waverunner and Jason pulled a Pappa Smith by making them all cry. The last time he was on a wave runner he crashed it into a boat (Brandi - I'm still thankful your dad was so nice about that whole situation)! Luckily, we did not crash but he was acting a little wild.... there is nothing better than seeing those 5 little girls interact with one another. We are truly blessed.



On another happy note, I am so thrilled that Lynn had James Andrew Clarke!!!! He was 9 lbs and 2 oz.... little chunker... Everyone is healthy and happy. Can't wait to hold and love on him soon.... next week...







I'm not sure if I've posted a pic of Emm's lazy eye but I just discovered it a few months ago. You'll never see it unless she is smiling really big (naturally). It is so cute. One eye is really small.... I love this little Emmie characteristic that makes her so unique. I also hope that she'll continue sucking that thumb. There is no better sound to wake up to (in mamma's opinion) than her sucking away on that cute little thumb. Oh, and hearing her say "SCUNSCREEN..." That rates up there pretty high too. I try to close my eyes and memorize all these little things. I don't want to ever forget...

Snaggel Tooth + Graduation ="s Boo Hoo for me!

The tooth fairy visited us and left Claire 3 dollars! What a sweet sweet occassion. Claire was brushing her teeth the other morning and ran in to tell me something. She had her hands covering the prize and said "guess what mommy!?!" She always wants me to guess. Her voice was quivering... it was a little shaky but more than anything else I knew it was a very Proud moment for her. We went to lunch that day with Lisa and Eliza. Eliza had just lost her tooth a couple weeks ago. So sweet.


Claire also graduated from Preschool. I cried like a little baby as she stood up there singing and dancing along. This is the first time she's gotten on stage without freezing up. Instead, she itched herself the whole time. So funny! I guess stage fright causes you to itch...? It was so cute and she was faulous! She danced along to all of the songs while I teared up. Big girl.

I feel a trend coming on....

Ok - so I've noticed a trend here with my blog. I can't seem to keep up with it. When I start feeling like I haven't documented lately, I get overwhelmed and try to block the whole blog thing out of my head. And then I realize I am doing this for my kids and that I really do want to keep blogging! So this post is my attempt to catch up. Hopefully, I can learn how to post as I go along. Dressing up remains one of the most enjoyable activities in our house and the girls are so creative with their outfits. Notice Claires leg warmers on her arms and skirt around her chest. Claire painted a butterfly on Meg's face the other day. I wish I had gotten a picture of it. It was so good. Oh, Claire now wants to be a horse rider when she grows up. Meg of course a Ballerina - not sure if that will ever change:

I just love this pic of Emma & Aston (Lynn's baby boy - by the way she found out she is having another boy! Yipee for the Callaway girls) :) Aston and Emma are always so cute together.

Megan's Spring Sing at her school was so cute. She was on the front row and she sang her little heart out. She was not nervous at all and did all the dances to the songs. Mommy was so very proud.
Here is a picture I took at the Spring Sing. Notice we are the ONLY one's there. I may have gotten there just a tad bit early in order to get front row....
Emma's Mayfest at Cypress Academy Gymnastics. These pics are so sweet but they make me a little sad. Emmie's arms and legs are getting so long and she looks like a little girl in these pics. My baby is growing and becoming mighty sassy I might add:

My camera took awful pics of Meg & Claire's Mayfest so I didn't get very many, but luckily we have it all on video. Here they are with their buddy Eliza - Champions!

A couple pics from Ashley & Matt's wedding (Dan works with Ashley and and they are such a sweet couple). We had such a great time:

Mother's Day 2009 was fun. We got to spend all weekend with family. Pappa and Nana spent the night on Friday and Sunday we went to the Rainbow Lodge. I got some really precious shots of Danielle and the girls. She leaves in a few weeks and we are going to miss her. I don't think the girls really understand she is leaving. We will be making a trip to South Korea to visit one of these days!

So everyone that knows me knows how much I love my hubby. So many great qualities and I feel really grateful to have him. When I look back and think about the fact that we got married 5 months and 30 days after our initial blind date I am amazed. Was I lucky or did my intuition not fail me? I'm still not sure.... What a whirlwind those 6 months were. I'm still very grateful to Lisa Cuccia for setting us up. Even if she has long forgotten us - I will never forget her! I remember when we first started dating, we used to go back to his house after a night out on the town and we used to turn on the music - LOUD - and dance. We would move his furniture and start boogying... so much fun. And no, alcohol had nothing at ALL to do with it. Another great quality about Dan is that he so just doesn't care what anyone else thinks of him. As you will witness from the clip below. I wish it was longer but I think it was taken by accident. He's still got the moves and uhhh yes he was spanking himself all night... hmmmmm.... Oh and Dan, I'm curious how often you check this blog since you never leave any comments. Leave one when you read this will ya?

Couple cute pics

Every Thursday, weather permitting, we play outside of our school with our best bud Eliza. Here are a couple cute pics. I love moments like these... they were all laying on top of each other and since I am now the lucky owner of an iphone I was able to catch the cuteness.




We went to the dentist the other day. Claire & Meg have already been a couple times, but it was Emm's first trip. She did so good - I have to say I was really worried about her because she does not like her mouth being intruded. It took years for me to be able to brush her teeth without her screaming. She thought Mr. Thirsty (suction) was so super cool. Oh and the best part of the whole trip - no cavities for any of the girls!


Here the girls are with a couple of our neighbors hanging out in our new spa. They are ready for the pool to be complete and I'm still trying to figure out what materials to use! Super hard decisions... Dan and I decided we would never want to build a house together. It would take us 10 years just to decide on materials.

First sleepover and the beginning of our very own paradise!

Wow, what a weekend this has been. We started with mexican food and margaritas on friday (Cuz I do believe that is the very best way to start any weekend)... We went to our new favorite place called Juanitas. It is our favorite for several reasons:

1.) The food is a tad more authentic than your typical mexican
2.) It is a total Dive
3.) They have a 2 person band and an area for the kids to dance
4.) Lastly, it is so loud in there no one cares if your child/s are throwing temper tantrums because they can't hear a thing!

Our friends Janet and Jack and their 2 kids (Sofia & Evan) came with us and Janet & I decided that it was time for our girls to have their 1st sleepover. I'm not counting all the cousin sleep-overs we have because well, that's family. This was a big deal but luckily Sofia was staying at my house so it wasn't as big of a deal for me as it was Janet. Look at these sweeties.


Dan made his famous popcorn (gotta have it topped off with Parmesan Cheese) and as soon as I made their pallet on the floor Sofia passed out! I slept on the couch right next to them in case Sofia woke up in a panic. Here's Claire giving Sofia a goodnight kiss after she fell asleep.

Sofia did awesome! She didn't cry once and the next morning she was happy to be at our home. I can only imagine all the sleep-overs that will take place in our house. I am so happy to have 3 girls. I do wonder at times how I got to be the luckiest mommy ever... Of course, I know every mom feels this same way but isn't it a great feeling anyway?

Saturday bright and early they started digging our pool. At the same time, we had our new buyers come and get our beloved swing set. It was a bittersweet goodbye.

I bought the old rainbow playset for 350 4 years ago and I sold it to someone off Craigslist for 300. Boy, that 50 bucks was well worth it! The girls have gotten so much use out of it.

Rascal Flatts

Claire & I went to the Rodeo on Wednesday. We had the best time EVER! It was so good to spend some one on one time with her. We got there super early and walked around and looked at the animals and watched a little chicklet hatch out of the egg. Amazing. She sees the eggs our chicken lays but has never seen the egg turn into something other than an egg she eats. She loved it! We had chicken strips, a huge corn dog and she ate a whole deal of cotton candy by herself. Pappa would have been so proud! She has just turned into this little independent being and when she is by herself she is so easy and content. I must brag because I think when I was a child I would have asked for every little gadget/flashy toy they sell there. She asked for a sprite! Hello - of course you can have a sprite! When you read this one day Claire, just know that you are so loved and that I am so very proud. You are mature beyond your year and I am in awe of you.... love you more than you will ever know!

Happy 3rd Birthday Emma

So, I haven't blogged in a while because I really just don't have a lot to say... can you believe that?!? Well, it's true. And, my camera is not taking the best pics as of late. I think the lens may be dirty... this would require me to actually clean it which I hope to get around to doing this week! Dan and I have been so super busy. We've been doing date night once a week (which has been great), trying to finalize design plans for our backyard (yipee) and dealing with our wretched homeowners association. And really just trying to keep up with everything the girls have going on. I've been working fewer hours here recently so as of today I'm unfreezing my gym membership! I'm headed back and am looking forward to it.

The girls had dress up at school last week.


Our evenings are spent listening to the girls run around screaming and watching them dance and do gymnastics. It's constant "watch me!" and "no, watch me!" and Megan squeals like nothing I've ever heard before. It's so loud and disturbing. I wonder why they don't hear what we hear?

Emma had her 3rd birthday on Saturday and we celebrated it with friends and family at Pump it Up. Goodness I love that place. Happy birthday Emmie - we love you so much! Right now she is obsessed with dolls and changing their poopy diapers and using up all of my wipes. She likes to leave the container of wipes open so they can dry out and drive mommy crazy! J/K - but really she loves her dolls and taking care of them. She loves purple and when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said a purple dolly and a deer.... hmmmm.... not sure where the deer came from...?...

I tell my kids constantly how much I love them and they tell me they love me more and I tell them that is IMPOSSIBLE and that they'll never know how much I love them until they have their own bambinos. Claire wants 1. Meggie wants 5 and Emmie would like 3. Go figure. This suites their personalites to a T.