June

I never knew how popular the month of June was for being born. Soooooo many birthday parties!

I love how comfortable Ellis is with her bald head now and how accepting everyone is of her!

Out of all the people born in June though, this guy is my favorite!

44 years young!

Todays version of a drive in movie using the golf simulator in the garage, lol…

Summer 2024 Splash Rays swim team!

Brooks was the only one that chose to do swim team this summer. He’s toward the middle on the bottom row…

Brooks and Dex have been on the swim team together for 6 summers now!

Brooks swims in the 11 and up age group now, so he’s the youngest again. Not a lot of ribbons this summer, but lots of great exercise! Plus, it’s a great way to get the day started!

We had so much fun at Kalahari last summer we decided to go back! This year Jodie and the kids got to join us for one day too!

The Sissy’s!

Big Boys!

Little Boys!

Girls!

Went with the “Brunch Babes” group again! 4 moms and 12 kids!

Brooks’ facial expression cracks me up.

No clue what the boys were doing with their hands on the back of their head, lol??

Why play electronics in someone’s hotel room when you can meet up and play in the hallway?!?

The girls know what’s up!

Moms know how to have fun too!

Water park by day and Tom Foolery arcade by night!

Moms got to sneak away for 2 seconds while the kids were entertained in the arcade!

The next day I got to leave the kids at Kalahari with my friends (say what!?!) and slip away with Jodie to Fredericksburg for our annual Girls Trip! I’ve always wanted to see and climb Enchanted Rock, so I purchased day pass reservations for Jodie and I!

Unfortunately, Jodie forgot how old she was and rolled her ankle playing in a basketball game against her middle school students. We had to settle for a short hike along the bottom of the rock since Jodie was in a boot. Glad I finally got to see what the hype is all about though, and will definitely be back to hike up the rock!

Meanwhile, my AMAZING friends sent me pics of the kids having fun at Kalahari!

They ended up staying ALL day and not getting home to McKinney until almost 11!

After Enchanted Rock Jodie and I went to Janel’s early to get settled and relax! Of course I had to get everyone something matching! Unfortunately, Memaw didn’t get to join us this year and we sure did miss her!

Slippers are my favorite!

Houston peeps got to the house and then we went to Crossroads for an early dinner!

Had to celebrate Janel’s 45th birthday that was a few day before!

Early dinner meant we had time for little Main Street shopping! Matching Texas sweat shirts for the win!

After shopping we went to this adorable bar called “Brooke’s Bubble Bar” where everything was pink! This wallpaper was in the bathroom was so cute I had to take a pic!

Cheers!

Such a fun night! Of course we also played games when we got back to the house! Chardonnay go for the win! Laughing until our bellies hurt!

Woke up to Jodie serving us this delicious breakfast!

Then on to the wineries we went! We stopped at a few places before parking it for the rest of the day at Baron’s Creek!

Nothing better than a little wine, live music, and Mexican train with my sissy’s!

It’s definitely pronounced dog-o-loggie and not dog-ology, lol. After Baron’s Creek and a little more shopping we went back to the house, ate frozen lasagna, and played more games!

Brunch on Sunday morning before heading home! Always a great weekend but NEVER long enough!

While I was at my girls weekend, Brooks was winning his first championship tournament with his new select team! I have to brag on this kiddo for a minute, his rec team, the Pirates, made it to the championship game too, but it kept getting rescheduled due to the rain. It ended up getting pushed back to the Friday we were at Kalahari. I told them that he was unfortunately not going to be able to make it, and his coach literally offered to drive all the way from McKinney to Round Rock to pick him up. I thought he was nuts, and politely told him so, lol. They did end up losing though, so maybe the coach was on to something! I also have to brag on Adam for a second too, this was a last minute tournament they picked up, and had to travel and stay over night in a hotel in Witchita Falls. Adam without hesitation or complaint packed up and took all 3 kids while I was partying it up in Fredericksburg! He’s the best!

The next week, Brooks played in what’s called a “Middle School Match up” tournament, where kids from all the different elementary schools going to the same middle school form a team. It’s awesome because Brooks got to meet a bunch of kids he’ll be going to middle school with next year! All of the middle schools in North Dallas competed against each other for two days, and it was so fun! Brooks and Jacob played on the Cockrill 6th grade team, and Hunter played on the 7th grade one!

Here are the 4 boys from Brooks’ elementary school, Wilmeth, that played on his team!

The 6th Grade Cockrill Middle School Ballers!

They went undefeated up until the last game, but earned some hardware for making it to the championship game!

Adam got to help coach and was amazed by the talent he saw!

Best buds!

Wilmeth boys!

Such a stud!

And the sweetest boy there ever was!

Shep went to a basketball camp at the high school during the same time and had a blast too!

Ellis has almost doubled her hours for gym this summer and is going M-Th from 12:30-4:30. She went from 9 hours a week to 16! She’s definitely missing her friends, so I took them for an evening swim after gym one day!

Onto more June birthday parties…Ellis went to her friend Jillian’s for a sleepover!

While that same evening Shep went to a birthday party at the Rough Riders AAA baseball game!

The birthday boy, Josh!

Fireworks on the field after the game!

After the sleepover party, Ellis went to the beach club for the second half of the party!

Not pictured is the birthday party at the movies that was directly after this party! These kids social calendars are keeping me busy!

While Shep and Ellis were partying, Brooks was frying in the heat at another baseball tournament!

Brooks almost always gets a hit!

Sunday was Father’s Day, and Daddy got to spend it sweating at the ballpark! No where else he’d rather be, well accept maybe sweating on a golf course!

Taking a break in the a/c in between games!

Go Brooks, go!

And another championship down!

Got these silly mustaches for the boys in honor of Father’s Day!

The boys got these crazy medallions that say PP and of course were making all kinds of “boy” jokes, which then led to this crazy chant…1-2-3…Deez Nuts, lol!!!

A championship win for his Daddy on Father’s Day!

3 rings and this blinged out necklace in 2 weeks ain’t half bad!

And yes, Adam cooked his own Father’s Day dinner, duh! Tomahawk steaks, get in my belly!

I know it seems like we go, go, go, but trust me the kids get A LOT of screen time. This was one of those days we needed to put the screens down and get out of the house!

Ellis begged me to take her to build a bear to get a stuffy with a recording of the dogs barking before going to camp! There’s no way I could tell her no! Sweet Grace went with us too, and got a stuffy with a recording of her Grandma saying she loves her!

Spoiled pup sleeps with Ellis every night now!

Ellis went to a birthday party to see Inside Out 2, and the boys wanted to see it too, so I took them while Ellis was at gym!

So spot on, especially Anxiety, lol!

Brooks got tickets to a Rangers game with his Canes team to kick off their “World Series” tournament. Since the Rangers game was at night in Arlington, we decided to utilize our six flags season passes and go the water park (associated with it) during the day!

Ellis road this water slide when we first got there…

Then passed out in the cabana the rest of the day while the boys had a ball! Poor thing, I think the 16 hours of gym finally caught up to her.

Snack break!

I bribed Ellis with a funnel cake to get her to ride one more ride before we left!

I got to ride with this cutie while Shep and Ellis road together!

After Hurricane Harbor the boys went on to the Rangers game, while Ellis and I went home and watched a movie on the couch!

Saturday I went to Sheps games while Adam went with Brooks to his! A photographer mom took these awesome action shots of Sheppy for us!

Nice pitch!

He lives for trying to pick the runners off the bases! He hasn’t yet, but I sense a lot of pick offs in his future!

It’s that time of year again, but this year all 3 kids got to go to camp!

Ellis helped me decorate Daddy’s truck….it says, “Ellis rocks, go Shepy, and slay Brooks!

Got the car all decorated…

…and the trunks all packed…

…but first, we must baseball!

Shep is really starting to get the hang of hitting off the kid pitchers and his confidence is soaring!

It also happened to be our 17th wedding Anniversary! We spent the first part of it melting in the heat, separated by the fence since Adam had to help coach, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Unfortunately (well actually fortunately), Shep lost his first game, so off to Pine Cove Summer Camp in Tyler, TX we went! Brooks didn’t get to play in the rest of his World Series tournament because his Sunday games started too late, BUT his team went on to play in the championship game AGAIN! They came up short, but earned more hardware to add to their collection!

Connor got to go to camp with Shep this year, so Nancy followed us and Grace road with us to drop off (she was still too scared to go)…

…and Shep road with Connor and Nancy!

Otter sat in my lap the whole 2 hour drive and it was so comfortable, lol.

So glad Shep had a buddy at camp! Brooks had his buddy Jacob again this year too. Ellis couldn’t find a friend to go with her, but she was perfectly okay with that! She knew she was going to make a million new friends! She seriously amazes me!

We were a little late again this year because of baseball so we didn’t get to squirt the counselors with water guns, but Brooks still got to have a little fun with them!

Here we go! Off to find our cabins!

Shep stayed in Phoenix Cabin 14 with his counselor Colton ““Dumpshot” Carson , Ellis stayed in Trumpkin Cabin 7 with her counselor Conley “Mee Maw” Miller, and Brooks stayed in Rustler Cabin 6 with his counselor Logan “Brizzy” Flynn!

No tears at goodbyes, just lots of excitement!

Ready to begin the second half of our Anniversary Day! Mommy and Daddy (and the pups) headed to the lake for a couple of days for some rest and relaxation!

They really do love each other!

Aaaahhhh!

Solo boat rides to explore parts of the lake we’ve never been to! Not pictured is the yummy late night anniversary dinner we had at Hemminways!

Pups got to go on long walks…

….Mommy got to do puzzles….

…and Daddy got to wake surf! It was an awesome way to kick off our kid free week!

The second half of the week we headed home so Adam could play in a golf tournament and Mommy could play with her girlfriends! Nancy makes the fanciest and prettiest espresso martinis!

Went on a long impromptu walk with my besties that included a stop at a boutique for some dress shopping, and ended with brunch at Starwood in the Adriatic! I seriously love where I live and the fact that we could walk to all of those places!

Then it was on to dinner at a restaurant at the front of the neighborhood for sweet Jen’s birthday, and then back to my kid free house for a night cap!

Last kid free night was spent at a fancy dinner in Dallas for another sweet friends birthday!

These are both dresses from the boutique we went to on our long walk!

Happy birthday Cherie!

Espresso Martinis are my new fav!

Definitely took advantage of our kid free week!

Adam was living his best life on the golf course too!

As amazing as it was to have a kid free week in the summer, I was seriously even more excited for all 3 kids to get to experience summer camp! I’m so thankful we have the means to send all 3 at the same time and that all 3 are brave enough to go! Not only is it a ton of fun AND an electronic free week, they also get poured into by so many AMAZING college aged Christian counselors that are on fire for the Lord! Praying so hard our kiddos decide to be counselors one day too!

It was hard not being able to talk to them while they were there, so I gave each of them a signal for the pics to let me know they were having a good time! It brought me show much comfort when I saw those signs!

Brooks’ was a thumbs up 👍

Ellis was a heart 🫶

and Shep was the “I love you” sign 🤟!

I love how Brooks loves a good theme and is always down to wear the silly costumes!

I live for these letters we get from them while they’re at camp! This first letter is from Ellis, and I’m not surprised at all how many friends she made!

Translation of sweet Shep’s letter:

Hi mom, I’m having fun. I miss you so so much. I love you so much. I will see you. I don’t want to come home. I miss you so so so so so much. I love you, and you Dad, love you too 😂

Makes my heart swell that Brooks told us about what he was learning about Jesus!

I thought Ellis would like a letter from her friends and the dogs, so our second letter to her was from them. This letter is writing back to them. I love that she asked for more money and threw in an “I miss you” for good measure, lol. We also talked about sending Oreo to obedience camp, so that’s what she means about having to send him away.

In my letter back to Shep I told him I loved him and missed him so so so so so much, so this is his response to us:

Same. I love you so so so so so much, and miss you. Connor been crying a lot. So it is a little fun, but I don’t like the food, but it is fun. Bye, love you.

Poor Connor had a tough time. He got really homesick. He said he had fun but didn’t like sleeping there and would cry a lot at night. I think this effected Shep a little, but he still had fun even though he didn’t like the food 🤣

Oh My heart!

And here he is reading his Bible during quiet time one day ❤️

Ellis was so good at flashing us her signal. The boys forgot after the first day, lol

Handsome almost middle schoolers all dressed up!

They had to escort the girl counselors to their seats 😍

Shep was the first one I picked up from camp and I really wish I would have recorded him running to me and jumping on top of me to give me a hug and not letting go! He was trying so hard to fight back his tears. He said he had fun but missed us and was ready to come home. I was fighting back tears too and didn’t think to take a pic with him and his counselor. The counselors pull each camper to the side with their parents and present them with “Character Quality” medallions or CQ’s. They are always so spot on with the characteristics they choose for the kids, which lets me know they really take the time to get to know them and pour into them! Shep’s character qualities were patient, tenacious, and tolerant. I’m guessing the patient and tolerant had to do with helping Conner when he had his meltdowns, lol, and the tenacious had to do with his endless energy!

When Ellis saw me the first thing she said was, “why didn’t you bring Oreo?” No hug, no I missed you, just mad at me right away for not bringing the dogs, lol, which is very fitting! She didn’t want to leave and I was not mad about that at all. I absolutely LOVE how independent, brave, and confident she is! She’s already said she definitely wants to be a counselor one day! I knew she’d fall in love with camp! When I went to pick up her meds from the nurses station they told me they were “big fans of Ellis” and she was one of their favorites! The character qualities her counselor gave her were bold, capable, and eager. They also get two extra CQ’s because they have a 5th grade presentation for them, and her two extra ones were confident and devoted. If all 5 of those don’t scream Ellis, I don’t know what does! So stinking proud of her!

Brooks of course gave me the biggest hug right away! I almost teared up again when his counselor was talking about him and telling me his character qualities. He kept saying how blessed he was by Brooks and getting to know him. Brooks character qualities were cooperative, kind, and eager! Again, these were spot on!

Got all three munchkins back and all is right in the world. As amazing as my kid free week was it was WAY too quiet in the house and I sure did miss these crazies! All 3 are definitely in for camp again next year!

Of course first thing Ellis wanted to do when she got back was see her friends!

Taylor Swift cover band for the win!

June sure was a blast for all of us, now onto July…