June

It’s now August and I’m finally up for air and able to work on my blog, so hopefully I can remember everything to journal our whirlwind summer!

Fresh cuts to start June off right!

First official swim meet of the summer. Boys didn’t win any first place ribbons this year, but I’m proud of them for getting up everyday and getting some exercise!

Coach Brooks with all of his little duckies….

Went to dinner for Daddy’s 45th birthday! I got him a personalized address stone for our lake house and I need to remember to take a pic of it next time we’re out there.

Kalahari for our annual “Moms and Kids” trip!

Nancy and I were the first to arrive!

Silly boys!

Next to arrive were Brandy and Robyn!

These two have the sweetest friendship! Ben has a disorder called “Fragile X” which also causes autism, and Shep doesn’t treat him or think of him any different. They are the best of buddies and I love it. The amount of empathy and compassion this kid has makes my mommy heart swell.

Sweet girls!

Whole gang is almost all here!

Breea finally got there!

Getting way too old way too fast! These are some of the boys (and their baseball team) that actually brought all of us moms together!

These two have such a special friendship also. They are like two peas in a pod. Connor reminds me a lot of Ellis, and Shep is so good with both of them.

Finally Laura arrived, and now the whole gang is officially all there!

It’s pretty awesome when your friends love your kids as much as you love them!

Ellis was so excited to spin this cotton candy all on her own!

Breakfast of champions!

Brunch Babes!

There were a total of 6 moms, 4 girls, and 11 boys on this trip! I cannot believe we didn’t get a whole group picture. It was impossible to get everyone together all at once since the kids are all old enough to go play on their own! Everyone was all over the place!

Did get a pic of “the girl gang” though!

Brooks is now a professional surfer apparently!

Brooks spent almost all of his tickets for the chance to do the “human claw machine”!

So proud of his prize!

Family selfie before we head out!

Until next year, Kalahari! We had a blast, per usual!

Annual Summer Downtown McKinney Music Festival!

Flatland Calvary were the headliners and they did not disappoint!

So thankful for friends that capture these pics and videos for us!

Dancing with Adam is hands down my favorite thing in the world to do. In his arms is my safe place!

Shep made it to the all stars with his rec team and they won the championship!

His other teammates that made it on the all star team!

Ellis has put on quite a bit of weight pretty quickly (we suspect from her medication), and has expressed interest in wanting to try and lose some of it. We did a family membership at our local Apex center, and I took Ellis with me to the gym! She’s beautiful no matter what, but I’m proud of her for wanting to be healthy!

We even brought her friends with us one day!

Our June always pretty much consists of baseball and swim and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

While the boys were busy with sports, Ellis was busy with crocheting, and she’s gotten soooooo good!! She literally whipped this shirt out in a few short hours!

Her friends were even requesting homemade shirts from her! She seriously blows me away sometimes!

Parents night out for Keith’s birthday!

Ladies!

Gentlemen!

Loves him!

Ellis’ very first ever dance recital and I think she looks absolutely beautiful!

Been dreaming of this day for forever, and never imagined it would come! Ellis was supposed to have her first recital back in kindergarten, but then covid happened and she lost interest in dance all the way until 5th grade.

So thankful for her friend, Camryn, that got her interested in dance again!

Sweet Grace has ALWAYS been there to support her through everything!

We got there early and took pics before the show!

Backstage we ran into more sweet friends!

Daddy had to rush there straight from one of Shep’s baseball games, but made it just in the nick of time! We are so proud of Ellis for trying something new and getting up there to perform after only being in dance for a few short months! Again, she truly amazes me!

Shep had a guest player at one of his tournaments whose mom is a professional photographer, and took these AMAZING action shots for our team!

I ❤️ Texas!

Brooks’ team played in a local World Series tournament and got to run on the field at a Rangers game!

Now onto the tournament!

Such a great team and awesome group of boys!

Six Flags bound with his best buddies Nolan and Henry!

Finally made it to the top of the oil derrick! What a view!

Still June, so you know what that means….Another baseball tournament and swim meet!

Such a good coach helping out the littles during the meet!

Anniversary steak dinner with the whole family this year! 18 years of wedded bliss, and NO ONE else I’d rather do this crazy thing called life with!

This video was my gift to Adam for our anniversary. So grateful for friends who capture these moments for us. He still gives me butterflies when he asks me to dance!

Gotta throw in some fun activities in between all the sports and YouTube watching! Also grateful for the ability to stay home and take the kids to all of these fun places!

Ellis got first place in the go-cart race and Cam got second!

Yep, Ellis always gets two friends and the boys get one, lol. That’s all we can fit in the car!

Andretti’s you were fun, even though you took all of my money!

Ice cream treat to end the day, because, why not?!

Middle School Match Up time, where Brooks gets to play with other kids from his middle school!

Silly boys doing “Brain Rot” dances at McDonald’s after the tournament!

A little update on Ellis and her IVIG infusions….

Unfortunately, since her horrible reaction to the first infusion she’s had a ton of anxiety. You’d think it would be anxiety about having a reaction, but really it’s anxiety about getting stuck with a needle. This is the second or third time the nurse has come over to attempt to put an IV in her. I had to buy medical grade numbing cream and we even had to give her a Xanax.

Poor thing still couldn’t do it, and got herself so worked up she fell asleep. We have one more trick up our sleeve and are going to try again next week, so stay tuned…

Friends and a lemonade stand to make things all better! This girl hustles like no one I’ve ever met!

To Houston for our annual summer trip, and we got to see Kannon play basketball!

Can’t got to Houston in the summer without making a trip to Galveston!

Yum!

Kody giving Brooks the mud massage he didn’t know he needed!

Maxing and relaxing!

Twining or triplet’ing in their matching pink swim trunks!

Another reason we headed to Houston/Galveston was to watch Carolina play in her softball tournament! All the sisters made it!

Ellis couldn’t hang in the heat!

The whole fam bam, minus a few bro-in-laws, made it to Galveston to watch Carolina play! She made it all the way to the championship game, but unfortunately came up short.

When in Galveston you gotta make a trip to “Shrimp ‘n Stuff”!

Last and true reason we made the trip down was to celebrate Memaw’s 78th birthday! Dessert at “La King’s for the birthday girl!

Dimmick’s and Memaw stayed at the San Louis to get another day on the beach and watch more softball!

Breakfast in bed….yes, please!

Cute little entrance to the beach by the house Jodie rented with Carolina’s teammates…

Seaweed or not, the salty air and sound of waves is healing!

Loves them, and so glad we got to kill 4 birds with one stone…Kannon basketball, Galveston, Carolina softball, and Memaw’s birthday!

Poor Hammerhead shark that was washed up on the shore and didn’t make it.

If you feed them they will come….

I will leave you with this awesomeness….

Remember that lemonade stand Ellis and her friend did? Well, they raised over $200! Ellis decided she wanted to put on a biblical day camp for kids in and around the neighborhood! She came up with that idea all on her own and recruited her friends to help. She researched activities, crafts, and snacks ideas, and then compiled a list of everything she’d need. She asked me to bring them to Walmart to buy all the supplies, they divided and conquered the list, AND stayed on budget! Another great example of how she amazes me! More about the camp, since it didn’t happen until July, will be on the next post….