Welcome to Summer!

While our awesome friend Joe was here building us a new patio cover, and his fabulous fianceé Judy was here hanging out, we heard the ice cream truck. And believe it or not, I RAN for it. :)

Yum!

Judy was so awesome, playing with the kids. They had a ball, and learned some new ways to swing.

Have you ever tried to get a picture of a kid in motion?? NOT easy. :)

At one point, Beckett bonked pretty hard coming off the slide, and Joe was there to console him.
LOVE this picture. Joe rocks. :)

Sister!!!!

So remember May?? That month that happened 2 months ago?? It was pretty fun. We did some stuff. And it started with my SISTER COMING TO VISIT!!! :O

Can you tell that I like her?? It's true, she's great. Eleven years older than me, but in the last decade or so she has seriously become one of my BEST friends. We talk all the time, usually multiple times a week, so getting her to come for a visit was even better!

Kenn was going to NYC for a few days for work, and anyone who knows me that I can't stand being home alone, just me and the kids, for any extended length of time (i.e. longer than 8am to 5pm), so Alissa came! (now, I call her Ali, but no one else is allowed to except other immediate family, so even though I'm going to call her that in the rest of this post, no one else gets to)

What did we do, you ask?? Well, we did TONS. She got here on May 7th, and we all went to dinner at Kerbey Lane Cafe (delish! And happy for all, because Caleb needed the vegan menu, and Ali needed the gluten-free menu!). Then, we had some cards for Main Event that Kenn had gotten from work, so we went there and bowled and played games. Good times. :)

Sunday was Mother's Day, and the day Kenn left for NYC, so we took the kids to church and then had dinner that night with Candace and Garrett and Carlie (because, oddly enough, Candace's husband Nate was ALSO in NYC. On Mother's Day.) That was fun. Then us grown ups played Scrabble and I was reminded again why my sister is a Scrabble master. The woman cannot be beat.

Then Monday night, after just chilling and what not, we decided we needed to make some apple butter and some strawberry jam and can them. This was where things took an interesting turn.

There were explosions. And overflowing pots. And small sparks of flame coming off things that aren't supposed to have sparks coming off them. And there was laughter. MUCH laughter. :)

You can see the charred side of the pot that sparked at us.

We may have had to get out the fire extinguisher, just to be safe.

And I may or may not have hyperventilated about the intense M-E-S-S that was my stove.

We also watched 'North and South' (so good!!!!) and The Young Victoria. And we talked. A LOT.

We're super good at that. :)

And then on Tuesday, we took the MetroRail downtown and went to the Natural Science Museum on the UT campus. The boys LOVED riding the train, and it was a fun day out. And no, we didn't take any pictures of it (I think I forgot the camera, oops).

And then...it was time for Ali to leave. :(

So we drove her to the airport (thank goodness I didn't get another speeding ticket like the one I got picking her up 4 days before). The boys LOVED having her here. I think they like her more than they like their mom. And that's ok, cause Ali is one of my MY favorite people, too.

Caleb and Aunt Ali

Beckett-man with his aunt

Me and sister!!!! LOVE HER!!!

a basket-case

What is it with kids and laundry baskets?? Any time I leave one sitting out on the floor, the kids decide it's meant to be sat in.

Like shearing a sheep

Oh boy, was it ever time for a haircut. :)

Look at this fluff! This is what happens when Caleb's hair gets combed while dry. Poof!

And while this face isn't the greatest, the freshly shorn 'do IS. :)

There's my handsome little man!