Whew! I finally got a little bit of sister time in. Not nearly enough though. I love my sweet sissies. Thankfully we will all be together again at the end of the month. Plus I've still got one more day with them tomorrow. Christi was only here for a little bit last night but will be passing back through town tomorrow.
I dressed James up in this darling little outfit that Carrie got him. I absolutely love smocked anything. Even on a boy. My husband vehemently disagrees with this and was not happy about me dressing his strapping son in such a sissy outfit.
But I did it anyways and made great threats if he complained about it. He asked me not to take pictures of him so when he reads this blog I'm in some big trouble. I think he looks darling though. Angelic, really. Later I said to Brad, "Now don't you think he looks cute in that outfit?" and he said, "He looks cute in any outfit." True.
My beautiful nieces Morgan and Madison are here too. They are staying for the week so I am going to try to wrangle some babysitting out of them and take lots of naps.
They are insanely tall. Like 5'8" and 5'7" or something like that. And stunning as well. They can do everything too. Sewing, drawing, painting, singing, dancing, piano, drama, sports, photography, cooking, etc etc etc. You would think that girls like them would be snotty and stuck up...but they are not. They are the kindest, nicest, most well-mannered, helpful, delightful little things you've ever met. If I didn't love them so much I would be jealous of them. I think I am jealous of them anyways. They are the best. And I'm not just trying to get free babysitting either.
Back to my sisters. There is always at least one moment anytime we are together where there is one really big laugh. I mean...we are laughing the whole time...but there is usually at least one time where we get a great big nearly wet your pants kind of laugh. For instance, the snake event at the cabin two years ago...scary at first...funny later. Or when we went to Dallas for my birthday and got lost trying to find a store then realized it was right across the street from where we started and Carrie used all of the "Christian cuss words" she had stored up that were acceptable to use in front of our mom without getting in trouble. Or later that same night when I called room service and gripped them out and made them come and change the sheets on one of our beds because it was dirty...only to find out that the new sheets were dirty too...only to find out that the actual mattress was dirty...only to find out that none of those things were dirty it was just a shadow that the lamp was casting on the bed. My bad. Anyways....all of that by way of saying we had one of those moments tonight...at my expense. I had this vision in my head of James' first 4th of July and sparklers and cute pictures and whatnot. No one else was getting my same vision so I got mom to take the pictures and I stepped in to manage the sparklers. Apparently everyone was scared of the sparklers. I don't know if you can see the looks of terror on my son and nieces' face. Terrification. 
I was making fun of the previous sparkler-holders for being such chickens. I bravely grabbed up a handful of sparklers and told Brad to light them. He was a little skittish trying to light them and that's when I sealed my fate by saying, "Stop being such a wuss and light them!" That's when it happened, I realized these weren't normal sparklers...they were like sparklers on crack...or demon sparklers...or explosives on a stick...or small weapons of mass destruction. No sooner had the words left my mouth than the entire handful of sparklers started exploding all over me...and it hurt...real bad. The pictures don't do adequate justice to these flame-throwing sparklers. I promise.
My throat is sore from the screaming I did and I think I may have pulled some muscles chasing myself around the yard trying to get away from the sparklers I was holding. My ever supportive family was there to laugh at me and my mom stood firmly at her post and photographed the whole wretchedly painful event. Let me tell you...it wasn't pretty. But I did what any brave protective mom would do and took cover behind my husband and son.
The look that my husband is giving me below says, "You have completely lost your mind woman!" He was sweet enough to control his sarcasm and ridicule since we were with my family. It looks like an innocent sparkler...but it was not.
But in the end we all had fun. Dad even got in on the sparkler action.
Aside from that...it was a wonderfully relaxing day. We started the day by having breakfast with Bean.
He is leaving for San Antonio to go to Trinity and this is the last time we will see him until the fall. That's a long time for us to go without some Bean. We will miss him. I got all teary and girlie today when we were saying good bye. He just is such a blessing to us. 
There have been several times when I have been whining and complaining to him about something and he has been able to just zip right on up to Amarillo. He'll be too far away for that now. I'll just have to whine and complain to Brad about everything now. This isn't going to make him very happy once he realizes the amount of whining & complaining that Bean absorbed for him. He's probably going to try to convince Bean to stay. Run Bean Run...while you still can! 
After that, Brad, Bean, my dad and my brother-in-law Andy went to shoot guns or something manly like that. I'm not really sure what. But they all came back very sunburned and tired. My mom, sister, nieces, James and I rested and sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful day.
Today was James' first day to get in his baby pool.
We have high hopes for this kid and swimming. 
You know I've told you before about what a fabulous swimmer Brad is. We expect the same greatness from James. He really took to the baby pool in spite of the fact that it was frigidly cold. What a champ! He really enjoyed it. 
But he sure was ready for Nana to get him out of his soggy trunks and into some jammies.
Then he got some snuggle time in with Aunt Carrie.
After the pool, we had hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we ended the night with a big hug from Papa...
And some sweet sugars from Nana. 
Happy 4th of July!!!
I dressed James up in this darling little outfit that Carrie got him. I absolutely love smocked anything. Even on a boy. My husband vehemently disagrees with this and was not happy about me dressing his strapping son in such a sissy outfit.
But I did it anyways and made great threats if he complained about it. He asked me not to take pictures of him so when he reads this blog I'm in some big trouble. I think he looks darling though. Angelic, really. Later I said to Brad, "Now don't you think he looks cute in that outfit?" and he said, "He looks cute in any outfit." True.My beautiful nieces Morgan and Madison are here too. They are staying for the week so I am going to try to wrangle some babysitting out of them and take lots of naps.
They are insanely tall. Like 5'8" and 5'7" or something like that. And stunning as well. They can do everything too. Sewing, drawing, painting, singing, dancing, piano, drama, sports, photography, cooking, etc etc etc. You would think that girls like them would be snotty and stuck up...but they are not. They are the kindest, nicest, most well-mannered, helpful, delightful little things you've ever met. If I didn't love them so much I would be jealous of them. I think I am jealous of them anyways. They are the best. And I'm not just trying to get free babysitting either.
Back to my sisters. There is always at least one moment anytime we are together where there is one really big laugh. I mean...we are laughing the whole time...but there is usually at least one time where we get a great big nearly wet your pants kind of laugh. For instance, the snake event at the cabin two years ago...scary at first...funny later. Or when we went to Dallas for my birthday and got lost trying to find a store then realized it was right across the street from where we started and Carrie used all of the "Christian cuss words" she had stored up that were acceptable to use in front of our mom without getting in trouble. Or later that same night when I called room service and gripped them out and made them come and change the sheets on one of our beds because it was dirty...only to find out that the new sheets were dirty too...only to find out that the actual mattress was dirty...only to find out that none of those things were dirty it was just a shadow that the lamp was casting on the bed. My bad. Anyways....all of that by way of saying we had one of those moments tonight...at my expense. I had this vision in my head of James' first 4th of July and sparklers and cute pictures and whatnot. No one else was getting my same vision so I got mom to take the pictures and I stepped in to manage the sparklers. Apparently everyone was scared of the sparklers. I don't know if you can see the looks of terror on my son and nieces' face. Terrification. I was making fun of the previous sparkler-holders for being such chickens. I bravely grabbed up a handful of sparklers and told Brad to light them. He was a little skittish trying to light them and that's when I sealed my fate by saying, "Stop being such a wuss and light them!" That's when it happened, I realized these weren't normal sparklers...they were like sparklers on crack...or demon sparklers...or explosives on a stick...or small weapons of mass destruction. No sooner had the words left my mouth than the entire handful of sparklers started exploding all over me...and it hurt...real bad. The pictures don't do adequate justice to these flame-throwing sparklers. I promise.My throat is sore from the screaming I did and I think I may have pulled some muscles chasing myself around the yard trying to get away from the sparklers I was holding. My ever supportive family was there to laugh at me and my mom stood firmly at her post and photographed the whole wretchedly painful event. Let me tell you...it wasn't pretty. But I did what any brave protective mom would do and took cover behind my husband and son. The look that my husband is giving me below says, "You have completely lost your mind woman!" He was sweet enough to control his sarcasm and ridicule since we were with my family. It looks like an innocent sparkler...but it was not.But in the end we all had fun. Dad even got in on the sparkler action.
Aside from that...it was a wonderfully relaxing day. We started the day by having breakfast with Bean.
He is leaving for San Antonio to go to Trinity and this is the last time we will see him until the fall. That's a long time for us to go without some Bean. We will miss him. I got all teary and girlie today when we were saying good bye. He just is such a blessing to us. There have been several times when I have been whining and complaining to him about something and he has been able to just zip right on up to Amarillo. He'll be too far away for that now. I'll just have to whine and complain to Brad about everything now. This isn't going to make him very happy once he realizes the amount of whining & complaining that Bean absorbed for him. He's probably going to try to convince Bean to stay. Run Bean Run...while you still can! After that, Brad, Bean, my dad and my brother-in-law Andy went to shoot guns or something manly like that. I'm not really sure what. But they all came back very sunburned and tired. My mom, sister, nieces, James and I rested and sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful day.
Today was James' first day to get in his baby pool.
We have high hopes for this kid and swimming. You know I've told you before about what a fabulous swimmer Brad is. We expect the same greatness from James. He really took to the baby pool in spite of the fact that it was frigidly cold. What a champ! He really enjoyed it. But he sure was ready for Nana to get him out of his soggy trunks and into some jammies.Then he got some snuggle time in with Aunt Carrie.
After the pool, we had hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we ended the night with a big hug from Papa...
And some sweet sugars from Nana. Happy 4th of July!!!
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Bill, Hunter and I went to visit Lindsay and Cody and helped them build a patio in their back yard. It looks great and I will send pics.
But you will love this part - Bill grilled in pouring rain, I mean a torrential downpour, no let up at all. It was so wet on the 4th but we did grill and you know how Bill grills - we had chicken, ribs, hotdogs, hamburgers, sausage, just to name the main part of our meal. I swear Lindsay and Cody are probably still eating the leftovers!
The pics of James are priceless! And when did you hair get so long?
Did I tell you we had sparklers at Lindsay's wedding for their send off? It was magically but not without difficulties. Love ya!
Enjoy your wonderful family!
L