Lawson Luau

 During a trip to Dollar Tree, Jake asked me what some items were. I answered, "those are decorations for a Luau party."  Jake's immediate response was, "I want to have a luau party."  So, after talking about what a luau is and hearing his excitement, I was sold.  Thus began our preparations for a Lawson Luau.  Jake knew exactly who he wanted to invite: Aidan and Joaquin.  This request melted my heart because these are two of his favorite friends from Wednesday mornings at Westover.  With no Wednesday mornings in the summer and Kindergarten starting in the fall, I knew Jake wouldn't see these friends hardly at all so I definitely wanted him to have this opportunity.  We bought all the necessary luau Dollar Tree decor, planned a menu, got out our Hawaiian shirts, and invited our guests.  Our party included the limbo...

A Bible story at Jake's request (again, melt my heart)...

 We also had lots of fun playtime, yummy pulled pork sandwiches, Hawaiian punch, tropical shebert, Hawaiian cups and leis to take home, and this party animal...

Lawson family vacation

In July, we took a trip with the Lawson side of the family.  We spent two nights in San Antonio and two nights at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels.  The kids had so much fun, and it was great to see them enjoying their cousins.  This was supposed to be a silly shot of the boys before entering Sea World.  It seems a little more pathetic to me (I promise they really were excited!)...

Group shot...

Luke did GREAT!  He was a trooper and was mesmerized by the shows...

Campbell was super exctied to meet the Sesame Street gang...

Luke loves climbing...

Enjoying the Shamu coaster...

Campbell was my riding partner for this ride...

and the boys had their own "egg..."

I didn't get any animal shots this trip except this one.  This guy was HUGE and awesome...

Ready for Shamu...

Fun is pretty exhausting...

After San Antonio, we packed up and headed to New Braunfels where we stayed in an awesome tree house condo at the water park.  Since everything includes water, I have very few pictures from this half of the trip, but everyone definitely had a lot of fun at their own age appropriate level.  Since we were staying at the Schlitterbahn resort, one night we participated in a scavenger hunt and marshmallow roast.  Here are the girls on the scavenger hunt...

Here's our winning team...

Luke's first try at roasing marshmallows...

Happy cousins...

July Checklist #2

 Our 2nd check for July's checklist was to cheer on the Round Rock Express.  We were able to do this in a very special way because Jake's Wild Dog team got the chance to be on the field with the players before the game!

Here are the Wild Dogs with Coach Steve on the Jumbo-tron...

 Ready to get their balls autographed...

 Jake had several players sign his ball, but his most prized autograph was from this guy...

 The Wild Dogs were partnered up with another t-ball team, so there were two boys at each position during the National Anthem.  Jake was on the pitcher's mound...

 With the Express representative...

 Go Wild Dogs!

 Getting that prized autograph...

 Waiting for the players...

 The autographs begin....

What an extra special fun way to participate in an Express game!  It was quite a night!

Luke-16 months

Luke just turned 16 months old.  He is is smiley, silly, mischievous, hungry little guy.  I definitely can't imagine our family and my world without him.  Here are some things about our guy...

 

*He can be mischievous.  For example, when I'm trying to get him dressed, he'll pull his clothes in the opposite direction of what we need and then laughs uncontrollably.  He often knows when he has something he's not supposed to have and the minute I look at him, he grins and giggles.

*He's so loving.  He loves to hug and kiss.  He loves to back up into my lap and sit down.  The lap sitting melts my heart.

*When he's hungry, he'll stand in front of the fridge or pantry and fuss and cry.  He can already open the pantry door!  I foresee child safe door knobs in our future (something we've never had) b/c he's constantly pulling stuff out of the pantry.

*He's recently really interested in climbing on Jake's bathroom stool, grabbing Jake's toothbrush and playing in the water. 

*He LOVES playing with all the things in Mommy's bathroom drawers.  This love has caused a little struggle between us.  He wants my lotion, my makeup, my toothpaste, my everything in the bathroom; and it's all off limits.

*We've been reading more together and he's enjoying books more.  He LOVES touch and feel and books that have flaps.  He wants to read those over and over.  If it's a regular book, he loses interest about halfway through.

*He has a funny habit when he's tired.  It looks like this...

And especially like this because he likes to feel the fabric on his face. When we see this, we know it's time for sleep...

*He knows just a few words: Mama, Dada, Papa, go, hi, ball.  The words might be few, but he is really good at head nodding; both yes and no.  He definitley communicates with that head.
*He can say "ruff, ruff" for a dog and likes making that noise.  I've also heard him say "baa" for a sheep, but it's a lot harder to get him to say it.
*He makes a high pitched shrieking noise when he wants something or is frustrated.  I'm not going to lie, it's a tough, annoying noise.
*At times, he can be really clingy and pull and push on my legs for attention.  This is most common when I'm fixing dinner.

*He has the most awesome grin. I can't help but smile when I see it.  It looks like this...

*He's getting his molars, however only has two teeth in the front bottom.  For the longest time, he only had the top four and bottom 2.  This adds preciousness to his grin b/c he shows lots of bottom teeth.  The other lowers are coming soon, but I just love his smile right now.
*Jake and Luke are awesome brothers.  They can play for extended periods together; and it's common to hear them both giggling.  Luke and I are really going to miss him once school starts.  Jake is Luke's idol, playmate, entertainer, and Mommy's best helper!

fun at HCBC

 Jake was invited to a Backyard Bible club by one of our neighborhood friends in July.  At the end of a week of fun games, new songs, and learning about Jesus at our friend's house, there was a BIG celebration at HCBC.  Jake was excited to go, and it was quite an event.  Here are just a few of the adventures we enjoyed:  There was fishing for real catfish (except there were no bites):

Fishing for prizes (here was a guaranteed bite!)...

 The highlight of the night by a landslide was this foam/bubble pit.  Think giant, community bubble bath.  Here's the progression of the pit...

 He's covered from head to toe, and he couldn't stop laughing.  It was a lot of fun just watching him...

 Luke hung out in the stroller and enjoyed lots of people watching...

Racetrack

 When there is a 1-year-old around, sometimes the fun has to happen behind closed doors if you don't want everything to be completely destroyed.  Daddy and Jake were in creative, building mode and after some hard work in Jake's room.  I peeked in to take a look, and this awesome racetrack is what I found...

July Checklist #1

With two weeks of swimming lessons and two weeks out of town, our goal of completing our Summer Fun Checklist for July is a little lofty, but we're pressing forward toward the goal!  The first check on the list was going to the Bullock Texas State History Museum.  The moment we told Jake about the idea and museum, he was getting out his cowboy clothes.  Here's Jake ready to go to the museum...

 Here's the complete look with bandana and sheriff's badge...

 Luke and I stayed home for this adventure b/c we didn't think Luke was ready to appreciate the museum or the IMAX, so this was a day of Daddy/Jake fun...

Ready for the "Under the Sea" IMAX...

 Jake was quite the poser...