Jeff's Birthday!

On July 20th, Jeff celebrated his 34th birthday! We had several celebrations to celebrate. The weekend prior, we went over to the Schweer's and had a wonderful dinner. They made fajitas and I made an Oreo cake for dessert. We played spades while the kids all played, and the guys apparently are on a streak and won for the third straight time! Game is on though, and the ladies are sure to come back for redemption.

Since his birthday fell on a Wednesday, we didn't get to do much since we had swim lessons and Carson had football camp. But, Jeff's dad and Michelle came over to wish him a happy birthday. The weekend after, we had the end of year baseball party on Saturday. So, Sunday, we took Jeff to Texas Roadhouse to eat, and both his dad and mom joined us. Then, Carson and I took him to see the new Capt. America movie. Grandpa took Cal with him and we went over afterwards for some yummy ice cream cake.

Finally, we got Jeff a smoker for his birthday. This weekend was his first attempt at smoking meat- he did a brisket, ribs, and burnt ends. It was incredible. Absolutely delicious! But, poor Jeff stayed up all night tending to it, so he was almost too tired to enjoy it. Almost...haha. We had the Schweers over to help us eat some of it. Cal and Lexi just love playing together. Here are some pics- one was Lexi in time out...and Cal had to go sit right next to her. Probably not the best idea, but it was too sweet not to capture=)

Swim lessons

July has gone by so quickly! I don't know where time goes. This month, both of the boys have done swim lessons.


We enrolled Cal in parent/tot swim lessons this year. He was one of the younger ones, so he wasn't as good as some of the other kids. But, he's such a little fish...he absolutely loved it! They learned front and back floats, gliding (Cal referred to them as blast off), and front and back strokes. They also got to jump off the sides and on Thursdays they actually got to dive off the diving board. Now, Cal is fearless about everything. True to his character, he ran out to the end of the board like he was going to take this big jump and stopped dead in his tracks at the end, when he looked down. It was histerical. Dad had to push him in. Of course, he was wearing his life vest, and the instructors were waiting at the bottom to catch them. He also had his first public meltdown. They give all the kids a ball to hold and play with during class, but they have to give it back at the end. Well, Cal was not having anything to do with that. "My ball, please ball, I want ball, more swim, " he screamed as I'm trying to get him out. I told him he could play with the ball tomorrow..."no morrow" and I told him you have balls at home..."no my balls". Then, we get to the car and he does the arching his back squeling to get in his car seat...after trying to reason with him and only getting more of a tantrum, he finally got a little swat. After day 3, he figured out the routine and it was much smoother. Here are some pics when Daddy took him, and also one with his instructors on the last night. They got their certificates (and cookies).




Carson is still in his lessons. We had to wait till baseball and football camp were over before he could do it. But, he's enjoying it. They are learning the proper strokes,basic lifesaving, diving, etc. So, it's good for him, since he hasn't done swim lessons since he was really little. Oh, to be 11 yrs old and get to be at the pool all day, everyday in the summer!

4th of July Fun

Catching up on some blogging. On 4th of July weekend we went over to the Cole's for an early 4th of July barbeque/ pool party on Sunday. The boys had a great time swimming, and it was so humid, that Jeff and I were glad to spend some time in the pool as well. While Jeff manned the fireworks with all the kids, I kept Cal entertained in the pool, then on the swingset, then in the pool....I was exhausted after a long day of chasing him around. Carson was more interested in lighting the fireworks then actually watching them. I guess that is the age.

Later that night, they had a great fireworks display. As Cal called them, "kabooms". Cal was so pooped- he crashed out right after they started the big ones. I'm not sure how anyone could sleep with all the booms- but he managed to, with some snores in there too=)

On the 4th, we hung out at home most of the day. We did our small fireworks in the driveway, and watched the Gardner fireworks at the high school from our back deck. It was a nice end to a busy weekend

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