Through the Month of July

We have had yet another fun and active summer month!  We have spent lots of time involving various bodies of water, which is the only comfortable thing you can do in July!  Some activities of note this month included swimming lessons for Cooper, outings on the boat, beach time, and a quick vacation to the Comal River.  We still have a week left of the month, and we are going out with a bang!  Up this week is a trip to the aquarium, a night out for David and I for the annual CCGS fishing tournament shrimp boil, and a trip to Houston to Visit Nonnie.  See you in August, but first, a few images from our month:

Down Time at Home:

Coop wants to fly!

What kid doesn't love bath time?

Out on the Boat:

Shark attack!

Water baby!

With our friend Becky.

Comal River/New Braunfels Trip:

(boo, we forgot our waterproof camera, so we missed the really good shots)

Riding the Train at Landa Park

Silly girl had so much fun on vacation!

A Window into a "Typical" Day

Several months back, I posted on what a "typical" day is like for us.  While our daily routine has changed with Penny's age and increasing independence, we are still ourselves!  Here is a tiny excerpt in our daily life between the essential events (meals, naps, baths, errands, housework, mini DIY projects).

A Few More Firsts

Penny's first trip to the beach.

Penny's first Fourth of July.

Penny's first impersonation of a monkey...HA!  Penny has been climbing up on things for weeks!

10 Months Old!

Today Penny is 10 months old!  She has changed so much in the last month I don't even know where to begin!.  I guess I'll start with the most obvious and amazing change...PENNY. IS. WALKING. We were pleased and surprised when Penny took her first tentative steps two weeks ago...we thought she might walk early, but I really didn't think it would be this early.  Though she will take a maximum of 7 or 8 steps before she falls, or drops down on purpose, she is definitely walking.  She is also starting to CLIMB on everything.  The other day I walked into the sun room where she had crawled on top of the train table! While these feats are certainly impressive physically, I think the cutest thing about it is she always looks so proud of herself after she has walked between to points, or climbed up on something.  I suppose it is because she has one active, busy big brother to keep up with.

Penny is also trying more and more foods and is starting to drink from a cup.  She enjoys eating all kinds of things with her fingers including wagon wheel pasta, fruit, goldfish crackers, and just the other day she ate two chicken nuggets.  We haven't been pushing the cup issue, but over the last week she  has successfully taken sips from a regular cup and from a sippy cup.

Just watching Penny do more and more things, eat better, and start to express herself is such a joy.  She is fast moving toward toddler-dom...which is kind of sad!

I don't know who's idea it was to climb on to the train table first...

This sweet baby loves her baby doll and sleeps with it every night and every nap.

The Circus Comes to Town

Last night the Ringling Bros. Circus was in town, so we decided to take Cooper to see his first circus.  Show time was half an hour before Penny's bedtime, so we opted to leave her with Grandma this time.  Cooper enjoyed the elephants, the horses, the motorcycles, and the popcorn and skittles we bought him to keep him in his seat.  (It only partially worked.)  The show did run a little long, so by the end of it, Cooper was laying across both of our laps.

Cooper liked wearing the puppy dog hat that came with his $10 popcorn.

Delving into Summer

Ever since Cooper got out of school on May 18th, we haven't slowed down!  We LOVE summer and all the fun activities that go with it!  It is the perfect time of year to have fun, catch up with friends, and experience new things.  What we have been up to...

It all started on Cooper's last day of school....Cooper enjoyed his cupcake at the  last day of school picnic.

We just swim and swim and swim!

We host a summer swimming playgroup at our house every Wednesday.  Here is Penny...STANDING and now trying to walk at NINE months old.

David and I visited the Flint Hills of Kansas where Papa Kirk grew up...BEAUTIFUL country that I had never seen before.  We left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for the entire weekend.  It was their first time with both kids overnight.

On the way to the Flint Hills, we visited the Little House on the Prairie house...which were some of my favorite books as a kid.

A long time family friend got married!  We enjoyed the entire wedding weekend!

Here comes the bride with her Dad...GORGEOUS!  Congrats to Cassy and Trey!

David got a new toy...a boat.  We took it out to the ski basin for the first time this weekend.  It was SOOO FUN!  Kids did great...Penny hated her life jacket, but both kids loved playing in the sand and swimming.  They even slept for over an hour on the boat!

Memorial Day Weekend

Welcome Summer!  We kicked off our favorite time of year by having our friends down for Memorial Day Weekend.  We packed in a lot of fun things into just 2 and a 1/2  days.  Cooper and Penny had a lot of fun playing with Hunter and Kaelyn, and Mom and Dad had a great time catching up with Paul and Marcia.

On Saturday we all swam and enjoyed a shrimp boil.  On Sunday, we divided and conquered.  The guys took the little guys to the beach while the girls took the babies shopping in Rockport.  Later our OTHER old friends came over with their two kids for homemade pizza.  It was CRAZY with four active kids and two babies running on pure adrenaline that evening, but fun.

On Monday morning, we visited the Texas State Aquarium before our friends had to head home.  We had a great time and hope we can do it again soon.

Pictures!!

Boys in the pool.

Girls in Rockport!

Watching the Aggie baseball team win the Big 12 Championship.

These two had a blast together!

This scene took about 30 seconds to create.

They just played and played and played.

Sweet, CALM girls!

"Touching" the stingrays at the aquarium.

Rare moment of standing still.

Nine Months Old!

Today Penny is nine months old!  Where is the year going?  Penny had a check-up with the doctor today, and received one shot.  She is one big girl!  Her measurements were 19 lbs and 29 inches long.  That puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th for length!  It seems Penny is taking after her daddy in height.  In the last month, Penny has mastered pulling up and cruising against furniture, crawling up and down steps (EEK!), and is now making all sorts of sounds.  Penny has also learned to tattle...now when Cooper knocks her over or steals her toys (which he does A LOT), she lets out an indignant scream, which naturally gets me running.  Also, yesterday she sort of waved bye-bye!

Penny is also steadily eating 3 meals a day of solid food and is even experimenting with finger foods.  She likes applesauce, cereal, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, peaches, chicken, and carrots.  She also can feed herself cheerios, crackers, and sometimes mashed banana.  She is also still taking around 5 bottles a day, which could account for her amazing growth!  I am also happy to report that Penny steadily sleeps through the night from about 8 p.m. until about 6 a.m. and takes one short morning nap and a longer afternoon nap.

We are so thankful Penny is doing so well!

Mother's Day at the Ranch

For Mother's Day this year we went to the ranch for a family BBQ.  We got to visit with Great-Grandma and a lot of her family, Mom's cousins, Ma-Mas, Pa-Pa, and Uncle Clint.  Cooper had a blast playing with his second cousins Owen and Colsten.  While the weather was entirely too hot, we still all had a good time.  There was lots of food and people, and the little boys got to have an egg hunt.  Happy Mother's Day!

Cooper and Penny waiting for the cousins to arrive.

It was HOT!  Penny took a little snooze in the shade.

Owen and Cooper took turns "driving" the tractor.

I loved that Cooper got in the tractor and had fun!  He had previously been a little intimidated by it.

Egg hunt!  Cooper, Owen, and Colsten found lots of eggs!

What is in there??

Going through the loot after the hunt...inside!  All the kids had bright red cheeks from the heat!

At the top of the dirt pile.

I think I can run down this hill really fast!

Here I go...easy does it!

Such a long, fun day...without a nap!  THE END!

Spring Performance

Last night we attended the Spring performance at Cooper's school.  The show had a circus theme and Cooper's class, the 2-yr-olds, were clowns.  We were a little surprised but pleased how Cooper actually allowed us to dress him up like a clown (somewhat) and how well he followed directions and participated in the performance! He is still our cautious, willful child but in so many ways so grown up!

Cooper, not completely sold on the whole clown thing.

Maybe a little more into it...

Dad and Coop, after the show.

Penny and Ma-Mas enjoyed Cooper's performance too!