Father's Day Weekend

~ Friday Night ~
Father's Day weekend started off at ASI Gymnastics, where Jarret had signed Julia up for a free trial class (per the suggestion of one of his co-workers). I watched from the bleachers, while he stayed with Julia on the floor for some daddy-daughter bonding time.

Normally, Julia is clingy and/or doesn't participate much with a group in new activities (think Paige's birthday party last December). Not so this time! She attempted every single thing Coach Nick suggested and she had a blast the entire time. All sorts of jumps on the trampoline, all sorts of forward/backward somersaults and handstands on the floor, etc. Unfortunately, we only got 1 picture and that photo doesn't even represent her time there...I can't remember when on earth she was laying down on the trampoline; I remembering her jumping like a crazy woman the whole time.


And a video snippet of her time on the trampoline and sliding into the foam pit:

~ Saturday ~
Lake Day! Since both Jarret and his dad are the ultimate family men and love the lake, this was a great way to celebrate Father's Day. As Poppy said, "It doesn't get any better than this."

Snuggling with daddy...


Poppy holding his two sleeping grandbabies...


Us watching Kendall & Caden on the Ski Bob...


Jarret and his dad about to attempt the Ski Bob. Things did not turn out so well for them...

Jarret waving while riding the Ski Bob solo. Poppy finally succeeded in throwing him off, but Jarret held on with all his might for quite a long time...


Poppy and his grandkids at dinner...

~ Sunday ~
Sunday morning before breakfast. Daddy, Julia, and her bunny rabbits...


We ate breakfast at Breadwinners with my parents to celebrate my dad's Father's Day, and I'm so mad at myself for forgetting to take a picture. I even thought on the drive down there, "I need to take a picture very first thing or I'll forget." Bummer!

Jarret chose to spend most of his Father's Day simply relaxing and watching both the World Cup and US Open. Julia is usually such a mama's girl, but she has been getting more and more snuggly with her daddy as you can see here with them watching golf together...



And to top things off, Julia became a "traitor" to me tonight. :-) Just in time for Father's Day, she finally picked her daddy over me. She and I were together alone in a room when she bumped her head and started crying. So I picked her up and began to comfort her in my typical way. Through her sobs, I could finally tell that she was repeatedly saying, "I want daddy!" As soon as we went into the other room to where he was and she reached from me to him, she immediately stopped crying. He hasn't stopped beaming ever since, and I don't blame him. It makes me so happy to see her want to be with him!

We love you daddy!! You are such a wonderful parenting partner to me and an amazing daddy to your sweet daughter. We are extremely lucky and blessed to have you as the head of our family!
- Your Wife and Baby Girl

Julia Turns Two!

As with many of my recent posts, they're a good 1-2 weeks behind the actual date of the event. Sorry!

On Saturday May 29th (the day before Julia's actual birthday), we celebrated her turning two with a small party at our house with just immediate family. She had balloons, presents, a Dora cake, and her cousins to play with so it was just about everything this little two-year-old could ask for.

A few pictures before heading out to the backyard for swimming and slip n slide:






This was our first time to use a sunscreen stick for Julia's face, and you would have thought that in itself was a birthday gift. She was fascinated with applying it to her face and to the face of anyone else who would let her:




The main event was outdoors. We set up Julia's inflatable pool, her slip n slide (an early BD present from us), and her new soccer goal (another BD present from us) for the kids. We had a tent and a fan for the adults to keep us cool!




She has a real soccer ball somewhere in the backyard. Not sure why they were using this one...



I know we did a separate post of Julia's trial run on the slip n slide two days before her birthday, but Jarret got some awesome close-ups on her birthday that we had to post.






Cake time! Complete with her favorite friends Dora and Boots...





Time to open presents. She got so many wonderful gifts!

She loves watching daddy mow the lawn. Now she has her very own so she can help...

A new baby doll, including a bag with everything a baby could possibly need so Julia can take care of her...

A Dora fishing pole, as seen in the previous Memorial Day post...

Nap mat for Mother's Day Out next year. Currently just for playing around or for watching a show on TV...

As of late, she's become just as interested in Diego (if not more so) than she is in Dora. To that end, she got her first Diego DVD which she instantly became obsessed with.

And a Diego train set...

Her very own laptop. This thing is actually really cool. You hook it up to the real computer so you can customize the laptop with Julia's name, some "emails" to her from family (you can pick from "Daddy", "Grammy", "Gran", etc so it's the actual people in her life), some songs of your choosing, etc.

Julia, you are extremely verbal and we're amazed at the full conversations we can carry on with you (and that we sometimes hear you carrying on with your dolls, animals, or plastic Dora/Diego figures). Some of our favorite things you've said lately:

• When you want to turn off the radio or a CD, you say "I want turn off." Well, it turns out that to get Jarret or me to stop singing you say the same thing. You'll walk up to us and put your palm over our mouths and say, "I want turn off!"


• A couple of months ago, you picked up my "oh my gosh" phrase. Although I have tried very hard not to say OMG anymore, I will still hear you repeat it every once in a while. Only, you've modified it to, "Oh (pause) my (pause) goshy."


• When we sneeze, you say to us in an extremely animated high pitched voice, "Gaw BESS you Mommy!" or "Gaw BESS you Daddy!" (= "God bless you"). We badly want this on video because describing it doesn't begin to capture the sincerity and enthusiasm of how you say it.


• Over the last couple of months, you will come up to us at random times and wave while saying, "Bye! See you later." The week after your birthday, I asked you where you were going and at all of two years old you popped out with, "I go with Diego to Rescue Center to save animals." Well, alrighty then. Have fun! And clearly, I need to not show you your new Diego video so often, so matter how much you beg for it.


• After you get out of time out, we go through the process of having you explain why you were in time out, you saying you're sorry, us saying we forgive you, and then giving hugs and kisses. Apparently we tell you that it's sweet when you give us kisses: This past week when I got you out of time out, you initiated kissing me on the cheek. Then you patted my cheek and said, "Ah, that's sweet."


• A couple of weeks ago, Jarret slipped and you asked him in a very concerned voice, "You okay baby?"


• Many mornings I'll describe to you our plans for the day, and you often respond with a "Sounds fun!"


• If you're ready to go somewhere and one of us is sitting down, you'll look at us and say, "Come on Mommy (with a hand extended out toward us), Let's GO (with a dramatic point in the direction you want to go)!" Along the same lines, sometimes you'll come grab our arm if we're laying or sitting down and say, "Come on Mommy, get up!"


• Instead of responding with a "yes" to a question we pose, you respond with either "yeah" or "kay" (which just recently morphed into a true "okay"). As of late though, you often responds with an enthusiastic "Oh yeah!" instead of just "yeah."


• A few weeks ago, my car wouldn't start. You announced to me, with a concerned expression and shaking of your head, "Car not wuhking. It bwoken." (= "Car not working. It's broken.) For whatever reason, this little phrase of yours has been so cute to us:
  
  

At the age of two, you:

• Could count to twelve. You could name some of your teens, but not in order.


• Were able to identify nearly all of your letters, both upper and lower case. You could kind of sing-say your ABCs, but you would typically miss the letters HIJK. In general, you really don't sing though. You more so just speak your songs.


• Are still a very picky eater. Gran says you are just like your daddy was: We can't even convince you to try certain things; instead you dismiss many foods based solely on their appearance.


• Weigh 24 - 24.5 pounds and wear a size 5 shoe. Your shirts are all the age-appropriate size, but I can still fit you in some 6-12 month shorts because your waist is so teeny. Buying you pants is already becoming frustrating, just like it was for myself throughout life. Sorry pumpkin!


• Are a fish! You absolutely love being in and around the water, and you jump off the boat's swim platform into the lake again and again without any hesitation. You also went wakeboarding with daddy for the first time the day after you turned 2.


• Are obsessed with all things Dora and Diego. You ask to read their books and watch their videos constantly. You have a couple of Dora and Diego dolls which you carry around with you, and you talk to them as if they're your real friends. I constantly hear you saying, "Look Dora! I did ..." or "Look Diego! That's a ..." You carry on full conversations with them.


• Love to "drive" our cars. You eagerly say, "I want drive!" and proceed to climb into the driver's seat of our cars. You like to do the blinkers, turn up the radio, open and close the garage door, and try to steer the car. Some days you even wait in the front yard for daddy to come home from work, and then climb into his lap to drive his car around back. Note: Our alley is on the side of our house so she isn't driving too far!


• Are such a mommy's girl and want to be with me all the time. You love goofing around with daddy and he can get you to laugh like no one else can, but you still struggle with the transition of him coming home after work and many nights you won't let him put you to bed because you want me. I know the day is coming that you will be a total daddy's girl, so I'm trying to be patient with the clinginess and enjoy it while you still prefer me.


• Have stoppped holding hands with us when we pray. You saw a family praying in one of your books and they each hand their hands in a traditional prayer position in front of their faces. So now you put your palms together and put your hands right up to your nose to pray. You also can't figure out how to close your eyes! If we say close your eyes, it's so obvious that you're trying really hard but you can only close them for 1-2 seconds. It's so funny. You still have yet to say anything in your prayers other than "Amen", but we can't wait to hear what you say to God once you do start talking to Him!

We love you so very much Julia. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Memorial Day Weekend

As has become a tradition over the last few years, we travel to Lake Palestine over Memorial Day weekend to spend time catching up with 3 other families who are close friends with the Eubanks. The group is different every year depending on who can make it, but here's the clan from this year's festivities:


Julia received a Dora fishing pole for her birthday, and she asked, more like begged, "I go fishing!" constantly throughout the weekend. Here she is fishing with both daddy and Poppy. She has a hard time reeling, but she loved being in charge of throwing the plastic pink fish back into the water (as you can tell in the picture with Poppy, she just threw it back in the lake).




Hanging out with Gran before getting ready to go on a boat ride...


Just some goofing around pictures on the back deck...




The highlight of the weekend for us was Julia's time actually on the lake. As many of you know, we enrolled her in Emler Swim lessons from the time she was 6 months old to 1 year old, which helped her become super comfortable at the lake last summer. But after a 9 month lake break with no swim lessons, we wondered if she would still be comfortable this year.

Memorial Day weekend was her first time to try getting in the lake this year, and she didn't hesitate for a single second. The moment her feet touched the swim platform on the back of our boat, she exclaimed, "I want get in lawter (water!)" She proceeded to jump off the swim platform again and again and AGAIN to anybody who was willing to catch her.


Then, she went wakeboarding with daddy for the first time!! We've both been looking forward to that moment for so long. He said she cried for about 20 seconds or so at first, but then was simply calm and quiet after that (note the Slippy blog post in which my child has to be forced into activities at first, yet quickly learns to love it!)


Here's the video of her first wakeboarding event. Note this is NOT for the faint of heart. The filming is very unsteady, and sadly only I can take responsibility for that. Sorry!

Video of: Julia's 1st Time Wakeboarding

Kasey's Wedding

On May 21st, my dear friend Kasey got married to Bradley and became Mrs. Havens. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding, both in external appearance and in spirit. We are so thrilled for you guys!

Kasey and her bridesmaids at the Rehearsal:


We held the lingerie shower at Homewood Suites in Allen on the night before her wedding, and several of us spent the night together there that evening:

I have been so impressed with Annie's Bakery in Murphy, who I used to make the "It's a Boy" cookies and these adorable corset and bra/panty cookies for the lingerie shower. She made the corset and bra/panty cookies look almost exactly like the image that was used on the lingerie shower invitation!



WEDDING DAY!!!!
Julia had insisted on wearing her boots that day, so here are a couple of adorable pics of her in just a diaper and boots. I especially love the one where she's so proudly dragging her Dora backpack behind her.



Hanging out with my dad before the wedding:


Hanging out with daddy before the wedding:


Kasey and all of her flower girls:


As you can see in several of these photos, we were pretty generous giving suckers to Julia that night to bribe her into cooperating calmly despite all the wedding chaos surrounding her. Worked like a champ, and we also got some of her best smiles on camera because of her happy mood!...



The wedding was held at The Cotton Mill in McKinney, which was a working cotton mill warehouse until 1969. It had so many cool architectural aspects for photo taking. Here, Julia is looking out the huge glass doors which led to the outdoor ceremony area:



Quite possibly my favorite picture of Julia ever:


Giving kisses and hugs. Especially since it's only been in the past couple of months that Julia has learned to give "real" hugs with squeezes and love pats, I adore the picture of her giving me a genuine hug with a genuine smile on her face.



Julia FREAKED out during the rehearsal when we practiced her walking in with the other flower girls, so we decided that she'd walk in with me. I was super anxious that my almost 2-year-old would ruin the wedding with a crying fit, but she did *great* during the actual wedding.



Here I'm telling her where daddy is sitting and that he has a sucker waiting for her. Upon hearing the word "sucker", she sprinted off immediately:


Sitting with daddy during the wedding. She was so quiet and calm. We were super proud of her:


Sweet picture of Kasey's kiddos, Katie and Jacob, standing beside her and her parents. All four of them (Katie, Jacob, Kasey's dad, and Kasey's mom) gave her away. It was very touching:


Bradley praying for he and Kasey after lighting the unity candle:


Sheer excitement upon being announced Mr. and Mrs. for the first time!...



The kiddos playing in the ceremony candle decorations...post-ceremony of course! The ones on the left are Kasey's two kiddos, Jacob and Katie.



My high school girlfriends, all of whom I've known since elementary school! During our high school years, we affectionately referred to ourselves as PYT. We used Michael Jackson's "PYT" as our theme song, complete with a dance we choreographed to it. Now we refer to ourselves simply as (from left to right)Hillary, Julie, Kasey, Mylinda, me, and Shannon:


My cutie pie parents at the reception: