a night at the ballpark

July brought two special friends to Midland for a few days of visiting. Linde came for her second trip out west and spent a few days with the kids and I during her summer break; and Kamara and Aubrey came last weekend to spend time with us. They were two visits I really looked forward to, and I can't believe they're already behind us!

We took both of them to a ball game - the Midland Rockhounds....picture a much, much, much smaller version of the Ballpark in Arlington. :) Here are some fun pics from our time at the ballgame. Again, even though its 100+ degrees here too, the evenings feel a little better without humidity.

Our first ballgame, with Linde, we were in a suite with David's coworkers. A nice way to watch the game. :) Colton loved going back and forth between inside and outside and LOVED eating peanuts. A place where he could make a mess and not get in trouble! Sadie was wanting to crawl everywhere, but we had plenty of people to help hold a cute, squirmy 14 month old.

Sadie entertained some of the other kids there with their grandfather. They were fascinated by her and kept playing with her.

Just a slight difference in mommy and Colton's skin tones. :)

Sadie's getting sleepy - we stretched her to her limit!

Linde loved on our kids while she was here! We call her aunt Linde, but David liked to call her 'the nanny'!

Cue the meltdowns...

And, last weekend when Aubrey was in town...

Aubrey was missing her daddy, and fortunately David was a good fill-in for a couple of days.

Colton was FASCINATED by this blow-up dog (there's a guy in there somewhere)....he kept wanting to go see him, touch him, hug him, shake his hand....there was also a guy dressed up as 'Rocky' the mascot in a fuzzy dog costume and he was equally fascinated with him too. He kept trying to get David and I to leave our seats and go up to the top so he could see 'the big dogs'.

Sadie had fun walking up and down our row

I kept telling him to be careful with his corndog and not let it touch the seat or ground, so I think he thought it'd be best to hold it up in the air.

We met Colton's friend, Jackson, and his parents at the game.

More pics to come of Linde and Kamara's visits...

Colton goes to school

We enrolled Colton in children's day out (we call it 'school') for the summer session - it was a short, four week session in July two days a week. This was his very first school experience, so it was a pretty big deal for mommy!

***A HUGE thanks to daddy for standing in line at 5:45a.m. one blistering cold February morning to get us into this program (about a week after we moved to town - that seems forever ago)! And to Lizzy for taking over so daddy could head to work. :) We made it onto the waiting list, then got a call a few weeks later that we got in for the summer and fall!

We thought school would be a fun experience for Colton since he doesn't have many friends here his age....he had so many little friends in Dallas that we played with all the time, so this move has been tough on this mommy since I've missed his interaction with little friends (and so has he!) But, at the same time it was tough thinking he was big enough and old enough for me to put him in mother's day out! (yes, I know some kids much younger than Colton go to MDO!) Overall, it was a great time for Colton- I think he really loved his time at school each day!

Before his first day we talked about school, and about how he'd take his backpack, and I asked what he wanted me to pack for his first day's lunch -(turkey lunchmeat, cheesestick, apples, and yogurt - all things he loves!), about making new friends, about listening to his teachers, etc...

So, our first day was great - he gave me a hug and I left. His school schedule is 9-2 without a nap, so I wasn't quite sure how he'd do since he's typically awake by 6:00a.m. and naps around 12:30 each day.

The next 2-3 days he cried when I dropped him off...but things improved and he really seemed to enjoy school. I asked his teachers if he talked, and they said he did - they also said he really loved music time and would sing and he often told me about the walks they took around the church, playing outside, and eating a cookie for snack one day. After school we'd come straight home for a nap.

Here he is excited about his treasure box that he brought home his last day of school. He'll start back to 'school' in September. :)

And while big brother is at school, Sadie LOVED her time with mommy. I'm grateful for that one on one time with my sweet girl!