Housewarming Party and Guests!

This week we had special visitor's, Nana and Papa Wardell.  Their visit led up to our Housewarming party on Saturday. This week was so crazy with work, cleaning, visitors, and more cleaning! As a result, I didn't take many pictures... :(  I did take a picture of a few additions we made to the house this week. 

The house party went well. It was mostly family in attendance and a few co-workers. It was great to see everyone and show off our new place!

Thanks to everyone who came and the wonderful gifts!

Nathan's visit - Day 1

We picked up Nathan at the airport at 9:00am and wasted no time before we started some fun!  We drove downtown to the Dallas Aquarium; it was a first for all of us.

 

 

 

After the Aquarium, we stopped at Steak & Shake for lunch before heading home.  We played outside for awhile. As soon as we got inside we settled down and before we know it... everyone is sleeping! Once rejuvenated, we enjoyed a taco dinner.



We had one more activity planned for Nathan today, indoor skydiving at iFly.  Josh wanted me to come along, but our appointment wasn't until 8:30 and I wasn't sure what to do with Andrew. Josh asked his friend/co-worker, Kimberly, if she would babysit so I could come along. 


Nathan was very excited, but also extremely nervous. It didn't help that when we arrived, the class we were watching didn't have as good of an instructor. He was letting the students go before they really knew what they were doing, so they were running into the wall and all over the place. Luckily, we had Ian as the instructor. He was very fun, entertaining and skilled. Nathan attended a 15 minute informational/safety meeting and got in his gear.  He was asked if he wanted to fly up the tunnel with the instructor ($10 additional charge), but Nathan didn't want to.  Just before it was time to start I asked him if he felt like he was gonna throw up, he said, "A little"...then it was time to fly!  Nathan did two flights, a minute each. At the end of his second flight, the instructor grabbed his leg and few him up in the tunnel a few times. I am sure Nathan was surprised because we had not purchased that.  When he got done, I asked him if he had fun and if he would do it again. The answer to both was ,"Yes"!  I was so relieved!!!

A green thumb?

We had a little strip of dirt/concrete/mulch parallel to our sidewalk heading towards our front door. It had a bunch of concrete in there and they basically covered it with a little dirt and mulch. It is a useless area really, and the mulch made it even worse - even the slightest wind and the front entry way would be covered in it. 

If the area wasn't going to be filled in with concrete, we wanted to plant something there. We finally got it all cleaned out and purchased some dirt and plants. Here is our finished product!  Four Variegated Lily Turf and one Begonia in the middle.

I have never been very good keeping potted plants alive... I hope I have better luck with these!

S'MORES

Andrew had his first S'more over the holiday weekend!  He absolutely devoured it! 

(He didn't eat all three, we each had one.  He would have been bouncing off the walls if he ate all those!)

Messy and Tasty... this two favorite things!

Happy Independence Day!

We had a fun-filled day with Mimi, Poppa, Jackie and J-dawg!  We picked up Jackie and Jonathan and headed up town for the parade. We parked by the fire station and park. We killed a little time on the playground before the parade started.

Poppa grilled some hot dogs and brats for lunch. Josh and I ventured out to get some things for the house at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Anna's Linens, and Ross, while Andrew played & napped at the house. We returned at the perfect time - Andrew had just woken up and was eating an ice cream snack!  Then it was POOL TIME!  Andrew is very brave in the pool. He likes squirting the toys... especially at people not in the pool!

After a few hours in the pool, Poppa served up some BBQ ribs, coleslaw, and homemade Mac & Cheese. Andrew LOVED eating the ribs; he especially liked eating it right off the bone. Messy, but delicious!

After dinner, J&J took Andrew outside to throw some poppers and we took some family pics on the stairs. Andrew insisted on taking silly photo with each group. His silly face never changes, but it's always funny nonetheless.

 

 

We got home about 8:30. Andrew took at bath and stayed up watching the "Pampire" movie (Hotel Transylvania or "Vampire", if you don't speak Andrew) until fireworks started. He has never stayed up so late. I could tell he was tired; when he got up to walk around he just tripped over his own feet or was running into things. At 9:30 we took him outside to watch fireworks, but he didn't want to have anything to do with being outside in the dark.  I tried porch light and street light, still didn't like being outside. He said he would rather go to bed... so he did.  Notice fist in mouth... tired baby boy!