18 months old

It is hard to believe that my little man is 18 months old! He is 33 inches tall (66th %) and weighs 24 lbs (25th %), so he is tall and skinny like his daddy!

Clayton you have really turned into a little boy this past month. You are fully understanding everything we say and can answer our questions with a shake of head for yes or no! We also get a "yeah" to answer yes sometimes! You are talking up a storm, while most of it is still jibber jabber, you are saying 12-13 words very clearly! Your favorites are "uh-oh" "bye" "dadda" "momma" "ruff ruff" (dogs) and "B-B" (which is what you call Brinley and she is THRILLED you are calling her name now). You love to help mom by going and getting your shoes, putting your dirty cup in the sink, putting your laundry in the hamper and then putting your clean clothes in the drawer.

You are fearless and love jumping off the fireplace to land on the little couch, doing rolls that you learned in gymnastics and climbing onto anything that you can! You are also eating anything that we put on your plate (except melons) and love to sleep! You are such a sweet little boy and I love your laugh and hugs!

Little Rock, Arkansas

This past weekend, we packed up the car and drove to Little Rock, Arkansas for Wendi's wedding reception. We decided to leave after dinner Thursday night so the kids would spend the majority of the 7 hour drive sleeping. They did really well and didn't make a fuss in the car coming or going! We hit a torrential downpour that made up drive 30mph on the freeway for 2 hours!!! Once we woke up in the morning, we saw on the news that a flash flood from that rain had killed many people camping right as we drove by :-(


After we grabbed a quick bite to eat Friday morning, we met my dear friend, Rachel, and her kids (which are the same age as mine) to tour downtown Little Rock. First we headed to the Peabody Hotel to watch the famous duck march. It is the cutest thing ever! They bring the ducks from their conservatory riding the elevator, then they walk the red carpet to get to the pond in the center of the hotel which has their food!!! All the kids got a real kick out of watching the ducks ride the glass plated elevator.

After that, we headed over to the Little Rock nature center. The kids enjoyed watching all the fish swim around and looking at snakes, birds, and turtles.

After a quick lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap! After the nap, we headed to the Lipsey house for some hot dogs, rock band and visiting with the bride!

Saturday morning, we headed over to the Discovery museum to let the kids burn off some energy. Brinley and Clayton got to pet a lizard, ferret and porcupine, while we were there!

After lunch, Jason headed off to a pub to watch the USA vs England soccer game, while Rachel and I took the kids back to our hotel for some swimming! That evening, we headed to Wendi's Hawaiian themed wedding reception (they got married in Hawaii a few weeks ago). A good time was had by all. It was great catching up with old college friends and watching one of dearest friends celebrate her happiness with her husband.

Brinley also had a great time dancing! Her and Mindi (Wendi's sister) had a dance off in which everyone was gathered around watching! I tried to upload the video but it wouldn't let me :-(


On Sunday, we packed up and headed home. The kids slept or watched movies most of the way. They were worn out from their action packed weekend.

Memorial day at the beach

We spent our Sunday at the beach to celebrate Memorial day. What says memorial weekend better than the beach, hot dogs and smores??? It has been very hot and humid (even for us this time of year) so the water was nice and warm and the kids could enjoy themselves.

Brinley, of course, lived in the water and had so much fun splashing in the waves. Clayton spent most of his time playing in the sand and wading in the water too. He didn't like the waves splashing his face, but he did like running through the water.

The crew taking a break for some drinks and Cheetos!
Brinley and Clayton taking a Cheetos break!

Playing in the sand

He spent the entire time filling this wagon with sand and dragging it around!

Dance Recital

Yesterday was Brinley's first dance recital. She has been taking dance since September and loving every minute of it! She was ready to jump out of her skin due to excitement the entire day! She strutted her stuff once we curled her hair, put her makeup and costume on. There were no jitters going into at all!


Brinley did a great job of doing her dance! She barely had to look at the teachers and knew the dance very well. She was grinning from ear to ear once she stepped off the stage and watched in amazement the rest of the recital. When one of the jazz teams performed, she looked at me and said "I want to do that mom!"

I think the leaps were her favorite part!

I think dance will be something we will be doing for many years to come! Especially now that she knows that you get flowers and everyone tells you how pretty you are...Ha ha ha!!

Take me out to the ball game

Brinley spent this spring taking a tball class at the YMCA. They met once a week for 8 weeks and practiced hitting, throwing, catching and (Brinley's favorite) running the bases. It was a lot of fun and she loved it, so it looks like we will be signing up with the city next spring!

Clayton also enjoyed the tball practices! When they were batting, he was throwing the ball and chasing it. When they were playing catch he spent the entire time putting the ball on the tee and hitting it off. Looks like we will have a baseball player on our hands, because he made contact more than Brinley did...Ha ha ha!


At the end of the class, she got a trophy for her participation. She immediately put it in her room and loves looking at :-)

Evian, France

***this is the last post from our Europe trip, scroll down to see all the fun we had*******



Wednesday, we officially had been on all modes of transportation by jumping on the boat that crossed Lake Geneva into Evian, France.....that is where the bottled water comes from :-) It was a nice 35 minute ride that let us finally see the French alps since we broke through the clouds!


see how cloudy it was???

We finally broke through the clouds and it was gorgeous!!!

Once we got there, we realized the town must take an afternoon siesta from 12-2, because the only things open were restaurants! We got there at 12 and our boat back left at 2:45, so we were able to get some window shopping in and then quickly buy what we wanted in the 45 minutes we had left. The town of Evian, is very small and quaint! It was 10 degrees warmer so we were able to shed our coats for the first time and enjoy the sunshine. It was very quiet and not very busy so we were able to enjoy the tranquility of the french town!

Sarah and I eating our crepes in France

Brinley loved all the tulips, I wish we could grow them in Houston...too hot :-(

That evening when we got back to Lausanne, we had a first birthday party for Liam. He (along with Brinley, Clayton, and Wyatt) really enjoyed their chocolate cupcakes.

We finally got all four cousins still long enough to get a picture!!!

After we put the kids to bed, we feasted on the traditional Swiss fondue and lots of wine! It was very yummy and we stayed up way too late considering we had to catch the train to the airport at 4:30am!!!

The plane rides back were pretty relaxed until the last three hours. Clayton was done! He was sooo tired, but he was tired of napping on me, so he just cried off and on. It is a good thing he spent the first 7 hours flirting and charming everyone around us, because they weren't annoyed by his crying. We finally had to take turns walking up and down the aisle while holding him.

Clayton coloring on the plane

We sat right behind the bulkhead, which Brinley loved because she could lay on the floor. She spent most of the flight home playing her new Leapster!

Once we got into our car, Clayton started shrieking and didn't stop until we got home. I think he was excited to see something he recognized. We went to bed at 7pm that night and didn't wake up until 7am! It had taken us over a week to get back on Texas time (with a few nights of the kids waking up at 3am ready to go!) We had soooo much fun, but we are glad to be back in our beds and on our routines again.

Sight seeing in Lausanne, Switzerland

We were pretty worn out from our Milan trip, so we spent Tuesday sight seeing in Lausanne. It is a very beautiful town located on Lake Geneva with lots of old buildings and great sights. Bill took Brinley and Wyatt for the day and took them to the park, so we could tour and buy souvenirs without them bugging us! By souvenirs I mean chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate!!!! We seriously came home with a suitcase filled with wonderfully delicious Swiss chocolate!!!

The building across the street from Bill and Vickie....I love it!

Lausanne building right after it rained for about 5 minutes

Jason and me in front the Cathedral de Lausanne

Lausanne's famous shopping street

the cobblestone streets put him to sleep every time!!!

more shopping!

Brinley and Clayton playing down by the lake

Brinley loved these swings and asked everyday to play on them!

Two tired kids after Uncle Bill took them the park

Clayton and Liam getting some play time outside their strollers!