Natalie's 11th

 Somehow Natalie did not get her birthday posted on here!

She is my same funny girl.

She has not changed as she grows up to become a preteen.

Some kids do.

Her teacher mentioned that she reminds him of Punky Brewster.

I could not agree more.

Lately, she wears multiple watches and Halloween socks.

 She knows when to tone it down, though.

She can get along with almost anyone.

Her friends are the most eclectic group of girls that I have seen.

They are also the most loyal, compassionate, and kind.

Natalie fits right in.

Labor Day Weekend

 These photos were at the Home and Garden show. 

The zoo brought this weird animal called a skink.  

The kids didn't seem to know HOW they felt about it.

 Matthew had the most exciting thing happen!

He lost his very first tooth.

He wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy and put his tooth in a pillow.

Meagan wrote a letter from the Tooth Fairy and it was super cute.

 Matthew and his buddy from Little Gym went to the open house on Friday.

It was (not very organized) chaos, but they had fun.

 This is the start of our backyard!

 Andy took Matthew and Meagan to a fish store with some neat features for kids!

The very last week of summer

 This is Matthew's new teacher.

He is very excited to be a big first grader.  

I am a bit sad because he is getting bigger, but proud of him too.

 Meagan and Natalie spent some time in Houston with their grandparents.

They did ceramics.

They did all kinds of fun things!

They went to the butterfly museum. 

They also went to the Children's Museum, but I think they have hit the age limit there.

They assured me they still want to go with their little brother though.

 CHLOE!

July 2016

 We took a brief trip to Abilene with Becky, Julie, Aunt Jean, and baby C.
We had a fun trip! They had a lot more to do there than we expected.

 Matthew and Natalie put on a play after we returned.

 And Chloe just looked beautiful.

Colorado Summer

We had a wonderful time in Colorado.

We met up with Uncle Steve and Aunt Jean in Summit County.

This was in Vail.

Just a random shot. 

Because that's how beautiful it is there.

We went panning for gold in Breck.

It was surprisingly cool!

They had a lot for us to see, and they had real cabins and tools.

Andy swears he found a fleck of gold. I'm not too sure.

We also went to the park in Dillon.

Nati did quite a bit considering she still really can't walk.

A few flowers.

Monster size dandelion!

All kinds of Interesting Stuff

We headed to North Padre last weekend.

There was no seaweed!

The weather was cooler than expected, which was a great surprise.

 Matthew and Tyler had a blast at their first field day!

 But there was this- our first cast.
She twisted it last week, and the x-rays are clear.
She still could not bear weight on it after a week, so the orthopedic surgeon thinks it might be her growth plate.
We only have it for a few weeks, so it isn't awful.
Natalie loves getting it signed!

The Thinkery