Nanny and Grandpa in Texas!!!!

 My parents left for Texas the day after the reception. We were so happy to see them in our neck of the woods. We loved taking them to the park and showing them around town. My kids were quick to round up some sympathy points, "WOW, you brought SUCKERS????? We NEVER get suckers!".That is even funnier if you know that my kids all have sugar addictions and they are HARDLY deprived of candy. :)

 We enjoyed lunch at Taco Bell's playland and  I took my parents for a tour of Justin's clinic and the new clinic that they should be moving to soon. We stopped by Wal-Mart, an antique store, and got ready for the first day of school the next morning.

I am so excited for my parents. They will make the best missionaries!

Bob and Mary's Wedding

 We had a casual dinner the night before the wedding sans kids with the siblings and parents of the bride and groom. It was so fun to see and visit with my siblings and to meet Mary's family too. She is the youngest of 10 and has an amazing family. For those who don't know my family as well, my brother, Bob, is the youngest of 8. We LOVE Bob's new wife and feel so happy and blessed that he found her.

 My Dad and his three girls.

 These are the two cute lovebirds. Are they not adorable? I just love them.

 The original LeBaron fam.

 John and his baby Anna.

 The original Mary LeBaron and Carrie showed up in matching shirts for the reception.

 Almost the whole family. We were all together in June for a big reunion, and in the end, Flori and I just flew out by ourselves. It was such a fun time and with all the cousins and dancing at the reception, I really missed my little family back in Texas, and wished they were there. It was nice to feel though, like I  could offer a tiny bit of help to my parents who left on their mission to Texas the very day after the reception. They reported to the MTC on August 5th, so they were all trained and ready to go to Huntsville.

Walk-Stars

 My kids are such picture posers! I love it. We also went on walks a lot when dad was not around. We just had to go first thing before it got too hot. Gracie and Gunner usually rode bikes and Maisy would ride in the stroller when I did some convincing. Mostly, she wanted to be a big kid and ride her bike too. She has one pedal down. She pushes really hard and just pedals on the one side. :) It makes our walk a little slower, but she sure does love being a big girl.

This is Gunner practicing eating his "cowboy grass" Is he convincing?

Playing house

My kids crack me up. They can convince Maisy to be the baby, the dog, a cat, or whatever and she totally plays along. She doesn't suck a binky, but they love to give one to her when they play. It makes me smile every time. I also love watching Gracie try to hold a two year old like a little newborn. :)

Alles Blonde

Maisy, Jane, and Gracie

 In Germany, I served with my trainer, Laura Jane, for 6 months. We had a lot of fun together and I have always loved her. Well, the last time I saw her was about 6 months after I got married. It had been too long. So, when I heard she was coming to Texas to visit her old stomping grounds (She and her husband lived about and hour away from where we live now for several years but now live in Indiana), I couldn't wait to see her.

We met up and took the kids to a splash pad and out for ice cream. Then we made them come to our house for dinner. And lastly, we met up in Justin, Texas to do some shopping at the outlets. We kept getting comments about all the blonde children. It reminded me of when we would walk along the street in Germany and an old lady called out her window "Alles Blonde".

I'm Walking on Sunshine

 We loved the nights that Justin was home early enough for a family bike ride/ walk. Gunner is practicing riding with his training wheels raised to promote better balance. We have taken the training wheels off a few times, just to put them back on, because we aren't quite there yet.

I love the street leading to our house. There aren't many homes and it is also a dead end, so there is not much traffic. Makes it perfect for walks and riding bikes with kids.

 Do you see a pup? This is Little Ann, our new dog. She is a Black Mouth Curr dog. They are used as hunting/cattle dog and Justin's boss gave her to us. She was the only puppy from his most recent litter that didn't die from Parvo (a common puppy disease). We love her.

S'more Love

 We love S'mores. But more often than not, we enjoy them indoors. We like to roast them on the range, over the burners. Messiest dessert ever, but we can't seem to stay away :).

Mud Man

  We had some great thunderstorms right as we arrived. Our neighbor said to us, "Welcome to Texas, where it rains every morning and never gets to hot." :)  Our neighbors are all nice and one of them (the one I just quoted) reminds me of  Rick Perry.

Anyway, Gunner went out one day and rolled in the mud. He was pretty proud and happy to see his messy clothes. He even had fun hosing himself off. :) You should see the shirt now too... I could be a spokeswoman for Tide and Oxy Clean :)

Scorpion Country

 The day we moved in, our landlord's wife casually mentioned that as she was cleaning up and vacuuming for us to move in, she found a scorpion. It was already about 7pm when we got there and we still had not had dinner. So we stayed up late cleaning carpets and setting up beds, because we didn't really trust a floor bed after the scorpion comment. It has now been 3 full months. We have found about 6 in the house. The one in this picture was the scariest.

I was getting ready to run a bath for Gunner. There were some bath toys already scattered in the tub. As I moved them to wipe out the tub, I saw a scorpion hanging out in the bathtub. I was a little scared and surprised and decided I could just wash it down the drain. I filled something with water and flushed the scorpion down the drain. I popped the plug in and gave Gunner a bath. I drained the bath and put the stopper back in.

Two days later, Gracie wanted a bath. I filled the water, and put in some bubbles. Later we drained the bath. It took longer with the bubbles, but eventually I put the plug back in. That is when I saw a scorpion covered in bubbles. It was my friend that I washed down the drain before. YIKES. These are hearty little creatures. Our neighbors say that their stings are about as poisonous as a few wasp stings. I pray that none of us ever have to find out.

Things could be worse though. My friend said she killed 5 just last week in the hallway by her kids' bedrooms.

Swim Lessons

 Shortly after we arrived in Texas, I signed the kids up for swim lessons. It was a great thing to look forward to 4 days a week for a  few weeks and helped my kids tremendously. I was amazed to see Gracie and Gunner progress in the water.  I especially liked that the class taught a lot of water safety lessons. Gracie was happy to have a teacher that we attend church with. She was so nice and one of the best teachers there.

One kind of interesting thing is that the community swimming pool is connected to the hospital. The kids loved talking about how our baby would be born in this hospital.

 Maisy liked to get into her swimsuit and change into normal clothes with the kids afterwards (even though she never got wet:)

 Gunner loved his class and was like a little fish. He loved "ring around the ocean, a pocket full of fishes, splashes, splashes, we all fall down."