Bowling at 300

Another one of our fun Thursday Summer events was bowling. I was so pumped for this, as was Justin. Though he had a blast, in this photo he was in tears after falling on the slick lane.

Bowling at the 300 is pretty fantastic. From waiters to come and take your food order, to no smoking (when was the last time you went to a non-smoky bowling alley), to bumper bars that go up and down according to a child/adult bowler. They have very small, lightweight balls for the kids. Ethan was trying this one out.

The place didn't open until noon, so the kids came fed and ready to play. Brooke & Lucy tried out bowling for the first time.

Ainsley, one of the many younger siblings just along for the ride, was always apt to watch older brother Luke put his ball on this contraption that helped not only center the ball but help it roll faster. Brilliant! Of course there was only one, so all 3 lanes were busy trying to grab it in between toddler bowls.

Mariana & Audrey hugging each other as the ball approached the pins.

Katie was the lone adult bowler. With Lissie in tow, I believe she bowled a strike. Look at that form!

Of course, the Hall girls not only matched but all tried their hand at bowling as well.

Justin taking a turn. it was hard having so many kids and so few lanes. The kids all wanted to bowl at once, and had to learn to "take turns". Learn it now, kiddos, because you have to do it for the rest of your lives...

Get low, get low

A family affair

Had to go for the tickle to get this smile, but it's a smile nonetheless.

So great that Wendi and her boys could join us on this outing!

I love it that they have shoes to fit all the kids' feet.

If you haven't been to this place, go check it out. Can be pricey if ordering food, bowling several rounds, etc. But it's clean, nice, and a great place to stay cool in this heat!

Fun Fellas

We have had lots of fun with different little boys this summer.

Xan, short for Alexander, and his family are new to our Sunday School class. We recently split up into Community Groups, based on where families in the class are located geographically. Of course, the Michaelis' crew are leading their region, and the Davidsons just happened to be in our group. We went to the mall with Jen & Xan the other day to play and play. These two boys took to each other immediately.

We ate at Chick-fil-a and then rode the carousel.


I had the privilege of watching sweet Reid Dethrow back in June. I had never met this little fella, and Justin thoroughly enjoyed having a playmate for the day.

Reid loved swimming in the pool in the backyard.

Of course, Justin had to have his limelight as well.

Right after Reid left, Jake & Avery came over for a bit.

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere. Grandma had bought a whole stash of bubble blowers and let us come home with them after not using them in Waco.

Avery is such a cutie, and Justin listens to her like no other.


One of Derek's Rice basketball buddies came over for dinner with their son, Jacob. We hadn't met Jacob yet since his father had been playing ball over in Italy. Such is the life! But we were pumped to see Karen & Alex again after a long absence. Daddy and son were in matching outfits - I loved it!

And I thought Derek was tall! These two younguns will probably grow to be tall like their very tall daddys! This photo makes Derek look like a shrimp.

Lots of fun with lots of fellas!

Escalantes with the Girls

It's almost like she hasn't left. But in retrospect, Wendi has left Houston. It was so refreshing to have her around for three weeks in Houston. I have been missing me some Wen!

Nothing like wine charms from the Middle East...

...great conversation sans kids...

...and wonderful friendships formed all because we knew Wendi! And maybe a strawberry margarita thrown in there as well. So thankful for this group of friends, especially since we are all scattered all over Houston and still find time to get some hang time. Cheers to Wendi!

Katy & Lauren's Baby Showers

I went to Waco in the middle of July for a double baby shower with my high school best buds. It was supposed to be a shower for both Katy & Lauren, but since Katy decided to give birth two days prior, it was more like a baby shower and a sip and see.

We planned on getting pedicures with all 7 of us at a new place in Waco. Lauren is pregnant with number three, a little girl named Julia.

We all gave her an adorable diaper bag and each filled it with another gift of our choosing. Caryn wrote cards with sweet words for each of the mommies from all of us.

Lauren opening gifts while getting her toes painted.

Even though we had reserved six spots, there was one woman in the middle of all the chairs we sat on. So at first I was the lone ranger across the room, and I then I just moved next to the random lady and yelled across to my friends. The chairs actually reclined quite a ways back - never leaned so far back while getting my toes done before.

All the pretty toes - I think mine lasted 10 minutes before I smudged half of the toes on one foot. Oh well.

Happy mommas after being pampered and catered to.

Originally we were going to have the shower at the nail salon. But we changed gears and took the party to Katy's house. We set up while she nursed and had a more intimate setting right in her very own living room. Caryn is the queen of our showers, and her creativity did not disappoint.

The invites, name tags for the food, silverware with matching patterns, it all looked so great. I made these individual fruit pizzas that were yummy. I copied Kaki when she did this a few years back for our Morby Christmas exchange.

The lovely banner Caryn made fit perfectly on the window.

The table spread

These adorable favors that Katy handed out to visitors. I almost want to name my next child after a candy bar so that I can do the same thing. She wrote a little note telling us thanks for coming to visit her "little peanut". Love it!

We then tried out some photos for little Clark. We put the just-eaten baby on a bean bag and a blanket I always use for babies. We tried it without a diaper, since all the cute blogs have naked babies in cute positions. Wouldn't you know we had a bowl movement immediately. Here's the damage awaiting going into the washing machine.

So we then moved to Katy's bed. This time we got smart and used a diaper instead. Clark was 9 pounds when he was born, so he was a cute, chunky, two-day-old baby.

Such a sweet little boy with his momma.

We gave Katy a similar bag of goodies from all of us.

Can't believe how great she looks just two days post-birth!

We also got her a carseat cover so that Clark can look adorable just about everywhere he goes.

The whole group - Wendi, Caryn, Ann, Shannon, Lauren, Katy, & yours truly. Lauren - still waiting for a reason to highlight your name (hint hint).

And wouldn't you know Clark's nursery was already finished and so cute.

Katy made that bicycle painting in the center herself.

Cute cowboy crib.

I LOVE how she did the letters of his name with rope.

And no one can forget little miss priss.

AnnMarie was all ready for a show while we were there. I got Clark the cowboy trumpet socks, and of course she had had on the orange pair before bedtime. And apparently it's a running joke that Katy doesn't love this Elmo shirt, so that in combo with the trumpets produced a lot of laughter.

And why not have a Little Mermaid Build A Bear doll? I kept telling myself to close my wide-mouthed jaw - I've never seen such a flashy stuffed animal.

The next day, after all the shower excitement, we went and got some rays at the Twin Rivers' pool.

Shannon had to leave us to go celebrate her 10 year wedding anniversary, which I can't believe it's been 10 years since this group started our massive wedding productions with all of us, plus some strays, as bridesmaids. The rest of the crew was looking at the massive amounts of photos on my computer. Basically they got to see the blog posts 3 months before the rest of the world.

We went back to see Katy again...

..before finishing off the weekend at Ninfa's.

Fantastic weekend with fantastic friends. It's hard to believe how long we have all been buds, and we still manage, even with the 12 kids (and one on the way) among us, to get together sans kids and husbands a few times a year. I love these girls and all that they mean to me. And a big shout out to my buddies Emily & Dana for watching Justin in Houston while I played with my besties in Waco. Cheers for friends!