Shelby's Birthday Party

A few weekends ago, my cousin Mandi and her husband Joe hosted a birthday party for their oldest daughter, Shelby. Shelby was turning three and is one of Kolbe's best buddies. To be honest, she is one of his best buddies but he's not one of hers! Maybe some day! Mandi and Joe had several kiddie pools filled up in the backyard and I was able to get some fun pictures of the kids.

Reagan is in the "no fear of water" phase. He would excitedly stick his whole face in the water and pop up and smile.

I love this picture of Shelby! This was right after her grandpa helped her slide down the head of the frog into the water.

The pretty birthday girl! She looks so much like both of her grandmas!

Stinky Face.

Baby John chillin' out max and relaxin' all cool...

Kolbe enjoying some cake with his friend, William Gutheil.

Reagan checking out his cousin, John. He's not quite sure what to think of babies just yet!

Two Boys and Their Pa

I promise that I had the best of intentions with this post. The idea was to post it on Father's Day as a little gift of sorts for my dad. Since he lives in The Woodlands and there was no real way for us to celebrate with him, I thought that I'd collect a few pictures of him with the boys and post them on Father's Day as a way to celebrate from afar. After all, he loves nothing more than being with his grandsons. (all four of them!) But wouldn't you know it, when I went to hook the camera up to the computer, the battery was dead. And the charger nowhere to be found. After multiple days of fruitless searches, I stumbled across it today while getting a book out of the bag I was carrying the last time we travelled to Houston. Sorry it's only three days late, Dad. And sorry we couldn't see you on Father's Day. You are, and will always be, the best daddy a little girl could ask for.

So without further adieu, here are two boys and their Pa. A great big grandpa with the two little boys he loves and two little fellas dreaming they'll amount to someone like their Pa some day.

Memorial Day Weekend

After returning from Houston, it was immediately time for Memorial Day Weekend which brought along a special event in our family: the baptism of our nephews, Jackson and John. We were lucky enough to be able to have a joint ceremony for both babies, bringing my entire side of the family together. Rare!

On Friday night, Abby and Andy had a cook-out at their house to welcome Mike, Casey, and Jackson in to town from Boise, Idaho. Kolbe was still running a fever so we left the boys at home with our good friends, Ben and Erin and Mark and I got to attend the event alone. Of course, wouldn't you know it, we spent a good portion of the time we were there holding the babies! Guess we just do what we're comfortable with!

For most of us, this was our first chance to meet Baby Jackson. My brother, Pat, is his godfather. I was able to snap a few shots of the two of them meeting for the first time.

Mandi was there with her little girls, Shelby and Kinsey too.

And of course, Pa was as delighted as always to hold his grandson!

I don't have too many pictures of the actual baptism ceremony because Mark and I were taking part as our godson, John was baptized. Plus, it was extremely crowded and hard to get a good shot!

But we got plenty afterward! Parents and godparents with little John.

The entire Hefferly Family! You know this is destined for a Christmas card...

An attempt to get the four cousins together. I can't even get Kolb and Rudy to look at the camera at the same time...adding two more was not increasing our odds.

Pinkie and Pa with their four grandsons....there's a bounty out for the first granddaughter!

I love this picture of my parents. This is how I picture them in my mind...even though they'd probably prefer the one following.

After the baptism, my Aunt Lulu and Uncle Chris hosted a reception at their house. It was so fun to spend some time with all our family! (Kolbe was finally feeling better!)

My brothers and me...we're all starting to look so old! Like real adults! ha ha!

Baby Jackson is SO sweet. Complete spawn of his father!

Don't you just want to squeeze this little guy!?! That's my godson!

Leave it to my child to have a run-in with a fountain and end up in only his undies. He didn't care....just proceeded on to the watering hose.

One more attempt to get the cousins together! And again, another chance to be embarrassed that my kid is streaking through a party in his undies! He's such. a. boy!

Failed Trip to the Zoo

The morning after Mark's graduation and party, the boys, my parents, and I jumped on a plane for Houston. The plan was to take the boys to the zoo for the first time: something my parents have been wanting to do forever! We arrived on Sunday afternoon, and after a extremely long weekend, decided that we should just spend Monday hanging out and relaxing. We had fun playing at the park and going to the splash pad. We went to bed on Monday night planning to go to the zoo the following morning. Unfortunately Kolbe woke up in the middle of the night with a very high fever. And the fever hung around for the rest of the trip. There were no other symptoms. Just a fever between 101 and 104 even when he was on medicine. So we spent the rest of the "vacation" hanging out at the house. At one point, we did take a small trip to my mom's neighbor's pool, but it wasn't very successful. Kolbe just plain old didn't feel good. And Rudy was teething! Oh well...maybe next time. We did get lots of fun pictures of the trip though.

This was on Monday when Kolb was still feeling well...you'll be able to tell a definite change in his face once "sick boy" kicked in. He was taking Molly for a walk and thought it was hilarious when Pa hooked him up to Molly's other leash.

What's a trip to The Woodlands without a chance to feed the ducks!?!

I know, I know. You're thinking there's nothing very special about this pic, right? But there is! The eyes behind the camera belong to Kolbe! He LOVES grabbing the camera when I set it down and snapping as many pictures as he can before I catch him. The funny thing is, he's actually getting really good! Most of his pictures actually contain a viable subject matter and are focused! And I love that when looking through them, I can see things from his perspective. Now we just need to find him a camera that wouldn't cause me to cry when he drops it...

Kolbe is fascinated with the doggie water "bowls" on all the outdoor fountains.

Time for the splash pad!

Irresistible!

So much fun!

Don't you wish you could have this much fun all the time!?!

Rudy had no fear of the water! He'd go up and stick his face right in it!

Pinkie tried real hard to keep the sickly boys happy.

The boys loved the hot tub even though it was the same temp as the pool...

Mark's Graduation and Party!

One of the things I find hardest about doing these blog posts is narrowing down my picture selection. After all, if our house burns down and everything we own is destroyed including the hard drives we've backed these pictures up on, this blog is all I'll have left of our memories! And obviously, the most easily accessible and well archived. So forgive me for going overboard...

Mark "graduated" from P.A. School a few weekends ago in a typical Texas Tech ceremony. By "graduated" I mean he got to participate in the full-on ceremony despite the fact that he still has a few months left. Less than 8 weeks to be exact. But The Health Sciences Center only does one graduation ceremony annually so, regardless of when your program officially wraps up, if you're going to walk, it's happening in May. They also have a separate hooding ceremony the day before. So not one but two long lovely ceremonies to sit through enjoy!

After Saturday's ceremony, Mark's parents threw him an awesome graduation party. It was SO much fun! Filled with bar-b-que from Mark's favorite place, Rudy's, a huge tent to house everyone outside, and even a kiddie pool for the little ones. Here we go with shots from the weekend!

We sat up in the balcony so that the kids could run around at both ceremonies, and therefore got no good pictures of him actually crossing the stage. But hey, the ones afterward sure did come through!

Ever the Red Raider...

Slightly off-centered there, photographer, but still a great pic of our family! Those are few and far between!

Mark with his parents...

And then with mine. (I guess mom was going for the wind-blown look...)

And Uncle Pat managed to hang around for a pic too!

But a bunch of pictures weren't going to get in the way of the typical shenanigans!

I think this was Reagan's first official run-in with a kiddie pool...last summer he was just a few months old!

Bathing Beauty...

For as often as these two see each other, Mandi and I have little to no documented proof. Shelby typically won't let Kolbe within a few feet of her so I'll have to give all the credit to the confining walls of the pool!

Gasp! Two in the same day!

Baby John managed to sleep through most of the party!

I attempted to get at least one shot of each table. (Maury, Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez, Brian and Cristi, and Mark)

Kim and Selso, Brad and Krista, and I'm pretty sure that's Larry that I cut off in the corner!

Pat, Terry, Andy and Abby, and Ben and Erin

Mika and Larry surprised Mark with his longed-for hammock as a graduation gift. Can't you see how much he's enjoying it already!?!

And we can't forget the yummy chocolate cake. Seriously, you could smell butter when we opened the box!

Overall, such a fun weekend! We are SOOOOO proud of you, Dada! We can't wait to continue on the journey with you in to your new career!