For some reason Tyson thinks every time Mom comes in to town, that translates into eat breakfast at Krispy Kreme. So we usually end up there at least one morning of her visit. Nothing like a good low sugar, low carb breakfast to get the morning started right.
Look who is actually smiling for the camera. It just took a pink sprinkled donut and a paper hat to make that happen.
My buddy is always ready for the camera.
Her bows were actually holding the hat in place on her head.
Mom was here for a few days and she so graciously agreed to run errands with me and the kids. First on the list was to make a trip to La Cantera since we needed to exchange Em's new shoes at Stride Rite. Getting Em to try on shoes is always a challenge. It went sort of like this: Hold her down, place said shoes on chubby feet, then try and get her to walk in them . "Emmy do fast run in shoes???" Sure Em, you can fast run around the store. If you don't trip than I guess that means the shoes are a GO. 
My Tyson is getting so TALL.
Note the pink sparkly shoe in her hand, she picked out a similar pair of hot pink boots at Sheplers last weekend. What can I say? She likes the bling.
No trip to La Cantera is complete without a trip to the playground. I remember when Tyson was little and he would just crawl around by the slide. Look at him now, his body is almost the length of the slide.
Orange brownies.....sounds like an oxy moron, right?!?!? Let me tell you there was nothing moronic about these babies. They were DELISH!!! My husband who mostly likes all desserts chocolate really enjoyed these. Sometimes I like to try something different and I wasn't in the mood for plain old brownies. I will be glad to email anyone the recipe.
Emmy wanted MORE immediately. "Yummy mussins mommy!" (translation: muffins)
Tyson also ate his weight in orange brownies over the weekend. 
These pictures came from Tyson's camera. After I looked through all 444 pictures (and found lots of pictures of arranged toys and snapshots of Emerson's rear) I found these. He was attempting to take one of him and Jules. These were the better ones. "Mommy, look I took this myself!" No kidding.
Oh he's getting closer, I think I see a dog ear in this picture.
Guess Paul must have come in to assist with the photography.
Jules has been with us now for almost 4 days. I think we will call her a keeper. My boys are crazy about her. I must say she is a LOW maintenance dog. She probably sleeps about 12 to 14 hours a day.........yeah, kinda like a newborn. She has her biggest burst of energy in the morning. After a few sprints around the backyard she's done till about 5. She does have a very loving temperament. She doesn't jump, lick, drool, shed and has no smell........I really couldn't ask for better traits in a dog; especially one that weighs 60 lbs. Although I do think she is beginning to get more comfortable with her new home, I've caught her now twice chewing on Em's pretend food and exploring the playroom for more yummy chew toys. Hey Jules how 'bout some Transformers? We have an overflow of those. 
No words needed here.
Jules spent her first night with us last night. I would call it a success. She slept in her crate right next to our bed. She didn't cry or whimper at all. I think I see now how they got the nickname 45 MPH Couch Potato. This dog LOVES to snooze. However, the poor unsuspecting cat that was hanging out in the backyard this morning may have a different opinion. Jules locked in on him this morning and all I can say is WOW!!! She is FAST!!! That black cat barely made it to the to the other side of the fence. For a second there, I'm pretty sure she thought she was back at the track and had to have that cat. Of course with all of that commotion this morning, a dog's gotta sleep, right?!?!?
This photo pretty much sums up today's activities
and some of this
oh yeah, and lots of this too
Tyson didn't want to leave her to go to bed last night. He wanted to sleep on the floor right next to her crate.
Em is even coming around........"Emmy go night night with Jews?" Sure punkin I'm sure Jews would love that!
My girls: Wendy, Mendi, me, Andrea and Stephanie
Today marks the end of "5 Birthday parties in 5 days." This one was at Chuck E Cheese. Now normally I am a fan of the rat........but it appears my daughter is NOT! They had a great time playing the games and winning tickets. And we were in the middle of enjoying our pizza when the unthinkable happened. Chuck E. came out to wish the birthday boy happy birthday and that's when we lost Emerson. She jumped out of that booth so fast and made a B line to the door, all the while screaming, "BYE BYE, EMMY SCARED MOUSE, BYE BYE, EMMY SCARED MOUSE!!!!!"
Emmy really enjoyed the games that she could climb onto.
Every time I turned around to see where she had gone, this is usually the site I saw. Em's rear end up in the air as she finagled her way onto a seat of a game.
Tyson was all about the tickets he could win.
Poor little sisters had to sit at their own table while big brothers enjoyed the birthday party.
Em always enjoys a good piece of pizza. This was taken right before the arrival of Chuck E. Once he came out things headed south pretty rapidly and that was the end of pictures.
I baked a batch of these DELICIOUS bite sized Lemon Blossoms this afternoon. I thought I would take them over to my neighbor as a thank you for keeping my plants alive while we were gone.
.........and YES they are as yummy as they look!!!
I came in from watering and taking pictures and this is what I find: Paul and Tyson are dipping the Lemon Blossoms in the bowl of extra lemon powdered sugar glaze (note, they have already been dipped in the glaze). Why not just get a spoon and scoop the extra glaze into your sweet little mouths.
When we got back from vacation I have to admit I was glad to see my plants and veggies so green and healthy looking. It has been incredibly hot and I had concerns that my neighbor might forget about my plants. But she did not let me down and everybody survived.
That's right....Paul was wrong. He swore this plant was not going to produce any cantaloupe. We actually have about 4 babies.
Here's another little guy.....
All of my potted flowers are doing pretty well considering it's been a sweltering 200 degrees for the last few weeks.
My hot pink Bougainvillea is my favorite. The color is so captivating. It's LOVES the heat.....so I have a couple of these guys.
We headed out for our family vacation on Sunday, July 5th. We had each child set up with their own portable DVD player, their own snack and drink. Really it was the making for a perfect road trip. About six miles away from the house, Em asks, "almost dere Mommy?" And just like that my dream for a perfect drive was quickly squashed. I immediately responded to Em with a "yes, punkin almost dere"(in just 5 short hours). "Really Mommy, are we almost there," asks Tyson. I then explain to Tyson that Mommy was just lying, and that sometimes Emmy just says things to get a response. By the time I finished explaining to Tyson that we were not really almost there and that we still had quite a few hours to go until we got there, we were already an hour into the drive. And really my kids should be commended, we went an entire five hour drive and nobody cried, screamed, or even whined. It was the perfect drive.
This was taken today on the way home. Quite a bit different from the one taken on Sunday. Their each a little tanner AND quite a bit more tired.
Thought I would divide this post into a few different ones......on account that I took over 2oo hundred pictures between my two cameras. No need to panic I will not be posting all 200.
I took this same one of these two three years ago.
Emmy and Mom were thick as thieves together. Emersome cute legs!!!
Em was a little overwhelmed by the ocean. I think she was trying to locate the off switch on the faucet.
This one......not so overwhelmed! His face says it all!
These kids had sand in places I didn't know you could get sand.
Thank goodness Em likes to wear hats. That sun was so bright!
My tan big fish!
I think she's under that hat! Who knew you could have attitude without showing your face?!?!?!