some of summer 2016...

Meghan and the girls, who came to Toni & Guy to get their hair blown out so Meg could get some credit. :)

A few videos of daily life when we're not there... 

Juju and the kittens, after a lovely lunch + teeth cleaning date! SHE IS THE SWEETEST.

Mom is very proud of her car's new feature: rear AC vents. She's always telling everyone, "Stick your face in it!" And so, the girls complied, hahaha.

Date night seeing Ali Wong! She was HILURIOUZ.

And a date night with Meggie at Dave n' Busters while the littles spent a weekend in Little Elm!

Weeknights with Sadie... playing Pokemon Go... finding a beanie to secure her earbuds in, haha.

Sadie's new Shiloh Jolie-Pitt/Addie Loggins hair cut! C/O Meghan, of course. :)

"PLAY WITH MEEE!" - Meghan, half sister, half labrador puppy ;P

Sadie and Lexi have a play-date! :)

Sadie, breaking my heart via texts.

Richard III is totally here, too - I PROMISE. He just spends 98% of his time whole'd up in his room playing video games, haha. He did make it out one afternoon to watch ALL of the "The Martian!" #smallmiracle He also loves on me along with snuggles, kisses and hugs but he'll be damned if that's photographed. ;)

our big fat family vacation!

This year for our family vacation, we went big! Everyone came along (us, Nick, Juju, Tonya & Stephen, Darrah, Ryan, Luciana) and we rented a house in the Richland Chambers Lake area to just hang the heck out. There was lots of fishing, swimming, drinking, indulgent eating, shnoozing on the couch, bug swatting, corn-hole playing... everything a family trip should be!

The house that we stayed at was AWESOME. We had more than enough bedrooms and bathrooms for everyone, including 2 "guest" houses, a pool room (the highlight of Sadie's trip), a pier to fish off of, a backyard patio to play on, big squishy couches, TWO fridges... it was just lovely. Here are a few pictures from our trip! (I took alot of video but more than what could fit on YouTube - just a mental note for myself!)

The first full day was just spent hanging out, playing on the pier... and fishing with sticks!

There were spiderwebs EVERYWHERE ;P

Miss Darrah!

The second day of our trip, we went swimming out in the lake. Which meant renting the seemingly ONLY boat near by and driving 4 minutes both ways to swim underneath the main bridge (so we wouldn't die of heat stroke!). It was a really fun day, but I got absolutely zero pictures. (When there's a dozen of you on an old shitty boat, pictures are the last thing on your mind!)

The next day, all the boys and Tonya went fishing while the girls stayed at home and watched movies. It was such a lovely day! (And the boys + Tonya were TIIIRED when they got back, haha)

Ryan caught the biggest one!!! :)

Again, they were TIIIRRREDDD :)

And here are some other randos!

Corn-hole that Stephen made (to regulation sizes, of course!) We all had a blast playing... and got some funny video. :D

There was a clothes line!

My last ditch effort to get pictures of everyone before we left, haha.

Other fun memories, not photographed:

- Eating all the yummy food! Tonya's enchiladas, Richard cooking all the fish that was caught, homemade breakfast treats, cocktails galore and bougie healthy food... I mean!

- Emily watching "Mermaids" with me (and freaking out at the climax, haha)

- Emily watching all the terrifying murder mystery shows, honestly. But everyone else seemed to be into it!

- Working out with Tonya! We made it happen on vacation!

- The kids not complaining ONCE about not having their "screens" (iDevices, XBox, etc.). I think when it's just NOT an option, they settle in very easily. It was so reassuring!

- Juju and Sadie being "bed fellers" (and Sadie subsequently suckering her grandmother into downloading Minecraft on Juju's iPad...!)

- Taking naps and reading outside in the afternoon...

- Ryan's birthday celebration! (Which I guess included getting unreasonably sunburned, despite all the sunblock he put on... is he allergic?! Lol...)

- S'mores with DARK CHOCOLATE TURTLES instead of just plain chocolate...!!!

- The fun/strange retro TV channels available, haha.

And, of course, we're already thinking of next year. We just have such a fun time together! :)