First Time Swimming

We took the girls over to our friend Pam's parents' house to swim today. They were a little afraid at first but after a while they got used to it and started to kick back and relax. We had a great time! Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Graves, for opening up your home to us and allowing us to come over and spend Memorial Day with you.

Baylee

Addison

The Things You Do For Your Husband...Once

"This isn't a princess cruise, gentlemen!" That is what the Boy Scout leader was shouting to his troop of about twelve 10-12 year old boys as they pushed into the Brazos river to start their canoe adventure. He added, "You pull your own weight and help along the way, and NO HORSEPLAY!" I looked over at my best-friend, Jill Hair, and said, "Well, that isn't what I signed up for on this little adventure...I signed up for the Princess Cruise and a lot of horseplay." And cocktails. ;) Then a little boy scout snob told us we were cheating because we were using trolling motors on our canoes. Hey kid, I am not trying to get my Canoeing Badge or anything, I am just trying to make it through this alive.

Jill Praying We Make It Through This

Brent and my best-friend's husband, Randy Hair, cooked up the idea that it would be "fun" for the four of us to go on a 20-mile, 2-day canoe/camping trip down the Brazos River off of Possum Kingdom Lake. I basically agreed to do this because I will pretty much try anything once and Brent was so excited about it. What they hey, right? Wrong.

Funny Jill pretending she is falling out

The beginning of our trip was pretty great, Brent was steering the boat and I was kicking back enjoying the ride.

Everyone having a great time at the beginning

This didn't last long. About 6 miles into our trip, the patch Randy had added to one of his canoes got knocked out by the rocks with Brent and I sitting inside. We were sinking rapidly and both bailed out before we sunk the whole canoe. We pulled it to the side of the bank and we were strategizing what we were going to do with a broken canoe.

Hmmmm, what to do?

HUGE gaping hole!

Brent, my awesome hubby, had the forethought to grab a roll of duct tape as we were headed out the door for our trip. They allowed the boat to dry off and Brent taped up the hole.

Duct Tape solves everything

That great patch job helped Randy and Brent get the broken canoe the rest of the way down the Brazos with some manual water pumping along the way. Lesson 1 and 2 while canoeing: Bring Duct Tape and a water pump.

Things just kept going wrong as we went along the way. The river was pretty low so we ended up having to get out and pull our canoes across rocks. Jill and I ended up in the unbroken canoe while Brent and Randy got cozy in Ole Leaky. They were sitting as close to the back as they could get to keep the duct tape patch job out of the water and away from the rocks...they looked hilarious!

Might as well have a beer, right

One of our trolling motors broke and then the batteries we were using started to go downhill fast.

We finally found a campsite along the way, set up camp and started to make dinner.

Our campsite

But, we forgot the plates. Oops! So we all ended up eating family style out of one Styrofoam container that the corn on the cob came in. We made due.

1st course out of our "plate" - a camping staple, Baked Beans

2nd Course - Corn on the Cob

Main Course - Bacon Wrapped Filets

The next morning we woke up with the sun and started our last leg of the trip.

Randy - starting the morning right

At this point, we encountered "The Death Trap." This was the point of the river where Randy and Jill dumped their canoe on a previous trip so we were pretty leery. The water is rushing fast at this point and the current is very strong and pulls directly into a tree that is sitting out over the water. There is pretty much no way to avoid it. Randy and Brent went down first and they went right into the tree but made it out ok on the other side without dumping the canoe. Jill and I stayed back and watched and when we saw them hit right into that tree, we decided we didn't want to do that. Brent and Randy pulled their canoe to the bank and Brent came back to save us. He walked up and said, "You two walk down together and I'll take this down myself." What?! I was pretty nervous having him do that by himself because we had ALL of our stuff in our canoe so the guys wouldn't have any extra weight in Ole Leaky to deal with...so it would be pretty easy to tip it if you weren't careful. Brent jumped in and took off and the current took him straight to the trees.

Brent taking the canoe down "The Death Trap"

Randy trying to help Brent stay away from the tree

A view from the safe side...tree is on the left, you can see the water rushing toward the tree

Randy was there to try to push him away from the trees but it was almost impossible to go against the current. Brent ended up sailing right below a small tree branch and came out on the other side unscathed. Yeah, he's awesome and he's my husband. :) Lesson 3 while canoeing: Bring Brent.

After about a three hour ride this morning, we made it to the bridge where you end the 20-mile trip. Ohhhhh, so happy to see this bridge!

The Bridge at the End of the Trip-What a Sight to See!

Jill told me before we started the trip that on their previous canoe trip she discovered one of the fundamental differences between women and men. For men, if there isn't any DANGER, you aren't having any fun. After this trip, I have to agree with her. Brent and Randy were having a great time, while Jill and I were stressed out that someone was going to get hurt or we were going to have to find a way for all 4 of us to get home with one canoe and all of our stuff. When we saw the bridge, Jill and I breathed a sigh of relief, Brent and Randy were still thinking about how awesome that trip was. :)

Addison's First Word

Brent likes to encourage the girls to say "Daddy" every chance he gets. He gets home at night from work and during their Daddy-Daughter playtime before bedtime he will sit there saying "Daaaaddy. Daaaaddy...." to each of the girls. He has been bound and determined to make sure they say "Daddy" first.

Last night, we were getting the girls ready for bed and Addie was on her tummy on the floor and she blurted out "Momma." Brent and I both jerked our heads to look at her, I wish I could have seen our faces. I just started laughing SO HARD! Brent said, "Ohhhh, that doesn't count! She doesn't know what she is saying!" Ohhhh yeah, it counts. :) The rest of the day today Addie was saying "Mmmmmm" and "Moama" and "Momma" all over the place. I just had to laugh each time.

Tonight, we had Gran and Grandaddy over for dinner and we were telling them about Addie's first word and a little while later Addie blurted out "Momma" plain as day. It was awesome!

1st Choo Choo Ride!

Brent and I decided to take the girls for a walk this evening since it wasn't windy and as we were strapping Reagan and Addie into their seats in the Peg Perego, Brent asked when we were going to start using the Choo Choo. Well, right now was as good a time as any! The girls are sitting up on their own better and better each day and the little seatbelts in the Choo Choo help them stay upright, so we decided to test it out. They didn't quite know what to think at first, but I think they ended up loving it!

Choo Choo!!!

Daddy strapping the girls in

Test circle in the driveway :)

With our Radio Flyer sunshades...gotta keep our pale babies from getting sunburned

On our way and ready for the summer!

After their Choo Choo ride, we had bathtime before the girls bedtime. We give Reagan an hour each night to have her helmet off and we were warned by the people at Star Cranial that she would be tempted to scratch her head once the helmet is off. Well, she has started doing that A LOT...and if she gets a scratch on her head and then we put the helmet on her it can cause an infection really easily so I found a solution. "Noooo not the MITTENS!" Haha! She hasn't quite figured out how to get them off when she has both of them on but when she does we might have to resort to duct tape. :) I have had these mittens in their drawer since they came home from the hospital and they were always too big and I kept thinking, "When am I going to use these mittens?" Well, now I have a reason.

No scratching!

Meeting Grand Mimi

On Saturday, we took the girls to meet their Grand Mimi. Mimi is my maternal grandmother, Wilma Slater. She lives in a nursing home very close to my parents' house in Gunter, TX. This was the first time she has seen the girls since they were born and it was so great to see her in awe of them. I know if she could express in words what she is thinking she would have told me how amazing they are and how much she loves them. I said, "Mimi, these are all MY babies...I had all 3 at one time! Can you believe it?!" She stared at me and replied, "You're kidding." It was hilarious. No Mimi, not kidding. ;) Mimi was able to repeat their names and tell them they are sweet and that was plently for me. She was smiling and staring at them and I know she was happy.

I had a fantastic first Mother's Day today. I got to spend it with my family and my sweet girls. We took the girls to church and had a great lunch with my parents and sister, Mandy. On our way home, we stopped to see Gran and Grandaddy and the girls' Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Adam and have dinner. We had a full day and the girls are completely crashed out. :)

8 Months Old!

Our girls are 8 months old today!

Brent asked me last night if it feels like it has been 8 months...I said yes. :) But it has been the best 8 months of my life. Our girls are just the sweetest, most precious babies and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but with them. Brent and I have our anniversary/summer vacation trip planned and he asked me if I was going to be able to leave them for a whole week...well, I'll be honest, I'm not sure how I will do with it. We will see if I cry on the way to the airport or beg to come home a few days early.

Addie Sweetheart

Addie is the biggest of our three girls. She is just starting to roll over back to front and she is our most vocal girl. She likes to blow strawberries when she is feeling playful and she is a pretty good eater. I haven't found many things so far that she doesn't like. She is still pretty reserved and low-key and you have to work to get a big smile out of her. She still loves to touch faces and her newest thing is grabbing glasses off of faces or sticking her fingers in everyones' noses, mouths, ears, etc. She is very curious :).

Reagan Baby

Reagan is the second biggest girl at the moment and she is rolling all over the place as well. She likes to hum and squeal really loudly when she is excited. She is getting used to her new helmet and she is sleeping great in it. Reagan is getting very close to sitting up on her own and she loves to play with her sisters. Every time she and Baylee are next to each other they just laugh and laugh.

Baylee Boo

Baylee, Baylee, Baylee Boo....what can I say about our little Miss Priss. She remains to be our most vocal girl and the fussiest. She is the smallest of our three but the most "into everything" already. She is the closest to crawling and sitting up and she SMILES SO BIG all the time. Even when she is fussing and crying sometimes if you make her laugh she can't decide whether to laugh or cry. It's so funny. She likes to sleep on her tummy with her booty in the air which is also very cute.

My first Mother's Day is coming up and I am so excited to celebrate with my family, love on my sweet girls all day and thank God for all of the blessings he has given me in the past year.

Our New Playroom!

YES! We have our living room back!

When you have kids (well, three at one time) the house you once thought was plenty of room starts shrinking more and more everyday. So, we have to make the MOST out of the space we have available at the moment.

Brent and I were discussing the fact that the girls are SO CLOSE to crawling and that I am soon not going to be able to walk out of the living room, where they had all of their toys and play area, for fear that they (Baylee) would be getting into something. So we decided to do some switching around and turn our small dining area into a playroom that we can gate off so no one can escape while Mommy has her back turned.

We love how it turned out (just need to get the hugely, long gate we purchased put up) and we love having our living room back. We no longer have to step over toys or around an exersaucer to watch television or chat on the couch.