Fabulous Fourth

Happy 4th of July from the TexasMacks! Justin is out of dress code for our picture but when you have three kids willing to pose, I'll take it :)

We had fun getting all decked out in red, white and blue. Landry pretty much resembled a human firecracker.

We started the day out at our neighborhood pool and surprisingly it wasn't busy at all!

Every year Nolan learns how to swim without floaties and every year without fail, he completely forgets the next summer and we have to start all over. But we made a huge step and we're without floaties again! WOOHOO!

I'm wondering if he'll still be in floaties when he's a senior in high school at this rate.

Campbell wasn't liking all this attention that Nolan was getting so he shed his floaties fast and did an awesome job guzzling water swimming without floaties too! We were really proud of the boys for doing so well at the pool.

And somebody else was loving the pool too. She is such a good sport and can hang in the pool for a good hour before she just gets completely wiped.

My parents came over for some good ol' American grub of burgers, potato salad, watermelon and corn on the cob.

My mom made some yummy patriotic cupcakes. It took every fiber of Nolan to keep from licking them. 

Now if you've been following the blog for quite some time you'll know that the 4th of July just isn't our best holiday. We have the WORST luck (no really) with going to watch fireworks. Either our kids are screaming BLOODY murder because they're terrified or we cannot find them anywhere.

But the 4th of July gods were in our favor this year because this was by far the best 4th of July we've ever had. We packed up the car preparing ourselves for the forced family fun beatdown that is an annual tradition. At the last minute we decided to stop at a place right by our house and it just happens to be the highest point of our whole town.

And from our viewpoint, we saw literally 20-30 fireworks displays all of varying distances and some that were almost on top of us. No one cried. Can you believe it? Not even Landry. I thought the day would never come! The boys were just amazed and oohing and aahing over every firework and sweet Campbell just kept saying over and over again how it was the "super best night ever" and neither one of them wanted to go home.

Landry was such a trooper for being out so late and even slept in until 10:15 the next morning. I'd say that was a 100% improvement over any of the last 10 years. Who knows maybe our track record with fireworks is looking up! We just needed our little firecracker as our good luck charm!

Amarillo by mornin'

How do you start out the first weekend of summer right after you get out of school? Road trippin'! We packed our bags for a weekend trip to Amarillo the first weekend of June to celebrate my oldest nephew's graduation from high school. I'm in total denial that he is actually considered an adult now, seeing how I was a freshman in high school when he was born.

 

I realized after taking this picture that Warren is missing as well as my brother...oops. Guess that's what happens when there's such a large group there...someone is bound to be left out.

We all headed to the park and let the kids run wild. 

Ducks were stuffed liked turkeys that day for sure. I guess they like to grow ducks with mo-hawks in Amarillo. They like to rock it out. 

 

And it's not a picnic without some watermelon.

 

 

And we had the sweetest watermelon there ever was.

 

She's so sweet you can't help but want to eat her up.

The kids were having a blast playing with their cousins and we kept them busy with blowing bubbles.

And meet all the babies of the family...I'm the youngest of three, Avery is my sister's youngest, Aspen in my brother's youngest and of course, Landry Kate, is our sweet baby girl.

My sister and brother have another half sister on their dad's side, Carmella, and we've known each other since birth. Her boys are very similar to age with my boys and they play so well with my kids.

Carmella's youngest, Zalen, looked mighty interested in wanting to be a big brother. He was too sweet with Landry.

I think she's catching on that she's cute or at least she's using it to her advantage. Smart girl, I tell ya.

My grandmother, who we call Grams, put up with all of us at her house. My kids make me a nervous wreck in her house but believe it or not, I don't think anything was broken. Shocking, I know.

And while I'd like to say that it was full of happy memories, it was my first time back to Amarillo, where we grew up, after losing Tonya. It was very weird for all of us to be together without her because I know her, and she wouldn't have missed it for the world to be there with the family. I was so thrilled to have her two youngest there with us. We had the best road trip ever with them and even ran into a grass fire on the way home. That's pretty exciting stuff because that road trip to Amarillo is usually VERY boring with not much to look at.

Happy Birthday Campbell!

Pardon me while I go on my little walk down memory lane and shed a tear or two. This little guy is turning 4 tomorrow and I'm in disbelief that this....

has turned into this...

or this sweet little sleeping thing...

turned into this rambunctious little boy who is 100% ALL BOY!

 

I remember him being such a sweet cuddly baby. 

 

Anytime, we'd walk in his room when he was a baby after a nap, he'd flap his arms like he was going to take flight he was so excited.

And then they started happening...

1st birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday

And in between those years, he had adorable curls.

and lots of memories of laughter

with his big brother

and even some moments where they didn't get along so well.

And he's the sweetest big brother to his "baby" Landry.

If you haven't picked up on it yet, Campbell is our animated one. He's stubborn, sometimes downright defiant, hilarious, LOUD but super super sweet boy. He fits right in with us.

I'm so wildly in love with this little boy and I'm so so grateful God has blessed us with him.

Kindergarten Graduation

I made it. My baby graduated kindergarten and I didn't cry like a blubbering idiot. There were moments where it was mighty close.

Here is the first day and last day of Kindergarten.

Is it just me or does he look like he is going to be in middle school next year?

It's crazy how I felt like Nolan would never start kindergarten, but maybe that's because I was paying for daycare for 6 full years. He's an old kindergartner with a September birthday. But I know what's going to happen now. Next, is 2nd grade, then middle school and then I'll be wondering how in the world he's graduating high school.

 He's been through a lot in his kindergarten year with mom down the hall and finding out every little misstep before he even had a chance to tell me, baby sister being born two weeks after school started, and Aunt Tonya passing away in the Spring. I'd say that he's done exceptionally well with so many big changes.

He's our little book worm. I wish I could take credit. He's this amazing little boy who's learned by osmosis. I remember at the age of 2 him playing with flashcards and putting them in order from A to Z and then backwards from Z to A. His mind absolutely amazes me. I'm so insanely proud of him and so grateful that he has a love for learning.

As a teacher I've learned really quickly that you can teach ANY kid as long as they're willing to learn.

I've loved having him at school. Yes, even those days that I almost strangled him because he embarrassed me. I just have to remind myself that he is such a sweet kid with a very kind heart and he needs to make mistakes to learn from it. Sometimes his mistakes just happen to embarrass me, but I'm sure I embarrass him more.

Kindergarten has been full of a lot of wonderful memories. His teacher, Ms. Japhet, is seriously made of the special stuff in heaven. She has insane amounts of patience and I'm so thankful that we were blessed to have her as Nolan's teacher and she has helped him grow so much this year.

I had the opportunity to go on Nolan's fall field trip while on maternity leave and Justin went on his zoo field trip in the Spring. Notice their cute shirts. Yep, another Daddy creation. Each class had a different color.

And many friendships were formed.

But most of all, this high energy boy is growing up and when I told him that I was a little sad that he was growing up so fast he told me that he wouldn't eat so much. How sweet is that offer? Although, the poor thing can barely make it an hour before telling me he's hungry!

I'm so so proud of you, Nolan, for the sweet boy you are and the one you're becoming. Keep on being your happy self because when you're happy, mama's happy.