Farewell Sweet Friends!

Our sweet friends and neighbors, the Heitzmanns, have moved to Australia. They lived on Apple Valley Lane, right down the street from Caden and Davis.... just two streets over from us. The neighborhood just isn't going to be the same without them. Paul and I always laughed at how you would drive past their house and nine times out of ten Cory would be in the front yard talking to someone... anyone who just happened to be passing by. As soon as the kids got wind of visitors in the front yard, all three of them would come boiling out of the house, running around in various states of undress, carrying light sabers and dragging blankies. A couple of times Cory told us that Jenn was in the kitchen making dinner and that we should come on in and join them. We always felt bad imposing, but we did it anyway - they're fun to be around and Jenn is an awesome cook!


Before the Heitz clan packed-up and moved to the Southern Hemisphere, we had a play date at Chuck E. Cheese... you know - the place where a kid can be a kid, and a perfectly sane mom can lose her ever-lovin' mind.Group shots like these always make me smile the same way crying kids on Santa's lap do.
There's just something so endearing in all that chaos!

A shot of the Apple Valley Gang.... it just won't be the same without Caden, Marin and Hallie!The youngest members of the AVG.
Late Friday night after Reed's baseball game I made Paul drive past the Heiztmann's house on our way home. They should have already left for Austin for the weekend, but I just had to drive by... luckily they were still in their driveway just about to leave. Little did I know this would be the last time I'd see them before they got on the plane bound for Australia. So sad. I sure am glad I made Paul drive by and it's a good thing I almost always have a camera with me!It just won't be the same without them. Their house seems so sad and lonely when I drive by now. No matter who moves in, it won't have the same happy, chaotic spirit of the Heitzmann clan (and no one will ever be able to make the inside of that house look as cute as Jen did).
I am so thankful that we got to be their neighbors for the last year and a half!

Molly's Favorite Day!

A few weeks ago Molly had the best day ever! The day started with a long-awaited Star Wars play date with Caden. The Heitzmann family was getting ready to move to Australia (as I type this they've already been there a few days) so Molly and Caden were anxious to squeeze in some time for light sabers, studying the official Star Wars book and doing some Jedi tricks.

Notice that Molly had on a different Star Wars shirt at the start of the play date, but changed to match Caden? Next we headed to Hayden's house and everybody knows (at least anyone who has talked to Molly) that Hayden is the BIGGEST Star Wars fan, EVER!

That evening Molly was invited to watch Reed's baseball game. It was a lot of fun because several of Molly's friends from school are on the team, including Jack G. and Caden Cox! Ms. Danielle and MarshallCaden up to bat

Paul and NatalieI need to mention that the reason we went to the game is that Reed apparently has a "crush" on Molly and has been insisting that she watch one of his baseball games. He actually had the entire evening planned out. I had to drop Molly off at his house so that she could ride to the game with his family, then after the game our families went out to dinner together. It ended up being a really fun evening, even though that little toot really has it bad for my daughter! Thank goodness he's a sweet boy and comes from a great family!

Cause and Effect

After watching Marshall repeatedly get hurt by pulling toys down onto himself or banging his face into the ground while crawling, I was starting to worry that my son would never learn 'cause and effect', but today I was over-joyed watching him play with the little gumball machine! He totally gets it! Now if he could just use his smarts to stop hurting himself...

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Life's a Beach

A few weeks ago on a whim, we decided to spend the day in Galveston. We started out with lunch at Gaido's where my parents used to take me when I was a kid.

I love this picture of Molly and the giant shrimp statue!Little M's first time to see the Gulf of MexicoWe could not have gotten Molly more color coordinated if we tried!!!

I don't know why, but Marshall sure does love being in this bucket!

I have NEVER seen him open his mouth that wide before... it's almost as if he's imitating one of the pelicans...

The gloomy weather resulted in lots of clouds and icky brown water... but Paul and I agreed it was better than a scorching hot summer day.Molly wrote her name in the sand

We had so much fun on Saturday that we decided to return Sunday morning despite the gloomy weather.

Molly rocked out to the Jonas Brothers on the drive to the island...while Marshall played peek-a-boo.This time we packed our lunch, but due to the rain we had to drive for quite a while to find the perfect covered spot for our picnic.
Seriously, how stinkin' cute is this little guy!?!? We all had fun feeding the seagulls and amazingly, no one got pooped on!This picture cracks me up because it looks like Marshall's been left behind in the midst of a hurricane!It pretty much drizzled the entire day so I didn't get any pictures of us flying the kite and playing in the water, but we all agreed it was a fun day, despite the rain!

On the way home, Daddy drove us through his favorite intersection in Lake Jackson.