Ah, Summertime. Once April 1st hits I wait 2 1/2 long grueling months for you. It is amazing to be done with school, have the kiddos home everyday, sleep in, not worry about a schedule.
And this summer completely met my expectations! Yes, I was still feeling nauseated for the first couple of weeks (have I blogged that we are expecting baby #4? - well if not, this is the big announcement :), but that was OK. I didn't have to worry about lunches, or homework, or schedules for 12 weeks! And without further ado, here it is... summer 2014:
BEACH TRIP
- annual beach trip with Watson & Co. We down to the coast for a day of sun and fun with the usual crew (Watsons, Larrys, Gardners, Flores....etc...Oh yes, this year Amanda Farnsworth came with her 3 little girls - It was so great to have her!) As always it was a total blast and we ended the day with my favorite part - dinner on the way home at Rudy's :)
SAMUEL'S 8TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
- The Holland's came to visit us the first week of summer and Samuel was dead set on having Odell at his birthday party. I told S that I couldn't put a party together in 2 days so if he wanted Odell there we could go to Chuck E Cheese with S and G, and Odell and Gordon - buy a billion tokens - and do cupcakes. It was a total YES! Easily the most simple party I have ever thrown and S was beyond thrilled. The only catch was that he wanted to go to the CEC on our old side of town. They have a special pirate game there that the one close to us does not have. I heartily agreed.
The 4 boys ready for a night on the town
Playing the aforementioned Pirate Game
Celebrating with Spurs cupcakes - Go Spurs Go!
(Oh, and they totally ended up winning the championships which made
for 3 very happy Doolittle men in our household)
More side note - S and G LOVE the Spurs and since it was summer they were allowed to
stay up late to watch the playoff games.
S paid rapt attention - G usually fell asleep on the couch :)
With the Holland kids and William - I seriously cannot remember what they are doing here
We had such a great time with the Hollands and cannot wait to go and visit them in August!
LILLIE'S HIP HOP RECITAL
- L took hip hop this year and totally rocked it! She practiced in the front room nearly everyday during the school year. It was a lot of fun to see the final result:
L with her teacher Ms. Shelby
With the fam
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
-we had my parents over for father's day and had a great time together.
I feel like we got something else for Tim but perhaps it WAS just an oversized jar of Jelly Bellies...
CAMPING AT INKS LAKE WITH UNCLE JASON
-while Aunt Becca was in MN on for Guard for 2 weeks (Dallin and Russell went with her) Uncle Jason was a lone man and came to visit us for several days. While here we all decided to go to our favorite TX camping spot (as of yet) Inks Lake.
Setting up the tent with 2 big helpers
Hanging out in the tree while the boys do that tent setting up thing
Nothing better than roasted weenies! Also, this was the 1st time that the kids heard hot dogs referred to as Wieners. They thought it was hilarious and we could not get them to stop saying "wiener" and then breaking into hysterical giggles. As in, they did this for several days in random public places. Hilarious and embarrassing all at the same time.
Chess - the kids latest favorite game to play together
This boy slept hard every time he got into the car this summer - I don't think he was quite ready for all of the late nights we let the kids get away with this summer.
Fishing at Inks Lake is great, and free!
Daddy and Uncle Jason tried to force L to bait her own hook. She kept saying "I can totally do that!"
Until she saw the live bait...
Thanks Inks Lake! We had a great time as always!
TIM'S 33rd BIRTHDAY
-Happy Birthday babe. We all love you! No present pics, but we did get him a new tablet which he totally loves - Score!
4th OF JULY
- We've been in UT for the past 2 summers on the 4th and while it's always fun there, we really, really, REALLY missed our friends and the Boerne fireworks show. We were so happy to be there again this year!
After we ate a yummy potluck, rain clouds rolled in and threatened to cancel the evening.
We got a massive rainstorm for a good 30 minutes.
But we waited it out in the car and luckily nothing was canceled!
The kids ended up having a dance party in Grammy's car - so fun!
Fruit in a bag - yum - seriously - it felt like 125 degrees outside after that rain
and fruit has never tasted so fabulous!
G and S with Andrew
L with Kirsten
Auntie Laura with Grammy and Auntie Katie
NEW BRAUNFELS AQUATIC CENTER
-It wouldn't be summer without a trip or 2 to one of our favorite local sites. We went again this year with our beach buddies and this time the Leituala family joined in the fun. I didn't get great pics but we had a great time!
L and Elsie
G and Kaleb
SAMUEL'S BAPTISM
-I cannot believe that my son is 8 years old and ready to be baptized! This was such a special time for him and for our family. Samuel has been excited for a long time to be baptized and it was a great day! I am so proud of you Samuel for making your first covenant with Heavenly Father.
Here is S at the temple. We were taking these pictures for his baptism invitation
Samuel and Dad on the Baptism day
- The baptism and confirmation were so beautiful. And I tear up each time I see Tim baptize our children. I feel so blessed that my husband holds the priesthood and always
treats these times in a sacred manner.
All of our family
Grandma and Grandpa came down from UT, Jason and Becca and their boys came down from Ft. Worth, and Aunt Allison came down from ID. We were so blessed to have so much family here!
It was also super fun to go out to Bigz Burgers for lunch afterwards!
G and Grandma working on a puzzle together
LILLIE'S 10TH BIRTHDAY
-Double digits, Holy Cow! I cannot believe that you are 10 and going into the 5th grade!
L wanted a bear themed b-day so here she is with her bear themed cupcakes
which her and I decorated together.
With her friends Emma and Sydney at Build a Bear
getting ready to stuff and dress their animal of choice.
Hanging out at La Cantera and picking out BFF jewelry
Thanks girls for sharing Lillie's special day with her!
L requested chicken pot pie for her b-day dinner and this is how I made the crust vent -
I felt sorta proud
DOOLITTLE BABY #4 - IT'S A.....
- So can't remember if we've blogged about this or not, but....WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!!! Today I am 20 weeks along and have an estimated due date of 12-14-14. The 1st 18 weeks were....nauseating. But we are so so excited to bring another super awesome kiddo into our family! The coolest thing has been that the kids are so excited and are able to understand what is going on. Each Sunday morning they rush to the computer to look at babycenter.com and see how the baby has developed in the past week. Also, since it is summer they have been coming to midwife appointments with me. They are in awe when they hear the baby's heartbeat and the midwife will have them put their hands on my stomach and tell them what part of the baby they are feeling. They love it!
- So today, we went to get the mid trimester ultrasound to see how baby is growing and find out the gender. The kids have been on pins and needles.
For FHE we had a bag filled with candy that was wrapped in either pink or blue for the kids to dump out. We also filled out baby info sheets guessing when they would be born, how much they would weigh, etc...
20 weeks along
It's A Boy!
Now I'm not naming any names, but one of these small humans is slightly less than thrilled to be having another brother. Poor thing.
(On a happier note, it only took L about 48 hours to get over the whole only girl thing and now she truly is thrilled. She is just so excited to have a baby in the house again and talks all the time about how she is going to take care of him - change diapers, carry him, cuddle him to sleep - I love it!
We can't wait for you to arrive baby boy Doolittle!
DALLAS VACATION
- Our friends the Hollands moved up to Dallas last year and we are so excited to go and visit them!
Starting the trip out right
This was the kids 1st time at Bucees and they were in total and complete awe at the amazing-ness that is the Bucees Gas Station. Once you've tried it, no other gas station can compare.
We spent a lot of time on the boat and had a blast! Tim and all of the kids loved riding behind the boat in the tube. I ended up getting sick on the boat and opted to stay home and relax the other days they went out. It was nice to get some time alone too!
While there we went to downtown Dallas and spent a very long and very awesome day at the Perot museum. I have never had such an awesome time at a museum before. I think we were there for about 7 hours. We saw everything and had to force the kids to leave because we were so tired. I think we definitely got out money's worth!
On the earthquake simulator
The girls testing their cheek cells
SLIME DAY
-Well, I managed to keep the kids entertained for 10 entire weeks of the summer. Besides Sundays, I think there were only 4 calendar days that we did not do anything fun. (I only know that because on one of these days of the last 2 weeks the kids were complaining that we never did anything fun. So I went back on our calendar and counted all of our stay at home days. They totaled to 4. I told them they were super lucky to have a totally awesome mom like me. That quieted them down real quick!)
- But I digress - I had told them all summer long that the last 2 weeks of summer were going to be lame for them and that they needed to prepare themselves. My sister Allison was getting married the very last Saturday of summer and the last 2 weeks before then were high gear planning and crafting mode for me, Grammy, and my other sisters. There was a lot of complaining. There was a lot of whining. And after they got all of that out of there system the creativity set in. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
- Here L came up with the idea of homemade slime. The kids made it in tons of different colors and it kept them occupied ALL DAY on the day they made it. Literally. All Day. And for several days after that they still played with it for a couple of hours each day. It was one of those awesomely, genius, everything in the universe aligned itself kind of days and it was appreciated by all of us!
Thank you Lillie!
ALLISON &BRENDEN'S WEDDING
-Allison is getting married! On August 22nd she will become Mrs. Brended McKamey. I am so excited for her and I really like Brenden. I think Tim is also excited to have anther dude on the Burwell side of the family.
A and B playing LIFE with the kids
Wedding Day!
No matter how many times we told the boys to stay out of the water they just couldn't resist it. I can't blame them. It was 100 degrees and they were outside for 4 or 5 hours.
What a stud!
What a beauty!
Allison with mom and dad
We did it!
The sealing was beautiful and I feel so blessed that I was able to be there to share their special day.
L in front of the cake table
This is basically where you could find S and G for the entire reception - I think they ate more chocolate dipped things then everyone else at the reception combined!
.
T and I were the bride and groom doing this same reception thing exactly 11 years and one week ago. We were so glad that it wasn't us this time! Getting married = stressful. Being married = wonderful!
Congratulations Allison and Brenden, we are so happy for you!
What a great end to a great summer. I hope all of you kiddos have a fabulous year in school!
