Visiting Daddy in Louisiana

We got to visit Asa on Sunday! Donna, Lewis, Emily V., my mom, Marley, and I all got in the car early Sunday morning and drove to meet Asa! When I woke Marley us that morning I said, "Guess what?!" And she immediately said "DADA!!" It was so cute how excited she was! We realized half way there that Donna had left her purse with her ID at home, but it was too late to go back. So, we just crossed our fingers it would work out. Luckily it did, and the guys at the gate there really nice and let us in anyway. We were only driving for a minute when we saw Asa walking down the road! Marley saw him and was so excited! We had been practicing for days that she was going to say "Hello, Dada!" and give him a headbutt (that's their thing). She remembered the headbutt, but forgot the Hello. But that's ok! They were of course still happy to see each other!

It felt like we just ate all day long. Other than a trip to Walmart, we spent most of the day at various restaurants since they were really the only places where we could all sit together and talk. After lunch we did find a park where we could hang out. Marley took a nap on the way there so she was rested and ready to play when we got to the park!

She loved playing at the park with Asa! She really missed her Daddy!

We walked down to the lake and found this adorable baby turtle! I wish we could have kept him as a pet for Marley!

It was pretty hard to leave him there, and Marley definitely didn't like the idea. But we did it. Marley slept the entire way home with her new sunglasses on.

Chickens and lunch and Grandma's house

After our morning swimming with the cousins, we spent Saturday afternoon at Grandma and Pappy's house! Grandma showed Marley her new chicks! Marley was nervous about them at first, but once she got to pet one, she was in love. She spent the rest of the afternoon asking people to take her back into the room to see them!

We had lunch with everyone and Marley got to chase Noah-Beth around the yard over and over again. We also got to take a tour of the new house, which is looking fantastic! It always makes me sad that Asa can't be there for family gatherings like this. He loves to be there and spend time with his family. He would have loved to see everyone and been a part of everything we did this weekend.

Cousins!

Marley's cousins, Levi, David, and Trinity came into town this past weekend and we got to spend some time with them! We had dinner with everyone on Friday evening, and then they invited us over to swim on Saturday morning!

Marley was very nervous, as she is with most kids. The boys were so excited for Marley to play with them, but it took her a while to get used to them. Once she lightened up and realized that they might be fun, she had a blast!

We got to see them again on Monday morning for breakfast, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them other than this day! Marley was really nervous again on Monday, so I spent most of the time holding her, trying to get her to play with the boys. They were great sports though, and hopefully next time we see them Marley will remember how much fun she had!

In Austin

We spent Sunday through Thursday of last week in Austin visiting my Mimi and Pawpaw Gene! Mimi picked us up on her way back home from Arkansas and we had a busy 4 days with her! We played at the park in her neighborhood.We played in the backyard on the water mat.

We visited the Austin Children's Museum.

And watched the fish there.

And served Mimi and Mama the lunch.

And asked when they were going to pay.

And played the drums.

And played with these pegs, which was the most fun of all because there weren't any other kids wanting to play with it also!

Mimi bought Marley some new art equipment, including a huge pad of paper, paints, and crayons.

Then we washed off the mess we made in the paint.

We also got to visited Central Market, meet the little girl that Mimi mentors, walk around downtown, eat in a fancy Mexican restaurant downtown, celebrate Pawpaw's birthday with his favorite meal, take a bath in Mimi's huge bathtub, watch the dogs, birds, and squirrels from the back porch, and go shopping at Target! We had such a relaxing, but busy few days! I definitely plan to go spend time with Mimi while Asa is deployed. She loves to pamper us!

A Few Cute Pictures from the Backyard

A Visit From Colorado

Last weekend, my Uncle Cliff, Aunt Christy, and their daughter Lilah came to Texas! They were here from Friday to Sunday, and even with resorting to searching our town's website, I could not find anything fun for us to do! So, we spent our time at the house, relaxing in the backyard or watching the girls play with toys in the living room. Marley was really nervous at first and didn't want anyone to come near her. But she eventually got curious about Lilah and decided to be her friend by tickling her! And then they bonded outside on the water mat! We had dinner at the house that night, and then Marley and Lilah got to take their first baths with another little person! I think they both loved having a buddy in the bathtub, and they both did a great job of sharing the toys! I was surprised how well Marley did since she is not used to other kids wanting to share with her. But she got the hang of it and there was no crying over toys the entire weekend!

Saturday morning, we got up and had even more water mat fun. I taught Marley how to say something really close to Lilah, but she would still rather refer to her as Bebe. We brought out some measuring cups to play with in the water, which was a big hit with both of them.

It was so great to see them together and how well the got along. Both of them are easy-going, so it's not like I expected total mayhem. But they were perfect angels! We finally got out of the house Saturday night and went to dinner, which was followed by another buddy bath!

Marley did get a little jealous when I was holding Lilah, but she wasn't aggressive or anything. She just wanted to sit on my other knee and make sure I remembered she was there!

I am so glad they got to come to Texas and we got to meet Lilah! It was so good to spend time with all three of them!

Relaxing with Mommy

I really thought that Marley would be afraid of the hammock, since it moves, has holes in it, and she can't really control where she slides. But, as usual, I was wrong! She loves it!
When she sees it in the backyard, she insists that we get in it. Hopefully we can find somewhere to hang our's at home because this is another habit that I will not want to stop when we leave! I love my hammock time with Marley!

Summer Baby

Marley is such a summer girl! She would be perfectly hahpy to spend her entire day outside, playing in the yard, eating popsicles, chasing the sprinkler, and swinging in her swing. She runs around barefoot without caring, and loves to help Papa water all the plants.

After Joel mowed the lawn the other day, he filled up the pool and jumped in. I didn't even have time to put her swim suit on before Marley had decided she needed to get in!
It's going to be sad when I can't give her all of this at our house. We don't have a nice yard like this one, but we will have to make it as nice as we can. We will have to go buy some toys for the yard so that the fun doesn't have to stop when we go home!