We made it!

Our trip to Wisconsin was fairly uneventful and Marlee did really well! Our flight was during her nap time, so we had hoped she would sleep, but she was just too excited. She really wanted to explore and kept us very busy, but no fussing or crying!
We flew into Chicago and had to take a bus to Wisconsin. This was also very exciting and we sang The Wheels on the Bus about 400 times! The bus ride was a little harder than the flight. It was supposed to be a 50 min ride, but because of traffic and construction we were on the bus for 2.5 hours! Mars still did amazingly well though.

She had a great time helping us pack!




Checking out our plane!


Watching her videos on the bus (the head phones freaked her out, so the whole bus got to listen to Baby Einstein!)


Finally tired!


We've been having a great time... I'll update soon!

Just waitin' on you mom...

This is what I found when it was time to leave for school this morning. She was watching the news!



Such a big girl.

All American Weekend

Austin didn't have a big 4th of July parade, but we celebrated in our own way!

Marlee and I spent Saturday with James, Lauris and their son Dustin at their house. Yummy food and a nice cool pool! I didn't think we would be swimming, so I didn't bring Marlee's suit. She had other plans, though, and really, what's more patriotic than a little skinny dipping?!

Taking a break from the pool, Marlee and Dustin discovered the cooler...




Then proceeded to play a little game together - they both sat down and pretended to drink (don't worry - the cans are not open! I don't think we will ever give Mars caffine - she's already got enough energy!!). They would set the cans down, look at each other and pick them back up, then giggle and pretend to drink. They did this for a good 20 min! So funny!







That night, one of my clients hung out with us for a little bit. Marlee seems to really like having other kids come visit and she followed him around all night!




We started Sunday off with a trip to the duck pond (The ducks disappeared for awhile, but now are back and hungrier than ever!)

I think she looks like such a big girl here...


And ended the day at the Children's Museum (it's free every Sun from 4-5!)

Making music...


Getting ready for our WI trip...


We had a great weekend... the best part was Marlee started sleeping until 6am! I never thought I'd be happy to get up at 6, but it's so much better than 5!

Just because I want to remember

My funny little girl, holding the dirty sheet Bill just took off her mattress, signing to daddy 'please, help' over and over... she really wanted that sheet on her bed. (It was the one that came with her bedding set - little animals all over it).

When Bill finally gave it (because it really wasn't that dirty) she signed 'thank you', said "night night" and tried to climb in her crib... at 6:30!

We're melting

Seriously... we are on day 13 of 100+ degree days. They issued a heat advisory this week. It has to be pretty darn hot for them to issue a heat advisory in central Texas. The temps are getting up to 107 with the heat index at 115 or more. By 7am it's already close to 90 and right now, at 8:45pm, it's still 98!

So, this is what we do...


Skinny dipping with a popsicle. At least, that's what Marlee does. Bill and I play rock, paper, scissors to decide who has to sit out there with her.

Happy Birthday Bill!

Today is Bill's birthday! Grandma and Grandpa S came into town yesterday to celebrate with us. Marlee loved all the extra attention (and the brown sugar frosting from Bill's cake!!)

Watching Dad blow out the candles


Helping Dad blow out the candles


Coloring with Grandpa


Checking out a new toy with Grandma


Playing her new favorite game:

Time for a haircut!

Haley usually cuts Marlee's hair, but we haven't been able to get together lately. Her hair was starting to closely resemble Hulk Hogan's and Bill kept calling her 'Thunderlips'...


So, I decided to go ahead, bite the bullet, and pay for a haircut. She did great! Though, it probably helped that she got to watch an Elmo video while sitting in a red car!









I think it's extra cute, but I may be a bit biased!

dog days of summer

Last weekend, we had a guest at our house. A very sweet dog named Cita. She belongs to one of my clients and we got to keep her for the weekend. Marlee loved having a dog around! Especially one big enough for this:


She also thought it was hysterical every time we put the leash on Cita for a walk... and she loved holding the leash:


We also spent some time at the splash pad and park near our house. Our friends Lauris and Dustin joined us for some play time!

My bathing beauty!


She followed Dustin wherever he went!


One order of wood chips, coming right up!

Happy Father's Day!

Marlee and Harley

I just noticed this...

I guess this face is reserved for Harley (the first pic is from March and the second one from May)

Pool party

Today we got to hang out with some good friends of ours at a little pool party (good thing, since it was 100 degrees!).

Marlee didn't want to get in the pool, but she enjoyed sticking her feet in every now and then.
She had fun playing with Melanie (Mel was our first - and only - non family baby sitter).


She did a little alligator wranglin'


But mostly, she enjoyed playing bartender...




Thanks for the fun day Mel and Terri!

Are women born like this?

Not Marlee, but so cute!

Click here

Help...

First, I kept my word and have started adding more pics to the Memorial weekend post - scroll down and look if you're in the mood for some serious cuteness!

And, we need your help. It doesn't matter if we know you or not, if you're a lurker or a regular reader, we'll take any advice- just post a comment. We REALLY want to get Marlee to got to sleep later at night and sleep later in the morning. She's up for the day anywhere between 5-6am. Her bedtime was usually 7, sometimes even 6:45ish depending on her. We have been slowly trying to push it back. (There's so much fun stuff going on during the summer and 7 seems so early...) She can basically stay up as late as we let her if she entertained, even if she's tired, she will usually be happy. But her bedtime does not seem to effect her wake-up time (except for occasionally making her wake-up time even earlier - 4:30am is NOT acceptable darling girl!!). So, this week we have started to SLOWLY push her bedtime back - 7:15 for a couple days, now 7:30 for a couple, but with no success on the wake up time. I know we need to give it a little bit of time... I'm just wondering if anyone has had success with this.

We don't want her to sleep all day, but 7am would be heaven!! Thanks for any comments!

Check it out

So she knows HOW to do it...



She usually just chooses NOT to do it.

Aquarium with Grammi

We spent our last day in Houston with Grammi at the aquarium. It rained a little bit, but didn't stop us from having fun!





Sharing lunch


Not 100% sure about the carousel


"Hey mom, what's that behind you? No, there wouldn't be a tiger at the aquarium..."


"IT IS!!! Get me outta here!"


Kissing the shark goodbye


Don't let Grammi's sweet smile fool you...


She was just trying to distract us before throwing Mars into the water! :)