a zoo trip with friends

Today, we met the Caton fam at the Fort Worth Zoo ... one of Kendall most favorite places these days! We love going to the zoo, but going with sweet friends makes it even better!

Angela (aka Angel, per Kendall) with Lyndon & Ryllie (one of Kendall's besties!)

Kendall & Ryllie with their baby elephant statue ... a must see & photo op each time we are at the zoo

 

They love to feed the fish & birds

 

Another favorite photo op ... the old-fashion horse carriage

And it's not a proper trip to the Fort Worth Zoo without a ride on the horse carousel and the Yellow Rose train ride ... according to Kendall, at least!  Good thing it only $1 for the carousel and $1 for the train!

 

 

 

Happy Monday!

Emerson's pumpkin patch party

Today, we went over to the Walton's house to celebrate Emerson's 2nd birthday ... in her very own backyard pumpkin patch! Chesley is one of my favorite girl friends ... is so talented in so many ways, is a great mom & friend ... and is such an awesome hostess! All the kids had a blast running around the backyard playing all together ... plus we took advantage of the pumpkin patch in hopes of getting a couple of cute fall pumpkin pictures. Kendall and Emerson are so sweet with each other and I can't wait to see their little friendship develop in these next few years. (Unfortunately I only got one picture with Emerson ... and it happens to be of her stripped down eating lunch. Sorry, Eme!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh how I loooove the fall ... and pumpkin patches ... and cute fall shirts ... and celebrating all these sweet kiddos' birthdays ... and being Kendall's Mommy & getting to do all this fun Mommy stuff with her!

While Daddy was away ...

These past 4 days have been a new experience for Kendall & I ... Ash went away on a business trip to a medical conference in Orlando, FL for 4 days ... and the 2 of us had lots of "girl time" together!

I knew we (and especially Kendall, since Daddy has never been away from us that long) would miss him ... she would ask about him, "where is 'im?", or "Oh, Daddy. I miss him." (in the sweetest, saddest little voice) ... so I wanted to try to keep us pretty busy with fun things for us to do ... to keep her mind off of it as best as possible, which if you know Kendall, you know she loooooves her Daddy & her Daddy-time each night!

We started off our first day with Daddy coming to Kendall's Gymnastics class, for the 1st time!  She was so excited to have Daddy there and have him watch her do all of the different routines, songs, exercises and drills.  She loves gymnastics so it was great to have him there with us.

Then we had to take Daddy to the airport ... that was a very sad task!  We helped him with his luggage, helped him get checked in, gave lots of hugs & kisses ... and had to watch Daddy go through security ... until we could see him no more.

To help cheer us up, we had a fun activity planed ... Next stop for Kendall and Mommy ... the Sea Life Aquarium, lunch & a ride on the carousel at Grapevine Mills Mall.  This girl loves this aquarium (and the horseies, anytime she can)!

 

The next day was preschool for us ... so we were busy all day!  We did find a little extra time to play on the playground there, though.  She loooooves to play here!

 

Friday we had more big plans ... a day at the Fort Worth Zoo!  We saw tons of animals, enjoyed lunch there, a carousel ride and a train ride.  We had a fun time and enjoyed being outside in this slightly cooler weather, although I didn't get very many happy face pictures, apparently.


On Saturday, we celebrated Lyndon's 1st birthday at their home.  It was a fun football theme/tailgate party and Kendall had a blast playing with Ryllie & Lyndon.  After a nap, it was time to pick up Daddy from the airport ... and it was a happy, happy reunion!  Kendall quickly re-introduced Daddy to all-things girly ... soon he was wearing a tutu on each leg (because none of Kendall's tutus fit on hit waist), carrying a purse and wearing a few necklaces ... that's an awesome Daddy to this Little Miss girly-girl!  Daddy brought her home a couple of treats he had picked up in Orlando, home of her favorite characters (really, the only characters she even watches).  She is always happy to open a present ...

It's always great to have Daddy back at home with us!  We love you, Daddy!

last days of summer fun

With the weather staying hot enough to still be considered summer, yet it's not in the 100's each & every day anymore, we had a few more days of fun before school started back up again ...

Kendall went to Charlie's 4th bday party ... it was a superhero theme ... Calista did an amazing job on the theme & decor ... and even sewed every child their own superhero cape (pink for girls and blue for boys) as their party favor! Kendall was very excited to add her cape to her dress-up collection!

 

It won't be long until our swimming time is over for the year ... so we are soaking up all the days we can get ... knowing we will soon have to wait until May to swim in our pool again!  Kendall loooooves to be in the pool and we hope she will be a great little swimmer!  She loved her little toddler swimming lessons this summer and we also all love her puddle jumper ... it's been an awesome swimming gear addition for her this summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've also been enjoying these cooler evenings and getting to play at our near-by favorite park and ride/pull her tricycle.  She loves her tricycle and has been growing so is reaching the pedals easier and getting the hang of riding ... although, she definitely prefers the "Daddy/Mommy pull me by the rope" method at this point in her trike riding career ... honestly, I'm just thrilled that Daddy thought of attaching a little rope to pull her by ... after the first few rides of pushing her from the back, your back really gets to hurting a bit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our happy last of summer days with our {almost always} sweet 2 year old! 
We've had a great summer, but with it being the HOTTEST record-breaking summer of all time, we are more than ready for fall ... and all that the fall season brings!  So long, summer ... see you next year!