The Hayes Herd

One of my close friends from high school lives in Michigan but her family spent a few weeks touring Texas & seeing friends/family & we were lucky enough to be the last stop on their tour before they headed back North. They came last week & as soon as they got here the kids jumped in the pool:

I have to thank Ryan for swimming & playing with the kids all night while Suzi & I visited:

Once we finally got them inside & cleaned up, we put on a movie in the media room & let them stay up late:

They had a blast but honestly it just allowed more time for Suzi & I to visit :)

The next morning we enjoyed brunch outside:

Then I caught the kids upstairs playing games before they had to get on the road:

It was a quick visit but I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see her & her sweet family. Thanks again for coming to visit Suzi! Hopefully next time we will make it back up there to see you guys again. 

Birthday Parties

We've been to several cute birthday parties in the past couple of weeks & of course I couldn't help but to take pictures. First up, Sadie's friend Matthew had a beach bash in his backyard:

You can't really tell from the picture but that is actually a water slide/bounce house. The kids had a blast playing outside & keeping cool in the water. Maggie is always so creative so her food spread & decorations inside did not disappoint:

She even made his cake, half white, half chocolate & it turned out so cute:

Of course the girls had a blast & we had fun celebrating Matthew turning 6:

Next up, Sophie's friend, Gavin had a pool party in his backyard:

After they swam & played games, Gavin's teacher from Sonshine School surprised the kids & came to paint their faces:

Sadie chose a girlie mardi gras mask & Sophie just had to be Spider Man:

It was such a fun morning & we are so thankful that Sonshine brought these kids together:

Sadie also got invited to a gymnastics party for Hadley:

That is the only picture I got because she turned 8 so everyone dropped the girls off & parents didn't stay :( Can't believe we are getting to that next phase of life! Obviously she was the only young one since she is only 5 1/2, but Hadley is our neighbor across the street & Sadie idolizes her. I knew she was in good hands with the Huff family & she came home raving about the party so I guess she did fine!

Finally, Sadie got invited to Kenzie's 6th party at Build A Bear at the mall:

Each girl got to pick out their own bear & it was so cute watching all of them shop for their outfits & help get them made:

Afterwards they headed upstairs to the food court where they had lunch & cake. Kenzie wanted a Princess Poppy/Trolls themed party & all of the cupcakes looked so cute:

We always have fun celebrating with our friends, just can't believe most of their friends are turning 4 & 6!

Weekend Wrap Up

Our weekend started off with a bang because we had a busy Friday. We only have 1 week of summer left so we are trying to see & do as much as possible! We invited friends over on Friday morning to swim & as soon as they got there Sadie found a surprise waiting for them in the pool:

You can't really tell from the picture what it is, but she found a frog at the bottom of the pool by the grotto. All of the kids kept swimming above it & looking at it with their goggles so I finally decided I had to dive in & check it out for myself:

Then I had the idea that we would rescue the frog instead of leaving it in there so we found a beach shovel & I scooped it out. Of course all of the kids wanted to hold it:

Unfortunately the frog drowned so I was going to dispose of him & then I saw another dead frog on the side of the pool & this one stunk:

That's right - 2 stinky, dead frogs. Who knew we were going to have a science lesson while swimming? After that, the kids got back to normal, including jumping off the grotto:

It never gets old sitting there watching the kids jump off over & over :) Thanks for coming over Bethany - I enjoyed catching up with each other!

That afternoon Sadie & I headed up to the playground at Pink Elementary for popsicles in the playground:

All of the kindergarteners were invited & a few of the staff were there including the principal, assistant principal, counselor & our 3 teachers. I tried my best to walk around & introduce myself to everyone but Sadie spent most of the time playing with Kenzie:

What can I say, they are best friends:

I actually didn't take any of these pictures but found them on Pink's Twitter page. Including this one:

Who knew Marggie & I would be matching! Speaking of Marggie, we invited their family over after for dinner & swimming:

We met them at the end of the school year & our girls hit it off. Addie & Lucy are close to our girls age & of course both of the big girls are starting kinder together:

It was a great way to get to know them better & I'm glad our husbands finally met since they both went to UT. The girls & I baked earlier in the day & they were so proud of their oreo peanut butter ice box pie:

After they left, Bryan jumped in & swam with the girls:

It usually doesn't get dark until pretty late so they don't usually get to swim this late. They loved swimming in the dark & I loved them sleeping in the next morning :) I worked around the house all day finishing everything for school. I finally have their closets ready for fall, everything bought & ready for all of our extra curricular activities & I even sprayed all of their lunchboxes & backpacks with Scotch Guard:

It feels great to have everything done so we can enjoy our last week of summer together. But while I was working, Bryan spent the day with the girls. FISD had a back to school bash so he took the girls up there & they had a great time. I found some random pictures on his phone but I really have no idea what they were doing or who they were with:

Then they went to the mall because Bryan had to pick up something at Nordstrom & they ran into the mascot for Vineyard Vines:

Kind of random, right?! It's always fun finding pictures on Bryan's phone because I never know what I am going to find. Including this one:

This was them playing rock, paper, scissors at lunch on Sunday after church. I absolutely love watching them play together the older they get. Sophie is sure going to miss her big sis when she goes to school next week!