Knight In Shining Armor?

Bored No More

Chuck E. Cheese should receive a life time pardon from any crime he ever commits.

When you got nothing to do on a Friday afternoon and you have three children under the age of 4 with the heat index outside close to Hell; good 'ole Chuck pulls through and fills your kids of pizza and occupies them with cheap video games and over priced "prizes."

Thanks Chuck; you made their days fantastic.

A Love For Chuck

Soaking Cousins

Downtown Sugar High

The results of one movie, one bag of popcorn, one chocolate milk, and one orange Jamba Juice.

Early Morning Honking

-Posted from iPhone

Might As Well Have Webbed Feet

Picking a swim teacher is like picking a driving school. The instructor can either make a child's first impression of a new situation an on going fear or they can take control of the situation and make the child feel at ease and comfortable.

By word of mouth, from two different unrelated sources, we found an independent swim teacher for The Bambino. We knew he could swim (due to the fact that he jumped in the pool without his floaties and swam across the pool), but we needed to teach him basic functions in the water and increase his comfort level with what can be a very fearful activity.

After a short one week session, Jax had gone from just treading water to diving for sticks and learning the basic structure of a breast stroke - all credit to an incredible pair of teachers that showed tough love and ample praise.

We could not be happier with the end result.

R-E-L-A-X-E-D

You Better Be Quick

Turn your head for more than a minute, and she is headed for the steps.

No stopping this little climber.

Future In Music??

Museum Trippin'

With all the family in tow, minus Chad, we headed to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Buddy and I had made it out on a few occasions, but it was good to have the rest of the crew with us.

Dinosaur feet were big:

She may be the last to get somewhere, but she is the cutest when she gets there:

Building his dream home?

Ladie's Card Game

Fourth of July at Boo's & Pops

Ample food, ample drinks, and ample flammable explosives made for a good time.

Countless July 4th parties have been held at Boo & Pops' house; however, with each passing year they seem to just get better and better. A mixture of friends and family combined with three generations together makes for a special night.

Who needs to go sit and watch someone else have all the fun lighting fireworks, when we have the ability to do it ourselves...and I think better than some of the other places.

(Yes, that is a real firework. Yes, it does say 16,000 firecrackers. Yes, we did set it off. And yes, we all giggled and smile like a fat kid in a candy store.)

Water Induced Smiles

The anticipation to their feet wet was killing them...

But once the water was reached, it was nothing but grins.

She's A Twinkling Star

All Grins On The Fourth Of July

The Little Barrette That Could

Anytime we (Robyn) tried to put Miss Belle's hair in any sort of hair contraption (bow, rubber band, barrette, headband, etc.) she pulled it out just as quickly as it went in. Everyone had their input..."Just keep putting them on her, she'll get use to it and soon she won't fight with you anymore..."

Oh no, she's not fighting anymore...she has officially won this battle:

Rewind to last week. Robyn dresses the kids to run some errands; shoes, shirts, and of course she has to have something in Belle's hair. So, she adds a nice colorful barrette; similar to the one seen here - gotta keep the girl looking cute as can be.

The errand running begins. Items are accomplished and task are taking off the to-do list. Heading to one of the final spots, Robyn checks the mirror just to make sure the kiddos are good. Mother's intuition? She notices something in Belle's mouth, something colorful and small...the barrette. The little lady has decided she doesn't like it in hair so she decides to show momma who is boss. Robyn reaches back to get it out of her mouth and then...cough, cough; it's gone.

All hell breaks loose.

Robyn pulls over and frantically searches the car seat, searches Miss Belle's immediate surroundings, and then searches her mouth. Nothing. The barrette is gone. Gone deep into the bowels of Belle. Gone forever.

My phone rings. The situation is explained. I tell her to call the doctor.

The doctor is called. The situations is explained. The doctor says emergency room.

My phone rings. The situation with the emergency room is explained (in the meantime I have checked on line and seen what previous parents have done...I found out this happens more often than I knew. Google it, you'll be amazed.)

I tell Robyn to hold off on the emergency room, let's give it a few days to "pass", and if nothing shows then we will take the next step.

The next morning comes and the Wheat crew is headed to the Texas hill country for the annual All-Balls family reunion. However, each time Belle has a "movement," the contents must be checked for the little barrette. And we I say contents, I mean the goods that Belle has deposited in her diaper. Fun. Robyn gets this duty (no pun intended). Dads are not made for times like this, mommas are.

Multiple stinky roadside stops later...nothing. We continue with our vacation hoping that the ugly beast will make it's presence known. Fiber is upped in the diet and liquid intake increases.

Sunday rolls around, a full three days later. Some of the family members go on a float trip down the Guadalupe river in New Braunfels, TX. As we near the site where we are staying, I see Robyn perched up on the banks of the river with Belle in tow and a smile on her face.

The levee's have been breached and the barrette showed up. Hallelujah, sweet Jesus, amen, playball...the trumpets sound and the choirs sing.

Everyone can breathe again.

Moral of the story: She was trying to tell us something, and we weren't listening. I think from now on, we will listen.

The evil barrette seen here: