UPDATES:

I officially have 2 kids in middle school! Yikes!

Maddie and Cambren both left the best teachers ever! (Cambren definitely is in for a rude awakening next year when he realizes that not all teachers are stunt doubles for the energizer bunny.)

Tanner made the tennis team! Skillz!

We have started the unfamiliar landscape known as select soccer with Parker. Go Reds! (Not the best quality of photo, but zoom in if you can because this face IS Parker.)

Swim Team is under way! Convincing three out of four to get up at 7am every week day of the summer isn't too bad. All the kids got ribbons from their first meet, but for some reason Maddie was the only one that received hers at the meet. (No pics of TJ yet.)

Grandma and Grandpa S. came to melt, I mean, enjoy the Texas heat. (Originally to babysit while Barry and I took a much needed break, but that fell through when the cows got restless at Dean Foods.) Of course there was game playing, puzzle doing, fishing, and Blackjack (In case that rock star career falls through, Maddie has something to fall back on now.)

Gma and Gpa also enjoyed a Texas Tornado and our public pool for a while.

Tanner and Parker are thinking of auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance. Respect! Check out Gma with her gansta pose.

Maddie decided to go short-she is so much braver than I am-she didn't flinch! She loves it and looks even more gorgeous! She cut enough off to donate it to locks of love.

Madelyn celebrated her 9th birthday. Time, come on, you are killing me. (I suppose technically, that is true.)

Tanner and Parker took a solo trip (if there is two of them, should that be duo?) to Wisconsin to learn more back up life skills like: how to shoot fish with a bb gun and how to survive if you are left in a swamp with 2 canoes, 2 bananas, 2 bottles of water and no idea how to maneuver the boat let alone how to not fight about who is better at not maneuvering the boat. (They already knew the how to take lots of close up pictures up your nose, but not anything else memorable about the trip so you are left with the cell phone picture of you standing at your departing gate.)

Father's Day to the best Dad and my constant reminder that dreams do come true. (Maddie spent days making this bench for Barry-it was such a tangible reminder of how much she adores her Dad.)

Barry and I finally got to see Eric Clapton in concert. I know it speaks to my age when I was wishing that it would be a rare time that there actually wasn't an encore after 5 minutes of continuous clapping because all I could think about was crawling into bed.

And, finally, our postponed "getaway". It's not Florida, but its kid-free beach, sun, and ocean. Barry finally got to try kiteboarding. It was awesome to watch for more than one reason. Of course he picked it up quickly and it was cool to see. But, he followed through on something he had wanted to do and that inspires me to do the same. Way to live your life honey! Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids at the last minute.