His Actual Birthday

(With The Texas T clan if you think it looks like it might be an obscure Bon Jovi References then it probably is! Very cleaver kiddos!!!!!)

Happy birthday dad! WE love you bunches and bunches even though you are so old!

Happy 4th

The 4Th is a day for coming together with friends and neighbors to celebrate our Nation. We are blessed to have been born in this greatest Nation on Earth. Aside from all the political challenges I see from this current administration, I still see a beautiful future ahead for my children because they are citizens of the United States of America. To those that have been given much, much is asked. My kids will know this. For this 4Th we parade, we eat BBQ, we bowl, we watch a show in sky, we dance and we play.
















Happy 4Th everyone! God Bless the United States of America! God Bless our wonderful friends that shared their day with us. We love you all and the wonderful nation.

St. Louis Time with Neen's family

We do love so many things about Houston. We miss a couple of major things from being in St. Louis. One is the change of season. I so miss the winter months. Houston is hot too much of the time. The real thing we miss is family. I grew up close to my extended family (so did J). My aunt and my mom were close so we grew up knowing that we were cousins but it felt more like older siblings. I miss my cousins so much and now their kiddos. Mimi was gracious enough to invite everyone over to see us on Sunday afternoon. There was plenty of room for these three to sleep and yet they were piled on top of each other. This picture cracks me up.

My brother made J and I feel so special by making a point to greet us when we arrived and say goodbye the night before we left. He wanted to see his nieces and nephews and wanted me to have plenty of time with his young man. Oh my goodness I fell in love with Tristan immediately. He is so adorable, he is also polite and kind. He even let his crazy aunt NeeNee (me) give him tons of kisses and hugs even though we just met. I loved it. I also enjoyed watched T-man and Jumba play together.
Mimi now lives right next door to KeeKee. The advantage was that the kiddos could play with the play set after a quick jump over the fence.
By Sunday night many of the cousins and our friends had stopped by to play with us.
J and my cousin Bill BBQ ed and we all enjoyed a nice summer meal.
KeeKee and Uncle Mike had been out of town with Tim and Emily. They joined us on Sunday, it was a real treat to be around my sister and her family. They really are great people. (Cathy pic)
(Cathy pic) (Cathy Pic)
(Cathy Pic)

We skyped the kiddos at home so they were also part of the the party. I missed them so much at that point. They remember cousin time.

Miss Brenda was there. (Cathy pic)

Fr. Keller was there. (Cathy pic)

Cousin love. (Cathy pic)
This is me with my God Child Erin. She is one of my cousin Cathy's children. I was so amazed at how mature and grown up she has become. Erin is very special to me and it was wonderful spending some precious time chatting with her.


I think that these two would be good friends if we lived closer. Tristan is a real honey and it was wonderful getting to know him and spend time with him.

(Cathy pic)

(Uncle Mike's mom passes away the night before. Please remember The Repose of her soul. She was a feisty and wonderful person. We love her for having given us Uncle Mike. May Gina Rest now in His Peace!)

The cutest kiddos!

As much as we loved the time with the adults the night before J and I really longed to see all the kiddos. Seeing them made us wish our whole family was there as well. J is six years older than the next sister, so it took many years for anyone else on his side of the family to start their families. We have lived 750 plus miles away since they were all born. This is the part that is the hardest on us. J has always valued his relationship with his sisters and brothers. When we heard that they were all planning a little pool time to keep cool the next morning we invited ourselves to visit. I only wish we had more time with them. The kiddos would have loved to swim with cousins and we would have enjoyed even more time with the sisters and sister-in-law watching the babies and talking family talk. Here is peek into our time.
Aunt Nikki and Liam
J with his God son George
Aiden and Allie are very close cousins.
Brady
Princess and Brady J in the middle of all those kiddos loving every second of it.
Bagel and Princess getting to know George.
What you can't see is J with the water gun.
Liam tires to fight back.
Aiden and Allie stop the fight to pose for the picture.
Liam is learning how to quickly shoot.
Liam is trying to get Uncle J while J is getting Aiden.

Jumba so wishes we had his suit.
George is so happy to be swimming.
George and Brady enjoy some splashes.
Maybe it runs in the blood to enjoy swimming so much.
Liam kicking back to take a break with a Popsicle.
Those were wonderful Popsicles. They were huge and very flavorful. Jumba's tip fell off just after this picture. Bagel made me so proud when she jumped up and traded with him to keep him from getting upset. She also picked the broken piece off the ground to put in the trash. All without being asked. I watched and swelled with motherly pride.
George loved to float.
Allie is so grown up.
Allie and Princess
Uncle J still bugging Aiden (He used to pick on his sister Nikki - Aiden's mom)

This was the most fun hour at the pool in a long time. J and I loved meeting, hugging and kissing all those nieces and nephews. It made us miss our home town so much. Our three little ones had so much fun handing out with their cousins and we so wish we could do it more often.

We love you guys. Thanks for playing with us.