New Smiles

In the midst of all our medical appointments and vaccinations for Indonesia, we had an orthodontic checkup for both kids.  The awesome news for Ben - he could get his braces off!  The bad news for Alex - he needed two baby teeth pulled.  We opted to go the easiest route and see an oral surgeon so he could be sedated to have the teeth extracted.  Alex was still a bit nervous before the consultation, though...

 

All smiles from the kid about the lose the braces!

 

 
 When the big day came, Alex was actually really excited to be put to sleep.  He woke up extra early so he could enjoy his "nap".  Everything went smoothly and he was home minus two teeth an hour and a half later.

Aside from a few aches, it didn't bother him at all!  And now we can enjoy his cute new smile.

 

A few days later, we documented Ben's last morning with braces.

He was so excited to say goodbye to the ole braces and hello to a big bag of Fritos.  (and obviously there was no hair combing on this day but, hey, it's summer!)

And the verdict is...

...SO HANDSOME!!  I couldn't get enough of his beautiful smile all afternoon.  Happy guy and happy mom that we didn't have to move with braces.  Phase 2 may be in our future one day but we don't have to worry about that now.

Alabama

After Alex's party, we cleaned up the house, packed our things, and headed to the farm in Alabama while the house went on the market.

 

 Even though it was pretty dang hot, we got to enjoy some fishing...

...and a few more sparklers and fireworks.

On his actual birthday, Alex enjoyed the rest of his gifts.

We surprised him with a monster kit kat and a Lego set from Singapore.  He's been obsessed with his birthplace since he can't remember it at all and he cannot wait to go visit.

The boys' favorite activity is taking a nature walk with the dogs and watching them run around and explore.  I should have taken a picture at the end when all four of them were wet and muddy!

All of the fun wore this little guy out!

We had a birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Thomasville.

These guys are becoming great drivers.  They both got lots of time on the 4-wheeler roads while we looked at the land.

Unfortunately for Ben, most of the roads were muddy after the wettest June on record, but by the last full day the sun had dried things enough for him to drive on one of the dirt roads.  We avoided getting stuck (twice) while turning around and he had a great time in his favorite truck.

Alex didn't love it quite so much after a close encounter with a sign, but he got some good experience as well.

The boys shot some skeet as well and both had success.

I love watching them learn new things!

Alex's Birthday Weekend

Alex is such a tradition guy.  He's going to be the perfect Aggie one day.  He wanted his third annual waterslide party in the backyard, so we delayed putting the house on the market for a few days and had one last bash in the back.  Since it always falls around the 4th, we also didn't have a lot of choices when it came to slides, so we ended up with the mega bounce house and slide.  He was not disappointed!

 I'll never understand how kids can enjoy this for hours but all this sweet kids had so much fun!

The cookie cake was a winner as well!  Alex also picked out party blowers for everyone to use after we sang happy birthday.

Hours later we discovered something a little gross about a slide where kids get out and run around to slide again - the pool turned into a mud pit.  Good thing the parents had fun earlier because no way were we getting in that! The kids never even noticed.

To wrap up the fun, we had a pinata out front.

Most of the kids got a whack at Darth Vader before he cracked.  (And thank goodness no one got the truck that was to be sold a few weeks later!)

Later on, Alex opened some presents while we waited for the sun to go down.

It was a few days early, but we did some 4th of July fireworks with our neighbors for the last time.  We have so many happy memories of blowing things up together out on the street!

Wow, we love these kiddos and it's been fun to watch them all grow together.

Autumn, Sariah, Austin, Aaron, Rowan, Presley, Gabriella, Ryan, Ben, Spencer, and some crazy kid out in front.

Bright and early Sunday morning, we headed to church for a very special morning.

Alex decided a few months back that he was ready to be baptized and we were so excited about his decision.  All of the Houston family came to support him and enjoy the special day.

It was so sweet celebrating his birthday and his life in Jesus on the same weekend.  I love his precious faith and I hope Alex walks closely with God throughout his life.

 

I went around to watch with the rest of the family...

 The photographer in the back got lovely pictures for us while Pastor Mike spoke about Alex.  They got to know each other at church camp in June.

This is my absolute favorite - a precious hug afterward.  I'm so glad the photographer captured the moment. Happy birthday, sweet Alex!

Summer Fun

Typhoon Texas is our happy place in the summer!  It was a few weeks before we had time to visit this year, but luckily it was the day Tropical Storm Cindy was forecast to hit (and all we got was a few sprinkles!) and it was nearly empty.  We rode everything as many times as our legs could carry us up the stairs.

 

 It was the first time I'd taken my phone around in a waterproof case, mostly because I didn't want to pay for a locker, so I was a little nervous but it was fun getting pictures.

Breaktime for a funnel cake!

One more bucket list item for me this year - to touch the star.  It took several tries but we finally had the perfect ride with enough weight and I happened to be the person at the top so I got my fingertips in the star.  Success!

The kids will miss this playground area.  They have all kinds of games that they can play for hours here.

I've always wanted to stop and get a picture here and it's now or never!  We sure love Katy and we are going to miss it a lot.

We had some pictures done with Grandma and Grandpa after one of the recitals and I got a few of the prints early.  I sure have some handsome guys to enjoy.