Mackay's First Day of School

Andrea and I were nervous to be sending our first born off to kindergarten. Mackay is such a sweet kid and I must confess that the thought of sending him off into the dark, cold world made me nervous to say the least. Nonetheless, I knew I couldn't keep him home forever. Hopefully we'll be able to counter the corrupting process as it goes along. Luckily it takes place slowly. :)

Anyway, back to his first day of school. Mackay didn't seem too nervous--at least if he did, he didn't show it. He was excited to finally be big enough to get to go to school. Andrea dropped him off and I picked him up. As you can see, he seems to be taking to school without a problem.
















Got to start with a healthy breakfast.





















Our cute little guy all ready to go!





















There's his classroom.





















Mackay seemed to really enjoy his first day of school. Nothing but big smiles!



Mackay explaining his first day in more detail...starting with the art project they made.

Kids First Circus!

We had a great time taking the kids to the circus with some friends of ours. I think it's safe to say they were thoroughly entertained. In retrospect, however, we probably should have brought more snacks--it was a long show.





















Our cute Beckett.





















Our cute Mackay.



My favorite part was the motorcycles in the spherical cage. Elephants just don't do it for me. Sorry elephants (and tigers and all the other animals).

Beckett Bug Party

Andrea did a bug-themed party for Beckett this year--at his request of course. As you will see from the pictures, there were a range of ages at the party. Beckett originally came up with just girls to invite. He seems to like older girls! Way to go buddy! :)





















Look Mom, bugs!





















A game of wrap the mummy.



I love Beckett's description of his party and his focus on his presents.
















A fun game of water tag.



Beckett blows out his candles.
















Bug cakes! Ummmm, good!





















Yes, the presents!

Line Up!

I took a quick trip up to visit my sisters while Andrea was at a wedding in California (with Eme). The boys had a great time playing with all of their cousins--both of my sisters live only a short drive from each other so it makes visits easy.

Here the boys are lining up to use the bathroom.

Beckett with a new look.

Mackay with a new look of his own.

Mackay and Beckett with all of their cousins. Get back in the box!

Water Fun

In mid-July we headed to my parents home for a little summer fun. The boys had a great time playing on the slip and slide, swimming in the hot tub, and riding on grandpa's boat. Nothing like a little water fun in the middle of summer to stay cool.



A little fun on the slip and slide.

A not-so-hot hot tub. Note Mackay's bruise on his hip from the water slide.


















Beckett loves his little sister!


















Mackay and Grandpa taking the helm.























Eme and Grandma enjoying the ride.























A fun trip.


















My great parents!

Independence Fun

We celebrated Independence Day with more family than I can ever remember! Andrea's parents and sister and her husband came down. So too did my sister and her family (check our her post on the fun). We had a full day of fun on the 4th. We started out by going to Hamilton Pool, a natural swimming hole about 30 minutes southwest of Austin. After that we came home and let the kids (and some of us "adults") play in the water slide. You should have seen the bruise Mackay gave himself on his hip from the way he flopped down on the ground. We opted not to go see the city fireworks this year because of the kids bedtimes, instead doing our own "show" on our culdesac. All in all, it was a great weekend. Yet another advantage to living here--being close to family.

Our cute little guy.

Beckett and I had fun floating around the "pool."

Mackay and Hannah loved playing with Julie and Jimmy.

A cute little girl.

Mommy and daughter.

Mackay going in for the kill!

Mackay and Hannah are the best of friends.

A full house!

It's getting harder to get everyone to look at the camera!

Amy's family stayed an extra day. The kids always love playing together.

Boys Love Their Sis!

Mackay and Beckett both seem to really love their sister. It's funny how even the craziest kids (e.g. Beckett) can still be so gentle with little babies. I'm sure it will wear off with time, but it's fun to see them both be such great big brothers (note their shirts!).


















Here they are welcoming her home with their Aunt Melissa (on June 12th).



Don't you love their Big Brother shirts? (Andrea made them.)


















Here they are taking good care of Eme...got to love how Mackay is holding her hand.


















How cute is Beckett (Eme is 3 weeks, 1 day old)!

Guitar Jammin'

Mackay likes to do air guitar and (in this example) real guitar when we listen to one of my favorite live songs--Two Step, performed by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds (at Radio City). Admittedly, the camera I think made him a bit shy. But you can get a sense of his sweet moves near the end. He sure has his eyes fixated on the camera! If you listen carefully near the beginning, you'll hear Beckett giving some sweet vocals...and I love his "Hi Dad" near the end.



In case this video seems familiar, it's because I posted something similar last year. What a great duo Mackay and Beckett are!

A Picture of Eme's Name

I had fun making these on wordle.net. They are a compilation of the name announcement post I wrote--with a few tweaks to make sure the word sizes worked okay. Thought you'd enjoy seeing them.

More Picts of Eme

I know it was killing some of you not to know her name--sorry to make you wait. :)

Rather than commit too early to a name, I like to "try a name on" at the hospital before I commit to one. We opted to go with Emersen Marie. The Marie comes from Andrea's family. Emersen is just a name we liked. We'll probably call her Eme or Em or Ems or Emers. We opted to spell her name with an "e" instead of an "o" because it is a unisex name and we wanted it to be more femmy.

Here are a few recent picts a friend took for us (thanks Melody).