Ch-Ch-Changes!

The past two months have brought many changes to the McDanal household. The most important change is that Harper has turned 1! What a sweet little mama's girl she is, who loves her siblings. She has adjusted without a hitch to drinking regular milk in a sippy cup, and eating whatever is on her plate...times two! Even though she is tiny, that little girl can eat!

Not happy about having her sippy cup taken away for a picture


My little ladybug's cake

The other major change is that I have changed jobs. My first week at Fossil was so much fun and is so different than law firm life. My second day at work I was in a meeting with the legal team and Fossil's executive officers...not intimidating at all! I was just hoping I didn't get called on for any reason :-)

The past two months have also included soccer games, pumpkin patches, arboretum concerts, weekends at the lake, ranch parties, zoo visits, dove hunting, and many more weekend activities! Whew, I'm exhausted just thinking of it all!

Rare family pic at the pumpkin patch!

Harpy Pumpkin

Hard Night's Day concert

Buggy ride at the ranch

Horsey ride-Ava loved it!

Dallas zoo

Dove huntin' with Daddy

The kids are looking forward to Halloween in a week, and like past Halloweens, our family costumes have a "theme". Can't wait to share our trick-or-treat pictures soon!

Quick Update

As this year seems to fly by like all the others, a sadness is in the pit of my heart thinking of how big all three kids are getting! Dylan is loving riding his bike…even though it’s been over 100 degrees for 30+ days straight! He is also taking hockey lessons, learning how to skate. He was so proud when he told me he can skate backwards – something that even his momma doesn’t know how to do! He starts soccer next month, and is always looking forward to his next sport.


Ava Grace had seen feathers in her cousins hairs and wanted to get some as well – pink of course! The hairdresser asked me if she always sat so still. I explained to her that yes, she sits still just fine…as long as she is having her nails done, putting makeup on, or getting her hair styled. That girl is a GIRL-Y girl!

Harper has been walking for over a month now. That’s right, she started walking at 9 ½ months. She took her first several steps on Father’s Day. Now, she is walking everywhere, grabbing things when she walks through a room, and even trying to run to keep up with her older siblings. I can't keep up!

Uncle John's Fishing Rodeo

We had so much fun at the annual Fourth of July McDanal family reunion-and I already wish I was back sitting on the beach drinking bushwackers and scouting for jellyfish! This year marked the 16th year that the McDanal family has met in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach/Perdido Key for the July 4th holiday. The kids had an absolute blast, and definitely enjoyed playing with all of the cousins—14 to be exact. It was so fun to watch all of the littles run around and play with one another!

On our drive there, we stopped at The Shed BBQ in Hattiesburg, Mississippi for some famous ribs and barbeque. The original Shed is in Ocean Springs not far from Gulf Shores, and the owner has been on Food Network for various reasons (if you don’t know, I’m a food tv junkie!) The food definitely lived up to the hype, and it was a nice break in our drive being able to relax and enjoy the moment.

Enjoying some delicious bbq!

The kids did fantastic on the long drive. Harper did get a little cranky, but she is going through the separation anxiety phase with mama, and if I dangled my hand over her chair and brushed her hair, she would calm down. It also made for an interesting time during our visit – she wasn’t really happy unless I was holding her or walking with her! I know next year she will be running around like the other two, so I was happy to oblige her.

We really enjoyed hanging out with all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins during our time there. We spent a lot of time in the pool, made several trips to the beach, and went to The Hangout, Zeke’s Marina, The Flora-Bama, and Tacky Jack’s. When we weren’t on the go, it was great hanging out in the tent outside of the cottages. The shrimp boil was fantastic as always, and the aunts and uncles work so hard to feed the large crowd and clean up – I hope they know all their hard work does not go unappreciated!

We have arrived!

Orange Beach

Enoying some watermelon at Zeke's Marina

Pool time with PeePaw

Best Buds

Building sandcastles with Daddy

(I just love the colors!)

Gulf Shores Beach

The whole crew
Johnson Beach

The boy cousins-too cute!

Dylan hanging with the older boys

Feeding the fish at Zeke's

The girls slumber party (and no, Ava didn't stay the whole time!)

Girl cousins-Michelle, Me, Mary Ben, Mande

Our friends Josh and Carrie

(they live in Pensacola, so they came for a visit!)

Dylan trying to catch a lobster - that boy was obssessed!

Being tacky at Tacky Jack's

Sweet Tanner

Shaka Baby!

The Hangout

On the drive home, we took a different route and made a stop in New Orleans for a late morning snack of bienets from the famous Café Du Monde. It was Michael’s first time, and I’m pretty sure the bienet itself convinced him that we need to stop there again on future road trips! We walked around the Quarter and the French Market. I was tempted to get a muffalletta, but since we just had bienets I passed on the opportunity. I regretting that decision a few hours later…I’m not a fast-food fan, so eating McDonald’s for all three meals during our drive home was not ideal. (Insert gag sound here!)

Mmmmm-"Donuts!"

Daddy and Dylan with their Warpaint

The kids are still adjusting to “normal” bedtime, which is not an easy thing to do. They keep talking about the trip and their cousins and how they want to go to Tanner's house and to BooBoo's house. We are definitely all looking forward to many more Fourth reunions in the future!

Good Day, Sunshine!

It was a gorgeous weekend, and got hot enough to pull out the pool and bounce house for some splishing and splashing!

D & AG Taking a Break

The pool crew

Harper's "no-smile" smile

We wet down the bouncehouse so the kids could bounce, slip and slide, and daddy chased them around with water guns. Harper loved being in the pool and was smiling the whole time she was in it.

Dylan just started his hockey classes this week, and we are looking forward to our summertime activities like the arboretum's concerts and much needed pool relaxation time!

Pre-K

Here is Dylan on his official first day of Pre-K at school. He's sitting next to me as I write this post, and just said, "I was being grouchy this morning" when he saw this picture! While he has been going to Pre-K for 2-3 weeks, today was the official start date, and all of the other students moved up with him. He LOVES it!

Spring Time!

It’s nearing the end of Spring, which also means the end of baseball, swim lessons and dance classes! Dylan and Ava had their last swim lesson on Tuesday, and they were sad to leave. Dylan has turned into such a water baby – and maniac at that! I told his teacher that I have never seen Dylan act in such a way. He was always so excited and eager to get into the water. Ava Grace did great as well. Just like her personality, she was ever so cautious, but once she dipped her toe in to gauge the water, she jumped in full-force! They received their end-of-season ribbons and Emler t-shirts for completion of the program.

Ava Grace had her dance recital on Saturday-and it was just too cute! She has been taking tap and ballet for 10 months now, and in that time has learned so much. Her instructor Ms. Sally even commented at the last class how well disciplined and determined Ava was with all her moves. Her first position stance had to be just right. I couldn’t be more proud of her! She loves music and dance, and it shows on her face. Her recital was a ballet routine with little flower pots as props. Even with the large audience she remembered her moves and did so well!


Dylan’s blastball season ends in a week with a make-up day for a rainout. I know he is going to miss it, as he loves baseball so much. He was able to play with some friends from school this year, and it has been such a fun group of players and families. Hopefully a lot of the players will choose to move up to t-ball with the team.

As for summertime, we plan to take the weekends off in order to plan short weekend trips and play in the sun at the pool. Dylan will be taking ice skating lessons during the week to see if he really wants to play hockey (which he’s begged for about a year now), and Ava Grace will be taking dance lessons closer to home so mommy doesn’t have to race from downtown and race somewhere else in the metroplex! Her instructor was one of the little girls who starred on the kids tv show Barney for 4 years. I’ll try and refrain from humming the “I love you, you love me” or “Clean up, clean up” songs whenever we’re there!

We went to the lakehouse for the Memorial Day weekend, which is also my dad’s birthday weekend. I hunted down his favorite pie – strawberry rhubarb, and after all these years finally decided to try it for myself- and loved it! Unfortunately, Harper spent the first night unable to sleep. It made for a long first night to our three-day weekend, but she got her second set of teeth :-)

The kids had a blast as always – Dylan seemed to catch on to lining up the sight on the BB gun and would hit the target every time, Nana and Daddy both caught a fish, Ava Grace was the passenger on the mule while Pop-Pop zipped around the property, and Harper was finally happy after her teeth came in.

On the drive home we stopped by Ham’s Orchard for some burgers and fresh peach/strawberry swirl ice creams. I don’t know what I was thinking—ordering Ava one in a cone as most of it melted all over her clothes/face/hair/shoes, but the kids loved them!

Changes

I just love it when the seasons begin to change, birds start singing, the sun rises earlier and sets later, and all the colors and blooms of the seasons become more alive. Unfortunately for me, I cannot seem to get a darn thing to cooperate with me in our front yard and nothing seems to thrive. I blame it on the full sun it receives…but deep down I know that my thumb is certainly not green, and any type of plant death can be blamed on me (at least in part)! If I took proper care of plants—feeding them food, clipping their brown leaves and petals, and of course watering them, which I too often forget—they might have a fighting chance!


Thank goodness for them that a lot are taken care of by mother nature. The grass is becoming more lush (and hopefully will take over the overpopulated weeds that all the rain brought this Spring) and my hydrangeas in the backyard are beginning to bloom a gorgeous shade of lavender. Michael laid St. Augustine down on the side of the house that water seems to drench and the sun hardly ever reaches, so hopefully it will be a spot where the kids can play this summer.


Speaking of changes, Harper has certainly grown lately! She recently turned 8 months old, and can say Mama, Dada, and Nana, and can also clap in excitement. She loves clapping at the cutest things—like getting handed a toy that she was wanting, or if Dylan makes her gut laugh. Her newest thing is that she is trying to balance while standing up, letting go of whatever it is she is holding—she’s a little daredevil like Dylan was at her age.

And of course she is walking around the house with her little lion thinking she’s super cool keeping up with her brother and sister :-)

Sometimes, she gets a little frustrated because she wants to be able to go faster, but her little legs won’t let her!

Ava Grace is 3!

My sweet little girl recently turned 3 years old - wow does time fly! Ava wanted to have a dress-up party, with a pink cake with butterflies, and that's exactly what she got. She had a blast having her nails and make-up done, and dressing up in a tutu and fairy wings...all pink of course!

Getting her hair and nails 'did

Blowing out the candles


The pretty fairies

Checking off her guest list :-)

My big 3 year old!

This past year Ava has grown so much. The terrible twos are now a thing in the past, and she's jumped ahead to a teenager mentality a/k/a she thinks she's the boss ("Dylan eat your dinner or else you go to bed", "No Harper, that's not your toy you have to share")! God bless her, I couldn't love her more if I tried.