My Baby Buckaroo

This little post is a follow up from my post yesterday about our time at the barn. Emma Claire got to spend two days at Buckaroo camp, and I think for her age and attention span that was just perfect. We did make more trips to the barn just to visit but only spent two "official" days at camp.

How sweet is this picture? She's even holding up her little finger to say number one! I just wish we had her little trophy!

Watching her group of friends play "horse, horse, pony!" {a play on duck, duck, goose} It just was a little above our skill set. But we had fun watching. 

This would be photographic proof of the paparazzi I mentioned yesterday. That's my aunt behind me taking pictures! And I handed my big camera to my dad who walked in front of us to snap some more pictures. 

Emma Claire with her Aunt Doreen. I love this picture. 

I adore the hiked up pant leg, her hair, and just about everything about this picture. 

 Yes. On her second day at camp she ATE the paint. A true artist.

This picture kind of makes me want to cry. LOOK HOW BIG SHE IS! How is this possible!? I'm certain she should still be hanging out in her infant carrier, right?! Or moby wrap for that matter! ha! Yet here she is, eating snow cones with her little friends at camp.  So big. And she was so cute about all of it. She wanted to be just like the "big kids".

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it but we had the PERFECT weather last week. I mean perfect. Lows in the 60's and highs in the 80's with hardly any humidity. It was heavenly. I can honestly say that I don't think there has ever been a 4th of July week in DFW that was quite this cool. My memories of summers spent at the barn involve lots of sweat, constant sunburn, and dehydration. Okay okay, so it wasn't THAT bad. But y'all, it was really. dang. hot. Needless to say I was tickled to take Emma Claire to horse camp during nice weather. It made it that much better. I cannot wait to take her back again next visit!

Boots and Bloomers

This week Emma Claire got to do something pretty special. She was able to go to Buckaroo camp at my aunt's barn, Ride With Pride. I grew up there taking horseback riding lessons, and going to summer camps. When I was old enough I volunteered there, and then I was an employee. I worked at the barn all through high school and college, which made it SO exciting for me to take Emma Claire there for her first little camp! 

Such a surreal feeling putting a helmet on MY baby! And you know she had a special shirt just for this occasion! Fun fact: the bench that she's sitting on were made by my dad years ago when the barn was brand new!

Emma Claire on a horse for the first time! She rode Tucker and her Aunt Doreen led her as I walked beside her. She LOVED it. In this picture she's signing "horse".

Like any good summer camp there were plenty of arts and crafts. Emma Claire loved painting her horseshoe almost as much as riding the horse!

And when my back was turned for one second she painted her face. Typical. 

Although she loved the horses and crafts, I think her favorite part of the barn was meeting the barn cats. 

Hand on hip. Such sass. Love it. 

 

And this is MY personal favorite picture of the day. Boots and bloomers. Enough Said. 

 Emma Claire and I had a blast, and both of my parents were able to tag along with us as well. She had quite the barn posse. I was running around after her with my big DSLR camera snapping away, and my aunt was doing the same. My dad was right behind us with his phone taking pictures of me taking pictures of her, with my mom beside him. My grandparents also live on the property in front of the barn so poppy came down to the barn to watch Emma Claire ride a horse, while mimi watched from the deck. We were quite a sight, I'm sure. I know EC loved it and I can't wait to take her to the barn for years to come.

And get excited, there is a buckaroo camp day two post to come! 

We are loving our time in Texas so far. My dad was able to take all of last week off work and we had a great time just hanging out, swimming, playing outside, spending time with Aunt Paige, and celebrating America's birthday. Tomorrow mom, EC, and I are headed out to do some shopping. Can't wait for a fun girl's day!

Texas Tidbits

I have taken SO many pictures during our trip so far. My head spins when I sit down to sift through them and edit. So I've quickly gone through and picked out some favorites to share. We are just having a blast and I hate to have to sit down and upload and edit pictures. Blah. BUT I do have to clear off my SDcards so I can take MORE pictures, right?! ha!

Emma Claire got into some butt paste the other day. Her face says it all. 

We've been taking nightly walks with my Dad and Sammy {their yellow lab}. 

And after each walk we usually spend the rest of the evening out front playing, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, and eating Popsicles. 

We have spent pretty much every day with Aunt Paige. And have loved every minute of it. 

On the Fourth of July Third of July we watched the Southlake fireworks show. How patriotic is she?!

My Mimi, Dad, and EC. She LOVES her Mimi and had a blast hanging out with her for several hours before fireworks. 

Emma Claire LOVED the fireworks. She danced around and grabbed for them in the sky. It was so cute to watch.  And don't worry. There will be an entire post on 4th of July festivities coming soon.

Cheese face. I LOVE this. 

Pool time with Grammy and G-Pop. Or as EC calls them "Bammy and Pop" ;-) 

The pigtails, the swimsuit, the puddle jumper, that FACE! It's too much. I can't handle the cute. 

Today my aunt, uncle, and cousin came over. I think it's safe to say Emma Claire loved her cousin Connor. They were too cute.

 I have tons of phone and instagram photos to share too but I think I'm just going to have to wait until I'm home to sift through all of those! 

We still have another week-ish here and we are soaking in every moment!

Tuesday Ramblings

So this post is titled "Tuesday Ramblings" when really it should just say "random pictures I want to share" ha! I have gotten so many good pictures this trip and I am slowly uploading/editing them to share. Here are a few of my favorites thus far.

 I took these next two pictures on our first night here. We took a family walk and soaked up the gorgeous weather.

EC has been obsessed with picking raspberries. 

Making homemade ice cream with G-Pop. She LOVED it!

And so did he :-) 

Doesn't this picture make you want watermelon? If you ask EC she'll give you hers. She hates it. Crazy girl, right?!

 This might be my new favorite picture of Emma Claire. I just love it.

And one of my favorite pictures from our party Saturday. Aunt Paige is the BEST, and I promise Emma Claire thinks so too. This was taken right before we went home and baby girl was SO tired. Aunt Paige was a rock star at the party. She played with Emma Claire all evening and let me mingle, video tape, and take pictures at the party.  Like I said, she's the best.

Greetings from Texas!

Well this little ol' blog has been pretty quiet lately. Mainly because EC and I are halfway across the country right now visiting friends and family in TEXAS! We are having a blast and loving this time with family.

Before we left we were busy busy getting everything ready for our trip but we managed to have plenty of fun too ;-)  

Some neighborhood kiddos found a turtle on Monday night so I rescued it and released it into the pond behind our house. EC wasn't sure at first but loved him by the time we released him.

I was pretty busy with my embroidery machine before leaving. The day I took this picture I actually made six shirts! I was on a mission! And now I'm already going through withdraws! ha! I'm addicted.

Tuesday before we left the hubs, EC, and I met up with some friends for lunch and to play in the local splash pad/fountain. We had a blast. This picture just honestly shows how hard it is to get a good picture of two toddlers. It's real life, that's for sure.

And this picture just makes me melt. I LOVE her and can't get enough of that little face!

Grocery shopping with Daddy is always more fun.

Speaking of Daddy. How sweet is this picture? We had spent all day outside on Tuesday so I wanted to shower real quick before bedtime. So the hubs took over story time and read EC several books. But then apparently it was time for funny animal video watching. I think he enjoyed it more than Emma Claire did ;-) 

We had some rain on Wednesday, and our sweet neighbor watched Emma Claire so the hubs and I could run some last minute errands and have a little lunch date. 

 

Yes we were matching {sort of}. I was wearing a navy polo dress and he was wearing a plain navy polo. To be fair I got dressed FIRST. ha!

Thursday morning we were excited to head to TEXAS!

Emma Claire was a great little traveler. We got a smoothie and breakfast sandwich from Starbucks before our flight. 

Entertain as always. And this time around I don't have any plane ride pictures to share. We had a great flight and Emma Claire was really well behaved. However, there was a pretty big and tall gentleman right next to us so we had zero wiggle room. She did fall asleep...for about a minute. ha! And she decided to potty right as the seatbelt sign came on and we began our descent. She was NOT happy and did scream the whole way down. But other than that she was an angel. 

She LOVES Texas. Can you tell?

Fun at Target with G-Pop! She got an icee and popcorn.  Her new favorite thing to get at Tarjay.

"Helping" Grammy water. She loves it. 

Saturday our entire family gathered with friends to celebrate my grandparent's 60th anniversary! My aunt snapped a picture that was almost identical to a picture taken at their 50th anniversary party. I come from some good genes, that's all I have to say ;-)

And lastly, EC got dolled up in her horsey shirt and boots to head to buckaroo camp at my aunts barn! She had a blast and loved seeing all of the barn animals and getting to ride on a horse for the first time! More pictures on that to come! If you're in the Dallas area and are interested in horse camp my aunt's barn, Ride With Pride has awesome summer camps and programs going on! Check it out!

 And that's all for now! I'm off to download pictures and video off of my DLSR that I've been taking this week. Can't wait to share more!