The Cahill's

On July 6th Ivy turned 1 year old – somehow it seems she grew faster than Lance. She LOVES fruit and water so we celebrated with a watermelon cake and swimming!

She and Lance loved the slide in the little pool.

This video is for Brian’s mom because she protested that the last post didn’t have any. We were at my parents house and they have well water which is pretty cold. You can here how it takes their breath away each time they go in the water.

To warm up a little, Lance gives Ivy a tractor ride. (Actually, it wasn’t much of a ride unless someone was pushing – it’s hard having short legs.)

Last summer Uncle Dude built a water “sprinkler” the kids could run through – Ivy and Oliver liked it the best.

Meanwhile the dads and big cousins played in the big pool (i.e. a stock tank)

note: I swam in this growing up and it’s still good. If you’re looking for a nice pool this one is a good investment.

Dad and Lance take a turn splashing while we were filling it up.

Next we opened presents, ate and had cake!

Ivy had no problem figuring out how to open presents and was able to move from one to the next a lot easier than her brother at his first birthday.

Connor discovered the water balloons so I filled up a dozen or so for us to throw.

We decided to ambush “Uncle Brian”. I called him outside “for a minute” and then – whamo! We got him!

This turned into an all out war (once I had filled up more balloons). Kids against Dads.

The kids held the fort valiantly.

Sometimes Dads cheat 🙂

It was a wonderful birthday party though I wonder if the big people had more fun that the birthday girl.

Little people for one.

We got a package yesterday and while the kids could care less what came in it, the box and packing materials have offered many small joys.

Nothing like a little “high” diving.

Lance discovered the joys of bubble wrap this afternoon.

And even the cardboard offered fun times, a lot of looks and a free meal. I would never have worn my pj’s in public if it weren’t for Chick Fil A.

I spent all afternoon coming up with these costumes for Cow Appreciation Day. In all, I think I spent more time earning a free meal than it would have taken me to just prepare a meal at the house. However, we wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun.

A true, Texas, crash-bang-boom thunderstorm rolled through our town on Monday.

Lance and I watched the rain pour down and talked about the very loud thunder, some of which sounded like it went off right above our heads!

After some particularly loud thunder I went to see if Ivy had woke up from her nap. Lance was still watching the rain through a window when suddenly the lights went out – he came shooting out of the room in search for me. He was very brave later and held the flashlight so we could see.

Since we had no lights we played on the porch, watching the rain and enjoying some water too.

When the storm abated we went out puddle stomping and found the king of puddles in the volleyball court!

Ivy discovered that water can hide uneven terrain. Lance found that rocks can only be thrown once but wood chips can be thrown and retrieved multiple times.

When everyone was cold we trooped inside for dry clothes then read books by the light of the window until Daddy came home. Having no electricity to cook, we went and got some pizza then crashed at a friend’s house until our lights came back on. What an adventure!

It rained a lot the next day, keeping us inside so mommy broke out the jumper for entertainment. I put Ivy in first and Lance kept saying “all done, Ivy?’” until I put him in. Lance liked it so much that he jumped until he fell asleep. I think I like that toy.