Can you guess where we ate tonight?!

Check out the cool stripe-y seat and nice slate walls..........

(but don't look at the food)

Now, look at this nice seating area............

No, it's not PF Changs?!?

Hint: It's our kids favorite place to eat! It's a new McDonald's that just opened near our home!

How mod is it! Super fun! And, OH, so clean!

Hudson said that he was "this" cold in the restaurant! Check out the cool play area! A piano slide....that makes note sounds as you slide down!
And a xylophone and guitar that make sounds, too! Such a unique play area! Robbie said that from now on anytime I leave him with the kids....this is where he is taking them!

Before and After

Hudson's hair was starting to look like Kramer's (from Seinfeld) again so it was time to head to Sports Clips for a new do!

Here he is BEFORE....

And then AFTER, sporting the Faux-Hawk!
As we were laying in bed reading bedtime stories tonight, he looked at me and said, "Mom, is my hair messed up?" I think he was really proud of his new haircut! So cute!

These kids.....

...are just the best!

They are SO very funny!

They begged me to let them use the face paint crayons by themselves to paint clown faces.

So, I agreed and left them in the bathroom with

free reign over the face paints.

When I came back, this is what I found! I laughed SO hard!

They look like some kind of deranged clowns!

I LOVE this picture!

We have enjoyed some cooler weather this week....

ya know, 90 as opposed to 104!

I had to post these pics so I can remember how sweet they are

when they play together WITHOUT fighting!

They really do play well together a lot of the time....

but when it goes south....it REALLY goes south!

We are now entering the stage of "Word Wars",
and, whew!, those are exhausting to listen to and manage!

They are pretty much inseperable though,

and I love that about them!

A lot of fun was had this weekend...

by some HUGE American Idol fans!

My sister text messaged me on Tues (last week) and told me she had an extra ticket to the American Idol Live concert in Little Rock! I was able to go and join her and her friends and we had a fantastic time!

I have watched the show faithfully since season one. I will never forget watching Kelly Clarkson beat out Justin Guarini. I was new to Reality TV then....and it just seemed like the biggest TV moment ever! Of course, Kelly Clarkson is still my all time favorite idol. I have watched EVERY season since....but some years I remember feeling very underwhelmed with the top 10.

This year however renewed my faith in the show! The top 9 (sorry Michael Sarver...just not feeling ya) all brought such incredible talent and fun personality niches!

And for the first time American Idol became a "family" show at the Buie house. Our kids LOVE music and they couldn't wait for it to be Tuesday so they could watch their favs sing a new song. Lawson really wanted Allison to win this year and Hudson was a Kris and Megan fan.

This top 10 group has SO much talent and put on an fantastic show!
For me, the highlights were....
-Anoop singing My Perogative
-Allison and Adam singing Slow Ride
- Megan singing Put Your Records On
- Matt singing Hard to Handle
- Allison singing Cry Baby
- Danny singing PYT
- Kris singing Ain't No Sunshine

MEANWHILE...
my mom and dad were the best baby sitters ever!
Check out all the fun things they planned for Lawson and Hudson in Texarkana.
Taking a spin in cousin Reese's hot pink mustang!
Enjoying a picnic dinner...."Open up Reese!"
Swing batter batter!
Our own waterpark!

Bananna Split Time!

American Idol Bonus Photos

One of my sister's friends, Andrea, who went to the concert with us had a connection that got her a backstage pass! She got to meet MOST of the idols!
Here are some of her pics!
She said they were all very personable!
And she said that Adam might actually be prettier than her! Ha!

Summer Camp Fun

Where can you find Nat, La & Hud on

Tuesdays/Thursday mornings this summer?

Having fun at our preschool's summer camp session!

The kids are having a blast playing with their friends!

And they get to do crazy, messy things that would not happen at home! And I get to earn some money while playing with glue, glitter and play-doh!

It's a win, win!

Gibbs Family Getaway

How hard is it to get all 16 members of the Gibbs family together at the same time and place?

VERY!

In fact, it hasn't happened since last Christmas! We almost managed to do it this past weekend! 15 out of 16 (we missed you Eddie!) of us got together and spent a couple of days enjoying the pool and view of Lake Hamilton!

We had SUCH a good time!

We had a great time swimming, eating some great food (thanks mom, Ashley and Ashley's mom for feeding us SO well!), chasing kiddos, getting caught up with the latest on everyone's lives, laughing, and playing an unfortunate round of the game Catch Phrase (the boys somehow managed to beat us girls! We'll get ya next time guys!) Here are some other pics....

Here are all 7 Gibbs Grandkids!
Getting them all together and still for a picture is a pretty amazing feat!Left to Right...Hudon, Cannon, Griffin, Lawson, Palmer, Brooklyn, Reese Lawson's dream come true! She adores her triplet cousins! In fact, she has baby dolls at home named Palmer, Griffin and Cannon and tending to them is one of her favorite past times! Feeding the REAL Palmer, Griffin and Cannon was the highlight of her trip!

Sisters and Brothers!

Me and Steph (my sister) holding our nephews (Griffin and Palmer)

Have I mentioned that this is the life I was meant for?!

I LOVE to spend a summer day floating on a raft!

Lawson helps Aunt Steph re-live some of her cheerleading glory days!

(My two...Lawson and Hudson with Cousin Reese)

We had gorgeous weather! It was high 80s and breezy!

Such a nice break from the summer heat!

It felt like we were in a tropical paradise!

Aunt Steph and Brooklyn enjoying a poolside snack!

"Throw me higher, Uncle Brady!" Squeals Hudon.

The 3 Gibbs Grandsons hanging out poolside.

"Give me a goldfish, Hudson!"

Free Books!

FREE things will be a very common subject on this blog!

And you just can't beat FREE kids books!

If you are like me, you get really excited over your kids getting new books.....not because of their educational value....but because you can't read How Big is Baby Elmo one more time!!!!!

Half Price Books is offering a really great program this summer!

Kids 12 and under keep a daily log how much time they spent reading. Then they bring it in each week and each child is rewarded a $3 voucher to buy new books! My kids have each scored 2 new books each week! For FREE!

Here is their website if you would like to participate. There are still a few weeks left!

http://www.halfpricebooks.com/

Family Night @ Chick-fil-a

If you want to know where to find the Buies on Tuesday nights, its Chick-fil-a!

We started going EVERY Tues night back before Hudson was even born! What's crazy is that there are quite a few other family night regulars and we have all watched each others kids grow up! We are kinda a secret Chick-fil-a cult! We have even gotten to know many of the employees during that time. In fact, we used to joke that Hudson might think that a few of the employees there were his aunts and uncles because when he was a baby he would just light up when he saw them....sadly he saw them more than his real aunts/uncles!! Ha!

10 things that I LOVE about Chick-fil-A:

10. purell wipes outside the play area door

9. that you can get your sandwich on a wheat bun

8. family night every tuesday (you get a free kids meal with each adult combo purchased and they have FREE entertainment...face painting, balloon animals, craft, etc)

7. kids can trade in their kids meal toy for an ice cream cone

6. they are closed on Sunday (what a statement that makes....they value their employees more than their profits)

5. bend-y straws for kids (if you have ever set in a booth with a small child trying to drink through a non-bend-y straw you know what i am talking about)

4. lobby room attendant (visit McDonalds where they send some one out every half hour to clean and compare to a lobby that has some continually cleaning and you will see why you just feel better about touching the tables at Chick-fil-a.

3. they have fresh squeezed lemonade

2. they gladly offer to carry your tray to your table when they see you are holding a child

1. when you say thank to one of their employees, they answer "It's my pleasure." (makes you feel SO special!)

You can tell they really value the customer experience!

Here is one of our favorite Chick-fil-a face painters, Mrs. Shelly! She is incredibly talented....and such a nice person! She paints faces at our Chick-fil-a about once a month and so she has painted a rainbow on Lawson's face and something orange on Hudson's face about 30 times now...these are my kids favorites and they always request them...so Shelly doesn't really even have to ask what they want aymore! She has even brought small gifts to my kids....just because she ran into something she thought they would like. How nice is that?! If you ever need a face painter, she's your lady. You can book her at http://www.merrymakersclowns.com/

Here are some before and after shots from tonight...

Hudson's orange race car

Lawson's rainbow

Summer Bible Reading Challenge

The children's ministry at our church has offered a Summer Bible Reading Challenge to the kids.

They get rewards for reading their bible/bible stories everyday and an extra goodie for learning a bible verse each week. It actually was supposed to be for 4 yr olds and up...but as Hudson has heard Lawson practicing her verses each week he has learned quite a few of them as well!

There is nothing sweeter than hearing your children speak the word of God!

Belly Busters & a Chocolate Goatee

One of the members of our Worship Team from Church invited the Worship Team and their families over for a cookout and some swimming this afternoon! We thoroughly enjoyed our time there! They have a beautiful backyard and she must of spent hours preparing the food! It was quite a spread and hit the spot after a couple of hours of swimming! Thank you Hollinger family!

Here are some pics from the afternoon. Here is Lawson with a chocolate goatee!

Everyone told her she looked like her daddy!
Lawson wanted to make sure that we got a picture of the walrus' face....so everyone could see it she said! (and arn't you glad?!)

Hudson proclaimed that the hot tub was only for kids and that all grown ups had to stay in the pool. He stood guard over it most of the afternoon.

"She wore an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny"....well it's not yellow....but it is polka dot!
As I was taking this picture, I overheard her Daddy telling someone that she will not be posing like that when she is 15!
Lawson has pretty much mastered swimming this summer. We keep a close eye on her...but she doesn't need any help at the pool now. She's got it!

It was Hudson's first time to jump off of a diving board today! He is SO brave in the water and is swimming really well! (almost too well...if you know what I mean....NO fear of water!) He can swim as far as he can go on one breath...so now we are working on trying to get him to come up and take a breath . Evidentally belly busters don't hurt if you are 2....because Hudson did about 20 today and kept coming back for more!

Bubbles & Ice Cream

Today we went to a fun FREE family event at the Bob Jones Nature Center in Southlake (thanks to the tip from my friend Susan). The kids got to make their own bubble wands. Lawson's was in the shape of a flower and Hudson's was a turtle. Then they got to enjoy some home made ice cream! Bubbles and ice cream! You can't go wrong!