Port A 2011

Aboard the USS Lexington Emma testing her hand at being a pilot.

Texas State Aquarium

Family Time on the Beach

We spent the evenings building sand castles...it was lovely!!!

Emma got pretty good at drizzling wet sand on her sand castles to make towers.

Dolphin Encounters

We were able to see MANY dolphin pods on this adventure. It was fun to see the dolphins in their natural environment and it was very exciting to anticipate when and where we would see the next group!

Fishing with Grandpa

Trav's parents and brother drove up to the beach on our last weekend there. I left on the day that they arrived b/c my grandpa had died that morning, but Trav and Emma stayed to spend time with his family for a few days. They had a great time!!!

C. Duane Patton

My grandpa (89) died unexpectedly on July 15, 2011. We were all very saddened and shocked by his passing, but were SOOOOO very thankful that every Patton was together just a few weeks before at our Patton Family Reunion over the 4th of July. He enjoyed watching all of us together and said many, many times that it was the BEST family reunion ever.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Emma

My grandparents were married for 64 years!!!

Grandpa had been writing an autobiography for some time, but just completed it and turned it into the publisher on June 30th, 2011. What a blessing that he was able to leave such a precious gift behind! I look forward to reading this and learning more about his life!

We had a memorial service a few days after his death and displayed items that we felt represented him. My grandpa served in World War II under General Patton (no relation).

Grandpa's old gardening hat.

You will be missed!

Patton Family Reunion 2011

We the Patton Family Reunion during the 4th of July weekend. We all gathered at my parents house in Georgetown and we had a fabulous time reconnecting! There were families representing Texas, New Mexico, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Thanks for the great time!!! I look forward to the next one!

There were 27 of us total---my grandparents, their 4 children (their spouses), all 9 grandchildren (and their spouses), and the 6 great grand children AND 2 more great grandkids in utero.

Grandpa and Grandma with their 4 Children


Grandpa and Grandma Patton

They had SUCH a wonderful time watching all 4 generations interact with each other!!!

All the great grand children feeding the fish in my parents' pond. I am sure that the fish got more food than they needed that day :)

All the grandchildren.

Manji

Emma and I hunted down Monarch caterpillar eggs this spring. We found an egg on a milkweed plant and waited for it to hatch. We waited...and waited...and waited and nothing happened. I was SOOOOOOOOO disappointed. My friend, Krista brought me a caterpillar to replace my dud egg. We watched the caterpillar eat A LOT and grow and grow and turn into a chrysalis, then turn into a butterfly. Emma named the caterpillar Manji (I don't know where the name came from :) ). I had the best time experiencing the butterfly life cycle with Emma!!! It is definitely one of my favorite memories! We came home to find that Manji had emerged from his chrysalis.

Getting ready to release him/her!!!

Emma is NOT sure she likes holding the Manji!!!

I LOVE this picture!!! She was taking it all in!!!

Sooo sweet! What a great way to start the day!!!

A little unsure again :)

Emma was flapping her arm to teach Manji how to fly.

Now, everytime we see a Monarch she says, "Look, there's Manji!!!"

Easter 2011

We had a great day at Travis' parents' house on Friday (pictures to come, my camera's batteries were dead). The Easter Bunny visited Em in Moulton and she got to hunt for eggs. She had a lot of fun playing with her Grandma and Grandpa.

Then...

Emma and I decided to dye eggs Saturday night. She decided to play with the dye tablets before she put them in the water...resulting in a red and a blue hand :) Em loved seeing the water in the cups change color and was even more excited when we pulled out the eggs and they were another color.
She carefully placed the eggs in her basket, along with the crunchiest carrots and crispiest lettuce she could find. We told her that the Easter Bunny would hide the eggs that we left for him.

Open wide :)

Easter morning...Em came into the hallway to discover that the carrots, lettuce, and eggs were replaced with Easter treats.

Bunny Bear was in her basket...she named him Fluffy.

We decided to hide the eggs inside b/c the sprinkler system watered the grass early Sunday morning and we thought that it may be too wet and a bit muddy for an egg hunt.

The Easter Bunny also brought Emma a painting book.
And stickers...

I was making some mashed potatoes and realized that Emma was a bit too quiet in her room. This is why...

She transferred all of the stickers to her right leg and toes.


We went to have lunch at my parents' house. We also had an egg hunt for the girls. Mia was really sweet and left many eggs on the ground for Emma to find.

Emma LOVED looking in the eggs to find her prize.

We had to bribe Emma with Jelly Beans to take a family picture. If you look closely, you can see the chewed up rainbow in her mouth :)

I love these girls!!! We are looking forward to Mia's little brother joining them in August!

I can't remember when we last had our picture taken as an entire family. We were surprised that we were able to get a picture with everybody looking and all eyes open :)

Precious pumpkin...worn out after a long day!

But not too tired to play dress up...

first as a cowgirl...

then as a princess. The girls pulled out Camie's old prom dresses for a fashion show.

Emma needed A LOT of clothes pins to hold that dress up.