Hallie Mae Howard has finally arrived! We went to the hospital to be induced at 7am on wednesday. She was born at 1:20pm.
Stats:
6lbs 3oz
18.5 inches long

Isn't she beautiful??!!!
We think she looks like mommy!

Coleman was so proud to hold his little sister!

Monroe just pointed at her a few times.

Grandpa thinks she's a cutie!Annie and the girls came to visit. Unfortunately they had to see her from behind the glass!

Emma made Hallie a hat with a pink bow. Sooooo cute!

Brandon's Birthday card from Coleman.

Monroe had a little birthday celebration a few weeks ago. My parents were throwing a party to recognize several people's birthdays in our family so we decided to include Monroe as well. We just did a mini cake and a few presents. My sister made such a cool cake (thanks Lulu) and the gifts were perfect!

Well, here we go with the start of second grade. Cole is very excited to see all of his friends. I know things are changing because when I dropped him off, I gave him a high five instead of a hug. I don't want him to grow up!!!! His teacher seems really nice and loving but also good about giving the kids more responsibilities. We look foreward to seeing what he will learn this year!

Monroe loves his new swing that was given to us by our friends the Buckleys!

Cole turns SEVEN!!!

Cole was very excited to get a skateboard for his birthday!

Cole's last T-Ball Game. They had a pizza party following the game!

Monroe loves walking along all the furniture. He will be walking in no time!

Cole and his friend Aiden

Cole loves to snuggle with his little brother!

Monroe and Great Papa

On June26th, Brandon had the honor of singing at the

Vietnam Moving Memorial Wall. He sang the song that

he co-wrote with Billy Terry, Soldier on the Wall. There

were several events such as a fly over, an old helicopter

and jeep, and the landing of a blackhawk helicopter.

My Dad also performed with the Barbershop Chorus. They sang a patriotic medley along with "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables. They sounded great!

Cole and Grandpa!

This was a helicopter used during Vietnam. We could see where they patched bullet holes. Pretty scary!

Blackhawk helicopter

Monroe sitting in the pilot's seat.

Uncle Neal & the family! Thanks for coming!

Thank you to all of our family and friends that made it out that day. I will put up a video of Brandon performing once I figure out how;)

Monroe likes to stand by me while I'm working on the computer!

Monroe attacking Cole!

For Fathers' Day, we went to my brother's house. The food was awesome (we ate way too much) and it was fun seeing all the family.

Cole's T-Ball game on the 15th:

Monroe decided that he was going to crawl up steps and pull himself up to standing all in one day!

Branson

Well, last weekend we went to Branson. We met Brandon's sister, Rhonda, and her family and stayed for the week. We had a great time! We hung around the condo doing activities, visited old downtown Branson, and took in a few shows. Here are some of the highlights:

GoCarting

Bumperboats

Fish Hatchery

Brown and Rainbow Trout are bread here and then distributed to four major lakes in Missouri.

Artchery at our condo

Mini Golf

Cole, Alli, Bryant, and Kevin went horseback riding also. Aunt Rhonda has the pictures for that excursion!

On the way home we saw a sign similar to a fair attraction to view an Alligator and Crocodile. We were interested to see what this was and thought "why not?" Anyway, it was well worth the two dollars. I know it's hard to see through the metal bars but we could have pet them, we were that close. Pretty creepy!

Monroe liked Alli's goggles!



Monroe stayed awake for all but 30 min. of the drive home.....Cole slept about 5 hours! (Monroe was kicking Cole in the head the whole time, too!!!!;)