What we've been up to

Well, the first of January found us at our local Stock Show.  The kids did really well!  SweetBoy won Grand Champion Lamb and Jr. Showmanship!  (The first one is the structure and build of the lamb that reflects the care of the lamb--feed and exercize.  The second is how well SweetBoy showed the lamb.)  We are very proud of him!  His hard work has paid off.  Then SweetDoll and SweetTate had a turn in the pee-wee showmanship competition, and SweetTate won the trophy!  He was so excited!  SweetDoll was a little disappointed, just a little.  She wanted to try the pee-wee showmanship for the pigs.  I was proud of her for trying something new and being brave enough to get in the ring with those really big pigs!  (Thankfully she didn't win, her first time in the ring with a pig, or we would have never heard the end of it!)

I love this picture of the little ones showing with big brother watching close by, just in case they need some help.  We borrowed a friend's lamb for SweetDoll and SweetTate has our lamb.

The next event in January...my Dad, the kids, and I went to San Antonio to celebrate my Grandmother's birthday.  We had a great visit with family that we don't get to see very often. 

While we were there, my kids asked if we could go to the Alamo.  Our plans included lunch on the RiverWalk, and the Alamo is just around the corner, so we did that too.  Visiting the Alamo with a Texas history teacher.  You just can't beat that!

I think we have a picture of my brother and I with our cousins at this spot 20+ years ago.  Here is the next generation!  Out in the woods behind the house or inside, these kiddos had a blast playing together .  What a blessing cousins are!

We have a neat family and enjoy getting together.  All of Grandma and Granddad's children, one grandchild from each family, and six great-grandchildren got to come.  This trip was odd that only one of us was not blood related (for one reason or another the in-laws couldn't come).  We teased that without our type-a counterparts, we would never get anywhere.  But we did just fine, thank you very much!  We did miss everyone else, but we had a sweet time with those who were there!

January has been full of basketball and meetings and gymnastics...we meet ourselves coming and going.  I'm trying to enjoy these days, but I'm looking forward to February!  The end of January finds us at the last Stock Show for the season for us, and Lightnin will be leaving.  When we come home, I'll probably have three teary kids.  (Pray for me!)  I'll check in soon--the mom paparazzi will be on duty!

Marathon post

The visions of doing a post everyday this week vanished, so here we go! 

• Birthday Boy!  SweetBoy made it to double digits!  I see more and more fingerprints of God on you, and I am so thankful He put you in our family!

• We had a family outing to Palo Duro Canyon.  It is one of my favorite places on earth.  Yes, I've been to the Grand Canyon, and the similarities end with the fact that they are both canyons.  The Grand Canyon is huge and majestic, but Palo Duro is more colorful and tangible.  We enjoyed hiking and a picnic.

• We went to see Toy Story 3.  You would think being a mother of three that I would have been crying at my children's childhood going way too fast.  But no, I cried often and it was triggered by memories of my CareBear Funshine and how lonely she must be up in my closet!  (When we played, she was a girl! Now I think the cartoons have him a boy.)  My brother had Grumpy, and Mom made them both for us.  We played and played with those dolls!  At my grandparents' home where we spent a lot of time in the summer we built a whole world for them--beds, flying cars, a slide, a swingset, a balancing beam...if we could imagine it, Papaw and Mema could help make it happen.  Even as I grew older, when my feelings got hurt, Funshine was the one I wanted to cuddle with for comfort.  I have let my kids see her, and play a little bit, but I was afraid they would tear her up, so she is back in the closet.  But she has been a very trusted and dear friend!  (I had a cute little picture to share, but I can't find it at the moment--maybe later.)
• Continuing the stroll down memory lane...SweetDoll and I went to a day camp at a campground I went to (another favorite place on earth).  I loved camp--everything about it!  Even the green eggs and ham...the cafeteria had green fiberglass skylights, so everything had a green tint to it.  I lived for it every summer!  I went to day camp 1-3rd grade, then all week camp 4-6th grade, sponsor's assistant in 7th grade, then a staffer 8-11th grade.  It is where I fell in love with sign language and met a friend who set me on a path to deaf education.  I've been down that camp road in a church van.  I drove down in my first car, a '79 Toyota Celica, the first weekend I had it and could not get it to go in reverse (it was a stick shift and I didn't have the hang of it yet)!  And now I have driven down that road in a minivan with my daughter.  Talk about coming full circle!  A lot of things have changed, as they should, and we had a great time!  A lady who was my leader at my church and then the camp director when I was a staffer happened to be there.  It made my day!  And it just wouldn't have been camp without her!

• The main event of the summer so far has been my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.  It was a lot of preperation but so totally worth it.  I don't think we could have done anything to please or honor them more.  It was a treat to have all of that side of my family together. 

• Mom and I did a scrapbook that is one of the coolest books I've worked on!  As we worked on it, one of the things that stood out to me was their church friends.  Life-long friendships made stronger in the bond of Christ, they have served together, laughed together, raised their kids together, cried together, grown older together...  There was a picture of several of them (6-8 couples) who went on a mission trip together as young married people with young kids.  All but one couple came to the party and they took another picture together.  More than family, it was their friends who came to the party.  We have been a part of some neat groups in the churches we have been in and I have some life-long friends, but I don't think I will ever experience anything quite like that.
• In preparing for the party, we made cookies (instead of a cake).  I was making a batch of cookies ahead and the plan was to freeze them and then bake them closer to party time.  As I put the cookies on the cookie sheet into the freezer, SweetTate asked me, "Momma, is our oven broken?"  I laughed and reassured him that it was working fine.  We would bake them another day!
• The party landed on the 4th of July weekend, so we got to celebrate with family.  It has been years since we bought fireworks.  We are usually camping or it is too dry to even consider it, but this year we are enjoying lush green yards.  (Ok, lush may be pushing it, but for this part of the country it is lush!)  My brother, my cousins' husband, and SweetHeart went together and got fireworks.  They did a great job!  We had a blast!  I got to play with my camera a little and got some fun pictures of the kids with sparklers.  My brother got one of him writing out his name with a big circle around it.  It was cool!

• Cousins.  Enough said!

• Our favorite baseball team has been doing great!  Then we make plans to go to 2 games and they lose!  Both of them!  But we had a fun time at the hotel swimming pool and watched the fireworks after the game.

I think that catches you up!  Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

What's up

I finally got the pictures off my camera.  I mentioned a few weeks ago, we got to go to my grandparents to visit when my cousin and her kids were there. 

We had such a good time.  I didn't take a lot of pictures, but these are some fun memories:
*  having ice cream in the fancy dishes!
*  hearing the kids play hide and seek
*  playing on and "cleaning" Granddad's saddle
*  playing Fast Track
*  sleeping on the big feather beds
*  We were cleaning up from supper, and Grandma wanted to throw some greasy/soapy water outside.  I opened the door for her and barely stepped out of the way enough.  Granddad is my witness, she tried to throw it on me!  ;)
*  the kids, especially SweetTate, discovering the door bell.  The door bell has chimes at the top of the stairs.  The kids had asked me what they were and I told them, but right before we left, SweetTate was outside and couldn't get in so he rang the doorbell and he heard them!  They asked what that music was and I told them it was the chimes at the top of the stairs.  They ran to the door, pushed the button, and ran up the stairs to check it out.  SweetTate probably did that 15 times, and every time Grandma and Granddad just smiled and enjoyed the kids being there.  It was the same smile they wore the whole time we were there.  "This old house came to life!"  It was a nice reminder to enjoy my kids and worry about fingerprints on brass chimes later!

We also stole away after VBS and between ball games to go to SweetHeart's home town, and see our new nephew!  He is so precious!

All the family got together to celebrate recent and upcoming birthdays, and we took time out to take a picture of the grandkids.  (Yes, I know better than taking it in front of window, but that is where they landed and when you are trying to herd 12 kids, you take what you get!)  :)

Then it was Father's Day.  SweetBoy was visiting grandparents, so he was not here--we'll get him later.  SweetTate was very proud to be wearing a tie like Daddy.  "It's not a working tie, Mom."  Ok, SweetTate, you'll have plenty of time for working ties later!

Swimming lessons started this week for SweetTate and SweetDoll.  She didn't really like to jump off the side of the pool and anytime we swim he is attached to me.  Day 1 and they are already little fish, going off the diving board and down the slide!  By the end of the week they will be able to jump and get to the side of the pool by themselves!  I see camping out in the deep end in my future! 

The Springtime News in Pictures

I'm saving the best for last here, so if you don't have a lot of time, scroll on down.

With Spring comes one of my favorite flowers--bluebonnets.  When we went south for Easter, the bluebonnets were not out yet. I was a little bummed that we wouldn't see any and that we wouldn't get our annual picture.  Then we found some right here!  And they were gorgeous! 

Spring also means baseball at our house.  I have learned to enjoy it.  I even look forward to Opening Day.  (Yes, that is capitalized because it is an official celebrated holiday--at least in our house!)  Little league happens a little differently here, and SweetBoy has moved up a league to kid pitch and that is different.  SweetDoll is still waiting to hear when they start, so for now it is just SweetBoy playing.  He is playing some really good defense and has gotten several hits so far.  Play ball!

So here is the big news.  Two years ago, SweetDoll began to understand what it meant to be a Christian--that God is the only true God, Jesus is God's Son, Jesus took care of our sin on the cross, He rose again, He lives in us, and we will be with Him forever in Heaven one day.  Last week she decided to tell everyone and show that she was a Christian by being baptized.  So this last Sunday, our family came in to celebrate this very special occasion with us.  Our pastor said parents smile and are proud when their babies are born, but it is even more so when they become Christians.  I believe that is true.  One of the sweetest moments was when SweetDoll came back into the sanctuary after being baptized, SweetBoy met her half-way with a big hug--he was pretty proud of her too. (He held her even before I did when she was born, so it was appropriate that he got this first hug!)  We had four generations present and it was a sweet celebration!

After lunch we had a few gifts for SweetDoll.  She gave her brothers hugs for the necklace they gave her.  I missed the first one, but I got these!

Easter 2010

I just finished doing Kelly Minter's Bible study on Ruth.  I learned a lot about the role of a kinsmen redeemer, and it made this Easter special.  Jesus, my Kinsmen Redeemer, fits every requirement in every way.  He is a close relative.  He is able to redeem--more than able!  He is willing to redeem.  Even when I was His enemy, He chose me, and you.  How amazing is that!  And that is why we celebrate Easter.

We went to church with family.

Then it was off to Mamaw's to meet the rest of the family for lunch.  A delicious lunch with ham and fried chicken and all the fixin's...and desserts!  YUM!  The kids were anxious for the fun of the egg hunt and that was next on the agenda.  The big kids hid the eggs this year.  SweetBoy is in that stage where he likes to be one of the big kids, but a cousin he really looks up to said, "When you get to double digits, you can hide them.  This year you still get to hunt."  And that made it ok.  (Thanks, Bud!)

On your marks, get set, GO!

We have three kids and came home with 4 baskets of candy.  How does that happen?!  The confetti eggs are always picked up first.  And always used quickly!

We had a great time with family.

Thanks Mamaw and Meme for a wonderful Easter!

And all too soon it was time to head back home.

Spring Break 2010

What a week!  We spent last weekend with Granny and Papa, and we all met the rest of Granny's family half-way to celebrate Papaw's 82nd birthday!  It was a short trip, but good to visit with that side of the family.

After lunch we went to see Jenni and her family while we were in town.  She had just hosted a slumber party for her girls and then we came!  Thanks, Jen, for your hospitality!  It was great to see them!

Then it was home for school on Monday.  Yes, the decision-makers last year planned a snow-make up day for the Monday of Spring Break.  Evidently they had not used one in a decade and never intended on needing it.  Well, this year we did!  Hopefully that won't happen next year!  ;)  Then it was off to see Meme and Granddad and the rest of SweetHeart's family.  We had a great time, and totally enjoyed the warm sunshine.  I had not really had spring fever until now, but I'm ready for it!  The trees were budding and flowers blooming...and my alergies kicked up! (Not ready for that part of spring!)  Anyway, here are some of the highlights.  Two afternoons we went to have coffee with Mamaw.  It was good to see her.  We met the brothers and their families at the pizza shop for supper.  We had cousin fruit basket turn over.  My kids went to stay the night with them.  One cousin stayed with us.  They had a blast!  SweetBoy enjoyed going to work with Granddad and helped fix a computer or two.

We went fishing with Uncle K and some cousins.  It started out chilly, but warmed up when the sun came out.

SweetDoll caught a fish!

So did SweetBoy!

The next day one of Aunt M's friends was hosting an Easter party and they let us tag along.  The kids had so much fun!  They had a jump house, crafts (including dying Easter eggs--Wow! they were brave!), egg hunt, food, and just plain playing around. 

Then there is our big news of the week...the kids have been wanting a new dog.  OK, I have been too.  I'm ready for all the good, fun parts of having a dog, but not the not-so-fun parts.  Anyway, we had put them off to wait until it was warm outside.  We were looking for a Rat terrier just because that is what we have had before and we like their temperament.  They are not super popular and you don't find them in the paper that often, so we had been keeping an eye out for one because, you know, it is getting warmer now.  While we were visiting hometown, SweetHeart dropped by the vet just to see if maybe there were some posted.  There was one female rat terrier for FREE!  Right dog, right price--yea!  So we called about her and picked her up on our way home!  Let me introduce you to Lucy, our new puppy!

The kids are loving her!  They overwhelm her sometimes!

She will be 8 weeks old next Tuesday.

I'm so glad we waited until it was warm outside!  This is what we came home to...

Thankfully, the kids are still enamored enough to go out with her.  And by Monday, when they are back in school, it will be warm again!  At least until it snows again on Wednesday!  Ugh, hurry up spring!