Our Summer Filled with Fun and Family!!

What did you do this summer, you ask?  Well...

I realize that as much as I have posted this summer, not much has been photo memories. So I would like to take a minute and catch up with our fun filled summer. 

1. Laura & Larry Got Hitched!  Our first trip was to Royce City, to Michaels sweet cousin's wedding. It was beautiful, and so much fun!  Arn't they so adorable....?

William had his first dance with this sweet girl!  She and Will have met several times, but this time they seemed to be the best of friends!  I also got to snap a family pic! Yeah!  

All they boy cousins lined up to see the swan and watch the turtles!  From L to R:  Cole 5, Cade 4, Brennan 2, William 6, and Grant 8) They have so much fun together!

We also enjoyed a great end of season with our Tball team!  The Aggies ended up winning the Tball championship! We were all so proud! We also had a fantasic coach and a great end of season party.  A Hooks game and all the fun we could handle! The boys got to stand on the field with the players for the national anthem and the first pitch personally delivered by this coast guard crew!

3.  We played a lot in the water and the mud... We at least before we moved!  What is more fun than getting dirty... I mean really filthy!  Not much, there is just something about being a kid and being covered in mud that screams FUN!!!

4.  Father Palooza!!! At Bay Area Fellowship!  The boys ventured into tanks, police cruisers, tow trucks, swat trucks, ambulaces, and chowed on fajitas and corn on the cob!  Made for a great Father's Day!!

5.  I went on my first ever ladies retreat!  With some fantastic women!  Love you girls!!

6. This is the first summer I had a reader in the house... besides Michael and I,  William entered any and every reading club we came across, and ended up with a family 4-pack of tickets to the Corpus Christi, Hooks.  They didn't have the greatest season, but either way it was a treasure.  William also ended up winning a drawing for a free book and matching board game from our local library, and is now on a 2nd grade reading level... I hope he always keeps his love of reading!

Will, waiting for the game to start!

We also sold our house and moved,  took an unexpected trip to Arkansas, and spent plenty of time swimming in the hotel pools and visiting museums along the way. 

All in all, we spent penty of time together as a family just enjoying each other!

Happy Birthday B!!

Well as of yesterday my baby is officially 2 years old!!!! I can't even believe it! We had a wonderful day of Honoring our Birthday boy!

Brennan, you bring so much life into our home. There is never a boring moment with you around:) We are so blessed that God chose us to be your parents. Brennan, we love you so much!!! ~Mommy and Daddy

Sweet Brennan and his "Melmo Cake" it's lopsided, the icing is crazy and yes there are areas that have no icing at all... However Brennan was elated !! I love the shear joy of birthdays, washes away all concerns of the appearence of the cake. :) Sweet B with his sweet treat! I know in these pictures that it may appear that Brennan is not as joyful as before, however that assuption would be the wrong. Everytime he sees the "red eye reduction" light come on he gives this cheese look. I guess it his BIGGEST smile. haha... Michael and I were rolling at him yesterday which didn't help... but it was so funny. Below: All my boys! Arent they handsome!!Apparently Cade had been coaching Brennan in his best Picture smile... Brennan and his loot!!! He loved the pots and pans, which is no surprise. He is my biggest helper in the kitchen, and I use the term helper, very loosely, but I love it just the same!! :) But today he has not let the red bear at the bottom of the pic out of his sight. It is called a Sing a ma jig, and if you havn't seen one you must! They are halarious, and Brennan loves his new bear!

Fall is in the air... Wait no it's not!

Recently so many things around me have just not felt quite right... and today it hit me what was wrong... It's still summer, and I'm ready to gear up for fall. I'm ready for big crisp apples, warm pumpkin pie, squash bisque (recipe coming soon), and cooler days(even if it is only like 5 degrees). But most of all.. I'm ready for school supplies, and more fun days with the brothers. Which brings me to the next chapter of our life... William is starting Kindergarten this year!

We have officially decided that we are going to be homeschooling! I am excited to start school, but since we have the luxury of starting when we please, we are going to enjoy the rest of our summer, and start the very end of August. Pictures of our curriculum and school room are coming soon, there are still a few things to finish up. And just so you know... I love school supplies, so you might even get some more pictures of markers, spirals, and freshly sharpened pencils. Simply because I'm a nerd!

Hope you all have a great start of school, I know it's coming up entirely to fast! May God watch after everyone on this upcoming school year and I pray we will all go into the world and be beacons of light for Christ!

Catchin' up.

Hello to all our friends and family. Sorry I have been so behind, if you are still even looking at our blog kudos! I have had so many things on my mind to write and can't seem to get them organized enough to make any sense so for now I'm just going to give you our month in review. But please be praying and keep a look out for upcoming posts, on some personal lessons that have touched me and I hope will help make an impact in someone elses life as well.

But for now it is traveling, kids, and family.

August 20th, we left and headed out west... My mom had double knee replacement and we went to be with her through surgery and then to stay and help her through the first couple of weeks. The trip was long and the kids did very little sleeping. I did get this pic, before everyone woke up.

I couldn't believe the bruising my mom had after surgery, but she did great. She is now, 3 weeks post surgery, up walking, driving, going up and down stairs and hardly using her walker at all!!! Great job, mom!!

Michael turned the Big 30 on the 3oth. Happy Birthday sweetheart! He is so silly.

My dad turned the big 60 on the 31st. Happy Birthday Dad!

The boys loved being in the country. They spent 75% of their time outside enjoying the wonderful dry climate and wide open spaces! They spent their days, playing in the dirt...

Catching frogs...

Petting horses... and most important spending time with grandparents.

This is my grandma and grandpa... The boys thought they were wonderful, especially Brennan.

The boys have grown so much, here are a few pics of all the brothers, hanging out in Memaw and Grandad's beautiful yard.







We spent a lot of time with family during out trip. It was so nice to spend time with so many of you...

Memaw and Grandad (my parents) Above

Jason(brother), Ana, Colton, Wesley, and Trey (below)

December, Echo, and Me... Sweet Cousins.

On the way home, the boys and I stoped in Crawford and spent some time with Granny and Papa (Michael's parents) Michael met us there and we had a great time together. It rained pretty much the whole weekend, so Papa let the boys play with the umbrella's in the rain. They had so much fun!

I feel so blessed that I was able to help take care of my mother and serve her in that way. It was also a blessing for me to spend some good time with family we dont see very often. And the boys to see that family as well. But I say all that to also say the boys and I sure missed Michael throught all this time. This was by far the longest we have ever been away from one another, and don't want to do that again any time soon. Well... you are now, for the most part, almost, very close, to being caught up. :)

PS. (TO MY MOM)

Mom, I am so proud of you and the persistance you have shown me through the whole process of your surgery and physical therapy. I know you will continue to have your good days and your bad days but, keep up the great work! Love you!

Out with the OLD, In with the NEW and the shoes

I have several things I have been trying to make habits in my life... kind of New Years Resolutions, I guess you could say.
1. (and the one I struggle with the most) Bible Study. I have never been good at daily Bible study, and about 4 months ago, I found myself getting so discouraged with so many things. I was loosing my temper more with my children, getting frustrated with my husband, becoming stagnant with my housework, and completely disengaged with friends, and my spiritual life was pretty much church on Sundays and even that had become a chore. I decided I had to do something about it, and unfortunately my Bible wasn't the first place I looked. I read parenting book and marriage books, I tried to use my time better and force myself to be happy while doing house work; but of course nothing was helping. One night I started praying and I was led to the Bible; ever since I have been trying to read everyday. Sometimes it happens and sadly sometimes it doesn't. My goal is to wake up before my children, read THE WORD, and get the day off to the right foot. I have been doing this for several months now and I have to say! It completely makes a difference in my day!!!!!!!!!!! I am more patient with my children and it is constantly in my mind what a blessing they are, even when they are throwing fits or arguing over toys. I also find myself being a better and more consistent disciplinarian because I don't feel overwhelmed from the first step out of bed. I am so happy to see Michael and thankful for all he does for our family, and housework is enjoyable to me again. So Out with the old me... the me that was completely focused on ME; and in the with New the me that sees God more clearly and wakes up excited to see His Wonder.

2. Physical Exercise! I have a friend that walks everyday, and I have been going with her. We are trying to be accountability partners for one another. Anyways over the last several weeks we have had several others walking with us. It makes it so much fun. Here are the kids running together, the exercise it so good for them too!

A couple of the mama's.
Here are a couple of fun numbers from our walking group.
1 Newly Wed
4 Mama's
3 double strollers
12 children that come along
3 the average number of potty stops we have to take along the path
countless: the amount of wisdom and joy that falls upon me from being part of this group


Ok so this one isn't a resolution, but it cracks me up. Today we were forced to go shopping for new shoes. William has literally worn the rubber off his shoes. Below are the ratty ol' shoes he has been wearing, I still think they are so cute!
(the spot in the back of the sole is a hole you can stick two whole fingers through)

These are his new shoes... also known as "My Super Hero Shoes" He has been cracking us up running around the house all night. But the funniest part is that they came with a comic book. You have to watch the video about Dr. Stankfoot and Kewl Breeze This isn't really the reason we bought the shoes, but it is one of the silliest marketing concepts I have seen in a long time.


One last picture to leave you smiling. We went to an automatic car wash last week and this is the face Cade made the entire time. He kept saying "uhhh" and "ohhhh" and "wow" and then making this face, like it was to most amazing thing he has ever seen in the world!!

Sooner than Later

I knew that sooner than later my precious, cute, sweet, caring boys will turn into rambunctious, loud, hungry, smelly teenagers.. However I didn't expect it so soon. The other day at lunch Cade leaned to the side and let one rip. He thought it was hysterical. Then he did it again, and again; laughing hysterically after each time. I was proud of Michael because he didn't jump on the opportunity to encourage this behavior or to pat him on the back for his accomplishments; but he did have to excuse himself to go to another room to laugh. Well I guess I'll prepare myself, but I have made Michael promise he will always remember that I'm still a girl and some things should not be done infront of girls...even if it is their mom.

All I see is ORANGE.

I know I know, my page is pretty orange... Why you ask? Well duh! Because it's October, the month of pumpkins, fall leaves, and cool weather; well at least in some parts of the country. I decided that since it is still summer around here and probably will be until January:) That I would try to make my page little less summer and a little more fall. So here is it. :) hehe.

Happy Fall Y'all. :)

Our boys, fall 2007.

All rolled into one

Ok, I only have a short amount of time before Brennan wakes up, so I'm rushing this post and rolling several post into one. Sorry I don't have more time to write, but hey... at least your getting a few pics, right?

Brennan (5 1/2 wks) loves to take naps on this floor pad. Thanks Dad!

His cheeks are growing by the day! :) You know you want to smile! I think they look like they are having the best conversation:)
Yes I do realize it is 90 degrees outside, but while sorting through clothes today, William came across some feet pajamas(his favorite thing to wear) and wanted to put them on so badly! And of course whatever William has, Cade must have also. So here they are in the midst of a mess, happy as larks with their feet pajamas.
So cute!!! William loves his baby brothers!
I took this picture and as I was looking at it I saw the future. Here they are all sitting on the couch together watching Monday Night Football. What a great bonding time! I expect to be taking this same picture in years to come.