SURPRISE!

We had a little surprise for the kids last week....check it out.



41 days and counting :)

Hello? Is anybody there?

I have been a bad blogger lately....just caught up in every day summer life. No routine=no blogging, apparently.

Since I last blogged we have had lots of fun....visits from family, another trip, movies, swimming, play dates, etc. We are having a great summer, which is winding down all together too soon. I figured out the other day that we had just 35 days until school started. Since then, I have been back in organizational/get-it-together mode. School uniforms have been ordered, school shoes purchased, back packs bought and dropped off to be monogrammed, closets organized, etc. I still have a long way to go considering that my goal is organizational perfection for our home before school starts, but we are headed in the right direction. Along the way, I am remembering that it is actually still summer and we should still be enjoying it. As I type, my sweet nephews are cozily tucked in upstairs with my kiddos...I love summer sleepovers :)!

Tomorrow we will headed to the lake with some friends for the weekend. Praying for a safe and fun time....

GREAT Fun!!

We had the pleasure of spending the weekend with wonderful family and friends at the new Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. While the place was nice, it was really the people we were blessed to be with that made it so much fun!!

First up...Alex gives you a tour of the cool Kid Kamp room we stayed in...




Going in through a window is always more fun than using the door.



My nephews, Will and Eli, spent a little time playing in our room...




Eli is getting his groove on :)

Uncle Chris also assisted the boys in standing on the window ledge...

Will's face is saying, "Please don't tell my Daddy I stood in the window...he definitely would not approve!"

God is so good!! On this trip He gave Anna a special friend. Our families have a long history together and it was neat for the girls to begin a friendship that will last a lifetime. Anna and Averee had fun at the Kids Spa...Scoops. And, no, they are definitely not spoiled in any way ;)!

They look so serious and grown up...old pros at being pampered. But wait...

I guess the seriousness wore off pretty quickly...back to being fun little girls, just like they should be.

We also had fun in the arcade...Kids just love to spend money to win tickets so that they can "buy" dollar store type toys. Can someone explain the thrill to me?

The girls contemplate their next move on Deal or No Deal. Averee was a PRO at this game !!

Anna says, "Tickets make me smile!" :)

The process of picking out what you want to buy with your tickets is really grueling. It is so hard to make that decision, cause once you make it you can't go back ;) Here is Alex contemplating his choices.

And we also enjoyed the food...from the pictures I took, it would appear that Alex REALLY enjoyed the food :)
Even Molly had fun!!! She is such a trooper and just goes with the flow. God knew what he was doing when He sent her...she's just perfect :) (NO, I am not a biased Aunt)

Uncle Chris created an impromptu Limbo game on the pool patio one night, the kids thought it was GREAT!!

For those of you wondering, the hotel was also very pretty and the Waterpark was a blast!

This is where story time is held in the evenings...Will and Eli particularly enjoyed meeting Wiley the Wolf.

All in all, we had a WONDERFUL time. I love being able to spend focused time with my family and friends.

Lissa

My baby turns 6

I can hardly believe that Alex is 6 years old today....the time has literally flown by. He is my baby and, as he reminded me today, he will always be. I am so thankful and blessed to be his Mommy.

He was SUPER excited about his "outside-swimming-StarWars" birthday party. Last year he had an indoor swimming party and this year he definitely wanted an outside party. So, all plans were set....until we got started setting up and the sky looked like this...


I had people all over the country praying that it would go around our little party ,and I am happy to report that it did!! I am so thankful that God cares about the little details of our lives just as much as the big ones :)

Papa was the only adult to venture into the pool and he had a blast!! So did the kids, he had everyone engaged in a fun game...


The sun ended up shining brightly on Alex today. I think that he was blessed beyond measure!!

Thank you, Jesus, for my sweet baby boy!! ( And, yes Mom, I can baby him as long as I want!!)

Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness is an honorable quality...wouldn't you agree? And, apparently, I have done an excellent job of teaching it to my children. See below.

I am sitting here patting myself on the back, for teaching my children such resourcefulness. :) You see...for today my part-time job is not part-time at all and they are bored and really wish that we had a swimming pool in the back yard. While they would prefer a big, in-ground pool, they would probably also like a kiddie pool. But Daddy thinks those things are just a nuisance and ruin the grass. So, my sweet peas have resorted to using a toy bucket filled with water to entertain themselves. Resourcefulness....don't you just love it?!?

Grumpy

My apologies, but I was a bit grumpy last week. And, thus, there was no blog post. Lots of wonderful things have happened between then and now and I will work on getting them down in writing over the next couple of days....

One thing I know for sure is that SUMMER has officially arrived. The kids slept in until 9 this morning and are busy laying around right now. Ahhh...to be a kid again. :)

This weekend I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with my best friends from childood, Dawn and Lauraleigh. There is something about these friendships that is beyond bliss, it is so effortless while at the same time so meaningful. The ability to just know someone else so well and have them know you is such a blessing. We had a great time!

Man...I need to lose some weight. Maybe that's why I'm grumpy ;)!!

Aunt Mindy

About two weeks ago Aunt Mindy read our blog for the first time and promptly had a pity party. She was most upset to not find any references to herself among the entries. I gently explained that I had only been back in the blogging game for a short time and that, during that time, we had not seen her. And, thus, she was not mentioned in the blog. So, she did what any sane Aunt would do...she dropped everything she was doing and hopped on the next plane to DFW. Well...maybe not the "next" plane but pretty close. The picture below is her showing her excitement about her debut to our blog...

We had a great long weekend, with many highs and one low...

Alex was sick almost all weekend...starting on Saturday morning. He was so sweet and pitiful, all at the same time!

Fortunately, he was able to get some fun in on Friday evening before starting to feel bad...

I absolutely adore that look on his face :)

My beautiful Anna loves the water! Please say a little prayer that I will figure out a good way to keep her pod on, while she swims all summer.

Alex was able to take enjoy some of the benefits of being sick, his favorite is lots of snuggling! Here he is with Daddy....

Here he is with Nan.

Anna and Aunt Mindy working on a school project...maybe Aunt Mindy should move here (hint, hint)

My handsome hubby, I really love that guy!!

Parting shot...practicing photography. I thought this one turned out beautiful.

Have a great week!

Goin' Home

We had the opportunity to spend the some time in the Glen Rose/Granbury area this weekend. It is just amazing to me, but it seems that your whole body just heaves a big sigh as you drive into town...the pace of life feels so much slower. Although the weekend was busy and tiring, it was wonderful to go back and reminisce about our lives there. I love things that give me a different perspective on the day-to-day grind. I can still vividly remember living here and then moving there. I can remember just how everything felt....like I had been transported to a different place and time. It was divine for our family....it was right....it was what we needed. It was an amazing place to spend my high school years. All the "things" that I needed here in order to be popular did not mean anything there, anyone could do anything or be anything. There was no social order, no defined groups.....I was able to be friends with everyone. As I sit here, I realize that I haven't ever thanked God, like I should, for that time and for the enormous blessing that He gave to our family through that move. It was an amazing time for us as a family...almost ALL of my good memories of my "childhood" happened there. And the best thing of all, of course, was meeting Chris. I am thankful that we have joint memories of the place that meant so much to both of us. I pray today that no matter where we live and raise our children, they will have memories of a carefree time and a place where they felt comfortable, a place they can hold in their hearts.



And now a little picture story :)

Anna and Alex looking oh so cute and happy on the courthouse steps...

Anna really wanting Alex to get out of her picture...she likes to pose....alone.

Uh oh...now he has stepped on her hand....it might look like she is crying about her pod...but in reality it was a hurt hand....take a look at Alex's face....he's thinking "oops, shouldn't have done that."

All is well now...she got a solo shot :)

And so did he!!

But in the end...they really love to be together. It's true, I promise :).