Month: July 2007

Literally, this is copy and pasted from Staci’s blog, just editing a few details (like what I got when we went shopping). She wrote the best summary ever!

“It has come and gone. The First Annual (or maybe more often than annual) Girls Weekend! We had soooooo much fun! It went by way too fast 🙁

Juli Beth, Megan, and I arrived at Suzanne’s house on Friday around 4:00 pm. When Megan arrived…the energy level went up. She bounded into the house like Tigger she was so excited about the weekend!

First on the agenda was food. Suzy went to the store before we got there and bought supplies to make lots of finger foods. LOTS! We had tomato basil pizza, pinwheel calzones, cucumber something on french bread, homemade salsa, homemade guac, 7 layer dip, chips, candy, and a yummy cookie dough dip (you dip vanilla wafers in it). We made WAY too much food for FOUR girls! lol. We had fun making it and eating it though 😉

After dinner we gather in the living room for a devotional. This was probably my favorite part of the entire weekend. We spent over 2 hours singing praises to God, reading his Word, sharing, and praying together. Our common love for Christ what brought us together as friends over 2 decades ago…and it’s what still ties us together. Here’s Juli Beth and Megan getting ready for our devo.

After the devo we sat around and talked and laughed until about 1:30 am when we decided to watch a movie. Suzanne made a pallet on the floor and we were all excited to have a slumber party all night long! Then we laid down. We suddenly realized that we’re not teenagers anymore. We all started talking about how much our bodies would ache if we slept on the floor all night! I warned them that I’d be asleep within minutes of the movie starting since it was so late. Within 30 minutes we’d all moved from the floor to the nice comfy beds 🙂

Saturday morning Suzy made us breakfast burritos and then we sat around talking until about 10:30 when we decided to get dressed and go shopping. Here’s Megan, Juli Beth, Staci, & Suzanne ready to shop!

For lunch we stopped at Falcone’s for pizza. It was YUMMY! It was also a GREAT deal! They messed up when they were serving the pizza and gave me 2 pieces of pizza for the price of one since the 2nd piece fell onto my plate. Ok?! So Megan and I split the meal costing us a little over $2 a piece! That’s a deal!

We spent the rest of the afternoon tiring ourselves out with shopping. I had great shopping success-I got 4 shirts and a pair of capris. It was so fun actually taking time to browse and try stuff on.

We went to a restaurant called Interurban for dinner. It was fun to sit there and talk (some more) before Juli Beth had to leave. Wade was leaving for church camp on Sunday, so she had to go home to get him ready and take him to camp. We were sad to see her leave…but you better believe we got one more group picture before she left (We took over 100 pics this weekend…most of them were group shots from funny angles!).

After JB left…Suzy, Megan and I went to Bricktown to walk around and eat dessert. When we parked in the parking garage we looked over the edge to see a baseball game in progress! The breeze was blowing thru the garage and it was a beautiful night. We stood there and watched the game for awhile (until Megan complained enough of her uneasiness of heights).

We stopped at a restaurant (don’t remember what it was) for dessert. We stopped there because of the guitar player/singer on their patio. He was awesome! I think his name was Aaron Newman. After dessert we headed back to Suzy’s house (singing praise songs the whole way).

Sunday morning, we parted ways. I headed to the airport while everyone else headed to church and eventually home. It was a fantastic weekend-lots of memories and lots of laughs. I can’t wait until our next get together!

We got back yesterday from San Antonio. We had such a good time! It was exhausting, but so, so fun. I think once you have kids, you just get used to the fact that you usually come home from vacation more tired than when you left.

Here are some pictures from our time at Sea World.

First roller coaster of the day. We arrived at the park late Sunday afternoon, and we immediately rode this ride. The kids loved it!

This was the photo spot for the Texas Splashdown. The kids LOVED this ride. It was Connor’s favorite, as you can see by his face.

This was C’s reaction to the water ski show. He loved that show! I mean, what’s not to love? People doing flips on water ski’s? I think that’s cool too!

Derek and Logan after enjoying an ice cream cone. Right after this picture, a huge storm rolled in. We took refuge at the sea lion show, which was eventually canceled because of lightening.

Happy mama and dad.

Our one and only family picture, taken while we were waiting to see if the sea lion show would start.

Happy Wednesday!

Fun with Annalee.

Fun at NASA.

Fun at the Kemah Boardwalk.

Fun petting the stingrays in Kemah.

Not pictured:
The kids riding all the rides at Kemah. Derek and Ryan riding the Inverter. Me riding Pharaoh’s Fury four times. Connor riding Pharaoh’s Fury and not really liking it. It made him want to vomit…thank goodness he didn’t! Eating at the super cool Aquarium Restaurant. Watching fireworks. The kids crashed out in the car on our way home at 11:15.
It was a great day!

It’s finally here. The end of July. I have been looking forward to the weeks ahead all summer long!

Tomorrow, Annalee is coming over for a playdate. I cannot wait. Once upon a time, we went to ACU together and then I got married and moved far, far away. A.L. sent me the sweetest birthday package ever. It included the most priceless video ever of her family and our friends. And also a shirt that says “HBBFFAEAEAE” on the front and “ILY” on the back. We had a thing for talking in initials. I still have this shirt, and I probably always will.

Then, on Thursday, our friends Ryan and Maggie arrive! Can’t wait to see them and their cutie pie kids. On Sunday, we head to Sea World. I haven’t been to Sea World since I was 15. I might just be more excited about this than the kids are. I guess that’s actually a tough call, because when I told Connor about Maisy coming to see him and Sea World, he let loose with the most excited squeal I have ever heard.

The following weekend is the long awaited GIRLS WEEKEND! It is going to be chock full of fun and I absolutely cannot wait to see everyone!

After that, Patrick and Noel are coming to Houston. I can’t wait to spend time with them. They are two of my favorite people in the whole world.

This summer is going by crazy fast.
The next few weeks are going to be amazing! I am sure there will be lots of stories and pictures to come.

If there was any doubt before, let’s just be clear now. I am officially the biggest dork ever. Because, yes, I did in fact request that Derek video me on the diving board. Surely RyAnn wasn’t the only one wanting to see my diving board skills, right??

The best part of the evening (besides our trip to Coldstone after swimming), was Derek doing a “cool trick” on the board. I wish so much that I was recording it. Picture it: he runs, jumps with all his might out like he is going to dive. But he grabs his feet so his belly and face are exposed to the water. But, at the last minute, my genius of a husband realized his face was going to hit the water first, and it was not going to be fun. So he tried to abort mission, but wasn’t really successful. Derek did a full on face flop. I am seriously laughing just thinking about it.

And speaking of cool…

I know, I know. You are probably all wishing I would just shut up about Connor swimming and jumping off the diving board bit! But I am seriously so proud of him! No swimming lessons, just lots of hours at the pool. Weeks and weeks of encouraging and trying and practicing and now he is unstoppable. I already loved taking the kids to the pool, but now my love of the pool is at a whole new level. I am sure the other parents think I am crazy because I jump off the board as much as Connor does! Whatever-I say all mom’s need some fun in their life! Hey moms. Next time you are at the pool, I dare you to jump off the diving board, join in a game of sharks and minnows, or maybe just have a swimming race. (D and I raced tonight, and for the record, I totally kicked his butt!) I think grown ups forget how fun the pool can be, and I am determined to never forget!

So here are two videos from tonight. Derek taught Connor how to dive tonight. Well, tried to teach him. He did a pretty good job for his first time!

I love going off the diving board. I love to dive and flip and just jump real high. It takes me right back to being a kid. My favorite dive is where I dive in, but over-rotate a little and once I’m in the water, I flip over. It makes me dizzy and then I just float to the top. It’s so fun!

So all summer, we have been working on Connor’s swimming skills. In May, he couldn’t swim at all without his floaties. We finally convinced him to take off his floaties in water where he could reach the bottom. Slowly and surely, he built up his confidence, jumping off the side and swimming farther and farther on his own. For the past month, I felt confident that he could go off the diving board. They don’t allow floaties or goggles, so it’s a petty big step for the C-Man. Every time we swam, I would ask if today was the day for the diving board. And every time his answer was no. Yesterday, my boy conquered the diving board! I was seriously so proud of him. In typical Connor style, he had to decide all on his own that he was ready. And now there is no stopping him! He jumped and jumped and jumped. We went swimming again today, and he spent nearly the whole time in the deep end, just like a big kid. I am so proud of him. He is growing up way too fast!

Yesterday, Logan was busy playing with the NASA rescue truck, and Connor decided that he really wanted to play with it. I was so proud as I heard him ask so sweetly, “Logan, when your done with that truck, can I have a turn?” instead of just yanking it out of his hand or crying that he was “about” to play with it. Logan responded “otay”, to which Connor replied, “Okay, I will just count to one one time and then it will be my turn.”
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We put Logan to bed in Connor’s room last night. Derek’s sister is coming to visit this weekend, and since Logan’s room is also the guest room, he and Connor get to share. I was so happy when I got up this morning and realized that Logan hadn’t come into our room at all! For the past month or so, he has been making frequent visits to us in bed. I always just carry him back, lay down with him for a few minutes, and he is fine. It’s not a huge deal, but it still means our sleep is interrupted every night. I think maybe he just gets lonely at night, but sleeping in big brother’s room is a good fix for that. So I was asking Connor how he slept and if he liked Logan being in there. I explained that I think Logan likes sleeping in there because he gets lonely at night. Connor immediately said, “but, mom, he doesn’t need to get lonely at night. Because Jesus is always with him.” Pure heartmelt for sure.

i love the 4th of July. It’s such a fun, yet still sort of low key holiday. I knew today was going to be a great day when the kids got the memo that it was a holiday and slept in-Logan until after 8:00 and Connor until almost 9:00! Logan had a really weird night-I found him asleep in our doorway at 4:30 this morning, and then Derek heard him dragging a toy out of his closet after 7:00, but he climbed back in bed and went to sleep after that. What a weird kid! Anyway, the kids slept in. Then we proceeded to watch two movies back to back (March of the Penguins and Jumanji), complete with popcorn. We all stayed in our pj’s until noon when we decided to head to Chick-fil-a for lunch a playtime for the kids. Logan spent the afternoon napping, and I made cupcakes with Connor’s help for tonight. We headed over to some friends’ house for a little barbecue party in their awesome yard. But, of course since it had rained all day, it was too wet. But you better believe that they set up their little bounce house in the garage for the kids! They had such a blast. It was quite chaotic (hey, what do you expect with 9 kids under the age of 5…and 8 of them being boys!), but it was really fun. The funniest part of the evening had to be when 3 of the boys decided to all use the same toilet…at the same time…and any of you who have boys know that their aim isn’t always the best! It as one of those things where you don’t want to laugh in front of the kids, but then we all cracked up downstairs afterwards. They all just had to go real bad at the same time. We ended the night with a few fireworks, and then as a bonus we got to enjoy several different shows on the drive home. The icing on the cake will be if the kids get the memo that they are supposed to sleep in after staying up until 10:00! We’ll see how that goes….but something tells me that I shouldn’t be surprised when I hear little footsteps in our room at 7:00…

Hope you all had a great 4th! I know that no post is complete without pictures, but I didn’t take a single one today. I do have some really cute ones of Connor at his first 4th of July. Maybe I will have to dig one of those out and post it tomorrow.

Okay, now it’s Thursday morning, and I do have a picture to share after all. Last night around 10:45, I heard a few little noises, but I kept thinking it was Dallas. After awhile, i decided to get up and investigate the little noises, and I found Connor. Derek and I got such a kick out this! Connor is totally not the type of kid who will fall asleep anywhere at anytime.

The 4th of July can really wear a fellow out!

We woke up to rain this morning. What better way to spend a rainy afternoon than a trip to Target! Connor desperately needed some new sandals (his old ones were so stinky I could smell his feet while standing up!) While browsing the shoe section, I found the cutest rain boots on clearance. I also picked up two new shirts for myself. I haven’t browsed Target clothes in forever and they have some really cute stuff! I won’t bore you with the rest of our day, I will just get right to the point. After dinner, the kids wanted to go find some puddles to splash in with their new boots. Perfect photo op! Here are my faves of the 72 I took. Sometimes I get a little out of control with the camera.

I love Connor’s face in this one.

This one is super cool, if I do say so myself. It was a total accident. I blindly held the camera down low so I could get his face in the shot, but I got this instead. And I totally love it.

PS-RyAnn, Connor remembered that Brock has those same boots and he wants everyone to wear them next time we see you. 🙂