Family Weekend!

It seems as if we have been going non-stop since the first week of school and we were so grateful to have a holiday weekend to slow down and enjoy each other. We truly spent the weekend as a family and had a blast! We played games, read books, went to the zoo, wrestled, worshiped God, made cookies, went to the park, rode bikes and more. What a treat!

I'm a Goldfish!

Today was S's first day of preschool! She is a Goldfish! It was so exciting that she has something special just for her. She has been looking forward to this moment for weeks! We are so excited about what this year has to offer her; opportunity to learn more about the Lord, work on her educational skills, help her adjust to life without her sister at home and most importantly work on her speech. What a blessing for the Lord! Please keep her in your prayers as the year goes on!

Watch out world here I come!

Super Star Student!

Going with us in the car! He has to be safe, too!

E is really enjoying Kindergarten. Everyday we come home from school we open her folder to see if she received a smiley face stamp for her behavior that. If they get a smiley face all week then they get to chose a treasure from the treasure box. She really looks forward to sharing with us how well she behaved.

Her classroom has a special bear which the class named Charley; and the bear chooses a student to go home with for the weekend. The decision is based on the student who had the best behavior that week. Charley chose E to be the first Super Star Student of the year! Wow, what a honor.

So Charley enjoyed the weekend with us. He went to soccer practice, out to dinner, a friend's house, church and more. She completed a poster to share with her class. It was a poster all about her. Her favorites and special facts about her. It was darling! She told me what to write and I put exactly what she said. Oh, it was cute. Then she had a journal she wrote in about her adventures with Charley and a camera to take pictures. Super cute! What a special treat! Way to go E! You are an excellent example for other and the hands and feet of Christ! We are so proud of you!

Meet the teacher

So exciting! S is going to preschool! We are so excited for her! We prayed so long and hard about sending her and the Lord has encouraged us the good this will be for her. We met S's preschool teacher last week and she is the Goldfish Classroom. She is super excited and can't wait for Tuesday! My battery died so I didn't get many pictures!

This was a Big Week...

Our oldest daughter E had the most amazing week! Her first soccer practice & game, Kindergarten, Awana's Bible Club, her 5th Birthday & Cinderella birthday party! It was crazy busy but a great week! I will let the pictures speak for them self...if I don't I will not be able to stop crying. They are tears of joy, but nonetheless they are tears. A great week...a hard week! Praise God it is over! Now S starts preschool next week...oh my I get to do this all over again! Lord, help me! I need Your strength!

Sisters saying goodbye...I'm going to miss you!

Her cubbie!
Ready to go!

Precious moments!

Have a great day and my silent prayer "God take good care of her!"

Fun dress-up from Aunt Jenn and Uncle Jeff!

Mommy and the birthday girl!

Wow...I'm 5!

Birthday Dinner with family!

My American Doll; she name her Twinkles!

She got a matching dress for her and Twinkles!

Scoring her 1st Goal...she made 5 total!

It was so fun! We were so proud of her!

Look at that form...future Mia Hamm

Prince Charming and Cinderella (yes-she has brown hair)

The Cast of Cinderella with the Birthday Girl and friends!

Waiting for Cinderella to start!

Birthday Party at the Theatre!

A Blur....

Oh my goodness this summer honestly was a blur. What went from being a low key summer to a tornado! I honestly don't know what happened from July 10- August 3! I am still recovering...it was that much fun! In a nut shell our summer consisted of: Hubby getting a new job, Girls riding horses, Swimming, Hubby and I weekend away to Colorado Springs, Road Trip to Texas, Beth Moore Conference, Spending time together as a family, Cousins Cheri & Bella came for a visit, Getting ready for Kindergarten and our devotion to God was mixed in all Summer long!

Crazy Sisters!

Sweet Sisters!

My Cousin Cheri came for a visit from California and it was a treasure of a time. She brought her 3 month old baby, Bella, who is just precious and totally reminded me of E when she was a little one! We decorated the loft, went shopping, took her to our church and enjoyed eating yummy food!

The girls with Cousin Cheri
The girls with Bella (cousin)
Oh, can I have one?

Sweet girls

Look dad we need a little sister or brother :)



These are our sweet friends from Austin kiddos! The precious and have one on the way...a boy!

S, Addie, E & Emma

We stayed with Pops & Shervin when went to San Antonio and saw a ton of family! My cousins that live in Austin drove down for a yummy Kabob dinner! We were able to tell stories about Mom and Grandma and their parents, too. It was great fun to watch our children play together and have so much fun.

Steve blowing out his birthday Pie


Maggie reading a book to the girls

Cousins
S, Mary Jewel, Zada & E swimming!

Getting spoiled by the chef!

The Lord blessed him with a wonderful new position at CHS and he is looking forward to teaching in the classroom and assisting basketball and golf. Honestly, the Lord is really stretching him and changing his career. Hubby has to wear a shirt and tie to teach in. Seems a little crazy- especially for the culture around here. His school is brand new and AMAZING! He thought AHA last year was cool..no way this compares. It is like a small college! The shower tile in the coaches shower even shows a lighting bolt when it gets wet. Very cool!

Hubby and I traveled to Colorado, Springs for a conference and a little get away! The girl's had a blast staying with the Pastor's family again! Karen is a gem and a huge blessing! She loves on them just like I do. It is always great to have someone like that watching your kids when you leave them. We enjoyed some site seeing and early celebration of our 11th Wedding Anniversary! We saw Harry Potter and ate at one of our favorite BBQ restaurants Famous Dave's! Totally disappointed in the movie compared to the book. The book was incredible! That's ok it was a movie after all. We enjoyed a tour at the Olympic Training Center and just missed Michael Phelps. We climbed and walked the trails at the Garden of the Gods! It was so fun, we were almost like kids trying to see who could get to the highest point. Of course, hubby won! I am deathly afraid of heights. I did challenge myself but only a little. Both hubby and I were making new memories; the last time I was there I was with my mom and the last time he was there was with his family. All he could say was I remember Buzz (his brother) saying, "I'm so embarrassed." Now we have a sweet memory of us! We also made it to the Air Force Academy. That was incredible. We enjoyed reading all about the training and what happens at school. Hubby is a big fan of their basketball program but we could not go in the gym. We did see the Chapel, which was beautiful. We purchased several books from Focus on the Family bookstore, too! We really packed a lot in to our 4 day weekend. We enjoyed our conference, too. That was the whole reason we went.

The Chapel at Air Force Academy

You can't tell but I am really high up there...it was fun but scary!

Garden of the Gods

Olympic Training Facility

I attended the Beth Moore Conference and that was truly uplifting. Now I am really looking forward to the Women of Faith Conference! Hope we can make it work! I am thinking girls weekend!!!

The girls attended VBS with all their buddies! It was awesome to see their faith grow. Especially, S! Her prayers changed and she has fallen in a little more in love with God. Jana Alyra, Children's Christian Artist, ended VBS with a concert and the girls loved it! God has really given her a gift and I know our family has benefited from it. The girls favorite songs are: Jesus is the Light, He is God and Treasure Quest. It is fun to worship God with them!

Our road trip to Texas was total spur of the moment! We decided if we wanted to go on a family vacation we better go quick because we were running out of town. We packed up and headed out to San Antonio, Tx. We had a great visit with family and enjoyed seeing extended family from Austin, too. My cousins Steve & Tonya, their kids Mary Jewel & Zada and Steve's brother, David. We also got to see some of our dear friends and their kids that we went to church with we lived their 9 years ago! It was great to catch up and hear about their life! We enjoyed swimming everyday in the pool...the very pool I grew up in. It was so awesome to watch the girls advance to the next level of swimming in the same pool I did. E swam the entire length of the pool and figured out how to float. S started jumping in the pool without holding your hands and going under water. She also started skimming the water. It was very cool! The other neat thing was my Dad opened up a deli. I grew up with him in the restaurant business. One day we went to eat at the deli and the girls were running through the kitchen and getting spoiled by the chef...that was ME when I was a little girl! It was awesome to see some of my same experiences being lived out through them. It was also weird!

What an awesome summer! Thank you GOD!!!!