Last week in pictures - creativity, Lowe's Build & Grow Workshop & the Zoo

Here is Noah all ready to be creative and build and something. His finished project is the "monkey" that you see. He also made a "penguin" out of a Cheerios box.

We had a great time at the zoo last Friday. We went with one of Brian's cousins and her two girls. Noah has been waiting too long to see the penguins and he finally was rewarded with some very energetic penguins on our trip. Camden talked all about the monkeys, but when we finally made it over to that area, he has lost his enthusiasm. They both loved playing in the stream and floating rocks down the water.






Brian took both boys to the Build & Grow workshop on Saturday in between birthday parties and picked up the project to make. Later that afternoon, they built their own toolboxes. Each one hammered it together by themselves, then they sanded it and put on the stickers. I am so proud of my "Mr. Fix-It" guys.










More zoo pictures.











This past week, I have been working on pre-school crafts for VBS. VBS starts today and we are so excited. Wa-Hoo!!!! This will be a busy week for us, but I know it will be well worth it!

3 Posts Ahead- Beware!

This is what Brian found when he opened the Peanut Butter today.



A smiley face inside the lid. No we didn't draw it, it was like that when he opened it up.

Water, Water and More Water

This past week was spent mostly in the water at various places around town. Tuesday, we went to Hawaiian Falls for the first time this summer. Noah and Camden were both afraid of the giant bucket that dumps water on you in the kiddie area, so we spent very little time there. Camden's favorite place to be was in the wave pool. He loved bouncing in the waves and diving into them as they came crashing toward him. Noah was tall enough to ride one of the water slides this year and it turned out to be his favorite thing to do. This ride proved to Mommy that she is no spring-chicken anymore. After only one trip down, she has a pulled muscle and a pinch nerve in her back/arm that are very painful almost a week later. We loved Hawaiian Falls so much that we ventured back there again on Saturday.

Thursday we headed to McKinney's Stonebridge Ranch Beach Club. We met up with several of Brian's cousins and had a wonderful afternoon. Here are some pics from last week.

Playing Dress Up

As a child, I don't remember playing dress-up that much. I am sure I did, it just wasn't very memorable to me... except when I dressed up like Olivia Newton-John from Grease. Now, I will never forget that.

Since dressing-up wasn't high on my priority list as a child and now that I have two boys, I just assumed that it wouldn't be that big of a deal to them either. This past week they wanted to dress up like Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi and Jabba the Hut!(gracie) from Star Wars. Here is what we had to work with... pathetic isn't it?

Mr. Fix-It

Brian has been busy this summer doing Handy-Man work. He enjoys helping people who are "Handy-challenged". He has always been creative and this carries over into the work he has done.

This week it seems that our house was the "Handy-challenged" home. The old saying when it rains it pours fit right in over here. During this last round of rain about 2 weeks ago, we discovered a small waterfall coming down our front bathroom wall. A roofer was consulted and we found that the roof is in great condition, we just needed to "touch-up" the valleys periodically. Brian did the roof repair and we waited to see if it would leak again. Things were good to go on the roof so the process of taking down wallpaper and sheet rock began. That is one dirty job! The new sheet rock has been installed, and Brian will begin texturing and painting shortly... or maybe not just yet!

You see, here is where that saying comes into play. It is inevitable that when you have one project going something else comes up. This past week our doorbell decided to quit working. The same day the toilet broke and the air conditioner went out. Could it get even better, oh yes! Now our phone is not working either. Someone please tell me how you are supposed to contact the phone company for repair when you don't have a home phone or a cell phone!!!! Well, we put our brains together and used email. Thank goodness that hasn't stopped working!

Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud...

It is so wonderful to have a husband who can fix things! Thank you honey!!!

Clubhouse for Kids face painting

The kids have been begging to go to the pool everyday since summer started, but with all the rain it has been difficult to get there.

Tuesday around 4 pm we started to the pool. When we arrived it was thundering and the outdoor pool was being closed, so we decided to head inside to the indoor pool. It was the perfect time to go, it wasn't crowded because most folks were headed home before the rain storm or for dinner. We stepped into the pool and Noah and Brian swam off. Camden who can kick his feet and move his arms, but hasn't put the two together, just dove in and started swimming to our amazement. Apparently, he has been watching Noah and decided he could do it too. Swimming in the pool just took on another dimension with both kids able to swim on their own. After awhile, we started to hear thunder outside and then the lights went out. That was a pretty cool experience being in the pool in total darkness. The emergency lights came on and we all got out of the pool. As we waited for the lights to come on the rain started to fall outside HARD! We finally decided we should head home, but the rain was not letting up instead it was pounding harder and the lighting was intense. We made a run for the car and made it safely. The 1/2 mile drive home was an adventure. The rain which had only been falling for about 1/2 hour had already puddled on the road up to the curb. People were pulling into parking lots for safety, and the rain was falling so fast it made it almost impossible to see. We made it home safely but were a bit shaken up.

Yesterday, the boys and I visited the outdoor pool. What a beautiful day to spend outside in the water. We also went to a park near Noah's new Elementary school. We liked it so much we went back this morning. While at the park today, I found $30 laying on the ground. What a lucky find!!! With the rain expected this afternoon, we are headed to Clubhouse for Kids. Always good for an afternoon of fun.

What's New? That should be the title for this post, but blogger is not allowing me to click in that little section...sigh:)

We tried not to let one rainy day after another keep us in the house. We took the boys along with my dad to see Ratatouille. It was an entertaining but okay movie for me. I have been spoiled by "Cars" for so long now that it will take something really good from Pixar to win me over.

I met up with a friend one morning and took the kids to Animal House Parties for some play time. They LOVED running crazy, climbing, sliding and just wearing themselves out! After play time, we hit Snuffer's for lunch and enjoyed every bite.

The whole family traveled south to have lunch with Aunt Tish at Bubba's Chicken. Wow, that is a mouth watering experience every time I go! If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

The boys got desperately needed haircuts by a professional this time. Daisy, the stylist laughed when she saw my attempt at haircutting. Here are the before and after shots.





Now, these two don't look anything alike or like their dad, do they?:)

Daddy spent a day with the kids while I went to work last week. I came home to find an elaborate tent maze in the living room. Dad's are the coolest!


The last day and a half I have been trying to see just how much smoke one house can be filled with. The answer to that is ALOT!!!!! The oven is finally cleaned and should be back in working order.

I also took on a new role in our church's VBS this year. I am doing Pre-school crafts. Along with smoke, my house is currently filled with projects in various stages scattered through-out and waiting little hands to finish them.



Finally, Brian and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary yesterday. We enjoyed dinner at Gloria's and a movie afterwards. I am so blessed to have spent the last 16 years with a wonderfully loving and patient man. I thank God everyday for you and our children.

All American Fourth of July

That is just what we had, an all American 4th of July. We took the boys to watch the City parade in the morning. We arrived just as the parade started and stayed until the very end.


We then headed out to my parents house to spend the day. We enjoyed Hot dogs, Hamburgers, Corn of the cob, Watermelon, Apple pie and vanilla ice-cream! It doesn't get any more American than that!



After lunch, the boys slid down their fort slide into the pool and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day we were blessed with. They entertained themselves and us with bug sightings and splashing each other.

Next, ALL of the boys, big and small headed over to the fireworks stand and purchased some "boom poppers". Mark and Brian were our designated lighters and we all enjoyed watching our purchases go up in smoke. The boys had a blast and I am sure this will be a tradition we will repeat.

That evening, we drove home and watched the City's fireworks with Uncle Mark and Aunt Tiffany. We picked a new spot this year to see the fireworks and were rewarded with a great view!

MRI Results

Yesterday we heard back from the Doctor regarding Camden's MRI. The MRI did not show the lump at all due to Camden being a "little person" and not getting as many "slices" to look at as an adults MRI would.

We still don't know what the lump is and maybe never will. The tissue and pathology surrounding the area appears normal and benign. His x-ray was also normal and with both of these pieces of information we will just watch and see if anything changes. He would like to see him back in 2-3 months for a follow-up and in the mean time we just look for any signs of pain, favoring his leg or growth.

Thank you for all of your prayers. God is good and we trust him and will follow his will.

My New Adventure

I did it!! I graduated from Cake Decorating class! This summer I had decided that I was going to take time and do something for myself, so I enrolled in course I of cake decorating. I enjoyed getting out by myself for a couple of hours each week and of course I had fun making and decorating the cakes. I have decided to go on and complete course II this next month and expand my decorating abilities.

Without further adieu, here is my very first cake...



Now, everyone has a bad cake and my next cake would "fall" into that category.


By the end of the night, my clowns who were sitting up just gave up and layed down! The rest of the cake gave up much earlier when it decided to slide to the right... right off the cake board!

And finally, I redeemed myself with the final cake...


I am proud of myself for going outside my comfort zone and trying something new. I had so much fun and am looking forward to making lots of cakes!

Baseball and Dinosaurs

This weekend we watched Noah play 2 baseball games. The kids have really come a long way since the beginning of the season. Most of the kids are now hitting pitches the coach is throwing, including Noah. They are also making plays on the field as well. Noah stopped the ball and tagged two runners out in his game on Sunday. He was so excited!

I took the boys to Fair Park on Saturday for a birthday party at The Museum of Natural History. What a neat place to have a birthday party. It is more geared for kids Noah's age and older but Camden was just as fascinated with the dinosaurs. All the kids were given a "dinosaur egg" that they had to open with a hammer. Inside they found a plastic dinosaur for each of them to keep. Included in the party was a free pass to spend the rest of the day at the museum.

Brian attended his family reunion on Saturday while the kids and I were at the museum. We are sorry we missed seeing everyone and all the good food! We will be there next year for sure.

This week looks to be a little slower pace for us which is good. We are all in need of a little down-time.

Family Get-Away

Gracie was so excited to go for a car ride! After about 15 mins. she had that "Are we there yet?" look.


Getting ready for a boat ride.


Swimming in the middle of the lake!



Caddo River Bayou boat ride, Alligator just up ahead!


Looking for the Alligator.


We enjoyed getting away for a few days this week and camping in East Texas at the lake house. We spent one night in the tent and realized that the middle of June is probably past the prime-tent-camping period in Texas. We went to sleep just drenched with sweat and didn't begin to cool down until about 3:00 a.m. Thank goodness we were at the lake house and were able to stretch an extension cord down to the tent and set up a fan to make the still night air move just a little bit. The second night a strong storm moved in and after checking to see how water-tight our tent wasn't we stayed in the house in the air-conditioning!

Peggy, the boys and I took a bayou boat ride on the Caddo river and enjoyed seeing God's beauty. We even had the privilege of seeing an alligator just ahead of our boat. He quickly swam below and was not seen again. He was pretty good size at about 6 feet long.

We all had fun swimming and cooling off in the lake. There were very few people on the lake during week and it felt like we had it all to ourselves. The neighbors gave the boys a small inflatable boat with an oar and they had a blast rowing their boat and then falling out of it into the water. We took Gracie down with us and she loved being in the water as well. Brian and I enjoyed taking another turn this summer at skiing and the boys found that they enjoyed jumping off the pontoon boat into the middle of the lake and swimming around.

Our trip was too short and we look forward to doing it again real soon.

Full Father's Day weekend

I have absolutely no pictures to show for our jam-packed weekend. We took the camera everywhere we went, we just never used it.

Saturday, after Camden attended a birthday party and Noah's baseball game was cancelled due to rain, yet again... we drove to a friends lake house to get away. The kids had more fun riding Wave Runners really FAST with Daddy. Brian even took them through a slalom course on the wave runner, weaving in and out of the buoys. The whole family also enjoyed getting out on the lake and watching Mom ski and Dad slalom. It has been several years since I last skied and my body is still telling me about it 2 days later. I have muscles that I never knew about that hurt! It also made me wish we still had our boat and longed for the day when we will have one again. The boys also showed they were fearless by sliding down a water slide from the second story deck of the dock with a 10 foot drop to the water. They LOVED it!!! We had a wonderful time relaxing in the evening after the kids went to bed, sipping Sangria and just hanging out.

Sunday, the rain came and kept us indoors. After lunch, we headed home and then to my parents house to spend Father's Day. The afternoon turned out to be a beautiful day to spend outdoors playing with the kiddos. They rode big-wheels through mud puddles, went to jail for breaking the law (all in fun), threw a Frisbee and ran through Nana's flowers. We had a home-made Mexican dinner per the Father's wishes, complete with home-made Spanish rice and Flan. Yum!

Today was spent doing laundry and getting ready for this next weeks adventure. We hope you have a great week!

Camden's MRI

Camden coming out of sedation.
Camden, doing good and just a little bit more awake.
Here is our Rock-Star leaving the hospital.

Camden had his first MRI today with sedation. Last night we explained that he couldn't eat breakfast or lunch today until after he had some cool pictures taken of his knee. To make the experience a bit more fun we decided to eat breakfast last night at 10:00 p.m. Camden is such a trooper, not once today before his test did he ever ask for food or even mention that he was hungry. He is one of the strongest kids I know!

He also did great with the sedation and insertion of his I.V. Once again, there were no tears and he was very brave through it all. I was allowed in the MRI room until he fell asleep and was able to witness just how fast the right medicine can knock you out. One minute he was full of pep and the next second the Dr. is saying "he will get the wiggles" and then Camden started to wiggle forward. The Dr. then said "he will yawn" and then Camden took a big yawn. The Dr. then said "he will go to sleep" and true to form, he fell right to sleep in my arms! The test took about 45 minutes and we were told Camden woke up "fighting". Once he was taken back to the recovery room (the pictures above) we got to witness what he will be like in about 15 years drunk. He was a very hungry boy and after he was released he was treated to his pick... Steak N Shake.

We are very proud of Camden and how he took all of the unknown and scary experiences today in stride. We will have to wait at least a week for the results. I will update when I hear.

Thank you for your prayers today!

Camden's Knee

Camden's MRI is scheduled for Friday around 1:00 p.m. We would covet your prayers. We will not have any results for at least a week.

How time flies

The boys are in week 2 of swim lessons and loving every minute of it. I heard them talking today about how much FUN they are having, and that is what it is all about! I no longer worry as much when we go to pool about watching Noah every minute. It is also getting easier now that Camden is a year older. He has caught on to diving under water and retrieving things and has even swum a few strokes by himself. It is so much more fun to play with them in the pool than to shadow them everywhere they go.

Noah is about half-way through with his baseball season. He is on a team that is Modified-Coach Pitch, meaning the coach throws 4 balls to hit and if they don't hit one then they get three chances to hit off the tee. The season got off to a rocky start, but seems to have improved some. Noah had his first hit from a coach pitch on Sunday and we were very proud of him. Noah played the Catcher position for the first time the other night and loved it. I'm not sure why, he just stood there and got hit by the ball about 21 times an inning. Oh well, maybe it didn't phase him because he is used to the "brotherly love" he experiences at home. Just kidding!

Camden had his follow-up appointment with the Orthopedic and it was determined that an MRI is needed to find out exactly what the lump in his knee is. We would appreciate your prayers in this situation for protection during his sedation and that the lump will be nothing of significance.

Brian has been busy this week doing "odd jobs" or handy-man work for the L.L.L's. It keeps him busy and gives us a little extra moola.

I went to a very hip, cool little Wine Bistro last Friday night with some blogger friends and new friends. It was tons of fun and I stayed out later than I had in a long time. Thanks Heather for setting that up, lets do it again! (Tutu... if Oahu doesn't have something like this, it would be right up your alley. New business venture, maybe?)

Well, I'm off to do the laundry and attend another baseball game. Tata for now!

I have tried several times to sit down and post about our adventures, but have always gotten sidetracked.

Last week was like a whirlwind around here. It was the first full week that Brian was home and we only stopped to sleep and eat.

I found a great deal for 4 tickets, 4 baseball hats & 4 free Value meals at Mickey D's for $27.50, so we took advantage and went to the Roughriders game. We had great seats, ate a few hot dogs, drank some sodas and had a blast. It was a cool beautiful night to be out and we only had about 5 minutes of a very light rain sprinkle to cool us down even more. The kids got to be up close and personal with the mascot and they enjoyed the Frisbee dog between innings.

Next up was Memorial day. We spent it at my parents house celebrating my brother's birthday. It was a rainy day, but it was time well spent. We played a new game called "Mad Gab" and had a whole lot of fun! Just in case there was any doubt, the girls won, hands down!!!

Noah had his first sleepover last week as well. The pictures above are him packing and walking to the neighbors house. Camden didn't know what to think and missed his brother while he was away. Brian and I got to spend some time with Camden, something that doesn't happen near enough. We had fun playing games, doing puzzles and just cuddling.

The all-time favorite, bowling alley, was a stop on our list last week as well. The boys had more fun bowling and watching the pins fall down. Noah is getting old enough to actually learn the proper way to throw the ball and he picked it up easily. Camden, Mr. independent, just did it his way and had a blast.

We also ventured to the neighborhood pool where the water was just a bit cold. The boys have talked all summer about "when will the pool be open?", and the time had come so we went. I know we will be spending lots of time there this summer.

I can't forget, we tent-camped in the back yard last week also. Always an adventure. Let's just say that the dog was the best camper of the bunch! What time was it that Camden feel asleep? I don't think anyone knows because we were all sound asleep.

Brian and I have had some projects going as well that got completed last week. We trimmed our hedges for the first time in about 4 years. MUCH NEEDED!!! We also, took EVERYTHING out of our garage, cleaned, organized and re-loaded the garage! Wow, that was a lot of work, and my body is still telling me about it. Noah got a cool new ceiling fan in his room and we de-cluttered our kitchen.

I have started a new adventure in my life and will blog about it once I get more fully into it. Sorry for the book, I will try to update more often.