Going on 6!

Watch out world, this girl is 6!!  Hayden- You are so much fun to be around!  You make me laugh daily and your sweet and sassy are, well mostly, in balance.  You are full of energy and constantly using your mind to be creative and artsy.  You HATE to be embarrassed and would rather be out of the spotlight.  You've never met a stranger and make everyone else feel welcome too.  You challenge me to up my parenting game and still treat you like the princess that you are.  I could not ask for a sweeter Chickaletta :)  Love you baby girl!!

Ahem... well... maybe this year I'm SO late in posting this, I'm going to take the liberty of answering for her.  Gulp (bad momma):

When I grow up I want to be: Dolphin vet
 
My favorite thing to play with is: Paw Patrol
 
The best show on TV is: Paw Patrol
 
My best friend is: Rafe
 
The thing I do most awesomely is: art

My favorite food is: corn dog
 
The thing I like best is: playing with animals; eating black olives

The book I like best is: Star Wars

My favorite color is: pink

The snack I like best is: goldfish

The coolest person I know is: ???

My favorite place to go is: the cat barn

One thing I really dislike is: the dark

3 Things that describe me are: spunky; fast; determined

Spring Break 2016

So this year we decided to take a vacation instead of doing a stay-cation for Spring Break.  I don't think we have ever done a real trip before.  Since we know the kids and I wanted to end up in San Antonio for part of the week, we scheduled a little trip down to Fredericksburg for a few nights. It was such a great little town and the kids REALLY enjoyed our first adventurers going to some of the state parks.
First on the list was Enchanted Rock!  We figured the boys would love it but I was pleasantly surprised that Hayden thought it was pretty cool too!  We climbed up the rock and probably crawled in every nook and cranny on our trip around the bottom.  My favorite is that once we reached the top Cal thought it would be a great idea to climb down the side of the rock...you know, the side that is EXTREMELY steep and most normal people don't allow their children to climb down.  Especially when most normal people don't forget their daughter's tennis shoes and allow her to climb a slick rock wearing Converse!!!!!  We made it.  Me with a partial heart-attack and Cal saying, "I told you it would be fine."  Minus that little experience the day was fantastic and we spent much longer than I had anticipated there. .  The only reason we made it back around the front was because we were all starving after leaving our lunch in the car. After we all refueled the boys climbed Little Rock, the rock next to Enchanted Rock, while Hayden and I played in the stream. We met back up after their exploring and ended the day with all 3 kids wet and worn out!

The following day we visited downtown Fredericksburg and walked the streets.  The boys found a magic shop and learned a few tricks and each bought something "magic".  Hayden fell in love with some butterfly wings at a toy store and spent most of the trip coloring them to make them perfect.  Cal and I decided we would need an adult weekend to fully enjoy all that the shops had to offer :)

After two days in Fredericksburg we loaded up and headed back to Johnson City.  We visited the children's museum there and on Monday made our way to Pedernales Falls.  The falls were so beautiful and brought back some fun memories for Cal and I of our vet school days.  You aren't allowed to swim at the falls which was a bummer, so we sweated it out for awhile letting the kids jump from rock to rock and explore.  We even found a little cave that the kids thought was pretty fun.  Then we needed water!  Hayden has been asking to swim for the last 4 months so she was super excited when we made our way to the swimming hole...only the "swimming hole" turned out to be the river which was less than ideal for a 5 year old that can't swim!  Oh, and the water was FREEZING!  The kids didn't seem to mind and the boys and Cal had the great idea to swim across the river to a tree rope on the opposite side.  That was another heart-attach moment seeing as the water was up and Bryant isn't the best swimmer but they all made it there and back and loved playing on the swing.  We found some baby frogs to play with and of course captured a few pics before we were all ready to hit the road and find food and our next destination.

Cal had to head back home for work but the kids and I finished our break in San Antonio. A few days to enjoy a little time on the ranch and a daily Margarita (for me anyway) finished out a fun week.

Double Digits

It is hard to believe that this sweet boy is 10!!!  Oh my goodness that is crazy, double digits!!  It has without a doubt been the best 10 years of my life!
Cameron you are such a sweet and special boy.  You are kind-hearted and have the sweetest dimply smile that will melt your heart.  Thank you for always doing your best and thinking about others.  You are a leader and definitely have your daddy's competitive spirit.  Stay focused on Jesus and you will do great things in this life Buddy.  I am so proud to call you my son!  Love you sweet boy

In his own words:

When I grow up I want to be: ???

My favorite thing to play with is: a football

The best show on TV is: the new Ninjago

My best friend is: Tyler

The thing I do most awesomely is: football

My favorite food is: meat and rice

The thing I like best is: football

The book I like best is: Bone

My favorite color is: blue

The snack I like best is: goldfish

The coolest person I know is: Tyler

My favorite place to go is: Hole in Fun

One thing I really dislike is: chicken soup

3 Things that describe me are: fast; smart; awesome

If I had a wish it would be: to have my own football field

Although we had said no more big birthday parties, we made an exception for 10!  This year he chose Flight Deck for 2 hours of trampoline and dodge ball fun.  Several of his cousins surprised him and came over to celebrate along with friends from school.  One sweaty boy = happy boy

Catch Up

Holy smokes!  It's February!!!!  We've been having fun and I certainly have not been checking in on here...oops!  Guess I will have a lot of post-dating to do or maybe I'll just put on all the pictures I've taken so we can look back and smile together.  Life is awesome!  We are making memories and enjoying our time together.  It is so freeing to have everyone out of diapers and able to pedal their own bike.  I get a little sad sometimes thinking about how fast time goes but I'm determined to make the most of it and enjoy my kiddos!
Right now is "down season".  The only things we have going on is basketball for both of the boys (they are both amazing players), school dance team for H (she is such a cutie) and piano for all 3.  Everyone is doing great in school.  I'd like to say they are all loving it but that would be a lie.  We do enjoy our weekends together and days off...maybe that is why the mood has shifted and home is the place to be.  That and now there are chickens and pigs at the clinic!  They are the best kind, not ours.  That means they can run over pet and play and feel free to stay or go as they please.  No chores, although they aren't afraid to jump in when work needs to be done.  Maybe that is why my garage smells like pigs?!
The weather has been wonderful this winter and we have had lots of days to get out and play.  Most days the boys have a pick-up game of football in the front yard with friends or go "fishing" in the front water trough.  Add in the pigs, chickens and lots of space to go ride their bikes and they are set!  Maybe I shouldn't be so ready to move ;)

'Tis the Season

Thanksgiving:
Pre-Thanksgiving we did the Coyote Chase Race. Daddy, Bryant and Hayden did the 1 mile run and Cameron and I did the 5K.  Cameron smoked his first race...especially considering he did NO running before he just went out and ran 3.2 miles like it was nothing.  He even beat me, and I workout!!  What the heck?! He placed 3rd in his age division.
Thanksgiving we headed out to MeMaw's and PaPaw's house.  We met up with the cousins and honestly didn't see much of the kids except at meal times and bedtime.  They had a blast playing together and doing who-knows-what making lots of memories!  There is nothing like cousin time.

Christmas:
My favorite pre-Christmas festivities: filling boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  Adopting and family from church for The Season of Blessing. And my new favorite, that I want to become a tradition, giving out presents in underprivileged neighborhoods with Beautiful Feet.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE sharing that night with my family and some friends! Our church also had a series on Star Wars: The Faith Awakens which the kids thought was awesome!  They even got to dress up the last weekend and meet Chewy and Leia.  Love our church!

Christmas Eve-Eve, we were off to San Antonio for lots of hunting.  Time with the big cousins.  Fun at The Ranch.  Watching the new Star Wars movie.  Walking on the River Walk.  Spending time with family and having everyone together!  I love being in the country and getting to share that with my kids.  I didn't grow up there but spent enough time there growing up that it is such a part of me and something I want to share with my kids.  I love that they love seeing the cows and playing in the dirt and shooting BB guns.  God's creation at it's finest!

Handsome at Forty

This amazing lovable guy turned the big 4-0 this year!  It actually isn't any fun teasing him about it because I'm not too far behind (darn it).  I remember going to my aunt's 40th birthday party when I was young and thinking how OLD she was.  Now it doesn't seem so bad.  Perspective ;)

I just want to say how incredibly blessed I feel to have spent 13 years married to this handsome guy and the last 17 hanging out with him.  God sure did know how to pick a "mentor" didn't he Babe!  You are my best decision ever and I would choose you all over again.  Every year gets better and better and you get hotter and hotter (who knew that was possible). Happy Birthday!  I hope you felt loved and enjoyed your mini trip.

Cameron got to go on daddy's special trip.  Not sure why I didn't get a pic of daddy with his deer

Eight is Great!

What the what?!  How are you 8 already?  My, my little Squishy you sure have grown up to be a super sweet guy.  You have a quietness about you that comes out around others.  Some may think you are shy but the truth is you are thinking, always a thinker.  You analyze and ponder so much about the world and others.  You have a soft side that just wants to be snuggled and loved.  You are so funny and I LOVE that you know how to laugh at yourself and make others laugh with you.  Thank you for challenging me and making me see the world through your eyes...a place to be made better and share lots of laughs and hugs.  I love you B-bear!


B in his own words:

When I grow up I want to be: in the Air Force
 
My favorite thing to play with is: Star Wars Legos

The best show on TV is: Star Wars (the movies)

My best friend is: Carter High

The thing I do most awesomely is: play Star Wars

My favorite food is: a Sundae

The thing I like best is: Big Red


The book I like best is: Star Wars

My favorite color is: blue

The snack I like best is: ants on a log

The coolest person I know is: Carter Cole

My favorite place to go is: Washington DC

One thing I really dislike is: homework

3 Things that describe me are: cute; nice; awesome

If I had a wish it would be: for me to listen to God better

Like I said, is he not the sweetest thing!

 Instead of a party this year we opted for a day at the State Fair of Texas and then dinner at Pappasito's (his choice).  He was one happy boy!