Shaw Family Happenings

Disney Memories

2011-04-02T11:17:00.001-07:00

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART

2011-02-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

The girls are going to be participating in their very first Jump Rope for Heart event this coming week at school. They will be jumping during their P.E. class in honor of those whose hearts need help. Feel free to check out the link below for more information or to make a donation. Thank you so much!

https://secure2.convio.net/amha/site/Donation2?idb=2034839986&df_id=1861&FR_ID=1444&PROXY_ID=2400277&1861.donation=form1&PROXY_TYPE=20

Nutcracker 2010

2010-12-22T18:08:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday, we took the girls to their first "real" presentation of The Nutcracker. It had also been years since Stephen and I had went so we were very excited as well. Here are some pictures from the day.

Waiting for it to start.....

The stage before it started.....the picture doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful!

My Montage 12/20/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-12-20T18:18:00.001-08:00

Here are pictures from Logan's 3rd birthday at The Little Gym - he had a blast!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fall Fun at Dewberry Farm

2010-10-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

After yet another very stressful week at school, we decided that a fun trip to Dewberry Farm was in order! We invited both sets of grandparents to go with us for a full day of fall fun down on the farm. Here's a few pics from the day......

Logan was the first one to jump.....one of the "Dewberry Farm" helpers got out there with him and he loved it!

This one is my favorite!

Of course, the girls had to join in on the jumping fun as well!

Logan loved swinging to Papaw in the hay!

It was such a fun day and we can't wait to go back again next year!

Colorado Trip

2010-08-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

At the end of July we traveled up to Colorado for a week. Stephen's parents met us up there in their camper. It was a great trip with lots of wonderful memories.....here are a few of my
favorites below.........

Our stop for a picnic lunch in the Cascades while on the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.....we enjoyed the beautiful scenery as well as climbing around the rocks along the water.

Horseback riding in the mountains....one of my favorite things we did! I was actually REALLY nervous about doing this.....I've always had a slight fear of horses......however, I felt very relaxed and did fine. Our guide was also really great which helped alot!

Logan was too small to go along on the trail ride, so he got to do a small ride of his own. He was a little nervous about it which really surprised me since nothing ever scares him.

This was taken during our first day of riding through the mountains on the 4-wheeler and the jeep. There was a beautiful waterfall behind us........perfect picture taking spot!

It was so much fun to stop along the trails and find a neat spot to have a picnic lunch. The kids got a kick out of watching the chipmunks run around. Logan even tried to chase a few of them but they would outrun him every time.

The kiddos were ready to go 4-wheelin' in the mountains!

This was right before we left to board the train.

We took a break from riding to put our feet in a creek that we found. The creek is mostly snow run-off so needless to say it was extremely cold. Grandad challenged us all to see who could keep their feet in the water at least one minute. Nanny was the only one who could do it! I barely lasted 5 seconds....no joke! Waaaaayyyyy colder than the Frio River!

Our white water rafting trip.....our guide Connor was amazing! I would LOVE to do this again one day. Logan wasn't able to go......he had to at least be 3 years old......so he stayed back at the camper with Grandad and they had a fun time together.

We took this the first day we were there. We actually passed up the sign and had to turn around to stop and get pictures. Right across from this sign was the "Welcome to New Mexico" sign so we did pictures there as well. There happened to be two other families taking pictures while we were and they were both from College Station.....small world, right? We ran into lots of Texans throughout the week.....one family was from Spring too.

There are so many more pictures and it would take me forever to post and write about them all. We are just so thankful for the chance to have been able to go on two great trips this summer. In the 11 years I have known Stephen, this is the FIRST summer he has ever been able to do a vacation and so for that I am so grateful......just one more reason I love his new job!

Beach Vacation to Florida

2010-07-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting our pictures from our trip to Destin put together on the blog. We had such a wonderful time and created some great memories! I hope we will be able to visit again soon!

Guess it's about time I finally updated my blog!

2010-06-10T18:00:00.001-07:00

I am such a slacker!!! I was doing so good about updating my blog and totally fell off the wagon the last month. I can't imagine why......it's not like being a full time working mom of three is that time consuming or anything......the girls made swim team (go Seals!) in May and they practice EVERY single day and that has just about killed me! It has been soooooo good for them and the swim meets are so much fun so I'm really glad they have done it this year.

The girls had a great first grade year.....the end came fast and furious......I was able to attend all of their end of year awards ceremonies to see them get all of their hard earned awards - I am so proud of them both!

Here they are with one of the awards certificates they received......

The girls with their teacher, Mrs *J*

Mrs. J invited the parents back to the room for the students to showcase all the things they learned this year......Lauren was chosen to be one of the special song leader helpers......I wonder where she gets that from? :)

Family shot.......Leah looks thrilled, doesn't she?

The end of year carnival at school was a blast as well........I am totally rockin' it with my neon yellow hair!

Soooooo, summer is finally here and the girls are still doing swim team. Their last meet is this Saturday. Then, next week they are attending Vacation Bible School for 4 days and then we leave for Destin on Friday! We're hoping and praying that the oil doesn't ruin our trip. We've got some options for backup plans in case it does. My parents and my brother and his family are going with us so wherever we end up, we'll make the most of it and have a blast! At the end of July, we're going to Colorado with Stephen's parents......talk about from one extreme to the other! From the hot beaches in Florida to the cold mountains in Colorado......I'm looking forward to a great time and thankful that Stephen's new job is allowing him to take these trips. He has NEVER been able to have time off in the summer since we've been married so it will be nice! I know he is really looking forward to it. God is good and He is faithful for sure!

Well, that's all I can think of for now......I'm hoping to be better about updating this summer......I love to go back and read old posts from summer's past.....the kids change so much in a year's time. TTFN!

Happy 7th birthday Leah and Lauren!!!

2010-04-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the girl's 7th birthday party at SK8 Town. Stephen has been gone on business all this week so I am just now getting some pictures posted....

Here's their roller skate cake all lit up!

Logan was really interested in talking

to "Roller Roo"!

Both girls got a spin on the birthday wheel......Leah won a free t-shirt and Lauren won a free skate pass!

SK8 Town gave us TONS of tokens

so the girls had fun playing games with

their friends when they needed a break from skating.

Enjoying pizza - yum!

Here's some of their friends at the party.......

My brother and I reliving our days at the skating rink in Huntsville.......we had many birthday parties there growing up.

There they go..........whizzing around the rink!

Mr. Wyndell and Jeff being silly

and goofing around........as usual!

Happy 7th birthday to my

sweet girls!

Twi-Tour

2010-04-14T18:48:00.001-07:00

Last Friday my good friend, Allison, and I went to the 2010 Twilight Convention at the Galleria in Houston. We discovered a while back that we both love the Twilight series and are both "Team Edward" fans. So, it just seemed natural for us to go to the convention when we found out it was coming to Houston. It was actually all weekend long, however, we mainly wanted to see Peter Facinelli, aka Dr. Cullen. They even offered "Breakfast with the Wolf Pack" on Sunday morning, but we were all about seeing the vampires - we figured it was the closest to Edward we would ever get in real life. LOL!

Stephen tagged along with us and we actually had a blast! I was so giddy and starstruck, it wasn't even funny!

Here we are checking in at the
Westin Galleria Hotel.

We decided to leave a few questions
for "Carlisle" to hopefully answer for
us while he was on stage.

We made it!

MUCH love for the vampires!!!

NO love for the werewolves!!!

I got called on stage to play a Twilight Trivia game.....the questions were really hard so I didn't do very well...........Yet another reason I need to reread the series this summer.........

Here's a few close up shots of Peter..............*sigh*
I loved how he walked around in the crowd and didn't just sit on stage the whole time. He was very interactive with the audience and we loved every minute of it!

My autographed picture of Dr. Carlisle Cullen......he looked sooooooo different in person.

My encounter with Carlisle was great......very nice guy! A moment I'll never forget!

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

School Egg Hunt and Swim Camp

2010-04-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at school all grade levels had their annual egg hunts. I managed to sneak down the hall to catch my little "bunnies" heading out to do their egg hunt with all the other 1st graders.

Posing with their teacher, Mrs. Jarratt

Then we headed up to the CISD Natatorium for the 4th night of Swim Camp for the girls. They are trying out for our neighborhood swim team on Saturday and have been attending "rookie" camp all week. They were really nervous the first night, but each day have gotten better and better.

Here they are waiting their turn to get into the water with the coaches......they really enjoyed getting to see alot of friends from school.

Logan had fun watching up in the bleachers.......however, he really wanted to be down in that water! He kept saying, "I swim!"

Sandbox

2010-03-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

This past week Stephen and his Dad added on a sandbox to our playset in the backyard. It was actually part of Logan's birthday gift from back in December. However, we wanted to wait until the weather was nicer and when he could enjoy it more. I think the girls are really going to enjoy playing in it too - they are already practicing how to make sand castles for when we go to Destin this summer!

4-Wheelin' Fun!

2010-03-20T20:06:00.001-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Spring Break on the Farm

2010-03-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

This week we spent some time in the country at a farm that belongs to some friends of my in-laws in Industry, Texas. Industry is a little town close to Brenham....it's a great place to go and just forget about the rest of the world. The girls camped out in Nanny and Grandad's camper while Stephen, Logan and I slept in the farm house......so, we weren't exactly "roughing" it. We spent time fishing, playing in the creek, riding the 4-wheeler, grillin' and just enjoying the great outdoors. The girls are actually still there with Nanny and Grandad.......they wanted to stay a few extra days. They love it!

We also had a chance to start discussing and planning our trip to Colorado with Stephen's parents this summer. We're planning to go some time towards the end of July. One thing at the top of the "to do" list is white water rafting. I've always wanted to do that and I'm excited about the chance to do it this summer. In June, we're going to Destin, Florida with my side of the family. Para-sailing is at the top of my "to do" list there. This Spring Break has been a glimpse of how fun and adventurous summer will be this year - can't wait!

Three of a Kind

2010-03-13T17:39:00.000-08:00

This past week at school, the girls were in the 1st grade play, "Three of a Kind". They were Japanese maidens and got to be paired up in a group of three with their good friend, Cara. They performed on Thursday and Friday and I got to see both performances - they were so very cute! Both days, they came to my classroom so that I could help them get ready (that is a nice perk of being a teacher at the same school as your kiddos).

Here they are right before the performance on Friday.

After Friday's performance

After Thursday's performance, posing with MawMaw and Daddy

Logan enjoyed watching the play
on Friday with Grandad......

Here are the girls on stage with their friend, Cara......three peas in a pod - lol!

It was very cute and I was so proud of them!

Fun in the Country

2010-03-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went to Jewett, Texas for my grandmother's birthday. We celebrated at my Aunt Paula and Uncle Scott's house and had a great time with family.......most of them we hadn't seen since Thanksgiving so it was nice to see everyone. The weather was beautiful so we spent most of the afternoon outdoors on their land and did everything from feeding the deer to riding 4-wheelers and horsesas well. Here's some pictures from our fun day in the country!

Logan and Uncle Scott

Lauren and Uncle Scott
(Leah wanted no part of the horse thing)

My cousin, Steven, was having a hard time with his wild horse! It kinda felt like being at the rodeo!

Here's the crew loaded up and ready to go riding in search of deer!

Logan had to jump in on the action
and tried to take over driving a few times.

We saw many beautiful deer while out on our adventure!

My nephew, Tyler, and Mawmaw
were hanging on for dear life!

Aunt Paula and Alli

Papaw and Tyler

MeMe and PawPaw

Jocelyn and Logan

Lauren and Brent

Logan liked helping MeMe blow
out the candles on her cake and
open her presents.

The birthday girl, MeMe, with
Logan, Lauren and Leah

Happy Birthday MeMe - we sure did enjoy spending the day with you!

Rodeo Day

2010-03-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

Friday was Rodeo/Western Day for the girls at school. They started the day off being in a "Livestock Show" parade. They had to create a project for the parade so the girls each made an animal pen that held two of their stuffed animal friends from home. They also got to participate in fun Rodeo activities and stations throughout the day including: digging for Texas gold, a washer toss, milking the cow game, riding the buckin' bronco, face painting, and stick-horse racing. They had a blast and looked so cute in their "western wear". We are soooooo NOT country/western people so it was a stretch for us, but we did it! Stephen even made them a lasso to wear which was a nice touch! He brought Logan up to watch the parade and then helped with some of the rodeo stations outside. It was a great day! Enjoy the slideshow!

Interview with Michael Oher and the Tuohy Family

2010-03-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday night we had the pleasure of hearing Michael Oher, Leeann and Collins Tuohy share their inspiring story and their faith at our church. They are partnering with Arrow Ministries to make others aware of the desperate need for families willing to adopt or foster children in need. The movie, The Blindside, was based on this family and their story. It was so neat to see and hear them in person.

Here is our pastor with them right after they came out on stage.

Michael Oher

Leeann Tuohy - I must say that Sandra Bullock played her to a tee in this movie! She is one sassy lady!

Collins Tuohy with her mom talking about their story

I kept trying to get a good shot of all four of them, but it was difficult from where we were sitting.

Here are two short videos I managed to get throughout the interview.

It was a great evening and I am so glad we went. It was well worth getting there early and getting a good seat. It ended up being a packed house - around 5,000 people. It is such an amazing story and I am hopeful that it was inspiring to others as it was to me!

Fun Weekend......

2010-02-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

This has been such a beautiful and fun weekend - spring is in the air and I am so lovin' it! I had a wonderful birthday yesterday at school. It was Rodeo/Western Day and I got to country line dance all day with my friend Dana at work.....the students absolutely loved it!

Here are some pictures from this past week that I have been wanting to post......

One night this week, we gave Logan some chocolate pudding for dessert and this was the outcome........

Needless to say, he went straight to the bathtub!

Thursday was "Jump Rope for Heart" at our school. Our students raise money for the American Cancer Society. Some of us teachers went down to the gym during our student's P.E. time to jump with them. I wasn't exactly "dressed" to jump, but I didn't care! It was fun!

Friday night, my parents came down to celebrate my birthday. My mom made a delicious homemade dinner of chicken fried steak with all the fixin's. Here's some pictures of Logan "helping" Papaw wash the dishes. He thought he was BIG stuff.

Today, I took the girls to their first birthday party at SK8 Town. They have their own skates and can skate really well, however, we've been hesitant to take them there since Leah broke her arm three times last year. Their friend, Jake, from school was turning 7 and they really wanted to go. I even got out there and skated too! It sure did bring back some memories from the good old days when my friends and I would go skating ALL the time. That was pretty much all there was to do in Huntsville back in the day. I can remember going to ALOT of birthday parties there - it was the place to be! It was fun to skate with the girls today.....they had no idea their very cool mom could zoom around the rink like that - LOL!

2010-02-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

Finally...........I'm able to sit down and do one of my most favorite things - write! I was getting ready to sit down and post some pictures and things on Sunday, and then Sunday afternoon, I got really sick out of nowhere. I started throwing up and having really severe abdominal pain. I just assumed I had eaten something that didn't agree with me. Then, Monday morning comes and I am still really feeling sick. By Monday afternoon I took a turn for the worst so Stephen made me a doctor's appt. It's a good thing we went in because it ended up being a really bad UTI/Kidney infection. My white blood cell count was sky high so they gave me a shot of Phenegran to help with the nausea and put me on an antibiotic. No one believes me when I tell them that these are symptoms you can have with a UTI/Kidney infection, but it's true! Google it, research it, it's there! I had no idea that's what was wrong - I thought maybe I had swine flu or something. Anyway, 3 days later I am finally feeling better and more like myself. I hate to be sick!

This past weekend, I got to get together with one of my very best friend's from childhood, Allison. She lives in League City and we hardly ever get to see each other. In fact, it's probably been years since I've seen or talked to her. We met here in The Woodlands for lunch and had a great time chatting and catching up. One thing we realized we have in common is that we are both HUGE Twilight fans, and we both want to go to the Twilight Convention coming to Houston this April. What's even funnier, is that we both like all the same characters and are both Team Edward all the way! It was really neat to find another person just as obsessed with it as I am! We are planning a trip to the convention in April - we found out that the actor who plays Carlisle is going to be at the convention on the opening night. We would both love to be there for that. I'll keep ya posted on any new info. I get!

Stephen is still not officially working yet - it's been about 6 months now. I would have never thought he would be without a job this long. However, it's amazing how God provides and somehow you make it. He qualified for Unemployment benefits so he's been able to get that, which isn't much, but it does help. He actually went up to his office today to take one of his exams, but there was some kind of glitch in the system so he had to reschedule it. It is really starting to drive me crazy! I know he is so ready to move on past taking these exams. Please pray for him to have the endurance to get through this difficult part of changing careers. I know in the long run, it will be worth the change. Nothing could be worse than the jobs he's had in the past and I would never want him to have to go back to that!

Anyway, that's it for now. Until next time..........

Weekend of birthdays

2010-01-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had many wonderful birthdays to celebrate! We started off on Friday night by surprising our good friend, Wyndell, for his 30th birthday. We all met at Guri do Sul for dinner which is alot like Fogo de Chao in Houston....they bring meat out to you on skewers.....as much meat as you want! Needless to say we were all stuffed at the end of dinner and Wyndell seemed surprised. I'm still amazed that we didn't get kicked out of the restaurant.....our group tends to be a little bid loud.

The birthday boy!

Here's Wyndell and Marcus gettting a few slices of meat!

Stephen and our good friend, Jeff.

Jeff works for HPD so he keeps us all

in line. LOL!

Early Saturday morning we headed downtown to the Children's Museum for another birthday party. Stephen's cousin, Ben, has a little girl named Regan and she turned 2 this weekend. We actually had never been to the Children's Museum, but I can definitely say we will be going back.....it was very neat! The girls did NOT want to leave! I told them that maybe we could come back during Spring Break so they could have more time to do everything. Here are some pictures of the things they enjoyed most about it.....

Working as cashiers in the "HEB Market"

Here's a quick video of them in action.....

Crawling through the maze tower....

Just scootin' around!!!

Pretending to be veterinarian's at the Animal Care Clinic. Lauren especially loved this

because she would love to really have this job one day and she was a vet for Halloween this past year.

Logan was chillin' in his cool shades waiting

for cake and icecream!

Logan wasn't too sure what to think about the museum.....he just had to touch everything!

Then, yesterday afternoon we headed over to our friend Bayley's first birthday party. Bayley is Logan's friend from Ms. Cheryl's house and I teach with her mommy. Check out this awesome birthday cake made by our friend, Brandy! It was very yummy!

Logan and his buddy, Kooper.

Kooper's mom caught Logan being silly on the stairs!

This is a picture of the birthday girl and her mom, Brandy and Dylan, Jill and Kooper, and me and Logan. We all teach 2nd grade together and have kiddos around the same age.

Here's the girls posing with some

of Bayley's other friends at the party.

I think Bayley likes the Little People

blocks we gave her for her birthday!

It was a busy weekend, but so fun to celebrate with great friends and family. Next weekend, we'll be celebrating Mawmaw's birthday up in Huntsville - can't wait!

New Year's Day 2010 at the Zoo

2010-01-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the zoo to ring in the new year. One of the best things about it was that it was FREE!!! The zoo has several holidays throughout the year when they offer free admission so we thought we would take advantage of it today. It was Logan's first trip ever to the zoo so it was neat to see his reaction to all of the animals. He loved them all of course! Here's some of the best shots from the day......Happy New Year everyone!!!

One of our first stops was at the

Children's Zoo section.

Logan loved crawling through

the prairie dog tunnels with

his sisters.

Look at those two cute little

prairie dogs that popped up!

Make that......three cute prairie dogs!

Checking out the goats in

the Petting Zoo.

I think this was the one second

Logan actually sat still during

the entire trip. Lucky for me,

I caught it on film - that's rare!

I caught the girls trying to hide

in a seashell!

Leah stopped for a minute to rest.

Logan really liked the

playground area and kept sliding

over and over again.

He also managed to find time

to chase the pigeons around.

All he kept saying was, "I touch bird."

I kinda felt sorry for those poor pigeons

running for their lives!

Mommy and her girls!

I think we may have spotted Nemo!

I also found the two bricks engraved with my class' name on them. We adopted Kiva, the giraffe, and Smaug, the Komodo Dragon last year. I was excited to see that our bricks were already out at the zoo entrance! I'll have to make sure I show my students this year when we go on our annual zoo field trip in March.

Here's Lauren in the reptile

exhibit! She loves snakes, bugs, and

anything slimy! Not sure where

she gets that from!?!?

Stephen's parents went with us

to enjoy the day and we managed to

get a good group shot before we left.

We also had to swing by and ride

the train. They have updated it

and it was very nice! Logan kept

yelling, "All aboard!" at people.

Iceskating!!!

2009-12-28T19:14:00.001-08:00

Today we took the girls out for a special day with just them.......Logan stayed over at Nanny and Grandad's house while we enjoyed our fun day together. I usually don't like to leave him when we do fun things, but I knew he wouldn't be able to sit through a movie and iceskating.........I knew he would have a much better time playing outside and with his new toys over at Nanny's house. We started the day off by going to see the new Disney movie, "The Princess and the Frog" (which was very cute by the way). Next we walked over to The Woodlands Iceskating Rink and skated for a while. I was so worried about Leah falling and hurting her arm again. It hasn't even been a year since she had surgery on it. Surprisingly, she did very well and did not fall one time. She's been begging to get back into dance or gymnastics again so maybe this spring we'll try it. Perhaps 2010 will be the year with NO injuries! LOL!

Here's a few pictures from our adventure........

After we were done skating, we went and ate at Johnny Rockets. The girls had some gift cards to spend from Christmas so we went and did that as well. We also rode the trolley around Market Street and that was really pretty to see everything lit up for Christmas at night. We had a fun day.......I LOVE being out of school for Christmas vacation!!!!

Christmas Memories 2009

2009-12-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Santa's Wonderland

2009-12-22T13:04:00.000-08:00

Monday night we headed over to College Station to drive through Santa's Wonderland. We got there early, but still had to wait about an hour to get in. We had fun though passing the time with Mawmaw and Papaw in our van. Right as we got up to the gate to go in, Uncle Jason called and said that Aunt Andi and Taylor were running down the hill to jump in our car to drive through with us. They made it just in time and somehow we were able to fit all 9 of us in there! Here's a slide show from our adventure - enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas time is near!!!

2009-12-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

I absolutely LOVE this time of year! We are officially out of school for Christmas vacation - yahoo! The girls had a fun and eventful week at school......on Thursday they got to wear their pajamas to school for a special "Polar Express" day. All of the first graders at our school got to hear Mrs. Kaufman (wife of Mr. Kaufman - who our school is named after) read The Polar Express. Then, each student received a special gift from the North Pole......a bell from Santa's sleigh just like in the book/movie......and the best part was the bell was still cold from being at the North Pole. I happened to walk by as the girls received their bells and they were filled with so much joy! I will never forget that! Yesterday they had their Christmas party at school and their teacher took them caroling around the hallways. I ran out of my classroom to try and snap a few shots as they went by, but I think I embarrassed them more than anything. I just can't help myself! We love Mrs. Jarratt by the way.......she does the neatest things with her students and we couldn't be happier with her as the girl's teacher this year. I'm so glad I decided to put them both with her this year........she truly is wonderful!

Also, today we had the chance to meet up with one of Stephen's really good buddies from the Navy, Ken Stevens. He hadn't seen Ken in over 11 years, but they have managed to keep in touch. He and his family live in New Mexico and were passing through the Houston area today to leave out on a cruise tomorrow from Galveston. So, it was the perfect opportunity for us all to get together for lunch and meet each other's families. We had a great time getting to know each other and hearing some interesting Navy stories. I think one of the best ones that Ken told today was how he and Stephen were in a wreck once when Ken fell asleep at the wheel.....and amazingly neither one of them were injured. It's a wonder to me how Stephen ever lived to tell about some of the crazy things that happened to him while in the Navy. Here we all are at the restaurant after lunch today......

Two friends reunited after many years!

They said this was their "Hans and

Frans" picture - LOL!

Logan's 2nd birthday party slideshow.....

2009-12-09T18:21:00.001-08:00

Snowy Day!!!

2009-12-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun day today with all of the snow......great memories that I'll never forget!

Check out our playground at school today and the kids going wild!

Here are the girls with their
friend, Anjelica, from next door.

Logan was on the prowl through the snow......

he was very curious about all that cold, white stuff!

Here's Lauren with some boy

"friends" from her 1st grade class!

Here's the girls posing with their teacher,

Mrs. Jarratt and one of their best friends

from class, Kennedy.

Leah all bundled up!

Mommy and her girls!

My little Eskimo girl!

2009-11-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

On Friday morning, we headed out to the mall in Huntsville to see Santa arrive for the holiday season on a fire truck.....

Then we followed him into the mall and listened to him read the classic, The Night Before Christmas. Then he passed out candy canes, cookies, and punch for all the kids. My mom called and told me today that we made the front page of the Huntsville newspaper.....who knew we would be famous by going and visiting Santa at the mall???

Next, we went back to Mawmaw and Papaw's house for a "photo shoot". The kids tried on their new Christmas outfits and had fun posing in front of Mawmaw's tree.....here are some of my favorite shots......we got several good ones to make a really cute Christmas card this year.

Oh, I almost forgot to post this hilarious video of some of my cousins trying to do some tricks on their old scooters........this was our after dinner Thanksgiving entertainment!

Thanksgiving Feast 2009

2009-11-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

Today at school the girl's had their Thanksgiving Feast with their class. Before the feast, they did two little presentations with another 1st grade class to share what they have learned about Pilgrims and Indians. They were so cute!

Here's Lauren getting to read her part......she was not feeling well today so I was proud of her for participating with her class and hanging in there.

Here's Leah ready and in position for her part.......

Leah was so proud of herself after she read her part.....you can tell by the look on her face. She used to be terrified of getting up in front of people, but I have noticed she is becoming more comfortable with it........she has really come a long way.

Logan was there to supervise all the Thanksgiving festivities of course!

Check out this super cool turkey that one of the moms made for the girl's class......they kids loved it and it was fun to eat too!

Here they all are.....ready to dig in!

Logan had to join in on the feasting of course! He was NOT shy!

We managed to get one pretty good photo of us all at least!

Here's one of the videos I got of the girls reading their parts in one of the presentations they did.

Pictures of Logan

2009-11-22T20:13:00.000-08:00

We took Logan to have some birthday pictures made today at Sears. The lady we usually use was all booked up until after Christmas so we headed to Sears with a great coupon and got alot of pictures for an awesome deal! We got some great shots of my baby boy. I can't believe he is going to be 2 in two weeks. As you can tell, he LOVES the camera and was not shy about posing at all. That's my boy!

2009-11-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

Check out Logan's haircut he got this afternoon! Daddy took him to get his haircut and then brought him up to school to show me his new "spiky do".

While I was getting packed up and ready to leave school, one of our cleaning crew guys came in and he let Logan help him vacuum up the carpet. Logan loved it! He said, "Mommy, I helper!"

Also, last night the girls got to attend a Pump-it-Up party with some other friends from school. The students had to sell at least 15 items in our school's cookie dough fundraiser to earn the party as one of their prizes. They had a blast!

Halloween 2009 - Part Two

2009-10-31T21:39:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Halloween 2009 - Part One

2009-10-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

My little vampire! Who needs Rob Pattinson when I have this little cutie?

Helping Daddy carve the pumpkin.....the girls drew the face and Logan helped scoop out the seeds.....he kept saying, "Daddy, a mess.......a mess!"

The finished product.....

We were keeping it real this morning with a little Michael Jackson......it wouldn't be Halloween without a little "Thriller"! There's nothing like my little man jammin' in his diaper to some MJ - gotta love it!

This video is of the girls jumping on this cool inflatable thing at Dewberry Farm last weekend.....it was unlike any other inflatable I had ever seen.....they had a blast jumping on it!

Last but not least, here's video of Logan dancing to the "singing chicken" show at Dewberry Farm last weekend - he had his groove going for sure!

2009-10-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of me and my partner in crime (Jennifer) this morning at school waiting for the festivities and parades to start......

The girls had Fall Fun Day today also and I managed to sneak down to one of their rotations and snap a couple of pictures. My little pumpkin girls! They are looking forward to going to a masquerade ball birthday party tomorrow (their third costume party) and then trick-or-treating tomorrow night! I've got to get busy working on Logan's "train" to go with his train engineer costume.......pics to come soon of the finished product!

For the month of November, our school is allowing students to make posters to honor veterans in their family. We made one for our daddy, of course! Here is a picture of the finished product - it turned out very cute and was a fun project to make. The girls got a kick out of looking at some of daddy's old Navy pictures........"oh my" is about all I can say about that - ha!

Dewberry Farm

2009-10-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

Check out the slideshow of the fun day we had today at Dewberry Farm. Well worth the drive over to Brookshire, Texas!

Lunch with my guys.....

2009-10-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

Logan stayed at home with Stephen today because Ms. Cheryl wasn't feeling well so they decided to come up and have lunch with Mommy.......a special treat for me! Logan was more interested in running around and putting his hands on everything than he was eating - imagine that! Here's a few pictures I managed to snap before he totally destroyed my room........

When the kids came back from recess, he was in NO way ready to leave. He wanted to stay and learn and play with the big kids. All my students were just loving all over him and he was waving to them and saying......"Bye, kids!" It was sooooo cute!!!! Stephen was finally able to get him down the hall to go home. I love my buggie!!!

Costume party

2009-10-17T20:12:00.001-07:00

This afternoon we went to a birthday/costume party for one of our friends down the street. I put the pictures I took into a Halloween themed Smilebox slideshow that turned out really cute - the kiddos had a blast!

2009-09-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'm finally able to sit down and update my poor blog! It seems like Stephen is always on the computer studying when I want some blog time! He finished his practice exam today and made an 86 so he is feeling confident about the 'real' exam this coming week. Once he passes that one, he'll have one more exam to go and then he can officially start working again! Praise God!

The girls finally decided what they wanted to be for Halloween after much thought......

Leah is going to be Alex from 'The Wizards of Waverly Place' (which is one of her favorite

Disney shows)

Lauren is going to be a veterinarian because she has such a heart for animals and loves helping them

Logan is going to be a train engineer, but I don't have a picture of him yet. His costume came in and his overalls were really long so Nanny is working on stitching them up for him. He will be so cute! His outfit has a little hat and red hankie he'll wear around his neck and a train whistle too. I think we're going to decorate his wagon to look like a train so when we go trick-or-treating, it will give him something cute to ride in. I'll post a picture of him as soon as his outfit is all fixed up!

I've also been meaning to post these pictures of my nephew, Taylor's, 4th birthday party from a few weeks ago at Chuck E. Cheese. The kiddos had a blast!

Can you tell which one is the birthday boy? HA!

Dancing and singing with Chuck E. Cheese!

Yummy cake!

Logan LOVED all the rides!

The kids were scrambling to pick

up as many tickets as they could

when Chuck E. Cheese threw them

into the air!

Get me outta here!!!

Tyler was having a good time

tasting everything!

How do you work these games anyway???

Speaking of birthdays, I went ahead and booked Logan's 2nd birthday party today at Pump-it-Up. That is where the girls had their 2nd birthday party and they absolutely loved it so I know he will too. We can invite alot more friends if we have it there versus here at our house! Hope everyone has a great week.......TTFN!

Poor neglected blog.............

2009-09-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yes........I'm still here! We're finally settling back into our school routine and adjusting to Stephen being home. Wow! What a difference it is to have daddy around.......especially at the beginning of the school year. He's been able to help out with the girl's homework, dinner, Logan, making lunches, errands, etc. He has passed his first required exam towards becoming a financial advisor, but he still has two more to go. I think his next two tests will be some time in October. I know he will be glad to have them overwith.......studying all day long is starting to get old. I think he is ready to get back into the 'working world' again. However, I think he has really enjoyed his free time. I feel like he is now getting back all the lost time he never received at his other jobs.......no vacation time, super late hours, always traveling, etc. He is so much more involved now and we love it! School is going well and the girls are really liking first grade. I am soooooo glad that I put them in the same class again this year! It makes the after school homework process so much easier. It takes a good hour or more each day to sit down and do homework with both of them and having the same assignments/projects is very helpful. Today was 'Read for Life' day in our district and each classroom at our school invited parents to come and read to their child's class. Stephen and I both went and read to the girl's class and they loved it! Stephen was really nervous about it, but he did just fine! This evening Leah and Logan and I went on a nice long bike ride while Stephen and Lauren went to Luby's to get some dinner. When we got back, we put Logan in the tub for bathtime and he started putting his mouth on the bottom of the tub and making all kinds of silly noises - it was hilarious! Thankfully, he did it long enough for me to capture it on video.......enjoy!

2009-08-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went up to Huntsville to spend the day on the farm with MawMaw and Papaw. I've been working on putting a little slideshow together and finally finished it tonight. Logan loves the moo cows! Enjoy!

Picture update.....finally!!!!!!!!

2009-08-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting to update the blog with some pictures. I've been having problems being able to download pictures from home this summer so I've been doing it at school and then emailing them to myself to view at home. Geez! Computers! Why can't they just work like ya want 'em to???

Anyway, here's some pictures I've had on my camera for a while now. Actually, the first
are from our trip to Schlitterbahn this past weekend. We left on Sunday and spent two full days at the park with the girls. Logan stayed with Stephen's parents - we really missed him but he had a great time playing with Nanny and Grandad and getting ALL the attention!

The first ride we rode was the
Congo River tube ride and I lost
my favorite sunglasses - of course!

Daddy and his girls

Check out my $3 rainbow
brite sunglasses from the
gift shop - very schnazzy!

The girls really liked the body slides....they're favorite ride was the Bahnzai Pipeline seen here in the background.

Stephen and I tried the Boogie
Bahn board ride....it was a little
scary and the girls wanted NO
part of it. They were happy just
watching us!

Schlitterbahn is 30 years old
this year!

The girls went to the dentist last week to get their check-up and cleaning before going back to school. They both did great - no cavities thankfully!

Leah getting x-rays

Leah getting her teeth cleaned
while she watches HSM2 on the
ceiling.

Lauren watching HSM2

Lauren wasn't too sure about
the whole x-ray thing.

One of our projects this summer was to decorate the girl's
school boxes for 1st grade. Here's a picture of the finished
product. I'm sure Mrs. Jarratt is going to love the little
boa flurries flying around. :)

Here's a couple of pictures of Logan and Stephen from one
of Logan's swimming lessons back in July. He still has two more
lessons this summer before his session is over. He really enjoys
them and we take turns doing the class with him so we enjoy
that time with him too. The girls get a kick out of watching him
splash around.

Logan loves to put on his
sister's skates and try to skate
around the house. He thinks
he's BIG stuff.

Lazy summer morning in their
p.j.'s - love it!

Logan loves his new trike that his
friends from down the street gave him.
He is one cool ridin' dude!

More pictures to come as I get them loaded! TTFN!!

2009-08-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a busy one......we headed over to our friend Kooper's SplashPad one day for some swimming fun. Here are some cute pictures of Kooper and Logan playing.....

Here's a good picture of the
girls that Jill took.

I have some pictures that I need to download, but I'm having trouble getting it to work on my computer at home so I'll have to wait and do it at school. I'm sure I'll be up there quite a bit this week getting my classroom ready. Wednesday we have our first official team leader meeting then I'm meeting with my team here at my house that afternoon. We officially go back to school on August 17th then the girls will start on August 24th. Stephen has accepted a new job so thankfully he will be around the next month to help out with the kids. He is going to be taking some courses for his new job so he will be doing those from home. He has to take three tests and pass them before he can get his financial advising license. He is a little nervous about it, but I know he'll do fine. He will be working for AXA Advisors here in The Woodlands - we are so glad that his office will be so close so that he won't have to commute downtown anymore. He ended up having 5 job offers......all 5 were jobs that I found for him.......his current employer said they would help him find a job......yeah right! They didn't do anything - we did it all ourselves! I was quite surprised at the number of jobs that are out there - you hear on the news that everyone is getting laid-off and there are no jobs anywhere.......I was able to find several for him. It was ALOT of work though and definitely not an overnight process.....you could make searching for a job a full-time career. I told him maybe I missed my calling and should have been a job head-hunter (haha)! It would take me hours sometimes to complete applications for him. He couldn't do it during the day since he was still working. God's timing was perfect....since it was summer time and I was home, it allowed me to have the extra time to help him search. If he had been laid-off during the school year, I wouldn't have been able to help as much. I also had the opportunity to go up to his future office, visit with his supervisor, and ask questions - I am glad I was able to do that. We're just thankful for this job opportunity and continue to pray that Stephen will be happy with this career change.

Next week we've decided to take the girls to Schlitterbahn before I go back to work. Stephen's parents are going to keep Logan so that we'll be able to do more of the rides. The girls are very excited because they have never been to a waterpark before. I'm sure they will love it!

Schlitterbahn pictures

2009-07-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to Schlitterbahn with some of the girls I teach with. We left early Friday morning and got back Sunday night. We had a great time and LOTS of laughs. Can't wait to go again!

Here's a picture of our room.
We even had a kitchen!

First ride of the day on Friday -
The Ragin' River

After a fun day at the park, we went to dinner Friday night at The Gristmill in Gruene, Texas.

We had a really long wait so we had to find something to do
to help pass the time......why not take some goofy pictures?

Saturday night dinner at Adobe Verde

in Gruene - great Mexican food!

My partner in crime, Jennifer.

She will be my partner teacher

this coming year!

On the way home on Sunday.....

Yummy brunch at the Cracker

Barrel and then some shopping

at the outlet malls in San Marcos.

Twilight Convention - OMG!!!!!

2009-07-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

Okay all you Twilight fans out there.................The daughter of a friend of mine (Cady) who is a HUGE Twilight fan had the opportunity to attend one of the Twilight Conventions in Minneapolis last week. She wrote about it on Facebook and so I copied some of her pictures to put on my blog - they are too good not to share. I wish I could have gone with her - how fun is that?

The guy who plays Sam Uley on the right
& Jared on the left from New Moon

Cady ran into them again at the
airport - how does she get so lucky?

Cady got called to be on stage with Peter Facinelli (he plays Edward's dad......Dr. Cullen) and she even got to ask a question - so cool! Peter is married to Jennie Garth from 90210.

Again, super lucky!

Billy Black - Jacob's dad in the movie

The vampire, Laurent

Bella's friend, Angela Weber

The director of Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke.

New Moon comes out on November 20th and I can't wait to go see it! Check out a sneak peek of the movie by clicking on the link below.

Just In: The Complete 'New Moon' Trailer! at The Insider

Showing off our artwork.............

2009-07-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

The girls went to an art camp this past week at The Woodlands Children's Museum in the mall. They were a little nervous about it at first because they weren't sure what to expect, but ended up loving it and wanting me to sign them up for another one. They both really like art and creating things so this was a perfect way for them to spend some fun summer afternoons together.

Goofing around with the playdough
they made

Logan wanted to get in on some of that action!

A display of several of their pieces

Lauren's clay pot that she is

so proud of - she told me she was

the last one to be done with hers (and

I totally believe that). She's methodical

and takes her time like her daddy!

And here's Leah's clay pot -

she told me that she was the first

one done (and I totally believe that -

a little like mommy maybe?)

Showing off their rainsticks and kalideoscopes....very cool!

Here's the masks they made - can you tell who is who????

The day they made these, they came running out to the car with them on, and I was thinking that Logan would be scared of them. Not at all! He could not stop laughing! He was laughing one of those deep, deep belly laughs that I absolutely love.

4th of July Slideshow (scroll down towards bottom of blog to view)

2009-07-05T23:42:00.000-07:00

I put together a slideshow of pictures from this year's 4th of July. The weatherman says this year's 4th had record breaking heat and I believe it! I also included a couple of pictures of our
good friend, Tim, being baptised at the lake. Tim is in our small group bible study from church and was saved back in February of this year. He decided to follow through with baptism with his family by his side and our friend Wyndell baptising him on July 4th. It was really neat to see!

Our Cousin Tyler's First Birthday

2009-07-02T22:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we headed back up to Jewett for my nephew Tyler's first birthday. It's hard to believe that one year ago he was in the NICU having trouble breathing and we couldn't even see or hold him. Praise God that he is one healthy fellow today and you would never know he had a rough start. Tyler and Logan are about seven months apart and Tyler is just as big as Logan is.

His party was outside at their home and had all kinds of fun games and actvities. Uncle Jason also grilled some yummy hot dogs! Here are some pictures from the par-tay........

Here's the birthday boy in a pool just his size!

Here's Papaw with the birthday boy chillin'
on the front porch!

The girls with their cousin Taylor
cooling off in the Zebra pool!

Logan swingin' with Papaw!

Everyone really enjoyed Uncle Jason's playset he built this summer. It looks alot like the one we have in our backyard.

Here's Logan ready to par-tay!

Uncle Jay was hosin' them down!

The Egg Race

The Ball Toss

Here's Uncle Jay trying to decide
how he's going to hang the birthday
pinata.

Logan was trying to be a big helper by
sweeping the grass.

Here's my little man taking his best swing at the pinata.

R-e-a-d-y.....................

A-i-m..........................

F-i-r-e!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait a minute..............it didn't do anything!

Oh well - I'm cute and that's all that matters!

Here's Leah giving it her best shot!

Lauren had some really good swings too!

It finally busted and the kids made a beeline for all the loot!

We had a great time at your party Tyler - happy first birthday!!!!

Wedding and Family Reunion

2009-06-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we went to the big city of Jewett for my cousin Jeffery's wedding. My grandfather married them so that was really neat. He and his new bride, Jocelyn are now honeymooning in Costa Rica - I am so jealous!!!

They had a really nice dinner and dance reception following the ceremony. All the kids were intrigued with the "love doves" they had at the reception.

The next day we had a family reunion at the same place as the wedding reception. My aunt Paula (Jeffery's mom) said they were up there cleaning from the wedding until 2:30 a.m. We stayed and danced until about 10:30 which was late for us with three kiddos in tow. Here's a couple of family shots from our immediate family group - I think we were all there except for one - my cousin, Matthew. There was alot of other family members there from my grandmother's side of the family - her sister and 4 of her brothers plus all of their families. We had a great time seeing everyone and talking about old times.

2009-06-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

The girls went to VBS this past week at First Baptist Church in The Woodlands and they had a blast! So, that left some time for Logan and I to do some fun things together this week. On Monday we went to the pediatrician and got the all clear from the doctor that his ears and chest are clear - yeah! Tuesday we went to a gym class for toddlers at My Gym over in The Woodlands and then up to our church for a fun day just for preschoolers. They had shooting water turned on and tons of beach balls for the kiddos to play with. Logan mostly just wanted to run all over the place.

We ran into our friend Brandy with her new baby, Dylan, and Sarah and her baby, Bayley. Logan knows Bayley because she goes to Ms. Cheryl's with him during the school year. Logan doesn't meet a stranger so he was eager to give baby Dylan kisses - too cute!

He wanted Bayley to have his hat even though

she already had her own.

Baby Dylan and his mom Brandy

Little Miss Bayley

Aren't they so cute????

We tried to get a group photo, but Logan was not quite cooperating with us.

He wanted to run!

Here are some pictures from Logan's fun day at My Gym.....it was an entire class full of boys! He loved being able to run around and explore the toys and gym equipment.

The girls got to attend VBS this week with one of their friends from back in the day when they used to go to Ms. Rhonda's. Here they are posing at VBS Family Night.

Seeing them with Taylor brought back so many memories of when they were really little. I started looking through old pictures I had that Ms. Rhonda had sent me from when they would go to her house. Here they are posing with Taylor. It seems like so long ago that they were this little. I wish I would have had a blog back then to journal things they were doing at that time. It's crazy how much you forget, but when I see these pictures it brings back so many memories!

Here are the girls when they made Christmas sugar cookies at Ms. Rhonda's. I can see Logan in both of them at this age.

Poor Leah didn't have much hair for the longest time. You'd never know it by looking at her hair now.

Here they are making a Mother's Day present for me.

They always had a fascination with hats. Logan currently has the same fascination - must be hereditary????

Here's a video of the girls at VBS Family Night singing one of the songs they learned this week.

2009-06-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the girls with their MawMaw and Papaw. They spent the weekend with them a couple of weeks ago. They are posing for a photo op. while having a picnic lunch at the park in Huntsville. They also got to feed the ducks and take a tour of Sam Houston's home next to the picnic area.

They weren't sure what to think about some of the strange things they saw while touring his home. They had lots of questions and couldn't understand why someone would want a bear skinned rug on the floor of their home. Too funny!

This weekend we celebrated Father's Day with Stephen's parents on Saturday, and then with my parents in Huntsville on Sunday. We had a great time with family and lots of good food to eat! This weekend my cousin Jeffrey is getting married in Jewett so we will be going up there for the wedding. Then, we're having a family reunion the next day so we'll be staying the night at the Jewett Hotel (that should be interesting). Leah gets her cast off on Friday (hopefully) and she is dying to go swimming. So, I called this hotel and found out they don't even have a swimming pool. That figures! So, I'm planning a special trip for Stephen and I to take the girls to Splashtown. They have never been to a waterpark and we thought they would enjoy that. Plus, I found these great coupons that are too good not to use. Tomorrow the girls have VBS again and I am taking Logan to a gym class for toddlers at this place called My Gym. I used to take the girls there when they were little, however, Logan is a whole different ballgame. I'm not too sure how he is going to do with following directions and sitting in a circle and all that.....should be interesting. I'll try and get some good pictures so that I can post them. We went to our first "Mommy and Me" swim class last Friday. That was something I couldn't ever do with the girls because you had to have two people. So, it was a new experience for me - Logan LOVED the water of course! He did pretty good, however, he did not want to put the toys away when it was time to. He's just a tad bit stubborn (must take after his Daddy) heehee!

Enjoying our summer days......

2009-06-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

Since we can't go to the pool yet, we've been finding other fun indoor things to do. Tuesday we went to the library for story time. I was worried how Logan would do, but he actually sat in my lap the entire hour. The storyteller was very entertaining and sang lots of songs so he really enjoyed that. Wednesday we met up with our friends Kooper and Jill at Chuck E. Cheese. We got there right when they opened and we were the only ones there for a while which was nice! Here are some pictures of the kids playing and having fun.

Here's Leah helping Logan with a game.
You can kind of see her new blue cast she got on
Monday. We have actually kept every cast she has had
and have quite a collection in the attic. We have 2 hot pinks,
1 purple, and now a blue, and several slings.

Why isn't this car moving???

Logan didn't want to give up the
steering wheel

May the best tot win!

The girls posing on this new horse
ride/game that was really cool

After Chuck E. Cheese, we headed over by the mall and caught the first Woodlands WaterWay Taxi of the day. We took the tour and then headed back to the mall for lunch and a ride on the carousel of course! We really had a lot of fun!

Today we met up with Kooper and Jill again at Pump-it-Up - one of our favorite places to play. This was Logan's first time to really play there and he had no fear whatsoever. He wanted to do everything the big kids were doing. Here are some pictures from our visit today.

Jill and Kooper coming down the slide after
a journey through the maze and obstacle course

Leah and Logan waiting at the top
of the big slide for their turn to go down

The girls are quite protective over their
little brother. It's almost as if he has three mommies
instead of one!

Tonight one of Stephen's good childhood friends, Chad, came over to visit and we went for a nice dinner out all together. Chad was one of the groomsmen in our wedding and now lives with his family in Japan where he is an agent for NCIS. He has been visiting relatives here in the area this past week and had the chance to come by and see us. We hadn't seen Chad or his family since their going away to Japan party last year. Good times! Here's a link to their family blog to read more about their adventures in Japan http://texansinjapan.blogspot.com/

Cheer Camp videos and pics of Logan

2009-06-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the video of the girls at their Cheer Camp last week.
They had such a good time!

Here's some recent pics of Mr. Logan.......too cute!

Cheeeeese!

My serious face........

Dressing up in Mommy's shoes
and Daddy's cap...........

Look at me!

Leah went back to the orthopeadic surgeon yesterday and found out that she has to wear a cast for two more weeks. Dr. Hammit didn't feel like it was healed enough for her to leave without a cast. I felt so bad for Leah, but she seemed fine with it. I've been keeping them all busy with things to do around town that are indoors so they haven't missed the pool too much. Logan is still getting over his ear infections and bronchiolitis....... so he can't really go swimming right now anyway. So, if we went to the pool, Lauren would be the only one who could swim. So, hopefully July will be filled with many fun pool days!

Rolling with the punches........

2009-06-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

Well.....so much for a stress free summer. We found out this week that Stephen will no longer have a job as of August 3rd. They are "dissolving" the property tax group for Pricewaterhouse so basically his whole group will be out of a job. He is really down about it and it's been hard for him to get up and go to work these remaining days knowing it's basically all going down the tube. I've been up to my eyeballs looking up potential jobs and filling out applications for him online - it is such a lengthy process! Although this was definitely unexpected, we both truly believe that God is control and that there is indeed something better out there for him. Something that will allow him to work closer to home and something that will allow him to be here with us more! I won't know what to do with myself to have him here in the month of August - which is the craziest month for any educator out there. So, we are trying to look at it as a blessing in disguise. There are ALOT of jobs out there that he is totally qualified for so I'm sure the right one will come along at the right time. We lived off of one salary when I stayed home with the girls for 16 months so we may end up having to do that for awhile until he finds something. It's not easy, but it can be done!

Anyway, the girls are spending the weekend at MawMaw and Papaw's house in Huntsville and having a blast! Logan has had two ear infections and a slight case of bronchiolitis so he didn't go. He goes back to the doctor on Monday to make sure he is all clear - I pray that he is because doing breathing treatments four times a day is definitely for the birds! Leah also goes back to the doctor on Monday to get her cast off (hopefully)! Then, maybe we can actually enjoy some summer and go to the pool!

The girls went to a cheer camp this week at The Little Gym over in the Sam Moon Shopping Center. It was at the same place they had their 6th birthday party. They absolutely LOVED it and took a real liking to it. The Woodlands Elite Cheer Company came and did cheers and stunts for them yesterday and gave them a coupon to come and try a class for free at their gym. The girls really want to do it so I'm going to call and get it set up for them. This is the first time they have really ever expressed so much interest in anything so I want to pursue it for them. They've tried gymnastics and dance and liked it okay, but never begged to continue to do it. They did a little performance yesterday for all the moms to show what they learned this week at camp. They had the girls on the front row of the cheer squad and they were really good - Leah especially. I think she is going to be my athletic one......despite the fact that she can't stay out of a cast! HA! I have a video of them from earlier in the week at cheer camp that I will post later today.

Stephen's birthday is this coming Monday so we're going to try and do something fun to celebrate this weekend - we're rolling with the punches!

SUMMER!!!

2009-06-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wow....time for some updates.....well, this past Monday at school was "Beach Day" for the girl's class. Here's the girls posing before school. It was a great day until Mrs. Keenan walked Leah down to my room crying uncontrollably in pain. I knew that look of pain all too well and I thought to myself - surely she didn't hurt her arm again! After a trip to the orthopaedic surgeon we found out that it was injured again and she would have to wear a cast on it for two weeks. This is the same arm she broke back in August, and the same arm she broke in January and had to have surgery on. So, basically, she started kindergarten in a hot pink cast and ended kindergarten in a hot pink cast (with a purple cast in between).

On the last day of school, the girl's had an awards program in their classroom. Here they are before the program started.

Leah was presented with "The Sunshine Award". Mrs. Keenan said it was because she was always bringing sunshine to their classroom with her happy smile!

Lauren was presented with "The Peace Maker Award". Mrs. Keenan said this was because Lauren was always wanting everyone to get along and be happy in their classroom.

Mrs. Keenan also presented every student with a gift from her - a summer journal that she made each of them with a sweet letter to them and a picture on the front cover. I am so proud of each of them and I cried alot during the ceremony. I am sad that they are no longer kindergarteners, but I am excited they will be first graders next year.

The girls had a day with Daddy on Saturday and we to see the new movie, Up. Then, they went out to lunch at Sonic. They had a great time - lots of laughs!

Saturday evening we went to church and afterwards Stephen was baptized in the Prayer Fountain.

There were ALOT of people getting baptized so we had to wait until it was his turn. Here are the girls waiting for Daddy - they were a little concerned about what was going to happen to him in that water and had alot of questions about it.

Here's a picture of Janna Long and Greg Long with their daughters watching the baptisms. They are two of the singers from one of my favorite christian groups called Avalon. I have seen them in concert many times. They have been helping lead worship at our church for the past several weeks. Greg got his start at our church so they are good friends with the staff here so they come and visit quite often. I wanted to ask them for their autograph and take more pictures up close, but it seemed kind of like an inappropriate time. I tried to be sneaky with my camera, but I'm pretty sure Greg noticed I was taking pictures of him. I kind of felt like the papparazzi! YIKES!!!

Here are some pictures I found of them online since the ones I took aren't that great!

Here's Daddy waiting in the forever long line!

Here he is with one of the pastors

that baptized him.

They encouraged me to go out into

the water with him. I was a little hesitant

because I did not bring a change of clothes,

plus the water was freezing! I could tell he really

wanted me to so I did and it was awesome!

Praise God!

So glad to be out of school and finally able to enjoy summer! Now I can just be a mom and enjoy every moment with my babies!

School Carnival Pictures

2009-05-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

Mommy and her girls hanging out
at the school carnival on Friday!

Here's Leah making a bracelet. She also got
her face painted and hair spray painted purple!

Here's Lauren waiting in line
to get her face painted while
enjoying her snowcone.

My crazy team!

Dancing to High School Musical!

Round 1 Pie Eating Contest -
whose idea was this anyway?

Serious Shannon

Crazy Carol!

Snazzy Steph!

Marvelous Melanie!

Picture Perfect Pat!

Jammin' Jen and Jill!

Round 2 Pie Eating Contest -
we all went home smelling like
sour milk! It was really nasty!

And here's two random pics of the REMAX hot
air balloon that came to our school last week.
The girls really thought it was cool and wanted
me to post some pictures of it.

Field Trip pictures to Old McDonald's Farm

2009-05-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the pics from the girl's field trip............Enjoy!

Enjoying a cool treat because it was HOT!!!

So much to do!!!

Going down the BIG slide!!!

Giddee up, ya'll!!!

Just a swingin'.............

Feeding the deer..........could it be Bambi????

Come on, ride the train!

We'll cross that bridge when we get to it - haha!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for our friend Derek, who turned 6 - he is one month younger than the girls. Logan ran around like a wild man - he kept going back to this one ride that had a steering wheel. For some reason, that is all he wanted to do - sit there and turn the steering wheel! He LOVED it when Chuck E. Cheese came out to sing and dance with all the birthday kiddos. He also liked the mechanical Chuck E. Cheese. I wasn't sure what he would think about it - I still have memories of the girls being scared to death of that mechanical rodent!

Logan missed his usual nap time
because of the party and was
fighting sleep big time!

Here's Logan wanting to

touch Chuck E. Cheese

Amazed............

Today we went to church and the girls got to have their pediatrician, Dr. Elahee, as one of their Sunday School teachers. They were really excited about that because they like her alot! We see her at church every week, but this is the first time she has actually been in their classroom as one of their teachers. Actually, the other pediatrician that we see, Dr. Fershtman, attends our church as well. We also saw one of our P.E. coaches from school and several other classmates and teachers at church this morning as well. We are really enjoying attending Fellowship. Last week I signed the girls up for Vacation Bible School in July. They get to take their bathing suits because they will have those inflatable water slides and everything! They are really excited about that. I have also signed them up for a Cheerleading/Dance Camp at the Little Gym and an Art Camp at the Children's Museum. I'm going to keep them very busy this summer so they won't drive me crazy (haha)! I've also printed off the library summer story time schedule - that's a fun weekly event that is free! The library also has a summer reading program - we did it last year, but I think they'll enjoy it more this year since they are reading so well. Leah finished kindergarten reading on a Level 14 and Lauren on a Level 12. A Level 14 is what a first grader should be reading at the end of first grade. So, I am glad to know they are going into first grade way ahead of the game. They have really taken off with their reading and their writing this year - Mrs. Keenan has been sooooooo great for them! I have decided to split them next year for 1st grade, but they'll be across the hall from each other. I know that they will have another great year! This past week, they went on their field trip to Old McDonald's farm. It was supposed to be several weeks ago, but got cancelled because of the stupid swine flu scare. The girls were so disappointed because they weren't sure if it would be rescheduled or not. Well, I was supposed to go, but when I got sick a few weeks ago, I used my last two sicks days. So, Stephen's parents went with them. They met them over there and said it was a blast! They got to feed and pet the animals, ride a train, ride a horse, go fishing, have a picnic lunch, etc. Stephen's dad took alot of pictures, so I'll post some as soon as I get them.

Anyway, I'm sooooo glad to have the day off tomorrow. It couldn't come at a more perfect time! The end of the school year is absolutely NUTS so it's a nice to have a day to try and maintain what little sanity I have left. :)

Relay for Life

2009-05-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

This past Friday night was "Relay for Life" at the College Park High School track. It was originally supposed to be back in April, but had to be rescheduled due to all the torrential rain we had. We didn't get to stay very long since we had all three kiddos, but some of my co-workers stayed ALL night long which is amazing! Staying all night symbolizes what it is like for people who go through all the ups and downs of having cancer - and, that staying determined to fight the disease is a must.........no matter how hard things might get. "Relay for Life" took on a whole new meaning this past year when one of my teammates was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and she is in her early 30's. We are so thankful that she is doing well and in remission now.

Here's a banner with our team name

Here's a picture of some of the
2nd grade teachers who were there
posing with our survivor, Amanda!

Our fearless team captain, Jill!
You go girl!!!

Daddy and his girls having
fun playing and dancing in
the grass - the DJ's had
really cool music playing!

Logan on the loose - right in the big middle of it all! He wandered into other people's tent's on several occasions.

I love this one! Not very often that

I get all three smiling at the same time!

A great time was had by all, and most importantly, there was alot of money raised for the fight against cancer. Until next year.....................

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

Finally.............a new post!!!
We had a great Mother's Day weekend and here are some pictures from church yesterday - it was a beautiful day!

Logan on the loose - that boy is FAST!!!! He is a runner which has taken some getting used to.
My girls NEVER did that! Must be the Y chromosome!

Looking mischievious.............

Cheeeeeeese!!!!

Do I have to smile?????

Sisterly love!!!

My lovely Leah!

My lovely Lauren!

One happy family!

Just the girls!!!

Lauren rode her bike all by herself for the first time yesterday. I was able to get a little video of her doing it - she was so proud of herself! Leah basically taught herself how to ride several weeks ago so Lauren has been anxious to catch up to what she can do. Leah also pulled another one of her teeth yesterday - that makes 4 so far! The tooth fairy has been super busy these days as you can imagine. They are growing up too fast!!! I love being a mom - it is the most rewarding thing in the whole world!

Top 10 Reasons it's been a CRAZY week......

2009-05-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

#1 - I thought I would have to swim home last Tuesday after all the torrential rain we had - we now have a lake behind our school! There were actually people canoeing down the street!

#2 - Talk of the swine flu has everyone in a tizzy!

#3 - I got very sick Thursday morning and was not prepared for a sub at all!

#4 - My friend Jennifer had to leave work on Thursday in order to drive me to the doctor because I was so sick.

#5 - The doctor's office told me I had a kidney infection and gave me a shot of Rocefin - the worst pain I've felt in a long time - I think I cried uncontrollably for 10 minutes.

#6 - I got more sick Thursday night and Stephen had to take me to St. Luke's Urgent Care Facility in The Woodlands (very nice place by the way). We had to brave all the masked fools in the waiting area who all thought they had the dad-gum swine flu!

#7 - I had an i.v. and blood work and they said that I did NOT have a kidney infection. Instead, they said it was something gastrointestinal - go figure!

#8 - I got worse on Saturday and had to go back to St. Luke's again for another i.v. I was in so much pain that they had to put morphine in my i.v. drip!

#9 - My mom had to come and take all the kiddos to Huntsville with her so that Stephen could take care of me!

#10 - I've been living off gatorade, crackers, and Ramen noodles for the past 4 days!

I am soooooo ready for a normal week where no one is sick or injured or hurt or anything like that! Today is the first day I have even felt remotely normal (not that I ever really was "normal") - haha! I'm praying for a healthy and happy week! :)

Astros game

2009-04-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

Today we took the girls to their very first Astros game! They were very excited and asked LOTs of questions about everything that was going on at the game. We had great seats right along the third baseline - I don't think I've ever sat that close before. Here's a few pictures from our day at Minute Maid Park. Logan stayed with Nanny and Grandad because we knew there was no way he would sit still through 9 innings!

Friday at school the girls had their Kindergarten musical. I have some pictures and video to post from that, but I'm having some difficulty getting it to download so I'm going to try sending it from my computer at work tomorrow. They were so cute! I thought they might get shy with all the people around, but they didn't - they were all smiles!

The girls were supposed to try out for swim team and go to swim team rookie camp a couple of weeks ago, but then Lauren got pneumonia and those plans got cancelled. Long story short, we got special arrangements for the girls to try out even though the "official" try-outs were over. My AP at school even invited us over to her house so the girls could practice in her pool. My main concern was that they wouldn't be able to swim the length of the pool without stopping - especially since they haven't swam since last summer. Well, Leah wouldn't even get in the water because she said it was too cold, and Lauren tried but couldn't swim the entire distance without stopping. So, I just decided it was probably best that we not try out this year and save myself some sanity. If they made the team, they have to go to practice every day after school plus be up at 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays to attend swim meets. When you have a husband who doesn't get home until midnight or later and you're a working mom with three kiddos, that's hard to do! The girls said they would rather start gymnastics or dance again this summer and that was totally okay with me!

On a totally different note......while we were picking up Logan from Stephen's parents house this afternoon after the game, I was browsing through some old photos they had saved to their computer of the girls. I just couldn't believe how much they have changed and grown! I just had to post a few of them that just really made me smile!

Happy 6th Birthday Leah and Lauren!!!

2009-04-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Leah and Lauren's 6th birthday! Be sure and check out the slideshow above from their birthday party Saturday at The Little Gym (which is a very COOL place to have a birthday party, by the way)! It was six years ago today that they entered this world - Leah 8 minutes older than her sister. I can't believe it has been that long ago! Happy birthday to my sweet girls! Today is also a special day for my friend Brandy that I work with - her baby boy, Dylan, was born this morning. It's neat that he was born today - Brandy and I joked about the possibility of that happening, but didn't really think it would. Happy birthday baby Dylan too!!!!

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

My little man at Easter service Saturday
at our church here in The Woodlands.
Isn't he so handsome????

My precious Lauren at
church on Saturday afternoon.
MawMaw bought them the
cutest dresses, bows, shoes,
and purses!!!

My sweet Leah -
just gorgeous!!!

My happy little trio!

And.....sometimes not so happy...

More pics from church.....

On Easter Sunday, we went to Huntsville to our old church (UHBC) which is where I grew up, and where we got married almost 10 years ago. My parents still attend there, so we went to church with them and then to their house afterwards for lunch, treats, and egg hunts!

MawMaw's famous bunny cookies!

Logan on the loose in Papaw's

houseshoes!

Pretty Easter baskets from

the Easter bunny - he came to our

house and even made a special

stop at MawMaw's house too!

MawMaw trying to corral all the

kiddos for the egg scavenger hunt.

Logan's p.j.'s he got from the

"Easter Bunny" - this suits him

perfectly!!!

Last, but not least, a random

pic of Logan from last week. He has

this wagon that he likes to get into

and have the girls pull him around the house.

Usually he gets out before I can get my camera

out quick enough, but this time I got one!

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter holiday! Also, say a prayer for Lauren this week. We found out today she has pneumonia. She stayed home with Stephen's dad today and is taking breathing treatments every 4 hours. Luckily, it is a mild case and we caught it early so the doctor is not too concerned. However, I'm a nervous wreck about it! I just pray she heals quickly and that we'll still be able to have the girl's birthday party this weekend. The doctor said she should be fine, but she'll just have to take it easy the next few days.

2009-04-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

This past week at school has been a crazy one! Here's a few photos from yesterday....

Here's some of my team during
the egg hunt for 2nd grade. It was
about to rain and the wind kept
blowing our rabbit ears off!
Someone asked us if we were
supposed to be the "Playboy
Bunnies". Hmmmmm.......
I don't think so.

Here's Shannon and Jill dancing
to Easter music and entertaining
the kids at recess yesterday.

Here's Amanda and I dancing
and having a blast!

We also had a baby shower yesterday after school for Brandy. Her sweet baby boy Dylan is due any day now. He is a truly a miracle baby and we can't wait to meet him!

Here's our team before the shower.

Brandy opening her gifts.

Sarah's looking very
mischievious!

Pat and Melanie making a mess

cutting cake!

Shannon and I -

punch servers.....

extraordinaire!!!

Happy Boy and Avalon concert

2009-04-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of Logan that I just thought was too cute! This was on our way to church yesterday and he was just a happy little fellow clapping and singing to the music.

Avalon was in town this weekend and they were supposed to be attending an event, but it got cancelled for some reason. So, they called FOTW and asked if they could come by and sing. Evidently, Greg Long, one of the members, used to be a worship leader there and is good friends with alot of the church staff. We got there early and sat on the front row. We even got to talk to Greg Long for a little bit - he was walking around down front right before the service started. Here is one of the video clips I took of them singing one of their most popular songs, "Testify". It was soooooo awesome! We waited afterwards to get autographs and pictures with them, but they never came out. I think they were getting ready to sing for the next service. Oh well, maybe next time. At least I got some awesome video.

"Morning with Mom"

2009-04-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Friday was "Morning with Mom" at school and the girls and I got to school early to enjoy some yummy, yet very sugary, donuts and juice. The cafeteria was PACKED as well as the parking lot. We barely got a spot! Our school is so big that we have to have Mornings with Mom three days in a row to accomodate everyone. The girls got to have "Donuts with Dad" back in the fall so they were excited that Friday it was my turn.

We had a great day today - played at the park, went to a birthday party, and then had dinner with some friends that we hadn't seen in a really long time. I'm really looking forward to church in the morning. I found out today that one of my all-time favorite christian groups, Avalon, is going to be leading worship at our church in the morning. Evidently, Greg Long, one of the group members used to be a worship pastor there and they're all here on a visit and decided to come by the church and sing. I have seen Avalon in concert many times and they are awesome! Stephen and I went about 3 or 4 years ago and saw them at the Pavilion. My friend Shawn went to church tonight and said she was able to get their autographs, took pictures of them with her daughter, and even got to chat with them. How cool is that???? I hope we'll be able to do that tomorrow. I'll post some pictures if I can get some good ones. Until then......TTFN!

We have officially joined FOTW!

2009-03-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

It's official! We finally were able to join the church we've been attending since last August. They offer these "Membership 101" classes and it seems like everytime we'd try to attend one, something would come up and prevent us from going. It was a lengthy class (2 1/2 hours), but so informative and interesting. We are excited to be a part of something so big! Here's a link to their website if you want to check it out http://www.fotw.org/main/ They have alot of information on their upcoming Easter services and activities.
We also finished our 6 week Bible study tonight on The Relationship Principles of Jesus. It has been a great time of Bible study and fellowship that I have looked forward to each week. We're all kind of sad that it is coming to an end. Our group has vowed to try and meet regularly to help keep each other accountable. Hopefully, we'll be able to do it!

On another note, Relay for Life is quickly approaching in April and Stephen and I are going to participate again this year. Our goal is to raise $100 each. So far, I have raised $50 and poor Stephen hasn't gotten any donations yet. However, there is still plenty of time! If you go to the link below you can find our names listed on the team, Teachers Against Cancer, and make a donation online if you wish. If I can find 5 more people to donate $10 each, then I will have reached my goal. You can read more about the program on their website, but it is a great charity event to raise money for those battling cancer.
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09PL?team_id=415078&pg=team&fr_id=17584

Here's a photo of some of our team (co-workers) from last year's event.......

Laundry with Logan!

2009-03-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

There is a little fellow and his name is Logan Wade.....
He's so very good at laundry, I will never need a maid!

Top ten reasons to hire my little man!!!!

Number 1: I can open the
door all by myself!

Number 2: I always peek inside
to make sure it's ready to go!

Number 3: If I see some "stragglers"
(clothes still left behind) I will gladly
go in after them for you - at no
extra charge!!!

For really big jobs, sometimes
I have to go in deep!

Number 4: Getting back
out is no problemo!

Sometimes I do have to
stop and take a little rest.....

Whew.....that was a workout
for sure!

Number 5: I have other
methods of getting the job
done. There is no place I
cannot reach!

Number 6: I'm great at

pulling - making a mess is

my specialty......

Especially when the

clothes are still wet.

Do you have a problem

with that?

Number 7: I always check

to make sure everything is

working properly.

Number 8: I know how to slam

the door over and over to work

the kinks out.

No hands!!!!!!!!!!

All done!!!

Number 9: Sometimes

I can become cranky and

downright irritable.

Number 10: But, despite that,

you won't mind because I'm just so darn

cute and irresistible! Who could resist

this mischievious face??????????

Here's some video of me. I thought it was so

funny how I could get this balloon to bounce

off the back of my little head - I'm so talented!