Snow much fun

Our neighborhood, Bridgeland, is so good to us! They bring in snow every year for the kids to play in! It is so much fun for all of our southern kids who never get to see any accumulation!The kids had a blast making snowmen...
dancing...
having snow ball fights...
drinking hot chocolate, and, of course, hanging out with Papa and Peppy!
Oh what fun it is....

Here it is...well, almost

It's the church property!! They've been leveling it this week -- getting it ready for 18 inches of fill dirt before we start building in just a few months!! We are so excited!
Tonight, we walked around the property talking about what is to come and praying God's blessings on it all! (We also saw a few coyotes while we were out there!:)

Unique Bridal Bouquet

This is the bridal bouquet from a wedding this past Saturday! All the bridesmaids carried fresh floral bouquets as seen in the background. However, the bride made this unique bouquet with over 100 broaches from family and friends - many who have died! It was gorgeous and such a great idea for her something borrowed and old! There were pieces of jewelry from grandparents, great grandparents, and wonderful family friends! I was so impressed!

School on Friday?

6:30 a.m. conversation with Chase:

Chase: What's today?
Me: Friday
Chase: Do I have school today?
Me: Yes, Honey.
Chase: But, don't we get two days off?
Me: Yes, but you have to go to school on Fridays first.

Afterwards, I realized that I might have forgotten to tell him that Fridays is usually a school day. For the last year, Friday has been his "daddy day" since Ray C. has the day off and he only went to preschool Monday thru Thursday! I guess I just assumed he knew that!

Kindergarten...Again

UPDATE: Everyone made it home safely on the bus and had an AWESOME day! Thomas has a kid in his class that lives 4 doors down from us that we haven't met before! That's exciting! Chase was surprised that he saw LOTS of his baseball and football friends throughout the day, and Mary Frances just loved the whole thing! Looks like it will be another great year!



I just took my BABY to kindergarten! I didn't think I would be emotional, but I couldn't help myself after he cried on the way because his best friend doesn't go the same school!

Sigh....we took Chase in first, and he went straight to his seat. He agreed to a picture with me but wasn't overly excited about anything. He happily sat down and did his thing. So, we left!



Next, we went right across the hall to Thomas who was already sitting in his seat and wanted NOTHING to do with us! When I asked him if he was okay, he said," just go, please!" He wouldn't even take a picture with me...we were actually embarrassing him!

So, off to Mary Frances' class! She gladly took pictures and talked to me. Thank goodness for my one girl to help me feel better.

I didn't think I would make it outside without bursting into tears, and to top it off, everyone kept saying the usual, "Hey! How are you?" Thankfully, Ray C. was there to answer. I just gave a polite smile and kept walking with the door in mind!

Now, I'm at home all alone, missing all my babies! It was a great summer with lots of fun packed in! I am really excited about the school year and especially the routine, but right now I just can't believe ALL three of my children are in elementary school!

Sigh...

Armpits

Thomas just asked why his armpits are so sweaty! He said, "my shirt is getting wet. They're like upside-down bath tubs."... And I've been giggling ever since!

Disney World Vacation

Here's a little view of our Disney World vacation! Uncle Glen came along and brought two of the cousins - Abigail and Finley! We were excited they were able to share the fun with us!

Because Finley was too small to ride some rides, we were able to truly benefit from the FunPass system and their "buddy pass" to ride our favorite rides several times with no wait time!!
The Swiss Family Robinson tree was really cool. I tried to convince the kids to read the book. Maybe they'll read it if I just get it for them anyway!
Everyone was excited about the Incredibles, and the "Crew Members" helping organize the pictures loved me! :) I overheard them saying that I should be doing their job...which could have meant I was too bossy....but I told them that I'm a wedding planner which means organizing quick pictures is a must!
Couldn't resist a picture in front of the fake city scape in Hollywood Studios!
Everyone's favorite...After Thomas poked his eye, the monster chased the kids! It was hysterical!
We did everything we could stand in two days! It was a great trip to Disney World! Too bad we have to downsize our house now...just kidding!

Homemade Ice Cream

Mary Frances has been begging to make ice cream. So, we decided we'd make it yesterday and invite the kids in the neighborhood as a "farewell to summer". Because it is still summer, we started our day at the pool...enjoying the outrageously HOT sun for a little while. We met a new family who just moved to Houston 2 weeks ago, and one of the girls is Mary Frances' age. So, at Mary Frances' suggestion, we invited them to our ice cream party.

About 10 neighborhood kids showed up along with the two new girls and their mother! We were so excited they were able to come, and they were so excited to play with some other kids!

We made my great-grandmother's vanilla ice cream in the electric churn and CHOWED down. All of the kids loved it! But before serving it, I asked everyone if I could pray for our new school year. So, we all bowed our heads and thanked God for a safe and fun summer and asked Him to bless our year in school. It was a great experience! I am so thankful that God has sent us to this place to be His light! (AND, I'm thankful for Mama Taylor's Recipe!!)

Here it is if you'd like to try it. I have adjusted the amounts to fit in a modern churn!

Mama Taylor's Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
1/2 gallon whole milk
1/2 can Borden's Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar

Just mix it all together and follow the directions on your churn! Be sure to have a bag of ice and Ice Cream Salt, as well!

Ah....Summer

Okay..sorry for those of you regulars who keep checking to find nothing! It has been an amazing summer, but I just haven't shown it on the blog! I promise that I will sit down on Monday (the first day of school) and begin recording everything for your enjoyment!

Here are some things to look forward to:

1. Disney World
2. Visiting Community of Hope (the first church in which we served)
3. the Sr. High Mission Trip to Atlanta
4. Visiting with family
5. SOMEBODY IN OUR FAMILY IS MOVING TO TEXAS!!!
6. a new patio
7. There's an APP for that...
8. and more...

Talk to you soon!

You Woke Me Up

Chase is usually the first person up in the morning and has been waking everyone up for YEARS -- usually to get him something to eat! So, you can imagine our amusement this morning when he was the last one to wake up and came down all grumpy, complaining that we had all woken him up!

Funny that he's almost six and this is the first time this has happened! It was 8:00. No one really felt sorry for him! :)

Jessie Turns 30!!!

I flew out to Georgia to spend the week with my sister for her 30th birthday on Wednesday!! What a fun week it has been! We showered her with gifts all day long. We had cake & balloons, and we went out to three different restaurants all in one day!

We surprised her at work when I showed up wearing a sandwich board announcing her birthday and loaded with pictures of her as a child! We sang Happy Birthday to her in the lobby of the doctors office and even offered some of her cake to the patients!!

Then, we took her to lunch at a favorite Mexican restaurant where we gave her more gifts, of course!

When she returned home from work, we went out to eat at The Last Resort - a fabulous Athens restaurant - where her friends Beau and Angie joined us as a surprise to her!

Then, after dinner, we decided to walk over to Hiwire, a nice new bar downtown, and surprised her with 20 of her "closest" friends waiting for her in the back room! It was such a fun day and night!


Happy Birthday, Jessica!! We love you!

Enjoying May

It has been so pretty here, lately! We've tried to enjoy being outside as much as possible! We're really looking forward to getting our new patio finished next week - hopefully!!

Growing Up

After a few years of use, my children have all decided they are too "big" for these cups! (sigh.......) Every little step towards independence is both exciting and sad. I'm so proud of who they are becoming, but these little things remind me of the little people I'm going to miss! :(

Bridging to Brownies

Mary Frances' Daisy scout troop bridged to Brownies last week. We had a fun party to celebrate their accomplishments after the ceremony!Each of the flower buckets (yes, I did reuse them) had a portion of the Girl Scout Law sticking out of it to remind us that we are girl scouts at every stage!

The girls actually walked over a bridge to symbolize the transformation.
As they walked over and received their Brownie Pins, they removed their Daisy smocks, and we placed them on the railing of the bridge.
Check out our new "Batch of Brownies"!!

Rodeo Carnival (lost post)

Somehow, this entry never posted...so here it is...

After several years of wasting my money on rodeo/concert tickets for the kids, I decided to only take them to the carnival! Mary Frances didn't get to go, as I mentioned in an earlier post. So, each of the boys was allowed to take a friend!

I love this one!

Mom's Munch 2011

For FOUR years straight, I have had the wonderful pleasure of attending Mom's Munch! It is our preschool's celebration of Mother's Day. Chase has been looking forward to it for months! He could not wait for me to come to his school so that he could shower me with handmade gifts and serve me breakfast!We had a great time together. We are all starting to get a little sad about him graduating from preschool this year. We decided to put him in the Bridge program instead of kindergarten this past year, and it was a great decision! He could have gone to kindergarten before, but I KNOW he is ready, now!

His class consists of only 7 boys (no girls) and their precious teacher, Mrs. Zarazee. The boys have all grown this year, but one unique thing Mrs. Zarazee has given them is a unique awareness of surviving breast cancer! They all know what the little pink ribbons are, and most of them even enjoy wearing pink just to make her happy! I don't know how she will be able to let this group go!!
Mom's munch was a blast. I loved spending time with Chase and his friends, and I received a beautiful flower pot with some seeds to grow some flowers!

My Latest Event...

I recently planned a 50th birthday party for a past bride and groom! I had such a great time planning it and wanted to share some of the pictures with you!

After traveling an hour and half from Houston, it was more than 5 miles down a dirt road with lots of twists and turns! So, it was necessary to guide the guests with 6 or 7 different signs pointing the way. I placed a sign everywhere that I originally stopped wondering which way to go. They said, "not yet", "almost there", "keep going", "next gate", etc. I got great response from the guests saying there was a sign every time they started to wonder if they were going the right way! :)

I had custom water bottle labels printed that said, "Happy Birthday, Susan" and had a big 50 on them! They looked great on the boxes of baby wipes we used to clean our hands after eating the messy crawfish!
The band, Zydecane, performed all evening. They were great! Their voices were wonderful, and they certainly kept the party alive!
Silver, Purple, and Black were the colors for the evening. Purple, because it is Susan's favorite, and black, because it was her 50th! Silver was the best compliment color to go with them!
So, we used galvanized buckets to plant purple impatiens for the tables. The table cloths were burlap material. It made for a very unique look!
I put up as many purple lanterns as the wind would allow before I finally gave up! The wind was brutal! It's amazing that the entire centerpieces didn't blow away!
The happy couple - married for less than a year!! They have been such a blessing to us and our church. Their love for the Lord and obedience to his requests is an inspiration!

Out of the mouth of babes....

I found this "story" in Mary Frances' folder this week! Apparently, some of the neighbor's think it's funny to use the word to rhyme with their baby sister's name! Needless to say, I was slightly embarrassed that she wrote this story at school!

Last preschool payment

I gladly paid my last month of preschool today! I will greatly miss Foundry Faith Academy, but I am looking forward to having all my babies at one FREE school!!

Happy Easter

Mary Frances just asked ms if she could have a horseback riding party in 2014!! Can we call her a planner?