He's a keeper

Lunch with Papa G.

Papa G. loves lunch dates...especially with his only great-granddaughter!

Lucky the Kitten

Well...when you rescue stray animals, this is the thanks you get...more cute, stray animals that you no are not going anywhere!  This is Lucky..so named because he is the only one in the litter to survive since his mother is only 8 months old.  I came home during my lunch break and discovered him with the umbilical cord still attached, but mama kitty was taking good care of him!  (This picture is actually a few weeks old, but isn't he adorable?)

Rocking the Guitar

Thomas is doing great on his guitar! He learns a new song almost every week, including several worship songs. He loves to give concerts to anyone who will listen, but I love to listen when he's practicing. That's when he sings, and he has a great voice! I can't wait to see where this leads!

Visiting with Grayson

We were excited to have some time with Grayson to show him around our crazy lives.  One of our favorite things to do in March is Rodeo!  So, we took him to see it all, and we got him to help raise some money for our new school playground!

Still Champs

The team played 6 games in a tournament this weekend, and lost by one in the championship game last night. It was a weekend full of baseball!

Handsome Boy

Chase asked Jessie to go on a date with him to Chilli's and then told her to wear something cute! Of course, he was sure to dress up for the occasion too!

Go Rockets!

We got to go to a Rockets game and talk to one of the players afterwards!  Super fun!  The kids all play Upward Basketball.  So, it was the Upward night at the game!

What does Grandaddy do?

While visiting with Grandaddy one day over spring break, he showed the kids what he does when he's at work...building projects.  

When I Grow Up

This is my favorite Thomas story in the last few months.  Here is the best I can do on who said what...

Teacher: Today we're going to talk about what you want to be when you grow up.  You can be anything you want to be!

Thomas (to himself): "Oooo....I want to be an astronaut"

Teacher: You can choose anything you want.  The sky is your limit!

Thomas:  Dang it!

This is the perfect example of how Thomas' brain works!!  I love it!!

Blue Angels

Ray C. is always up for adventure!  So, we made a stop at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida on our way back from Monticello. The kids really enjoyed getting in the planes and simulation machines. Ray C. enjoyed the history, and I stressed trying to keep up with everyone going in 4 different directions!  

I love these pictures because they are perfect examples of the boys' personalities!  

They really do crack me up!

Cousins

 The kids always have so much fun hanging out with their cousins!  I hate that we live so far away and don't get to seem them more often.  The kids miss them so much!

  Ray C. had fun teaching the kids one of his favorite pastimes - squirrel hunting!  And with about 800 acres of farmland, there was no shortage of squirrels (or trees for them to climb in)!

 Girls!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mary Frances!  

The Boyd Farm

It's always fun to visit our family on the farm! 

 The Boyd kids!

 The boys

 picnic at Papa and Peppy's

 Everybody loves Grandpa Duke!

Furby

Mary Frances really wanted a Furby for Christmas - an orange one, to be exact!  So, I am happy to announce that we have added a new pet to our family -- happy because this one requires no food or care when we are gone!

Furby has brought us some great joy over the last few weeks!  She is hilarious!  She talks her own funny language, and you never know what type of mood (mode) she will be in when she wakes up.  It could be pirate mode, where she talks in the third person.  Or, she might be in "girly girl" mode which is really "valley girl".

Christmas Eve

There is definitely something special about celebrating the birth of Jesus in an unfinished church building!  This is an evening we will not forget!

5th Annual Mother/Daughter Tea Party

The tradition continues... 

Mary Frances and I have so much fun putting this together every year!  It is so much fun to be girly and share it with our friends!  Every year we invite new friends that we have met and the friends we have kept all this time!  I know we will treasure these times forever!

 Abby and Chrissy Benton have been to every one of our Houston Tea Parties!

Leahanna Moore is married to one of our worship leaders at Foundry.  Tquan, her husband, also teaches Thomas guitar which has given Mary Frances the chance to make some new friends!  Caty and Cianna have been wonderful friends, and we love getting together with them! 

 We are so happy to have family here with us now!

 This year's group of girls!

Tiffany and Maya Murrietta have been good friends from church, as well!  

Thankful for Friends

We have been thankful to have our lifetime friends from Georgia visiting us this week!  It has been a wonderful week visiting with our friends, shopping, eating, and following Thanksgiving traditions begun more than 20 years ago!

Mary Frances tests for Yellow Belt

Mary Frances and Chase both started Tae Kwon Do this summer, but Chase had to stop once football started.  So, Mary Frances is ahead of both boys and was able to test for her yellow belt a week or so ago.  She's the third one from the right on the back.

 And she's pretty good, too!

 The first test was lower key with only Mary Frances and Chase testing, but this test was a big deal.  There were about 15 students testing for either their orange or yellow belt!

 Check out that kick!  Don't mess with her!

 I love these action shots with her hair swinging behind her!

 Counting to 10 in Korean while doing push ups...

She did a great job and earned her belt! Yay, Mary Frances!

Dewberry Farms

Jessica and I took some of the teenagers to Dewberry Farms last week to run through the corn maze and act like teenagers.

 We had a great time, but we did cheat in the corn maze!  Some of the boys figured it out, but the rest of us were just wondering around!

 Sweet girls!  We have a great group of girls!

 Madi is fun no matter what she's doing!  

 Had to snap this silly picture of Tabor and Ashley.  Tabor was making fun of the girls.  Now whose laughing? :)

 Jessica and I had fun rolling the kids around in this tube.  They were all over the place!