My Birthday Baby

Today my baby girl turned 6 years old. She is sensitive, sweet, and head-strong who loves to be playful and spend time with her family.

Today, she wore her special "Birthday Girl" shirt (of course that I made for her) and took treats to her class friends. Luckily, my conference time at school was during the time they were having treats so I got to paticipate while they were singing to her and sharing her day with her!

Happy birthday Boo! We love you...may God bless the journey you still have to take as he has blessed our journey together this far!

First Days of School

We are officially off and running with 3 kids in school. Ashley actually missed her first day of school due to a stomach bug. When she was asked to describe her firs day of school she said she spent it in the bathroom throwing up...we had to explain that wasn't the first day of school, it was actually today.

Here are some pictures of my sweet babies growing up into a sensitive kindergartener, passionate second grader, and a typical, yet amazing seventh grader. I hope this year proves to be a fantastic success for us all!

Ashley and Mrs. Logsdon!
Clara and Mrs. Martinez

D-Day

Tomorrow is D-Day!

I am so nervous about my baby girl starting kindergarten and my oldest baby going to middle school. The first day of school this year is going to be rather hard on me and my emotions, but I am sure it will prove to be a great day!

Here's to all of my kids' teachers and a great year! I hope that Ashley gets a great foundation to her academics, Clara blooms in 2nd grade, and Richard is successful in all of his 4 AP classes on top of football, basketball, and band!

Life with 3 kids in school is going to be a roller coaster but oh so much fun!

Family!

Tonight my family got together, as we have so many times, to celebrate! Tonight we celebrated my cousin Bobby and his partner-for-life now Esmer...Finally Got Married! I am so happy that they finally made it official although Esmer has been a part of our family for about 7-8 years now. It was a load of fun seeing all the kids dance and have a great time and even my grandma danced and let loose a little. I love all of my family and really enjoyed seeing everyone there and missed those who couldn't make it!

Here's to a Life Full of Laughter for Bobby and Esmer...and my entire family!


My cousin Bobby, his bride Esmer, and me


Keith and I

Clara and Berkley dancing!

Erin, me and mom

me and Richard dancin'

Even Grandma danced!

Lindy and Gavin

Clara ready with her new dress!

Our Trip to Georgia

What a great way to start off the summer! We took a 12 hour car ride to Franklin, GA (about an hour outside of Atlanta) to visit Keith's cousin and his family. We visited them for the first time last year and had a blast. Our families meshed so well and we can't wait to see them again! We were there for only 4 days but what fun we had just simply hangin' out and takin' it easy. I think the kids are still trying to recover. Thank you Scott family for having us invade your house, space, time, and pool for the week. We love you guys!


The kids hanging out on the porch and Christine and I just sitting by the pool.

Singin' Karoke

Richard doing flips in the pool

Lilly doing flips too

4 wheelin' it! Piper and Clara When you have 25 acres...this is a fun activity! Wouldn't fly here in the city!

A late night snack by the pool

Typical teens (preteens) - texting by the pool

Swimming

and more swimming!

Memorable Milestone

My last Preschool Graduate - My baby is going to Kindergarten!








Mimi even came out to see her graduate!

My the road always rise up to meet you Ashley! Congratulations on becoming a "big girl". I am so excited that you will be at school with me and Clara next year!

I'm Back!

It has been a while since I have had the time to post anything. We have been so busy with football, cheerleading, band, choir, work, school, home, family, etc. Need I say more. Here are some pictures of what has been keeping us busy!




Richard's Intermediate school choir concert - Final one

Intermediate school band - we made it through the first year of playing the mini-tuba.

Our last year of youth football.

My football star - the Center!

More pictures to come of the girls events!

Texas Record of Snow

What a day today was....to wake up to 3 inches of snow already on the ground and STILL have to go to school.....so we made the journey in and got everyone safely dropped off to their school. Well, as they said it would, it continued to snow (heavily at times) ALL day long. At 12:30, the call came...Keller ISD is closing early. A statement my principal said would 'never' be said...so I worked through lunch calling all 20 parents to let them know we were closing schools down...most which were coming to get their student anyway. At 2:00, I dismissed my 4 students that were left and gathered my thoughts to head home.

Here is what we came home to....almost 8 inches of snow...before 5:00 p.m....and it is STILL snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW is all I can say! No school tomorrow...KISD was proactive this time and called it before 5:00 in the morning...Bravo KISD Board!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Richard!!!!!

I know that this is quite a few weeks late but....



HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD!!!



12 years ago, my only son came into this world. What a blessing the past 12 years has been...even with it's ups and downs. I believe he growing into a fabulous young man with an awesome future. I can't wait to see what phenominal things you will do with your life!



I love you Buddy!

Happy Birthday!

One Month Down In 2010

Well, so far 2010 has blown by!

This is what we are 'predicting' in 2010:

1. Kids getting older - they will be 12 (Richard turned 12 in January), 8, and 6.

2. Ashley ( my baby ) will start kindergarten!

3. Because of #2, NO MORE DAY CARE bills...yippee!

4. Richard going to middle school next year

5. Paying off debts

6. Becoming more active with the kids - walking a couple of nights each week

7. Game nights at home

8. summer vacation in Florida

9. many unexpected things - hopefull great things!

What do you predict you will get to do this year???!!!!

Christmas Baking

After my friends were over this weekend, and Ashley was the only one at the house while they were over. I had a major problem. Because my friend made these cute 'reindeer' candies and Ashley got to help and you know she had to let Clara know that she got to help 'bake' while Clara was gone. I don't even have to tell you how well that went over. NEEDLESS to say, we made more reindeer candies tonight so that Ashley could show Clara how they were made. Oh Geez! Girls! But I did have fun baking with them and watching their anticipation of what they would taste like.








Finished product is suppose to be a reindeer face with an m&m nose - the pretzel is the ears.

Craft Day/Weekend

Well, several of my friends and I got together, as we do every year, to make some crafts. This is because we are so poor that we can't afford to buy gifts for all of those special people in our lives like our kids' teachers (because we have a zillion of them). This weekend we started Friday and night and didn't end until Sunday aftenoon - off and on throughout the entire weekend. But what a blast and how rewarding it was to see the finished product. Here are just a few pictures

HOPE THEY ENJOY THEM AS MUCH AS WE ENJOYED MAKING THEM!!!!!!!!



A decorated picture frame


All the pictues frames during the process of completing them.



"FAMILY" boards we made. These aren't finished until we tie the curly wire and a huge bow on the top. They turned out cuter than this picture does them justice.

!

Back at Thanksgiving

Over the week of Thanksgiving, Keith's cousin and his family came to spend the week with us. We had a crazy but fun week. Over the course of that week, we had 4 adults and 8 kids staying with us. (Our 4, their 2, and then Raylynn and Ryan (Ray's kids) came to stay with us to. We had a blast. A couple of things we did was visit the JFK muesum at the 6th Floor Book Depository and The Ft. Worth Stockyards. Both were so much fun for those from out of town and those who live here. I personally have lived in DFW my entire life and NEVER have been to the Book Depository Muesum. It was fun having conversations with Richard (he was the only one really old enough to know all about the events it describe). Here are some pictures of our week's events!



Ashley and Piper (She's 8)


Brother's from another mother (Keith and his cousin)

The Stockyards - Lilly, Clara, Piper, Ashley, Raylynn, and Ryan

Lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse - Jeremy, Christine, and Piper

More Lunch - Clara, Lilly, Ash, and Ricahrd


The Kids with JFK and Jackie O.

Super Bowl

Richard's football team wasn't overly successful this year but they fought hard. They had a 4-5 record but they fought to win their playoff game which landed them a spot in the super bowl. To top it off they played the super bowl at the high school stadium which got the boys hyped up!

Each team fought hard and played till the end. Richard's coach has said all year "You play till the end"...and he addressed that that statement is true in every life lesson. You never give up and that is what the Falcons have done. They WON!!! 20 - 14. What a season. It was so rewarding as a parent to see your child work hard for 3 months for something and be so proud of themselves. I love my little #11!!!!

Way to go Falcons!!!!

Richard getting his trophy from his coach!

Football in the Fall

Today was the most perfect weather for a football game. Richard's team played at the big field today (the high school) and they have a perfect record there. They have a perfect record at the little league fields too but it's the loosing end. The weather was perfect, the score was perfect, and Richard even caught an interception!

Mimi even made it out to see the game!

Go Richard!!!!!!!!

Go Falcons!!!!!!!!