VBS - Aloha Style

This week was Vacation Bible School at our church. The theme was "Outrigger Island - Living God's Unshakeable Truth", teaching that we can stand firm on God's truths in a world filled with "shifting sand." The Hawaiian theme was a lot of fun. I enjoyed leading a class and the kids had a great time attending.

After VBS in the mornings, we had swim lessons in the afternoons, and those just about wore me out - so much running around! The lessons continue for another week, so I'll post about those next week sometime.

No potatoes for Camden

A couple of nights ago, Robert was reading Camden's devotional with him. The story was about making good choices and involved a little boy who wanted dessert, without eating the good food first. Robert commented to Camden, "That sounds familiar." By the end of the story the boy decided to eat his potatoes before having dessert. So Camden says, "THAT doesn't sound familiar." To which Robert replies, "Why not?" ... "Because I wouldn't eat my potatoes!"

He may not always make good choices, but at least he's honest!

Robert's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Robert's 40th birthday with a party Saturday evening. As my sister and brother-in-law were leaving they told us that a friend of theirs had commented at his recent 40th birthday party, that he considered the measure of a person's success to be in the relationships he has with others. Judging from the 50 or so friends and family members who joined us for Robert's celebration, I would say he is definitely successful!

Robert, I love you and believe you are a great success as a husband, father, and friend. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

A special "thank you!" to my brother-in-law for serving as official photographer for the event and also to my sister and Mom and Dad, for helping me get the food out, and for keeping the table stocked during the party - 50 people can eat a lot of food! I couldn't have pulled it off without you all!

Happy 40th, Robert and Rhonda!

Just a quick post to say "Happy 40th Birthday!" to Robert and his twin sister, Rhonda. Robert is on the left in the picture, and Rhonda on the right. We had a great party for Robert this evening. I'll post about that in the next day or two, but I'm exhausted and heading off to bed now!

Keeping Busy

I've been working all week on preparations for Robert's 40th birthday party, which is tonight. There's nothing like a party to motivate me to clean! I've been pretty focused on that, but we still managed to squeeze in quite a bit of fun. Here's a little of what our week looked like:

Monday - Cullen and Camden played in the sprinklers while I did some shrub trimming and outdoor clean up. (The kids also helped me with weed pulling.) Kenna didn't want to play in the sprinklers, Cullen only lasted a few minutes, Camden had a great time, but I think Dixie enjoyed it the most.

Tuesday - Cullen got to have a playdate with his friend Caeden. Kenna and Camden got to go on a massive Wal-mart trip with me.


Wednesday - I had the carpets cleaned in the morning. The mom of one of Cullen's friends, Renee, offered to have all three kids over to play - God bless her! Renee is an only child, so having my three over quadrupled the kid population in her house! In the afternoon we went to the mall and played Lunar Golf. Two of the kids had won free passes at Cullen's birthday party, so it was an inexpensive way to spend some time out of the house while the carpet dried. I also took the kids for haircuts. (See previous post.) That night the boys had a sleepover in the gameroom.





Thursday - We spent a couple of hours at the neighborhood pool in the afternoon. I had planned for us to go in the morning, but it was storming. I guess the rain sent the rest of the neighborhood off doing other things all day, because we had the pool mostly to ourselves.





Friday - The kids did a great job entertaining themselves yesterday. In the afternoon, Robert took them to meet my parents to spend the night there, so Robert and I could go on a date for his birthday and so I could do last minute prep for the party today, without my "helpers". Praise God for grandparents! Thanks Nana and Papa!

Uncle Kevin Haircuts

I took the kids to get haircuts today. Cullen and Camden wanted theirs cut "like Uncle Kevin's". Their cuts are not actually quite as short as Kevin's, but here are the results:

Happy Father's Day!

Well, I wish I had some great pictures and stories of our Father's Day celebration to share, but I don't. We had a very low key celebration this year. Robert left town mid-afternoon today to work in Houston this week, so between packing for that and church this morning, we just didn't have much time for celebrating. We did have breakfast in bed for him yesterday and we took the kids to see "Kung Fu Panda". Let me just say, it's been a long time since the five of us have seen a movie at anything other than a dollar theater and man, has it gotten expensive! I couldn't believe what it cost to see a movie at 11:00 in the morning! Okay, I guess I'm sounding really old and cheap right about now. The kids loved the movie (Robert and I like it too) and they spent yesterday afternoon pretending to Kung Fu fight each other - and no one got hurt!

Anyway, the lack of celebration today in no way reflects our feelings for Robert as the father in this family. He is wonderful beyond words and God has blessed us abundantly in him. His commitment to our family and dedication to doing what is right for us, even when he has his own struggles to deal with, is a great example to all of us of putting other first. I love you, Robert!

I also feel I have to share a Camden story. At lunch today we were having the "What did you learn in Sunday School?" discussion. Camden informed us that they learned how you shouldn't trick people and then went into a pretty accurate telling of the story of Rebecca and Jacob's deceit of Isaac. Accurate, that is, until he got to the part about what Jacob stole from Essau. At this point in the story he told us that Jacob took Essau's "meteorite". Birthright...meteorite...what's the difference really? It was all Robert and I could do to keep from falling on the floor laughing. Luckily, Camden was so engrossed in telling his story that he didn't even notice our shoulders shaking as we tried not to laugh out loud!

Camp Update

When I picked Kenna up from camp yesterday, she was all smiles. The theme for the week was "Got Joy?" and she certainly seemed to have it. She was chattering on about the camp cheer, and the camp song, and the counselors waking them up every morning by singing off-key, and the carnival they had one night, and how she only took one shower all week. (Apparently there were a lot more girls than there were showers and by the time it was her turn it was time for lights out - I have a feeling she wasn't trying really hard to be at the front of that line!) I had told her she could call home anytime but to at least call us once on Wednesday, just so I'd know how things were going. Well, she did call on Wednesday, but not until about 10:45 at night - Robert had to wake me up to talk to her! There's just something wrong about my 10 year old staying up having fun later than me! She told me yesterday that she only got homesick once and that was on Thursday; I asked why she didn't call and she said she forgot. Okay, I get it, you missed us so much that you forgot to call, huh? I'm actually really grateful that she had such a good time that she didn't get homesick. My little girl is growing up!

Where is the Good in "Good-bye"?

Well folks, that big ol' moving van parked across the street from my house can only mean one thing... the dreaded day has arrived for our good friends, the Woods, to move. They're only moving about an hour away, so I know that we'll still see them from time to time, but I also know it won't be the same as those twice daily walks to school, looking out the front window to check on our kids playing together, or popping across the street to borrow some cream of tartar or a can of chicken broth (both things we have actually borrowed from each other recently.) I am truly happy for them as they begin this next adventure in their lives, but I'm sure going to miss these people! As I was looking back through our pictures for a few to include in this post, I found more than a few, and to tell you the truth I just couldn't decide on any to leave out. So, be forwarned, there are a lot of pictures to follow; I promise it's not every picture I have of them, but it may seem like it as you scroll down through them. So here goes... a walk down memory lane:




March 2005. Emily, Kenna, and Natalie at Kenna's 7th birthday at Libby Lu's. Kenna was only able two invite two friends for this party and she chose Emily and Natalie without hesitation.

August 2005. Camden and Mr. Brian.

October 2005. Kenna and Natalie. This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of these two girls.

December 2005. Making gingerbread houses and bowling. What a great time we had this day over Christmas break.

May 2006. Natalie, Emily and Kenna trying to avoid the sprinklers in our backyard. They couldn't wait to get out in the sprinklers, but then seemed to not want to get wet!

October 2006. At the Pumpkin Patch and Trick-or-Treating. Not sure how we're going to find our way around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating next year without the Woods with us.

May 2007. Ridgedon and Cullen at Cullen's 6th birthday.

May 2007. Emily, Kenna, and Natalie. Ice cream at Beth Maries on the last day of school.

August 2007. Walking to school on the first day of school. Walking to school sure won't be the same next year.

October 2007. At the Pumpkin Patch. The Woods had just found out about Adiah, their daughter they would be adopting from China, right before this trip and if you look closely, you can see her picture in Emily's hand.

December 2007. Making gingerbread houses.

March 2008. Playing in the ice and snow.

March 2008. Roller skating at Kenna's 10th birthday party. Emily and Natalie are largely responsible for teaching Kenna to rollerskate in the months prior to this party.

May 2008. Cullen, Camden and Ridge playing Pokemon in front of the Wood's house.

June 2008. In our front yard as the packers worked at the Wood's house yesterday. They did a good job keeping Adiah entertained for just a little while.

June 2008. I realized yesterday that I didn't have a single picture of me and Amy together, so I asked Robert come out and take this one.

Okay, so if you made it all the way to the end of this post - thank you. Obviously I've spent a bit of time on it, but it's been cathartic (yes, there are a few tear drops on the keyboard!). Amy, Brian, Emily, Natalie, Ridgedon, and Adiah - we will miss you greatly!

Off to Camp!

The past several days have been a whirlwind! After finishing school last Thursday, spending the weekend out of town, and then enjoying a visit from friends today, I took Kenna up to the church at 5:00 for her to head off to Girls Camp for the week. She'll be gone four nights; she's never been away from us for more than one night, except for staying with relatives. She was super excited and didn't seem at all anxious about being away from home. I'm already wondering what she's up to - I'm sure it's not sleeping, even though it's over an hour past her normal bedtime! I have a feeling she's going to come home one tired, but happy girl.



The bus driving away with my baby on it. (Am I a goofball, or what, taking a picture like this? But I was proud of myself - I didn't cry!)

Good Friends

Today we enjoyed a visit from our friends, the Wards. They moved to Kentucky about three years ago and we have really missed them! We're so glad they got to come back to Texas and visit us for the day, but their time here was way too short!

Silly Kids:

Wonderful Weekend

This past weekend Robert and I attended FamilyLife's "Weekend to Remember" conference at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine. We had a great time. We have a strong marriage and I believe one of the keys to that strength is making investments like this in our relationship. The kids got their own "weekend to remember" in East Texas with MeMe and CeCe and also swimming at Aunt Tonya and Uncle John's house with their cousin Lexie. We are so blessed to have family will take our kids for the weekend, and actually seem to enjoy it! Thanks!

Summertime is here!

Today was Kenna and Cullen's last day of school. To celebrate the start of summer vacation, we went to Beth Marie's on the square this afternoon. What better way could there be to start the summer than with yummy ice cream?!