Back to School

The kids started back to school this week and everyone had a good week. I'm amazed at how quickly the days went by! I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I had planned - but by Friday I was getting into the routine and did have a productive day. The kids seem to be falling back into the school routine pretty easily, although Kenna doesn't like having to get up early.

Here are some pictures from the first day of school:

The boys ready to head off to elementary school

Camden's first grade teacher is Mrs. Wylie

and we are excited that he is in her class.

Cullen's third grade teacher is Mrs. Miller. We already knew Mrs. Miller and her family, so we're happy for Cullen to be in her class.

At the end of the first day, Cullen told me "I think I'm going to like third grade!" Love to hear that! Cullen's best friend (who lives across the street from us) is in his class, so that's just one more reason to be excited about this year.


Kenna started middle school this year. I really am having trouble believing how fast she is growing up!

It was kind of strange to just drop her off and not go in to take the traditional pictures with the teacher and sitting at the desk. I did take a couple of shots from the car. We have an open house on Tuesday when we'll get to see her classes and meet her teachers; maybe I'll sneak a few pictures that night!

Here she is checking her schedule before getting out of the car

to make sure she knew where her first class was:

And walking up to join all the other sixth graders waiting to get into the building:

She had a pretty good first week, although she did have some troubles with her locker. The door is really hard to open, and she was late to several classes. Hopefully that will be fixed by next week. She said they spent most of the week going over rules and procedures. She's looking forward to next week when they "actually get to do something."


I know it's going to be an adjustment juggling two different school schedules, but I think it's going to be a great year!

Girls' Getaway to Grapevine

Kenna and I had a fabulous Girls' Getaway this past Friday and Saturday. We used the Passport2Purity curriculum. It consists of a parent's manual, a workbook for the preteen, and audio messages on CD. Then you just plan your own weekend based on your schedule, budget, and interests of your preteen. The material isn't perfect, but it was a great way to guide us through some discussions about issues Kenna will be facing in the near future - such as peer pressure, dating, and purity. There are two main purposes for the weekend - to talk about these topics and to have fun together. Just spending time away helped strengthen our relationship and hopefully the investment we made will let Kenna know how important she is to us and how much we care about the challenges she'll face as a preteen and teenager.


We went to Grapevine for our getaway and had a blast! We took a lot of pictures to document the weekend - here are a few of my favorites:

Shopping for school clothes at Grapevine Mills Mall:

Lunch at Chili's:

We stayed at the Gaylord Texan. They have a gorgeous atrium and on weekends in the summer they have special entertainment, like "The Golden Cowboy":

There are all kinds of rocks in the hotel atrium and Kenna loved climbing up on them. I'm not sure if you're really supposed to let your kids climb on them, but there were no signs, and no one said anything to us.

We had fun walking around the hotel atrium taking pictures:

Kenna was so excited about swimming in the hotel pool:

On Saturday morning, we finished the last couple of sessions of the curriculum, checked out of our hotel, and then headed back to the mall for pedicures:

We enjoyed a celebration lunch at the Rainforest Cafe:

At lunch, I presented Kenna with a gift that Robert and I had picked out for her. It was a Willow Tree box with a mother and daughter on it and inside was an inexpensive cross necklace. Under the necklace was the big surprise - an MP3 player! She's been wanting one for awhile now and this seemed like a good occasion to splurge a little (although we did get a pretty good deal on it at Costco). She was super excited about it and has been listnening to it almost nonstop since.

I'm so glad that we took the time and made the investment in this weekend. I know I will treasure the memories and I think Kenna will too. And hopefully we laid the groundwork for open communication as Kenna aproaches her teen years. I still am having trouble getting my head around the idea that she'll start middle school tomorrow and that she'll be a teenager in a year and a half! I don't think I'm ready for this!!

Fun Times with Good Friends!

After surviving the hamster drama on Monday, the rest of our week was a lot of fun!

We spent Thursday visiting with our friends and former neighbors, the Woods. The kids had a great time playing and swimming and Amy and I enjoyed the chance to talk and get caught up on all that's going on in each other's lives.

The beautiful girls:

The boys didn't really stand still long enough to get a posed picture:

Somehow I ended up without any pictures of little Adiah, but she is just as cute as ever and really talking up a storm now! She was napping when we left, but I did get the rest of the kids to pose for this shot right before we got in the car the head home:





On Saturday, we spent the afternoon on Eagle Mountain Lake with our friends, the Edens.

Everyone had a blast tubing. The lake was really rough, which made it that much more fun!

Kenna and Camden:

Even I gave it a try with Cullen:

The Edens had recently gotten a power board. Caleb had yet to try it out, but after seeing all my kids try it, he got his nerve up and did fantastic:

In most of the pictures Camden has his tongue stuck out - he must have really been having to concentrate:

Kim had brought some stale bread and before we headed in, she and the kids fed some very hungry ducks.

It seemed as if they were paddling in from all over the lake to get some of that bread!

A big thank you to the Woods and Edens! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends to share good times with!

The Hamster That Lived!

Oh my word! What a day we had yesterday. Our family went through a full range of emotions - horror, sadness, anger, guilt, disbelief, and finally joy. It's a long story, but one worth telling, I think.

It all started yesterday morning when we decided to clean Kenna's pet hamster's cage. It hadn't been done in awhile, so I insisted she not just change the shavings, but take the cage apart and hose down all the pieces. We left the pieces outside in the sun to dry and put Pip in a large plastic tub in Kenna's room - absolutely no way he could get out. Well, he didn't get out, but unfortunately the door to her bedroom got left open and the dog got in. That open topped plastic tub was no deterent for Dixie when she saw a potential new toy - an animated one at that! The kids were upstairs watching TV and I was at the computer when I heard a really strange barking. I went to investigate and as soon as I realized that the dog was in Kenna's room, I knew what was happening. I ordered the kids to stay upstairs and went in the room to find Dixie standing over a limp mound of wet fur, seemingly bewildered as to why her new toy was no longer moving. I grabbed a paper towel and put the body in a shoe box. There was no doubt in my mind that the little guy was dead; I didn't even check for a pulse (not that I would know how to do that on a hamster anyway). I put the box in the garage and broke the news to Kenna - much weeping and wailing ensued.

After a short while, I decided leaving the body in the garage in the Texas heat probably wasn't a good idea and I moved him to a shelf in the laundry room. We went about the rest of the day, me feeling guilty about leaving Pip out of his safe cage for so long, just so we could get it "really clean" and also wondering if it was me that left Kenna's door open; and Kenna feeling sad and crying off and on all day.

When Robert got home from work, he went to view the body. He came out of the laundry room holding the box, saying in disbelief, "This thing is alive!" Sure enough, there was Pip walking around, sniffing his new shoebox "home". Seriously folks, you may be questioning my judgement, but considering his condition after the "incident", the thought never crossed my mind that he was still alive. I'm still having trouble believing it.

So, Robert and Kenna proceeded to take Pip to an emergency vet, who checked him over, gave him an injection of fluid, proclaimed that he had probably been in shock, and said it looked like he would be fine. Much rejoicing followed!

Praise God - He cares about the sparrows, and apparently hamsters ,too!

16 Years of Wedded Bliss

Okay, so maybe every moment hasn't been blissful, but I'm grateful for every day of the 16 years that Robert and I have spent as husband and wife. We had a great "staycation", while the kids spent the weekend with my in-laws. (Thanks!)

We ate out (Carrabbas Friday night was amazing!), slept in, did some shopping (new phones for the house - romantic anniversary present, don't you think!?), saw a movie (Star Trek at the dollar cinema - so glad we caught that one while it was still on the big screen; it was great and just wouldn't have been the same on our TV at home), and enjoyed hanging out in a very quiet house. We spent some time looking back at pictures from our wedding and talked about how young we (and everyone else) looked. We also talked about how much we've changed and grown as individuals and as a couple. I can honestly say that I love Robert more today than I ever would have thought possible 16 years ago as a starry-eyed, idealistic bride. I'm looking forward to all that the years ahead will bring!

Happy Anniversary, Robert!

August 7, 2009

Fun Times at the Water Park

We had fun yesterday with some friends at the water park. It's hard to believe we only have a couple of weeks of summer left before school starts!