Tuesday, June 28

MOMMY'S LITTLE HELPER

My little boy is so sweet and loving.  He just wants to please me, but sometimes I do not give him the chance to do so.  Madison and Savannah are at Challenge Catholic Day Camp this week and I was home working on making some invitations for a shower that I am hosting for a friend.   My Little Nick came up and asked to help.  Embarrassingly enough my first thought was "no, he is too young to help...he will just mess them up".  Then a whisper from the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I was missing out on a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Nick and encourage him in his calling to serve.  He ended up being the biggest help.  As I measured and cut ribbon after ribbon, he punched 2 holes in each invitation (very precisely I must say).  In the end, we made 50 invitations!  He punched 100 holes altogether.  Thank you Jesus for giving me the Grace to listen to your gentle Words!  I love my little ones and I promise to try and always say yes to them when they a yearning to spend that time with me or just to help.  We also played 3 games of "Don't brake the Ice", 2 games of "The Fishing Game" and a VERY long game of "Candy Land" (It went into extra innings...we kept almost winning and then being sent back to the bottom)....These were the best hours that I spent today.
 We pretended that we had an invitation company and had to get an order out
 What a happy employee I have!
 So careful and diligent!
We got them all finished in half of the time!  I cannot believe that I almost missed out on all of this joy!

Monday, June 27

FAMILY EVENING

We had the best family evening tonight! We all went swimming and ate dinner on the back porch.  We all played in the pool together and jumped off of the rock water fall!  It was fun to be a kid again. Daddy cleaned up leaves around the pool with the leaf blower, and then moved on over to where the kids were playing with a little surprise!
 Wow, that leaf blower blew that water hard!! The kids were screaming with excitement....it was so funny!
 Ha Ha Ha from Daddy!! He loves his power tools!!

Do it again!!
More Daddy!! Let's see if I can make it to the edge of the pool!!
 Our outdoor dinner consisted of cheese and chicken quesadillas (should have taken the picture before we ate)
 Cheese and steak quesadillas
We had lime rice with cilantro (served in paper bowls for easy cleanup)
Then I laid out a plate of fresh fruit and the kids decided that flinging grapes off of their spoons was much for fun than eating them!  Who can get it the farthest?!?! 
Where would they learn such a game?
Hmmm...
We had an awesome evening with our family!!  We finished up with a bath and family game before prayers and bedtime.  Lord Jesus, thank you for my family!  I love them so much!

Friday, June 24

BASKETBALL STAR!

My little basketball star finished up her Mavericks Basketball camp today with an awards ceremony.  She won 4 awards!  She also got to meet and play basketball with none other than DIRK NOVINSKY!!  Jeremy was so sad to have missed that!  He would have snuck in as a camper if he would have known.  The camp kept it a secret to avoid media and crowds.  Savannah said that her head was at the level of his hip!! They did not take pics with Dirk, but we got his autograph. What a fun and intense week for Savannah.  She is such a great sport!
 They made Basketball trading cards for each kid.  Here is Savannah's cute pic on her trading cards
 They performed some of the drills for the parents.  She did so good!
 Sweet girl
 Handing out prizes
She had so much fun this week...but she is totally worn out!

Monday, June 20

MAVERICK'S BASKETBALL CAMP

Savannah is going to a week long Mavericks basketball day camp.  She goes every day from 9am-4pm and plays basketball the entire time.  She is having such a great time!
Here is Savannah and her good friend, Abby the first day of camp.  Savannah is the smallest one at the entire camp!!  She has the hugest heart, though!!! My little peanut!!

Sunday, June 19

FATHER'S DAY WEEKEND AT THE LOST PINES RESORT

We always spend our Father's day weekend at our yearly Baylor Orthodontic Alumna family weekend.  It is always so fun.  We have been going to the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort in Bastdrop TX (outside Austin) for the past 5 years or so.  It is such a great place...very relaxing and family friendly!  We spend hours floating on the lazy river and just watching the kids play in the sand and swim. We meet up with the same people each year and it is such a great place to go and get caught up on each other's lives.  The kids love seeing their friends each year.  We were all in residency together and have moved apart since then, so seeing everyone is a treat!  The kids grow so fast!
 All of the kids dancing to the DJ's music after dinner on the last evening
 Me and my love, Jerms!!
 Our family after the kids awards...my kids look forward to receiving a metal every year for something special they had done that weekend....Nicholas got his for being the best "sand hole digger", Savannah got hers for being the best under-water swimmer in the lazy river, and Madison got her for sneezing out a tooth at lunch one day!!
 My sweet babies!!
 Still my sweet babies...they love to make us laugh!!
Returning home on Father's day in the evening.  Jeremy was upstairs "playing Legos" with the kids...poor tired daddy!
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Wednesday, June 15

MY HANDSOME BOYS!!

My sweet little Nicholas just wants to be a big boy.  He has been begging for a dressy suit of his own for a long time.  We found two little boy's suits today while out shopping.  They were so precious that I could not help but take them home.  Here are some pics
 The pants are a little long, but look at how stinken cute he is!!!
 Here is Daddy teaching him how to tie a "real" tie (his uniform tie for school is a clip on)
 He was so excited!  What an enduring moment between father and son!  I am so blessed to have these 2 wonderful men in my life
He really wanted the navy suit because it was the same color as Daddy's.  Dear Lord, help him to stay young just a little bit longer.  I just don't think that I will ever be able to let him go.
 I love you my sweet little man..don't grow up too fast!

How did our Mother Mary ever let go of her precious baby, Jesus Christ so gracefully.  As the Angel Gabriel professes in Luke 1:28 "Hail Mary, full of Grace"   I pray to my Father in Heaven for that same Grace, striving to emulate Mary's beautiful and loving motherly example, while struggling to live her strong example of faith and obedience as written in Luke 1:38 "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word"  I love the prayer "Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue"(below), because I like to think how it must have been for Mary to be the mother of Jesus and how she was so gentle and nurturing.  I feel like I can connect as a mommy. In only this way, we are just two mommies adoring and loving our little boys with all of our heart
Mother Mary...I adore and love YOUR little Boy with all of my heart, above EVERYTHING!

Friday, June 10

LAKEHOUSE TIME AGAIN!!

We have been sneaking out to the lakehouse whenever we get the chance to enjoy the beginning of summer.  The days are already hot but the evenings are very pleasant and breezy.  Jeremy got a new boat and he just cannot get enough!!! "Give this man some boat"!
 Savannah and her buddy, Max!  The kids have been tubing a ton and really enjoying the water!
Nicholas driving the boat as Daddy reminds him to steer away from the side of the lake

Thursday, June 9

CAR CONCERT

When you are in the car all alone, do you ever sing as loud as you can in the car and imagine that you are doing a concert?  Well, I do.  I thought that my concert was going pretty good so I decided to snap a pic of myself during a very emotional ballad!  People are so funny...especially when no one is looking.  I just envision the concert hall full of fans holding up their lighters in the air!!!

Wednesday, June 8

THE NEW FEATHER TREND

I took the girls to get feathers beaded into their hair for a summer fashion statement.  These things are crazy popular and pretty cute. 
 Savannah getting her feather beaded into her hair
 Look how cute the finished product is....so trendy!!
 Now it is Madison's turn for her feather
Her friend, Isabella came with her mom to get a feather too.  Here are the two friends together showing off their new style

Tuesday, June 7

TINY DANCER

Our sweet Madison had her annual dance recital for LifeSong Dance.  A Christian dance company, where she has taken dance for the last year in a half.  She just lit up the stage with her bright smile!  I cried just watching her.  We were not allowed to take photographs during the performance, so you will have to just imagine her floating across the stage!  Here are some before and after pictures with family and friends.
 Madison and her sweet friend, Natalie in the dressing room before the recital
 Madison, Grammy, and Nana after the performance
 All of the girls!
 A proud Grandma and Grandpa Courtney
 The proud brother and sister and our cousins were there to cheer her on!
 The VERY proud Mommy and Daddy!  We love you sweetie!
Madison and her Grammy again!  What a great night!