Thursday, July 19

NICHOLAS TURNS 8 YEARS OLD


My little Nicholas is 8 years old!!  I can hardly believe it!! I want him to be little forever!
8 years ago today, our Lord Jesus blessed us with little Nicholas exactly on our 7th wedding anniversary!!! Our anniversary has never been the same since!  We now share our special day with Nick and it makes for a real celebration!

First we opened presents.....he was SO EXCITED to open his presents from his family
 I love how this picture is all feet!!
 Look at that sweet face!  Madison picked a GREAT present for her brother
 Mom and Dad's was next......He LOVES everything Legos!
 What could this one be......it's from Savannah....
 Almost opened....
 MORE LEGOS!!!
He was so grateful the gifts we gave him.  We then went out for a family evening
 We took the kids to the "Movie Tavern" where you watch a movie while you eat dinner!
 Here is Madison and Daddy sitting in the bar area where you wait in until your movie is seating
 There's the birthday boy with Daddy
 Here is me and my Savannah
Of course, let's not forget me and my Honey!!  We celebrated 15 years of marriage today!  Wow, what a wonderful and blessed life we have!
Happy Anniversary Sweetheart

NICHOLAS' BIRTHDAY PARTY
(THE NEXT MORNING)

Since Nicholas has a summer birthdate, he has always had parties with the family, usually on vacation.  This was his first "All friends" birthday party ever!!  He had a video game themed party at our house....
 Here is the 50ft game truck pulling up!  The boys could not wait to see inside!
 Here are some of the boys waiting to play the video games
 It was all dark and air-conditioned inside the truck.  There were huge TVs and tons of games for them to play
Here is Nick, Joey and Ryan
at a pivotal moment in their game
 Then it was time for Pizza and cake on the back patio!!  He had a Paul Frank Monkey themed cupcake-cake
 Here is my little man
 Here are all of the boys, bellies full of pizza, ready to sing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Nicholas
 He was having the BEST day!
Look at that SWEET little face!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY!!  YOU ARE SO SPECIAL TO US!!
WE LOVE YOU

Saturday, July 14

MADISON GOES TO SUMMER CAMP

My little girl went to camp!!
I could hardly believe that I let her go for an entire week!
Jeremy and I prayed a lot about it and really felt like this is what our Lord wanted for her this summer
It was hard to see her go but she was really ready and excited about it.
 We sent her to a super Catholic camp called "The Pines"
 Here is her cabin called "St. Lucy"
 I bought her new matching bedding to make her room super cute and feel a little bit more like home using her favorite colors
 There is her most important "Nunny" Bunny that she just cannot sleep without
She is growing up so fast.....she was excited about her cabin
 Her great friends right before we left for home......leaving her there!!!  These girls have grown up with Madison and all come from strong Catholic families.  She could not wait to spend the week with her sweet girlfriends

CAMP ACTIVITIES INCLUDED
The girls got to try their hand at archery, zip lining, horseback riding, swimming, different sports, tons of outdoor games, crafts, singing, and all of the other fun "traditional camp activities" all with the focus on Jesus.....Madison said that her favorite part of camp was Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament that was brought to life with praise and worship!

FORWARD.......ONE WEEK LATER........
 Here we are picking her up after that LONG week apart!  Wow, that was a happy day indeed!
 She gave all of her friends.....some new and some old.....a couple of last hugs before we all parted ways
 The girls had a lot of fun together that week
 They could not stop laughing.... I love seeing so much joy in my little Madison's face
 After we left the Pines, we went with our friends into the small town of Mineola (about 30 minutes away from camp) to eat lunch together at the famous AND YUMMY "East Texas Burger Co." before our 3 hour journey back to Keller.  We found this really cool stoplight in this antique store after lunch for Nick's room (for his birthday) and so all of the kids posed for a picture with it.  Everyone looks so cute, but the stoplight pic is so random

Jesus Christ, thank You for giving Madison this very special week alone with You.  She is Your sweet daughter and just loves You so much!  This camp was such a great opportunity for her to grow in holiness, furthering her delicate journey home to You.

Wednesday, July 4

4TH OF JULY AT THE LAKE

Thank you Jesus for this wonderful country and for an opportunity to celebrate it with our close family and friends each year

Every 4th of July, Jeremy and I host a family reunion at the lakehouse.  How blessed we are to be able to have so much love adorning our lake home each summer!! As crazy as a house full of cousins can be for a week, what a memorable and FUN event it is!  Jeremy's brother Jason, his wife, Destin and there 3 girls come from Lousianna, Jeremy's sister Jennifer, her hubby, Michael, and there 2 kids come from North Carolina, Grammy and Oompa, Jeremy's parents come from Utah, Nana and Papa, Jeremy's grandparents, come from Keller with us, and my parents, sister Kelley and husband Chris with my sweet twin nieces come from Coppell (other side of Dallas).
  Here are some pics of most of the kids....after a tiring day on the boat, wearing their matching jammies.....Grammy (Jeremy's mom) buys all of the grandchildren a matching set each year.  Look at how much our kids and Jeremy's brother and sister's kids look alike
 My Madison, cousin Lindsey, My Savannah and cousin Rebecca
 Nicholas, cousin Elizabeth, cousin Madeiline, Madison, cousin Lindsey (back) cousin, Jason, cousin Rebecca, and Savannah
 Here are the grandkids with Grammy and Oompa
 Cousin Jason ADORED his uncle Jeremy!!
 Here are the GREAT grandkids with Nana and Papa
 Jason is such a button......Nicholas LOVES having a boy cousin!!
(Cousin Lindsey and Madison)
These two girls are always being silly!!
 They could seriously be twins!!
Oompa with little cousin Jason...I love this pic

What a fun and relaxing the visit was this year!  We cannot wait until next year so that we can do it again!