The Rodeo

We've lived here for over three years and have never been to the rodeo that happens to be two minutes from our house. So last night we snatched up an opportunity to go to the rodeo with the Williams and the Stanleys. We had such a great time! Below is a picture of 'the gang' watching a cowboy ride a bull.
Lindsey, Leah, and Jackson were the ones that couldn't wait to do a pony ride.
Erin, Beth and I joined the kids for the chicken dance while Anthony and Brian so kindly offered to stay back, in the stands, and watch our purses. :)


We were out, doing the chicken dance, and just wondering what kinds of pictures Brian was getting of this. :)
The kids got to go out and try to catch a calf. How often do these guys get to do that?






We stayed fairly late, so these are a little dark, but this lady brought her horse up for the kids to pet.

Braden and Reece

A couple of weeks ago, when Austin was heading out to spend the day at a friend's house, Reece asked me: "Can I play with a friend just by myself?" It was so sweet and sincere I wanted to make sure and remember to act on his request when there was an opportunity. So often our get together s include entire families. So....last week Reece got to bring his buddy, Braden, to Marbles Museum for some one on one 'buddy time'. It was such a great time that I know Reece will not soon forget - and he is already planning his next 'alone' play date.
This picture just cracks me up because Braden is squirting Reece with the water hose. Normally I would assume it was Reece being the clown, but Braden really showed sides of himself that I hadn't seen before. :)
Don't all kids just want to jump right into their peas and carrots. These boys did!
Grocery shopping for their Moms of course! :)



After a couple of hours at Marbles, I suggested to the boys that we go out for ice cream. You never did see two boys run out of a fun museum faster. Reece is notorious for wearing his food and he doesn't care either. Well...today he did start to care just a little as Braden kept looking at him and saying: "Reece, you are all messy!" After awhile Reece started saying that to Braden and Braden immediately grabbed a napkin to wipe off any trace of 'messiness'. These two personalities were just too cute for words! I'm sure there will be more adventures for the two of them at some future time...

Last Swim lesson for the season...

It's been quite a busy month. We've done family tennis on Monday nights, swim lessons on Tues. and Thurs. nights, Hand bell choir and Awanas on Wed. nights, and soccer practice Friday nights with Saturday morning games. Whew! As Beth says: "It's fun to start activities and it feels good when they end." That is so true and we have hit the end (with the exception of a hand bell concert) of all these activities. A relaxing summer looms ahead. Swim lessons have ended just in time as our pool opens this Saturday!

Reece smiled through all of his lessons and he moved up to the Eel level.

Lindsey working on her backstroke here. She moved up to the minnow level.

It was great to see Austin's stroke development over the winter. He worked more on diving and the butterfly kick. And he also moved up to the fish level.

Reece's enthusiasm is just a sight. His teachers sure seemed to enjoy him, too.

Awana Awards Ceremony

The kids have worked very hard all year memorizing scripture verses. It'd be fun to go back and see how many verses they all learned, but I'll save that for another day. Here are some pictures of all three kids walking up to receive their awards.

Austin, Lindsey and Reece each finished their books, for the year, but Lindsey is excited to have finished all of her Sparky books and next year she will be moving up to T and T's. Good job guys!

Historic Yates Mill

This week Heather and I took the kids to a new park. The GPS (thanks Aunt Nar) gets both of us directionally challenged gals to all sorts of cool places. This park was no exception.
Seriously.....a sign like this one??? Seriously??? The kids did not care and in fact were excited at the prospect of seeing snakes. Heather and I on the other hand.....were not very calm, cool, and collected. And then a lady yells out: "Be careful kids and look out for any copper heads." Seriously......was that necessary?? Heather decided to make a lot of noise and sing: "La, La, La, La, La." I had never heard of doing this, but -had you been at this park Tuesday afternoon, you would have heard two ladies singing: "La, La, La, La, La"I MUST give a shout out to Heather, because while I was snapping pictures, she was making sure we still came home with six kids.


I'm not too sure if Austin is helping Reece or trying to push him in. I'll think good thoughts on that one.
Oh yes....AFTER they were right up to the water (picture above) I see this sign that says we weren't allowed to be there.And this sign I missed too, but my camera caught it.


I'm telling ya, these kids wanted to explore EVERYTHING, but Heather and I hung back a little from the tall grasses.

Such Fun being a Mom..

There are really no words to express waking up -on Mother's Day -hearing cooking noises in the kitchen. Brian was busy making a french toast recipe he had found online for my "breakfast in bed". He also knew better than to snap pictures of that. :) The french toast was topped off with our home made strawberry syrup that we've had, in supply, since picking strawberries a couple of weeks ago.

Imagine Brian's surprise when he says I can go ANYWHERE I want to go for lunch and I pick Jason's Deli. My friend, Suzanne, took me there a couple of weeks ago and it is my new favorite place to eat. All I wanted was their delicious salad for lunch. The best salad greens anywhere. When you look up their menu, it says their foods do not have MSG, high frutose corn syrup but items are natural and organic. They have a great kid's menu and even their mac and cheese, milk, and peanut butter is natural/organic. They absolutley have the best hummus I have ever eaten, at their salad bar. The kids really like the free ice cream at the end. It's just an awesome place!!

These two had fun making me jewelry boxes, courtesy of Home Depot. They still have fun wearing the Home Depot smocks all around the house.

Reece always begs to let them make a silly face. He would pose like that all the time if I'd let him.

Worship Team Cookout..

This past weekend Brian was able to get together the Worship and Rhythm teams for a family cookout. We've had a few of these and it is lots of fun to see everyone - including spouses and kids.

Here are some of the ladies that Brian is privileged to work with.

We were able to get a few family photos.....Jeff (on worship team) with his family.

This park has a great playground for the kids to hang out together and have fun while us adults get to catch up with each other. Thankfully we were able to eat and talk awhile before a thunderstorm hit the town. Such a fun night!