Yay for BSF!

BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) is BACK! We are studying Isaiah this year. So excited! It is such a privilege to study the Word of God with so many women eager to know God in a deeper way and desiring a more vibrant relationship with Him!

And the best part about it....

Natalia gets to come along with me!!!! Yay! You don't understand, you see, I moved to the night class several years ago in hopes that my kids could go with me once they were in First Grade. Well...until this year, Natalia's level has not been open, but this year IT IS! It's wonderful. It's great! That's what I've been wanting...but, one small problem. She has soccer practice on Monday nights from 6 to 7. BSF begins at 6:55. What to do, what to do. I've been praying, thinking, justifying....and all those things you do before you make a decision.

Dave and I have decided that studying the Word of God has more eternal value, therefore, Natalia will be leaving soccer practice just a few minutes earlier (even if the coach doesn't like it very much) so that she can go to BSF and study Isaiah. ~We've had decided to put God first. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." -Matthew 6:33

Natalia will be learning so much! She will be memorizing one verse a week, will learn and sing hymns, will share with her small group the answers to her daily Bible study questions and finally, will be learning how to do homiletics! Amazing, absolutely amazing.

What a blessing to study the Word of God along with my daughter! I know it will not be easy, oh...but so worth it!

Let the Brainwashing Begin...

We decided that it was time for the indoctrination to begin! The day didn't start off all that well, but by the time we got there...everybody was ready to have some fun!

I don't think Luke was really into the game. He was more into taking pictures,

bothering "Mr. Matt", eating junk food, spilling drinks and looking at everything through his toy binoculars...

Natalia was more into wearing the gear, eating junk food, talking (very loudly) and playing with "Mrs. Elizabeth".

Carson and Dave, on the other hand, were into the game 100% and also into all the A&M traditions that go along with it. Carson never took his eyes off of the football field! He was completely interested in the whole experience. He never stopped asking Dave questions about the game.

I couldn't even get Carson to take a picture with us!

After the game, we were able to walk on the football field (a first, even for Dave). Carson was in heaven! He asked Dave to race him to the end zone. He could imagine himself being a football player! You could see it in his face.

If you see closely though, I don't think Luke is very convinced about the whole thing just yet (not sure if he wants to be an Aggie or a Longhorn)! Still, lots of work to be done!

Luke's Last First Day of Preschool

Last Tuesday was Luke's first day of school. Where has time gone?! I cannot believe this is Luke's last year of preschool! Luke was so ready to go back to school. He loves his teachers and he is enjoying seeing so many friends from last year, church and Bible Study Fellowship (BSF).

I even had to take some pictures of Luke with his gun...he insisted. He was even posing for the camera.

First Day Back To School

We had a great summer and hopefully I'll blog about it one day (who am I kidding!?). But for now, here are a few photos of my First Grader and my Third Grader!!! Wow, time has gone by so fast.

Dave and Carson with their First Grade teacher, Mrs. Kalkbrenner. Mrs. Kalkbrenner was Dave's First Grade teacher many, many years ago. Can you believe it? And now, she is Carson's teacher.

Natalia and Mrs. Nordstrom ~ 3rd Grade

Praying for a great school year!

Summer Time!

Very proud of Natalia and Carson. They had a wonderful school year!

Carson got a trophy for perfect attendance! Way to go Carson...

Can't believe Carson is a first grader!

Carson and Mrs. Canent on the last day of School

Natalia got Perfect Attendance, All A Honor Roll and First Place on AR with 284.6 points (103 more points than 2nd place). Woohoo Natalia, way to go!!!!

Proud Daddy

(Sorry for the quality of photo, but this is all I have.)

Last day of school was hard for Natalia. She woke up saying that she wished it wasn't her last day of school because she was going to miss Mrs. Celeste. She is a wonderful teacher and I think I'm also going to miss her...

Natalia writing a Thank You card for Mrs. Celeste all by her self. I almost cried after reading it!

One last picture with some of Natalia's classmates and Mrs. Celeste.

Don't let Natalia's smile fool you. She almost cried.

Happy Summer!!!!

Happy 8th Birthday Big Girl!

When did this happened? Natalia is 8 years old! Hard to believe that she already is 8. Someone...please make time stop. It's going by way too fast.

Tuesday evening, the day before her birthday, Papi and Mami came to Beaumont to help Natalia celebrate. My parents offered to take her anywhere for dinner and she chose...take a guess...Chick-fil-A (like mother like daughter). Later, they went to Barnes & Noble.

The next day, Natalia was supposed to go with Daddy, before school, to play tennis (like they have been doing once a week for some time now) and then out for breakfast, but she was way too sleepy from the night before. So, Daddy cooked her a special breakfast and I made her some chocolate covered strawberries and cherries (her two favorite fruits).

Papi and Mami brought her McDonalds for lunch, per her request of course. Later, they picked Natalia and Carson up from school and they went straight to Chuck E. Cheese to continue celebrating. Will they ever get tired of Chuck E. Cheese? ~I'm really not sure...

Immediately after all that, we headed to Sartin's for some bbq crab! Natalia's favorite! After all you can eat crab...we ended Natalia's special day at Marble Slab!

O.K. so all that was good, but then Grannie and Papaw hosted a little family party at their house on Saturday night. We had hamburgers, fruit, chips, cookie cake, ice-cream and lots of toppings. The kids enjoyed the slip and slide and just spending time with their cousins Solomon and Tytus.

And finally, Natalia celebrated her 8th Birthday with her friends from her soccer team, school with her bff, Hannah! What fun time they all had. Every girl got the piece of their choice and painted it however they wanted.

Natalia & Hannah (BBF)

Oh yea, and this is a photo just to show you that yes...Natalia has a mom. I DO exist!

A Wonderful Mother's Day

What a much needed fun and relaxing day I had. Perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day. Woke up to Dave and the kids preparing breakfast. They made the most delicious pancakes I've ever had, scrambled eggs, chocolate covered strawberries and Natalia prepared my favorite cup of coffee.

Immediately after, the kids presented me with gifts. Natalia gave me some bath salt she made in her science class and Carson made me a paper flower arrangement along with a sweet card.

The night before Mother's Day, Natalia and Dave were plotting...

Come to find out, this is what they were talking about...

Aww, how thoughtful! My own homemade Kindle! Natalia was able to keep the secret, whereas Carson...well, let's just say he has to earn his way back into Daddy's circle of trust!

But, guess what!? Later that morning, before church, I found a real Kindle under my pillow. I couldn't believe it!!! In reality, this is my Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Birthday gift. Apparently, the kids didn't know about this surprise (you know, can't really keep a secret just yet). So, I asked them all to sit on the couch because I wanted to read to them from my "Kindle". I wish I would have taken a picture of Natalia's face when she saw the "real" Kindle for the first time. She could not believe that I actually had a "real" Kindle in my hands! She could not even talk. She was so surprised. Needless to say, I have not been able to use it yet. She got to download the very first book and read it all day long.

After church, we went to Papaw and Grannie's house for lunch and then we got to relax at home and at the bookstore before we went for a special dinner at Carrabba's!

Yikes! Has It Really Been That Long?

Can't believe how quickly time goes by...has it really been that long since I've blogged? C'mon! I have to do better than that. Not because I think there are many people out there that are dying for me to post something, but so that my grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins who live in Guatemala can, at least, be a part of our lives through this blog. So...I'm hoping to do a little better and what better excuse than Dave riding the MS 150!

About a month ago, Dave decided to sign up and do something he has been wanting to do for a while now. His friend encouraged him to ride the MS 150 with his team, so Dave went for it. One week before the ride though, it was questionable if he was going to be able to ride it. During one of his training rides, something got in his eye and it looked pretty bad for a week or so. Then the following week, he went riding and came back with a lot of pain on his right hand. He went to see the doctor and he told him that he looked more like a swimmer and should think about changing sports. Oh, but this did not stop Dave! The morning before the ride, Dave decided to go for it...

I was on my way to San Antonio with the kids when all of a sudden, I get a text on my iPhone with a map telling me where he was. Come to find out, he was only about 15 miles from where we were at the moment, so I decided to take a little detour and meet up with him. Well, that little detour added about 5 hours to our trip, but the kids had a blast being able to see daddy ride.

Break point at Fayetteville Texas

After seeing Dave at the finish line for the day at La Grange Texas, we headed to San Antonio. We met up with my parents at their stores at the Market and while they were working, we decided to party at Fiesta, which is going on this week. It was crazy!!!! Not very kid friendly.

After all that "partying" I had enough, so I went home while the kids and my parents went to see my parent's possible new store which is located right in front of the Alamo. While there, they decided to take the kids on a carriage ride.

The next day, we headed to Austin to see Dave cross the finish line! There were thousands of people. It was so much fun being a part of this. We found a great spot to cheer Dave on.

Good job Dave, we are so proud of you!!!

Books, Books and More Books

Wow, it has been so long since I've blogged! What's up with that?  But I'm back and I'm committed to keeping a "journal" of our everyday life.  It helps keep my family in Guatemala and San Antonio up to date with our milestones, etc. So bear with me...

We've read so many books lately. Here are just a few...

I think this might be Carson's favorite so far. He enjoyed the book so much that he MADE me go and buy his friend Ella (from school) a copy.

(Like father, like son...that's the way Dave started to trick me!

~Of course, we were MUCH older! Ella has said she wants to get married, but Carson is non-committal at this point.)

Another great book we enjoyed was "Where The Red Fern Grows."  Since reading this book, Carson has been letting us know that he's saving his money to buy two hound dogs. It's a very, very sad book. I had gone to the grocery store the night they finished reading it. While shopping I received a phone call from my children crying hysterically. At first, I didn't know what was going on! Finally, I realized that they had finished the book and they were devastated that both dogs had died. The funny part is that they didn't even cry when they watched the movie. That just goes to show you that the movie is never as good as the book.

We also read..

(This book inspired Natalia to be Dorothy for Halloween this year. The plan was for all three kids to choose a character from the Wizard of Oz, but the boys wouldn't go for that nonsense :0(

(Are they old enough to make those decisions anyway?)

and...

As a matter of fact, these last two books Natalia finished reading on her own. According to her, I wasn't going fast enough.

It's just so fun being able to sit as a family and read. ~So, why not grab a book and start reading...you'll be hooked!

In addition to our family reading time, Natalia loves to read on her own too. Here are a few from her collection...

The American Girl books - The Kit series plus these two mysteries:

She also enjoys The Magic School Bus books!

About Time

What a beautiful day!  The weather was perfect and the attitude was too!  Natalia finally decided to learn how to ride her bicycle without training wheels.  I thought this day would never come...

But watch out!  She is still learning to turn and stop, so you better get out of her way if you see her coming...

And if there is anything in front of her, she is in big trouble because she still doesn't know how to stop...

So very proud of our big girl!