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!

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!

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!

Tea Party!

Always looking for a teachable moment (and a good excuse for why I'm not cooking dinner)!  Yesterday afternoon, we ate pizza on our way to the Tea Party!  

Here are some photos:

Natalia and Carson enjoying the party!

Oh oh!  Now Natalia is walking around saying "That's not fair, Obama is taking our money away!" and "Why is he borrowing so much money?  That's not right!"  ~Oh boy, what have we done?!

Week Recap - Can You Say Crazy?!

I still haven't finished blogging about our Spring Break fun, but just wanted to let you know what we've been up to this week.

Wow, what a busy week.  Ready for some rest!!!!

*Last Saturday, we attended the Annual Easter Party at Mr. & Mrs. Ivey's house.  As always, we had a great time.

 

Natalia and her best friend Hannah

   

The kids went fishing and we also went on a little canoe ride.

*Sunday morning, my friend Brittney picked me up at 6:00 a.m. to go and buy junk at Round Top!  Oh, I love doing sort of thing.  Dave, on the other hand, stays home hoping and praying that I don't go too crazy and buy too much junk.  

Here is Brittney and the truck full with all our junk!

   

Meanwhile, Dave and the kids were planting an herb garden!  

  

*Oh yea, and this is a picture of Dave and my new old outdoor furniture I got at Round Top.  You have to have vision to see what this furniture will look like one day!  :-)  ~Dave just can't wait to see!!!

*Lately, Natalia has been waking up with the desire to serve her Daddy.  ~More power to you girl!  It is the sweetest thing.  She is so proud of all her hard work.  And Daddy, well, he is eating it up!

  

*Carson had a little presentation at school this past week.  He is so shy that he just stood there looking cute.  ~I sure hope he grows out of this :-(

  

*Oh, what a busy day I had on Thursday.  Carson's Easter party was at 11:00, then Luke's was at 12:15 and Natalia's at 1:30.  They had a blast though!

  

Natalia and some of her friends from school.

  

*Dave went to Houston on Thursday night for a tennis tournament, so we decided to have fun. We rented a movie and built a fort.  What????  I can't believe I did this.  If you know me, you know that I'm all for schedules and I definitely won't make a mess I later have to clean up.  But, I did on Thursday night.  The kids couldn't believe it and we had so much fun.  

  

*Today, we ended our week by making breakfast together.  Natalia cooked the eggs, Carson was in charge of the bacon and Luke took care of the biscuits.  We spent our afternoon at the park and ate dinner at Chick-Fil-A.

Hope y'all have a great weekend and Happy Easter!