Dave turns 34!

The kids and I left San Antonio early Friday morning and made it to Beaumont just in time to help Dave celebrate his 34th birthday. - Happy Birthday Dave!

Luke & Carson giving Daddy his birthday gifts!

Natalia giving Daddy two shirts, which according to Natalia, "he desperatly needs!"

Dave & Carson have been talking about shooting the BB gun. So today was the day. As you can imagine, they had a blast!

David - showing off!

Luke's 1st time!

Carson's 1st time shooting a BB gun!

Look - he did it! All by himself!

Anyway, after all that fun, dinner was quickly approaching. Since it was Dave's birthday, it was up to him to choose where we were going for dinner. Well, we kept asking him where we were going and all he would said was, "I'm trying to figure that out." He put it off until it was too late. Being that it was Friday evening, there was a long wait everywhere he called. So, finally, he chose Hamburger Depot!

You see Luke's face? - This is how a few of us felt about Dave's choice!

Dave's favorite!

Happy Birthday Dave! We love you!

August's Desktop

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Home Grown Tomato

Straight from the kids' garden!

Soccer Season is Almost Here!

Everybody is getting ready for soccer! Dave attended a meeting last week and will be attending a clinic this Saturday since he will be the coach for Carson's team. As you can imagine, Carson is thrilled about this. Natalia is fine with this arrangement only because she will be playing with the same girls from last year and will have the same coach, who she liked very much. So, thank God, everybody is happy. And that, makes me happy :0) .

We bought Natalia and Carson their cleats so that they can start playing soccer around the house. Well, Luke didn't like the idea that he didn't get any. He didn't understand the explanation I gave him about being too little and not being able to play soccer. He said: "Mama see, me can (as he ran down the hallway. Then he went to get his soccer ball and started kicking it.) See? Me can!" My mom could not bear the sight, so that night, we went to Academy to buy Luke his own cleats! Once again, can you say "spoiled"? The next day, Luke and Carson wore those cleats ALL day long! Natalia, well you know, "I'm tired! It's too hot! I need a break!"

Shakespeare in the Park

On Sunday evening, we went to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. The kids' first play ever! The actors grabbed their attention right a way. The play was approximately an hour and forty five minutes long and the kids loved every single minute!

The weather was nice, a little on the hot side, but nice. To make it even more fun we, of course, had some snacks while watching the play. We were all so entertained by the play that we totally missed Luke eating the majority of the Gummy Bears.

On the way back to the car, they found this little hill! They rolled down the hill for about 30 minutes. I guess after they had been sitting quietly for an hour and 45 minutes, they needed some kind of physical activity.

What a way to end the weekend!

Guadalupe State Park

On Saturday, we spent our entiere day at the Guadalupe State Park. It was such a relaxing and enjoyable day!

The fun started on Saturday at 9:30 when we met a group of people at the park's amphitheater. We went down to the river to hunt for bugs.

Showing off some bugs she caught.

Carson taking a bug to the bucket.

Carson and the bug.
And...little Luke also caught something.

After lunch, we went swimming! The kids had a wonderful time. Natalia became so comfortable with the water that she now is able to float on her back with no assistance at all. She learned how to swirl in the water. She also swam and swam and swam none stop. Carson was a little fish and Luke decided that he was also going to join in. We really had a lot of work looking out for Luke. He really thinks he can swim. He would throw himself in the water and swim, but the problem was that he could not get out by himself so we really had to keep an eye on him. He also swam none stop.

After twenty minutes of swimming, this is what I saw:

Oh but, don't let this picture fool you though. They were still just long enough for me to get the camara and take this picture. They were up and ready to go swimming again in no time!

My cousin's daughter, Azalea and Natalia

By 7:45 p.m., we decided to call it a day, so we packed up and went back home to give everybody a bath and put them in bed.

"Hey Mama, I have a great idea!"

Carson really wanted this toy. The kids are normally good about not asking me to buy them toys, but this time, Carson would not let go of this thing. This picture really breaks my heart, but where would I be if every time we go to Target we buy three toys?

We made a deal though. As soon as he is finished with the 2nd section in his workbook, he gets this toy!

Natalia decided to come up with another (better) idea on how they could get me to buy them a toy. This is what she came up with:

Natalia: Mama, I know, what if I draw a chart for Carson and me and every time we do a chore we can color in the square.

Great idea, right? Hmmm...I wonder which one is Carson's and which chart is hers?

Oh, don't feel bad for little Carson.  Sometimes she let him make all three beds so that he could color in THREE squares!  (FYI, they still didn't get a toy - I still think my plan is better :0)