Summer time...when the livin's easy

Summer is officially here! Well for us atleast. We are just hanging out listening to the wind blow and enjoying the weather before it gets too HOT!

Here is a picture of our new windchimes. I know none of you probably care about them, but I love them and they sound amazing! My aunt sent us these from Pennsylvania. Thanks Aunt Diana! The kids love them too! They think they sound "cool".
Summer means popcicles! Here are the kids eating popcicles. YUM!! We had to make a special trip to Walgreens (Wal-Mart takes too long) just for popcicles. The kids loved them!

Here's another popcicle picture. Sorry, I'm a typical mom who takes too many pictures of her kids.

And Aaden chowing down on his popcicle. (This is actually the highlight of his day, and the only thing he ate yesterday. He is now sick so pray that he gets better today so we can enjoy our week.)

And of course Rylan eating her popcicle. Bow and bloomers, socks and shoes. No shirt, No dress, No Mess!

Like I said before Aaden is sick, he is just laying around, it's so sad. Please pray that he gets better quickly so that we can enjoy our week off before Summer Camp starts next Monday, June 2. Thanks everyone!

In the words of Amy Porter...

"Potty training is for the birds." That is what my friend Amy told me yesterday, and I couldn't agree more. I don't really have anything significant to say on the subject, just that it basically sucks. (Sorry for the rough language.) I remember being frustrated with Aaden, but everyone says, "oh girls are so much easier." WRONG!!! Rylan has been way more stubborn about this than Aaden ever was.
To be honest I haven't really cracked down on it since her birthday. (The day after she turned 2 she decided that she didn't want to go in the potty any more.) We have one full week before summer school starts, so maybe just maybe I will buckle down and get my sweet little girl out of diapers and into panties!

2008 ACA Graduation and Program

OK, so I know that most of you who read this blog were there, but here you go anyways. Last night was the ACA Graduation and End of Year Program. Since I am the music teacher I am the organizer and planner of this program. I also get to work with the kids on their songs, but I will NOT take credit for teaching the songs. The teachers work really intensely with the kids everyday so they are prepared for this program. (In my class we just sing them a few times, and then we have class time.) Anyways, here are some enjoyable moments from the program.

Here is Rylan with her class on stage "singing" this little light of mine. They came down the middle aisle with glow sticks in their hands...very cute. In this picture left to right is Hailey, Courtney, Rylan, Grayson (with Mrs. Rebecca behind him), Mallory is on the floor, and we have a little bit of Katherine. They are such a sweet group of kids.

Here is Rylan being Miss Sass-a-frass. She took it upon herself to come forward during "My God is so BIG" and put on a little show. She even lifted her skirt up for everyone. It was quite entertaining.

Here is Aaden with his class. I'm not sure what he's doing. I guess he thought that he needed to stretch before he started singing. From left to right is Jackson, Garrison, Justin, Aaden, Hannah, Cymber, Caiden, and Tabitha. His class was a very silly group of kids. They did LOTS of laughing throughout the year.

Here is Aaden getting his church ready. Why you ask? Because....This is the church, and this is the steeple, open the door and see all the people, close the door and hear them pray, open the door and they all walk away!!! I hope you enjoyed my mini rendition of my kids in the program. School is now officially out for us! Yay!!

Horseback riding is sooooo FUN!!!

Last Friday we went to a birthday party at a stable. It was so much fun! All the kids got to ride horses. They loved it! I loved it! Everyone loved it!!! Here are some pictures of this momentous occasion.

Here is Aaden patiently waiting for his turn to ride.

Aaden riding a horse. (I feel like
this picture is pretty self explainitory.)

Ok, this next picture comes with a story. Rylan was so excited about riding horses...until it was her turn. She would walk right up there like she was going to ride, and then just didn't. She would walk back out of the corral, and then say, "My turn". So I'd take her back up to the horse, and of course she'd say, "No ride". Well, we did this a few times, and I was SICK of it. So I carried her out there while Aaden was riding and I MADE her get on the horse with him. Once she was up there she didn't move. She just held on for dear life. Before the ride was over she was starting to like it. So, here they are riding together.

Aaden was so sweet and he just held her. What a sweet big brother!

Soooo, after the ride with brother she was perfectly happy riding by herself. I practically had to tear her away from the horses to go eat hot dogs. She did so good!!! I knew she would love it if she would just DO IT!

Prayers

Aaden has taken it upon himself to say our meal time blessings and also bedtime prayer. Here are the two prayers I heard from him last night:

Dinner: "Dear God, keep us safe and thank you for our food and thank you for Noah's Ark. Amen!"

Bedtime: "Dear God, thank you for our food and for our nap time. Amen!"

What do we do to kill time??

There are bubble baths. Those are always a hit. The kids love them, plus it keeps them entertained for quite a while. Bubble baths are a nice break for everyone!
Beards...Rylan, loves to put bubbles on her face and says, "Ho ho ho". I don't even think she realizes that she is mimiking (sp?) Santa Clause, but she knows that it is funny.

Aaden is just a cutie in the tub. He is not quite as animated as Rylan, but he is still funny. He is the little boss. He spends his bath time (and I guess most of his time) telling Rylan what to do.
And...we make fish faces!!! The kids didn't really like it, but I sure think it's funny!

Here we all are at the airport.

First is Rylan just hanging out. Then Aaron trying to get some cuddles in. Rylan outside about to be blown away. Then my little man telling me all about what goes on at the airport and showing me all the "apple-planes".

Here we are hanging out at the airport waiting for Aaron to leave. We played inside for about an hour or so, and then after Aaron got on the plane the kids and I headed outside to watch him take off. We watched lots of planes take off, and then his plane finally got going and headed up up and away on the long journey from Longview to...Dallas! So Longview's little and to get anywhere you have to first fly to Dallas. I don't even think they fly anywhere else. Like I said, Longview is little.

Exciting News!

First of all, here are a few of our pictures from Austin to show how much fun we had.

This is my friend Christine and I in Austin. We have been friends since 2nd grade!!! We went out to eat one night and then watched a movie. That was fun!
This is me and my friend Jason. He's the one who got married just a week or so ago. He has been a good friend of mine for a long time. Back in the day when I was pregnant with Aaden Jason was there for me when Aaron had to travel. Jason would go to my doctors appointments with me, and even made it to 2 sonograms! He has been a great friend, and I am so happy that he has found such a wonderful sweet lady to marry. They are a wonderful couple!

I accidentally put this picture up, and now I can't get it off. This is our good friend Steph who was a bridesmaid and the bride Sarah. We all went and played pool after their wedding which was really fun.

This is me and Steph cheesin' it up for the camera. We took lots of pictures.

This is our friend Nicole and my sweet husband Aaron.

We all had a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!! We hardly ever get to really hang out with our old friends from College Station, so it was fun hangin' out with the whole gang.

Now for the exciting news:

I have been a part of a wonderful bible study called BSF for the past 2 years. It stands for Bible Study Fellowship, and is an amazing interdenominational bible study that comes strictly from the word of God. About a week and a half ago my group leader called me and asked me if I would be interested in becoming a leader of this amazing program. She asked me to pray about it intently, and to please let her know my decision by Sunday (this was a Thursday). They asked that this stay between me, my husband, and God. They didn't want my decision to be based on the words of friends or family. I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed (we were in Austin at this time, but it was still on my mind and my heart the entire time). So, I decided to accept and become a part of the leadership team in this program. I will be working with the children, which I am SUPER excited about. The kids get to learn the same study that their moms and grandmothers are learning at the same time. (Did that make sense?) In the 2 hours that we have these pre-schoolers we are teaching them directly from the bible the same lessons the adult bible study is learning. What a wonderful way to study the word with your children! Sooo, I just wanted to share this new chapter in my journey with the Lord. It is such an honor just to be asked to join this leadership team, and a huge commitment, so I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord has to teach me through this program that I already love.

Where have we been?

In AUSTIN!!! I love Austin. We have been visiting with friends and hanging out in Austin the last two weeks. Some friends of ours from A&M got married last weekend, and the weekend before we went to celebrate their last weekend as single people. Aaron went to the bachelor party and I went to the bachelorette party. I got to hang out with my sister too, and see her new house! That was fun. The bachelor party weekend Aaron's mom and step dad kept the kiddos and last weekend for the wedding my sister kept Aaden, and my parents kept Rylan. Since they all live so far they like to split the kids and get quality time with each one. I think that everyone had a blast both weekends...I know Aaron and I did!
We went out with friends, and we went out to breakfast, and we walked around town lake, and we went shopping! So so so fun!!!
So, I have NO pictures of any of this. Well, I do, but not with me. We accidentally left our camera with some of our friends, and they are supposed to be mailing it to us. Hopefully we'll get it this week. So that's where we've been and what we've been doing. So I hope you enjoy knowing what's going on in our lives.