End of an Era

Well, I've officially given up on the blog.  I'm sure that's been obvious to my 2 or 3 readers for a while now!  I discovered last year that I can no longer easily print my blog into a book.  The program I had been using for 6 or 7 years no longer exists.  I had hoped that I could keep blogging & just cut & paste the photos & entries into an iPhoto book, but it's a pain in the neck to do it that way.  I went back & printed all my favorite pics from 2016 into a chat book (simple photo book from your phone), so now I'll just have to do the tedious work for 2015 of getting my blog entries in to a book.  Now that I know that, it seems pointless to keep blogging.  I'll have to find a new way to keep up with pics & family memories.

I still visit my blog page every so often to look at links to other blogs I love to read.  I'm tired of looking at Judah's poor busted chin so I'm putting up a cute picture from Honduras last summer just for something different!  So long blog world!  It's been nice knowin ya.  :)

Judah's First Stitches

First ER trip for this guy - 8 stitches!  While watching a movie he decided to super man jump onto his bean bag.  Since he had taken it downstairs onto the wood floor it slid out from underneath him & he landed square on his chin.  Lots & lots of blood.  Thankfully Daddy was home so we were able to scoop him up & take him to the closest ER.  By the time we got there he was calm & played happily on the iPad for several hours until he got stitched up.  The numbing shot was huge & must have hurt like crazy but he was brave & never shed a tear.  After a week of NO swimming (stinky way to start the summer) he was brave again as they got removed.  Hoping we don't see the inside of the ER again any time soon!

Anna's 13th Birthday

We have a TEENAGER!  Hard to believe that our little brown eyed baby is now 13.  We love every sweet, thoughtful, smart, stubborn, talented, kind, loving, sassy, perfect inch of her (she's caught up with me, so that's all 61 inches!).  She chose an awesome way to celebrate this year... 4 friends spent the night & got up early the next morning for a road trip to Magnolia in Waco.  We shopped, ate yummy crepes from one of their food trucks, shopped some more at the Spice Market, & had lunch before heading back to Ft Worth.  These friends are precious & love our girl well.  Mom got some alone shopping time since they are all so big & responsible & can go off to shop without me.  Easiest party ever.  Later that week Anna was gone on the youth group summer mission trip to OK City & returned on her actual birthday.  Unfortunately she fought a bad head cold/virus during the trip & came home sick.  So, we don't have any birthday dinner or birthday cake pictures because she spent the rest of the day in bed!  We celebrated later that week but she was still in PJs (so no pics then either).  At least the party was a hit!  We love our teenager.  :)

Anna's band concert & last days at Tidwell

Bittersweet end of an era... Anna finished up 2 years at Tidwell at the end of this school year.  Two years of growing, being stretched (& stressed), navigating friendships... it was hard to say goodbye to Mrs. Kahler & some sweet girlfriends, but she's so ready for her new adventure at FWC.  Grammy & Dingdaddy came up for her last Tidwell Wind Ensemble concert.  They sounded amazing - no exaggeration!  Mrs. Kahler said some precious things about Anna's character & gave her a "Titan Band Heart award".  Mrs. K will be a tough act to follow!  We are excited to see what God has in store for Anna in 8th grade!

End of the School Year Fun

Playing a little catch up... pics from May.  We wrapped up preschool with an outdoor play day, had a huge water fight & Memorial Day block party on our street, took a field trip to the stockyards with Mae, & made a trip to the zoo with Judah & Addison.

This these two got tired of us taking their picture?

"Training" a squirrel to do tricks during our picnic lunch

Summer in Numbers

I saw a post like this on a blog I follow & thought it was a great idea.  I'm so behind on real posts on the blog but I'll procrastinate a while longer with this silliness...

Number of times this summer we...

Slathered on sunscreen:  100+

Visited Hawaiian Falls:  4

Hours spent reading library books:  hundreds (mostly Mae & Mom)

Hours spent listening to Tumblebooks:  25+ (mostly Judah - hallelujah!)

Played in the sprinkler:  4 or 5

Practiced flashcards: 0

Visited a foreign country:  1

Buckets filled with sand or concrete passed in Honduras:  200+

Hugged Abish (our CRF sponsored child):  dozens

Pounds of coffee exploded in our luggage:  4

Hours spent cleaning melted black crayon from the dryer/clothes:  4

Went on dates with my favorite:  4 or 5 (I love having a teen babysitter in the family!)

Destroyed the playroom with a craft project:  almost daily

Lost the hamster for 48 hours: 1

Visited the ranch & played with cousins:  1

Rode on an amtrac train:  1

Cousin camp with the Lazenby girls:  1

Went to Sea World:  1

Endured a week of band camp:  1

Drove across town to take Anna to band camp:  14

Got stitches in the ER:  1

Celebrated our first TEEN birthday:  1

Fought over turning off the iPad:  100+

Swam with friends:  7 or 8

Went to lunch with Julia WITHOUT KIDS:  4 (again, teen babysitters are the bomb)

I'm not quite ready for summer to be over, but somehow Anna starts school this Thursday.  Summer speeds up every year.  Judah told our friend Andrea who cuts our hair that he is looking forward to having 75 cents in his pocket on Wednesdays to give the lunch lady for ice cream.  I'm not sure if he will like the rest of kindergarten (besides lunch time), but I can say that this Mama is beyond excited to have some time to tackle projects, errands, even laundry & cleaning in SILENCE.   I love my kids & summers with them so much, but I'm thrilled to start a new season of having all 3 in school for 7 hours a day.   Hours spent crying on the first day of school... zero???

Gender reveal

So, so fun!  We loved getting to be a part of Uncle Mike's gender reveal party.  He & Krystal are having their first baby after a 5 year no-baby-season in my family so I'm sure we will be celebrating every step of the way!  The whole "have a party to reveal gender" trend wasn't around when we had our pregnancies & it was actually a blast.  Mom & I decorated their house & served fajitas, but of course the highlight of the party was the huge black balloon with the important secret!  Jenny & I were so stressed that we might accidentally pop it on the way home from the party store but thankfully it stayed intact until the big moment.  Both Mike & Krystal's reactions were priceless & we are thrilled to be having a BOY cousin on my side of the family!