Day 1

And we are off...

We decided to break up our driving time so that Baby Liv would not have to sit in her seat for 7 hours. We stopped in Corpus Christi for the night at the Omni Hotel.

On the 3 hour drive Liv did great. She was ready to get out by the last hour, so I jumped in the back and we talked. I kinda got a bit car sick since I was leaning over talking to her and I was hungry. I was holding out for fresh shrimp!!

Our hotel pool was fun and Liv loved hanging out in the warm, fresh beach air.

We are up early and back on the road.

Fall Fun!

I wanted to post some pictures of what we have been doing besides PUPPETS!

Mike and I went on a dinner cruise with his work Riata. They achieved their quarterly goals and this was their reward. It was very nice even though I had stitches in my finger.  I lost my last contact just as we were walking out the door and had to wear my ugly glasses (which were bent from the kids)! However, we had fun!   ....Did I mention that we were late and they had to wait for us! Oh our life is a blast!  Hehehe

We do not celebrate Halloween, so we hang out at the State Park and grilled hot dogs, made s'mores and sang around the fire. We forgot our camera, but we had so much fun!

We did buy costumes this year for Tori's Harvest Party. It was this past weekend.

Mike is off the whole week of Thanksgiving, so we planned a little 2 day get away. We played and played and played! We took so many pictures. I wish I could post them all!

 

 Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving!

Our family is VERY thankful this year! God has healed my DAD!! We praise God that HIS name is greater than the name "cancer". Jesus paid for our healing over 2000 years ago and I am thankful that my family walks and lives in this truth! Our story will continue to unfold as we watch miracles take place in Dad's life!

I am thankful that God has open our eyes and hearts to the Nations. I can hardly wait to see where we are headed as a family. I am thankful that in the midst of the worst economic crisis, our entire family on both sides, including us, have increased in our companies and personal lives. Our all the men in my family have increase at their full time job! Favor has been poured out! We are blessed and WE KNOW IT! We have been able to share the increase with those around the world! We have given more this year to those who are hurting, alone, and without hope and we are grateful for that!

One more thing, I am so grateful that my grandparents on both sides of my family are alive and well. Seriously, we have prayed for them to have a long, healthy life and they have! I praise God for bringing them through tough times and seeing that they are blessed with long life!

I am thankful for all the blessing that the Lord has given to us this year! Tomorrow we will REJOICE and celebrate the goodness of ALMIGHTY God!

Summer VBS

Our Family Fun in Jan. and Feb.

Okay, I am the worst blogger EVER! I read blogs everyday and try to keep up with every one and by the time I am done with that I do not have the time to create my own blog. Oh well, who cares!

However, I have been keeping up with my goals for this year. Michael has lost 28 pounds. I have lost 8 (give or take some). A female is really funny! Neither one of us have had a coke since Jan. 1. The hardest part was when we went to Kentucky and we had to eat out for 5 days. We really fell off the wagon and it has been tough trying to go back to the lifestyle that we desire. I will be honest, Michael is doing WAY better that me! There are times that I have to ask him to encourage me to cook the right thing instead of heading to the nearest burger place for dinner! I am so proud of him! Another really cool site that has been very helpful to us is http://www.livestrong.com/ You can add it to your iPhone!

My project for January was to rearrange the school room and the playroom. Wow! What a job! It turned out to be a blessing. By starting that project it helped me to get organized in other areas too. Here is the end result. Mom and Dad came over and took pictures of the girls for Valentines.

Here are few cute ones!

Michael had to work on Valentine's day, so he took me out during the week. We did eat Mexican food and it was so rich that it was not as much fun as it used to be when bad food tasted really yummy! Haha! So, Valentine's night I had a love party for the family. We turned out the light and had a candle light dinner with music in the background. The girls were so thrilled and grown up! They will remember this Love Party forever!
I have had my China for 11 years and would not use it with the girls. I was too afraid that it would get broken! Well, that is silly! I can always buy more! Ryen helped me set the table and we used it! Nothing got broken! Amazing! They were little ladies!

We had grilled steak, brown rice, green bean bundles and a lettuce wedge with a homemade low-calorie blue cheese dressing and coffee. It was yummy! we are not eating much red meat, so this was a special treat for us all!

The girls picked out their own dessert and they ate it right after dinner. We had a late dinner, so we put them to bed early. I got two girls to sleep and I got Michael to put Ryen to bed.
While Michael was putting Ryen to sleep I made a dessert and set it up in the living room. It was a lot of fun and romantic! It was fruit with a chocolate fondue. Lovely!! I really surprised him! Then we watched Fireproof together! It was truly a lot of fun having a home date night! Especially since we have started American our dates nights have not existed!

Mimi and Papaw had a playhouse built at their house for the grand kids. They were so excited to see what they have done for them!

Clapping for joy!
We had a great January and February! 2009 started off GREAT! Next I will post about Cami turning 3 and our trip to Kentucky!

What's happening!

I have had a very busy week. Mom had her first jewelry show her at my house. I invited about 40 women and 25 or so came. She sold over $850 in 4 hours. She booked 3 shows for now until Christmas. She was THRILLED! And so were we. It was hard work, but it paid off. God is really blessing her business now and she is creating some really beautiful pieces now. I am proud of her! She deserves it!!!

To bless us for our help she took us girls to Schlitterbahn. We stayed the night and made it a mini 2 day trip. We had a BLAST! We even took all three girls down a water ride. Cami was so SCARED! Bless her heart! She had no idea what was going to happen. Ryen and Amaris LOVED it! Next year we are going to get season tickets and go all the time. We called our trip, "Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun Trip"! Thanks mom for making a memory with us!

I need to upload my pictures that are on my camera, but I cannot find the cord. New computer issues!

In other news:

Our porta potty business is growing. We hired a dear friend to help Michael. Dane is going to help him clean on the weekends. Michael has to take a break. He is working way too much and we miss him too. Dane just got a new full time job, but is willing to help on the weekends. Tony is loving this business too. He bought a truck for us to use...well, him too! But it was a good excuse for him to buy one now. The porta potties need it! :) Vicki is helping us a lot too! She is keeping everything in line and organized. She does the work that we either forget to do or can't do because of time! Praise God for Vicki!

Also, I have been doing a "Healthy Living" Class at Vicki's house. We are reading through Dr. Don Clobert's book. Now I am all inspired to eat healthy. Gosh it is hard with kids! I gave them broccoli for lunch. It was funny because they like broccoli....but not for lunch!!:) So, I look over and see Amaris' plate. Her broccoli was gone and I started to praise her. She said, "oh no, mom it fell on the floor". Well, she had a bowl of meat and it did not fall on the floor and the broccoli was with it in the bowl all together. So, I asked her "how come the meat did not fall out and only the broccoli?" We gave me a grin and I knew that she threw it out so she would not have to eat it! Smart huh!? I am smarter! I gave her more! She said, "Thanks Mom"!

Well, tonight we are going to Zilker park to watch a movie or play or something! I don't know. We are going with Laura C.

Fall Fun 2007

Sorry I have been lacking on blogging! We have been very busy around here! There have been so many kids at my house in the past month. We have a new neighbor from England, Jack. He is 5. He lives here! The day he moved in across the street, he came over and asked if we had kids. Well, of course he knew that we had kids, but he wanted to play. Have you ever seen the movie, What about Bob? Well, Jack is Bob!! I send him home and he comes back every 5 minutes! Yes, he is driving me nuts! I know that I should talk to his mom, but you know what, I should not have too. She is his mother and only child and she should keep up with her son! Even little Cami hears the doorbell and says, "Go away Jack"!!! It is so funny! I am sure there will be more Jack stories.
This past weekend we went to the Macy's Christmas Party hosted by The Domain. The Domain is a new upscale shopping center that is so nice. It feels like you are downtown New York. It is so beautiful. If you are ever in Austin, go to the Domain. It is worth it!
They had the best fireworks we have ever seen. I had tears in my eyes! They were gorgeous!
Cami saying "Cheese"
In homeschool we have been doing our Thanksgiving lessons. One day we baked Pumpkin Pies from the fresh pumpkins from the patch. The girls made one and then the Isaac who is homeschooled made his own.
Isaac, Kailyn, Ryen and Amaris
The girls so proud! Amaris cracks me up...She got her Pj's on!!
R= Ryen, A=Amari, and K=Kailyn
End of the day picture! Amaris is almost alseep!! Cami is a mess!!
Cami has a new friend! Austin comes to our house everyday while his mommy works! Austin is 2 and is a great kid. He calls Cami, MiMi. They are so sweet to each other! We are really excited to get to watch him and his sister, Kailyn after school! You know, once you have 3 kids, 2 more around the house really does not change much. If you can handle 3, you can handle 5 or more!!!! ;)
Are they trying to say I am a "Loser" or "Longhorns"? :)