LET'S GO FLY A KITE!

Went to the park 2 times this weekend with the fam and flew kites! It was so fun, can't remember the last time we did that! Plus, it was really windy so it was super easy!

I promise we are really far away from the power lines! I listened to Louie the Lightning bug commercials!

Why just hold the kite string when you could do a cartwheel too??

On Saturday, Jeff and I got to go the the Royal Family Kids Camp dinner and auction. Jeff is a counselor at the camp in the summer and we just love this organization.  They did a wonderful job and raised a lot of money for these sweet kids. I had Chandler take our picture on the way out because I am in jeans and a t-shirt nearly EVERY day of my life and I wanted to have proof that I can dress up when needed- but then she only got our faces- oh well!:)

Tuesday night (tomorrow) I'm having a jewelry party for my friend Lexi with Sabai Jai!  I LOVE all her jewelry, plus its really affordable so it's always fun having a party for her- yall come on out and support her! All are welcome! (well, if I know you and you aren't psycho:))

And yes, that is my beautiful sister/model!:)

Here is a sneak preview of the things going on at The Hills! Can't WAIT for Summer Spectacular! Even though I won't be in the show (insert MAJOR sadness) I will be part of the decorating team and it is going to be SPECTACULAR!!!

And one more picture I found today that has nearly had me in tears! I just LOVE these boys so! (I had totally forgotten we had taken another little camera to Africa for Chandler to use and she only used it 1 or 2 days but captured several great pics that I didn't even know about till today!)

SPRING BREAK 2011 (PART 2)

OK- here is the rest of the week!!

THURSDAY:  Chandler got to spend the night with KayKay and had so much fun with her!! The boys and I met up with the Stites again! We finally found a time when the "league-ers" were not bowling to head to Brunswick Bowling Alley! But when we got there they told us we could only play an hour because the day care kids were about to be there- seriously? Can we not just bowl people!?! Anyway, we ended up staying 2 hours and having a BALL!ha I think Campbell is one of the funniest people I know (and the most competitive:))

 Campbell doing his little dance after getting a spare- couldn't quite get the phone camera to focus:)It was St. Patrick's Day and even though he didn't know it before he got there- he DID have on his GREEN wristband! Always the one for accessories!

The boys all showed up in under Armour shirts! they thought that was pretty cool!  Then we headed to the Fort Worth Nature Center with the Owen family. We had so much fun going on a little 3 mile hike! The kids did great and it was just fun to be outside on a beautiful day! 

Trine didn't get the St. Patrick's day memo!

 What a fun day- surely that day has come to an end you say? No way- we're just getting started! The men of that group decided that we needed to go camping. Now since one of those men happens to be my wonderful husband he knew this girl was NOT about to go camping off in the woods. (after a camping trip in '98 when I was a million months pregnant in August and had a fever blister, I decided that since I was an adult I was allowed to put my foot down, hang up my sleeping bag, and vow never to camp again)So he came up with the idea of camping in our back yard! Ok- I thought, I can handle that. I'll do all the fun stuff, then head back in to the ole house whenever I felt like it:) so we started with setting up the tents--

 Then grilling out hot dogs, running around, sitting by the campfire, and making smores!

 At some point Patton ran inside to get in to "authentic" camping/cowboy gear! He is so precious! Parker had his guitar out playing praise songs for us and Patton got a turn on it too!

 After looking in the tent and setting up the air mattresses I figured I might as well just sleep in the tent. So I did!! For about an hour:) The wind was so loud it kept waking me up! So about 1 AM I went in to my comfy cozy bed, watched a little House Hunters and fell asleep! Didn't feel one iota of guilt neither!:)When we got up we made biscuits, bacon, and eggs all outside on the camp stove. (and by "we" I mean Jeff and Trine:)I kept calling things "campy" which apparently didn't make me the most "campish" person:))
But a fun time was had by all!!
 That night we got to go over to the Cheatham's house! We had SO much fun! They had heated their pool a little so the kids had a blast swimming! Chandler told me on the way there that she was so excited! I asked her what she was most excited about- she said that since it was the Cheatham's she knew we'd talk Africa the whole time and get to stay A LONG time because of that! Well, she was right!!
 On Friday we went to the skating rink! High class style is what the theme of this week was:) 

 I gotta be honest about 2 things here: #1 this was Parker's first time to EVER go roller skating! What kind of mother am I? He's been ice skating a couple of times but anyway, first time in roller skates.  #2 In the first 5 minutes of this escapade I thought we were doomed for a horrible experience. The little guy just couldn't get it. It was painful to watch. BUT after switching to "blades" and with a little brotherly help he was totally doing it! He couldn't wait to show Jeff the videos of himself when we got home because he was so proud of how far he had come! It was precious!

 A wonderful date night with the hubby and an awesome day at the Polk's house finished out the week! We are truly blessed by so many friends and family! Thank you Lord! Even though I LOVE cold weather, I gotta say spring break got me pretty excited about summer!!!

SPRING BREAK 2011!!! (part one)

We have had an awesome spring break just staying around here. If there was an activity to be done, we did it. We stayed up late and got to sleep late most mornings but then hit the ground running doing some sort of fun thing every day. (We even cleaned out the kids closets and managed to have fun doing that!) Here are some of the highlights and pictures!

FRIDAY: Chandler got out of school early and we went to Chili's for lunch with Bridge!
 That night the family (+ Allison) headed to the movies! We saw Mars Needs Moms- it was pretty cute! With about 10 minutes left of our movie the fire alarm goes off (and of course we're on the top row) so we head towards the emergency exits (don't worry, I grabbed the popcorn:)) and stay outside for about 20 min.  It was just a false alarm and we got to finish the movie and then they gave us FREE tickets for another movie! Score!

SATURDAY: A little shopping and then dinner with fabulous friends at Central Market. Don't really like the food but its outdoors and they have a playground for the kids so we get to sit around and talk for hours!:) 
 Parker has a shirt that says " PAIN. NEVER HEARD OF IT" which describes him perfectly! Anyway, it seems like everytime he wears it, he ends up getting hurt. Such was the case Saturday night- of course he finds the broken umbrella stand behind a tree and falls right on it. He was laughing the whole time and really just wanted a band aid so he could get back to playing!

SUNDAY: We got to go to our friend, Lola's wedding. We had never been to a wedding like this so didn't really know what to expect. But we had a great time!! 

Lola looked beautiful!!!

Lola's new husband singing a song to her!

Chandler looked gorgeous! (and way too old:))

Anna, Lola's sister and our friend

Mariachi band- it was awesome- the kids really liked this part!

Parker "conducting" the band!

MONDAY: We met the Stites for lunch at Chick-fil-a (I know- it's shocking!) and visted Grami at her work at JordanTaylor (interior design store) Then we met the dads at Brusnwick Bowling ally but it was league night (hahaha) so we had to think of something else creative! We went to Let's jump and had the whole place pretty much to ourselves for about 2 hours! Topped it off with a meal at Prairie House and it was a fun night!

TUESDAY:  I took the boys to the batting cages- they love that! And Chandler got to spend the day with Cyndi and Sarah Feasal! They picked her up and took her to Sam Moon and out to lunch at Chili's and dessert at Braums! She had a BLAST!! I am so thankful for these women, who are such a great example to her, for taking time out to make her feel special and love on her- she wants to make it a tradition!

WEDNESDAY: (LAST DAY FOR THIS POST- I'M REALIZING AS I TYPE JUST HOW MUCH WE DID!)  Chandler had planned for some friends to come over and have a "stunt" day. (I was very nervous about this!)I texted a few of my cheerleaders to see if anyone wanted to come over and help them and Paige and Bayley came!! It was SO sweet of them to take time out of their spring break to come over and again I am SO thankful for the influence these girls have on Chandler- they are beautiful inside and out! 

Chandler, Meredith, Bailey, Bayley, Avery, Paige, Halle Caroline, Ellison, Allison

I love Allison's face here!

Poor Ellison- always the guinea pig, she'll try anything and she's amazing!

Tatum, Paige, Bayley, Meredith

That's some serious skill right there!

 Patton managed to sneak away for this day and head over to Jeb's house but Parker wasn't so lucky:)

  Patton had a BALL at Jeb's- doing all sorts of boyish things- like exploring the drainage system in their neighborhood (thank you Mr. Miller!:))  


Stay tuned for part 2 of spring break! Lots more to share (and more to do tonight and this weekend!)

Another IPAD giveaway!!!

Only this time it's not from us! AND this time it's for an IPAD2! My sweet sister-in-law,Angie and her husband are adopting a precious little one from Ethiopia! And y'all it just takes A LOT of $$$! SO to off-set some of those costs they are having a raffle for the new IPAD2!!! (Which is totally amazing BTW- have you seen all the cool new things it can do- I'm a complete sucker for all gadgets and I really want one!!:)) Please help them out! It's just like I said for our raffle- it's only $10 and if you win- AWESOME, and if you don't, you just helped someone bring a baby home!!! WIN/WIN.

McCuiston Family!!

  Here are some more ways to help bring some precious kids home and YOU get something out of it!!2 of my favorite families (Mccuiston's- mentioned above and Cheatham's) are adopting right now and BOTH are using Ordinary Hero to help fund raise to bring their little ones home! This is the non-profit that I LOVE and that Chandler entered the shirt design contest with!  I have 4, yes 4, of Ordinary Hero's shirts and I LOVE them! They are so soft and comfy and SO cute and mine have Africa on them so I love wearing them because they remind me all day of the place I love! SO go on over there and order some things for yourself or loved one and you will be helping them bring their kids home! WIN/WIN.

HalleCaroline Cheatham & Chandler at recent competition- LOVE this girl and so thankful she is one of Chandler's BFF's!

 ALSO,  Jason McCuiston (one of my favorite brothers-in-law- seriously, I'm giving them 3 shout-outs in one post!:)) is a lawyer. He is willing to help you put your estate in order at a REALLY great price!!  So many people put off making a will etc. (like us!) but he helped us and I promise it was totally painless!! And easy!! It is SO important to get all that done and you'll feel so much better by taking care of your family in that way AND you will be helping them bring their baby home!! And once again WIN/WIN. So hop on over HERE and get it done today!
 We are so blessed to be praying for 2 families (friends from church) and one friend from college that are leaving for Rwanda in just a couple of days!!! They are 2 totally separate trips just happen to be going at the same time. ALL of them are taking trunks full of stuff to the Peace House boys and missionaries from us! Thank you SO much!! We cannot tell you how exciting that is for us, that in a few short hours those boys will be reminded of how much we love them and miss them!!  One of the friends said "we have plenty of room, we can take anything!" and Chandler said "take ME!!" Amen sister!
  We are still praying about going back this summer- lots of talking about, planning, and meetings this weekend!!! Please Lord- let us go!!:) There are SO many things (the fund raisers above, trips to Rwanda, trips to Benin;)) that are just there for the taking if it were not for that annoying little detail called money!! So we are just waiting to hear our calling and if it's GO- we will GO!!!!