Friday, June 22, 2012

VBS

Last week was Vacation Bible School week for us at The Foundry church. It's the church where Connor and Kaitlynn attend(ed) preschool and so we know many of the folks and kids there. This was our 3rd year to participate and they always do an incredible job with VBS. This year the theme was Sky -- Everything is possible with God! It was such a fun, successful, and exhausting week!


Connor and Kaitlynn on the 1st day of VBS.

My job was the crew leader for a group of kindergarteners, including Connor.

We had 8 kindergarten boys in our group, so fun!

One of the cool VBS experiments, standing inside of a bubble.

Connor was SO excited that his best buddies, Benjamin and Brady, were able to join him for part of the week.


Some of the boys on the main "Sky" stage.


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Father's Day

This past Sunday was Father's Day. Every year when we ask Jeff what he wants for Father's Day, he says the same thing: he wants to spend as much time as possible with his family. Anyone who knows Jeff knows that his kids are his life and he is such a great Dad to them. This year for Father's Day, we enjoyed a weekend of family time. We saw a movie, hung out by the pool, attended church together, and just spent time together. After the nice weekend, Jeff left on Sunday night for a quick work trip to Nigeria.

At church together on Father's Day
Noticably absent from Jeff's Father's Day this year was Collin. He recently completed his first year of college in San Antonio but is now back in Houston with his Mom. Collin has had a tough year and is still trying to figure things out as he makes his way through life as an adult. We love him and miss him dearly, but he has chosen not to be a part of our family for the time being. Prayers for Collin and our family are greatly appreciated.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

More Birthday Celebrations


Mid-June for us is always packed with fun since Kaitlynn and Kevin have back-to-back birthdays. Kevin turned 17 last week and we had a great time celebrating with him on his birthday. He chose to have his birthday dinner at a local Hibachi grill restaurant, Yum! We went as a family and he brought along one of his friends as well.

Kevin at 17. How can this be??


The birthday siblings.

I love this pic of them.


Kevin and his friend, Herminia, at dinner.

Jeff baked Kevin his favorite chocolate cake. We ran out of birthday candles so we raided the hurricane stash, ha!

Kaitlynn enjoyed celebrating with her big brother.

Kaitlynn opened some gifts and was thrilled with her Strawberry Shortcake doll from MeMe and Grand Daddy.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Princess Party

For at least the last 6 months or so, Kaitlynn has REALLY been into princesses. Every time she sees anything -- toys, movies, signs, etc. -- with a Disney princess on it, she has to perform a dramatic exclamation about the princess and how she "lubs it!" Her favorite song is an official Disney song called "Happy Birthday, Princess!" and she plays it over and over (and over and over) on her iTouch in the car and everywhere we go. She has been asking if she could have a princess party for months, so we promised her one when she turned 3.

I booked Kaitlynn's party at a local place called A Bunch of Fun. It's a cute venue for toddlers with various activity rooms like a kitchen, dress-up area, art room, moon sand, and a big open area for kids to run around in. The party invitations were designed by the venue and they labeled it as a "Princess Party." I didn't think anything of it, but then several people started asking me what princess outfit Kaitlynn would be wearing to her party. Jeff and I realized we were going to have to get our little princess an official party costume.

The day before Kaitlynn's party, we visited the Disney Store and told Kaitlynn she could pick out an outfit for her party. She was in HEAVEN!! I tell you, I don't know how these little girls develop such a taste for all-things-princess, but Kaitlynn has acquired that taste big time! After walking through the store ooh-ing and ah-ing at all the costumes, Kaitlynn insisted that she wanted the Tangled (Rapunzel) dress. I slipped it on over her clothes and walked her to the mirror to see how it looked. She stood there in AWE for several seconds admiring her reflection. And then, I kid not, she stepped back and launched into a full blown princess twirl to show off her gown. Who teaches them this stuff??

Admiring her reflection in her Tangled costume.


Kaitlynn couldn't WAIT to wear her Tangled dress to her princess party. When the time finally came, she just couldn't contain her joy. She twirled and whirled around the party area with a huge smile while waiting for her friends to arrive.

Family pic at Kaitlynn's party.


Kaitlynn in front of the birthday table.

Kaitlynn and Daddy having a tea party.

Kaitlynn with her best friend, Anais, at the party.

They couldn't have been any cuter together.


I was recently telling my friends that I just never expected to have such a girly-girl. I've been around my nieces for years with all that princess, Barbie, and dress-up stuff and it usually drove me crazy. Pink was always my least favorite color and princess decor would have never gotten my vote. So I still shake my head over the fact that I have a princess-crazed toddler who seems to inherently gravitate towards the girliest stuff out there.

Jeff was observing the girls at Kaitlynn's party and just couldn't get over how different they behave from boys. He saw Kaitlynn and her friends serving tea to one another and happily sharing various toys. We also watched as Kaitlynn's friend, Anais, ran up to Kaitlynn and reached up lovingly to straighten Kaitlynn's tiara for her. All Jeff could think of was how if they were boys, they'd be hitting each other with sticks and shoving each other to the ground, ha!

Jeff admiring how girls interact.
Kaitlynn loved her princess cupcake!

Kaitlynn's awestruck expression while everyone sang "Happy Birthday." I'm still kicking myself for not getting a video.

Kevin and Jeff at the party.

The boys table.


The 5 boys had fun, too.


Kaitlynn's long-awaited princess party was quite a success and she loved every second of it. She just radiated joy all day long.

Surrounded by gifts back at home.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Monday, June 11, 2012

Our WAC-ky Week of Fun in the Sun

Our first full week of summer couldn't have been more fun! We kicked off the summer in style with a 3-day Galveston adventure with some of our favorite friends: Michelle and her two boys, Brady and Tanner, and Julie with her two boys, Benjamin and Timothy. We have plans to get these kids together often this summer, so we decided that we needed a name to describe our get-togethers. We came up with WAC, which is an acronym of our last names, and boy do we have some WAC-ky times together! :-)

We rented a 3-bedroom condo at The Galvestonian for 2 nights, and it was perfect! We spent our days at the beach, resort pool, and just hanging around the condo. We spent our nights enjoying dinners with yummy ice cream treats and putting the kids to bed early with a movie while the Mommies relaxed. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or the Moms. Here's a recap of our awesome WAC-ky week in photos.

All 6 kids lathered up with sunscreen and ready to go. Sunscreen applications probably took a good hour out of each day, ha!


6 silly kids!


Lined up and ready to swim! All 6 kids are incredible swimmers this year.


Loved this pic of Kaitlynn jumping into the pool.


Drying off after a swim. You can see the gorgeous view from the swim deck. We LOVED our condo!


This is what snack time and lunch time looked like while we were there.



Our boys in a pose reminiscent of a similar photo from last summer. 


Beach time! This was their favorite activity (of course).



The kids were subjected to "The Rules" before playing in the water and wandering off too far.



Connor on the beach.



Kaitlynn on the beach.



Could these boys be any sweeter?


Playing a game of Memory before dinner.



Galveston's Rainforest Cafe is such a fun spot for a family dinner.



We even rode the River Adventure Ride inside the restaurant.



Another night for dinner, we ate at Fish Tales and admired the new Pleasure Pier across the street.



Time for an ice cream treat!


Ice cream overlooking the water, so fun!


We capped off our week of fun in the sun by gathering at Julie's house for some food, drinks, and fun with the entire families. Finally we managed to get a picture of the Mommies.


Michelle, me, and Julie. So blessed by these friendships!



As if they hadn't had enough of the water, the kids enjoyed some swim time at the Aasmyrs' new pool. So fun!


This about describes our week. Sheer exhaustion.