First Days of School

The last of our Summer Pictures

VBS 2009 Drumline

So that you can hear the video, you may want to go to the bottom of my blog and pause the music before playing the video.

Check out our AWESOME drummers at Paul Ann Baptist Church

VBS, visit from the cousins, sleepovers, a trip to Ft. Worth, attempting to make home made bread and now SCHOOL has started!!!

That is what has been going on around here the last few weeks!  I'll try to give you a quick summary but you'll probably want to  see the slideshow for more detail!

My sweet nieces came for a few weeks to visit! My kiddos thought they  were in dire need of some quality time with their cousins and best friends! They all had lots of fun making sweet memories but the time together just didn't seem like enough!!! I hate that they are so far apart!!!

During their visit - we had VBS at our church - which was AMAZING!!! Just to brag a little on our children's pastor - he wrote the VBS material  and he did a TERRIFIC job!!! Way better than a VBS in a package!! It was called "Building a House of Faith"! Check out the video above of our awesome drummers! 

And that was only part of it!!! 

We also had a sleepover for Gracie with some of her "San Angelo friends". All the girls had so much fun playing Barbies and babies, swimming, playing outside, riding our horse, riding the four-wheeler! They didn't stop!! It was really lots of Fun - I even totally enjoyed all the kiddos running around here and listening to their sweet giggles!

A few days before Gracie's birthday, we took the girls home! I thought it might be an "interesting" ride with 6 kiddos, but they were really great! We only had to stop once and Bryan and I were both grinning from ear to ear from all the "looks" at our line of children we were getting. We were both asked if they were ALL ours and when we both claimed them, the response was pure shock. It really made us both proud though to be able to flaunt around 6 beautiful, well behaved children - God is so good to bless us so abundantly!!!

We stayed in Ft. Worth a few days and immensely enjoyed our visit. We went to a water park one day which the kids loved and celebrated  Gracie's 7th birthday the next day!!!

A few weeks ago, My sweet husband shared with me that he desires me to make homemade bread. Before you start getting carried away in your thoughts though - Just stop - I can hear what some think!!!! I though, gladly desire to please my husband and be a helper to him and be the wife that God desires me to be and if that means making bread three times a week, I'll do it with love and a smile on my face!!! 

So, he (on his own) researched some things and he ended up buying me a grain mill to mill grain into flour and a new mixer all to make the bread making easier for me! (My adoration for him definately climbed several notches!) The flour you buy at the store has been processed and enriched so much that all your really doing is putting a bunch of chemicals into your body. Especially if you buy white flour that actually has BLEACH in it!!! Grain is a living food like fruits and vegetables. So by milling the grain and using that flour your pouring vitamins and good stuff into your body! 

(Hope I got all that right - I'm still learning!!!)

Anyway, my wonderful husband also accompanied me to a class while we were in Ft. Worth to learn how to use my new mixer and grain mill! The class was extremely enlightening and encouraging!!!

So we have been experimenting with bread, tortillas, rolls, pizza dough, etc. Even the kids love helping! So far everything we've made has been good - and that's coming from my picky husband!

I really really like my new mixer and mill!

I enjoy making bread!

I totally enjoy cooking!

I love to do things that please my husband!

I love it when my husband challenges me to do something that seems impossible for me and I love it even more when he helps me do it!

And I completely adore and love my husband!

That brings us to this week where we have officially started the new school year!!! Caden is thrilled to be starting Kindergarten, Cambry is not so thrilled to be in the 4th grade, Zakry thinks he is TOO BIG to be left out of anything, and I am nervous but confident to be teaching two! What happened to my babies????

So there you are - hope you enjoy our crazy, but happy and blessed life!

Oh and I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back for changing my blog background all by myself!!! I'm so big!!! LOL! I still have no idea what I'm doing - so I will welcome any suggestions!!!

Love yall all!!!

Saturday in the Kitchen

 

This is what I did ALL DAY Saturday. We had a gillion jalapenos - so Bryan and I made a jalapeno sauce and canned it! Yes Bryan helped - and we actually had a lot of fun!!! We put away 22 jars! There is no way we will use that much jalapeno sauce - so some of you may be getting some for Christmas! I was also kinda proud of myself - this was my first attempt at canning!!! I cooked pizza for supper and then Cambry and I made cinnamon rolls! I've been craving them for a week and yes they were like a taste of heaven! I used my grandmother's recipe which I've never used myself before and they turned out great!!! Anyone interested in cleaning my kitchen now???? LOL

All Caught Up!!

And finally here are some more miscellaneous pictures! I think for the time being I am all caught up! I will promise to try to blog more often than once a year!

4th of July

Our church does a big thing called Freedom Fest  on the 4th of July! This was our first year to attend and despite the heat and being worn out from a long day - we really had a great time! It was just good, clean, family FUN! They had  an illusionist there that put on an amazing show and shared the Word of God while they did magic! They estimated 7,000 people attended and I don't know how many, but lots of salvations!!!! We will definitely be going back again and helping out!!!

Mud Monster

I guess there's something about living in the country that makes my kids think they need to run around in undies all day and play in the mud?!?!?!? Caden's favorite thing to do is cover his self in mud and pretend he is a mud monster - so here is my little med monster!

Family Reunion

We took  a weekend and went out of town to Kingsland with my mom and Randall to a family reunion for Randall's family.  They really wanted us to go, so we did and we all  had a blast!!! The reunion was at Randall's cousins house on the lake so we spent three days in the lake and the pool! The kids had the time of their lives! They got to tube for the first time and they loved it. We all also got to go parasailing which everyone loved except me! If you look closely in one of the pictures you can see vomit falling from the sky - that would be ME!!!! I really did enjoy the parasailing but I guess my motion sickness overtook my desire to fly in the sky! It still makes me sad that I had the chance to do something like that and I couldn't enjoy it! But watching my kids have a blast all weekend was worth it!!!

Ornery and Silly, but Oh so Sweet

I know you probably think I have lots of pictures of Zak and not much of the other kids, but just so you know, it's not just me taking the pictures. Big sister and brother think their baby brother is so cute and adorable and everyday they have to take pictures of him too. He is pretty darn cute and adorable but he has also turned into a "terrible two" year old a little too early!! If he is left alone for a minute you can probably bet that he has done something ornery!

 Here are a few pictures of his orneriness.

The scenario usually plays out like this -

I hear a very loud "ZAKRY" from Big Sister or Brother, then I head to see what's going on (I've learned to grab the camera on the way) and when I arrive on scene, this sweet adorable little boy is the first to tell on himself. He is always so proud of what he has done that it makes it almost impossible to get onto him.

                                                                                                                                                             

       
"I climbed on this desk all by myself, and took this color and drew a pretty picture on the window" Says the sweet little boy.  

And the adorable little boy says "See what I did! I put sister's clothes in the toilet!"

"and I'm so proud of myself and isn't is so FUNNY!!"

And every morning when Daddy leaves for work this is what that sweet little boy does. He wakes up with Daddy and doesn't leave his side. When Daddy has to walk out the door Zak screams and holds on with all his might to Daddy. We have to pry him off and he still holds on as tight as he can with his little legs.

Second Chances

Okay here I go again trying to be a better blogger! I'm not making any promises to those of you who keep telling me I should blog - but here is my "try again" and this time I will try to update more frequently! It's really not that I don't want to do this - I really really do - so here are my excuses!!

1. It can get really addicting!

2. I really really have a lot to do and it is really hard to find time to do this.

3. I have a hard time believing that anyone wants to read about my not so interesting but       busy days!

So with that said, here are a lot of pictures and updates on what we've been doing lately!

Our garden has produced an abundance of blessings this year. It has demanded much effort, a lot of sweat, and has consumed most of our days, but we are so very grateful! Gardening has been a good lesson in many ways this year and as we eat our harvest we are ever so thankful to our God and my kids can be proud of something they worked hard to help put on the table.

Plus they really do have lots of fun getting dirty!!!

Here's a slideshow of all the FUN!