Andrew turns 10 and Gramby comes for a visit!

Since Andrew was turning 10 Gramby made a trip to TX to visit! We had a great time celebrating Andrew's birthday with a Laser Tag/Lego Party at Main Event with some of his "boy" friends! Andrew won again at Laser Tag (with the advice from Mom that he continues to use each time he plays)! It is always great to have family come for a visit and we packed in the fun with Gramby using the metal detector at the beach and planting some coins, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes at Helen's gardens, watching Andrew, Braden, and Colton play soccer, eating lunch with the boys at school, bringing ice cream to Andrew and his class, and eating Mexican with tons of church friends on Andrew's real birthday after church. Fun, fun times...

A new school year!

How exciting it is to have all three boys at the same school! Andrew and Braden were so proud to walk Colton to his class and Colton was so proud to be a big kid like his brothers. Andrew is in 4th grade and has Mrs. Galbraith, Braden is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Fink (Andrew had her too!), and Colton is in Prek-3 on T/TH and has Mrs. Urban. How blessed they are to be able to go to LSA where the word of God is alive and present! Thank you Jesus for this gift!

Summer Fun Wrap Up!

I haven't blogged in so long... but being the detailed and anal person that I am I had to go back 6 months and catch up... So, here goes...

Summers are always so exciting! We get to sleep in and have lazy schedules and we don't have to fight the clock. We do fun things and get a little learning in to. Mostly we get to have fun with our family and friends and down time! Can't beat that! Here are some fun times in pics... our friend Ryan's b-day party, water play in the back yard, painting, tons of legos, going through the boys art work from school, lots of Wii, sleepover, Colton and Kasey meet a squirrel, Sonic run, Star Wars cookbook cooking, many trips to Chick-fil-a, endless Scooby Doo videos, Jump N Jungle, Children's Museum, YMCA splash pool, Apollo 40 anniversary at the Space Center, beach, camping in the living room, serving others, Jumpin Joeys, and San Antonio vacation with the Swiggards...


Thank you, God, for summer break, awesome memories and family and friends to share it with!

Camps and Clubs

The big boys had an awesome time with their camps and clubs this summer! Colton can't wait to be even bigger so he can do those fun things too!

Braden did Jedi Training at Space Center Houston thanks to GG and her generous Christmas money! He had a good time, but was disappointed that he didn't learn any "Jedi moves"... Andrew did a Lego Robotics camp at the University of Houston Clear Lake thanks also to GG! He was in heaven learning how to build different lego sets that all moved. His counselor said he would master the invention in about 5 min. so he had LOTS of time to explore on his own!

Andrew and Braden were able to go to two different Lego Clubs at the Lego Store this summer. One was with Lego Racers and the other with Lego Agents. They LOVE legos!!!

Bible Camp was a big summer highlight for both Andrew and Braden! They got to go to Camp Good News for 5 days from 7:30-5:30 every day! Their days were filled with games, stealing other groups flags, swimming, Bible study, worship, friends, BB Guns, archery, ropes courses, crafts, etc... They got to purchase snack every day which was lucky for them since neither one would eat "camp food". My mother's heart worried about them, but they were fine! It was an awesome camp and one they really want to do next year!

Thank you, God, for GG's generosity and for lots of awesome opportunities you provided for the boys this summer to help them grown in their knowledge and love for you and for.... legos! :)

Nana comes to visit!

As always... it is a super busy time when Nana comes! This time she was keeping us company while Tom was in Georgia at a conference. We kept busy by painting the guest bathroom and our bedroom, going to Fuddruckers and Mom Alone, playing Wii bowling and Dance Dance Revolution, the continuation of Nana teaching Braden to knit a scarf, watching the All Star Game, going shelling, Mom and Daughter day with shopping and lunch, Rainforest Cafe and the ride, Lego Club, etc... Always SO fun to have her here and she is always SO helpful!

Thanks for everything, Mom! We really enjoyed your visit! Can't wait for you to come again!

4th of July with Friends

How blessed we are to live in a country that lets us freely worship our God! This country was founded on that principle and sadly I think so many have forgotten. They are trying to get God out of our government, schools, etc... I love that my kids to go LSA and have the freedom to proclaim the name of Jesus throughout their day!

We spent the 4th of July with a ton of friends! The Swiggards always put on an awesome party and everyone always brings such yummy things to eat! We all had tons of fun in the pool all day long and then enjoyed a fantastic fireworks display from the hot tub! Can't beat that!

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:1-6

Attack!

It was a beautiful, sunny day after church one Sunday when we took the Swiggards boat out on Clear Lake for the afternoon! What fun we had being together, taking in the sights, having lunch, taking a dip in the lake, seeing Kemah from the water side, etc... Things couldn't have been going better until.... we decided to take another dip. Everyone was in at some point except me and Karen. Then slowly the kids were getting out when chaos started... Scott was yelling, "Get Out!", Braden was screaming uncontrollably, and we scrambled to get everyone out of the water. It was very scary!!! Braden and our friend, Mr. Scott, ended up with the worst of the stings and Tom had a little sting on his elbow. We had no idea what had happened until much later when we were able to process the whole thing. We think it was a jellyfish... No fun! Braden was so brave and tells a good story about the whole ordeal. Need-less-to-say none of the kids wanted to go swimming in the lake at their camps. It will probably be long time before we go in Clear Lake again...

God's protection and guidance were evident that afternoon!