Who are YOU?

This is Luke's new favorite video to watch on the computer.  He likes to play it over and over, so much that Trevor and Hayley said we should just put it on the blog for easier access :)

Enjoy!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

A couple of weeks ago some friends gave us some great free tickets to go see the Astros play. It was a lot of fun, especially being so close where even Luke could see the ball and figure out what was going on. I think it may have been his first game, and he loved it. It was a lot of fun, even though our poor Astros lost big time.

Hayley sharing the cotton candy

Hayley having a ball



Jake having a ball

Luke had to have his turn on the balls too!

Mother's Day

Jake, Luke and Mom on Mother's Day

Mother's Day was great.  It started with a yummy breakfast in bed surrounded by my favorite kiddos. Luke thought this eating in bed thing was so fun. 

Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed

Breakfast in Bed, Jake's favorite tradition

Luke and a Monster Muffin

It was fun to cuddle and talk while we ate.

Hayley gave me lots of cards and sweet coupons she had made for me...can't wait to redeem those laundry ones!



Jake and Hayley with her Love Coupons

We had a great time at church where the kids sang a sweet Mother's Day song and Michael passed out chocolate to all the great women of the congregation.  I had wanted a picture with each of the kids, but it was a little warm, so it was a quick photo shoot with various kids as the photographer.  Unfortunately Don wasn't home to snap a picture of all of us dressed up together.



Mom with Trevor




Mom with Jake



Luke with Mom





Hayley with Mom



Michael with Mom

After church we had a great lunch and spent the afternoon having fun, playing games with each other.  Luke and Hayley helped make a delicious strawberry shortcake.  We all gathered together to eat the Strawberry Shortcake and open their gift. 



Mother's  Day 2011


Each of the 4 older kids had answered a "Mom's Questionaire" on their own and it was so fun to read their answers to all the questions.  We were all laughing so hard at some of the answers.  I loved it!

The Mantle of Homemade Gifts

Some examples of the questions they answered are:

What makes Mom happy?
 Michael -NCIS, Trevor-Her Kids, Hayley-Pictures and Hugs, Jake-When I Clean My Room


If Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
M-Her Chocolate Chip Cookies, T-Cleaning, H-The Nicest Person, J-Cleaner


What is Mom NOT very good at?
M-"Staying Mad", T-"Video Games", H-"Making Kids Cry",J-"??"


If Mom was a cartoon character, who would she be?
M-Wonder Woman, T-Phineas's Mom, H-a Princess, J-a rabbit


Where is Mom's favorite place to go?
M-Out on a a date away from kids, T-In Houston Texas(Home, Church, Temple), H-To Bed, J-Grocery Store


There were lots of other questions and fun answers, but I guess the whole thing can be summed up with this one: 

What is something Mom always says to you?
M-Love you, T-I love you, H- I Love You, J-I Love You

I love you guys!  Thanks for a wonderful day!

Amazing Women

We are so incredibly blessed with many strong, amazing women in our lives who we celebrate knowing on this Mother's Day week-end. We have 9 fantastic sisters/sister-in-laws who are so incredible, not to mention great cousins, aunts, grandmothers, nieces and friends who are simply amazing. 

 We love you all! 

We are especially grateful for our wonderful mothers, Linda & Diane.  Thank you for all your love and support, your wonderful examples and Christlike attitudes, and your sweet gentle influence on us and the lives of our kids. 

The influence of these women is magnificent! 

 We love you!  Happy Mother's Day!

Jean, Cynthia, Mom and LeeAnna

Mom and Don

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

District Champs!

Saturday Trevor and I spent all day at HISD's UIL Districtwide Tournament.  Hayley tagged along and hung out with us and her best friend who was there.  It was a long, fun day.  Trevor competed in 3 different events including a new area, Impromptu Speaking.  He had only been to 2 practices for this but the magnet coordinator said he was a natural and so good at talking about any subject she gave him... I believe that! 

Since he was in a speaking event, he dressed up nice and went with the bow tie for a little flair.  People kept commenting on his "tux" or "James Bond" look.  It was pretty funny.

The kids I coach in Oral Reading did great and came in 2nd and 3rd in the district. Trevor tied for 3rd place in Number Sense, an incredibly hard math-in-your head only test of 80 problems in 10 minutes. So this year Trevor medaled/trophied in 3 of his events during UIL competitions - Listening, Social Studies and Number Sense. All those areas included lots of practices, meeting before or afterschool each week. He learned a lot (I think) and more importantly, had a blast with his friends doing it all!

 

The kids all did a great job and our school came out winning the whole thing again for the 2nd year in a row - District Champs!

 

International Festival

A week ago Hayley was able perform with her Chinese class at the huge International Festival downtown.  They sang and danced, dressed in cute Chinese costumes.  Hayley had a great time. 

 

Afterwards, she and Don were able to wander around and see some cool things, and taste a couple of unique dishes.  Hayley was stopped several times by people taking her picture and telling her how cute she looked, including a photographer for a local Chinese paper.  It was a fun day!

Arrow of Light

Trevor had his Arrow of Light Ceremony the end of April.  The Arrow of Light is the highest rank in Cub Scouting and Trevor was able to earn all of the requirements before he turned 11 and went into Boy Scouts. The ceremony was a lot of fun.  Because we have a small pack, siblings were enlisted as natives to help in the telling of the legend.  Jake and Hayley had fun playing their parts. 

Hayley excited to be a part of the action



The natives in the canoe

 


Trevor has worked really hard in Cub Scouts, earning all the rank advancements and many extra things as well over the years. 

Trevor receiving his Arrow

Proud parents with Trevor

He had some great leaders and we appreciate all their hard work too. 


Trevor showing 2 of his leaders the key on the back of the Arrow























One of our favorite people who used to be involved with the Cubs for all of Michael's time and the first few months of Trev's time in Cub's was Sister Eccles.  She came out of retirement briefly to make Trevor his authentic Arrow.  It is amazing!  Now we just need to hang it on the wall next to Michael's.

Trevor with Sister Eccles and the great Arrow!

Michael kept Luke busy and did great taking pictures too! Afterwards Luke was able to come closer and check out the canoe and bridge to Boy Scouts. 

 

We ended the night with some of Trevor's favorite things, homemade chocolate chip cookies and Blue Bell Ice Cream.  Congratulations Trevor!

Random April Pictures

Just a couple other random events from April....

Michael is always on the run and is hard to get a picture of.  But thanks to me working with the youth program at church now, I get to see him in action a little more often (something I am sure he just loves sometimes!).  He was able to do a couple of really cool things in April, including having fun at a Hawaiian themed dance and visiting Merrill Lynch downtown one evening.  The view was amazing!

Michael and friends at a Hawaiian Luau Dance in Sugar Land



Checking out the view from the 74th floor of the Chase Building

Trevor had his 2nd UIL tournament for the year, this time at Davis High School.  Grammy and Grandaddy came back to her old high school stomping grounds and were able to go on a tour before the awards ceremony where Trevor medaled in Social Studies, one of the 3 events he was busy with that day.

Trevor with Grandaddy and Grammy at the UIL Awards

On a Friday a couple of weeks ago, the kids at the elementary school had a gigantic lemonade sale, hosted by the lower grades, to raise money to send to Japan for the relief effort from the recent natural disasters there.  Our school is a magnet for foreign language and cultures and Japanese is one of the four languages that the kids can learn, so it was important for the kids to get involved and help out one of our "sister" countries that they know so much about.  For about an hour, the kids had a fantastic time buying and tasting lots of different types of lemonade from the 8-10 booths of the different primary grades.  Music was blaring and the weather was perfect.  Who says you can't drink lemonade at 9 am?  The kids had a blast and the school raised over $1600 to give to the Red Cross for Japan.  Luke and I had fun checking it all out and tasting a couple unique varieties of lemonade.

 

 


With all these fun activities that are always going on, Luke has some big shoes to fill to keep up with everyone...and on this particular day, the shoes he found he liked the best were Don's!

Luke having fun in Don's shoes