July in a Flash

Summer is Gone
Homework is back
Here's my Favs from July before I hit the sack


This is Breckenridge. Totally beautiful in the summer!

Denver was everything I wanted it to be: Clean, very urban, and the kids loved it too!

Littleton was picturesque
This is the town our friends live in. I felt like I was in a movie the whole time I was there. Their house is set in the foothills and there is beautiful hills, mountains and green everywhere! Here is Gwen on the Alpine slide, which was her highlight of the week. And Race on his first pony ride, which he was ecstatic about. He kept saying " I go Neigh, I go Neigh" in a very excited voice.
The grown ups got a night on the town on Sunday. We went to John Mellencamp at Red Rock Amphitheatre. This the most beautiful venue to see a concert in the world. Also Velvet took me up here on Saturday to run the steps with her. Yeah, killed my legs and I didn't even run most of it! Velvet is total stud and totally blows me away with her physical fitness and mothering skills. Thanks Scott and Velvet for having us out it was completely wonderful. ... more pics to come

32

Early 30's. What can I say about turning 32 that would inspire other women to embrace their 3o's? Mostly what I love about my age and where I am in life is that I'm constantly aware that life is bigger than me. I have freedom in being the Me that God created me to be. So different than when I was 20 and trying to figure out who I was. As I ride my bike in the early morning hours around the island I can take in the smells of beach, the sight of sunrise and the sound of a new day beginning. My heart sours with joy as I praise God for what I have been blessed with and the surroundings he so graciously allows me to live in. I have a secure marriage to man I'm totally in love with, I'm content and fulfilled in my role as a mother of 3 little people who demand most of me all day. The little time I get to reflect, read or chill are so much sweeter than when I was 20. A glass of red or a cold dark beer shared with Kirby on our back porch are like vacations that last one evening but carry me through a week. The dreams of writing articles and books and running an orphanage are still very real maybe even more now that my time is delicate. I know God put those desires in my heart and He wants to see them come to fruition as much as me. But I don't think they are anything compared to this time right now while I'm at home raising my little children. I am grateful for the Hope of Christ. Yes, these may be the best years but they are no doubt very trying. I have never before in my life been so tempted with anger, control and frustration as I am now daily with three little ones at my knees. I have experienced Jesus be for me what he has always promised he will be time and time again. I have learned more about my talents and my struggles in these last years than high school and college put together. So at 32 I am grateful, joyous, loved and still overly excited about being alive.

Some stuff left out

Somehow I forgot to blog about some earlier summer stuff that was soo much fun. This collage is from our first trip to Houston in May for Meg's graduation party. In the pre-party the girls dressed up in 'dress up' clothes and were so adorable doing the macarana on the dance floor. The party was at our friends house and they have a back yard that rocks the free world. Before we left town we had an afternoon at my Aunt's pool. Lots of fun, family and topped it off with sundaes. ( notice the white booty behind the girls eating theirs) I could swear I have already wrote this exact blog? But can't find it so I'm gonna post it anyway.

Black White and Red

Were the colors of the day. Our niece Katherine was married a couple of weeks ago. The wedding was one of the sweetest I have ever seen. Katherine now 20 had been dating Michael since her early teens and he was her one and only boyfriend. She is the best example I know of Purity. Their first kiss was actually during the wedding ceremony! Wow. Although the decorations, bridesmaids and especially flower girls were beautiful, as one watched the ceremony you could not be distracted from the sweet purity of this couple coming together as one .
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5: 8

These are a few of my favorite things

Daddy playing with kiddos


Family outing to Stingers (which is complete with a kids playroom) Looks like Kirb is in serious prayer for the mask girl. Oh and notice my new haircut? Not in love with it but glad to be shorter.

playing play dough and other messy crafts

Visit with Crissy

Just returned from Crissy's. It was a blast. She cooked me delicious yummy things, and caught u on the happenings and laughed about the past. Yes, M you were included in a lot of the laughing part. Rylin and Gwen did a Hanna Montana/Miley Cyrus show in which there was a lot of silly shaking ( Rylin) and a lot of hair swinging ( Gwen) while Keegan and Claire laughed on the sidelines.
Thanks C for all the coffee, and wonderful hospitality. We LOVE being at your house.
Here's what we did:

Helotes Nature Center!

There was exactly nothing here. But the kids managed to go on adventures anyway and everyone had a good time. ( except Race)

Along with our Nature center visit we did a lot of hanging out with Crissy's gang. It was much needed time but we missed you M! My favorite was Keegan's stern, " Settle down guys." as he climbed to the breakfast table with his bed- head. Mariah you remember this bed-head from Spring Break? Just as cute this time. Here he is with his adorable cheeks.

Here are some more random chill out pics.
As we were driving away from Helotes Claire says, " I'm sure gonna miss those guys." This after being the absolute most annoying bully of the bunch the entire weekend!
That's what friends are for though right? Full of Grace and Unconditional Love. I"m thanking Rylin and Keegan for giving this to Claire throughout the weekend. Maybe next time she won't feel such the need to fight her way through.

Jana with Gwen

left out this cute pic of Jana with Gwen on last blog.

Backing up to when we were gone...

While on our Anniversary trip.... The kids were happy . Which as any parent knows is a HUGE blessing when your away from your kids. My good friend Jana came down from Austin, just to watch them for us and she was amazing. She went with Claire on her field trip, took the kids to do fun stuff every day and completed the days with homemade dinners and time left over to play with the kids in the backyard. I cant' brag on this girl enough and her servant attitude. When we walked in from our trip, A. the kids were happily playing B. dinner was waiting for us, and C, she had make coffee for me!!! WOW.
God has totally blessed me with Jana's friendship. She was the one here when I was on semi-bed rest with Race and she has continually served our family with such sweetness it's unreal. I wish her many sweet sweet children when it's her turn. And I pray I can be for her a fraction of what she has been for me.

She is suppose to still be 5

waiting for me to come home from college, crying she misses me on the phone and sending me pennies from her piggy bank cause she heard me begging Mom and Dad for money.

But she is soo not. Tonight she walked across a stage and was given the right of passage into adult hood. In a few days she'll have a new address where no real grownups live! Underneath her grown up self though, she is still Meg. She still burps, laughs hysterically, and loves to do a dozen accents putting us all in stitches. I have been laughing with Meg since she was tiny. She brings FUN to my life and unconditional love. She also is one of the most accepting caring people I know. I know she deserves all these upcoming privileges but sometimes I still want her to be 5.
Meg I love you tremendously. I love that you let me be such an intimate part of your life since you were little. Thank you for always liking me. For getting up in the morning from ages 3-5 and hanging out with me while I got ready for school. For going on dates with me, For crying on my college dorm steps when we had to say goodbye, for crying so hard on my wedding that we barely recognize your pictures, and for listening to my endless sermons about dating etc.
I know with out a doubt God has plans for you. Plans for you to succeed. You will effect many many lives, just as you have and will continue to affect mine. You are a strong , pure, girl who knows who she is serving and not afraid to say so. Thank you for being you. Our family wouldn't be the same with out you.

Happy 8 Blissful Years!

We celebrated at the Raddison Resort in South Padre. We thought we would try out a new beach spot and see what it felt like without kids. Very relaxing. 3 wonderful days. One of our favorite parts was the fruit market we came upon on the way home. We scored soo much good fruit and some beautiful pots. I absolutely love outdoor markets.
Kuddos and many thanks to Jana, my sweet friend, who took on the kids and home for 3 whole days! She even had dinner and coffee ready when we returned! More on the happenings while we were away next............

May Day Traditions

We heard about the tradition of handing out homemade flower baskets to neighbors on May Day and we thought it was perfect way to get to know more neighbors. I am not "crafty" by nature ,even this simple looking task took some effort on my part. I made the first one while the girls were at school, so I could scream and throw things when I got frustrated. Then we finished them up together and actually had a blast. Handing them out to the people on our street was our plan as i could only bring myself to make 12, but that plan was thwarted when dogs came after us. I really think these dogs were from Satan himself because I had prayed for each of the houses on our street for weeks leading up to this in hopes to meet them and connect with them. I feel really strongly that God wants me to concentrate on my neighborhood alone right now. Mostly by being a person they know cares about them and maybe one day being able to share Christ with them. So with that I was really discouraged when dogs I had never seen ( because I take my morning walk down this street every day) came out of yards unleashed! We did however do half our street and then we just went to the side streets and took the last 6 to random houses. We had to leave only a few on doors with out an answer but we did meet a lot of new people. And everyone was genuinely delighted to have the girls give them flowers. Tonight while working in the yard a sweet woman brought us a thank you note and bottle of red to say thank you because she had received the flowers on her door when she got home from work and they made her day. The girls were beaming with pride. " it worked Mom" Gwen said, " We got to meet someone else new!" So I'm ending this blog with this , My God is really really cool and I know that lady walking over was a confirmation that obeying Him just rocks!

5 on Friday

1. Got some girl time with my friend Cheryl at the mall and was able to only take Claire which was a much needed thing. We all had Cheesecake brownies and Claire got a glittery horse shirt, a carousel ride, and Dillards was giving out free webkinz. Total Score for a 3 yr old! I also got a free candle at Bath and Body that smells just like a discontinued scent I wore in college, except now it's called Island breeze. April, remember May Bouquet? This smell just like it!
2. My sister is coming tonight!!!!!!
3. I fell asleep last night at 9pm with the girls and it was wonderful. ( normal bed-time is 11:30)
4. Kirby bought us a SWING SET!!!!!
5. concentrating on "building my house" is really helping with my relationship with Gwen.......really.

No Kids Day

That's what Thursdays are for me. Until 2:30 at least. This day comes around faster than I would expect and I always forget it's coming. Then like a ray of sun shining warmth on me I wake up on Thursdays and as I'm climbing out of bed to tip toe and brush my teeth with out waking anyone, it hits me! My step is a little lighter and the morning rush is well, a little more rushed. The first couple of Thursdays I spent at my favorite bookstore soaking up the smell of coffee and yummy bread, people from all walks of life either reading or in interesting conversations. I was able to listen and see and smell it all with no distractions, it was amazing. Well today my sunshiny feeling quickly diminished when I remembered it was also pap smear day. The good/rotten part of this was I had to Wait almost a whole 2 hours in that cold, unfriendly, room full of bored people, BUT I had my book in which I read like 6 chapters! When I finally got out of there I still had enough time to get my eyebrows waxed and stop by a new coffee shop I wanted to try. So all is well that ends well I guess.

Proverbs 14:1-2

Proverbs 14:1-2

" A wise woman builds her house, a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands."

I'm gonna see how much building I can do today and hopefully get a clue where I'm tearing it down. Amazing what an imfluence the woman of the home is. " Where much is given, much is required" Proverbs something.

Sun Harvest

Okay didn't make it to Sun Harvest because I knew i would want everything and spend like $5 on some cereal I thought looked good but really tasted like cardboard. I also knew I would feel pulled to the homeopathic isle in which I would spend half and hour trying to figure out what I needed and then remember I already have junk at home i haven't even tried. So, it was HEB plus! for me.
My tasty treat was some kinda Vegetable chips that were actually vegetables just dehydrated with a bunch of salt. I somehow think dehydrating has to take every ounce of vitamin out of them but I felt good eating them anyway. For those of you who think, " She is disgusting me with her "treats." Well this the thing, Health is like my craft. I'm not "crafty" but I do enjoy creating a healthy diet. Plus on the flip side I still love Dove chocolate, bread, lots of coffee and pop tarts( cinnamon no icing toasted with butter).
will blog my very fun double date later but need pics I think.

Ten on Tuesday

1. My bathrooms are not super clean but worked on floors instead and still feel good
2. Excited about a double date with the Wagners to Dragon Fly tonight.
3. After 4 nights of endless waking up, Kirby is home tonight and I will sleep like a baby
4. I'm about to go to SunHarvest for JUST FRUIT and please God don't let me buy a bunch else
5. Race is sitting on the counter playing in the sink while I do this and he loves it!
6. My hives are gone!
7. I have a TON of clothes to fold.
8. I would kinda like to be blonder, considering a hair app soon. ( I know this makes you smile M)
9. Tomorrow is our BAF Padre church meeting and I'm praying a lot of people step up to lead and serve
10. The verse I'm thinking on today is, " He will provide all you need according to His riches and Glory."

I went to Training seminar last weekend on how to teach Hygiene classes for a mission organization named Living Water International. http://www.water.cc/ Very insightful and educational. What I can't get over is the whole problem of feces. It seems to be the number one contaminate for water and food. It gets on everything and the flies and mosquitoes carry it everywhere. In 3rd world countries it is such a huge issue. Well to us , because we can identify it as the problem. The people in those countries on the other hand cannot, and it doesn't bother them like it does us. Our class was specifically on hygiene lessons we would would teaching, while another team is drilling a water well. Most of the these places being quite remote , don't have fresh water to begin with. Even in the bush of Africa a lot of people had water wells and I didn't see poop anywhere. However, I guess this is a common deal in a lot of undeveloped areas though. I'm just wondering if God knew what a problem feces would be. Why didn't he design us with out it? Or in such a way where it didn't spread disease or stink even? Maybe it didn't do either of these things in the garden of Eden? Who knows? My friend in the class, pointed out that maybe one day we will run our cars with it or something else ingenious we just haven't figured out yet.

more radomness

Kirby bought me a power juicer from Craig's List and I LOVE IT! I made at least 3 today and I'm gonna save so much money by not buying those Naked fruit drinks anymore. Today my fav. concoction was : Pear,Apple,Banana,and Grapefruit.

am also loving my Cherry Vanilla Granola which was my special treat at HEB Plus!

Kirby left me 5 Dove Chocolates by my coffee pot the other morning. ( why do I keep talking about food?)

I have hives on one half of my face, so I feel kinda like an alien. Not sure why they are there but would really like them to go away. When I go out in the sun it gets worse. Kinda embarrassing.

Can't seem to finish a book with out starting another one for the life of me. I used to always do this until the last say 5 or so years, but it's out of control again. I think I have 4 ( Warriors don't cry (about school integration, A Nancy Drew mystery( Yes I still read these) , Leading a child to Christ( Needing a little help explaining some things to Claire) and The Act of Marriage( Yes, I've recommended this book to just about everyone, but haven't actually finished it myself))sitting on my nightstand that I'm half way through and 2 ( The Judge, and Sit Walk Stand) that I think I'm gonna start any day. Why can't I just finish one? OH, maybe that's cuz my only reading time is when I lay down for the night and I last like 2 pages and I'm a zonker. Maybe I should stop this nonsense blogging and get to reading...

oh, one last thing. Tomorrow is Monday which has been my designated cleaning day. I have done this I think 3 Mondays in a row, and it is soo great and feels so great when it's done. However, I am already bored of this routine. So maybe I'll change it to Wed...........I don't know, by the middle of the week is there really a point to cleaning? I mean your half way to Friday and that means your kids are home all weekend to wreck the place. Humph..........maybe I'll just do the bathrooms. Man, I used to love Mondays.Now instead of dreaming of a fresh start to an unknown week, I get to think about with the smell of Bleach and old pee.
I obviously need a better attitude about this. Maybe my quiet time in the morning will give me a better perspective.

Just gonna blog what I want for a while. Sorry if I bore people but this is what I'd like to do. Just write about the stuff I do and how I feel and well I guess it's all about me for awhile sorry.
5 facts that I'm super proud of

1. I ate fried pickles last weekend with a vengeance and it felt REALLY good.

2. I absolutely love my flower pajama pants that my neighbor gave me. They are really fugly.

3. Kirby bought me a Juicer that I cannot wait to use tomorrow morning.

4. Riding around in Kirby's convertible truck rocks the free world

5. My teeth look pretty white lately

Cottage Time in Baton Rouge

Well, technically Gonzales is where my Dad's cottage is, but it's right outside of Louisiana. We spent Easter weekend there, complete with egg hunts and movie nights, my mama's roast , Meg's constant entertainment and the best part, Dude reading the Easter Story to the family. Well, he was gonna read it but decided to majorly paraphrase and had the girls totally enthralled. For those who don't know my Dad had to take a job in Louisiana so he and my Mom are going back and forth as much as possible to see each other every weekend. It's not easy and they will be glad when they can be together again. Anyway, the cottage is completely adorable. My sis, Meg and my Mom have totally put their creative artistic stamp all over it. You can see in some of the pics the old window pane my sister painted , I love that! It's a really cute place that my girls absolutely loved. I love Claire's face with her Hannah Montana shirt that she got in her Easter Basket, she was a little excited, to say the least. The Egg hunt was really fun, until a family of wasp invaded our space. The drive back was REALLy long, but thanks to Meg we have many memories from it. And thanks to her my kids were too busy laughing to even know we were sitting in traffic FOREVER.
I'll end with my two favorite quotes from the weekend: Mom: " You go ahead and start dinner Meg, but keep in mind we don't want to help you." Hilarious. Mostly because my Mom loves to say " keep in mind..............." so this just made my night.
Second quote: Meg (to my girls in the van): " Open your mouth so I can poot in it"
Fun fun fun....