The Inevitable

When did this happen?

Yesterday Ashley and I stopped in at Brookshires to grab a few groceries. Brookshires is refreshing. Not only do they play Christian music while you shop, they train their employees to smile, make eye contact and greet you as you walk through their doors.

I think it was the first time in 14 years that didn’t happen.

The young teenage greeter who would have normally done this could not seem to take his eyes off of the daughter potential prom date at my side—his smile and greeting were for her alone.

I’ve been dragging Ashley to Brookshires with me for years . . . I still kind of think of her as the six year old I’m trying to keep from opening a candy bar in the check out line so I’ll have to buy it. She did that once.

Oh nuts!

I knew this day would one day come.

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 6

We started the weekend by catching the new flick Ramona and Beezus with my sister and neice (the extra kid is Elizabeth) . . . such a cute movie. I loved those books growing up. Don’t know if you can tell it from the picture, but my kids are getting rather tersty with Michelle and her Bits . . . okay, really they're just tersty with me and my camera—but it’s so much more fun to shift the blame.


Saturday morning I woke up to three boys sleeping on our bedroom floor. This is not new . . . Jonathan and Cole have been slipping out of bed somewhere in the wee hours for quite some time . . . but this is the first time I found Nicholas there too. What to do? What to do?




This is Ashley earning her loot for itunes, trendy threads and treats at the YWAM substation where she loves to hang out with friends. I’m so glad she’s back. During her week away at camp David decided Jonathan was old enough to take a stab at it . . . which led to a blue garden hose cut in half and wrapped around the cutting deck . . . which led to many hours of repair work . . . not to mention my beautiful magnolia tree which is no longer with us. Sigh. He’s eleven. Maybe next year.


In the afternoon David and I ditched the kids and headed out for some alone time. We stopped by Jon and Kelly's to check out their latest sodding project. While there we took a moment to check on their vineyard. This is my little nephew, Matthew, standing next to some very beautiful Concord grapes. They are about a week out from harvest. Jon and Kelly never cease to amaze us with their projects and undertakings.




We did some running around in Tyler and then met up with some good friends for some good eats at the Outback—very fun.

Since I wasn’t with the kids, I gave them my camera and told them to take some pictures while we were gone. (Didn’t want to miss out on any Bits). To ensure it’s proper protection, I informed Ashley that if it didn’t make it’s way back to me, her future wedding would be held in the back yard with hot dogs and paper plates. I believe strongly in giving good incentive . . . especially for the child who jumped in the pool with her cell phone in her pocket and accidently left her ipod on some outdoor bleachers at a track meet. I’m just sayin’.

Not wanting to disappoint their mother, this is what I found awaiting my return.




Freak me out already!

In my very nicest tone of voice I asked how high up that branch was. They informed me I didn't want to know. Nice.

The fun never ends over at Six in the City. Be sure to click on over to catch some more Bits . . . or even join in with your own.

Preserving the Memories

After a somewhat lengthy hiatus from blogging . . . I'm back! I mean really!

Though I never stopped "reading" updates from my blogging pals, I had to stop commenting and posting so much as I was focused on other things.

I’ve been trying to make my way back for quite some time, but it was a birthday gift that kind put me over the top. My husband surprised me last month with a hardbound book of my four years of “Mommy Blogging.”

What an amazing gift! While I leafed through it a couple of times, it was actually my kids who couldn't put it down. They absolutely DEVOURED it.

It’s like when we were in school and the class year books arrived . . . you could focus on nothing else until you had seen every picture and snippet about yourself. Here was four years worth of tidbits, pictures and funny memories that they had previously been clueless about.

Suddenly I was being quoted at the dinner table, laughed about at family gatherings and asked to elaborate on various posts. Such fun!

So for all the many reasons I love blogging, really I’m back because of the gift it is to them . . . memories of their childhood captured forever.

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 5

While trying to endure excessively high temperatures, we enjoyed a couple of outings over the week-end. On Saturday we celebrated my brother-in-law, Kent's, birthday. This is Nicholas "helping" Kent open his birthday presents . . . this has become the norm and everyone pretty much lets him do the opening.



This is my nephew, Caleb. Though he would never tell you so, he just was awarded the honor of "Best Trombone Player in the World" for ages 18 and under. This was quite an amazing accomplishment. He was selected as one of the three finalist and was flown to Austin to perform live. This Austin part was a little bit sad as each year this is held in a different location . . . and usually in a different country. Austin isn't much of a trip when you live a mere 5 hours away, but it was a very high honor nonetheless.



And this precious little one is my new niece Lily Faith. She is two and a half weeks old and has only been home for a few days. She spent the first two weeks of her life in the NICU after swallowing lots of water in the birthing process. She is our little miracle and is the sweetest little doll. One had to stand in line if they were going to hold her on Saturday . . . the line was quite long!



On Sunday we headed up to David's parents house on the lake after church. It was something like 105 and the water was something like 97—we are sweltering here in Texas! But the kids had a blast while Grandad took them tubing behind his boat.



Unfortunately Nicholas didn't get to go. He cried and cried but once again forced a smile when I pulled out the camera.



Marybeth made a wonderful lunch and we immensely enjoyed the fellowship. We're so blessed to have almost all of our family near us even though none of us are from Texas. Truly we are blessed indeed!

Be sure and read up on more bits at Six in the City!

The Backup Plan

Nicholas: Mom, can I go down to the treehouse with Jonathan and Cole?

Me: Okay, but PLEASE don’t fall!

Nicholas: It’s okay, Mom. If I fall, I’ll come back to the house and hold you.

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 4

Our lives have been so very full lately. This past weekend Ashley finished up a week at Teen Mania’s Extreme Camp and then Jonathan took off for a week at Sky Ranch’s Be*Volution Camp. I’m getting so good at the laundry-pack-unpack-laundry routine.





This is a sweet little guy who was with us for a couple of weeks. Over the weekend we said our goodbyes. Our house feels so empty without him . . . but he is now with family and that’s a good thing.



We celebrated Father’s Day quite late as David was in California for a wedding on the actual day. Ashley (being at camp) missed the celebration. As the kids get older it’s harder and harder to all be at the same place at the same time.



David missed his birthday to boot . . . so on Saturday we celebrated at my sister’s in-laws’ house . . . always such fun.











Oh and one really great tip I discovered over the weekend: If your kids are begging for a bucket of army men (after seeing Toy Story 3), it’s $15 at Walmart. But if you go just two aisles over you can purchase a far better set of army men for $3 . . . it just doesn’t say “Toy Story 3” on the label. : )



It feels to me like the summer is flying by . . . so nice to capture a few bits of it here. Be sure and check out more bits at my good friend, Michelle’s.

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 3

Over the weekend we started off by finishing up all the lengthy paperwork for The Bair Foundation and are now once again licensed to be foster parents. We are so excited to re-embark on this adventure and help kids in need.

Friday night we attended the grand finale of Cowboy Camp at Grammy and Grandad's house. We got to enjoy lots of fun songs, skits, awards and even the reciting of Psalm 16 by the entire group—what an amazing accomplishment!







This is a picture of Nicholas with Grammy and Grandad when we were dropping off the other kids. It very accurately depicts his feelings about the "you have to be 6" rule to stay . . . so sad!



It also happened to be my birthday, so we finished the evening with cake, gifts and the like.



We ended the fun of the weekend by playing putt-putt . . . which in actuality it was way too hot to be playing putt-putt, so we ended it a little early to once again bask in the wonder of air conditioning.





Be sure and read up on more bits at Six in the City!

Special Note to anyone who notices:
I wrote this on June 6 but just realized I hadn't published it today (June 29th). Life got crazy for the next two weeks as we took in a little guy de-toxing from cocaine . . . my apologies.

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 2

Over the weekend we celebrated Memorial Day out at David's parent's house on Lake Fork. There were lots and lots of us (just family) but this is a picture of a few of us.



We had good eats,



lots of swimming in the lake,



lots of relaxing,



and a whole lot of fun!



But the best part of our weekend was the results of my mom-in-law's Pet Scan: "Cancer-free!" We are rejoicing! God is so good!



Be sure to head over to Six in the City to catch some more bits!

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 1

Though I always read Michelle’s Volumes on “Bit’s of her Weekend," I never seem to have pictures at the end of mine. But alas, after a long few days in Dallas, I woke up this morning with something like 102 pictures on my camera to choose from . . . so here’s a few bits of my own:

We started of at the beautiful Arboretum and Botanical Garden.







One really should start early in the morning, because it is such a wonderful place, quite large, and quite pricey if you’re only there for a couple of hours . . . which unfortunately we were—but we had so much fun we were glad we went.



We stayed at the beautiful Crown Plaza where we got to swim lots and enjoy local Dallas restaurants like this sweet little Chinese place.



The kids all wanted a Denny’s Grand Slam for breakfast.



And here I lost my the argument with the five others in my party and had to smell the almost irresistible aroma of Steak and Shake (I took in a veggie sandwich from Subway).





We were all having such a great time until Nicky accidentally ran into the metal bar which was just at the height of his forehead. A lady at a nearby table ran out to her medical supply van and gave us some instant ice packs—so sweet . . . and helpful as Nicky’s forehead was quickly becoming a goose egg. Though this picture doesn't show it, he cried and cried—but when David pulled the camera out, this was his attempt at a smile.



We also took in a little shopping at Grapevine Mills Mall.



We ended our stay in Dallas by attending a Firestorm Conference with Kevin Dedmon who is a pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California. Having just read both of his books, “The Ultimate Treasure Hunt” and “Unlocking Heaven,” I was so excited to get to go. He taught on being people who bring Heaven to earth so that His will can be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

At one point during the conference we broke up into teams to go "Treasure Hunting". We took 10 minutes to ask God to give us "clues" and then used the "clues" like a treasure map as we went into the community looking for "treasure" (people who needed a touch from the Lord). Our little team, David, Marybeth (my mother-in-law) and I, ended up having 12 encounters. It totally blew us away how the "clues" on our list would open us up to the most amazing opportunities to bless complete strangers with God's goodness and love. Truly it was one of the best weekends of my life . . . and so nice to now have these little "bits" to remember it by!