Random!

I'm thankful for so many things today . . . but here's just a few—quite random at that:

• I have very sweet boys—at pre-school all the kids got to pick a "treasure" from the treasure box. The teachers told me Nicholas was the only one who came back and told them "Thank-you" . . . so he got to pick a second "treasure" from the treasure box! So blessed my heart!

• One can't see into my kids' rooms from the downstairs . . . thank you God!

• My daughter has started doing her own laundry without me even asking her to . . . wow, that makes a huge difference!

• I have REALLY COOL friends and one of them was a singer with Silverwind back in the day. This weekend David and I are heading to the 30 Year Silverwind Reunion in Dallas and it's going to be SO MUCH FUN!!

Hope you all have fun as well!

Too Bad He Can Only Count to Nine!

Nicholas:

"Mom, you're the best . . .

I'm going to give you a hundred million kisses!"

12!

Jonathan is 12 today!

Can't even begin to describe this amazing son of ours . . . but this is one of my former attempts.

What a gift!

Love you Jonathan! Happy Birthday!

Just Wondering

Hmmm . . . look closely. Should I be concerned about what my child is learning in pre-school?

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 11

On Saturday David and I realized we had a huge pool of water in our yard . . . had probably been there awhile (sigh) but was hidden by lots of overgrowth in a section we don't mow. This is most unfortunate as our water bill will likely be HUGE!

David quickly found the problem: Something had chewed through our line in an attempt to quench their thirst during our extensive East Texas drought. After a little trip to Lowes he fixed the problem and we are back to having just a normal dry yard.

For quite some time I've been looking for a hanging clothes rod that would work well in our laundry room. I found this one on Amazon and David went to work installing it.

I really like the way it turned out. I can use it like this when I have lots of clothes to hang . . .

Or like this when I don't need as much hanging space . . .

Or like this when I don't need any hanging space . . .

With this family of six I spend lots and lots of time doing laundry; I love a highly functioning laundry room!

On Saturday night we met up with our good friends Jeff and Cathy at a Chinese restaurant—good food and good fun! Their sweet little girls Sarah and Bekka joined us.

Life just seems to move at such a rapid pace, we're making a concerted effort to be purposeful in spending time with meaningful people in our lives—not always easy, but always worth it!

Bits of My Weekend-Volume 10

On Saturday we headed out to Trade Days in Canton.

We endured the sights, sounds and smells of "Dog Alley" in order to find this treasure we came home with: A 10 week old Weimaraner.

My four kids (and husband) are ecstatic about this recent change of heart on my part—they are true dog lovers!

On Sunday our long time good friends Matt and Molly, along with their kids, Caleb and Kate, came from Tulsa to spend some much needed "catch-up" time with us. We ditched the kids and headed to Chili's for dinner. This is a pathetic picture our nice waiter took of us . . . unfortunately the only one.

On Labor Day we all headed out to David's parent's house on Lake Fork. This is a quick shot of all of us taking votes on the name of our new dog. Final choice: "Rain". With her beautiful grey coat and pale blue eyes, the name just kind of works. David and I figured our votes were much weightier since we ponied up the cash to buy her . . . but a few others liked her fitting name as well.

Sam and Lisa always bring great "toys" and the kids had lots of fun playing on this slip and slide. I thought I'd give out a few awards:

Bridget: Most joy!

Henry: Fearless!

Jordan: Most cautious.

Kate: Most like a gymnast.

Matthew: Best laugh!

Nicholas: Most likely to dislocate a joint.

Jonah: Perfect form (future diver?)

Jonathan: Longest slide off into the rocks! (ouch!)

Cole: Biggest splash!

The weekend finally came to an end and we had to say goodbye to our dear friends . . . but only after making plans to vacation together next summer in Branson—makes the goodbyes not quite so painful.

If you're reading this and have bits of your own . . . please be sure and let us know!

That's What I'm Talkin' About!

So who needs to hire some cleaning help with this little guy around?

I didn’t actually take this picture . . . Jonathan caught him in the act and couldn’t resist.

Nicholas loves to help out.