Greatest Blessings

We spent a lot of our time on the beach!  Here are pictures from our beach time!

Torie and Jamas feeding the seagulls….

Ryan splashing in the water.  This kid would have stayed in the water all day and night!

HudBud squinting in the sun for the picture! (sunglasses was something I didn’t think about getting for the kids…I will next time!)

Chris and the kiddos!

Jamas and Hudson playing in the sand….

Lindsay and I got to spend a lot of time laying out while the kids and dads played….it was awesome!

Now on to part 3…..

We spent last week in Galveston with my Mom, Dad, Ryan, Lindsay, Jamas, Silas, and our family.  We had a blast hanging out!  My parents were nice enough to take all the kids in their minivan and let Ryan, Lindsay, Chris and I have the Tahoe all to ourselves.  So, it was a vacation,in and of itself, on the trip up there and back! 🙂

We got to our house and headed straight to the beach….. We didn’t even change into our beach clothes…. (on a side note, you’ll notice a theme in these pictures…..Ryan DOES NOT cooperate and try to look normal….he always takes the goofiest pictures…)

We got to our house and unloaded all of our stuff!  The house was perfect because each family had their own bedroom.  The nice part of sharing the house was that we were able to eat breakfast and lunch each day at the house.  Then we only had to pay to eat out each evening. We were also able to wash all of our clothes before we left. It was so nice to come home with clean clothes!

View from our porch…..

Our sweet friends, Mark and Jennifer Smith, offered us their season tickets to Mavs Finals Game 4.  I remember Jennifer asking me if I needed to talk to Chris before we decided, and I knew immediately I wouldn’t have to ask him!  He was SO, SO excited when I called to tell him we were going to game 4!  Anyways, here are some pictures from our adventures at the game!  Thank you again, Mark and Jennifer!

Ready to leave!

Warming Up……

Killing time before the game starts…..We got there early enough that no one was sitting around us.  So, we were trying to take a picture of ourselves at the game but with no help from someone else.  I remember after snapping this picture I was thinking “okay, I think we finally got a good one.” After looking at the picture, I remembered I forgot to set the zoom back to normal.  Oh well, good memories!

Okay, I guess this one will do! We finally resorted to using a phone.  I never could get the zoom or flash to work right on my camera 🙂

The crowd was amazing and the energy was crazy!  AND…..WE WON!!

Can you believe they won the championship!!??

“She came tonight as I sat alone, the girl I used to be…
And she gazed at me with her earnest eye and questioned reproachfully;

Have you forgotten the many plans and hopes that I had for you?
The career, the splendid fame, and all the wonderful things to do?
Where is the mansion of stately height with all of its gardens rare?
The silken robes that I dreamed for you and the jewels in your hair?

And as she spoke, I was very sad for I wanted her please with me…
This slender girl from the shadowy past the girl that I used to be
So gently rising, I took her hand, and guided her up the stair
Where peacefully sleeping, my babies lay innocent, sweet, and fair.

And I told her that these are my only gems, and precious they are to me;
That silken robe is my motherhood of costly simplicity.
And my mansion of stately height is love, and the only career I know
Is serving each day in these sheltered walls for the dear ones who come and go.

And as I spoke to my shadowy guest, she smiled through her tears at me.
And I saw that the woman that I am now, pleased the girl I used to be.

– Author Unknown
Quoted in Womanly Dominion by Mark Chanski

A few years ago we started the tradition of hosting a special time for our mothers each year.  We’ve done dinners the last few years but decided to change things up this year and do a brunch.  Here are some pictures from our adventure!

Welcome Sign

Tables….

Menu….

My camera wouldn’t take a good close up, so here is what the menu consisted of.  (Thank you Lindsay for helping make food!)  Homemade cinnamon rolls, homemade blueberry scones, sausage breakfast casserole, hash brown casserole, fresh fruit (cantaloupe, blackberries, and strawberries).

Our waitress…. (she took everyone’s orders and then delivered their food and drinks to them….and she was even lucky enough to get some tips $$)

This year we made flower pots for our mothers.  I put the kids hand prints on them and then made them into flowers.  I’m hoping the seal I put on the pots works and that they last!

The whole gang (except for all the kids and Lindsay)

All the Moms

Mommy and Hudson

Lindsay and Me (thanks again for helping with the food)

The guys…. and the beautiful flowers Brenda and Ken brought me (thank you so much!)

I hope you all had a…..

I found these cute pictures of my baby (ahem…big boy!) and thought I would share.

He looks so grown up in this picture 😦

Here’s one that he took himself….. this kid is into EVERYTHING….you can’t turn your back on him for even a second!

Hudson loves The Backyardigans and we recently found these 2 characters at a garage sale.  He carries them around everywhere!

We love you sweet boy!

Torie was part of a dance clinic, put on by the Burleson High School Elk Strutters, a couple of weeks ago.  The clinic was Saturday morning and then that evening they performed a little dance number at the Mr. Burleson Pageant.  She LOVED it and said that she cannot wait to be an Elk Strutter someday! 🙂

On her way….. (yes, she’s sitting in her brother’s booster seat and no, I don’t know why)

Mr. Burleson Pageant

Our little dancer….she posed herself 😉

This is the second blog that has come up today about hospitality…..so, I think I should share!  I love to have people in my home, but I very often get caught up in the small details and forget that Love should be the focus.  Anyways, just thought this was a good one!

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2011/04/hospitality-the-demonstration-of-the-gospel.html

I loved this blog I read today….. Check out her post!

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2011/04/defining-hospitality-strangers-welcoming-strangers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PassionateHomemaking+%28Passionate+Homemaking%29

I saw this and wanted to pass it along.  My prayer is that I will slow down and walk with Jesus this week (and every week).

“It’s tempting to bolt through Holy Week–to thear the starting gun at Palm Sundy and race as fast as possible to the finish line of Easter morning. Such a sprint is really not possible. . . Our Lord didn’t race through the days. Each came in succession with purpose. Yes, Easter is glorious. But if we don’t slow down and walk the way of the Cross with Jesus, it is really little more than a party with no sacrifice, a celebration with no understanding.

“Scripture shouts our own fickleness as humans–our own human tendency to go from declarations of praise to pronouncements of deception. When we take our time to walk slowly through the week called ‘holy’, we must see ourselves: we are happy to cry ‘Hosanna!’ as long as the King meets our needs, our perceptions of what is good and right and best for ‘us.’ When he falls short of our expectations, we cry, ‘Crucify him!’

“This week called holy brings us face to face with humanity. . . who am I in the story? . . . Am I perpetrator or victim? Am I Pharisee or disciple? If I am disciple, am I Judas or Peter? When am I Pilate, washing my hands of the trouble making Jesus? And when am I Simon of Cyrene, willing to carry the Savior’s cross for a few steps?

“Woe to us this week. Woe to us, the people called Christians, if we fail to slow down and examine our hearts, our attitudes, our actions. . . . Woe to us if we dash to Easter and fail to walk this way of the cross through the Passion of our Lord.”

~ Elizabeth Sausele