4th at the Farm

A family at Andy's home church in Houston has a beautiful farm a little ways out of Conroe. We spent a few days there with family - so fun. I had no idea how big it would be - 383 (or 333, Erin?) acres!! Horses, lots of cows, stocked fishing ponds, and 2 golf carts and a Jeep to drive around.

Jake and his sweet cousin Elysa riding on the back of the golf cart.


Andy and the jeep...way too much fun. :) Once we were riding around (kids back at the house) and he went through an area with lots of brush and I got a pretty good scratch on my arm. Battle wound!

LOTS of these pretty covered bridge
Jake and Elysa getting a little crazy in the restaurant

we were no doubt the loudest ones there

they caught a few teeny fish!
the house - hard to tell, but it had 6 bedrooms! they have a big family and lots of church events there
Look at this amazing tree. It's supposed to be the 2nd oldest in the county or something. Hard to tell, but the branches come down, grow underground and come back up. Just gorgeous...
Jake loved climbing it! I love the moss that grows all over...

Elysa's fish!
Elysa and her Pops


I promise Max was there with us...he just didn't make it in many shots. He's a little stinker though. The first night we were there he slept like a newborn - hardly at all. It was CRAZY - up screaming every hour, waking up the whole house, so I kept taking him outside to calm him down...I eventually ended up DRIVING around and sleeping parked outside with him. NUTS. As I was rocking on the big front porch with him around 2 am to get him to sleep, I was able to think. I was so MAD, you know? But I totally felt the Lord urging me to praise Him and be thankful. It wasn't hard to be amazed by God's beauty -- at night it was SO LOUD with all the bugs, frogs and whatever other animals were out there! (in fact, at one point a possum walked 5 feet in front of me on the porch!) Stars galore. I didn't expect to feel so refreshed being out in nature like that, but just being in the midst of God's creation was so awesome. I guess I was expecting it would be good family time, and was caught off-guard by how beautifully nature praises God. Just neat. Thank you Father.

Fireworks

Mesmerized...

3-D glasses from VBS :)

"Da!"
"that one was BIG!"
He LOVES him some paci and blankie. We never leave home without it.

After some loud booms Max was a little scared and I was happy to cuddle.
the finale

Time for bed!

Stevie Wonder Baby

Hmmm...

Apparently Jake's understanding of Jesus is growing and developing. The other day he woke up from a nap kinda grumpy (like Tyler, Robin) and was huddled on his bedroom floor, cold. I came in the room and he said, "Mom, wait. I'm talking to Jesus." Then, looking up: "Jesus, will you turn my fan off?"

A few days before that, he had come out of the bathroom. I asked if he had washed his hands. He said, "But I asked Jesus to wipe them for me."

Hmmm... I love the earnest, comfortable talks he's having with the Lord. And he knows he can go to Him for help. I did try to explain that the Lord helps us through other people (mommies) and that He wants us to obey when mommies ask us to wash hands. Interesting...

with the birthday cake we made for Daddy (who just turned 33!)

Last few weeks

Just recent little boy pictures:

Jake's swim lessons

Kinda neat - this is how she moved the group from one end of the pool to the other.A favorite lately - "bionicles" - happy meal toys from months ago

The slip and slide is the best invention for a little boy who loves sliding down the hall in his socks. Only $9!
Hat from his b-day party. More for me, though - he yanks it off immediately.
Off Mama!
My phone

"Yeah, just sittin' here with Mom..."
Little turkey...

Yesterday's Activity

Now that it's summer I've been feeling a bit guilty, like I don't do anything fun with the kids - just meals and naps and grocery shopping, etc. I see other moms who have planned fun activities or teaching activies or scripture memorization (ugh - major mommy guilt). Yesterday I was brainstorming and remembered this from teaching preschool:

I squirted it right on the table - Jake still in his spidey pj's.
He had such a blast, it made our kitchen smell manly :) AND it wiped right off with a wet rag! I actually remember that it takes crayon off of the preschool tables...
I like seeing the fun on his little face.

Not quite Bible memorization...

We'll get to that someday...

Max's First Haircut

This was before my trip. (I have a long list of blog entries I've been meaning to post...been slacking lately.) He did so well the whole time. Didn't really watch the Baby Einstein video she put in, but he was happy.

Before:




After!

Can you BELIEVE?!

In case you can't tell, these are BABY HEELS. Yes, you read that right -- at a shop in San Diego. It says, "her first high heels," "size 0-6 months." HA! Oh MY goodness...

More pics from my trip...

My cousin Whitney sent me some of her pictures. (She has a really neat camera that I played with some. I told Andy what I want for Christmas :D)

My Trip!

Whitney, me, Marisa and Kristin

I had such a great time! My mom and I went on a fun 4-day excursion to the San Diego area to visit my aunts and cousins - girls only! It was such a treat. I ate at restaurants and could actually eat my food before feeding others! I did what I wanted...imagine that! It was a huge blessing, but I was definitely ready to get back to see my 3 boys.

The morning of dropping the kids at my friend Amy's house before my flight, Jake threw up on the way to her house!! I planned every detail, wrote out a million instructions (helpful hints...?), packed everything they would need...but couldn't plan for that! Just goes to show Who is in control. It was a lesson in trusting the Lord. Jake was sick for 24 hours, Andy had to take off work and do the take-care-of-sick-kid things I usually do. They were all fine, but it was hard enjoying myself when Andy was dealing with all that! Thank you sweetheart! He did an awesome job. And I was remined once again how our sweet Father is really the One taking care of us...not me and my busy-bodiness.

We spent most of our time visiting with my Aunt Amy (mom's sister) and her daughters, Marisa and Kristin from Arizona and my cousin Whitney (daughter of my mom's late brother) who lives there. It was so good getting to know them better. I hadn't really seen them in 10 years, and we've never really been in touch. We all said that we need to be better at maintaining our relationships. I just had so much fun getting to know them -- such sweet girls. We laughed a lot too -- my aunt and mom do that when they get together.

The weather was mostly nice and it was fun exploring a beautiful place. I couldn't get over 1) how expensive housing was there and 2) the amazing plants! See all my cheesy pictures below - see the crazy huge cactus my mom is standing by? It reminded me of Little Shop of Horrors! And there were gorgeous flowers. We also went to Whitney's graduation, which was neat.

Us mommies rarely get vacations by ourselves - it felt like such blessing/treat. But oh so glad to get back to my 3 blessings here!